‘Nalia, go fully defensive and try to make him show his cards. Same thing for you Nina, but if you see an opening, attack with full strength.’ Elise gave her orders.

‘Okay.’ Said Nalia.

‘Understood.’ Said Nina.

The fairy then let her current elemental wings fade before focusing her energy again and casting another spell:

“Dual Wing Magic: Earth and Water.” She declared.

On her left side, the magic sucked up earth from the ground and made it into a wing much like the one she’d made during her first time using that technique. On her right side, the magic seemed to condense water from thin air, shaping it into a wing while making it flow ceaselessly like a river.

That was the first time Nalia used the water wing, but she had already predicted its properties, the most important in this case being water’s ability to soften impacts by flowing around them. Combining that with the more standard solid defense afforded by the earth wing made for the best defensive technique the fairy was able to use.

Nina waited just enough for that to be done before taking off running towards the enemy. She was taking point and Nalia followed right after, staying close. Loran was still holding the gemstone that kept the Agent trapped in place, but he clearly didn’t want to move away from his position and task and his right hand was free, so the Inishie branch manager simply held it at eye level, palm outwards.

The rabbit girl didn’t assume that made him an easy target, though. She simply revised her assessment of his strength upwards and acted based on that, slowing down slightly upon reaching five steps away from him then dashing to his left side and attacking with a powerful but restrained punch.

Loran’s counter was immediate. He manifested a spear that was almost Nina’s size and half again her height using the same blue light as before. The spear extended from the palm of his hand, its tip tracking Nina’s movements almost perfectly and forcing her to dodge back and then to the side, abandoning her attack.

Nalia came right after, swinging her earth wing at the enemy. Loran swiped sideways with the spear faster than she could reach him, but the fairy’s positioning meant her water wing was positioned to intercept it. Spear and water met and Nalia felt like she had been hit with an explosive cannonball, both heavy and destructive. The force of the blow instantly turned the water hit directly into vapor, and the parts closest to it

were launched away like the fragments of a bomb, single droplets flying fast enough to leave scars on the trees hit.

The fairy instantly abandoned her attack and simultaneously reinforced her already half-broken water wing while also using a quickened wind spell to force herself away faster, avoiding a direct hit and already starting to reform the damaged spell construct. Loran stopped his swipe and followed-up with a stab, but Nalia swung her earth wing and knocked the attack off course.

That series of exchanges had taken mere seconds, so it was only at that point that Nina came back for her next attack, having moved behind the man before closing the distance with a powerful step. Loran forcefully reversed the trajectory of his spear, bringing it all the way around to stab at the rabbit on his rear. Nina took another step, slightly changing her trajectory to gain more time in order to reach too close for that weapon.

“Gaah!” She shouted.

Loran had instantly gone from stab to sweep, and Nina’s speed wasn’t quite enough to avoid being hit on the side, with even that glancing impact being enough to knock her away and lose balance, rolling on the floor for a bit before managing to jump back to her feet.

Then the man’s spear vanished. He looked at Nalia and moved his right hand back into ready position at the same time as the fairy quickly cast a stone bullet spell, then he manifested a two-handed sword and used it to cut through Nalia’s projectile.

‘Could it be…?’ Elise thought before giving a new order ‘Nalia, go high. Nina, you go low.’

The fairy and rabbit immediately moved to follow the instructions, the former rising into the air as fast as she could with that pair of wings (which was still relatively fast, since she could use other spells to boost her movement), while the latter ran towards Loran full tilt, preparing to try and surprise him with a sudden shift once more.

The duo seemed to have tacitly decided to attack the enemy from opposite sides at the same time, like in their strategy against Aura. Nalia was already close to the opponent, so she took extra time to prepare her attack and sync it up with Nina’s. She ceased rising after reaching about a meter above Loran’s head and began to put extra power into her water wing while also preparing spells to deal with the inevitable counter-attack.

Then the two acted simultaneously, Nalia diving down while swinging her water wing and extending it like a whip while Nalia dropped into a slide and attempted to kick the enemy’s legs.

Loran swung his sword in a crescent arc, tearing apart Nalia’s striking wing and continuing to slash down at the rabbit, but their attack wasn’t something so simple to deal with. Nina used her hands to force herself to the side and into a roll, narrowly avoiding the sword and flowing smoothly into a leg sweep from her new angle. Nalia, for her part, forcefully reformed her wing with direct magic by taking advantage of water’s natural traits and struck with it again while still diving.

The enemy responded by jumping over the leg sweep, not caring that the gemstone on the ground got kicked away (as that didn’t cancel the spell restraining Amara and Hiroka) and slashing upwards through the water wing. But even that wasn’t all, as Nalia did a corkscrew in the air, dodging the slash that would have cut her in half and bringing her earth wing to attack the enemy with a swipe. And Nina had gone from leg sweep into an upwards kick on one of his legs right after he landed.

Loran countered by slashing downwards, breaking half of Nalia’s earth wing and pushing her away as well as forcing Nina to abandon her kick in order to avoid losing her leg and roll to the side again.

Then Nalia’s fourth strike came.

“Water Ruler.” She declared, casting a spell to take control of the water droplets that had scattered when her water wing was broken for the second time.

Said droplets then shot at Loran like bullets, coming mostly from the front since the power of his strike had driven then in that direction.

Loran let out a “Tch!” and moved his sword in front to shield his vitals from the onslaught. His sword was far too narrow to fully protect himself, so some of the bullets grazed him on the sides, leaving behind shallow cuts that were nonetheless the first injuries that Elise’s partners had been able to inflict on him in that fight.

The duo couldn’t follow-up immediately, though. Nina had been forced too far away from the man in order to dodge, and Nalia had used an insane amount of magic power in a short period of time, thus needing a few moments to recover. Loran used that chance to make the sword vanish and then replace it with a trident. And that was when Elise became certain of her guess.

‘It’s like I thought. He can’t transform his manifestations after they’re done, otherwise he’d have at least made the sword broader to protect himself.’ Elise deduced ‘And he also can’t make more than one at a time. He has to let one fade away in order to create another, and it’s not an instant process. That gap is his biggest weakness. To make use of that…’ She planned at high speed before giving a new order:

‘Get back you two, and prepare to put everything you have into the next attack.’

Nalia and Nina did as asked, moving a few steps further away from Loran and getting out of the reach of his trident. They also realized that the gemstone in Loran’s hand was now pulling double duty, both restraining the Agent and draining their power. Then a few seconds passed in absolute stillness as the duo focused their power to prepare for an eruption (Nalia also taking the chance to rebuild her elemental wings). And being connected to the two of them, Elise instantly knew the moment when their focus reached its peak.

‘Nalia, make a smokescreen to block his sight, then both of you attack from directly above, all out offensive.’ The girl gave her order.

The fairy quickly cast her spell, covering the whole area around Loran with thick white fog, then the duo charged forward. Nalia flew up and Nina jumped up, the fairy proceeding to dive towards the enemy, taking the lead while Nina was slower due to having to simply fall.

Nalia had also made sure that the smokescreen wouldn’t hinder either her or Nina’s sight (or Elise’s, by extension), so they could see the target perfectly while he was blind to their position (since the way he had reacted to their movements thus far made it clear that he didn’t have any form of special perception). The duo needed every advantage they could get against such a strong opponent. As soon as she got close enough, the fairy struck with her water wing once more.

But the enemy had adapted. As soon as the smokescreen went up, Loran had let his trident fade away, subsequently replacing it with a weapon that went completely against the standard. It was a large, circular shield with its face covered in small but sharp spikes. A real version of such a weapon would be plagued by issues such as the spikes breaking quite easily (though they could be resolved with the right methods), but Loran’s version was simply a temporary projection that didn’t have to worry about those issues, specially considering how hard it would be for his current opponents to actually damage anything he created.

And while he couldn’t see, Loran was still able to hear the noise of the water cutting through the air, so he positioned his shield directly above and blocked the watery strike. That was only the beginning of her attack, as he knew very well, so Loran followed up by thrusting his shield upwards. His intention wasn’t to hit Nalia, as she was still a bit too far for that, instead he attacked in order to generate a burst of wind pressure. Said wind didn’t clear the fog in its way as Nalia still had control of it and used part of her power to hold it together, but the fog was still disturbed by its passage, and when the wind hit the fairy and rabbit above him, it caused a noticeably different disturbance, allowing him to confirm their positions.

The burst of wind pressure was just something he improvised on the spot instead of a proper technique, so it mostly felt like a particularly strong air current instead of an actual attack, thus it didn’t harm either of the two, but it still eliminated a large portion of the surprise factor of their attacks.

They were already committed to their attacks, though. Nalia followed up with a fireball that was also blocked by the enemy’s shield, and then accelerated her dive to reach close enough to bring her earth wing to bear for a strike. Said wing was even noisier than the water one, so Loran easily managed to move his shield and block it, but Nalia was aware of that and had already prepared a follow-up: Another swing with the water wing, coming right afterwards from a different angle.

That still wasn’t enough to catch Loran by surprise. He shifted his shield again and caught the attack, then counter-attacked by thrusting his shield in the direction the last attack had come from, having realized that the fairy was now in range. Nalia bent her water wing to block and took advantage of the extreme power of Loran’s attack to explosively shift her water into vapor, propelling herself to the side and avoiding the strike.

From her new position, Nalia shot a quick fireball at Loran, but it still wasn’t fast enough to reach before the man pulled back his arm and brought his shield to block. And then Loran buckled slightly as the fairy struck the exact same spot with her earth wing, having used the noise of the fireball’s explosion to conceal its approach. The sudden addition of a new strike had thrown him off, but Loran quickly recovered and thrust with his shield again.

This time Nalia cast a quick wind spell to forcefully shove herself back in the air and avoid the hit. It had caused enough disturbance in the fog to make her new position fairly obvious, but Loran didn’t launch another attack.

He had something else to worry about, as Nina finally fell far enough to attack. She came down with a heeldrop aimed directly at the top of his head, so Loran was once more forced to pull his shield back to block. The rabbit’s attack hit, the energy focused on her right foot being enough to outright ignore the spikes, but although her strike had been strong enough to break a boulder apart, it still didn’t leave even a crack on Loran’s shield construct.

From such close range, he was able to see Nina perfectly, so he immediately tried to counter by thrusting his shield into her, but Nina had jumped away as soon as her attack failed, and he wasn’t fast enough to reach the rabbit before she ascended out of range. By that point Nalia had recovered from her extreme maneuver and her elemental wings had mostly reformed, so she decided to remind him he wasn’t fighting a single opponent by creating a heavy stone bullet and shooting it at him.

Loran moved his shield and blocked that attack as well, which Nalia had already expected, so she extended her earth wing upwards like a hammer preparing to slam down… And Nina jumped off of it, launching herself down and trying to strike while his shield was out of position, but once more the man proved to be faster, managing to shift his shield and block her punch.

Then Nalia’s earth wing slammed down, forcing Loran to shift his shield again to block that, and Nina immediately began climbing the wing to get out of the death zone as the man thrust his shield with such power that it broke apart the fairy’s spell itself, rendering her earth wing into scattered rock.

The backlash was strong enough to cause Nalia to drop like a rock for a second before she managed to reestablish flight, but she still swung her water wing in a follow-up attack, only for that too to be rendered asunder by Loran’s subsequent attack, leaving the fairy defenseless from the backlash as his shield thrust straight at her.

“No!” Nina shouted, kicking down at the enemy.

That was still too strong of a strike to ignore, but instead of aborting his strike Loran shifted its trajectory, thrusting up at the rabbit’s leg. Contact was made, but this time Nina wasn’t hitting a stationary object, but clashing against an attack far beyond her level. She suddenly felt like her leg had turned liquid, and then the pain hit.

“Aaahhhh!!” She screamed at the unbelievable pain.

Still, one had to give credit to Nina’s defensive prowess, as that attack could easily have killed her on the spot instead of just destroying a leg.

The strike knocked the rabbit towards Nalia, who still hadn’t recovered, so the duo was completely defenseless as Loran thrust upwards with his shield once more.

And hit nothing but air.

They had simply disappeared, and before he could process what had happened, a fist suddenly came out of the mist right in front of his face.

It was Elise’s fist. Her partners had vanished because she pulled them into their rooms, which she could do nearly instantly as long as she was close enough. With that, the plan finally came into fruition.

The fog’s true purpose was hiding her approach, and the continuous attacks from above had forced Loran to keep most of his focus in that direction and rendered him completely unprepared for a surprise attack from ground level. He would have been able to hear the sound of Elise’s running footsteps under normal conditions, but the noise of the battle had covered them up.

Loran’s eyes turned downwards, he saw Elise and froze for a moment. But he hadn’t frozen due to the surprise.

It was her eyes.

Elise wasn’t looking at him in a way one would look at a living being, but like she was seeing only at a corpse. Like he was already dead.

“Ahh!” He shouted and knocked her away with the arm that was still holding his restraint gemstone. Even without using his ability, he was still bigger and stronger than her.

But that single moment of immobility had sealed his fate, as Elise had managed to shove something into his mouth right before being knocked away. He felt the object heat up… And then he knew no more.

The thing Elise shoved into his mouth was a Spirit Stone she had kept just in case. And the girl had slightly crushed the stone in her hand right before shoving it into his mouth, a maneuver with barely any margin for error.

However, it had worked. The gemstone in Loran’s left hand shattered into pieces, freeing the Agent from its spells, then his headless body fell to the ground.

Victory was theirs.

+0+

‘We won.’ Elise immediately told her partners the good news.

‘Good. I was really worried.’ Nalia replied.

Both her and Nina knew what the plan was because Elise had sent a mental image of it along with her order. That was why Nalia had went the extra mile to make sure the fog couldn’t be easily dispelled. Knowing the plan also gave the two extra motivation to attack with all they had, because if they actually managed to beat the enemy by themselves Elise wouldn’t have to do such a dangerous stunt.

‘Yeah. That guy was terrifyingly strong.’ Nina said.

‘How are you holding up?’ Elise asked her.

‘It’s fine. I feel like every part of my right leg is broken, but the pain feels sorta… Distant, while I’m inside this place.’ Nina replied.

‘I’m glad.’ Elise said.

At that point the girl turned around upon hearing footsteps. It was Amara and Hiroka, who had been freed from the restraint spell when Loran died.

“I don’t really know what to say except ‘amazing work’, but I feel like that’s too much of an understatement.” Amara said wryly.

“The three of you were super cool!” Hiroka praised.

“Thank you.” Elise said.

“You used a Spirit Stone to kill him, right?” Amara asked “That was a very dangerous plan, but I can’t argue with the results.”

“Ah, that reminds me!” Elise exclaimed before reaching into her pocket and pulling out… Another Spirit Stone.

“What?!” Amara was gobsmacked.

“That was the spare one. I couldn’t be sure I’d be able to shove the first stone into his mouth, and failing that would result in the stone exploding and injuring both me and him.” Elise explained “I could avoid significant injury by jumping away at the last second, but it also wouldn’t be enough to kill that guy. So my hope was that the injuries would get him mad enough to try to choke me out or something instead of killing me instantly. Plan B was to take advantage of that to shove this one into his mouth. I’m really glad I didn’t have to do it, though, it was a bit of a long shot.

“But that also means I don’t need this one anymore.” Elise then threw the Stone some distance away, but gently enough that it didn’t even explode afterwards.

Both of the beastkin women had odd expressions on their faces “That’s…” Amara began, but didn’t seem to know how to continue that sentence.

She ended up not having to do so, as their talk was interrupted by the Agent letting out a pained groan.

“Ahnnn…” That first groan was followed by a second, then a third. And even with the Agent’s indistinct features, their expression still clearly showed great suffering.

“Wait, what happened?!” Amara asked.

‘Nalia, come here and check on them!’ Elise ordered before focusing for a second to let the fairy out again.

It was harder to pull them out of their rooms than it was to put them inside, and even the latter wasn’t something she could do repeatedly, or from any significant distance, so the technique of freely switching her partners in combat was still far out of grasp.

Regardless, Nalia immediately began casting spells to try and figure out what was wrong with the Agent. It was a bit difficult because of their unusual physical makeup, but after some time…

“Not good. The method that bastard was using to drain the Agent caused deep injuries to their body, so much that they can’t even use their own power to heal.” Nalia spoke seriously “At this rate they’re going to die in a few minutes.”

“No!” Hiroka exclaimed “Can’t you do something?”

Her question was directed at the fairy, but Elise was the one who replied.

“Okay.”

Then she stepped closer and gently put her hand on the Agent’s head.

“This is going to be the last job I’ll do as a mercenary in this conflict.” Elise said before closing her eyes and focusing.

She knew that it would be impossible for Nalia to heal the Agent, and time was quickly counting down, so she decided to take drastic measures. Once again Elise used her contractor skills to create a connection with the forest, but there were two major differences: The first was that she was using the Agent as a medium, meaning it would be easier to draw the forest’s attention, and the second was that this time she was going all out.

She would make a full communion with the forest.

Elise opened her heart once more, but instead of trying to communicate with part of the forest, she was seeking to connect with all of it. Her understanding of the nature of the forest’s consciousness meant she knew the ‘right language’, and since the Agent was the creator of the forest, having their help meant that making it ‘pay attention’ to her was not difficult.

The real issue was ‘convincing’ the forest to help. In the deer village she had only connected with a portion of it, one which had just been harmed by their enemies, so she hadn’t needed to do that much convincing to make it do something that would go against said enemies.

Now she had to communicate with the entire forest and convince it to lend power in order to help a being that was separate from itself. The fact that the Agent was the one who created the forest was a start, but the will of said forest was fragmented, and only part of it could be convinced to take action based on that connection alone.

Trying to connect with such a fragmented will was overwhelming, but Elise did not back down. She held firmly to her own will and kept up her communication.

She ‘said’ that the being needing help was someone else who had been harmed by the same invaders who harmed the forest itself and another part of the forest was moved into helping.

She ‘told’ them that the leader of the invaders had died at her hand and another part of the forest was impressed enough to lend its power.

She ‘revealed’ the existence of the Agent’s creator, who could very well take exception to their death and another part of the forest was cowered into action by the fear of such a powerful entity.

She ‘predicted’ that saving the Agent would lead to them returning the favor later on and another part of the forest was lured by the potential benefits.

Finally, she connected with every single part that had already been convinced and clashed their combined will against the rest… And finally, the entire Forest of Theremis had been unified into a single idea.

Elise opened her eyes and the Spirit Realm itself seemed to shake. Back in the normal world, lines of overwhelming light and power manifested themselves crisscrossing the forest in every which way, and a noise resounded that was far too deep to be heard, but which was felt by every living being in the area.

The colossal energy of the forest flowed towards Elise, who pushed herself to the limit in order to channel such power without being swept away. Nalia, Amara and Hiroka saw that power as a raging white aura that covered the contractor’s body, and both of her partners could feel an echo of it through their connection.

“Hmm, it would be easier to do this out of here.” Elise spoke in a normal tone that was completely dissonant to the power she currently had access to “Let’s go back.”

She opened her right hand and a wave of energy swept through the room and after it was done there were no more living beings inside. Elise, Nalia, Amara, Hiroka and the Agent all reappeared in the same area where the portal to the Spirit Realm was opened.

Elise briefly noted that there were a lot more people in the area than when they left, but there were more important things to worry about. The girl directed the forest’s power and converted it into life energy once more, which she began to drive into the Agent’s body, controlling the output to make sure it wouldn’t cause negative effects.

She was still concentrating, but that operation took a lot less focus than the Communion itself, so Elise had enough attention to spare for talking with Nina through the bond.

‘Can you endure for a little bit?’ She asked, and upon receiving a positive answer, Elise pulled Nina out of the Room.

The rabbit grit her teeth at the renewed pain, but her contractor immediately began to shift part of the life energy into the injured girl, causing her maimed leg to mend itself as fast as Risaro’s regeneration had worked.

It took only a few seconds for Nina’s injuries to completely disappear, and a few seconds after that Elise realized that the Agent was almost fully healed as well.

‘Should be enough spare power for that.’ She thought.

And while still controlling the healing, Elise began to use her connection with the forest to send large amounts of life energy somewhere else.

One second, two, three and then four. That was all it took for her patient to be completely recovered. That didn’t mean the power she was channeled vanished instantly, however, so she was able to continue her ‘secondary operation’ for three more seconds before the communion fully ended.

‘And it’s done.’ She thought, and looked at the Agent once more.

Her success was clear. The ancient being now seemed to glow with energy and vitality, plus their expression was peaceful. They ‘got up’, looked around the area for a second and then turned their gaze to Elise.

“Thank you…”

The Agent’s voice resounded through the hearts of everyone in the area. And then a blue glow lit up their body and they vanished back into the Spirit Realm.

The whole area was completely silent for almost two seconds, and then Elise spoke:

“Mission complete. But that was really quite tiring, so I’m gonna crash now, kay?”

And she instantly fell unconscious. Thankfully Nina was right there to catch her.

+0+

Elise woke up on a very soft mat inside a large and luxurious looking tent. Nalia and Nina were sitting on the floor beside her (well, Nina was sitting on the floor with Nalia on her shoulder, but details), so they immediately noticed that she was awake.

“You’re back!” Nalia cheered.

“You’re finally awake!” Nina did the same.

“Yeah, I am.” Elise said “How long did I stay unconscious?”

“A bit over twenty-five hours.” Nalia replied “We could somehow tell that you were okay, but it was still worrying.”

“That sounds about right for how tired I was, yeah.” Elise said “Sorry for worrying you two.” She paused for a moment “And about what you felt, I think that’s just a sign that our bond is becoming stronger.”

“I figured it was something like that.” Nina said.

Elise then began pushing herself up, causing the two of them to shout “Wait!”

“Don’t worry, I just wanna sit up right now.” Elise reassured them “I’ve already spent enough time lying down.”

They couldn’t argue with that, so Elise did as she said before asking another question:

“Anything important happened while I was out?”

“Nothing much. The tribes are still dealing with the fallout and trying to reorganize, so they asked us to wait for a bit before discussing the matter of our payment.” Nalia replied.

Nina turned her head and looked at the fairy like she was a crazy person “What do you mean ‘nothing much’? Did you forget about the Barren?”

“Ah, that’s right! You fixed the Barren!” Nalia looked at Elise with eyes that practically shone with happiness and excitement “You’re amazing!”

“So that part of the forest that had almost no life is called the Barren?” Elise asked.

“That’s the name my tribe uses.” Nina said “But that name isn’t really accurate anymore.” She smiled broadly.

That was the other thing Elise had done while she had the power of the forest. She had channeled part of the life energy she created towards the part of the forest with nearly no life they had seen before, which had the hidden village of the Reite rabbit tribe beneath it.

“There was enough power to spare, so I decided that it would be a waste not to use it.” Elise said “And when I thought about what to do, that area immediately popped into my head.”

Nina hugged her “You really are amazing.” she said “I’m really glad to have become your partner.”

“Me too!” Nalia piped up “But I already was even before that. This is just one more reason why.”

“Ah… Thank you.” Elise felt embarrassed to be receiving so much praise “And… Er, I’m suddenly feeling pretty hungry. Can you get me something to eat?”

The rabbit separated from her and exchanged a glance and a smile with the fairy on her shoulder “Of course!” The two chorused.

+0+

After that the trio waited while enjoying the hospitality of the bear tribe, which had taken the role of hosting the mercenaries while they remained in the forest. The tent Elise had woken up at was actually something their tribe would only offer to the most honored of guests, and their treatment otherwise followed the same standard.

They were frequently invited to attend musical or dancing performances as a way to pass the time, and pretty much every member of the tribe they met was happy to talk with them and answer questions, which also helped with the wait.

However, most of their time was spent either talking with each other or training.

Yes, they went right back to training on the same day Elise had woken up. The recent battles had exposed a lot of issues that they had to work on. There was also the matter of their significant growth in power after pushing themselves so hard on such intense battles, meaning they had to develop new techniques to take advantage of that strength, including things that they would have been hard-pressed to even attempt beforehand.

And the most important reason was, of course, the matter of the Inishie which they discussed in one of their conversations:

“Naran managed to escape with his life, and it’s very likely that woman did as well. So we must assume that the organization as a whole is aware of our appearances and skills.” Elise said.

“Yeah. And I don’t think they’re gonna just let us get away with ruining their plans. They’re probably gonna try and get revenge.” Nalia said.

“Do you think the people of the tribes are in danger?” Nina asked.

“Unlikely.” Elise replied “They still have the detection spell, plus an organization like that must have its fair share of enemies, so moving in large scale against such a public target after what happened would pretty much be an invitation for those enemies to act against them.”

“While we’re not gonna be able to detect the Inishie after we leave the forest, and we are a small group that’s gonna be moving around instead of remaining at a fixed location. We also really stood out in the fight against them.” Nalia said.

“So it’s very possible we’re gonna be targeted by them.” Nina concluded “That Loran guy was really scarily strong, so much we were barely able to win even though he was fighting with one hand and without being able to move. Do you think they have a lot of people at his level?”

“That’s difficult to say, but…” Elise started “He was using a bunch of special items, and based on what I heard from my sisters strong people turn to using such tools more often if they are among the weaker ones within their circles, while the stronger ones rely more on their own powers.”

Both her partners gulped.

“Of course, nothing is certain. Maybe he was a really powerful guy who just found those types of things fun.” Elise said “But I think it would be better for us to prepare for the worst case scenario.”

“Yeah. That’s probably smart.” Nalia agreed.

And so the contractor started on the next phase of their training. Such things took time, though, so they hadn’t yet made much progress by the time their wait ended, two days after Elise’s awakening.

+0+

Amara herself had gone to pick them up.

“I believe you would like to hear about what happened to the other members of our assault force, so I came in person. Those last three days have been really busy, so I couldn’t really spare the time until now.” She said.

“That’s okay.” Elise said “I’m curious about what news you have.”

They were talking as they walked to an area nearby where a temporary transportation circle had been set up, connected to their destination.

“Okay, so first of all: Hiroka is working directly under me now. And whoever sent her to rear line duty is gonna get a stern talking to. Her talents were wasted there. I haven’t had time to look into that yet, but I will soon.” Amara said.

“I’m in complete agreement here.” Elise commented.

“Iornos has recovered enough from his injuries to be able to sit up under his own power, and he got a few honor awards for his efforts. Takato was the same way, but he refused most of them saying he hadn’t done enough to earn such honor, so he only really received the one for saving lives in the heat of battle.”

“I’m happy Iornos is doing well.” Nalia said.

“So am I. And speaking of doing well, Charlotte recovered so quickly she’s already walking around like nothing happened. I offered her a job too, but she declined saying she was happy where she was.” Amara sighed.

“Really strong recovery ability. I wonder how long it would have taken for my leg to heal normally.” Nina commented.

“Probably at least a few more days.” Elise said.

“For such a dreadful injury, that’s really fast.” Amara was surprised “Well, continuing what I was saying… Fevora’s older sister has taken on the role of Oka tribe chief. She blinded herself as penance for the dishonorable acts committed by the tribe and several others followed her example. Fevora himself didn’t, but he is leading a team dedicated to try and fix some of the damage they caused.”

No one had any comments about that.

“That’s all of them, but another significant matter was that the Reite tribe revealed itself.” Amara said.

“Wait, what?!” Nina was stunned.

“The change in the Barrens convinced them that they couldn’t remain hiding anymore.” Amara explained “Lisa, their chief, is actually going to be present at the meeting regarding your payment, since she is also a tribe chief.”

“I… See.” Nina said. She didn’t know how to feel about that.

The conversation turned to more casual topics afterwards, and the group soon reached the magic transportation circle that was being guarded by two monkey tribe members. Going into it, they were immediately transported to the circle it linked to, which had been set inside the village of the Manari tribe (which Hiroka was a part of).

The meeting would be held inside the congress, the building where the Manari tribe higher-ups worked. But this time the place would be hosting a few of the important leaders among the alliance, given that they were the ones who had employed the mercenaries.

They were taken to a decently large room with work tables arranged in a semicircle in two levels, with a small podium facing those tables. Elise, Nalia and Nina stood or floated next to it while Amara went to take her seat. She wasn’t a village chief but she had more than enough influence to participate.

There were representatives of several tribes included, even ones that Elise hadn’t seen at all during her time in the forest and the trio was able to see that Lisa was indeed present, sitting on one of the seats on the higher level. At a corner to the side was a monkeykin holding a camera to record the proceedings. Finally, on one of the frontmost seats was a glasses-wearing male foxkin who would preside over the meeting, given that they were in the foxes’ turf. The name tag on top of his table revealed that he was called Kento.

Once everyone was in place, he raised his hand to call for attention and began to speak:

“It has taken a bit longer than what I would have liked, but we are finally ready to negotiate your payment.” He began “Normally such a thing would not require a meeting like this, but your achievements were so extraordinary that a commensurate payment for them is something that would certainly require the resources of several tribes.

“Developing a tracking spell that would work on those invaders. Single-handedly saving the village of the Makos Tribe of deer from certain destruction. Defeating several of the most powerful enemy combatants, including their leader. Aiding the alliance forces in multiple operations… And saving the life of the eternal benefactor of the tribes.

“This level of contribution is worth more than simply a lump of money, so we will ask you directly: What do you wish to receive as a reward? I can promise that the allied tribes will use all of their power to satisfy any request that is not completely unreasonable.” He finally finished speaking.

Elise nodded. She had already been informed that things would work like that, so she knew what to say:

“There is indeed one major request that I would like to make, along with some minor ones.” She glanced at Nina, who nodded “It concerns the Reite rabbit tribe, which is the origin of one of my partners, Nina. For a Contractor there is nothing more important than their partners, and Nina is very concerned with the well-being of her tribe, so that also becomes my concern.

“The Reite tribe has only recently reemerged into the world. Their numbers are low but their territory is now quite bountiful, so they would easily become the target of greed. History has proven that simply relying on the integrity of other tribes is not enough to protect them, so my request is the creation of a pact of many tribes for the purpose of protecting their safety.” Elise took a breath “I will not ask for an eternal duty, just that they are protected for long enough to be able to thrive like they were always meant to.”

There was a second of silence, and then the room erupted in discussions. Everyone seemed to have an opinion that they wanted to express except for Lisa, who was clearly struggling to contain her emotions. Eventually things calmed down, however, and a consensus was reached.

“We shall accept your request.” Kento said “There will need to be further discussions about the specifics on how it should be fulfilled, but everyone has agreed to join the pact.”

No voices came forward to contradict him, so he continued:

“You have mentioned having a few minor requests as well. Could you elaborate on them?”

“I will let Nalia do the talking for me.” Elise said before stepping back and allowing the fairy to take point.

“Those minor requests have to do with more concrete payment. We need supplies for our next journey, as well as a certain amount of money for living expenses and we will need information about possible destinations, including maps.” Nalia said “The most detailed information and the most accurate maps possible, of course.”

Another discussion started, only this time the fairy joined in negotiating the specifics, trying to make sure the precise needs of their group would be met.

Seeing how lively she looked while discussing with their employers, Elise and Nina exchanged a glance and a smile.

+0+

After that everything proceeded as planned. The specifics of Elise’s request were ironed out and the pact would officially go into effect soon after. The trio also received the resources Nalia had negotiated for and prepared to head out on their next adventure.

Nina was hailed as a great heroine by her tribe, but the emotional moments of her return, the honors she received and her eventual goodbye deserve to be told in full rather than summarized, so they shall be left for later.

However, there is one more thing of note that has to be told before we close the book on this leg of their adventure. It was an event that happened about a month after the trio’s departure from the Forest of Theremis.

One particular merchant caravan passing through the outskirts of the forest was hailed by a beastkin. A little girl with orange hair and a large, bushy brown tail that clearly identified her as a member of a squirrel tribe.

“So you just want to be taken along until the city of Mandos?” The merchant in charge of that caravan asked.

“Yes.” The little girl replied.

“Then the amount of money you paid will be more than enough, come in Dorothy.” He said.

The girl did so and the caravan began to move again, but soon after the merchant called her over to talk.

“There’s something I wanted to ask. The last time my caravan came here, we dropped off a girl called Elise, and-”

“You brought the great contractor Elise here?! Amazing!” Dorothy interrupted him.

“I take it you know who she is then.” The merchant, who was indeed Liros, spoke “I’m curious about what sorts of things she did after we parted ways.”

“Of course I know who she is! There’s no one in the forest who doesn’t know about her and her partners!” Dorothy exclaimed.

The squirrel girl then regaled Liros, as well as everyone else who came to hear, with the unbelievable tale of the contractor who involved herself in the forest’s crisis as a mercenary.

Liros was stunned by what he was hearing “Wow… I knew she wasn’t just an average girl, but this goes way beyond what I could have imagined.” He shook his head “Anyway, thanks for the story, but now I’m curious about you. Do you have any specific goals on your travel or do you just want to see the world?”

Dorothy smiled “I do! And it actually has to do with Elise as well! You see…” She opened her palm and manifested a magical flame on top of it “I wanna become her partner!”