The early morning sun shone unreasonably bright through the inn’s slatted windows, and Christoph found himself oddly longing for the dimly lit halls of home. Emilia stirred next to him but remained sleeping, gray furred ears twitching as his breath washed over them. Sidling up against her naked form, he relaxed for a moment before sitting up to glance over the room. Even with the sunlight waking him so abruptly, he would take this life over his years in the lab without hesitation. It was enough for him to just be able to feel the warmth of another person after all this time.

Terminal had been his only company in the cold laboratory chambers, but she had not been a companion by any stretch of the word. After leaving the underground complex, he had travelled the world as best as he could, but it was only now that he could truly appreciate the presence of another person. Emilia had said nothing to him about it, but he could tell he no longer suffered from the nightmares of his childhood. The beast-woman stirred again, and he leaned down to plant a kiss on her cheek as she opened her eyes.

“Good morning,” Christoph said. The words sounded strange coming so naturally from his mouth. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mmmmmhh.” Stretching out under the thin sheets, Emilia rolled toward him, arms closing around his waist. “It’s too early.”

“We have a quest to complete, remember?” Scratching at the cat-girl’s head, he slid back down beside her anyway. He’d allowed her to have her way with him last night, taking comfort in the memories he had of her village. Liam had been right to plant a fear of the beast clans in his mind. Had Diana not used her magic to draw him outside the grove, he might have gladly wasted his life away within the confines of that small wooden hut.

“Mmm we can do that later,” Emilia replied, yawning into his shoulder. “I’m still tired.”

Marvelling at the border where her fur gave way to skin, his hands stroked over her body in silent agreement. They had all the time in the world. Lucius might be bent on summoning his god from their old world into this one, but he couldn’t care less. As far as Christoph was concerned, the entire church could disappear tomorrow and he wouldn’t bat an eyelid. The gods of this world acted as though the people were toys for their amusement, and that was something he would never accept.

…

“Alright,” Ruth said, turning back to look over the other members of his party. “You’ve all been far too quiet so far, the lot of you. If you have something to say, then say it.”

“I don’t like that man, no matter what he says,” Lily replied. Taking a break from walking, she sat down on a nearby rock. The foot of the mountain was oddly barren for how flat it was, and there was no shortage of large rocks, half-buried in the soft earth. It was possible that the scenery had something to do with their quarry this time, though. It was not only man who shaped the earth.

“I agree,” Quester said. “You were too quick to accept his forgiveness.”

“It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?” Coin sat down next to Lily, almost pushing her off the rock as he did so. Angling his spear off to the side, he wrapped an arm around the scowling sorceress. “The fact that you said he was forgiving us is proof enough of that.”

“I like Christoph,” Regal said, tilting her wide-brimmed hat back with a serious expression. “He was nice to me.”

“I liked him too,” Coin replied. “Admit it, you all thought he was a nice enough guy before you saw him eating that beast.”

“I didn’t,” Lily said. Stretching her legs out, she adjusted the way Quester’s bow sat over her shoulders as she spoke. “We should have turned him in on that first night.”

“You don’t like anyone,” Coin replied with a grin. “Except me, that is.”

Leaning in, he kissed her on the forehead, and was rewarded by the appearance of her sprite, flames dancing over his legs as he leaped to his feet. Ignoring Coin’s panicked dance, Ruth glanced over at the two sullen siblings.

“You don’t have to be friends” he said. “Just be good guild members. That goes for the beast-woman, too.”

“I’d rather he wasn’t either.” Quester shifted his weight as he muttered, returning the party leader’s frown.

“It’s okay,” Regal said, tugging at his shirt sleeve. “I like you more.”

“I’d certainly hope so!” Coin laughed despite his predicament, rolling over the dirt as the flames on his legs died down. Coming to a halt, he slapped at the charred hem of his pants for a moment before shrugging. “Well, I’m not sure who I like more between Lily and Emilia, though.”

“Be serious,” Quester said, a stern look covering his face as Coin’s pants reignited. “Think of the real problem here!”

“Problem?” Regal asked. “What problem?”

“A duel or not, Christoph killed a member of the church, and destroyed his soul.” Combing his fingers through Regal’s dark brown curls, he let his expression soften for the moment. “They will not be forgetting that any time soon.”

…

Christoph urged the skimmer up the slope, looking back at the line of tiny craters it left behind as it passed. If he recalled correctly, the elves referred to the patterns as a ‘wake’. In any case, it was slightly amusing that even the floating ship would leave ‘footprints’ where their target would not.

“Hey,” Emilia said, nestled up against his chest. “How long is this quest gonna take, anyway?”

“Who knows?” Christoph replied. She’d pounced on him after waking up, and on top of that he had been forced to drag her out of the showers after packing up their things. Making short work of the still warm magma whale, he’d made her sit in the front of the skimmer again as punishment. She’d turned around almost immediately, of course, but at least she was keeping her hands on his upper half this time.

“Eh?” Wrinkling her nose, the cat-girl rose up until her forehead was pressed against his own. “Isn’t there a quicker way to find it?”

Pushing the beast-woman back down in his lap, Christoph steered the skimmer further up the hill. Ordinarily, he’d wait until nightfall and then set out looking for its mana signature, but these hills didn’t hold enough mana to light the way. His night vision wasn’t on the same level as Emilia’s, either, so while he’d be able to spot their quarry a mile away, he wouldn’t even be able to see the ground his feet were standing upon. Use of the skimmer was unthinkable in such conditions.

“Maybe if Diana was here,” he replied. Say what you would about the exile, she was a convenient travelling partner. “She isn’t, though, so you’ll have to make do.”

“What’s an Earth Elemental doing out here anyway?” Slumping down against his chest, Emilia ignored the way he frowned at the added strain. The hill was still at a slight angle, but the uneven ground meant that Christoph actually had to work to stay seated in the elven craft.

“Who knows?” he repeated, blowing air into her pointed ears. Enjoying the look of betrayal she gave him, he hopped the skimmer forward in short bursts of mana, regretting his decision as she crushed his chest in fright.

“Wait, stop!” Emilia said, squeezing his ribcage in protest. “Don’t do that!”

“Okay okay, calm down,” Christoph replied. “You’ll have to get used to it someday, you know. There’s no way I’m trading this thing away for a horse or anything.”

Regardless of his words, Christoph was also not looking forward to continuing this quest. An Earth Elemental leaves no trail, no droppings, doesn’t hunt or visit waterholes, and can’t be trapped. In addition to that, such an existence is inherently difficult to find in the wild simply because it is made of stone. Looking around, he could see any number of rocky clusters which might have been the creature, but unless he focused his attention onto each on in turn, there was no way to know. It’d no doubt be easier as the sun began to set, but for now the natural light shone bright enough to cancel out his secondary sight.

“Hey,” Emilia said, tapping at his shoulder. “There’s footprints down there.”

“What? Where?” Turning in his seat, Christoph halted the skimmer’s advance as he followed her gesture. A trail of multiple footprints had become visible as they had moved up the mountain, shadows appearing when they were viewed from above. “A group of four or five… it’s them, isn’t it?”

“Those guys?” Emilia asked. A sudden thought occurred to the couple, and then turned towards each other almost at the same time. “You don’t think she gave them the quest as well?”

“No way,” Christoph said, making a face. “You can’t give the same quest to two different parties unless it’s a group quest to begin with, that’s just…”

No, the guild worker had been inexperienced in the first place, hadn’t she? Saying things like ‘I’m supposed to make a request’ instead of just asking them at the guild building. She’d said that not many adventurers passed through, too, so there wouldn’t be much chance for her to learn the rules… wasn’t it odd that she didn’t have a senior colleague to learn from anyway?

“Yeah, it’s definitely them,” Emilia said, turning around in her seat to search the hills. “Are they still here?”

“If you can bother looking for them, you should have been helping me search from the beginning.” Resuming their journey, Christoph guided the skimmer along the path that Sacrilegious Shield had taken. Unlike when they were travelling directly up the slope, the craft was able to level nicely in that position. If the slope increased further he’d have to tilt the ship or risk clipping the stones with its ‘wings’ on one side, but for now it was fine.

“Look for what?” Leaning back against his chest, the cat-girl tilted her head to look up at his face. “Anyway, I’m bored. Tell me a story about your other world.”

Stifling his retort, Christoph let out a sigh instead. It was true that looking at rocks wouldn’t be much use, he supposed. Taking a breath, he thought of home. It was still too soon for him to talk about Terminal and his mother, but there was any number of things that could keep her entertained for now.

“Fine,” he said, letting his memory wander. “Let’s talk about Earth.”

…

It was almost nightfall before Regal caught the first sign of the Elemental’s presence.

“Wait,” she said, coming to a stop as she held up her staff. Quester had been worrying over her condition for some hours by then, but the little mage had forced herself to continue on anyway. She might do more than enough for the party in battle, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to be a hindrance at any other times.

“Can you feel it?” Lily asked, summoning her sprite. “Which way?”

“I’m not sure,” Regal replied. “Either that way… or that way.”

Coin frowned down at the young woman, head turning to follow her gestures. Either one of those places? Rather than pointing out a rough area, she had selected two very different parts of the mountain as her targets.

“Are you sure?” Ruth asked. “Is there more than one?”

“I don’t know.” Shaking her head, the mage reached up to correct the positioning of her hat as it swiveled on her head. “They feel different, somehow.”

“Let’s go with the closer one,” Quester said, continuing up the rocky slope. “The sun will be setting soon either way.”

Turning their backs to the second target, the five adventurers whirled back around as an explosion rocked the hillside, boulders shifting in every direction as a cloud of dust rose in the distance.

“Change of plans,” Ruth said, checking the clasp of his axe. “Let’s go.”