The first rays of the morning sun streamed into a room, and Gaius stirred awake to see a sleeping Isabelle to his left. They had rented a bedroom at a nearby inn last night, and after deciding on what places of interest to visit, he gazed at her for a few moments, and then gave her a little hug.

For some reason, he had gotten really addicted to hugs ever since he got together with her — if he had to somehow quantify just how much he liked them, he would probably say that he liked them ten times more than the average person. It also helped that Isabelle also liked cuddling him, especially his head, so…

Brushing back a lock of stray hair from her face, Gaius took in the intoxicating sight for a few minutes, before pushing himself up from the bed reluctantly. Straightening out his clothes, he began to wash up.

His hair was slightly damp when he left the small bathroom attached to their room. Bouncing back to the bed, Gaius rubbed Isabelle’s cheeks, and she stirred a moment later.

“Let me sleep a little longer, okay?”

Gaius looked at Isabelle, who was now mumbling in her sleep, and then decided to get her up into a sitting position. Isabelle wasn’t one to usually oversleep, but there were one or two days in which she would just roll around and laze on the bed. It was probably a habit that she picked up after Gaius moved into her room; a result of being exposed to Gaius’ own habits of sleeping.

Taking this chance to hug her from the back, Gaius laid his head down on her back and waited for Isabelle to wake up on her own. They weren’t really in a rush, all things considered, and he preferred intimacy like this over walking around in town anyway.

They stayed like this for another ten minutes until Isabelle finally woke up properly, at which point Gaius reluctantly let her go off to wash up too. While the sounds of running water filled the room, he got to work and started checking on his weapons. From what Nexus said, the closest familiar spirit was now to the south of the Eastern Territories, around an hour or so away, and Gaius would take care of that before they started on their honeymoon proper.

“I don’t think there’s a need to use your weapons now,” Nexus abruptly spoke, sticking his head out of the backpack.

“Why?” Gaius asked.

“The other familiar spirits abruptly vanished from the Map of Stars,” Nexus replied.

“What?”

“You heard that right,” said Nexus. “I’m not sure what happened, but I can no longer track them at all. They didn’t go insane or kill themselves either — they just up and vanished.”

“That’s…” Gaius rubbed his head. “And here I am, thinking that I still have quite a bit to do for this personal quest of mine. At least I got to explicitly save one of them, though. That’s better than nothing.”

“On the bright side, you get to be more lovey-dovey with Isabelle.” Nexus sighed. “Alright, since your personal quest just came to an abrupt end, I’m going to stop hanging out with you. Nakama and La-Ti just created some fun toy, so I’m joining them.”

Before Gaius could say anything else, the statue had lost its lifelike quality, turning into a regular masterpiece that Nakama habitually created once every three days. Her woodworking skills were off the charts at this point, and he was glad that he had made La-Ti her apprentice, since he wouldn’t have the face to continue being his master with Nakama around. Furthermore—

“Wait, why am I suddenly thinking about Nakama’s carving ability?” Gaius wondered out loud.

“Did you say something, Gaius?” Isabelle walked out of the bathroom.

There was something charming about her wet hair that made him lose his wits for a moment.

“Gaius?”

He started, and then cleared his throat. “Right, There’s a change of plans.”

“Oh.” Isabelle smiled. “It’s okay. I guess we can have fun later. You’re more important, after all.”

“No, you silly. The familiar spirits Nexus was tracking have all up and vanished,” Gaius replied, rolling his eyes. “There’s nothing left for me to do, other than to spend time with you while touring the Five Lands.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Gaius grinned. “I suppose that this quest of mine is complete.”

“I never got around to asking,” Isabelle began, “but there really isn’t anything in it for you to help them, is there?”

Gaius shrugged. “I don’t think there’s going to be a reward or anything, other than my peace of mind. Considering that the three other familiar spirits I had wanted to save just vanished like that, however, there’s seriously nothing I can do at this point. My personal quest has ended, and I think I’ve tried my best.”

Isabelle caught the last, unspoken sentence, and then smiled. “Alright. I won’t worry, then.”

“We’ll just have to expand our travel plans for the other nations too,” Gaius replied. “Is that okay?”

Her eyes twinkled. “You’re asking me?”

“Who else should I ask, then?” Gaius got up and returned to the bed. “You’re the foremost expert about the Five Lands, not me. But before that, I think we should make more time to spend at your family’s home. We…might not have a chance to see them after all this is over, right?”

“A last visit.” Isabelle sat down on the bed too, and held his hand up. “I suppose it’s necessary, right?”

“I feel like I’m stealing the apple of their eye for good,” Gaius replied. “I should at least give them an account or something, right?”

“There’s probably no need to, but if it makes you feel better,” said Isabelle, “I suppose we should do that.”

A nearly-undetectable hint of sadness flashed across her eyes.

Gaius considered her words for a moment, and then gave her a hug in the place of any words he could have said. The Second Extermination had taken family members from everyone — her parents, who had joined the war — were almost certainly dead.

“Thank you.”

“We’re all the same,” Gaius replied, his words a whisper. “I’ll be here for you. Forever.”

“Mm.”

Gaius took out a towel and began to dry her hair carefully. It didn’t take long before they were done, but he decided to spend a few minutes with his head on her lap.