Past the gate of Toulasi and re-entry into the bustling crowded city, the trio weaved their way through with the Adventurer’s Guild destination in mind, to report the successful quest and cashed in on their accomplishment.

  Arlene yet again lifted her hands up to wave at the nearby gawking fans of the Chosen One and occasionally nodded with a smile. Her cheekbone must’ve shifted with her lip twitching up all the time, tuning into a normal expression by now. Her cape flowed and gently swayed by imaginative air.

  Wattyson still had that tree branch in hand. For someone who was dressed normally for once… beside that armoured shoulder pads, that nature’s walking stick made him a weirdo again to other onlookers.

  Anire wasn’t really needed to report. She was the employer of that quest, but she insisted on coming along. She glanced to Arlene and Wattyson repeatedly with those ruby eyes of her. Her neko ear twitching every time like it was pointing to the glanced target. She held back, only showing a small smile rather than a wide grin. Was it because she was in public now walking by two people she found fascinating not because of their statuses, but of their manas?

  Nobody on the street noticed it, but the darted lines in her two pupils constantly attached and detached, an act of peeping shots at the two – the blinding boundless mana and one seemingly void of it, a wound.

  They were strangely silent while walking to the Guild. The street filled with murmurs of passer-by, children playing, people of all races talking about their days or laughing. Some loudly cheers in the evening at the noodle stalls or other streetfoods vendors. The smell of roasting chickens and fried onions filled the street in rich aroma, impossible to not drool over for the hungry stomach.

  It was only until they past the eatery and the market sections did one of them finally spoke.

  “My My~,” Anire broke the silence, speaking so lightly in tone while covering her mouth with the coat’s arm sleeves. “Someone’s too popular.”

  Wattyson scoffed and smirked though ever so slight, “You tell her, neko girl. That’s what I said.”

  “Anire~”

  “Anire.”

  Arlene clicked her tongue to the tease. Turned around as she stomped playfully on the hard stone. “Shut it both of you! I know!” Her face was still smiling. From the tease or constantly having to smile after passing through the gate, the two could only speculate.

  “My my~, I have a vial to fix your cheeks’ muscle.”

  “Huh? Why?”

  Wattyson raised his one finger to point to the right. A reflective glass panel on the quiet library. Arlene gazed upon her own reflection, the woman saw her own facial expression. Smiling so wide one could assume she had just done something of significant importance to herself… or a face of a maiden in love.

  Her face shot red as she gasped, clapping both her cheeks with her hands. Multiple times. Her fingers pressed hard at the corner of her smile.

  “You guys don’t understand,” she turned to them as she pressed her cheeks down. “I’m the Chosen One! I have to act like that to give hope to the people!”

  Anire nodded while smiling, giving her a knowing look. Wattyson pressed hard onto his tree branch as he leaned, simply saying “Uh huh.”

  Arlene finally dragged her hands down from the cheek and to her neutral posture. She gave Wattyson a hard stare, pouting. “Anyway,” she glanced to the road to the Guild. It was still many blocks away. “Let’s resume our walk.”

  She began striding to lead again, fluttering her cape once past both of them. “Oh yeah,” She turned slightly to Anire. “Why are you coming with us?”

  Anire rested both hands behind her back, “Am I not allowed to?”

  “Not at all! Just wondering… You’re the one who posted the quest to the Adventurer’s Guild. All the payments were already given the Guild no? What will you be doing there?”

  “Nothing~”

  “Nothing?”

  “Mhmm… Just want to accompany you two~”

  “Right…” Arlene rested her hand on the pommel as she navigated the street, leading them through quiet streets instead. The teasing from the two got her sensitive about her need to smile to the public.

  She led them through a small street, an alleyway for more quiets. The alleyways of just tall stones stretching for miles. “Hey, Anire,” She spoke, voice hung low. “Do you know what our discovery of a Gavituth this south mean?”

  Anire stepped up to walk beside her. “Oh yes~ Ecological displacement means there’s something happening.”

  “Don’t play coy, you already know what it is.”

  “Yes~ that corrupted blood confirmed it.”

  Wattyson chose now to speak, “You haven’t explained to me what corrupted blood is.”

  Anire turned, her smile widened to him in surprise. “I assumed that knowledge is general knowledge, the Dark Lord’s war lasted for nearly six hundred years.”

  “Can you explain to him in laymen’s term,” requested Arlene as she shot him an eye of mischief. “He’s… been living under a rock.”

  “In a forest.” He shot back.

  “A forest of red.”

  “The Red Grove…”

  Arlene giggled to herself after taking that chance to poke at him. “Anire, please explain to the weirdo.”

  Anire clapped loudly, echoing through the static alleyway. She rested her hands behind her back again. Her head held high up front while her ear fell low resting on the messy brown hair.

  “Corrupted blood isn’t what the name implied.”

  Wattyson looked to her back, he raised his own eyebrows and was no longer limping. He was walking straight. “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “We call it corrupted blood because if it ever come into our contact with our inside even through a small scratch wound, it will corrupt our internal organs~”

  “Like what?”

  “Hmmm… damage to your nervous system, your blood cells turned to destroying your insides instead. You will constantly feel heavy on that part. The skin will constantly deteriorate. That scratch will never heal. Your bones start to become more frail. That’s just from a lick of blood.”

  “Sounds dreadful.”

  “It is~. The Explorer’s Guild and the School of Magic hypothesized since those bloods come from demons. The blood itself is hostile to anything that’s not demon, just like its host. When it comes into contact with other humanoid beings, it will attempt to attack and kill that being from the inside.”

  “Then it’s a corrupted blood because?”

  “It corrupts~.”

  “What is it with this world’s naming conventions…”

  “Hmmm… I would’ve name it Anathema’s blood~”

  That remarks got a quick focused glance from Wattyson, but he quickly faced away. She didn’t know about it. Arlene noticed him. He decided to ask further instead.

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  “So how did the Explorer’s Guild and the magic school find it out? How did they get that hypothesis?”

  “From patterns~. They noticed it in soldiers and knights fighting on the frontline constantly came back with those symptoms. Alas, we already have a cure against this so it’s a no matter when treated hurriedly.”

  “You’re saying it’s in soldiers and knights… wouldn’t there be too many to treat?”

  Arlene chimed in. “Actually… Demons don’t actually spill blood when slashed or killed. Most of the time they just dissipated into thin air.”

  “Into mana~”

  “Huh? Where do the blood come from then?”

  Arlene raised her finger up, putting on a voice like she was giving a lecture. “Only demons of high ranking. Like captain of a squad. There was usually one captain in a squad of ten. The average battle consisted of six thousands eight hundred squads.”

  “That’s kinda small… I thought a war of such existential would have a higher enemy counts.”

  “Well, when the existential threat Dark Lord was conquering the entire world from the north peak and the frontline stretched far. The troop counts were still large.”

  Wattyson hummed, understanding fully now. “Carry on then,” He raised his foot shy above to brushed against Arlene’s back greave.

  She rolled her eyes before turning to Anire, “Back to earlier, everything we knew about the corrupted blood seems to be… inconsistent.”

  Anire titled her head down facing her. “Mmm~ that heart was still in good condition, and it’s pumping out the corrupted blood. We are dealing with someone who knew the working of those dimensional demons and the technologies of the Dark Lord’s and its legions.”

  She lifted her head back, looking ahead while walking… as a normal person would and should. “I’m guessing… someone injected a serum into that Gavituth. Yet as you’ve said, it contradicted everything that blood should do~. It became more aggressive and more hostile enough to migrate this far from the northern tundra.”

  Arlene’s voice dropped even lower for only the three of them… despite being in an alleyway with only stone wall on both sides. “Are you thinking… someone has the ability to modify the blood and changes its properties?”

  “No~ I’m thinking… someone was able to create something similar and is using it to boost aggressiveness in one’s mind.”

  The implication was heavy. If a person was saying in public, they could be reported and trailed. Hung or execution for heresy or fearmongering. No… it was more than that. It was saying the hard fought peace lasted for two years now was just a prelude to something more violent. It was akin to conspiracy undermining it. A prelude to war among the people of Celes’ira.

  Six hundred years of constant wars. Six hundred years of kingdoms and empires felled and collapsed. To the Dark Lord and its legions and traitors who sold their souls them. Six hundred years in tug of war for this realm. The world had finally won that war, and now someone was exploiting that peace.

  “Not a word to anyone about this… not yet,” Arlene spoke in hush yet sharp in tone. “At least… not with your colleague. Not even to the Adventurer’s Guildmaster or Explorer’s Master Explorer.”

  Her eyes focused on the neko girl in grey coat before her. Studying her if she understood or not. Her neko ear twitching and twirling as if it was playfully creating a whirlpool. Anire never let go of her smile, if anything Arlene had made her smile even more, reaching to her one ear like she was trying to break the limit of her facial muscles.

  “Of course~, but then how will I get my funding for my solo research then?”

  “Post more quests. I’ll do it.”

  “You do realize I have to pay for the quest and the reward compensation in the first place? Like this one~”

  “Then join us. We’re staying here for a week. Perhaps more if we can understand this more.”

  That last sentence got Wattyson to groan again.

  “Please,” Arlene spun to him. “I… I need to know!”

  He sighed and nodded, pushing the tree branch back on the stone path leading to the near exit now. Limping again.

  Anire rested her hand on her cheek. “So I’m invited to the Chosen One’s party?”

  Arlene turned to her as they now exited the alleyway to a quiet street but they weren’t alone this time. There were other civilians passerby. A small neighbourhood only few blocks left to the Guild.

  She spoke louder in a casual tone, there was no need to hide. Their talks now sounded like a normal invitation.

  “Yes, we’ll split the quest rewards evenly and more to you if need be.”

  “Hmmm~ no need to split the rewards. Though I have one condition,” Her smile became smaller now as she looked to the weirdo behind. “Let me test you.”

  Wattyson who looked like he was looking far off to the horizon, absent from the conversation suddenly got pulled back in. “Huh?”

  “Let me test you~”

  “Yeah I heard you, huh?”

  Arlene didn’t speak. She observed the two instead. Her hand resting on her pommel and her steps were measured. Pacing herself slower, intending to get between them if necessary.

  Anire extended her hands out while walking backward, hitting a random adventurer who was walking by in opposite direction but they scoffed it off. Anire wasn’t budged.

  The evening sun shined onto the neko girl, highlighting her face in bright light. Those eyes of her were even more visible thanks to the shining star behind Wattyson.

  “You are a walking paradox, Tes- Wattyson! You are devoid of mana yet you can cast magic, without chanting even! You are a walking enigma waiting to be unveiled! I can help you understand yourself!”

  “You sure lack tact in asking to experiment on someone.”

  “I rather be honest to such a majestic subject rather than lacing my words in sweet~”

  Wattyson looked to her, eyes locking with hers. Those purple and violet irises against the red pupils with horizontal lines darting across entirely. He wasn’t glaring at her. Far from it. He was staring at her full of… empty. As if he was disinterested or bored. Not engaged in the slightest.

  “And what’s in it for me? Not the joining Arlene and helping her understand those things. What’s in it for me personally.”

  He paced forward, closer to her walking backward. They were inches away. The tall weirdo looking down to the neko girl at his mouth height. “I am content to not knowing why I can use magic despite being ‘void of mana’. Does it affect my day to day life? No. Does it affect with what I want to do? No. Does not being able to teleport inconvenience me? No. You better have a good pitch if you want to experiment on me.”

  Arlene was somewhat flustered. She had thought her intervention would be to protect him from Anire. Now it was as if the latter was being surgically tested on by the former. She was readying herself to intervene nonetheless. Her left foot turned in the next step as she turned herself around slightly. She stopped. Anire held out her hand to halt her.

  The neko girl was now overshadowed by Wattyson’s height. Yet it didn’t deter her. If anything, she was delighted. Her small smile broke into larger one, giggling to herself.

  “None! I can only offer nothing to those who desire nothing!” She hopped back slightly turning away from him, walking face forward. “That’s the only thing I can give you, nothing~.”

  Her voice became low and soft. She wasn’t giggling to herself with her smile back to small. “You will have my eternal gratitude if you help me. I won’t do anything as drastic as harming you. Only few potions related to mana you have to drink. Who knows~ You might be able to teleport at the end. Maybe even becoming available to see mana flows like I do~

  In return, I’ll give you anything you want~ You can use me entirely. My knowledge, my resources, everything you desire I will provide~”

  Wattyson took a pause before resuming his pace, allowing her to gain space. His eyes still drifted toward her, studying her. He could see the neko’s ear was still, only swaying slightly to the winds.

  He didn’t want to understand himself. There was nothing to understand. Some things best left in the dark. The knowledge of him being void of mana was new to him. If he could still use magic, then so what?

  Contemplating what she said, what she offered, reminded him of his earlier days as a hunter. The push for one’s desire he could relate to. Even if his desire as a hunter back then compared to her desire was different in scope… it didn’t matter.

  His gaze then landed on Arlene who half turned to him, her eye was soft yet cautious. He could read that she wanted him to accept, maybe she thought it would help her understand him better. It also read as her backing him if he declined. Her protectiveness nature came across to him clearly.

  A long sigh escaped as he no longer clicked that tree branch as he limped, he was dragging it instead. “Fine… but tell me in advance what potions and its properties and ingredients in details.”

  Anire perked as she spun to face him. Her arms reaching for his free hand, shaking it violently. “Of course! Thank you Tes-“

  “Choose your label of me carefully.”

  “Wattyson~” Anire finally let go of his hand and looked to him with a softened smile. “This means a lot to me, thank you again truly.”

  “Uh.. sure, don’t mention it.”

  Anire then spun back around, swinging her arm wide as she walked. Arlene turned her face fully to him, giving him a wink before turning forward also and hummed to herself.

  Wattyson shook his head as he sighed. He wasn’t limping anymore. Simply walking normally while dragging a wooden branch.

  That mansion looking Guild became larger and larger till eventually they arrived. Evening usually meant people leaving works and to their homes. Not here. It was when adventurers came to submit their finished quests. There were numerous of them at the front door seemingly pouring in.

  A lot in leather armors, steel armors, priest attires, ninja cloths and more. Sounds of chatters from those parties about their quests, their own performances or other performances. Other were sneering other group of adventurers or talks of wanting to surpass them because of jealousy. One thing for sure… they were all sweating.

  Wattyson sighed yet again as if it was becoming his signature now. “Anire,” he spoke placing one palm on her shoulder. “You are officially part of Arlene’s party, go in my stead. Also give me that strawberry vial again.”

  “Of course~,” she quickly threw her hand into her bag and pulled out five more vials of them. “Here!”

  Those five vials dumped firmly in his hand, his free hand opening one of them and drinking them on the spot. He nudged to Arlene. “Arlene, I’m gonna go to the Inn first now. See you there.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he walked off. Nearing a quiet corner outside the Guild, he quickly discarded his tree branch… it wasn’t even the garbage spot.

  Arlene’s eyes remained on him until he got out of view. “Will he even be able to navigate himself in this jungle of a city?” She muttered to herself, “I could’ve just use my status to get people to move for me…”

  Anire chuckled to herself. “Now now~ I’m your official party member now, I’ll fill his place.”

  “Yes but…”

  “Perhaps next time you should tell him that~”

  Arlene sighed in defeat as she turned toward that front door. “Come on Anire, let’s go… I’ll have to inform the receptionist too about you joining.”

  True to her words earlier, adventurers no matter the ranks moved for her, giving her space to skip ahead. Some stared in awe, other murmuring in jealousy of how they were better while other just gawk at the legend before them.

  A clear line for them formed for them straight to the reception hall… for the bureaucracy ahead.