Jodoc merely stared at Luz before laughing at the threat.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll play by your rules, and I won't touch anyone, as long as Simon is not here," Jodoc stated as he jumped on Luz's shoulder.

"Since we are alone, could you at least tell me how you and Master Simon ended up as partners and why exactly you are researching in that direction?" Luz asked curiously.

"Why are you interested in that, child? You just want a strong animal companion, whom you can order around, right?" Jodoc questioned him back as he rubbed his beak against his feathers.

"Ehm, sort of hehe," Luz answered back, not daring to look into Jodoc's starring eyes.

'Why does he never blink when talking with me???'

"Fine. Simon stole in his youth an egg during one of his guild missions. His original plan was to sell that egg since it belonged to species that easily reached intermediate mage rank after stepping into adulthood. But unfortunately for him, I cracked the egg and accepted him as my mum before he could sell me. Since then, I was always by his side," laughed Jodoc before it grew silent again.

Luz only uttered: "I see," before the silence continued for the night.

Interestingly, Simon didn't appear on the next day, and neither did he appear at the end of the week.

"So, do you really think that Simon was attained by Master Brian?" asked Luz as he ignored the food in the room with ease.

By now, Luz hadn't eaten for 3 days in a row, nor did he feel any hunger or desire. For sure, his parasites protested the first two days, but in the end, they were forced to lower their metabolism if they didn't want to die with their host.

"Yes, he definitely did it. I lost Master Simon's coordinates after their planned meeting. I still haven't recovered his signals," replied Jodoc as a child's hand petted him gently.

"I see," replied Luz with a nod before continuing with: "After I finish making all these parasites mine, we'll move back."

***********************************************************************************************

Somewhere else, a man muttered: "I see," after Simon gave up and told him the story, happening to Luz and the people around him.

"I hate to be in such a situation, where I have to decide the fate of a lot of people," sighed Brian before parts of his office were summoned in the dark void.

The two sat, and Siman felt chair and grew happy that some of his senses returned.

"I always knew that it would be a hard decision for you. Letting me free will result in them getting used as a guinea pig. However, taking the matter to your own hand will result in some innocent casualties, and not doing anything will result in them getting captured, so what will you do now, Master Brian?" Simon asked with a grin going ear to ear.

"I'm thinking what I should do," admitted Brian with a sigh before continuing with: "I hate to say it, but none of the options I have, nor their consequences are great. Even if I kill her without hurting anyone else, who will be taking care of the rest? In the end, I'll be the one who has to take them under my wing, resulting in potential clashes with the institute if they ever find it out."

Seeing Brian's state of inaction, Simon merely smiled in satisfaction before stating: "Your weakness was always your desire to protect the innocent, trying to give people with robbed chances, an opportunity for life. The fact that Alice and Anne turned their back to their fellow comrades only confuses you more. Is it worth to avenge the death of someone willing to sell their comrades in a moment's notice?"

"I don't know the answer to that question," sighed Brian as two cups appeared on the table and a bottle began floating in the air, pouring into the cup.

A strong aroma filled the air, and the two each took one of the cups.

"It's been a long time since we've drunk it," sighed Brian, and Simon nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I'm still of the opinion that whenever you summon that drink, you will make some choices which I won't like," commented Simon and the downed it.

It tasted awful. But at least it helped to dampen the serious mood, both thought.

"You still haven't told me what you will do now," asked Simon with a smile.

"I'll soon leave to find the killer, just to mark here. If she ever comes to my city or anywhere near a 50-kilometer radius of it, I'll slaughter her," replied Master Brian.

"In other words, you'll forgive her because you don't want to take the responsibilities of raising the kids she has been protecting till now. But you must be a moron if you forget the quote: [Even not taking any action is still an action]," stated Simon before laughing.

"At least I'm morally superior to you, who wanted to use these kids as his own guinea pigs for his mage experiment," responded Brian, while Simon's laughter grew louder.

"That's nothing to be proud of," stated Simon before continuing with: "only some of the bigger institutes are worse than me."

"You aren't even that morally bad. It's just… It's just you're often possessed by your desires," sighed Brina before stating: "anyway, I've made up my mind. You won't be leaving this darkness till Luz return's by himself."

Shocked, Simon tried standing up, but he failed. It felt as if his legs stuck roots.

"No, you can't do that to me. … No, no, NOOOO," shouted Simon getting more desperate with each passing second, while the room slowly faded out of his vision and became one with the void.

"That's probably the wisest decision. Hopefully, it helps Simon. After he leaves the void, he'll definitely crave some basic human interactions instead of trying to achieve his goals no matter what," muttered Brian as he left his office.

Even though he never marked Luz, he still knew the coordinates of Jodoc. Seeing Jodoc's coordinates, Brian raised his eyebrows, muttering to himself: "interesting. I never expected them to be there."

"If only they knew what had taken place there years ago," sighed Brian before teleporting away.