“No more time… north… please…” she spoke in a weak voice.

The more she spoke the paler she became. She was clearly suffering from anaemia because of the blood loss she had incurred, but her shortness of breath seemed to come more from stamina depletion. It was unclear how long she had been forcing herself to run in such a condition but it had taken its toll on her body.

“I understand. Rest now, someone will take care of it,” I reassured her.

Her lips trembled and her eyes grew softer.

“It has to be you…” she managed to utter before falling limp in a state of unconsciousness.

“Take care of the guest,” I commanded, before turning towards the border.

I marched on accompanied by Hector, who, quick-witted, gave a series of orders to its subordinates to prepare everything needed for my departure.

“Now this explains who they are, those ones who have been creeping around our borders for the last few days,” I spoke to Hector.

It had been a couple of days since some suspicious movements had been registered in the territories surrounding the Gamma.

“Yes, sire. We should have been more attentive,” the dismayed Hector replied.

“You were ordered to simply stay on the lookout and you acted as instructed. There was no need to initiate a confrontation, at least not until now”

“Thank you, sire. Anyways, to recapitulate the current situation, during their patrols our lookouts have registered some movements to the northeast of the border…” Hector started to relay information about the state of things. He accepted in his hands a map of the surrounding territories, before opening it and showing it to me.

“Once approached, the strangers avoided us, but they were kept under observation and their movements monitored. This is the latest update on their position. It is from this early morning and it was delivered almost in parallel with the arrival of Miss Ortiz. While the guest was given first aid, we tried to extrapolate their movements from the gathered data. This is their estimated future trajectory,” he ended his explanation by handing me the map, which I took in my hands.

I briefly glanced at it, making sure to memorise all information contained within. Once I was sure I had retained all the necessary data, I handed it back to Hector, who in turn left it to the same subordinate who had originally held it.

“I’ll start looking around that area. Don’t let anyone else follow me,” I replied to Hector.

He stopped short in his track and looked at me.

“Sire, from Miss Ortiz’s words it seems quite clear the presence of escorts following you may prove counterproductive to Mr Grant’s well-being, but I can’t help noticing how this appears to be a ploy to bring you out of the Gamma and isolate you from allies,” he spoke in a professional tone, which nevertheless couldn’t mask the apprehension hidden within. He was implicitly asking me to reconsider my decision.

“It is certainly a trap. Unfortunately, they are using Isaac as a hostage,” I declared my intentions while holding his gaze.

“I understand, sire,” he responded with a small bow.

I continued walking through the scrub while accepting a change of clothing and a belt from which hung multiple pouches filled to the brim with rounded ceramic pebbles.

I changed myself into the rough leather-like attire, leaving behind the flimsy fabric I had on. The only purpose of my action was to wear a more durable outfit, which would not fall apart too quickly under mana exposition and leave me to run around naked.

The trees began to thin out, slowly giving way to the barren ground of the wastelands. But before stepping outside of the border I turned around and remained in waiting. There was someone I needed to say goodbye to before leaving.

From the rustling of the leaves, the welcome figure of Faye emerged, a slightly stiff smile covering her face. The person who had guided her here disappeared, leaving the two of us alone, although still under the watchful eye of Hector.

We remained like that for several minutes. I waited for Faye to speak first. Although those years were behind us, the start of our life together had been quite turbulent and as a result, she had grown quite dependent on my presence. But she was a strong person and the last few years, although spent being very busy, had certainly helped her recover.

“So… I guess this is it,” she finally managed to say.

A small smile formed on my lips.

“It seems so,” I replied.

“This is where it starts. The second act of our troublesome lives,” she continued on.

After another few minutes, she let out a loud sigh and started speaking more clearly.

“I thought I was ready, but I guess I’m not. I still don’t like it, you having to run around, continuously putting yourself in harm's way. I know it’s not reasonable to expect you to just stand around doing nothing, but hell, why must everything be this complicated?” she loudly complained about the situation, a hand brought to her head like it was hurting.

I approached her and took her free hand into mine.

“I understand. But years have gone by and there are things I need to do. The time for rest has passed. Now it’s time to return to the world”

“I know. But, urgh! It’s so frustrating! I’m here, toiling away every day just trying to make things work well for everyone, and yet there are still all these b******s knocking on our doors, trying to ruin everything,” she cried out exasperated, the stress of her daily life surfacing.

“Don’t worry, eventually everything will be as it should be. I’ll make sure of it, trust me,” I spoke gently while bringing my free hand to her cheek.

Her eyes darted around for a while, before fixing themselves on the ground.

“I do trust you. I simply wished you shouldn’t have to take care of everything,”

My smile grew a little bit.

“From what I recall, I’ve been wasting away for years,” I let out in an amused tone.

She raised her eyes, meeting my gaze.

“That’s how I feel! It doesn’t matter how hard I’ve worked, in the end, it seems nothing I’ve done has been of any help! In the end, it’s you who must enter the field and carry all the load, or at least what actually matters,” she complained.

My frow burrowed slightly.

“You know I don’t appreciate you putting yourself down,” I admonished her.

“Yes yes, I know~” she responded with a sigh.

I distanced myself from her, preparing to leave.

“Promise me you will return,” she asked me in a trembling tone.

“I never considered the opposite in the first place,” I reassured her.

She fidgeted for some time. Finally, she said her last words to me.

“Anyway, why now? Why you?” she demanded an explanation.

“It’s up to the adults to take care of the children,” I answered, before kicking the ground and disappearing into the distance.