Five canisters were bound around Gaius’ right hand when he and his little team assembled at the Map Room. Each of them held twenty doses of painkillers, which were slated to automatically inject its contents into the boy every twenty-four hours. It would leave one hell of a scar, but there wasn’t really much Gaius could do to weaken the pain otherwise. He’d tried going without the painkillers a few hours ago, but after two hours of everyone staring at his face with an odd mix of entertainment and worry, Gaius finally gave in.

He was no stranger to having odd things injected into him anyway. As he watched Nexus complete the final preparations for a mass teleport to the Easter Territories, Gaius thought back to the days he was in Heritage Basestation, where he’d spent quite the amount of points to buy medicine to strengthen his physical body.

His heart quivered slightly as he thought of the men and women at Heritage Basestation. They’d said that they would recreate the passageway to Heritage proper, but he hadn’t seen them do so for almost a year. Nexus had even shown the place that the camp used to occupy, and other than a pair of fake rabbit ears — which was probably left behind by the Demigod Nox as some sick joke — nothing remained. It would have been better that he didn’t see the screen, but now that he did, the boy couldn’t help but worry about their fate in the lands occupied by the demons of legend. Gaius missed the people there. He didn’t want to admit it, but Nalus, Mai, Senator Alexandre…these people had grown on him.

Where are you guys now? Are you doing well in the Wildlands? Did you know that a new country, one made up of beastfolk and humans alike, has been created in the South? He took a deep breath, willing the warmth his eyes felt to vanish, and then looked at Nakama and Isabelle, who were playing with each other with foam-like practice swords, and felt the pain inside him wane somewhat.

“Master Gaius, we’re ready to move out,” Nexus said, its quiet voice probably an indicator that Nexus knew the boy was contemplating something.

After a moment, the boy replied, “Good work. Are there any issues with our chosen location?”

“It’s a few hours away from the capital of Mi-Zu, so Nakama may not be able to walk that far for that long,” replied Nexus. “But that’s about it. Other than that, it seems that there are monsters roaming around the locality.”

“Monsters?”

“Animals contaminated by demonic energies, Master Gaius. The East and the West saw the heaviest fighting in the First Extermination, and even with the ability to overcome the Eternal nature of demons, the Cardinal Champions were never able to get rid of whatever energy was left behind.” The sculpture shrugged. “There’s a reason why the Adventurers’ Guild is so much more influential in these two continents, if nothing else.”

“In the lands controlled by the Assembly,” Isabelle added on, “and in the South in general, because few monsters ever appear, the Guild is used to hire workers to make up for any shortfall.”

“Which explains why there aren’t many ability-users amongst the common folk of the South,” said Nexus. It looked at Isabelle’s enquiring look, and said, “The act of carving sigils on flesh to use them.”

“Oh, that. The upper-class don’t use them either — Dad told me that I shouldn’t ruin my skin for something I’d never use.” Isabelle smiled.

“But about those monsters…” Gaius looked at Nexus.

“Nothing much to worry about for us,” said the artificial intelligence. “They’ll provide a source of meat for you, if nothing else. Apparently, according to some of my previous masters, monster meat is tastier than regular animal meat. They made quite a lot of trips to the East or the West for ingredients.”

“Really?” Nakama asked, her eyes shining. “Better than chicken?”

Isabelle looked at Gaius, the ends of her lips rising. The boy coughed lightly, and said, “We’ll go try that out. Also, that reminds me, I wanted to look for a school to enroll Nakama in. We’ll skew her development if she stays here with just two people and a sculpture for company.”

“A school, eh?” Isabelle echoed. “Let’s send her to the Institute of Rational Development in Eo-Seu if we ever go there. It’s famous as a school throughout the Five Lands. I attended it myself for six years, before I graduated two years ago.”

“She’s nine — is that possible?” Gaius asked.

“Very much so. The younger the better, and no one cares about race there,” said Isabelle. “All they care about is providing quality education to children. And earning lots of money from their parents, but I don’t think that’s a concern to you.”

“True.” He thought back to the enormous pile of gems he’d robbed from everyone who’d stepped into Heritage for the past few months, and smiled. “I’m probably richer than any one House in the South now. Okay then, while I’m searching for what I need, you’ll take Nakama and enroll her into the Institute.”

“Yes…Gaius.” Her mouth twitched, and Gaius couldn’t help but have an ominous feeling that ‘Master Gaius’ was something she wanted to say earlier.

“Let’s head for Mi-Zu first, then,” said Nexus. “The Eo-Seu Territory is quite close to Mi-Zu, so it won’t be much of a problem to head there after we make landfall. Check that you’ve everything you need — the emergency teleport function is for emergencies, and not for grabbing something you forgot.”

Gaius looked through his backpack one last time. Five bags of gems had been stuffed inside it, along with some camping equipment. It probably wasn’t going to be used, but better that than nothing. A hooded cloak danced around him, the insides filled with Straight Shots and knives, and after patting the holster that held the Moonshot, he flashed a thumbs up.

After Isabelle nodded her head, the artificial intelligence hopped off the Map of Stars. “Let’s go. Form a circle, and hold each other’s hands.”

The three obeyed, and as Nexus walked into the middle of the circle, a sigil lit up below their feet. The world darkened for a moment as a black pillar surrounded them. Wind howled all around them, but Gaius couldn’t feel anything. In fact, it felt like he was just standing there, instead of the jerky teleportations he’d grown used to.

Minutes passed in silence, and as the winds died down, Nexus said, “We’ve arrived.”

The black pillar faded away to reveal a prairie, but before they could do anything else, there was a roar, and Gaius found himself moving automatically to fend off a new threat.

A furry paw arced into the sky as he brought the Terminus up in a sweeping motion, and their assailant — a bear twice the height of Isabelle — howled in fury. That howl was apparently a call of sorts, because immediately afterwards, more howls came back from a distance away.

“Oh, crap.” Gaius glanced at his right arm, which was trembling somewhat, and grimaced. “They’re coming.”