Edward slowly opened the door and came inside. Leyla had left her notebook and she stood up with a beaming smile seeing him. “Edward you are back! I thought you would have reached earlier. Is everything all right?”

Edward stood blankly for a second, simply admiring her, appreciating her smile, her big brown eyes watching him, and her dark long hair. In this instant, he had a single thought. There is nothing more beautiful than a pretty girl smiling at you.

He regained his bearing and responded a few seconds late. “Yes, I managed to travel the way back with Agripin’s villagers. We encountered more monsters than I would have liked, some that I saw for the first time.” He gritted his teeth, his gaze darkening. “We lost one guard, another almost died off and was saved at the last moment. It is getting too dangerous. I’m glad that I left for Agripin so soon. Later on, it would have been too risky to escort Agripin’s population to Gobéliard. Thank you for letting me know of the wolf attacks on your way to Gobéliard, I wouldn’t have realized that the situation was this dire otherwise.”

Leyla came closer and hug him. Edward froze in shock. “I’m just happy you are back safe and sound,” Leyla told him softly.

“I think I love you.” Edward blurted out, realizing belatedly what he had just said.

Leyla giggled and released the hug while still holding Edward by the shoulder. “I love you too.” She smiled brightly. “It took you long enough, you are such an oafish. I was wondering what I would need to do next for you to understand. It was to the point I was openly flirting with you in front of your friends.” Leyla complained playfully.

Edward’s heart was beating widely. He was struggling to concentrate, stunned by the revelation, but he could sense joy bubbling inside him. He looked at Leyla’s face only a few centimeters away as she was still holding him. So close. He thought, scrutinizing the details of her face.

And then, Leyla took the initiative and kissed him. Edward felt the soft touch of her lips on him and his brain short-circuited, everything but Leyla’s kissing him disappearing from his perception. He kissed her back and they stayed like that, cherishing each other embrace.

Finally, Leyla let go. She took a step back, hold Edward’s hand, and brought him near the desk, pulling another chair for him to sit. “Come on, tell me everything.” She asked him, still smiling.

And so, Edward did. He told her about everything, the travel, the monsters, the weight of his responsibility, his fear of others dying by his fault, and finally about the wyrm and the material he had sampled from it.

Leyla’s smile grew even larger if that was even possible. “You thought about me. I appreciate it, truly. Show me what you have got!”

Edward showed her the few scales wyrm and teeth that he had on him. Leyla whistled at the size of the teeth. “Judging from their size, this beast must have been huge.”

Edward nodded. “It was. It could have gobbled me in one bite if it managed to catch me. At one moment in the fight, I was unsure if I would be able to slay it.”

Leyla frowned. “I’m happy that you helped my friends to leave Agripin, but please don’t engage in precarious fights. If you continue to take risks all the time, one day you will slip and get killed. Can you please stay with me in Gobéliard? The city needs you. I need you.” She asked with pleading eyes.

Seeing such a display there was no way that Edward could say no. Besides, for now, he had no projects requiring him to leave Gobéliard, and he wished to spend time with Leyla. “Sure, all the nearby monsters have already been dealt with. And I want to spend time with you.” Edward added, his face reddening.

Leyla smiled warmly. “Then, it’s a deal.”

Edward couldn’t help but laugh seeing her so happy. “Enough of me. What about you? What have you been up to while I was gone? I saw that you installed some rune-inscribed panels on the wall.”

Leyla’s demeanor changed, and her eyes glowed with focus and passion. “You see, runes break down with usage, and in spectacular displays when the stress they are put under exceeds their capacity. I remember what happened to Agripin’s wall when the Bloodmaws managed to break through the block runes. Block runes aren’t that strong, an opponent able to use aura would be able to wear them down until they broke and damage the walls in turn. So, instead of graving them onto the wall, I decided to put them on removable panels instead.”

She paused to take respiration. “Additionally, I figured that since block runes are all the same the token symbols enabling people to go through them would probably be the same. I know that rune knowledge is normally a jealousy-kept secret but I don’t want anyone to be able to simply walk through the defenses I have implemented. So, I tweaked the block runes in my own way. The tokens that I made to go through the barrier should be unique.”

She reached into a drawer on her desk and took out one such token, giving it to Edward. “Here is yours by the way.”

“Thank you. That’s clever I wouldn’t have thought about it.” Edward praised her. He didn’t mention that the token wasn’t strictly necessary for him since he could simply teleport past the barrier.

“Now as for the durability runes.” Edward continued to listen to her with his full attention. “In this case, I had to inscribe them directly onto the wall otherwise they wouldn’t work. Since they boost the material, they are on, they can’t break without the walls breaking as well. So, the problem of the block runes doesn’t apply to them anyway. But they will still wear down with usage. That’s when you provided me with the perfect solution.” She squeezed Edward’s hand. “I thought about the Harpy’s eggshell that you brought me. They are able to use ambient mana to repair themselves. I don’t understand yet how they managed to do that. But, they keep their self-repairing property even when cut into small pieces. I had graved the durability runes symbols on the wall, and I placed the eggshell pieces into the symbol. The eggshells grew until they completed the symbol, stabilizing it, and neutralizing the wear down. Though, I’m not sure how it will react to actual damage if the rune gets broken.” She tapped her index on her chin thoughtfully.

“Having a monster attack to test the barrier and the wall durability would have been nice. Though I get it is better for everyone if the monsters leave us alone.” She added.

“There are no monsters left in the surroundings I’m afraid.” Edward deadpanned.

“All thanks to you.” Leyla winked. “As for the material you just gave me, I don’t know quite yet what to make of them. I was thinking of upgrading our offensive capabilities. Barriers and walls are all good, but they can just stop a threat. Eventually, they will be overwhelmed or destroyed. Those teeth could be used on javelins, and may be engraved with a poison rune.”

Edward nodded. Runes were expressions of a concept. Even though the monsters had different biology it shouldn’t matter. The rune would be able to affect them with poison no matter their body biology. However, the projectiles would need to injure the monsters first. Edward thought back about the wyrm with its aura armor. “You should add a few piercing ones with it too. Monsters’ hides are especially tough, and I’m afraid it won’t work on those able to protect them with aura.”

“I will find another way for those, or leave them to you. Though, you are right about the javelins. I should combine the poison and the sharp rune together. It will be a deadly combination.” Leyla agreed.

They continued to talk about this and that until Edward suddenly realized that a lot of time had gone by unwittingly. “I’m sorry, I think I have to go see Cornelius.” Edward blushed. “Agripin’s population has reached hours ago. I’m sure he already knows about it by now, but he probably wants my report as well. I didn’t notice that time passed so quickly.”

Leyla laughed loudly. “Go, accomplish your duty, my knight.”

This didn’t help Edward’s blush, whose head turned full red. “If you are free tonight, maybe we could go have a drink with Charles’ group at the adventurer guild?” He asked her to make amends for his departure.

“Sure, I’ll make myself free. Go, now Cornelius must be waiting for you.” Leyla sent him off.

Edward smiled and focused on his aura perception once he was out of the room. He quickly spotted Cornelius, who was in his office as usual, but alone this time. Edward teleported to the right floor and then walked to his office. He knocked on the door and entered after Cornelius voiced his agreement.

“It’s good to see you back. I already heard that you successfully escorted Agripin’s population. I must say I was expecting you earlier.”

Edward ruffled his hair awkwardly with one hand. “I was busy with something else.” He couldn’t help but imagine Leyla entering at this moment, introducing herself as “Hello, I’m something else.”, like all those memes he used to watch back on earth. It certainly sounded like the kind of thing she would do. She enjoyed teasing him.

Cornelius didn’t comment. “I’m glad you are here now. Could you tell me more about your trip? From what I heard it wasn’t exactly a smooth journey.”

Edward nodded, growing more serious. “Yes, we were attacked several times. Including new types of monsters. Vipin Forest is unsafe. It should be considered a forbidden area. If I wasn’t at the predator level I would have died. Any awakens that attempt to cross it will be at the mercy of monsters stronger than them.”

Cornelius’ face turned somber. “It was that bad?”

“Yes,” Edward answered without a doubt. “We encountered some kind of One-eyed creep monster that had mental powers. It could lure prey to its location. It was even able to somewhat affect me. An awaken wouldn’t even realize how he had died. I was also attacked both on the way in and on the way out by a pack of wolves even while staying on the path. The wolves in themselves aren’t that troublesome but each pack was led by a Regal wolf. And that’s another level of trouble, they can use aura to prevent you from healing and they can turn into smoke to avoid your attacks while still attacking you. If you can’t force them out of their smoke form you are doomed.”

“How did you manage to take them down?” Cornelius asked, avid to get any more information that could be useful.

“Aura blast,” Edward answered laconically. “The blast is enough to force them back into physical form. From then onward if you avoid their attacks, they are not that difficult to kill. I’m thinking about providing you with a monster handbook of my own design. You can give it to a scribe to make copies and spread them. Knowing what the monsters you are facing are capable of will save lives.” Edward offered.

“Also, last but not least we had to face a wyrm. A massive beast, located in a mist area blocking senses, including aura perception. The mist is probably their doing but I wasn’t able to obtain a confirmation. They are able to form aura armor on top of their scale. An awaken wouldn’t even be able to pierce their defenses.” Edward concluded.

“I see, the situation is worse than I thought,” Cornelius commented.

“I have secured Gobéliard’s surroundings but I can’t do the same for the Vipin Forest. It is too large and exploring its nook and cranny would be dangerous even for me. I can cross through it but not hunt and exterminate every monster’s nest inside it. That’s why I think it should be left as it is, if we can’t secure the area, it is best to avoid it.” Edward insisted. Besides, I promised Leyla that I would spend time with her inside Gobéliard. He thought.