In good news, Guild Shiragiku’s efforts to hunt durians in the Forest of Dawn went well over the following hours. Given that, on their own, durians were little threat to skilled explorers, several more groups were found and dispatched over the course of the day. Allouet even felt confident in the guild’s count. The part that bothered him instead was the tense air between him and Dubhan ever since Dubhan’s earlier outburst.

Had it been Allouet’s fault? Had he done something wrong or overstepped some boundary he hadn’t noticed? He’d tried a few times to ask his companion if something was wrong, but Dubhan had only brushed off the concern with simple statements like, “I’m fine,” or, “Don’t worry about it, nothing’s wrong.” It was obvious from the forced cheer in his voice and the distracted look in his eyes that those statements were far from the truth, though.

“Aria!”

The shout was sudden and caught Allouet off guard. It was a man’s voice, and from the sounds of it, it hadn’t come from far away. A series of gunshots followed not long after.

“Dubhan,” Allouet said, but he hardly needed to add anymore to that.

“Yeah, it came from that way,” Dubhan said before taking off in the indicated direction, Allouet and the guard following close behind.

Sprinting through the trees, the three of them soon came upon a battle scene in progress. Another guard, and a man clad in heavy iron armor, wielding a sword in one hand and a large shield in the other, faced off against a group of durians that skittered across the ground.

To the side of their skirmish, however, were more monsters and someone else. A young woman dressed in a heavy, fur-trimmed coat and hat, wielding a large powder pistol in her hands. Her blue eyes, which along with blond hair matched the armored man’s, glared at a pair of plant monsters the size of large dogs.

The plant themselves were formed from tall, yellow-red petals with a taller, yellow point that rose up from the center of the flower. Extending out from the bottom were not roots, however, but a set of four legs sporting sharp claws. Allouet knew from the sight of them that he was looking at two of the dreaded titan arums.

Dubhan had already jumped into the scene to bring his scythe down and across through several durians, running through them and headed for the girl and the titan arums. Allouet followed after, letting the guard aid his fellow and the armored man.

Allouet quickly scanned the surroundings as he ran. The trees here were spaced out well enough. So long as he was careful, he could make quick work of these monsters. He directed the mana in the air towards the pair of titam arums, conjuring a burst of fire between the two.

The fire struck just as the woman was taking aim with her gun, and she jumped back in surprise at the sight. One arum was hit directly by the fire and recoiled back as its body was covered in flames and burns. Dubhan closed in on it just then, cleaving the blade of his scythe through the flower that made up the monster’s head.

The woman allowed herself a quick look at Dubhan, then over her shoulder at Allouet before shouting, “Don’t let them get to the durians!”

The remaining arum had avoided the brunt of the flames and lunged for Dubhan, claws outstretched. Dubhan brought his scythe up just in time to block the claws on the weapon’s metal. The petals of the plant stretched out as if trying to reach for Dubhan. With a loud bang, a bullet pierced straight through the side of the monster flower and it staggered back. Allouet took that chance, conjuring another flame that rose up from beneath the monster, engulfing its body in flames.

The moment the second arum fell over dead, Allouet whirled around to face the swarm of durians that the guards and the armored man had been tending to. But, by the time he did, he caught sight of the man’s sword slicing through the last of the small monsters.

“Phew, thanks for the help,” the woman set, slipping her pistol into a holster inside her coat and dusting off her gloved hands. “I had it under control, but you definitely saved me a few bullets.”

“Aria!” The armored man had come running over to the woman. “Excuse me, what do you mean you ‘had it under control?!’ You ran between those durians and the arums without a plan and you knew it, you could have gotten killed!”

“I knew what I was doing, Michael,” the gun-wielding woman retorted in an exasperated voice. “What, did you want me to let the arums eat those things and start spitting poison all over us?”

Allouet and Dubhan exchanged a look with one another. “Well,” Allouet said, “it’s good to see that nothing worse came of this. Are any of you hurt?”

“I think we’re fine,” the man said, glancing over his companion and the guard that had been accompanying them. “Thanks to you two more than my reckless sister, of course.”

“I just said,” the woman complained, hands on her hips, “that I was saving us from more of a headache.” She glanced up at the sky, which was beginning to grow darker as whatever light source in the labyrinth faded. “So, here I thought we were the only guild who hadn’t gone back already. Maybe we don’t have as big of a lead as I thought.”

“You know the arums don’t count towards your totals, right?” the guard accompanying the two blonds commented.

“They should.”

Allouet looked around the area for signs of any other people, but when he saw none, assumed he must have been looking at another two-person guild. “Well, it’s nice to meet you both. Has your guild been around long?"

“Three months,” the gunner woman said, “but Michael and I've been making good progress through the forest. I'm Aria. Think I've seen your harbinger friend around but I don't think any of us've been introduced."

"Oh. I'm Allouet. And this is Dubhan — he's our guild leader. I... think?"

Dubhan had leaned against his scythe and simply idly watched the conversation in uncharacteristic quiet all the while. Hearing the comment, he said, “I guess it is my name on the paperwork, huh?”

Michael, apparently settled down after scolding his sister (though whether she listened was another matter altogether) sheathed his sword. “Well, it's good to see more faces in the labyrinth. More numbers against this place is a good thing. You two are... Guild Shiragiku, right?"

"You know us already?” Dubhan asked. “Does that mean we're famous?"

“I like to keep up on guild activity in town. We're Guild Silver Bullet. Aria here came up with the name."

“It's a good name!” Aria shouted, pouting slightly.

“I never said it wasn’t.”

“Not this time, sure. Anyway, it'll be fun to see who wins tonight's contest. Best of luck, Guild Shiragiku.”

“We’re still gonna win with this group we got here, though,” Aria said, gesturing to the durians on the ground. “My brother killed them all, after all. So I think Silver Bullet’s got this in the bag. But hey, good luck with second place!”

Dubhan offered a friendly smile. “Yeah, good luck.”

It was already dark by the time Guild Shiragiku returned to the labyrinth’s entrance. Their assigned guard departed, returning to his post to report the tallies with the others on duty. Looking around, Allouet could see most of the other guilds had returned already, save for Silver Bullet.

“Hey,” Dubhan said softly. “Looks like we got a few minutes, so…” He gestured to the open fields away from the labyrinth’s entrance. “Is it alright if we talk for a minute?”

“Oh.” Allouet hadn’t expected the request, especially not so suddenly. But he nodded, and the two walked away from the gathered group until the chatter of the guilds had faded behind them, leaving only the sound of crickets in the grass and an owl or two.

“So…” Dubhan avoided eye contact, his attention out in the distance of the quiet night. “I’m, uh… Listen, Allouet, I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

"Dubhan, I hadn't meant to upset you... I was worried, I should have let it go when it was obvious you were uncomfortable..."

"What? No, no, I..." Dubhan sighed. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. If anything, you should be upset with me."

In truth, Allouet had never so much as thought to be angry with Dubhan over the whole thing. “Do you… mind if I ask?”

It took Dubhan a few hesitant moments to answer that. "I mean... It's just... It's what I have to do. That's part of what it is to be a harbinger. We, uh, call upon dark powers. On souls and on blood. It’s not something that people approve of in a lot of places I’ve been to, either. But, sometimes, those powers and those souls aren't... sometimes I'm not strong enough to command them completely, so I need to supply blood in some other way. Sometimes they only listen if it's my blood.” Dubhan let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. This isn’t something I like to talk about.”

“Is this something all harbingers have to go through?”

“Well… No. No, it isn’t. It’s not supposed to be, anyway. There are harbingers that are more skilled than I am, that can command our powers properly. I never wanted to admit to you that I’m… I mean, basically, that I’m a hack.”

“That’s hardly true, though,” Allouet objected.

“Is it?” Dubhan said, finally looking Allouet in the eye. “The scars on my arm were so I could use those powers when we were hunting rafflesias. And what happened? You almost died, Allouet! I still couldn’t help you.”

“But you did, Dubhan! That wasn’t your fault!”

"It was, though. You were right to be worried. I didn't want you to find out this much about how our abilities work as harbingers, honestly. It's helpful and effective, but it's not good, if we're being honest. But it's how I know to fight. It's how I can make my way in the labyrinth."

"I think I understand. I hadn't meant to bring this up for you. But I already told you that I do not want you to blame yourself for the risks we take together. And I do not think any less of you to know this. I only want to know you’re alright.”

“Are you sure?” Dubhan asked. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“Certain, and I do not want you to hold onto these concerns. If anything, as the only current member of your guild, I’d like to think I can help you with these matters. I, for one, was raised in an environment where we learn from the differences in another’s way of life, rather than judge them. So, while I don’t know how others have treated you in the past, I’d at least like you to trust that I would do nothing of the sort.”

There was a soft smile over Dubhan’s face at Allouet’s words. “Do you really mean that?”

“I assure you, I do.”

“Then... Alright. Thanks, Allouet.” Dubhan’s smile turned into his usual cheerful grin, and he looked as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders. He looked back to the gathering of guilds at the labyrinth’s entrance. “In that case, how about we head on back? We oughtta find out if we beat Silver Bullet!”

Allouet smiled, relieved to hear Dubhan back to his usual self. “That sounds wonderful to me.”