{Rin}

"Um..."

"Ah, you're here," Maria called out to her. A few paces away, Cara stood with a tired expression. There was a truck behind them. As the driver saw Rin arrive in the rearview mirror, the engine turned on.

Maria, smiling and waiting patiently, was carrying some backpacks that were almost bigger than she was.

"Hm? What are you waiting for?" Maria asked, tilting her head. "Did you leave something at the academy?"

"N-No, I just..."

[What is going on here?]

Rin hesitated as she stood just outside Libera's northern gates.

It was the morning after she and the teachers had their meeting discussing June's letter. Rin was bringing her red drake scale armor with her, knowing that this would be one of, if not the, most dangerous thing she'd done yet. In addition, she carried Xhez's water bag at her hip.

Maria's eyes landed on it for a couple of seconds before she looked back up.

"You're certainly bringing a lot with you," she stated.

"I wanna make sure I'm ready for whatever... Uh, are you... coming with us?"

"Yep," Maria replied. "Alera is quite far from here. And, well, if something were to happen to my student *again* I would be rather irritated."

The emphasis on that word, along with the way Cara rolled her eyes, removed all room for doubt as to what she meant.

"Alright, alright, come on," Cara said, walking over to the truck. "Put your stuff in the truck and let's go. Someone could be in danger here."

[Right... If anything happened to June that we could have prevented just by showing up a little earlier, I don't think Xhez would forgive me.]

She did as Cara directed. The ashen-haired woman took the passenger seat, next to the driver, while Maria and Rin sat behind him.

Rin briefly opened Xhez's bag to see if the sprite was awake. She wasn't, which was unfortunate because the truck would likely wake her up in a moment.

"It should only take us two days to reach Alera if we take minimal breaks," Cara stated. "We'll drive for 16 hours and only stop to sleep and do our business. Once we're in Alera, all we're going to do is check up on Ms. Dahlia. We don't want to bother people. As soon as we verify that she's okay, we leave. If she's not, we save her."

"Sounds good," Rin replied. "Any idea what kinda monsters we might find on the way?"

"All sorts of stuff," Cara said, waving a hand in the air. "We'll be passing through a couple of different regions, each one with its own enemies. You won't be fighting anything, though," Cara made sure to tell her. "You're only coming so you can see that your friend is alright. Leave any actual fighting to me."

"Us," Maria corrected. "Leaving it all just to you might not end well, as history has shown."

Cara sighed.

Honestly, Rin felt like doing the same.

[Come on, Maria. That whole incident was a while ago. We didn't know what had been happening with monsters at the time. Isn't it time to move on?]

"Uh," the driver spoke up, "be sure to let me know when you think a fight's comin'. I'm sure it'll look cool and all but I wanna be as far from any fights as I can be."

"Will do," Cara replied. "Just focus on the road. The way to Alera gets treacherous pretty fast, I've heard."

---

That was how the short trip to Alera began.

The truck drove across the plains that hugged Libera's eastern side and cut a path through dense woods, rumbling steadily toward the spot marked on the driver's map. They'd only encountered a few Rank D and Rank C monsters that Cara eliminated effortlessly. All the while, Cara, Rin, and Maria remained quiet.

Awkwardly quiet.

Maria and Cara would, annoyingly often, sneak looks at each other, with Maria usually frowning and Cara usually shaking her head and/or sighing immediately after.

There was a weird tension in the air that Rin felt like she was drowning in. She hated it.

She'd, of course, spotted this tension in the past, but usually, it would only last a moment or two before either Cara or Maria escaped from the other's presence and alleviated it.

Now, they were quite literally stuck with each other. That tension wasn't going anywhere.

And Rin couldn't handle it.

[At least we haven't run into any real trouble yet. At this pace, the trip to Alera should be pretty quick. What's concerning is what we might find when we arrive.]

The truck slowly moved through a foggy, dark forest later that evening. It was almost midnight. Per Cara's instructions, the driver had turned off the lights for this portion of the drive, as the teacher feared it might attract monsters.

"Alright, I think we should call it a day," Cara said quietly. "Dangerous monsters come out to hunt at night," she told Rin, turning to look back at her. "In addition, the lack of any serious light sources makes it easier for adventurers to make mistakes."

A certain sensation then came up in Rin's body and she said:

"Uh, can I walk a little? Or, is it that dangerous?"

"Huh?"

"I... want to... you know."

Cara nodded as she quickly understood the implication.

"I-"

"I can go with her, it's fine," Maria said. "Watch the car."

"Are you s...?" Cara didn't bother finishing the question as she saw Maria frowning. "Fine, fine."

Quickly, Rin and her teacher exited the car.

"Holy crap, it's cold," Rin noted, shivering.

"Keep your guard up because this temperature you're feeling might not be natural," Maria said, as the two of them walked away from the vehicle. "Some monsters, spectral ones, in particular, tend to affect the temperature around them."

"Spooky."

"It stops being that scary once you fight them enough times. Go over there," Maria said, pointing behind a tree that was larger than the rest. "I'll stand here."

"Um... Sure."

She hesitated for a moment, considering how embarrassed she'd be if Maria heard her at all, but, well, that was a small price to pay for safety.

She couldn't help asking something just to get rid of the awkward silence. And, of course, because she was genuinely curious.

"Maria?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Go ahead."

"What happened between you and Cara?"

There was silence for a few seconds. Then, Maria exhaled slowly.

"... Dammit."

Perhaps she'd been expecting such a question. With the clear animosity between her and the other teacher, she had to have been.

Though, that animosity was clearly one-sided, from Rin's perspective.

"I... I don't like talking about it. But, you are my treasured apprentice," she said quietly. "If you want to know, I will tell you."

"I'd like that," Rin replied. "I know I'm gonna sound like a kid, but, I like you both a lot. Seeing you being so passive-aggressive to each other like this kinda sucks."

Maria paused.

"Well, it's either that or sobbing every time I see her. Which would you have me do?" Maria asked. "You say you want to know what happened. Fine. Fine, here's what happened."