{Rin}

"Hey, put me down! Where are you taking-"

Those were the only words she was allowed to get out as she was carried on Brine's back before he knocked her out. It was done so easily Rin didn't even see the hit coming, even though she was literally on top of the man.

The world went black. The next time Rin's eyes opened, she was greeted with a mild headache and a freezing cold room.

One which she was sitting in the middle of, atop a stage bathed in bright lights, ahead of an audience of people she could barely see.

[... Where the fuck am I?] She thought. It didn't take too long for fear to take hold of her heart. [What is this place?]

"Ah, our guest of honor is finally awake."

Rin turned to her left, hearing that. A woman wearing a white dress and some gaudy, golden accessories walked across the stage, her heels clicking loudly in the silent room.

"Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, we won't be delaying the proceedings for too long. Before we do wipe away this little mistake, it would be nice to hear a word or two from the woman who made this moment possible, no?"

As she spoke, Rin breathed in and poured Essence into her arms. She wasn't about to sit here and listen to this entire pre-murder speech.

However, she found that she couldn't break through these restraints, no matter how much Essence she boosted her strength with.

[Okay, okay... Calm down,] she told herself. [If that doesn't work, maybe my Spirit Flame will?]

She quickly tried that.

Her arms were set ablaze, catching a few members of the audience off-guard and interrupting the woman who glanced over at her, but still, these restraints weren't burned away. Neither was the chair she sat on.

"Well, aren't you a talented little adventurer? Heh," the woman giggled before resuming what she was saying. "Bring her forth. We need to hear her confirm that this actually is the one we're looking for before we do it."

[What can I do?] Rin thought, as she canceled her flames. [What the hell can I do?]

No answer came to her as someone walked forward.

With a completely blank expression, June Dahlia approached the stage.

Rin saw her and her eyes widened. There was no emotion in the woman's eyes. No elation at having caught the prey she'd betrayed, no guilt as she was about to watch Rin get killed.

There was nothing at all.

"Well then, June, dear, is this the girl who so frustratingly escaped our hold in the past?"

Rin couldn't see the people around her too well, but she could half tell that they were grinning ear-to-ear, seeing this.

Until June said:

"No."

People actually gasped. Rin was almost one of them.

[What?]

"What!?" The woman echoed Rin's thoughts. "W-What do you mean this isn't her? She-"

June answered her question robotically.

"This is her sister."

Those four words thrust the room into a sudden, and tense, silence.

"Rin," June continued. "The one you are looking for is called Xhez."

[Xhez?] Rin thought, just as confused as everyone else there.

"Are you certain?" The lady asked. The cockiness in her earlier tone had all but faded. Brine, who had brought Rin there, was standing off to the side holding his wrapped-up stump where his left arm had been, just as baffled. The woman glared hard at him.

"I remember it perfectly," June replied eloquently. "It was Xhez who told me she escaped from a group of people in the wilderness and fled to Libera. This is Rin, her sister. This is not the one you are looking for."

"You brought the wrong one!?" The woman suddenly yelled at Brine and, like a switch had been flipped, the room erupted into chaos.

All while Rin stared at June, trying to figure out what exactly was going on here.

Eventually, she was able to piece things together.

Her jaw nearly hit the ground as she came to understand the situation.

The contents of the letters June had sent came back to her mind.

They hadn't been addressed to her. It was Xhez who June had been concerned about.

[Did the Scorned never learn my name?] She wondered. [If that's the case, all these guys knew, probably through Brine or whoever else in the guild, was that some adventurer with golden eyes and black hair had been kidnapped by them and then made it out of their cave alive. Xhez always wears her disguise whenever she talks to June. I'm guessing Xhez must have told her something about escaping from people and ending up in Libera, for some reason. And, June thinks she's the one the Scorned are looking for!]

She nearly laughed.

"Alright, alright, calm down!" The woman called out, as Brine walked closer to her. "Did you see the other one? The actual target?"

"I... I don't know," Brine replied. "This was the girl Maria showed up with. The only other ones were Cara, another teacher at the academy, and this girl with blue skin. I didn't see another girl with orange eyes and black hair."

"The blue-skinned girl," the lady said, turning back toward June, "is that her?"

"I do not know," June replied.

"AGH!" The woman groaned, frustrated. "How are things this complicated?"

"... No, things aren't complicated at all," Brine replied. "The next step is easy. If this isn't the one we're looking for, well, now the girl we actually are looking for has two people to save, doesn't she?"

"H-He's right!" Someone in the crowd yelled. "We can just bait her in even harder!"

Some people began agreeing with them. The lady in the white dress visibly calmed down, nodding.

"... You," she turned toward Rin, finally. "You can fight, though, can't you?"

"She's Maria's apprentice," Brine said. "Even if that woman's lost her touch, she's bound to have taught this girl a few useful things."

Rin did not respond. The lady cackled lowly.

"Well," she said, grinning. "How about we give this sister of yours a little surprise when she and her friends inevitably come looking for you? Fran, do your thing."

"On it, ma'am."

A beastborn girl walked up, then. She stood in front of Rin, a wicked smile tugging up at her lips.

"Cooperate or this will be a lot more painful than it needs to be, okay?"

The woman's eyes then began glowing.

And the world went black again for Rin, though, this time, she did not exactly pass out.

---

{Maria}

The tears that rolled down Maria's face, as she curled up next to the ruined walls of the inn where she'd just fought Brine, didn't seem to want to stop.

Sobbing, Maria looked down at her own hands.

[... I am a failure.] In between choked-up coughs, those words popped up in her mind. [I am a failure in every way.]

"We need to go get her!" A high-pitched voice yelled and Maria looked to her right. Xhez was as angry as Maria had ever seen. "I can feel her Spirit, we can follow it, come!"

"We need to form a plan," Cara responded to her, though it was Maria she kept glancing at in between her words. "We're going to go after her, I'm not saying we aren't. But, first, we need to figure out how."

"That man was wounded," Xhez stated. "I cannot sense any other Spirit nearby as strong as his. If we take him on now, m-maybe we could win!"

"How, exactly? You," Cara glared mildly, "you're just a Rank C monster. Maria can't use Essence for now, and I'm not good enough at fighting people to beat him. We-"

"We need to try!" Xhez all but screamed. "With, or without you, I am going to go fight for her. But..." She calmed down, then. At least, in terms of her volume. Her trembling voice and balled-up fists showed she was still furious. "I need help. I need your help. Both your help."

The fight played back in Maria's thoughts.

Every misstep she made, every exchange where, if she hadn't deteriorated as badly as she had, she would have ended that man's life easily.

It made her tears resume falling freely down her cheeks.

A pair of moist hands pulled her face up. Xhez was crouched in front of her, looking into her eyes.

"Please," Xhez said, "we must chase them, before... before they hurt her."

She drew a spellsign then. Cara put a hand on her greatsword out of reflex but did not draw it.

The sprite healed Maria's wounds slowly. All while the cinnamon-haired woman continued to sob away.

"But..."

"You are powerful," Xhez told her. "Even if your Spirit has been weakened by this battle, I can tell you that you are still the most powerful human I have encountered yet. Between the three of us, we can make this work, Maria! Or..." Xhez's expression grew sadder. "Will you just leave Rin to die?"

"... No," Maria answered. "But..."

"There is no alternative," the sprite replied. "Sitting here and crying will not save her. So, come on. Get up!"

She tried pulling Maria to her feet but, well, Xhez didn't have the physical strength for that. Maria stood up on her own, though.

Looking down into Xhez's concerned eyes, Maria felt a mix of different emotions pass through her heart. Mostly, though, guilt.

Guilt that she had lost, but guilt over the fact that she was here, and not chasing after her student.

[... She's right,] Maria thought. [She is right. She is right! Failure aside, you cannot stay and wallow in your loss right now. Your apprentice is in danger!]

"We still need a plan," Cara said. "What are we going to do?"

"... With my body in the state that it is, I cannot fight at my strongest," Maria muttered, trying to get herself under control. "But, I can support you both while we make our way to her."

"I cannot compete in a physical contest against anyone, but if either of you has a spellsign you could show me, a powerful one, I could use my Spirit to aid you both as well," Xhez said. "Um, I am a mage," she explained to Cara. "If not, then, I can only do so much."

"... So, it's on my shoulders to carry us through this?" Cara asked with a chuckle.

"Yes," Maria replied. "Though we can take him on together, you are our best chance of beating Brine."

Cara took a moment before nodding, drawing her greatsword.

"Alright. I'll do my best. Come on. Let's..."

As Cara turned around, though, she saw something that made her pause.

[Hm?]

Maria looked in the same direction.

Her eyes, red from all the crying, widened.

Villagers, a great many of them, stood there, with weapons drawn.

Walking slowly toward them.

They seemed possessed. As though being pulled forward by invisible strings.

One of them reached Cara and swung their weapon clumsily at her. Cara dodged easily.

"What the hell are they doing?" Cara asked, pulling back as the person tried a few more times. "Are they-"

Xhez, however, answered the question, scowling at the people approaching.

"Getting in the way," she muttered.

Then, the sprite drew a spellsign that conjured spears of ice, erupting out of the ground and stabbing through the heads of three villagers, including the one closest to Cara. His blood fell on Cara's face, and the woman slowly turned toward the sprite.

"W-What?" Cara stammered, looking back and forth between the villager and Xhez. "You just killed an innocent person!"

"Rin's life is in danger," Xhez replied coldly, preparing to draw that spellsign again.

Maria looked into her eyes and swore she saw them flash red, briefly.

"If these humans wish to stand in my way, then... Then they will all pay the ultimate price!"