A silent air loomed in Paro’s home as the three present sat around the table. The food had already been prepared, but no one seemed ready to eat it.

After what had happened in the cell, Din spent the rest of the day sulking in his bed. Even Paro appeared to be having a hard time eating. Karlyn seemed to have noticed the tense situation and chose to wait for the others to eat first.

Finally, Paro grabbed his spoon and then ate the curry. After a spoonful, some life entered his eyes. He continued to eat.

Karlyn turned to face Din. Din, noticing that she was looking at him, began eating as well. Happy that the other two finally started eating, Karlyn chose to eat as well.

It was a quick and silent meal. No one said a word.

Grabbing the plates from the table, Karlyn went into the kitchen to leave Din and Paro alone. It was then that Paro finally spoke.

“I’m sorry I forced you to do that.”

Din had nothing he wanted to say to that. He remained staring at the table where his plate used to be.

Paro irritably stroked his chin.

“I… I didn’t want your first kill to be in the middle of a life or death situation.”

Having caught his attention, Din finally glanced up at Paro.

Paro continued, “When I left Ravenwalt, the first place I headed to was Mesotic. It’s a small port town south of Ravenwalt and my word, it’s a beautiful place. That’s actually where I met Karlyn. I’m sure you noticed how different she looked compared to the rest of the village, right?”

With a quick cough, Paro covered his smile.

“Mesotic had great food, great people, and a great view to top it all off. But there was one big problem: pirates. Since they were a port town, there would be pirates that would raid their town often and the guards sent by Ravenwalt would be no match for the deceiving thieves. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if Ravenwalt sent higher ranked guards, but I don’t think they cared enough to do that.”

At this point, Paro had closed his hands into fists. He looked at Din as he spoke, but he seemed to see beyond Din, almost like he was daydreaming.

“During one those raids, I had to kill for the first time in my life. It was horrible. I even froze right after I killed him. I thought I’d be used to the sight of blood from performing surgeries, but this was different. That blood was on my hands because I killed him.”

He covered his eyes.

“If it hadn’t been for Karlyn, I would’ve been frozen there and killed sooner or later. But that feeling, it never came to me again. I’ve had to kill numerous times after that, but that numb feeling never bothered me. That’s why, I didn’t want your first kill to be in the middle of a battle where you’re vulnerable to attacks.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I killed that prisoner. His life is gone because of me. He didn’t even fight me to protect himself.”

Remaining silent, Paro glanced away. Din didn’t continue either, the two remained sitting while looking elsewhere. It was only after a while that Paro began.

“That man wasn’t innocent, Din. I told you that he killed the woman he loved, but there’s more. I… can’t tell you what that is, but you shouldn’t feel guilty about killing him.”

Suddenly, Din raised his voice, “Then why didn’t you do it?! Why was he locked up in that cell if he was so guilty?!”

Taken aback, Paro took a moment to recover, he then spoke in an uneven voice, “That man was my apprentice.” Paro cleared his throat before continuing, “He was someone I brought along with from Mesotic together with Karlyn. He saw how I helped the people in his town and wanted to learn medicine. Even after all he’d done, I couldn’t bring myself to kill him. I wasn’t strong enough to kill him.”

“Your… apprentice…?”

Paro changed the topic quickly, “The place where you can find out more about Lorelei. It’s a place called Aegis.”

“Huh? Is that in Grandel? I don’t think I’ve heard of it before.”

Paro shook his head.

“No, but it’s close. Aegis is its own island northwest of Grandel. You can either go to Lanport or Mesotic to get a ship, but if I were you, I’d recommend heading to Lanport. There’s a chance you might run into pirate ships if you leave from Mesotic.”

“What’s in Aegis?” I asked.

Just as usual, Din repeated my question to Paro. Paro answered, “I’ve met some Spirits on my journey. As far as I know, that’s where they went. Most of them probably know less than me about Spirits, but I know for sure, one of them that an help you. Like I’ve said before, I don’t think you can ever bring Lorelei back to life, but there might be a chance you can learn more about your unusual situation.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Din said, “Of course we’ll be going.” Then turned to me, “We’ll find a way everyone else can see Lorelei again.”

“Ah, speaking of which,” Paro started, “I actually spoke with her last night.”

“What? But… I thought you couldn’t see her?”

Paro scratched the back of his head, “That’s normally the case, but just for a while that night, I could see her and talk to her.”

“Do you know how you did it?” Din asked as he moved around the table to be closer to Paro.

“I don’t know. I could suddenly see her and then just as suddenly, I stopped being able to see her. I can’t tell you how it happened or why, just that it happened.”

All excitement left Din as the answer to my situation was still left open ended.

Paro placed a hand on Din’s shoulder, “You’ll find your answers in Aegis. Don’t give up yet.” After seeing Din’s enthusiasm rise again, Paro continued, “So to get to Lanport, you need to head past Ravenwalt and then head southwest from there.”

“I’ll be heading to Newron before that. I think Newron was just west of Ravenwalt, right?”

Paro nodded. Then he added, “If you’ll be in Newron, then I recommend buying ship boarding passes there since you’ll be able to save some money for the journey.”

Both Din and I came to a sudden realization.

Having noticed that, Paro folded his arms and said, “There’s no helping it. Don’t worry, I’ll give you some money for the trip.”

“Thank you, Uncle Paro.”