“Kuhum. The match between Lady Aurelia and Lady Micah will now begin,” announced Tobias. Or Lore. Or whichever one he was between the three. “Once I give the signal, both participants will spar, and the first to make contact with their weapon, or force the other to admit defeat, will be named the victor. This is a friendly contest first and foremost, and thus at no point shall fatal strikes be attempted, nor shall attacks intended to inflict serious harm or injury. Are both participants ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” Aurelia announced, smiling as she gave the wooden practice sword in her hand a few test swings. “What about you, Micah?”

“Erm… Remind me again why we’re doing this all of a sudden?” she replied, glancing hesitantly at the one in her own hand.

“Hmph, who’s fault do you think it is? You can’t just drop something like that on me and not expect me to want to see for myself.”

“What, that I continued training with magic?” Micah furrowed her brows. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“Admittedly… no, not really. After hearing about your previous incident, I can’t say I’m surprised you kept at it. If anything, it’s good that you’re in an environment that allows you to practice safely, even if you still don’t have a proper tutor.”

“R-Right…”

Micah averted her gaze, feeling a little guilty over that particular lie. Sometime during their many chats throughout the day, the topic of Aurelia’s magic training had come up, which somehow led to Micah revealing that she too had continued training after moving to Regalia. Since Ms. Richter — Circe’s public identity and her current legal guardian — was known not to be a mage, she’d had to spin the story so that her knowledge of magic was primarily self-taught through books Ms. Richter had either purchased through her many connections (since books on practical magic application weren’t available to the general public), or received as gifts from her beneficiaries.

Being an individual whose reputation and personal assets rivaled even that of nobles, “Ms. Richter” was quite a convenient name to have in her corner. With it, she was able to explain away how she’d gotten access to not only the resources, but the facilities that allowed her to train in magic all on her own.

Aurelia had accepted it all without showing any signs of suspicion… though perhaps a bit too well considering she practically dragged her here right after. The room they were in was large, not as huge as Circe’s underground arena, but certainly big enough to fight in. The floor was a soft material that reminded her of tatami, making the room feel vaguely Japanese, and the fact that the two of them had gotten changed into loose training clothes that left their limbs exposed and allowed for ease of movement didn’t do much to betray the idea.

“It’s a big deal to me though. I read in a book once that sparring was a great way for warriors to bond with each other. If you really are practicing to be a mage just like me, it’s only natural that we should fight at least once, right?”

“Seriously, I’m asking you what kind of weird books you’re reading…”

Either she didn’t hear her or simply pretended not to, as Aurelia put a hand to her chin and continued on her own. “I do wish we had a bigger space for something like this, but the primary training room my family uses is undergoing repairs currently. It was designed to withstand even advanced ranked spells being used inside, but somebody busted it up anyway.” She sighed, shaking her head.

Mildly terrifying, but okay. I guess it makes sense that’d happen from time to time when you consider who exactly these people are.

“It’s too bad, but we’ll just have to make do with this tea room instead. It’s supposed to be for hosting meetings with guests, but once you move all the tables and stuff it’s a pretty good place for sparring. It’s fragile though, so we won’t have much leeway to cast spells, but that shouldn’t be a problem right?” She held her sword up, fingering the wooden blade’s tip with her other hand. “Close combat is a standard practice for many mages, and considering how… active you are, I’m sure you didn’t hesitate to train in that area too.”

Well… she’s not wrong, I suppose. Still, I really wasn’t expecting that I’d end up fighting her like this, even if it is just a spar. This is…

…

…

Somehow… it’s kinda exciting. I wonder how good she is? Probably not on the level of Talahanan, but the Brightwinds’ heiress must be crazy skilled in her own right even at her age. I REALLY wanna see it for myself.

“Alright, fine. I’m game. So we’re just testing each others’ strength with these?”

“That’s right. I might be a bit ahead due to the extensive training I’ve received from professional tutors, but don’t worry, I’ll be sure to go easy on you. Ready?”

“Heh, there’s no way I can back down after hearing something like that,” Micah replied, nodding as she got into a ready stance with the sword in hand. She’d never trained with one before, but figured it was worth a try. “Just remember that you’re the one who wanted this, so don’t get all pissed at me when you lose.”

“Pfft, where’s all that confidence coming from?” Aurelia too settled into a stance, matching Micah’s easygoing smile with one of her own. “I really was planning on holding back, but if you’re gonna be a cocky brat about it then maybe I will just go all out from the start and wipe you out in ten seconds.”

“Ten seconds? Please, I’ll have you down and begging for mercy in five.”

“Hahaha… Maybe I’ve been too magnanimous with you all this time. It seems like you’ve forgotten who exactly you’re dealing with.” Aurelia’s smile widened, but the anger at that last comment was clear as day in her strained expression. “Start the match, Ulrich.”

“Yes, Lady Aurelia. Then, on my command…” Her butler (So it was that one in the end…) replied. He raised his arm into the air for a few moments, then quickly swiped it down. “Now, begin!”

Aurelia made to step forward and rush Micah, but quickly backpedaled when the girl blitzed ahead in the blink of an eye, getting within range almost instantly to attack her. With wide eyes, she just barely managed to bring her sword up to deflect it, as well as the subsequent slashes that followed as she was forced to retreat from Micah assault.

Of course, [God’s Blessing] had been active since a while ago.

Mercy was never an option to begin with.

*Thwack!* *Thwack!* *Thwack!* Their swords continued to meet again and again in a high speed exchange. Though Micah had gotten the initial advantage through her surprise attack, Aurelia had pushed her back immediately and her composure had returned. Now they were circling around each other, trying desperately to find openings in the other’s defense.

Micah’s strikes were quick and powerful, yet paled in comparison to Aurelia’s rigid, practiced form. She seemed to be favoring thrusts over slashes, which made Micah recall that fencing was the preferred fighting style for most nobles. But whereas the A&B brothers were slow and predictable, this was on a whole different level.

[God’s Blessing] was currently at Lv. 66, but that didn’t mean much when she had no experience fighting with a sword. Not a shred of her training had gone towards it, so all she could do was swing wildly while recalling the kinds of stuff she’d seen in dramas and anime. Meanwhile Aurelia had been training since she was old enough to hold one, meaning she could see the gaps in Micah’s form and react with similar precision. Even feints had no effect on her—though again it wasn’t as if Micah was an expert in feinting with swords in the first place.

In that respect, it was actually Aurelia who had the edge in this fight. Even though Micah was confident she could dodge or deflect every single blow, it would be no small venture to try and land one herself at their current pace. It’d be a different story if she was going all out, but she’d already decided to use only the sword until the end. For the sake of fairness, she wouldn’t even use any spells unless Aurelia used one first.

Micah had two reasons for this. The most important was that showing off too much strength at once would likely draw Aurelia’s interest and pique her curiosity, which would be counterintuitive to her goal of avoiding suspicion. Even if she evaded any questions, it would only raise the possibility of the girl taking it upon herself to investigate just where and how Micah obtained so much power. Circe could probably run interference to deceive her, but it was better to just avoid that situation entirely.

Secondly, despite her good-natured trash talk earlier, this was just a simple spar between friends in the end — not a life or death battle. Micah wasn’t so starved for validation that she was willing to bully a twelve-year-old girl into the ground just to prove how much more superior she was. She was fine just keeping pace with her.

On a side note, in the case with Ellie back in the forest, Micah had adopted a similar mentality and held back there too. Still, they had been sparring with real weapons at the time, and Ellie certainly didn’t hold back from trying to seriously injure her, even if they were both avoiding blatantly-lethal attacks. This situation was different.

“You…” Aurelia suddenly began as their flurry of blows continued. “You haven’t trained a day in your life with a sword, have you…?!”

“Huh…?! And just what… what gave you that idea…?!”

“The fact that— khh! that you haven’t made even a single… practiced swing so far…! You clearly have no clue what you’re doing, you’re just going for broke…!”

“Ghh, y-yeah, maybe. But it’s clearly enough to… hold you back, isn’t it…?!”

“Gods, you can’t go, nhh—! t-two seconds without talking smack, can you…?!” Aurelia’s face twisted into a scowl, though she quickly refocused when Micah’s next swing nicked one of her pigtails after she narrowly moved her head aside. “What I’m trying to say is…! You should have said so before—! You can use… whatever weapon you’re most comfortable with…!”

“Oh, is that all…?! Trust me, I’m plenty comfy like this…! In fact, I think I’m even… nngh, g-gaining some ground on you…! Won’t be long now ‘till I win, don’t you think…?!”

“...Fine then. I’ll show you exactly why… your weapon of choice matters in a fight…!”

As if on cue, Aurelia suddenly lunged, swinging her sword straight across at her midsection. Micah brought her own sword around to block it, but found it instead going skyward in her hand as Aurelia changed motions at the last second in a near-imperceptible feint. She parried the blade with her own, then raised it up in a move that likely would have sent sparks flying had their weapons been real.

Whoa—!

The shock of being abruptly thrown off balance put Micah on the backfoot as Aurelia twisted her body to halt the trajectory of her previous attack, then thrusted powerfully towards her exposed stomach.

…

It was over.

She couldn't possibly block that strike.

There was simply nothing to stop it.

Looking at the expression of complete focus on Aurelia’s face, dripping with sweat from the exertion and adrenaline, a single word came to mind to describe the sight before her eyes:

Talent. Pure, unadulterated talent.

Talent that had been molded from a young age, refined with vigorous practice, and perfected into an insurmountable force of nature that could swallow up anything in its path.

Was it because she was a Brightwind? Or was it something born of her own ability at work? Either way, Micah couldn’t help but feel utterly powerless in the face of it. No, she’d been forced to confront her own powerlessness because of it.

Aurelia hadn't used any tricks. In fact, despite the handicap of using an unfamiliar weapon, Micah was the one being underhanded by using [God’s Blessing] to boost her physical abilities and reflexes, and yet she still ended up like this. That could only have meant that she’d lost not because she’d made a mistake… but because Aurelia was simply better than her to the point that the difference in physical abilities didn’t matter.

Through that, Micah was able to understand that even if she had been experienced with a sword, the result would still be the same as long as it was a contest of pure swordsmanship. That was just how far the extent of Aurelia’s talent stretched.

Against such an absurd reality… the only thing Micah could rely on was something equally as absurd.

“—!!” Aurelia let out a gasp as the strike she thought would put an end to things instead met empty air. Micah had released her sword, letting it fly, and in a show of superb athleticism twirled into a roundoff back handspring that moved her body out of the way of the thrust by only a hair’s breadth of space. Her scarf end raced up to snatch the sword out of the air and reel it in just as she righted herself, then propelled forward by shooting a beginner rank [Gust] from the soles of her feet.

Aurelia’s momentum from committing to her earlier attack left her stumbling and unable to readjust in time, so Micah used the one and only chance she’d gained and lunged for an overhead swing.

“Got you!!!”

She aimed for Aurelia’s shoulder, the area that was most exposed to her, and it was clear from the girl’s face that she had no way of avoiding it. Micah brought her sword down, and in a desperate move born of the realization that she couldn’t dodge or defend, Aurelia raised hers wildly in an attempt to score a hit first.

Micah felt her sword connect, and also felt an impact against her chest. While she was still in midair, both girls had struck each other at almost the exact same time.

Micah collapsed rather ungracefully to the floor, thankful for its softness since she hadn’t prepared a landing strategy following her leap of faith. “Ow ow ow…” Her chest throbbed achingly as she laid on the soft floor for a moment, massaging the injured area with one hand.

Aurelia on the other hand had merely fallen to one knee, but also groped at the area Micah’s sword had hit while doing her best to stifle a groan. Their moment of mutual pain was interrupted when Ulrich’s voice filled the room once again.

“And with that, the match is concluded,” he announced, clapping his hands together in applause. “Though it lasted a mere forty-nine seconds, what a marvelous spectacle it was to see you both trying your best, Lady Aurelia, Lady Micah.”

“Eh?” Aurelia furrowed her brows as a blue light emerged from her hand, healing her sore shoulder with [Cure]. “But, ah— who won in the end? I feel like my sword hit her first, but…”

“W-What?! No way, I— agh!” Micah grunted as she tried to sit up quickly, only to be met with a sharp pain that made it hard to breath for a moment. “I t-totally hit you first!”

“Yeah, as if! What the heck was that supposed to be anyway?! The only thing that kind of suicidal move wins you in a real fight is a one-way ticket to the next life, you idiot!”

“Idiot?! Oh that’s rich, coming from the girl who got completely owned by that ‘suicidal move’!”

“D-Did not! What, you hit your head on the way down or something? How many times do I have to tell you that this isn’t some novel before you stop doing reckless things?!”

W-What the hell… Is she actually pissed at me? Over a stupid sparring match?

“W-Why do I have to get lectured by you all of a sudden? It wasn’t even a real fight anyway! Don’t try to run from the fact that you lost by making this about me!”

“Grr, you—!”

The two of them shared a mutual glare that filled the room with a crackling tension. Seconds ticked by in silence as they stared daggers at each other, until finally Aurelia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Fine,” she said in exasperation. “You were watching, right? Who won, Ulrich?”

“Yes,” the butler replied dutifully. “The difference likely came down to mere milliseconds, but I do believe Lady Micah’s sword made contact first. With that, I must declare her the victor.”

“I see.” Aurelia responded indifferently to the news, then went over to Micah’s side and knelt down. “Then I suppose that’s it. I lost, so I have no right to complain. Well fought, Micah.”

“N-No, that’s not…” A knot of guilt formed rather quickly in Micah’s stomach, especially as Aurelia placed a hand on her chest and healed the bruise that had likely formed there if the pain was any indication. “Um…”

Before she could get a word out, Aurelia stood up and began to make for the exit with her head lowered. “I’m going on ahead to shower and change. I’ll leave the cleanup here to you, Ulrich,” she announced, passing the wooden sword to him on her way out. She didn’t seem like the type who’d cry over something like this, but Micah could tell she was definitely upset. Angry, even, judging by how tightly her hands were clenched.

Gah, damn it Micah… You’re really gonna let one of your only real friends in this world walk off like this? You’re the adult here, so just suck it up and apologize.

“H-Hey, hold up,” Micah called out, scrambling to her feet to chase after her into the hall. She managed to snag Aurelia’s shoulder, making her pause. “Look, I’m sorry. I was acting like a brat back there. I know how important this stuff is to you, so I shouldn’t have acted all high and mighty over the idea of winning. I’m really sorry.”

“...” Aurelia was quiet. Micah didn't remove her hand though, and instead just waited patiently for a response. Then, after a short time passed, Aurelia finally gave one.

“...Haa. Do you honestly think I’d get mad over the outcome of a simple spar? I don’t care about losing to you. I've known you were strong and clever since back at the banquet, and I made an honest mistake in assuming I could corner you with swordsmanship alone.”

Well technically you did…

“Wait, then what are you mad about?” Micah asked, puzzled. That seemed to irk Aurelia, who whipped around and glared hard at her.

“About YOU. Or more accurately, how you haven’t changed at all since back then. I never actually said it at the time, but do you know how worried I was when you stopped Stefan’s [Stalactite] with your hands that night? I thought it’d actually pierced you—that you’d stood there and taken it just to protect me. I don’t know if you’re just overconfident, or if you have no sense of self-preservation or what, but what would’ve happened if you’d miscalculated, or gotten your timing off by just the tiniest margin?”

Her voice lowered to almost a whisper, and her gaze fell to the floor somberly. “It was the same thing here. When push came to shove you focused more on victory than you did your own personal wellbeing, and ended up in a situation where you could have easily lost your life.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Micah stared at her friend incredulously. “My life wasn’t in danger, it was just a spar—”

“But if it wasn’t, what then?!” Aurelia’s anger had apparently reached a boil, as the redhead suddenly snapped at her. “If those swords had been real, I would’ve only taken a wound to the shoulder, and you would’ve been pierced through the heart and died on the spot! You already told me that you can’t use [Cure], so why can’t you get it through your head that there won’t always be someone around to heal you if you get hurt?! You only have one life, so you have to be careful with it!”

“Khh…” Micah felt her own anger resurfacing from Aurelia’s scolding. “Oh, come on! Do you think I’m some kind of idiot? Of course I know the difference between a spar and a real fight. Obviously I wouldn’t have done something like that if—!”

She paused, her words stalling as a rush of memories entered her mind. Namely, all of the times in the past where she was severely wounded or about to be killed, only to be saved by someone else. A good amount of those instances ended with her needing to be healed with [Cure], like with Ellie and Zaheer, or just needing someone’s help in general. That was part of why she wanted to learn the spell in the first place, only to discover it was impossible for her.

Circe also found it a bit puzzling, since pretty much any mage could learn [Cure] to some capacity given enough time and practice, but eventually explained it away as an anomaly related to Micah’s magical affinity. Her affinity was apparently also the reason why Micah could so easily use four elements, but that wasn’t important right now.

She was making rapid progress towards the level of strength she needed to take on God, but each new threat she faced had put her life in serious jeopardy. If she kept this up, eventually her luck would catch up to her and she really would be killed.

“I… No, you’re right,” she confessed. “I guess… I guess I can be pretty reckless at times, and it’s gotten me into a LOT of trouble. More trouble than I care to admit, really.”

“I figured as much,” Aurelia replied, sighing.

“S-Sorry… You’re right, I need to be more careful,” Micah admitted, both to her friend and to herself. “But honestly, I’m surprised you got that mad about it. Is it really that big of a deal if I get a little reckless during a sparring match?”

“Are you kidding me?” Aurelia gave her a flat look that made her feel a bit nostalgic for a moment, then raised her index finger matter-of-factly. “Discipline is one of the first things any fighter has to learn—and that goes doubly for mages. The whole point of training is to turn the most important aspects of combat into habit, such that you can recall and put them into action without much thought. That speeds up your reaction time and, in turn, makes you more effective in battle.”

“A-Ahh… I see…” Micah smiled a bit awkwardly in the face of Aurelia’s stern explanation. The girl had pretty much gone full teacher mode, which reminded Micah that she’d likely had numerous high-quality tutors and instructors who taught her these things.

Meanwhile Circe kind of just let Micah do whatever she wanted and only gave some meager advice here and there when asked. The absolute epitome of a lazy bitch. “Well I’m more or less self-taught, so I guess I never really learned to discipline myself much. Really, I’ll try and pay more attention to myself from now on. No need to worry so much about me!”

“Mnng… You say that, but…” The redhead still looked skeptical. In the end, she let out another sigh as she crossed her arms. “Something tells me I’m going to be worrying about you for a long, long time.”

“...I want to take that as a heartwarming promise towards our friendship, but no matter how I think about it you’re just insulting me again, right?”

“...Not really?”

“Say that again without avoiding my eyes, and I’ll believe you.”

“...”

“...”

“...Wah! W-What’s that…!”

“Eh?” Micah turned around to see what it was that startled Aurelia, only to see nothing but the empty hallway behind her. “There’s nothing there dummy, what’re you getting so— HEY!! Don’t run away with such a childish prank! Now who’s being a brat, huh?! GET BACK HEEEERE!!!”

The sounds of shouts and youthful laughter echoed throughout the halls of the Brightwind estate as the two girls ran around in an impromptu game of tag. Even when Aurelia's stamina won out and Micah was forced to activate [God's Blessing] to catch her, their mutual mirth continued unabated as they joined hands, spun around endlessly in an abrupt, frivolous, uncoordinated waltz until they were too tired to stand, then collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, giggling so hard that tears ran down both of their cheeks.

Laying there side by side while struggling to catch their breaths, Micah could feel her heart grow incredibly warm. It was to the point that her tears continued to flow long after her laughter died down. Even though she was twenty-nine years old mentally, she hadn’t gotten to experience these moments of silly, stupid fun—not with someone who wasn’t Yuu—ever since she was four. She could hardly even remember the faces of those she played with back in her early years, let alone recall those moments in any detail.

Ever since her brother was born, her entire life had been about him. She couldn’t deny that his existence brought her a sense of completeness and security, but even that was only born from her incessant worry over who she could and couldn’t trust in her life. But now, she’d left those ideals behind and deigned to place her trust in whoever she wanted to, for no other reason than because she wanted to.

And so, no matter how small or insignificant, the experiences she shared with these people that she called “friends”, which she never got to have during her original childhood, continued to make her feel deeply moved again and again.

While thinking worthless things like that, Micah shielded her face with her arm so Aurelia wouldn’t see, and masked her whimpering sobs with more laughter.

-----

Hours later, night had come, and after spending the entire evening chatting and playing some more, a female servant arrived to announce that it was time to turn in. Together, the girls freshened up, changed into their pajamas (Micah had brought her own as part of her luggage), and prepared for bed.

At first Aurelia offered to share her bed, admitting that she’d read about “sleepovers” in a book somewhere (“Again with the weird books…”) and wanted to try it, but Micah declined, insisting that she didn’t want to intrude on her space and would make do with one of the many guest rooms the mansion housed.

Aurelia wouldn’t accept that excuse though, and so they argued for five minutes before Micah finally capitulated and offered a compromise. That was how both girls ended up sleeping side-by-side on the floor near the middle of the room. Being the room of a noble’s daughter, it was suitably clean, and they brought pillows and blankets to make themselves comfortable.

By the end, it really did feel like a proper sleepover. If Ellie was here, she was sure things would have been even more lively to the point that they’d be up talking about random things all night. Thankfully though Aurelia was quick to fall asleep, likely having been tired out by the strenuous day they’d had.

Still, just to be safe Micah waited an extra half hour from the point where the girl’s light snores began before getting up and donning a pair of slippers. She waited another couple minutes to see if Aurelia would react, before quietly navigating towards the door using the light from the moon through the window.

The pristine door was a far cry from the one in the creaky chapel she grew up in, making little to no noise as she cracked it open just enough to slip though, then shut it behind her. Heaving a light sigh, she scanned the darkened corridor to see if anyone was still about before stealthily making her way through the halls.

In the deep silence filled only by her own breathing, the crickets outside, and faint sound of servants finishing up their chores somewhere below, Micah's mind wandered back to everything that had happened in the past twelve hours, and a smile crept onto her face as she recalled the wonderful day she’d just had.

It truly did feel like a miracle. At first, Micah was nervous at the prospect of having to spend time with Aurelia. Sure they were friends — childhood friends even, by the given definition of being friends since they were young, but they’d only met once and hadn’t seen each other for five whole years. It left her with a feeling of anxiety as to how she was supposed to act around the girl. And with so many secrets to hide on top of that…

But, as it turned out the reality couldn’t have been more different. Aurelia hadn’t changed much at all since back then, and that made it a lot easier for Micah to relax and just be herself. And from there, everything just became one big blur of happiness. They'd laughed together, discussed their worries, encouraged each other, fought and made up.

Under normal circumstances it would have been so impossible it wasn't even worth considering, but the combination of that chance meeting during the banquet and the great change Micah had undergone through the efforts of Mariel, Talahanan, Ellie, and everyone in her life that had become important to her, had led to her forming a bond with Aurelia that was growing stronger and stronger by the minute.

To be content with such simple things at her age... Maybe she really was an idiot, just like Aurelia always said. Her friends too, back on Earth, used to get on her case about being gullible and simpleminded. She used to disagree with them because she pretty much always had her guard up back then, but it seems there really was some truth to their claims.

After all, she was apparently the type who went all in once she decided to trust someone, as she’d come to discover about herself recently. Of course, that part of her may have just been Ellie's influence, but this mentality also felt natural to her, as she'd always been more on the cheerful side even back during her real childhood.

...Well, that was fine. If being a simpleminded idiot meant that she could continue experiencing this overwhelming sense of fulfillment, Micah would gladly embrace that role with open arms.

Her night time trek proceeded without incident, and upon reaching her destination in the middle of the third floor, she pushed open the clear glass doors and stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the front garden. The night air was pleasantly cool, being close to fall, and she enjoyed the fresh scent of the trees and flowers outside as she approached the figure waiting for her near the ceramic railing at the edge.

“I’m here, Zahy,” she announced. “Sorry for the wait.”

“No need to apologize. You’re still within the time frame,” answered the familiar dark-skinned man. His usual ash-grey sleeveless cloak made him difficult to see in the night, let alone recognize his face beneath his hood. That and the fact that he was a familiar face were the reasons Circe agreed that Zaheer would be the go-between for exchanges of information during her operation. “In all honesty, I feel I should be the one to apologize. You seem to have had quite the busy day, so I suspect work is the last thing you would want to focus on.”

“Huh?” The knowing smile on his face caused Micah to recoil a bit, her face heating up from the implication of his words. “Y-You were watching me? For how long?!”

“Enough to understand that your infiltration was a success.” His smile had grown wider, into something that almost resembled a smirk. “I don’t believe I have ever seen you smile like that once in the entire time I’ve known you. It was quite the adorable thing to behold.”

“Z-Zahyyyy~!” Cheeks flushed red, Micah lashed out with her fists, beating them against his chest in response to his teasing.

The man didn’t react to the weak strikes at all, and instead laughed lightly. His large hand met the top of her head gently, and Micah’s hammer punches halted as she froze, stunned.

“Haha, there is no need to feel embarrassed. I was primarily here to scout out the security framework of the estate in preparation for this meeting, so I did not see everything.”

“...Th-Then I’d appreciate it if you wiped that ‘proud father’ look off your face,” she muttered, averting her gaze to the side. Her hands came up to grab at his own a moment later. “A-And stop treating me like a kid!”

“My apologies,” he said, looking not-at-all apologetic as he continued stroking her head with an even larger smile than before. “But my intention wasn’t to ridicule you or make light of your experience. I’m completely serious, Micah. It made me truly happy to see you like that. Lady Circe will most certainly deny it if asked directly, but she too was elated upon hearing my preliminary report.”

Her embarrassment was almost enough to make her want to jump off the balcony, but Zaheer’s words did make her feel a bit warm. The thought of him and Circe sharing a smile over the thought of Micah making friends was a bit odd — almost like they were playing the role of her parents — but it was also pretty easy to imagine.

“O-Okay, I get it… Can we move on now?” she asked, practically pleading in her tone.

“Of course. Onto business then.” Finally, the man’s smile faded into his usual even expression. “First, I would like a report on how things have proceeded on your end.”

“Understood. After arriving at the estate this morning, I—” Micah nodded, then gave Zaheer a summary of the events of the day. She opted to leave out details concerning the more sappy moments they shared, but did include her meeting with Aurelia’s father, some of the things they discussed concerning Aurelia’s past, the spar, and even the fight they had right after, which they quickly made up from.

“All in all, things are proceeding normally. Aurelia doesn’t seem to suspect anything about me, and I’ve observed no signs of threats from that group. I’ve also poked around here and there while we were hanging out, but found nothing that stood out to me as being the object the enemy has their sights on.”

“I see. Thank you for the report.” Zaheer took a moment to consider all she’d told him, then closed his eyes as he began to speak. “As for what we’ve discovered on our end, Lady Circe has been investigating that group to the best of her ability since your departure. Using her spies and information network, she has located several of the enemy’s hideouts across the city.”

“Really?” Micah’s brows went up in surprise. “That’s Circe for you, I guess. She sure works fast. What’s she gonna do with that info?”

“Under normal circumstances, she would notify the Hero Association and have them raid each location on her behalf. However, with most of the Heroes having gone to Zaoth, there are few, if any, left here in Regalia. That lack of manpower has left the Norith Council with only the Regalian Military to rely on for such a task.”

“Is that a problem? I heard those guys are good,” Micah asked.

“They are certainly skilled, able to compete with higher-level Heroes in many cases. However, they don’t operate on as tight a leash as the Association does, and that leaves Lady Circe wary to rely on them. She explained to you why this operation was of great significance to her, did she not?”

“Uh, yeah… She did complain about not being hired for this job, but said it was more about damage control than anything else. Aurelia investigating me is bad, but so is her and her dad potentially being targeted, since the Brightwinds are major backers of the Norith Council, who enforce policies that the Disciples of Circe benefits from.”

“Yes, that’s correct. As Lennart Brightwind is a direct member of the Norith Council and Aurelia remains his only heir, the loss of those two in particular would cost Brightwind some influence, unnecessarily shaking up Magi’s politics in a way that would most assuredly harm Lady Circe’s organization as well.”

“Right, she did say something like that. It’d be one thing if they were legally deposed, but letting anything happen to them would really throw things into chaos around here. And with Wilhelmina Brightwind having disappeared previously… People might start to think this family was cursed or something.”

“Indeed. Though it isn’t as if Lady Circe does not expect to gain some manner of compensation for her efforts. She plans to pilfer whatever she finds in the enemy’s coffers once they’re defeated — selling off anything of moderate value and repurposing what she finds particularly useful. And of course, if the item that group seeks happens to be something the Brightwinds would not miss, she plans to keep hold of it as well.”

“Uh-huh. It’s Circe we’re talking about, so no surprise there.”

“Yes, well… Moving on, she also determined the general structure and hierarchy of the enemy’s organization. Here.”

Curious, Micah accepted the thin envelope he pulled from his cloak and handed over. “What’s this?”

“A list of key members, including updated dossiers for the two members Lady Circe informed you of previously.”

“The leader and his subordinate. I remember.” While recalling what information Circe had shared during the preparatory phase of this operation, Micah opened the envelope and removed the stack of four or five papers from within. “Huh? This list isn’t very long…”

“It would seem there wasn’t much to learn about the members themselves, aside from those two. The investigation is still ongoing, but including them, there were only about five people worthy of note. According to Lady Circe, the rest were simply unremarkable hired help, though she’ll continue to learn what she can. She is also continuing to search for more of their hideouts, including their primary base of operations. Once she discovers it, she’ll most likely inform the Regalian Military of only a select few of the minor locations, then have Disciple members conduct raids on the rest simultaneously.”

“Hm.” Micah passed her eyes over the papers one by one. “So she’s gonna let the Norith Council take all the credit while she silently makes off with the valuables, huh? Not a bad plan. Assuming everything goes well, it’ll solve all of the problems in one fell swoop. It’s Circe though, so I’m guessing this is only after she figures out what those guys are after and what it has to do with the Brightwinds.”

“It’s quite possible, yes,” Zaheer admitted honestly. “Therefore, you must maintain your cover for the foreseeable future, while continuing to investigate what you’re able to on your end. Should the situation change, I’ll inform you during one of our scheduled meetings.”

“Yup, got it. I’ll memorize this stuff for another few minutes, then head back to sleep,” she said, shifting over to lean on the railing and let the moonlight catch on the page to see it clearer. However, in the midst of doing so she noticed a faint flicker of movement down below. Blinking, she peered closer over the balcony, but it was only after activating [God’s Blessing] that she caught a clearer glimpse of the shadow slipping stealthily through the dim garden.

It was definitely a person, one whose presence was near-imperceptible even in the quiet of the night. If it wasn't for the fact that she could track their movements through their brightly-shining mana pool, Micah would have just assumed it was an animal, or perhaps dismissed it as her imagination entirely. But just as she turned to point it out to Zaheer, the figure dashed towards the mansion, disappearing into one of the entryways beneath them.

“The heck…?”

“Is something the matter?” Zaheer asked her.

“I’m not sure… I think… It looked like someone just went into the mansion from outside.”

“Are you certain?”

“I think so. I’ll go check it out,” she said, handing the papers and the envelope back to him as she made for the door.

“Should I come with you—”

“It’s okay, I’ll handle it! You just keep watch outside in case they try to leave!” She called, breaking into a jog. She returned inside, then quickly headed for the stairs in the main hall to travel to the first floor. Before she could descend, however, she spotted another flicker of movement in the corner of her eye. When she glanced in its direction, she saw the figure creeping into another hallway just out of sight.

What the—? They’re already up here? No, that doesn’t matter. I’ll stop them!

With [God’s Blessing] heightening her senses, she immediately gave chase while keeping her footsteps as silent as possible. After turning the corner, she found a shadow crouching through the hall, taking advantage of the low lighting to stalk around undetected.

Not so fast!

Seeing as they were moving carefully to avoid making noise, Micah hurried to close the distance before they could notice her.

-----

After successfully infiltrating the mansion, Abigail couldn’t even let out a sigh of relief with how tense she was. The ink blots on her mask couldn’t even take a proper shape, and instead floated around in a formless jitter as she surveyed the space around her.

This was the home of the most powerful family of mages in all of the Circle. Though they were lacking in personnel while most of the main family was away, she knew that if even one person spotted her here, she would have to escape with all her effort to avoid being wiped out. Knowing that, she concealed her movements as best as she could, and crept through the halls of the Brightwind estate while searching for anything that resembled their target.

It wasn’t long before she came across an inconspicuous wall. Upon first glance it looked relatively normal, but Abigail could perceive a space beyond it. Was this…?

She reached a hand out towards the wall, looking for a gap to slide her fingers between, and in doing so failed to notice the figure approaching from behind.

“...!” She flinched hard as a hand grabbed her by the shoulder, and just about ripped herself away from the firm grasp to take several leaping steps back. Warily, she looked at who had appeared.

Instantly, her blood froze.

A man whose fiery red hair had started to grey with age, and yet stood over a head taller than her with a powerful presence. The prodigy of the Brightwind family who was second only to the patriarch himself. Lennart Brightwind stared her down with a calm gaze.

“Who are you?”

Unconsciously, the ink blots on her mask swirled, forming an image of wide eyes trembling in fear, and sweat that matched what she currently felt forming on her face beneath. She knew of the capabilities of this man. Of his near-unrivaled skill with flame magic, such that he was nicknamed the “Flame King” in his younger days as an active Hero.

Supposedly he could set a person ablaze with just a single glance, amongst other absurd-yet-no less-terrifying abilities, which was why she specifically intended to avoid him during her mission. Aside from the intervention of the Regalian Military, the existence of this person was the primary reason why a full-scale assault on the estate was impossible. For her to encounter him like this, it was bad luck to the point of being almost laughable.

“...I’ll ask again,” the man said after several moments of silence. He took a menacing step forward, his small eyes boring into her with a quiet intensity. “Who are you?”

Abigail didn’t speak. She rarely did in the first place, but here she found that she couldn’t even if she wanted to. Her throat had gone dry, and with the feeling that she’d be killed if she made one wrong move, so she did the first thing she could think of… and raised her hands.

“...” Lennart still looked wary, so she kept her head low as she approached him, trying to look as submissive as possible. Slowly, step by step.

“Stop,” he suddenly said, prompting her to freeze. “First I want to see your face. Take off that mask with one hand. Don’t lower it. If it goes below your neckline, you’ll die in an instant.”

Abigail nodded obediently, then carefully moved her raised right hand over to her face. Rather than gripping the whole thing, she pinched the bottom of her mask and tugged it upwards to expose her lips. Then, she stopped.

And then, she smirked.

*Ptoo* In the blink of an eye she spat something from her mouth. Lennart barely got a hand up in time to shield his face, but the moment the small projectile she’d hidden under her tongue made contact with his palm, it exploded into a cloud of purple smoke that quickly engulfed his head.

“Augh!” The man grunted, stumbling back a step. He’d managed to hold his breath, but couldn’t avoid breathing in just a bit of the strange gas. Quickly regaining his composure, he shielded his mouth and nose with his arm and swung the other one through the air in front of him, conjuring a quick [Gust] to blow away the cloud.

Immediately, his eyes widened to see Abigail in front of him, mask re-equipped and having closed the distance, now thrusting a blade protruding from the black bracer on her arm towards his face.

-----

“...?!”

At the same time, the shadowy figure gasped as Micah clamped a hand down on their shoulder.

“Hey, who are you?! You’re with that group, aren’t you?! Well don’t think you can get a… way?” Micah blinked, her mind catching up with her to realize that the shoulder she was holding onto… was small. Like really small. Also, from this close up it was easy to see that she was a good bit taller than them, despite being twelve years old physically.

"...?? ...???"

The figure remained frozen, shivering in place, but no matter how she looked at it the person in front of her was clearly just a young child. Was it the same person she saw sneaking in? She couldn’t tell at all since it happened so fast and she was too far away at the time. Not that this hallway was the brightest place either, but…

…

…

…Hold on.

All of a sudden, a strong sense of déjà vu struck Micah like a drum. This body… That hair… Somehow, they felt… familiar.

Wordlessly, Micah grabbed their other shoulder and twisted them around, and instantly she gasped.

Just like she suspected, it was a young boy. But those big eyes, those round cheeks, the nose, the mouth, the facial structure as a whole— everything! It was… It was…

“Y… Yuu…?”

"...?"