For the past few days, Fia could not hear Sura’s voice. The skull was not in the room either, which made her even more perplexed. When she asked John what had happened, he denied knowing anything about the disappearance. Despite his looks, the knight was sometimes a terrible liar. However, she did not pry more than she already had. An uncomfortable feeling in her stomach stopped her.

At first, the quiet relieved her. From the time she escaped Tiw to now, the ghost haunted her mind with terrible jokes and melancholic visions. However, his presence also distracted her from the thoughts of imminent death. Shade followed her everywhere, his grip tightening after every breath.

She laughed at herself. Her mind did not break, but it did crack in the past. Poverty drove many people insane, after all. From widows who sold their bodies to butchers who sold their children’s flesh, many villages made monsters of men. She was not forced into the battlefield; she embraced it. At least there, she felt no remorse for murder.

“I’ll have to double my training,” she muttered. She dug her head deeper into the pillows, but there was no respite. It was as if a reaper was reminding her that she had no right to such luxury.

---

In the training ground of the barracks, the hundred War rats discoursed together in a circular formation. Although these youths were now soldiers, they did not reject their roots either. Some boasted of their exaggerated past while others gambled with rocks. Outside of their training, they were still ragtag scavengers. In the middle of the group, the fours leaders were discussing various matters concerning their future.

Bored from the logistics, however, Three tried to change the topic. “Two, what did you see in our new figurehead?” he asked.

Two exhaled the smoke from his cigarette. “I don’t know. When my senses touched her ash-like mana, it set my nerves on fire. I don’t want to test her ever again.”

One patted his comrade’s shoulder. “Looks like the rumors were true. She nullifies mana with her own, with a lot more destructive force than we imagined,” he said. “Our operations will be much smoother now, hopefully.”

“It can’t be any harder,” Four spat. “The mages won’t be unguarded. How does her highness expect us to accomplish this mission?”

“Maybe she doesn’t,” Three yawned.

“Then we die. Nothing more, nothing less,” One said.

Two threw the cigarette to the ground and stomped it. “If you want to die, don’t drag me along as well,” he complained. “How did a lunatic like you survive this long?”

“Fortune favors the fool,” Four muttered.

One pressed his temple with his hands. “Looks like meat has gotten all of you soft. Did we expect infinite riches when we became War Rats? We need something to make us stronger.”

“What we need right now is not strength, but alcohol,” Three said. He took out a bottle of liquor from his leather bag and grinned devilishly. “I bet you can’t handle three cups, Leader.”

One’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that Sir John’s treasure? How many did you steal?”

“One for each of us,” Three cackled. “While I challenged him to a duel, Four broke into his office.”

“He had three traps in that room, bastard,” Four scowled at Two. “You told me there was only one.”

Two grabbed a bottle and rubbed his face on the glass surface. “My mana is not omniscient,” he said. “At least you made it out alive.”

Four stared knives into the apathetic boy. “I will kill you one day,” she vowed.

“Are you joining us, Leader?” Three grinned.

One stared hatefully at his brutish comrade. “Give me a bowl,” he said eventually.

Even the most serious member of the youths was still an alcoholic.