"Which book is this?"

"The gift Eloise's Aunty gave for the treatment."

"Isn't this an expensive book?"

"Yep. And Ben still gave it to you, the one that annoys him the most. So, you should read it."

"If he told you to walk only on hands, you would too. You're too blind."

"He had never advised anyone wrongly. Ben must have a reason to give you that book."

"Maybe it's just a prank. Must I be a pacifist or something?"

"The book isn't about being a pacifist. At least that is what I heard about it. As he said, you can do whatever. I won't force you. But I won't read it either if you don't." Dinna said as she walked toward the bathroom.

"Are you sleeping more, or are we having breakfast together?"

"Nah. I'm sleeping more since I don't have work today anyway. If you need something, you'll find me here."

Matt put the book aside and covered himself again.

"Alright then, have sweet dreams." Dinna entered the bathroom, leaving Matt and the book behind on the bed.

Yet, despite Matt saying he was going to sleep, he kept frowning while looking at the gift.

---

Arriving at an alchemy laboratory, Ben found Mirana focused on her work.

On a table, on her right side, he could see Syd sleeping inside a big box.

"It seems I was meaninglessly worried."

However, Mirana didn't respond as she stayed focused on her work.

Ben coughed loudly, trying to get her attention.

After a few tries, she finally turned around slowly.

"Sorry, Mirana, the woman at the door let me in. I hope I'm not intruding too much."

"Oh! Sir. Ben, you are back? Do you want to see my work? It's incredible! Ah! And Syd has been great. We had a fantastic time together. His company brightens my days."

"I'm fine, thank you. I'm not good at alchemy. And I was afraid Syd was getting in your way, but it doesn't seem so."

"He's so chill! And smart too. I had no issue watching over him. And he even helped me with my timings, as I get easily sick when I don't eat on time. Oh, what's that?"

"I wanted to bother you with this. Can you have a look? I wanted to ask how long you think it would take for this faction to easily melt this. I hoped to get an opportunity elsewhere, but that might not come given the dire circumstance."

"Wow. Is this what I think it is? Why is it so ugly, though?"

"Some idiot melted it into a deformed doughnut."

"Why make this into a Spirit Energy Stabilizer. It makes no sense. Such shitty job while using Hedril."

"They likely got their hands on something they couldn't sell. But once melted, even badly, it became harder to track."

"Yeah, likely. Such a pity. The question, right, while we could melt this, it would likely take us six months."

"No, don't do that. It's a long-term project. I'm not hurried. Once you can melt this quickly, we can talk again. But I hope to get some prediction, so I know when I should talk with you again about this."

"In 100 years, we'll likely be able to melt Hedril in a couple of days. And by then, the training of the newcomers would have ended too, so we should have more people helping. Is that too far off? We can try upgrading a few things earlier if need be. I can get Silver help and do a conjoint upgrade with the smithy."

"No need to go that far. That will be early enough since I don't have the other main artifact piece, either. I need to shop around for a walking stick. I merely want to plan accordingly. So, even if it takes 500, that's also fine. Ah, and a detail that should be important, I require it in the molten form. I'll be using it to inscribe an array. So, the conjoint thing would likely be detrimental. Optimally, I would be using one of your laboratories when it can melt this thing since I need the precision of their apparatus."

"Then, yeah, a conjoint melter wouldn't help. Luckily, it's only a question of time until I can achieve that. But also, I'm sad you aren't as much into alchemy. You can start! Don't you want to play around with me? I can get you a lab all for yourself!"

"Unfortunately, I don't have the time to sink into that, and I'm also a very slow learner. You should learn arrays instead."

"I get easily bored writing those. So, I rather work with something a bit more dynamic."

"That's also where you are most talented. And I don't think you need my help, either."

"It's just fun to share something you love with others."

"That's fair enough. I promise to let you watch it. How about that? Even if you aren't interested in the arrays, watching me deal with the material should be interesting enough."

"I wouldn't be forceful about it, but if you allow me, I won't waste such a golden opportunity."

"That's a promise, then. Well, I think something is burning."

"Oh, no!" Mirana ran to her experimental table hurriedly.

The damage wasn't too significant, but she had forgotten to turn one of the pieces off and wasted some of her work. Fortunately, it was nothing that would take her too long to repair.

"Thank you for taking care of Syd! I'll leave you to deal with that, sorry. But we can talk more another time. Bye!"

"No worries, it was my fault. I'll see you later, then. Bye bye. Come visit again, Syd!"

Syd became alert and squeaked happily at Mirana.

Ben ended up leaving her the same way he found her, hyperfocused. But after he left with Syd in his arms, a big smile appeared on his face.

---

"The old man was a bit weird," Matt commented before Dinna left the room.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. The old man sounded too gloomy."

"Isn't he always like that?"

"No. His annoyance at me sounded fake. But whatever! I don't care."

"No, please do. And thank you. I'll try to look into it."

---

Syd squeaked at Ben worriedly.

"What do you mean? We got enough food. That's all for you. I'm not hungry."

Syd stopped for a moment and looked even more worriedly at Ben.

"Yep. That's more like it. I have an offer."

Syd sadly offered Ben some of his half-eaten food.

"Remember the place I mentioned before? Where you could find friends like yourself?"

Syd nodded.

"I can take you there right now. But you'll likely not meet your friends from here again."

The squirrel turned his head, confused.

"I have something to do that will take a long time. So I can take you there like I promised, or you can stay here, and I'm sure the will treat you well. You need to choose."

Syd squeaked, asking something.

"No. I'll pass there to retrieve something, and then I'll return to repair myself. I'll likely stay there, sleeping for a very long time. But I need to act since it's urgent."

Syd pointed around frantically.

"I know. But our friends can only do so much. You noticed that they have been quite stressed too, right?"

"And I'm offering this because I don't know if I'll be able to take you there any other time."

Syd squeaked again as if ranting.

"They would just get in the way."

Ben sighed.

"They are a faction. But I work best alone. I can guarantee my survival and that no one can track me. But if more people get involved, it would likely negatively impact me."

Syd stayed silent for a while.

"I know it's unfair, but I hope you can understand. And if you choose to stay, I will likely be unable to come to visit."

Syd asked something else, confused.

"Yes. That place will help my recovery. I'll likely stay there if I survive, but unconscious."

"Yeah. You know it's hard. But I need to do it. I can't just sit around and wait since I plan to live a long time."

"And I do think you should be with your kind. Being with humans is fine, but we can only relate so much."

Syd sadly held Ben's clothes, who was on his knees.

"If you stay, go back to Mirana. But even if you warn them, you won't find me here anymore. I'm sorry."

Syd just held tighter and nodded.

"I know it's not fair. I'm sorry. But I didn't want to break the promise, either. If only the kids were a bit stronger. But tragedy waits for no one."

Syd squeaked.

"I know that you'll miss them. I'm sorry. But we need to go before our friends notice something is wrong."

In the middle of this sad atmosphere, the Duo left.

Their journey was going to be quite long, but their destination was a place Ben knew quite well: His hometown. Or at least whatever remained of it.