Grimacing, Varzath gives the girl - who has undoubtedly heard him - a sidelong glance.

“Ignore that. You heard nothing.”

Then, as Ena continues to stare at him fixedly, leaf-green eyes slightly wide, Varzath clears his throat.

“…So, why an insect?”

She blinks, slowly. “…Jael never showed up to eat. You lied to me.”

Varzath smiles. “You left me to fend against them on my own. What if they had killed me to keep my mouth shut?”

“I-I came back!”

“Conveniently, the enemy had already fled by then.”

Ena grimaces. “…You’re the weirdest kid I’ve ever met.”

Varzath shrugs. “I’ll take it as a complement. But you never answered my question.”

Ena grimaces further, hesitating for a moment before speaking again, “…They think it’s funny for an elf to be afraid of insects since they’re, you know, part of nature and stuff…”

Varzath snorts. “Honestly, I didn’t expect such profound thought from Jael. Though, I couldn’t help but notice, you’re not an elf… And humans, last I checked, were perfectly capable of fearing all sorts of nature-related things.”

Ena’s eyes widen. Then, hugging her book against her chest tightly as she pulls her legs closer, she averts her gaze. “…T-thank you,” she whispers after another moment of silence, voice trembling slightly.

Varzath blinks. Eh? For what? Wasn’t that obvious?

“Look, you can’t let them walk all over you. You’ve gotta defend yourself, or they’ll never respect you as an equal.”

Ena seems to shrink as she hugs her knees and lowers her gaze, keeping it away from Varzath. “…They’ll never respect me as an equal,” she murmurs, “I’m not human enough for that.”

Varzath rolls his eyes. “Did you try?”

Finally, she shifts her gaze in his direction again. “I… I suppose not.”

“Then there you go. Well, I can’t promise it’ll be easy, or that it’ll work for sure, but it beats hiding in here for the rest of your life, doesn’t it?”

“Why… Why are you giving me advice?”

Why, indeed.

“Maybe I think you’re cute,” Varzath says, staring into her eyes as he does so.

Or maybe she looked so pathetic hiding back here his bleeding heart couldn’t help but soften…

Ena stays quiet for a long moment after his compliment. Is she blushing?

At last, Varzath clears his throat as he straightens himself, sitting again. “Anyway, I would offer you my protection, but I’m afraid I won’t be staying for much longer. Don’t worry, I believe you have it in you… Just please, no more bricks. Killing one of them would hardly improve your standing with the local human populace.”

“Your protection,” Ena repeats, incredulous sounding.

“I chased them away, didn’t I?”

“…How old are you, anyway?”

“Eight. What does it look like?”

Ena grimaces.

“You?” he asks her.

“…Thirteen.”

“Wow, that’s crazy. Scrawny like this, you don’t look a day older than twelve.”

Ena seems to consider whether he’s being serious or not. After a moment, she chuckles. “Thank you.”

Varzath smiles at her.

“Why… Why do you want to leave so bad? If it’s you… You’ll probably be adopted soon, and if not... You could even become a big shot at the church…”

Adopted, huh? Right, that happens sometimes. Well, he’s not interested in playing the kid anymore, so that’s definitely out of the picture. As for becoming part of the church…

Varzath raises his eyebrow. “Do I look like I want to grow up to be a priest to you?”

Ena frowns. “…How am I supposed to know? We’ve just met.”

Varzath chuckles. “Fair. And the answer your question, the reason I want to leave is that I don’t belong here. Simply put, it has come the time for this bird to spread his wings and fly.”

Unamused looking, Ena looks him from head to bare feet. “And have you thought about how you’ll eat once you’re outside? Where you’ll sleep?”

Varzath shrugs. “I’ll manage.”

She grimaces. “You’ll die. Or worse.”

He shrugs again. “Maybe. But there’s something I must do, and the sooner I start, the better. I can’t wait another decade for the world to start taking me seriously.”

“…Do you at least have a plan for leaving?”

“Not really? I mean, I just decided I was going to leave two seconds ago…”

Ena blinks. “I can’t decide if you’re genius, or stupid.”

“Maybe the difference between the two is smaller than you think,” Varzath retorts, smiling at her again.

Ena sighs. “If you’re going to run, you’ll want to leave Baystorm. Father Anders would find you in less than a day otherwise.”

Varzath nods. “I figured as much. Which means I’ll have to sneak in one of the ships for the continent, right? Better yet if I could fake my death somehow… Do you think anybody would care enough to chase me all the way out there?”

Ena stares at him for a long moment. “…You’re serious about running away.”

Varzath rolls his eyes. “Obviously. Just here in between us, I can’t stand another minute of this place.”

“I’ve never met-”

“Met a kid weirder than me? Yeah, I got it the first time,” Varzath says, chuckling softly.

Ena falls silent. “I… I don’t think I can do it,” she murmurs after a moment, “I don’t think I can stand up to them.”

“What? You’re afraid things will become even worse?”

She shakes her head. “No, it’s not that. I… I just can’t. Every time I try something, they all turn against me…”

Ah. So, the humans bundle together when she speaks up, since they consider her an outsider. And without any support whatsoever, it becomes much harder to fight back.

“Say, do you know how to swim?”

Ena blinks. “I… No?”

“So, if you feel into a river, would you simply stand still and allow yourself to drown?”

“I guess I’d flap my arms around. I don’t understand-”

“My point is you’re not flapping your arms hard enough, kid.”

“Kid? Aren’t you almost half my age?”

Varzath ignores that. “Look, the way I see it, if don’t you don’t learn how to swim, and fast, you’ll drown. Do you understand? So, start flapping those twigs. I doubt anybody’s coming to save you, so fight for yourself.”

Ena lowers her gaze thoughtfully.

“Maybe nobody’s ever told you’re allowed to. But take it from me, any punishment Father Anders might give you is far less terrible than what those kids will do to you if you let them think you’re a free meal.”

Ena remains silent, and, after a moment, Varzath sighs.

It is clear she has no confidence to speak of, but it is also obvious she’s close to snapping. One way or another, somebody is about to get hurt... Why does he care again?

“How… How would you do it?” Ena eventually asks, surprising Varzath.

“Me? I guess I’d beat them up until they learned to leave me alone. But you’re too weak for that. In your position, I’d consider fighting hard enough that-”

“They won’t consider me a free meal anymore?”

“Yes. Nobody likes pain, not even bullies. Make their bullying painful enough, and they’ll stop.”

After a moment, Ena looks at him again, green eyes gleaming lightly in the dim, small space of the back of the library.

“…Your name… Sinclair, right?”

Varzath raises an eyebrow. It seems she remembered his name from when Sister Gracie mentioned it earlier.

“…Could you… Could you teach me how to fight? I don’t know how you’ve learned it, but I saw what you did to Jael that time… He was limping today.”

Varzath grimaces. Getting dragged into human drama is the last thing he needs when he is finally about to leave this place.

This girl’s life is none of his business.

Just, as Varzath is about to deny her…

“If you don’t, I’ll tell everybody you’re planning on running away.”

...But of course she will. As usual, no good action goes unpunished.

Having the Sisters on guard against him would make it harder to gather supplies, and they’d be faster to react if one day he does disappear… That is, if they believe Ena, of course. Problem is, his own reputation is far from stellar. It wouldn’t take much to convince some of the Sisters, or even Father Anders, that he is planning something.

Damn it, why did he have to open his big mouth?

“…Okay, fine,” Varzath agrees begrudgingly. “But I’m only staying for another month, and it’s up to you how much you can learn during that time.”

Ena blinks. Looking at her, Varzath wonders if she’s having a hard time wrapping her head around everything they’ve talked about just now.

Even for him, the conversation was a bit too fast to keep track of.

Anyway, dinner shouldn’t be too far off now. Best to leave earlier rather than risk missing it.

Releasing a small groan, Varzath rises as he stretches his arms above his head.

“Meet me behind the main building an hour before dawn tomorrow,” he tells Ena, whose green eyes follow his movements fixedly, “I take it you can at least figure out how to sneak out there on your own?”

“…And what if I can’t show up tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there every day; Just show up when you can. Though, like I said, I’ll be out of here in a month or so, so I’d show up as much as I can before then if I were you.”

Varzath waves over his shoulder as he walks away. Now that he has finally decided to leave, he can’t wait to start…

The rest of the day proceeds without much else happening. During dinner, Ena sat by herself again, near the other kids her age, while throwing sidelong glances his way every now and then.

Varzath decides to ignore her.

Jael and his friends also show up this time, somewhat late, and speaking loudly as they make their way toward the canteen…

Then, their gazes drifted in his direction, and Varzath smiled at them warmly, as though greeting old friends.

That seemed to quiet them somewhat, go figure. How rude. He was just trying to be friendly…

Leaving earlier and skipping bath time as usual, Varzath goes through the painful process of exhausting his mana again, lies against his pillow, and finally manages to fall asleep once his headache goes away.

He dreams of his palace.

Not the finished product, in all of its glory, but of when it was first built, a bastion representing the hopes and dreams of his people against the oppression they had been subjected to thus far.

Ugh. For a demon, he was quite the goody two-shoes, wasn’t he?

Varzath awakens in a dark room as he once more repeats his usual morning routine.

Damn it, he is tired.

Climbing outside as he closes the window after himself, Varzath scans the space below in search of his soon-to-be pupil. However, he isn’t able to find her midst the shadows, and since he is too lazy to cast a wind searching spell just for this, he simply hikes down instead…

Varzath hears a gasp just as he is about to reach the ground, nearly releasing his grip as he curses silently.

“Did you just climb from the third floor?!” Ena whispers while appearing from behind a nearby tree.

Well, no wonder he wasn’t able to spot her.

“Damn it, girl, do want to spook me to death?” Varzath says, jumping the rest to way and landing as silently as a cat would. “Follow me, and keep your voice low; Or, better yet, don’t speak until we’re away from the windows.”

Ena nods, though she’s still looking at him weirdly as they head toward Varzath’s usual training spot.

“…Do you really do this every day?” she asks once they’re out of hearing range from the windows.

“I don’t do it as much as I’d like to,” Varzath retorts, taking off his shirt as he immediately begins his usual warm-up exercises. “For now, just copy what I do. These are for losing up.”

Ena obediently follows his lead, though somewhat awkwardly at first.

In different circumstances, Varzath might’ve taken things more slowly with her, but unfortunately, their time is short, and she’ll have to pick up things fast or give up on learning from him.

As such, after a couple of minutes of warming up, Varzath finally stops as he turns in Ena’s direction, measuring her body thoughtfully.

“W-what?”

“Quiet.”

He wasn’t kidding when he called her scrawny earlier. Even for a thirteen-year-old girl, Ena is small, though not exactly malnourished. Still, her arms and legs are long, and they’ll have to work with that.

It has been a while since Varzath taught anyone how to fight. Back when he finally freed Hell of Ig'droren’s existence, many of her slaves pleaded their loyalty to him… But they were pleasure slaves, not fighters, and it took time and effort to turn them into a force to be reckoned with… And those were demons, not thirteen-year-old girls.

He supposes he should start with the basics?

“…Have you ever thrown a punch before?”

Ena jumps. “Sure…?” she says, making it sound like a question.

Varzath sighs. “So, that’s a no. Okay, I’ll show you how to do it, so pay attention to how I move my body.”

Making sure to move a slowly as possible, Varzath throws a right aimed at an invisible opponent’s jaw.

“…Did you catch that?” he asks once he is done, already knowing the answer by the look on her face.

He sighs again.

After several more demonstrations, Ena finally nods, looking as though she is ready to give it a try.

“Like… Like this?”

Varzath is speechless. That was just… Just awful.

“…Try again,” he tells her, containing his urge to facepalm as she does so, somehow doing an even worse job of it the second time.

His precious daily hour of training…

Varzath shakes his head. No, this won’t do at all. If she is to waste his time like this, then she better become a descent fighter by the end of the month!

“Look. And pay attention.”

This time, Varzath does it at full speed.

“I… I barely saw it.”

“Put your legs the way I do mine… Yeah, like that. Now, imagine you’re aiming at something, and rotate your body, putting your weight behind your fist.”

Ena punches, and Varzath blinks.

Wow, that looked almost like the real thing. Not bad, not bad…

Several minutes of adjustments later, Ena is panting slightly, and Varzath finally nods in satisfaction. “Good. With that, you might be able to down a fellow thirteen-year-old if they stand still for long enough for you to punch them.”

As she throws a dirty look in his direction, Varzath smiles at her.

“Now let’s run. We don’t have much time left.”

“R-run?”

“Of course. You don’t think your enemies will actually stand still for you, right? And by the way, if you stop before I do, I’m not teaching you anymore.”

The despair in her eyes almost makes Varzath laugh out loud. Damn it, his sadistic side is coming out…

Peaceful days follow, and Varzath continues to maintain his usual routine for now, though his focus is now on how he might escape this place for good.

Gathering supplies won’t be much of a problem; He can create drinkable water with magic, and a trip to the orphanage kitchen before heading out should net him enough food to last for a couple of days at least.

The real problem is money, and what he’ll find once he’s outside. He’d rather not have to rely on stealing to survive, if at all possible, as making too many enemies or gathering too large a bad reputation might come to bite his ass later.

Hunting for food in the wild could be a way to survive for a while, he could probably manage it, and it’ll make training much easier… But there are no girls in the wild, and there’s no way he’ll spend another decade without having sex.

He’d go crazy.

Which leaves finding a way to earn a living honestly somewhere civilized…

Begging?

No offense to baggers out there, but he’d rather steal.

Selling his current body to some perverted rich lady or duke somewhere?

Again, he’d rather steal.

Sitting at the back of the library once more as he flips yet through another stupid fairytale, Varzath frowns. Is that really his only option?

He supposes creating his own merry band of thieves could be a way to amass followers and money; But won’t Sunnazoth laugh at him if by the time they meet again, he has become nothing but a glorified thief?

Varzath groans. He can already imagine her expression…

And other than what he’ll do once he’s outside, there’s also the matter of how to get there to begin with, since still he doesn’t know his way around the city, let alone which ships are sailing to where, or when they’ll be leaving port.

If he sneaks inside a ship whose captain is planning to spend the next week anchored, that’d be disastrous. And if his first escape attempt is failure, Varzath doesn’t know what will happen. He doubts it’d be anything drastic, but still…

What he needs at the moment, more than anything else, is information; Information regarding his immediate surroundings, and the world of Itera at large.

Unfortunately, Mind Magic is a rather fickle way to gather it, as searching through a person’s memories is far from ideal, as well as time-consuming and invasive.

Alternatively, going about the orphanage, or the town beyond it, while asking when the next ship for the continent is sailing would attract far too much attention…

Then again, maybe he’s overthinking things. Would anyone really care if an orphan among hundreds suddenly went missing?

And, whenever he ends up after escaping, he is sure he’ll be able to manage somehow.

Closing his book, Varzath nods to himself. First, he’ll find a way to visit the town a couple of times. Even if he has to skip sleep in order to do it, doing so before his grand escape is essential, so he’ll at least be able to find the port in a timely manner when the time comes.

Second, comes finding a boat which is about to leave soon; If he’s able to find the exact date and time, better yet.

Once that’s done, he’ll think of a way to leave without causing too much of a commotion…

Ena’s training progresses smoothly. Despite Varzath’s initial fears, she’s talented, and determined enough, to make it work.

However, their first issue comes six days into their training, when Ena suddenly collapses during their run.

Once Varzath realizes what happened, he immediately stops and runs toward her.

Limbs shaking and face pale, she tries to rise while panting heavily.

“Idiot, stay still!”

Startled by his whispered shout, Ena stops, meeting his gaze with glazed eyes as she finally allows herself to fall prone.

Placing his hand against her forehead, and realizing it is burning, Varzath frowns. “You have a fever,” he tells her while helping her to sit, slowly, then meeting her gaze reproachingly, “Where you already like this when we started?”

Albeit hesitantly, she nods. “I think… I caught a cold…”

Her voice is rough, and Varzath realizes that’s why she was unusually quiet today.

Shaking his head, Varzath clicks his tongue; Stupid girl.

“…Why wouldn’t you tell me?” he asks, already knowing the answer.

“I… I can do it,” she says, seeming about to rise again.

Varzath flicks her forehead, hard, and Ena yelps.

“Don’t be stupid. Lie down and close your eyes.”

“What…?”

“Don’t ask, just do it.”

After a moment of hesitation, Ena lies down on her back, staring at him in confusion the whole time.

“Close your eyes, and keep them closed.”

Though she doesn’t look happy about it, she complies.

Varzath sighs. Healing magic is far from his area of expertise; He wouldn’t be able to heal broken bones, or a more serious disease, but if a cold is really all she’s got, other than exhaustion and muscle soreness, then he can patch her up no trouble, even if it might take a good chunk of his current mana to do so.

Pressing his hand against her chest as he slowly builds up the mana for the spell, Varzath closes his eyes while creating a mental image of her body’s inside, and of his spell as it slowly spreads throughout it.

Salmorol would’ve been able to pinpoint which areas to treat, but for something like a cold, Varzath’s lack of expertise means he has to resort to a more general approach… Sort of like setting the whole kitchen on fire to kill a cockroach, but hey, if it works…

By the time he is done, Varzath is panting slightly. Opening his eyes, he realizes Ena’s clothes are drenched, and that she stares at him with huge, almost comically wide green eyes.

Varzath grimaces. “…I thought I told you to keep your eyes closed?”

“Was… Was that-”

“A very special massage,” he cuts her, rising as he averts his gaze toward their surroundings in order to make sure no one saw what happened. “A very nonsexual special massage,” he adds a moment later, having realized how what he said might sound out of context.

Well, had she kept her eyes closed, he’d have evaporated the water and gotten rid of the evidence, but now she’ll have to find a way to dry her clothes on her own.

“How do you feel?”

Sitting up, Ena inspects herself silently. Her expression tells him she doesn’t believe his massage bullshit for a second, but then again, he isn’t worried she’ll tell on him, considering he’s the closest she has from a friend.

“I feel much better… Thank you for the massage, Sinclair.”

Wow, that’s a nice blank expression right there. Well, he is grateful she won’t push him for an answer... Smart girl.

“You should go change into something dry. Don’t worry about the training, we’ll make up for it tomorrow.”

Ena nods, then rises slowly while looking at him. “Hearing the word sexual from your lips is the creepiest thing that’s happened between us so far. You really are one weird kid, Sinclair.”

Fuck, he forgot eight-year-olds aren’t supposed to think of such things.

Ena blinks. “Are you blushing?”

“I’m not.”

“You’re definitely-”

“Go! We’ll talk tomorrow!”

She chuckles. “Sure, see you tomorrow.”

As he watches her walking away, Varzath clicks his tongue. They’re both lucky she’s still a kid, or this whole thing might’ve ended poorly. As it is, they’ll part ways soon, so no skin off anyone’s back.

Still, he hopes she’s able to make some friends other him one day…