The town approached quickly. Kind of similarly to Subtherma, this one was also surrounded by a wall made of stone. I’m going to guess it was to keep monsters away. There was a gateway leading into the town and a couple of knights were at the entry point, inspecting visitors.

  “Identification documents please.” One of the men smiled at us quite politely as we arrived.

  Fanael pulled up her long braid and lifted the last little trinket that was tying it up for the man to touch with a metallic plate. A small blue light rose above the metallic piece the man was carrying, and he seemed a bit surprised at first, and then returned to his customer-service smile.

  “Welcome to our meager little town, your Highness.” He bowed politely at Fanael who simply nodded and gestured for Amelia to walk up next.

  “It’s embedded on my earring, I believe.” The paladin spoke, and the man reached her ear with the metallic piece.

  “Quite a colorful group with you!” He laughed and bowed politely. “A royalty and a noble paladin! What’s the third lady going to be?” He laughed carefreely while glancing at me.

  “Uh…” I looked at Amelia and Fanael a bit nervously. Wouldn’t people find it scary to have a witch walking among them? I was honestly hoping we’d just be let in without any questioning.

  “Didn’t you listen to my grand speech when you were gifted the outfit?!” The sassy princess sighed. “It’s on the golden pieces! Any one is fine!” The princess pointed at some decorations on my outfit and the man offered the metal piece at me.

  A memory popped into my head.

  There was a grandiose reward ceremony that happened back in Subtherma. That’s where Amelia got her armor and I got my missing limbs and witch outfit. Most of the ceremony was spent with Fanael explaining her new political ideologies to her people, so I honestly kind of ignored the whole thing.

  I had golden symbols of some kind along my outfit. I didn’t exactly understand their meaning, but I did recall Fanael mentioning something like them working as an I.D card when entering places above ground.

  I had exactly four of said decorations on my outfit. Two earrings, one hanging at the tip of my hat with a thread and one on my waist.

  Figuring it might be a bit inappropriate to offer my waist to the man, I pointed at my earring awkwardly as he brought the scanning device thing to me.

  “Hahah! Wi… Witch…?” He suddenly went pale, taking a close look at my eyes, which were the vivid flaming orange hue he probably feared to see.

  And with that, screaming started and a few guards with spears were standing around me in no-time at all.

  “What’s all this…? A witch is trying to enter our town?” A low growl emanated from the crowd of guards as a mountain of a man, covered in scars, wearing a somewhat tattered jacket and leather pants appeared from the masses.

  “THE IDENTIFIER IS CLAIMING THIS IS A WITCH!” One of the men screamed in horror. “H-HOW CAN A WITCH HAVE A PROOF OF IDENTITY!?” He was in a full-blown panic, only to get smacked on the cheek by the gigantic man. The metallic detector was picked up, and the massive guy approached me. “Miss… Do you mind?” He asked and lifted the thing up to me again.

  I let him scan my earring once more, and he seemed quite shocked to see it as well. “Well, I’ll be…!” He seemed a bit concerned. “Miss… Are you truly a witch?” He asked quite calmly, but I could easily see the concern in his eyes.

  “Um…!” I was sweating bullets, but somehow managed to gulp my silence and nod awkwardly. “P-p-p-p-pre-prhe… pretty muchhh…” At this point, there was probably a pool of sweat underneath me already.

  “Bahahahahahaha!!” The man began roaring with laughter. “And what does a WITCH! A monster of all things, desire from a hunters’ outpost?!” His figure was imposing enough to cast a shadow upon my entire being as he lurched over me. “Did you get tired of living?!”

  “A…uh… Um…!!” I looked over at Fanael and Amelia, who SEEMED TO BE QUITE AMUSED BY MY PREDICAMENT. Amelia was shaking her head, but chuckling to herself. Fanael was pointing at me and straight up laughing.

  “Ay! Princess! What’s the deal with this one?” The man-mountain turned to Fanael. No wonder she seemed so amused! SHE CLEARLY KNEW THE GUY!!

  “Puhuhuhu… Sh…she’s with us…!” She giggled like a lunatic, tears rolling down her round cheeks.

  “WELL, AIN’T YOU GOT QUITE A COMPANION?!” The man began roaring with laughter. “I was sorta wondering due to losing contact with Subtherma for a while!! Something wild must have happened for you to be venturing to the surface with a WITCH of all things!”

  “I knew something like this would happen…!” Amelia sighed, still chuckling a bit.

  “A-AREN’T YOU TWO HAVING A BIT TOO MUCH FUN AT MY EXPENSE!? I WAS ACTUALLY SCARED TO DEATH HERE!!” I squealed and fumed, at which some of the surrounding knights began slowly to lower their spears, and they joined in on the chuckling.

  “Miss…! Are you really a witch…?” Some asked.

  “I AM! SO WHAT?!!” I flailed around… Only for more laughter to ensue.

  “M-man…! I wish all witches were this funny!!” Some men began laughing out loud, and soon we were guided inside the town with a private orchestra of snickering surrounding us.

  The settlement was cheerful and a lot of what I’ll assume to be hunters walked over to gawk at me. Good thing I had my big hat to protect myself from their gazes. I pulled it down to assume a defensive position.

  “Sorry about this Miss Witch!” The mountain man continued choking on his tongue. “Ain’t your everyday event to see a witch walking into town with the title of an honorary Mhiir’im noble!”

  “Fanael! You could have told me you know the…the!! Whatever he is!!” I pointed at the man.

  “AH! Where are my manners? The man turned around and bowed politely. His movement was so quick, I almost fell on my butt for having to stop so fast. “The name’s Arlow! I’m the leader of this here Hunter’s Outpost!” He grinned toothily, almost as if he were proud of the couple of teeth he was missing.

  “Uhhuuhhhh…” I groaned and rolled my eyes.

  Fanael was still cackling. “YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE!! AHAHAHAAHHA!” She burst out in another VERY UNNECESSARY bout of laughter. I don’t think I had ever felt this close to casting a sleep curse on her before.

  We arrived at a large building and the crowd of gawkers was getting a bit difficult to pass through.

  “Now, now! You guys can gawk at the funny witch after we’re done talking business! Now scram!” Arlow commanded, and the crowd began rapidly dispersing.

  “WHAT AM I?! A GIRAFFE?! I’m not a zoo animal to be shown off!” As much as I wished I were somehow imposing, I felt my protests were most likely pretty feeble in nature.

  “The hell’s a giraffe…?” Arlow spoke and all three sets of eyes were now on me.

  “N-never mind…” I grumbled and pulled my hat back down, earning more laughter from Fanael as a reward for forgetting nobody in this world would probably even understand the concept of a long-necked nonsense animal like that.

  We soon walked upstairs to an office full of various kinds of curious items and knickknacks. It seemed like a collection of spoils from adventures.

  “Please sit down.” We sat on a slightly worn-out sofa and began looking around curiously. “I feel like your shortness owns me an explanation.” Arlow chuckled.

  “I see you’re still the same snarky waste of flesh!” Fanael snarled in a surprisingly friendly manner. “But indeed… What a story do I have…”

  With that, Fanael began retelling the story of what happened in Subtherma. Amelia and I filled in on the missing details. At first Arlow seemed quite amused by the story, until the tone turned darker and darker. I didn’t expect to see such an expression on that rugged face, but he really had his emotions in his sleeve. He looked quite shaken up by the time our story had gotten to the part about the state of Subtherma when Amelia and I first arrived there.

  The man who had just been laughing out loud was now pale, staring at his hands. All I could hear was a quiet grumble from him. As soon as we mentioned Godwyn and his group, the man sighed.

  “Not there too…”

  I stood up instantly and walked over to him.

  “D-did you say ‘too’?!” My choralium claws sunk into the wooden table he had for his office a bit.

  “Mmmrh…” He grumbled and turned around in his chair.

  “Spill it.” Fanael stood up and rushed over, climbing onto the table.

  “I… Would rather not.” He murmured, seemingly glancing at a photo of a woman on a shelf behind him.

  “WHA-“ Fanael was about to start an uproar, but I gestured for her to quiet down a bit.

  “Guide us to a direction. That’s all we need.” Amelia joined us in our plea as well.

  “… You don’t want to-“ He began.

  “We do.” Amelia insisted. “You didn’t listen the story to the end.” The paladin spoke.

  “What the hell can you possibly do to those monsters…?” Arlow grumbled, seeming almost pained by talking about the subject.

  “Well, we admittedly cannot do anything.” Amelia looked at Fanael. “But she can…” Her gaze then shifted to me.

  “Hah…” He scoffed.

  “We killed one.” My words seemed to get a reaction out of the man.

  “!?” He suddenly turned around and we continued our tale.

  We told him about Godwyn and his strange soul transferring power. And we told him about how I ate said soul, ultimately killing the golden monster.

  Arlow seemed to be in a mixture of horror and hope. It was a rather confusing expression to describe. Like someone who is at the brink of despair, but sees that one final straw of light to grasp onto. The conflict of whether if you should just give in and accept your existing state of affairs or still try grasping for the final strands of hope was spread all over his rugged face.

  “I don’t think I can guide you to one of these demons…” He shook his head.

  “ARLOW!” Fanael shouted helplessly.

  “But…” He sighed, leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling for a moment. “I would like to employ you lot… for a job that might provide you with clues to what those things are.”

  As much as I wanted to know what was the deal with Arlow’s encounter with the golden people, I did appreciate him at least extending a branch for us, even if it wasn’t exactly what we were looking for.

  “To the south of this outpost, in the midst of a modestly sized forest, lies a town…” He began speaking in a low tone. “Within that village lives a strange group of folks…” His voice had a noticeable hint of hatred to it. It sometimes sounded almost like it was painful to him to speak of the subject. “A strange building was built there, and the villagers have become a bit unusual.”

  “Unusual…?” Amelia inquired.

  “They just… Somehow feel off.” He scoffed with a shrug. Apparently, further explanation was not needed. “They got a sword in there somewhere. It’s a two-handed claymore with a diamond shaped tip to the handle. Bring me the sword and I’ll help you.”

  The number of unknowns left in Arlow’s story made the whole situation somewhat questionable. Somehow, I got the feeling it wasn’t a terrible idea to help him out. I found out I was wrong not too long after, though…

  Despite being quite intimidating and generally off-putting in some ways, Arlow had a quite sincere air to him.

  “That’s it!?” Fanael was about to go on an uproar again.

  “The rest of the answers you’ll find as you go in.” He waved one of his giant hands dismissively. “Try not to hurt the people too much. They do not know what they’re even doing.” He turned away.

  “And what will we specifically get for the job? The word ‘help’ can be defined in more than one way.” Amelia suddenly piped up, and while it was surprising this came out of her of all people, I still was curious over Arlow’s words too.

  “Psh…” The man scoffed and slowly turned around again. “Greedy bunch…”

  “Everything in this world has a price.” The paladin smiled gently. It somehow felt a bit… sarcastic considering the context.

  “Aye…it does.” The man shrugged at the wall of knickknacks. “If you bring it back, I’ll offer you lot my aid in whatever lunacy you are planning on.” He grinned a bit boastfully. “This involves borrowing my group for your operations and sharing all the information we have on those damn Goldilocks.”

  “Deal.” The paladin suddenly grabbed the man’s arm. “We’ll bring you the blade. Just wait.” She nodded confidently.

  With that, the conversation seemed all about over. Arlow guided us out of the office after signing some official papers, so he couldn’t go back on his offer.

  This was like… a real! Official hunt for treasure!

  I felt quite cool about it. It was a secret mission.

  We decided to stay at an inn for the day until we’d begin travelling towards the mysterious village in the woods the next day.

  Amelia and Fanael started heading towards the inn, but I was stopped by a considerable group of hunters, who began bombarding me with questions. Fanael began laughing at me again. Amelia at least was helpful and sort of stood guard next to me as I was asked various things.

  “CAN YOU PLEASE CURSE ME!?” One man came screaming, and he seemed a bit too excited about the prospect, so Amelia knocked him out with her shield and set him aside in the ‘shame pile’ which started rapidly growing whenever someone asked something inappropriate.

  There were some genuinely good questions occasionally too. The people were really impressed by the choralium prothesis pieces and the mana circuits.

  “So… Do you like…date humans and stuff?” One guy asked, getting bonked on the head with the shield again.

  “Uh…! Excuse me!” One younger looking hunter lad ran over. “Can you really sense mana? Can I ask your help with something?” There seemed to be a notable sense of urgency to his voice.

  “Mmmmaybe…? Kind of depends on what you need help with.” I replied as I sat there, and the hunters turned to look at the young man. To describe him, he was quite short, maybe an entire head’s length shorter than I was and had brown curly hair. He had a very…how should I put this… Boyish air to him?

  “My sister, Luna! Over here!” He shouted and a dainty young lass rushed over. “M-my sister visited the village over in the woods, and she has been feeling a bit under the weather since. The doctor said she’s healthy, so I think something about her mana got messed up in the forest.”

  I took a look at the girl, starting to look over her mana, and instantly, I saw something very familiar. “Are you dying your hair?” I asked the girl, who seemed to pale up a bit and step back. She began vehemently shaking her head, but it was clear from her expression she was lying.

  “Your hair is turning into an ashen color, isn’t it?” I stood up, towering over the two, which seemed to intimidate them a bit. I sort of never realized this before, but I was really tall. Amelia too! We were like human towers. We only had Mhiir’im people to compare ourselves to, so I never realized my stature.

  “N-no…no…” She kept shaking her head and avoiding eye-contact.

  “It’s okay…” I leaned in to her, at which she recoiled slightly. “If you stop doing whatever you have been doing so far…the color will come back.” I spoke in a soft whisper.

  “W-what are you two talking about?! What’s going on with Luna?!” The young man grew panicked quickly.

  “She’s been severely drained of her mana.” My words caused the boy to grow visibly nervous.

  It was just like the people of Subtherma who had their mana fed to the hourglass, or more accurately the sinister eye-stone hidden within it. Except this time, it was a human, and humans weren’t nearly as adept with magic as the Mhiir’im were. I honestly didn’t have a clue to what the effects of the mana draining would be like to a human.

  “W-what?!” The boy turned to the girl. “I-I told you to be careful in there!!” He began raising his voice.

  “Do you happen to own a stone…?” I began, at which the girl went even paler than before. “You do…? You should get rid of it as soon as possible.” I guided. “Touching it drains your mana. That’s what’s turning your hair gray.” I decided to just say things as they were. It was dangerous to her health, so there was no point in hiding anything.

  The girl seemed petrified of my words. Almost like…she was against what I was telling her.

  “P-please Miss Witch!! Tell me! What is this stone?! What does it look like?! My sister has been strange ever since she went to the forest!” The boy clearly could tell his sister was not all there with her reactions.

  “NO!! YOU CAN’T TAKE AWAY MY TERMINUS!!” The girl suddenly screamed in an almost hysteric panic. She tried to start rushing off, most likely to hide this… ‘Terminus’, was it? Is that what those stones were called? Either way, I put a sleep curse on the girl, causing her to flop over like a sack of wheat.

  Fanael returned to us, and she was no longer laughing. In fact, the entire village was silent. Everyone was staring at us.

  “I only put her asleep.” I mumbled as I stood up. “We should go find the stone before she wakes up.” To my surprise, after exchanging a glance and checking up on the girl, the hunters suddenly joined me.

  “Your camaraderie brings warmth to my heart. Forgive her for her curt behavior, but we’re doing this for the sake of the young lady.” Amelia softened the blow of my socially inept behavior.

  “Ay! We’re one big family here! As soon as we figured Miss Witch was also on our side, we figured we oughta help!”

  “A-ahem!” I clapped my hands together a bit. “Can I ask for your help?” As nervous as I was with crowds like this, the men seemed equally nervous, which helped me calm down a bit. “Please find a flat, somewhat smooth piece of stone with an image of a hand with eight fingers on it.” Before I let the group go, I needed to add. “But you must ABSOLUTELY NOT touch it!” I guided. “Use a piece of cloth or something to touch it and announce when you find it!”

  Amelia looked at me like a mom proud of her daughter’s first time riding a bike. SURE! I wasn’t great with many social situations! I admit! But I wasn’t THAT bad!

  As much as I wanted to retort about the whole thing she was doing, there was something more important to worry over at the moment, so I decided against it.

  The men did as guided. A large group marched inside the house alongside the boy, and a frantic search began. With this much manpower, it only took them about ten minutes to find a hidden compartment in the girl’s desk.

  Within it, was a piece of rock much smaller than the ones we had encountered… but just as sinister in the air it had wafting around it.

  “That’s it.” I nodded and Amelia guided people to stand away from it. “Should we try destroying it?” I looked to the paladin, who nodded quite eagerly.

  “Anyone here with a non-enchanted Warhammer?” Amelia shouted into the crowd, and someone hoisted theirs up. Having a group of monster hunters along was quite convenient!

  Amelia put words into actions instantly, raising the hammer above the rock and bringing it down with enough force to probably even bend metal.

  The hammer simply clanged off the rock we put the dark piece on.

  “W-what?!” The paladin tossed the weapon aside,

  “What happened?!” Some men began shouting from the crowd.

  “The stone…!” Amelia looked around as if hoping to find it. “It’s gone…!”

  A morbid silence fell over the group, and then the people rushed in to look. The only thing left was a dark pattern similar to the almost burn-mark-like one we saw in the science lab of Subtherma.

  “It disappeared!!” Fanael burst through the crowd. “AGAIN!!” She scowled.

  After making sure the stone didn’t simply return to the girl’s room, we gathered in front of the house.

  “I know this probably sounds like a lot of nonsense, but please, if anyone ever suggests for you to hold on to or even touch one of these stones, decline.” I began speaking to the crowd.

  “AYE!” The group roared in unison.

  “A-aren’t you guys going to question it or anything?” I flailed in place a bit.

  “Ya seem like a nice person, Miss Witch!” Some shouted. “And… you were correct…” The young man whose sister’s terminus stone we found spoke up. “W-what was that thing? I got chills the moment I saw it.”

  “We…don’t really know what they are, but they consume all mana from everything around them, to the point of turning your body into dust if you’re exposed to them for too long.”

  My words got a cacophony of concerned mumbling to erupt from the crowd. “What should we do about Luna?” The young man who was concerned over his sister asked.

  “Your sister? Well… I can’t say for sure, since I’ve only really seen the effects of the stone on Mhiir’im so far, but judging by her behavior, exposure to the stone caused her to somehow grow what almost seemed like dependency towards it.”

  “Like a drug of some kind?” Some men walked over to me from the crowd. “Would you suggest we keep an eye on her until she uh…gets normal again?”

  “If it’s not too much to ask…” I nodded awkwardly.

  “Aye! Let’s watch her in turns, then.” The men cheered, at which the young man was almost in tears over their show of care towards his sister.

  “You guys…!” He sobbed.

  “I told ya Neal! In here, we keep each other safe!” One of the men slapped Neal, the young man, on his back. “It’s the one thing us humans are good at!” They laughed at me a bit.

  “Mmh! I know!” I glanced at Amelia, who walked to stand beside me with a smile.

  “Yo! You girls down for some drinks?!” Some hunters raised imaginary glasses to sip upon as night began falling.

  “AYE!” Amelia replied before I managed to even lift my hand. Just for the record. Amelia was a difficult drunk. I think I mentioned this earlier too…

  The hunters were a lot friendlier after the stone incident. They really seemed to be like one big family, so maybe us helping one of their own out in this manner made us seem a bit more likeable to them.

  “Shhyverna….” Amelia whispered in my ear very loudly. “Whysss the point of habin a tight dresss… When thee…lack the rump to flaunt in it…!” She smelled like alcohol. NO. She reeked of alcohol.

  “You could get some meat on your bones.” Fanael nodded in approval as Amelia drooled on my shoulder. The princess held her alcohol a lot better than the noblest of paladins, who was currently in the process of staring into the endless void of my ear canal.

  “Shhu gttoot…nish earsssh…” Amelia mumbled and began sticking her nose into my ear, and I had to push her away.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  Needless to say, the tavern we went to for the drinks was abuzz. People were laughing their asses off at Amelia’s behavior, while I was VERY troubled by her annoying commentary in my ear, not to mention the nose.

  Luckily, the distraction of food was brought upon us! Even Amelia started focusing on the menu over my ear once one was brought to her attention.

  We began observing through the potential offerings of the place. I’m sure my eyes began sparkling the moment I laid my eyes upon it.

  EVERY.

  SINGLE.

  DISH.

  WAS TOTAL NONSENSE!! I had NO IDEA what any of it was!!

  NONE!!

  I began bombarding the poor waitress who had politely walked by our table with questions about EVERYTHING.

  “I was sort of thinking we’ll try one specific thing today! It’s the specialty of this place!” Fanael boasted.

  “OOOHHH!!” I slammed my fists on the table, to my surprise, the force behind my choralium arm caused some utensils to jump. “Which one is it?!” I began scanning the menu, ignoring the shocked gazes of some hunters sitting in the surrounding tables.

  “THE MOUNTAIN!” The princess declared and pointed at big emboldened text right under where I was looking.

  “Whyssit not MEAT MOUNTAIN?!” Amelia blurted out, at which she received a well-earned slap from Fanael.

  “The more rustic dishes are what dining at Hunter Outposts is all about!” The princess seemed pretty familiar with the dish. She was a bit busy stuffing napkins into Amelia’s mouth as the poor drunk began sobbing about the slap.

  “SO! Three Mountains?” The human waitress smiled. She had a nice big ponytail and slightly curly brown hair. She wore a pretty conservative waiting outfit which consisted of an apron, pants, and a shirt. No particular logos or such were present in the design.

  “INDEED!!” Fanael stated her royal decree, bouncing on her seat like a little kid during their birthday.

  “Goody! What sauces?” The girl asked and looked at us three.

  “Whabbumob…?” Amelia pointed at the menu. I had to pull the napkins out of her mouth. “Whatt…types….” She repeated.

  “A-aah!” The waitress bounced in place a bit, almost like she somehow wasn’t prepared for the question. “Um! Yeaaah…! Recommendations! Well!! The dish consists of dipping pieces of meat in a sauce, so it kinda depends on yer palate! We got many options, varying from yer average creamy stuff all the way to the spiciest of spicy sauces!” She brought us a list of various kinds of dressings, and we began reviewing it.

  “Humhum for me!” Fanael blurted out a weird word, pointing at the list.

  I began scanning the list. I think ‘humhum’ sauce was some sort of creamy mixture. It was orange in hue, maybe a bit like ranch dressing. “Um… I’ll take…this! Scornfly powder…” I pointed at a thing on the list, getting wide-eyed looks from both Fanael and the waitress.

  “U-um! That’s real hot stuff, ya know! Ya sure yer good wid’ it?” The waitress stumbled a bit.

  “Yeah… I like spicy food.” I nodded a bit awkwardly, getting some more curious glances from the people around me, encouraging me to hide behind the menu a tad.

  “Houssh spesshul.” Amelia declared, and then turned to look at me with a stupid smile on her face. “Shu like spishy fuub?” She slurred her words. I simply politely nodded at her, at which she just smiled really…drunkenly.

  “Well! If yer sure ‘bout it, is all good!” The waitress smiled. “Drinks?”

  “ALE!” Roared Fanael, causing the men in the next booth to cheer loudly.

  “Yusshh plsssh…” Amelia agreed on ale, but I went and interjected her.

  “Cold water for her.” I nodded at Amelia, who began puffing her cheeks and pouting at me like a little girl, earning an orchestra of roaring laughter from the hunters nearby as a reward.

  “I’d like something sweet. Do you have any cold and sweet drinks?” I turned to the waitress, and I was guided to taste test a faintly blue drink, of all things!

  After a bit of relaxed chatter and waiting, the food was ready, and what a mysterious sight it was indeed.

  Before us, each were brought a big chunk of…some sort of meat. It did…kind of look like a mountain, I guess? The meat piece was in a vat of soup of some kind.

  “S-so…how do we eat this?” I marveled at the sight with a mixture of confusion and eagerness.

  “FIRST!” Fanael lifted a big knife we were each provided with. “You use this and slice pieces of the meat off. You dip ‘em in your sauce of choice, and then in the soup under the meat!”

  “Double dippy?” Amelia seemed pretty excited despite her slightly lessened state of consciousness.

  “Yeah! That way the flavoring of your sauce gets mixed with the soup, so when you get to the bottom of the meat, it’ll have absorbed a lot of extra flavor!” Fanael explained and to be honest, it did sound pretty damn tasty.

  From words to actions! We began slicing and eating. It was a bit hard at first, and the pieces I cut off the mountain kept falling into the soup. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of mystery animal these big chunks of meat were originally from.

  It was quite salty and DEFINITELY not healthy! It was absolutely a type of junk food… and I was sobbing like a lunatic as I ate it!

  It was the tastiest thing I had EVER had. What greasy, salty goodness! They never let me eat garbage like this in the hospital!!

  “I told you it’d be hot!!” Fanael laughed while choking on her food.

  “If nob dat…!” I sniffled, wiping my nose. “Is just so gub…!” I leaked more. “I’b neber had anything this gub…” I mumbled while stuffing my face.

  Some giggling ensued, and we continued with our food.

  “Sh’ real guud fud…” Even Amelia seemed to enjoy it, and she had grown nicely silent and manageable, now that she was eating.

  It was a relaxing little distraction before our inevitable trip to the mysterious town in the woods that had somehow infested even this small outpost with those eye-stones.

  We slept in an inn. Amelia slept in, but I decided to stop Fanael from waking her up. The two were exhausted from the lack of sleep we had to deal with as they were, so sleeping a bit late didn’t genuinely sound like a bad idea.

  Fanael and I shopped around for some foodstuffs and supplies while Amelia rested. I made sure to ask Fanael to only get us the most fantastical looking ingredients, at which she complied quite gleefully.

  After all the shopping was done, Amelia met us at the inn. As much as I would have rather gone bar hopping or whatever, we had to leave.

  The walk to this mysterious town Arlow requested us to visit was supposedly not too long, so we were on our way on foot.

  Amelia seemed a bit troubled over something as we walked.

  “Is…everything okay?” I asked my knightly companion as she was wobbling along with the huge backpack.

  “Oh…! Is it showing on my face?” She laughed a bit. “No… It’s just…that girl from yesterday… What was her name again? Luna?” Amelia’s words drifted off a bit as she spoke.

  “Yeah?” I jogged over to walk beside Amelia properly. Fanael was sitting on top of the backpack, but her way of hitching a ride didn’t seem to bother Amelia much.

  “She said something about us stealing her Terminus if my recollection isn’t wrong.” Amelia continued. “While I certainly have no clue to what that implies, I somehow…am a bit unnerved by it.”

  “I get you!” Fanael piped up. “She was completely rabid about it! It’s like her entire personality did a total 180 just as soon as her ‘Terminus’ was about to be stolen.” Fanael climbed down from her backpack castle and hopped to walk beside us. “It sounded almost like it was something sacred to her…”

  “Uh… Isn’t religious fanaticism pretty common, though? I bet the stones like…incite a cult-like mentality or something!” I tilted my head, curious. Both of my traveling companions suddenly jerked their heads to look at me with wide horrified eyes.

  “W-what in the world do you mean?!” Amelia spoke in a shaking voice. “Of course, it isn’t!! Religion is sacred!! It shouldn’t be something to drive people into madness! Nay! It should be something to guide people away from it!” She seemed quite bewildered by my statement.

  I looked at Fanael for assistance, she was shaking her head in disapproval too. “R-really…?” I was taken aback. Back in the world of my past religion was pretty commonly a source of fanaticism…cults and all… “I um… I didn’t know. Back in my past life, it was quite common.” I mumbled awkwardly. “S-sorry!”

  Amelia’s shocked expression turned into that of concern, and she rushed over to me, grabbing me by the shoulders. “W-what kind of nightmarish world did you live in?!”

  I knew Amelia was quite religious. I mean, she gets her fantastical powers from her faith for her goddess, but somehow, I never realized the topic was this serious to her.

  Religion had never had much meaning for me. I think I mentioned it offhandedly at the very beginning of my writing.

  “Would you two… want to know a bit about my past? Most of the things I just read about on the internet, but I’d be okay with telling you.” I smiled at the two, who nodded at me quite seriously.

  I won’t go into much detail, but I basically explained a generic understanding of the religions of my past world to Fanael and Amelia. They seemed relieved to find that even in my world the less savory parts of religion were in the minority, but they were also absolutely horrified about the tales of cultists, mass murders and other horrible stuff religion had been used for by the humanity of my past.

  Thinking about all this now, I feel my interests might have been a bit unnecessarily dark in the past. I don’t know…

  I will readily admit that I did have a curious mindset towards a lot of really unsavory stuff. My kitchen psychiatrist evaluation is, that seeing the misery all around the world made me feel more at home… or made it easier to feel better about the state of my life at the moment.

  Despite the sinister undertones of my tales, my companions were clearly intrigued, but it was definitely a more morbid kind of curiosity, which kept them asking me more questions.

  “What’s your personal… view on people with beliefs and such?” Fanael eventually asked. “In this world, there are countless people who believe in deities of various kinds. The Skywalkers, or Gods to call them more conveniently, are a real species of creatures here.” Fanael’s tone was a bit nervous.

  “Mmm…” I pondered for a moment. “Can I be totally honest?” I looked at the two.

  Now, both the girls seemed to be a bit worried to hear my thoughts. Something about getting these weird glances from them caused me to get a bit shaky in turn too.

  “I uh…” I figured it was pretty important to choose my words wisely here. “I feel a bit like an outsider to this world.” I began slowly. “While I’m here and you two are here, you’ve lived here all your life… but I’ve only lived here for a brief moment.” I took a deep breath and tried to meet the expecting gazes of my companions. “If the Sk… Skywalkers? Was that what you called them again?” I looked at Fanael for confirmation.

  “Yeah. You can just call them Gods, too.” The princess crossed her arms as she trotted along us.

  “Well, if the Gods are creatures like the rest of us, I guess I wouldn’t necessarily consider them holy or something…” I started, and my line of sight moved to my feet almost instinctively. “But… It was common for people in my world too, to idolize those with enough power. Be it celebrities or anything else.”

  Fanael looked over at Amelia, who seemed a bit frustrated, but then she sighed and smiled a little. She straightened her back and pulled me a bit closer to her.

  “You have a pretty big heart for someone heartless.” Amelia chuckled with a slightly apologetic smile. “Can I try to interpret your words?”

  “P-please…” I nodded awkwardly. “I’m not… fantastic at fully explaining my thoughts on subjects like this…” I looked at the choralium toes peeking from underneath my dress each step. “I would rather not lie… but I don’t want to hurt you two either.”

  “You’re saying that you don’t particularly dislike us having faith in things, even if you personally don’t consider the beings we worship to be something you’d wish to worship.” Amelia’s interpretation was pretty accurate. I brightened at her welcoming smile a bit as my eyes finally returned to meet hers again.

  “Uh… yeah!! YEAH!” I pointed at the paladin hastily. “I don’t like the idea of being bound to some… unfathomable creature out there.” I pointed at the sky, even though I wasn’t actually sure if that’s where the so called ‘Skywalkers’ lived.

  Fanael and Amelia exchanged a knowing glance, and then chuckled quietly a bit. Maybe the word ‘unfathomable’ wasn’t the best choice…

  “As expected of a witch!” Fanael piped up, laughing a bit.

  Amelia was just sighing and shaking her head. “So, WHAT!? You dare think my Goddess is some lunatic mummy who simply invades the dreams of random people for entertainment?!”

  I was so caught off-guard by Amelia’s words I was left speechless… for only a moment until I burst out laughing. “PHUAHAHAHAHAH! Don’t you think it’s pretty blasphemous to call your goddess a lunatic mummy!?” To my surprise, my words didn’t seem to catch Amelia off-guard.

  “Honestly, I feel her Holiness might simply laugh it off. She’s incredibly open-minded.” Amelia smiled almost pompously, as if this was something to be proud of.

  “Mmmh! I somehow got the impression when I was eavesdropping on your conversations in Subtherma!” I was giggling a bit still. “I wouldn’t mind meeting her sometime… we could have tea in your dreams together or something.”

  “WHAT BLASPHEMY!! I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW, SHE PREFERS COFFEE” Amelia roared in feigned anger.

  All three of us shared in a moment of laughter. It felt a bit cleansing somehow. It was nice to have companions who I could discuss even differences in my beliefs with, without ending up in fights.

  The weather was quite enjoyable. A bit windy, but otherwise comfortably warm. I decided to pass the time with some light conversation as we walked further.

  “Fanael?” I looked at my smaller companion. “Do you also believe in some sort of deity?” I asked curiously.

  “I do indeed!” She nodded with a confident grin. “Us Earthwalkers are divided into three different tribes.” Her little hands were placed on her hips, as if to stop herself from exploding with eagerness to talk about herself.

  “Mhiir’im, Haark and Nonfel, right?” I smiled, and Fanael’s response to my knowledge was most endearing. She was basically dancing around me for knowing.

  “INDEED!! I can tell all that time being holed in the library wasn’t wasted on you!” Her celebration was quite infectious, even though I could have easily interpreted her words as a thinly veiled insult.

  “I’m a bookworm! I absorb knowledge from paper like a sponge!” I declared. “Haark worship nature itself as a sort of deity, right?” I began bragging about my knowledge. ”I never heard about the Mhiir’im, though.” I mused, recalling not being able to find a lot of religious texts in the library.

  “We’re a bit different in that sense! We’re kind of unified in our beliefs a bit differently.” Fanael began explaining. “Basically, we have a pantheon of sorts. There are Gods of different kinds for different reasons, and upon reaching adulthood, you swear allegiance to a particular deity you feel a connection to.”

  “Ohoo! That’s pretty cool! So, what kind of deity do you worship?” I laughed at Fanael’s enthusiasm as she spoke to me. She was quite proud of her country and culture, which was a good feature for a ruler, I guess!

  “Farnalos! THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION!!” Fanael declared completely unironically. I had to instantly look away to not burst out laughing. It TOTALLY FIT HER but also sounded so funny coming out of that adorable mouth of hers.

  “Hoo! I’ve heard of Farnalos! I believe he is a god of volcanoes!” The irony of it all seemed to be lost on Amelia.

  I had to take a moment to calm myself down to not laugh at someone else’s god. That would be quite grimy, even for a witch. We walked along, chattering peacefully about our beliefs and such.

  “Yverna!” Fanael suddenly pat my leg as we walked. I lifted her up, thinking she wanted to hitch a ride. Seems like that wasn’t what she had in mind, but she didn’t seem to dislike this turn of events either. “What’s an internet?” She asked.

  … I never realized I actually blurted out a completely unknown word to the two.

  “Oh! I wondered the same!” Amelia beamed.

  “Well…!” I had to think for a moment. How to explain the internet to these two, who had no experience with anything quite like it. “W-well… It all begins with a computer… or a laptop! Like in my case.”

  “A chompjuuuter?” Fanael repeated like a child trying to learn her first big word.

  “Uhuh! A computer was a tool to access a wealth of literary knowledge in a… vast electronic information network called the internet! It was a way for anyone anywhere in the world to read about a bunch of things or watch recordings of things that had happened in the past.”

  “Hoooo!!” Amelia seemed quite excited. “All kinds of texts were accessible through the singular device?!” She seemed quite impressed. “What a fantastical invention!”

  “Yeah… but because anybody could write about anything they wanted on the internet, sometimes you’d have to sort of… know what you were doing, so you wouldn’t start reading pure nonsense!” I scratched the back of my head.

  “A double-edged sword…” Amelia crossed her arms. Do note, she was still carrying the gigantic bag. “I suppose such a convenient tool could easily be used to spread misinformation.” She nodded, somehow fully ignoring the weight on her shoulders still. I made a mental note to offer her a shoulder massage later.

  “Yeah… A lot of these cult-like organizations I told you about earlier gained some power through it, too! It’s like…” I stopped to ponder my words over. “Because so many people had access to the internet, no matter what idiotic nonsense you’d post there, there’d always be someone who agreed with you.”

  “Hrrrm… I didn’t think of it that way…” Amelia pondered. “I don’t know if I like this… internet after all.”

  “A network of information…” Fanael seemed to be quite inspired by the thought.

  “Just don’t let people put stuff there without any screening!!” Amelia got worried instantly.

  The walk proceeded quite nicely, and the forest was genuinely stunning. Remember those little glimmering lights I mentioned at the very start of my story? Turns out they really were fairies!!

  They were so insanely cute…! Almost as cute as Fanael! A bunch of them flew around and took roost on my hat. The wide brim of it seemed a perfect public transportation vehicle to use to traverse the forest.

  Amelia and Fanael, who I let on the ground to walk on her own a while ago, were clearly quite amused by the sight of me and my pixies, but I was all smiles.

  The fairies had a silly squeaky little language they discussed things casually in while sitting on my hat. Maybe witches and these adorable little things generally got along? They didn’t seem too interested in sitting on Fanael and Amelia.

  The fairies looked like dainty humans with little wings. They had some slightly plant-like features to them, like petals replacing their hair or root-like fingers and toes.

  As I cupped my hands, one would eventually fall onto my hands to my delight, allowing me to observe them more closely.

  This one had little antennas that flickered with lights. She had big, cutesy eyes with green eyelashes! How fantastical!

  I picked some berries to feed my companions, which they seemed to graciously accept. I simply asked them to be careful to not make a mess of my hat as they ate.

  To my surprise and delight, they had very impressive table manners.

  Our walk continued as the sun began to set. The fairies provided some light, but eventually, it seemed like they were needed elsewhere, so they flew off after waving at us a bit.

  Somehow the air in the forest felt a lot more oppressive all of a sudden. I don’t know if it was due to the fact of us walking into a potential lions’ den, but I suddenly didn’t feel all too good about the trip.

  My cynical dwelling was interrupted as Amelia pointed out there was another road joining ours from the eastern side of the forest.

  A bit of noise was coming from the darkness of the forest on the other road. It sounded like the wooden wheels of a carriage.

  We stopped and hid in some nearby bushes, only to find a pretty normal-looking wagon with an older human woman sitting at the front. It was being pulled by a single horse rather lazily.

  As the slow carriage approached us, we felt a bit embarrassed for hiding in the bush, so we got out.

  “Oh! Fancy seeing young’uns here at this hour!” The grandma smiled warmly and waved at us a bit. We exchanged a glance.

  “Good evening, Miss!” Amelia began, instantly getting the grandma flustered. She truly had a monstrous ladykiller energy to her. Even the elderly women weren’t safe from her.

  “Oh, dear!” She laughed. “A knight and… a magician and a… my! A Mhiir’im! What a colorful bunch!”

  We began leisurely walking along her and whispered together a little to come to the conclusion that we should ask her about the village.

  “Are you heading to the village at the end of the forest?” I asked.

  “Why yes! I’m bringing them an order of pickles!” She boasted proudly.

  “Pickles…?” Fanael tilted her head.

  “Why yes! I’ve been making pickled cucumbers for all of my life, and only recently has business started booming! Apparently, my pickles are really popular here! I’ve been able to pay for my grandkids’ tuition!” She was quite a wholesome grandmother.

  We exchanged some confused glances over the whole pickle situation, but our discussion was interrupted as some lights spread in front of us.

  A bustling village, maybe even bigger than the Hunters’ Outpost, was suddenly ahead.

  It was… surprisingly not sinister at all.

  It seemed, in fact so normal, that I felt we might have arrived at the wrong place. There were a bunch of pretty well cleaned looking buildings made of stone and wood. There was a big smokestack expanding from somewhere around the center of the town, and several people walking along children.

  All in all, it was…quaint.

  It was clear Amelia and Fanael shared my disbelief as we saw the village. My expectation was to find some kind of fenced-off compound with search lights. Admittedly, it could just be that I had a slightly too active imagination.

  To my confusion, there wasn’t even a wall to the place, and we were allowed to march in just like that.

  Was this somehow far off enough to not warrant a wall? Or was it maybe too expensive to make one for the villagers?

  As we drew in closer to the village, a strange odor wafted through the air only for a moment. Something sulfurous and unpleasant. I waved my hand in front of my nose a bit, but as quickly as the smell arrived, it disappeared, leaving both Amelia and Fanael staring at me confused.

  I simply waved them off.

  Potentially there was some kind of monster repellent incense or something being burned here, or it could be the smell of the smokestack warded off the local beasts.

  The village was seemingly quite friendly and welcoming. People were up and about even though it was quite late when we arrived. There were bars and taverns bustling with noise and multiple tiny restaurant-like booths lining the roads.

  “Uhhh…” Amelia looked around, scratching the back of her head. “I-is it just me, or are the evil shadows corrupting this town quite well hidden?” She whispered to me. I was just about as confused as she was.

  “How about we go to a bar to see the locals a bit?” Fanael asked. It seemed reasonable enough.

  We bid farewell to the pickle grandma and decided to go into a local tavern. I made note that the town seemed to be built in a circular structure around a bigger building in the center. There were small hills surrounding us, effectively making the forest the only flat ground one could access the village through.

  The smokestack was expanding from somewhere a bit further back in somewhere, and it was pretty big, so I couldn’t help but wonder what it was used for? Burning corpses?! Maybe…

  My paranoia might have been getting the best of me…

  We stepped into a bar and the atmosphere got a lot livelier. There was even a live band performing some kind of relaxing background music. The bar seemed a bit better put together than the one back in the Hunters’ Outpost.

  We found ourselves to a table and sat down.

  “Anyone notice anything out of place?” Fanael started whispering in a comically suspicious manner.

  “Maybe…the smokestack? It seemed rather immaculate.” Amelia crossed her arms and leaned against the round table we now occupied.

  “D-do you guys think it’s used for burning corpses…” I asked shakily.

  The girls gave me a knowing glance and nodded. I’m glad I was traveling with people as stupid as I was. It made me feel less like a total moron when the two shared in my idiocy.

  “Should we be careful about drinking here…?” Fanael tilted an empty glass she had before her.

  “I’m immune to poisons, right? So, I’d be able to protect you two…maybe?” I pondered.

  “But, you’re also the weakest one of us in combat.” Amelia jabbed at me verbally, at which I flinched a bit.

  “W-well…! I’ve been practicing…!” I mumbled, at which the two chuckled and began singing empty praise at me to cheer me up.

  It honestly cheered me up quite a bit, even though it was mostly just lip service. The more I looked around, the more normal the town seemed. Maybe this whole thing about a weird group living here was a mistake on Arlow’s part? Or might be the group had already left.

  I mean… That Luna girl did react pretty extremely at the prospect of getting her ‘Terminus’ taken away, but she could have just been a border-line case. It’s not like we even confirmed if she got the stone from this village.

  “What will the ladies have?” A cheery waitress walked to us.

  I was lost in thought for a moment, until I finally peeked at her from underneath my hat…

  And in that instant… I knew this place was absolutely not normal.

  No…not at all.

  “I’d like a bottle of wine… The reddest kind you have!” Fanael raised her fist in the air.

  “An entire bottle?” The waitress seemed a bit awkward about the question.

  “Indeed!” The royal decree seemed shocking to the girl, but she complied.

  “Ooo…kaayyy! And your honor?” She turned to Amelia.

  “Oh! I am not a part of the holy order.” Amelia laughed. “I appreciate it, however. Please bring me some water. I feel it’s a bit late for me to start drinking.”

  “All good! And Miss mage?” She smiled at me, but I couldn’t reply. I was completely paralyzed.

  “Uhh…” I wheezed.

  “Miss? Are you alright?” She seemed a bit concerned.

  “I’m… good…” I shook my head.

  “Oh… Okay!” I think… the girl had a pretty effective customer service smile. “Please let us know if you need anything.” I nodded, pulling my hat down hastily.

  The girl walked off before returning with Fanael’s wine and Amelia’s water. I checked the bottle and water, but it didn’t seem like there was anything off about them.

  Cold sweat was sliding down my back in the most uncomfortable manner. Amelia suddenly stood up from her side of the table, walking over to me and pushing me in the corner, hiding me away from the bar a bit.

  “Tell me what you see.” She whispered firmly but quietly enough for nobody to hear. She was sipping her water casually, so outwardly she looked very normal, but I could feel her body was tense. I’m so glad she was able to notice my state.

  Fanael seemed to be wary due to my reaction too, but she seemed to be the decoy for this discussion.

  “CHEERS!” She cheered and raised her glass, beginning to drink quite loudly, while catching glances at us occasionally.

  “T-there’s none…” I could feel my voice choking.

  “There’s… none of what?” Amelia pried gently.

  “M-mana…” I glanced at the waitress, only to jolt back to my seat again. Amelia seemed to be taken aback a bit.

  “W-what, do you mean? All physical and magical beings turn to ash when they run out of mana.” Amelia whispered a bit sharply.

  “I can’t sense any. Not a bit…” I shook my head. “They’re all like… empty voids walking around…!”

  “Could it be some kind of perception blocking magic?” She huffed at me.

  “PHUAAAA” Fanael finished another cup. “BAH! I’ve had better!” She boasted while standing on her seat and making sure if any eyes were on us, they were on her. Some bar patrons seemed to find it quite funny someone so small was downing wine like her.

  “N-none of the workers here have any!” I observed as I began looking around. “E-everyone else is normal… outside numerous people having rather small amounts of mana to them…”

  The sight was truly bizarre. It was as if the people walking around were living, breathing versions of those horrifying stones. The only difference was, that at least from first glance, these strange void people were not absorbing mana from those around them.

  “…” Amelia looked around, seemingly almost frustrated to be unable to see magic like I did. “I will see if they share anything in common. Will you be alright for a bit?” She whispered.

  “I’ll…try.” I nodded shakily. “Please be careful…!” I whispered at her, grasping onto her arm almost desperately as she began getting up.

  Amelia smiled at me gently and grabbed Fanael, lifting her to sit next to me. Fanael wiggled close to me and offered me some wine. She was a pretty soothing presence, but I couldn’t help but worry over Amelia a bit, so I found myself following her every movement cautiously.

  Fanael petted my hand under the table gently while she drank more and quite loudly. I decided against having any because I was feeling a bit nauseous as I was already.

  Amelia arrived and smiled in a clearly strained manner.

  “About time for us to leave?” She smiled and hoisted Fanael, who refused to relinquish her bottle over her shoulder. She ended up swinging the bottle around while getting carried by the knight.

  I rapidly followed Amelia to the door, at where the staff loudly shouted, “COME AGAIN!” which startled me enough to cause a squeal. Some patrons laughed at me a bit as we went.

  “Let’s find an inn.” Amelia spoke firmly. Fanael hopped off her and downed the rest of the bottle in a single absurd chugging session. She didn’t seem even slightly affected by it afterward.

  We found an inn effortlessly and as soon as we walked in, I stopped like I had hit a wall.

  The innkeeper was one of those people too. He was maybe… tall and somewhat handsome? It was difficult to tell due to the immensity of the dark void covering his entire shape in my eyes.

  Amelia and Fanael managed to stay quite relaxed despite my obvious growing stress levels. Soon, we had a room reserved for us. It had one huge bed and a smaller one. I’m assuming it was meant for couples and their children.

  Pondering the implications of the room was beside the point now, however.

  “What was that? What did you see?!” Fanael was all ears, rushing over to me as I sat down.

  “Apparently none of the workers in the bar had mana.” Amelia filled in so I could take a breath.

  Fanael tilted her head. “Hah?”

  “That’s what I thought too… but Yverna said so.” Amelia nodded towards me and sat down next to me.

  “Are you for real?” Fanael mumbled awkwardly, climbing onto the bed to sit on my other side.

  “A-absolutely…” I sighed, finally starting to calm my nerves. “There was… something weird about them… Like I could feel some kind of…presence inside their bodies.”

  “I can’t say if it was anything of significance, but I did notice the people were all wearing gloves, the innkeeper included.” Amelia leaned forward as she spoke.

  Amelia laid onto her back and sighed deep, covering her face with one of her arms a bit.

  “I was hoping it was simply hyperbole on Arlow’s part…” She seemed clearly a bit distraught to find clear signs of something weird going on in the town.

  “People die when they run out of mana…! How the hell are they moving?!” Fanael piped up.

  “I suspected it was some kind of magic perception blocking spell.” Amelia pondered.

  “I’ve never heard of spells that can block the magic perception of monsters! Sure, for artificial magic detectors there are plenty of ways to jam them, but not for these…” The princess slapped me a bit harder than I expected. Maybe she was a bit drunk after all.

  “Indeed…” Amelia groaned and kicked her boots off.

  It might be the sight of that Luna girl being so obsessed with the stone caused Amelia to grow worried some kind of religious cult was building around these Terminus things. I felt a bit bad about telling her about the cults of my world. Perhaps it was partially my fault these seeds of doubt were sown in her mind.

  “So… are they like… undead or something? Is that a thing?” I asked shakily.

  “Undead move with magic too.” Fanael groaned and flopped onto her back as well. “I’ve never heard of living things being able to even maintain a physical body after running out of mana.”

  “I… I see…” I flopped onto my back as well now.

  A moment of silent thinking ensued again.

  “They didn’t seem hostile or anything though…” Fanael nodded while staring at the ceiling. “Wine was pretty bland though…”

  “To me, they seemed completely normal, yes. I started noticing the gloves only after Yverna pointed the issue with mana out.” Amelia lamented and took off her arm guards. “And even then, behavior-wise, they were completely polite.”

  “Yeah… I feel a bit bad about being so awkward with the waitress…” I sighed.

  There was a small window in our room letting us peek into the main street. I had a feeling I’d probably be spending the rest of the night staring outside through it like a paranoid lunatic.

  We couldn’t figure out anything else to discuss, and soon it was late enough for us to start heading to bed already.

  There was a shower of some kind attached to our room, which was a positive surprise. I soaked in there in the hot water for a while after Fanael and Amelia had gone to sleep already.

  After drying my hair up a bit, I walked out, only to find Amelia in her pajamas sitting by the window.

  She smiled at me gently. Fanael seemed to be asleep, which wasn’t a total surprise considering how much alcohol she downed.

  “Are you okay?” She asked as I pulled a chair next to her and nodded.

  “I guess I was just shocked.” I explained. “Maybe it’s because I’m a pretty uh… magical creature, but somehow seeing things totally lacking in mana makes me instinctually grow fearful of them.”

  “Mmmh…” Amelia sighed and pulled me against her a bit. It was like…a really comfortable little side hug.

  We sat in silence like that for a moment. I guess some romantic banter for comic relief would have fit here, but I don’t think this was one of those moments.

  Amelia was genuinely worried about my mental wellbeing, and it’d feel a bit cheap to turn it into comic relief.

  I can’t understand how she was so soft despite being basically pure muscle. Maybe it was some kind of mom-related-superpower.

  It was pretty comfortable to lean against her and rest my eyes a bit. I didn’t feel the slightest bit sleepy, but somehow relaxing there felt as close to sleep as I could get.

  Amelia gently petted my hand.

  “I’m sorry your first experiences with faith in this world have been so dire in nature…” She whispered quietly.

  “It’s okay…” I whispered back, keeping my eyes closed. “Wouldn’t it make for a pretty weird witch if I suddenly started worshiping some kinda holy entity?”

  Amelia chuckled quietly. “I wouldn’t mind a witch of faith…” She giggled.

  “I bet you wouldn’t…” I mumbled back at her.

  A relaxing moment of silence ensued again. The moonlight was shining through the window, bathing the room in a blue hue.

  It was a bit different from the blue of Subtherma…

  Somehow it wasn’t melancholic at all… but more… tranquil somehow.

  “Yverna…” Amelia suddenly began whispering in a bit less relaxed tone.

  I peeked one of my eyes open, only to see what was getting her so agitated instantly. There were some people walking on the streets. Long queues of people dressed in robes of some kind moved out of various establishments around the town, slowly meandering towards the center of the circular shape of the village.

  It seemed like the night was still young…