“Well then, according to my calculations…” I started whilst pushing up my non-existent glasses. ”It’s more or less the middle of April,” I finished.

“So why the heck is the outside even colder, whiter, and snowier than it was back in January?!” I shouted in frustration.

“Maybe we miscalculated… Or maybe the red bubble’s time dilation varies?” Willow suggested.

“It’s possible,” Chad said. “But even if it did, the winter should have ended a long time ago. Something isn’t quite right.”

“This is not normal snow…” Kelly whispered.

Everyone’s attention turned to our resident demon, who thankfully wasn’t letting her maniacal demon counterpart drive at the moment.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s mana… A lot of it. This snow is… magic.”

“The hell?! Are you telling me someone is creating an artificial winter using magic?! How is that even possible?”

“Uh, maybe? I don’t know.”

“That changes things,” Chad stated with a frown. “If whoever is causing this won’t stop, we will never leave this place. Moreover, the forest will…”

Well, there went the whole ‘wait till the snow is gone’ plan.

“Wait, if it’s all mana…” Willow started. “Then can’t you just make it go away with your ability?” She turned to Kelly.

“...huh, I could.”

Everyone stared at her.

Right. The ability to control ambient mana. Apparently, that applied to other people’s magic as well. Wasn’t that completely broken against magicians? Was Kelly secretly our group’s most powerful member?

I was kinda starting to understand why these crusaders had seen her as a threat and went after her. But on the other hand, they were still jerkface meisters of the highest caliber.

“Well then… Let’s get this shit out of the way!” The demon yelled as the snow parted way on her command.

Except, that wasn’t Kelly anymore.

“Hey, Reina. ” Willow waved.

“Yo.” A wave back. “And hello to you too, cutie.” And a wink at me, which definitely didn’t make me flustered at all.

“The forest will wither and perish if this snow persists…” Chad mentioned. “We need to find the culprit and stop them.”

Oh, what? A side quest? And also, wasn’t the forest infinite?

“Don’t really care about the forest. What I care about right now is that this mana feels awfully familiar,” Reina said with a frown.

“Familiar? As in…” Willow started.

“Yeah, that jackass mage from the crusaders! Saving the world from threats, my ass! Now he’s trying to freeze the world over?!” She punched her palm, creating a small shockwave. “Fuckin’ hypocrite! I’ll show him what I can do when I’m mad.”

Huh… So maybe not a side quest. Could we find Iris if we found this mage?

“And now that I look closer --”  The demon’s frown deepened. “-- I can feel some demonic essence in there too.”

“Wait, what?”

“If that’s Iris, and that piece of shit made a mana battery out of her or something, he’s gonna wish he was never born.”

Oh boy. I sure was glad this demon was on our side.

“Alright, so we are finally leaving then?” Willow asked.

“We have been here for too long.” Chad nodded.

“I’m sick of this place!” I shouted.

“I’m gonna find that jackass and kick his jerk ass!” Reina finished.

Willow nodded.

“Okay. Let’s pack up then. We haven’t quite finished studying all the texts on the walls, but I don’t think it’s necessary,” she said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

While Reina stayed outside and glared in a random direction with her arms crossed, we went back inside and began packing up.

By packing up, I mostly meant me touching anything and everything, and sorting it all into my bubbles.

Food and crops went into red bubbles, the magic tree stayed in the green bubble, and the rest I threw into the neutral blue one.

Looking around, I had a bit of a nostalgic moment. We had been here for so long, it wouldn’t be wrong to call it my new home. And now that we were about to leave, it felt weird.

I went from being an exiled little elf to meeting a goblin friend, unsealing a demon friend, uncursing a hero friend, and finally unsealing yet another demon friend. All in this place, somehow.

I also had some great memories of achieving my ultimate form in this place thanks to my goblin friend. I bet it was like remembering the cinema where you had your first kiss or something. Funny how an ancient temple ruins thing with a sealing crystal for demons in the middle can grow on someone.

Before I even realized it, the cleanup was done and we were ready to leave.

“Fei…? Why are you crying?” the observant goblin asked.

“I’m not! Just got some mana fruit juice in my eye!”

“How did it get in your eye…?”

“Shut up! I never even liked this place! Good riddance!”

“Uh, what?”

I left the goblin behind and headed toward the exit where our demon waited.

Her eyebrow rose when she saw me, but she didn’t say anything.

Once everyone finally stepped outside of our old home, Willow used touched the door behind us and closed it.

I took a second to recover before shouting, “Alright! New beginnings! New adventure! New jerk to kick his face in!”

I turned to face all three of my companions. “Now! We aren’t just some four random people! No! Fate brought us together! Our group is awesome and amazing! And such an incredible group needs a name!”

Reina put on a grin while the two others glanced at each other. “What do you have in mind?” the goblin asked.

“How about… What’s the opposite of crusaders? The anti-crusaders! Nah that’s lame… Hmm…” I put a finger on my chin. “The non-world destroyers! Yes! Perfect!”

Willow facepalmed.

“Hmm, yes. The perfect cover-up. They won’t suspect a thing,” Reina added with a smirk.

BottledChaos

Hello there! This is the last chapter I have for now while I brew my idea cauldron. Next up on the menu: Princess Fox continuation.