That was the first time I saw Mada cried. It seems the loss of Nevi was a shock to him.

After Ariana came, she put Mada into sleep by a magic. She made some little house out of the wood in the forest for us to stay the night. She also put Nevi’s body inside some kind of little pool like in her house in a different room. Mada also sleeps in a different room with Erfia accompanies him. The rest of us gather in the main room consist of a fireplace and three long comfy chairs. Ariana sits in the middle chair facing the fireplace. Eri and Kurua sit in the chair in her right in front of Xiel and Me.

We heard the whole story from Xiel with some tea to drink. Apparently she’s Nevi’s friend and some sort of Mada’s pupil. Mada saved her when she was being attacked by bandits in High Port. I’m guessing it’s not so long after she parts way with Nevi. Xiel said that time Mada just appeared out of nowhere and then he’s gone after gave her some weapon.

“Mada’s reaction was to be expected. Nevi was so close to him. He’s the one taking care of her since she came to our place.” Ariana tells us.

“You know, I knew Mada is Kries the Creator. So, I thought his old mind could take the pain of losing someone.” Eri comments on Ariana’s words.

“Well, his soul and his mind is the oldest thing I know. But yet his body is just on its 29. His body can’t take it. That makes him react accordingly.” Ariana says.

“So, what do you think he will do? He just wiped out an entire city. That’s, that’s,” I can’t really express my though.

“That’s crazy.” Kurua finally finish my words. “I can guess he will go to Mammon for a revenge. He could also put the whole city inside the Keeper if he can’t find him.”

“Well, that’s a possibility.” Ariana takes a sip of her Tea. “Truth to be told, I also want to take revenge on this Mammon but it might be hard.”

“Is he that strong?” I ask her.

“Mammon is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. He’s one of the strongest seven in the Demon’s Realm. One of them is comparable to me or Cana’an.” Kurua explains the condition. “The rumor said the current generation of Seven Deadly Sins is the most powerful ever. Adding he’s governing Markozias. If we attack him, it is likely that the other six will come to help him.”

Wow, so Demon’s realm has seven people like Cana’an and Kurua. That can’t be good. Even if Ariana, one of ten greatest wizard, joins us we still lack the numbers. They have seven while we only have three. And against one word titled, Eri, Xiel, and I have no chances at all.

“I don’t know if this is just a coincidence or what. It’s happening right when we’re heading to the demon’s realm.” I speak my mind.

“I can’t really say it’s a coincidence.” Xiel replies to me. “This has happened for seven years. It is inevitable sooner or later.”

Well, she got that right. But still. I can’t take it off of my mind. A possibility of fighting the Seven Deadly Sins. It’s like fighting seven Mada or Seven Kurua. That’s freaking impossible.

“I wonder if the others saw the signal.” Ariana speaks.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Eri asks her.

“That light is a signal they created. It must not be used unless something extremely urgent. That’s the reason I use my displacement magic when I saw it.”

Yeah, she suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I don’t know such magic exists. The only instant displacement I know is by using gate of the world.

“Anyway, let’s take a rest for now.” Ariana closes our conversation. “It won’t do us anything by staying late.”

Yeah, she’s right. We need to take a rest. Maybe tomorrow we can decide things better.

The only ones got a room are Mada and Erfia. The rest of us sleep in the main room.

~~~

Ahh, what happened?

I wake as the light touch my face. I look around and see I’m in a bed with Erfia sleeping beside me. Ah, I remember. When Ariana came I cried on her and then I couldn’t remember anything else after. I guess she put me to sleep by some magic.

A house. I guess Ariana made it with her magic.

I slowly get out of the bed. Making sure I’m not waking Erfia. I walk to the door and open it. Everybody still asleep. Xiel, Eri, and Reis is sleeping on the chair while Kurua is sleeping in the ground. I walk slowly and head outside.

“Ah, you’re awake. How is it feels?”

As I come out of the house, Ariana greets me while she’s stirring a big pot on a fire below it with a big wooden spoon. Just like a witch cooking something. I can guess she’s making a breakfast.

“Close the door slowly. Better not wake them up.”

I do as Ariana told and then walk to her. I sit in a little chair near the pot.

“So, what are you going to do?” Ariana asks me.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’ll get that Mammon bastard. He will regret making Nevi as his slave.” I answer her. “By the way, where did you put her body?”

“I put it inside the preserving pool. Next to your room. We better give her a proper burial before we get to him.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It would be nice if we could bury her in your place.” I sound my opinion.

“I’ll do just that. In the meantime, you go to the Demon’s Realm and get the other God Item. It will increase our chance of winning against them.”

Wa, wait. What? I think I just notice something. “Did I hear it wrong? Did you say we?”

“No, you’re not.” Ariana answers me. “They played around with my child. Do you think I’ll let them go? Hell no!”

“But, if you do that your two words title will change into one word title. And that’s one word fugitive for you. Are you-“

“Shut up already!” Ariana cut me in. “The others will do the same thing. If they find out about Nevi’s death and her being enslaved by Mammon, they will run amok too.”

Yeah, I can imagine it. “But, I am the one who killed her. I-“

I can’t continue my words. My body is shaking. It still can’t react normally.

“No, you didn’t. You freed her out of her misery.” Ariana stops stirring the pot and came to me. “For that, I thank you.”

She kisses my forehead. I can feel a warmth of a mother’s love on it. A genuine and pure gratitude.

Even if my soul knows about it already, but it seems she’s doing it to calm my body. And thankfully it works. I can feel my body is getting calm.

“Then, it’s a war.”

Suddenly another voice rose from the house. Both of us look into it and see Kurua is standing in the door. He closes the door slowly and then walks to us.

“In our side,” Kurua continues his words. “There’s me, Kurua the Goliath, Mada the Raider, and Ariana the Great Wizard. I kind of wonder what kind of title she will get”

“Hey, hey, don’t talk like it’s got nothing to do with you. You might become one word fugitive yourselves.” I try to put some sense to him.

“Huhuhu, a tittle is nothing but an accessory to my name. I couldn’t care less about being one word hero or one word fugitive.”

There he goes letting his weird soft laugh. “Besides, the only person in my entire life is Therion. I got no other people to worry about.”

Well, if Eri is the only person knows him and the other way around, it is definitely the best thing could happen. But then, how about Ariana?

I look into her. She realizes my glare at her and lets out a smile.

“Don’t worry. I’ve cut my ties with this world a long time ago. The only ties I got with this world is you kids.” Ariana answers with a confident tone.

Uh, typical of a wizard. But I can’t complain.

If I reveal my face and my name, hell will break loose for the people that know me. As the punishment for one word title is unknown to public, some of them will tell the government that they knew me hoping for a reward. But instead they will be killed. And also, I can never enter another town easily. If Kurua’s identity also changed into one word fugitive, we will have a new trouble.

“I don’t think I can give my identity yet. Neither you Kurua.” I tell them my mind. “That will create more problem for us in the future.”

“Now that you said it,” Kurua mumbles.

His identity as Kurua the Goliath is not something that well known. I think it’s safe enough to put him in an armor.

“So, we will make it like this.” I tell them my plan. “Ariana wants to revenge her pupil, Nevi, so she attack Mammon. She hires me, Mada the Raider, and some unknown soldier in armor.”

Kurua nod his head as he hears me. It seems my idea of putting him in an armor is not bothering him.

“That’s good enough. But we got another problem,” Ariana comments. “What are we going to do about them?”

Ariana turn her head into the house. In the door, we see Reis and the other half awake.

“Yeah, that’s another problem.” I cover my head with my palm. “Let’s stop for now and have some breakfast.”

We stop the discussion and have our breakfast. The breakfast went pretty quiet. It’s so different from few days ago when Reis and Nevi had a fight over trivial things. Ahh, thing changed so fast. When we finish the meal, I start the discussion again. We tell them about the discussion that happened before we had our meal.

“So, what do you think?” I ask them.

Nobody answers me at that time. All of them took some time thinking about it until finally Xiel speaks.

“What do you think the best for us to do?”

“To be honest, I’m not so sure.” I answer her. “The best for all of you are to stay. But it’s not that easy. Without Erfia, I won’t be able to fill my mana ring. But If I take her, then it means I need someone to guard her while we fight. But again, it will put you all in danger.”

“This fight, or should I say war, is the worst one could happen.” Kurua adds explanation. “Seven one titled against three one titled is not something ever happened before.”

He already put Ariana as one word titled, eh.

Well, the words title system is being used less than 300 years so I would say it’s the worst one in the last 300 years. This war will raze anything around it. If we fight in a city, the least it will do is raze the city.

“Before we jump to conclusions,” Reis speaks. “Can’t you just kidnap this Mammon person and do it without fighting all out? Or at least let’s go to Markozias, then we will decide the plan after we see the condition in that place. How about that?”