“I see. So the party broke up then, huh?” Scarlet said after being given the rundown of what happened. 

“I’m sorry. I assured you that I could handle things while you were gone, but I couldn’t.” Charles replied, lowering his head.

“That’s alright. These sorts of things happen. Party members are people, so when they choose to leave, that is their choice.” Scarlet replied with a shrug. Charles and Nico were surprised by how well she took the news.

“Yes, well. With the Prince and his subordinates gone, we will need to find an additional healer for the group if we want to be allowed into the dungeon again.” Nico said after a short cough into his hand.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got someone I was planning on recruiting anyways.” Scarlet said before getting up from the table. “But first, I’ll try talking to Isaka myself. See what is going on.”

“...I wish you luck.” Charles said, not knowing what else he could say as the girl headed out the door.

---

Isaka had noticed her return. How could he not?

Even a half elf was naturally sensitive to mana, and while an average person who wasn’t channeling mana for the sake of magic or a skill outputted about .01 units of mana a second, Scarlet constantly moved 60 units per second, as she was never not using magic. It was like the residual energy of an entire city of humans focused to a single point.

Perhaps that was why he found himself so fascinated with her. Something in his elven blood couldn’t help but wonder at this individual who shone like the moon in his [mana sense]. Though it wasn’t just the quantity of mana, it was the quality as well. The sense that the Holy Mana she produced was somehow purer than even the pure Holy Mana obtained using [Conjuration Magic]. Purer than even Archbishop Joshua could produce.

It reminded him of the stories his mother would tell of the Oracle, and of how the Elven King obsessed over her. His mother had described the woman as being like a solitary torch in the middle of a dark forest, and how she herself had been drawn to her, the same as every other elf, like a moth to the flame.

To most elves, magic was everything.

It was the proof that the gods existed, and the proof of the gods’ love. Magic was a part of their culture, their religion, their social status, and every aspect of their everyday lives.

He had approached Scarlet thinking to somehow repay her for what she had done for Rachael, but after their meeting, he had to stop himself from kneeling down before her, despite him being a prince.

Instinct, something ingrained into him by his mother’s blood, told him that her social status was higher than his. No, that he couldn’t even begin to compare to her. That she was an Empress and he a lowly peasant, unworthy to even look upon her face. 

So when an hour after her return to the Academy, he could sense her moving towards him, his heart plummeted, and he understood what the maids that the castle must have felt when they were caught having accidentally broken an expensive vase. 

The thought of running and attempting to escape judgment occurred to him, but he could already feel her unseen eyes on him. Her Bond Skill had already determined his position. Running would be a confession of guilt, so he had no choice but to face the music.

“Your Highness, the Lady Scarlet is here to see you.” Jacob informed him quietly.

“...See her in, and tell the servants to bring something to eat.” Isaka said, before taking a deep breath.

“Goodmorning, Your Highness. I hope that you have been well.” Scarlet said, bowing slightly before Isaka in the manner of a servant, something that felt so wrong that it made Isaka’s skin crawl.

She had always either been dressed for combat or disguised as Charles’ retainer, so Isaka had never seen her without the fake black hair and male clothes, to which today was no exception. It occurred to him that he had never seen her natural self before, something that made him feel a little bitter towards Charles who had.

Still, while they were down in the Labyrinth or at the lunch hall, she had always had a relaxed attitude, so the formal greeting put the boy off. 

He tried his best to throw it off and act natural. “I’ve been fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Scarlet said, standing up straight, but keeping her head lowered. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused you.”

“Trouble?” Isaka repeated, shocked that she thought that she had been troubling him.

“You only agreed to party with Lloyd because I asked you to. I didn’t realize that you had such strong feelings against it.” Scarlet said. “Even if I have been around Charles for a long time, I still don’t really understand how people in high society think or live, and that caused me to be insensitive towards you. So I am sorry.”

“It’s…” Isaka stammered. He hadn’t been prepared to receive an apology from the girl. Not after he had made such a mess of everything. With his mind blank, his mouth spoke without permission. “It can’t be helped, since you don’t understand the problems of royalty.”

Isaka wanted to bite his stupid tongue for saying such a thing to Scarlet. The implication that they just lived in a different world, without even the attempt to explain.

“I suppose I don’t.” Scarlet relied.

“Wait, it isn’t…” Isaka started before organizing his thoughts and trying again. “Scarlet, do you know why it is that blue hair is seen as a sign of the royal family?”

“Isn’t it just because the Kings have always had blue hair?” Scarlet asked.

“Yes. But it is more than that. Blue hair is actually a dominant trait that is connected to the male bloodline. While girls born to the royal family have normal hair colors like everyone else, 100% of human children born to the royal bloodline have the same blue hair.” Isaka said. “So, why do you think it is that only the royal family has the trait, when the royal family has intermarried with just about everyone Duke and Count house in the entire nation at one point or another?”

“...Why?” Scarlet asked, though the tone in her voice said that she had already made a guess. An unpleasant one.

“Because in the past, after each new King ascended to the throne, they started their rule by putting all of their brothers and all of their brother’s sons to death to prevent any of them from trying to take the throne. Any child with blue hair would be put to death, so only those children of the new King would have the trait.” Isaka explained.

“...But your father didn’t.” 

“Of course he didn’t. My father would never do something as cowardly as murdering innocent people. However, it is because he didn’t that my family now finds itself in the position that we are in. You can be sure that if my brother does not inherit our father’s throne, that none of those bastards who were spared will think twice about putting us to death, along with each other.” Isaka spat, his hands tightening into fists. “I doubt even my sisters will be spared, since they would want to erase the fact that a King ever took an elf as a wife.”

Scarlet didn’t know. She hadn’t realized that the succession of the throne was a matter of life and death for those involved. 

“Do you really think that Lloyd would do that to you if he became King?” Scarlet asked.

“...Yes. He hates me, and my kind.” Isaka replied.

Lloyd had to hate him. 

After not even a bit of digging, Isaka had discovered how it was the family of the Beastkin ambassador that had assisted in training Lloyd and raising his level up to the point where he could become an Exalted Paladin. Haven’t been practically raised by Beastkin, how could he not hate Isaka and his family for their Elven blood?

The Beastkin hated the Elves, and based on what Isaka knew of Elven culture and history, he couldn’t say he blamed them.

Each of the races had their own religion that declared themselves to be god’s favorite children, but it had been the Elves’ religion that had said something stupid enough to light the whole world on fire.

Hundreds of years ago, a plague spread across the land. Nearly 80% of the population got infected, and without proper treatment, the victim was almost sure to die.

The Humans barely managed to scrape by, as while they had few true magic users, even people without a magic class could learn a bit of magic. Around 1 in 1000 people could use the healing magic needed to treat the sickness, and the Elves were fine as could be, as half of them could use the magic required to cure the disease, and had enough mana to treat a dozen people a day each. The Dwarves and Merfolk survived through pure tenacity, despite their lack of magical cures, their immune systems being much stronger than the other races. 

The Beastkin however, were completely devastated by the disease. 

With only potions, which took a lot of time and materials to make, and only a few potion-makers, they couldn’t handle treating the number of victims they had, causing them to die by the tens of millions. In desperation, they turned towards the Elves, who had more healers than they could ever need, begging for help.

The Elven King, who was both the head of the Elvish nation and their church, told them that they would send no help, for the disease was the work of the gods, sent to purge the undeserving people from the land.

It had been a comment that sparked war, not only with the Beastkin, but the Humans as well, and triggered the Beastkin’s kidnapping of thousands of Elves, who were then forced to heal their sick and dying. 

Neither side could really claim to be in the right, but for the Beastkin, it had been a matter of survival.

The Humans eventually forgot about the outrageous comment, the Beastkin never did, some of them believing that it had been the Elves who created the sickness in the first place. Nor did the arrogant noble class of the Elves ever forgive the kidnapping of their own brethren, as they continued to not even recognize the Beastkin as anything but monsters that could speak.

“If you had worries like this, you should have spoken up.” Scarlet said, chastising the boy. “We could have talked things out. Lloyd doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who would do something like that. You guys could have come to some kind of agreement.”

“...How? How could I ever trust a word he says, when it is my family’s lives that are on the line if he is a liar?” Isaka asked. He then stopped as he saw the regretful expression on Scarlet’s face. “...You are siding with Charles on this, aren’t you?”

“...He isn’t wrong. I understand what you are saying, but when we brought him into the party, we became responsible. Throwing him out without provocation wouldn’t be right. …Also, there are actually laws relating to that kind of thing. It’s in the pamphlet they give you at the Hunting Association.” Scarlet said.

…There were?

As a prince, Isaka’s interactions with the Hunting Association’s party making aspects had been minimal, so he wasn’t aware of any such thing. Were there really laws against removing party members without fair reason?

“I see… I’ve put you in a tight spot then, haven’t I? Without enough healers, you won’t be able to enter the Labyrinth.” Isaka said, shifting uncomfortably.

He had planned on asking Scarlet to leave the party and join up with him. Even if Charles’ group didn’t follow, they would have enough people in order to continue on anyways. But he started to realize that it was a foolish hope. Scarlet was a long time friend of Charles, so of course she wouldn’t side with Isaka over him.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I already have someone who was planning to join us anyways.” Scarlet said, waving off his concerns.

…What?

“You didn’t come here trying to talk me into coming back?” Isaka asked, stunned.

“Of course not. You have every right to withdraw from the party if you want. I just wanted to let you know that there are no hard feelings.” Scarlet said with a smile. “You don’t need to force yourself to stay if you don’t want to. We’ll be just fine without you.”

…Ouch. 

That… That actually physically hurt.

Scarlet would not be joining his party, nor was she going to ask him to return. He had kind of been banking on that as a worst case scenario. If he went crawling back to them now, he’d just look like an idiot. Just another beggar like Lloyd, trying to leech off of them.

“I am glad to hear that my absence will not be an inconvenience.” Isaka said, trying to cover the pain her words had caused. “I suppose I should return the equipment you had loaned to us.”

“No. You can keep it.” Scarlet said with a shake of her head. “If you really are worried for your family, then you just have to grow strong enough to protect them with your own hands, right?”

“...Thank you.” Isaka replied, bowing his head miserably. 

His heart sank as she left, with only the feel of her mana lingering in the air, and after she left, Isaka’s head fell down onto the table, hard enough to crack the wood.

“I’ve messed up.”

---

 

“It is nice to meet you all. I am Samuel Dravens von Admeel, and these are my companions, Quil and Yama. We are looking forward to working with you all.” Samuel said with a bright smile as he introduced himself and his two friends to the rest of the party.

He was a fourth-year student, though a little below average height, with a charming boyish face and a narrow frame. He had short copper colored hair and bright golden eyes that shone welcomingly, matching the eyes of the koala bond that clung to his back, looking over his shoulder.

“Von Admeel you say?” Charles said, frowning a little at the name. “Pardon me, but I thought the Admeel house was destroyed, along with its territory years ago. Are you from a branch family?”

“No. The territory was reclaimed from the wildlands and my father was chosen to be the new Lord there as a reward for his service.” Samuel explained.

A noble's name would change when they were assigned a new territory, taking on the name of the land as their own. Landless nobles also had simpler names, and the child of a landlord who didn’t inherit would often charge their last name after leaving the house. So ‘von Admeel’ referred to the territory which Samuel’s family governed. 

“I see. I didn’ know that reconstruction had started already. My apologies.” Charles said, nodding his head in approval. 

“Think nothing of it. It would be surprising if the heir to a duke’s house knew about a nearly formed baron family in a different territory.” Samuel said.

“Well, I wish you and yours the best of luck in the reconstruction. May the Mother Earth smile upon you.”

Building or rebuilding a territory was incredibly expensive and difficult. If things went wrong, the newly minted von Admeel family might fall to pieces within the decade.

“Thank you for your kind words, but my father and his old mercenary troop are used to logistics and construction of bases.” Samuel replied, maintaining his smile.

“A mercenary?” Lloyd said, sounding interested. “It is rare that mercenaries are raised up into the nobility. Your father must have been an impressive man.” 

“Yes, he was.” Samuel said proudly.

The mentioning of their father had been meant as a subtle way of letting the others know about her allegiances among the factions. That is to say, that her family had none. They were too young to have any sort of power and the fact that their family could die within a generation and would require a lot of support in order to grow made the factions hesitant to approach them. Not to mention the tendency to turn up one’s noses to an upstart commoner.

Samuel’s father had been raised into the nobility just five years ago, with two of his best men being given knighthoods under him, those being the fathers of the other two. Despite not being nobles, if they were children of long standing mercenaries, they would still have skills and experience.

“So, what do you think? Can they join?” Scarlet asked after a few questions about their levels and which positions they usually fight in.

“I don’t see why not. If they are willing we aren’t in the position to be picky.” Charles admitted. “Though I do have to ask, how do you know each other?”

“My potions teacher introduced us.” Scarlet replied.

“That’s right. Scarlet gave me something that my house might have collapsed if I had continued to go without, so I owe her more than you can imagine.” Samuel said, raising one hand to his chest and giving a gentle smile.

“I don’t know. ...I can imagine a lot if it is her.” Charles said only somewhat surprised that Samuel already knew of Scarlet’s true identity. “We'll do a practice dive tomorrow in order to familiarize everyone with their positions. Is that alright?”

“Of course. We’ve been itching for a bit more action.” Samuel said brightly.

They all made arrangements for times and where to meet before heading out.

“Hey Scarlet, out of curiosity, what did you give them?” Lloyd asked, giving the girl a look.

“It was nothing big. I just gave Sam one of my dimensional magic bras.” Scarlet said.

“I see… Wait, what!?” Lloyd shouted in shock. “You mean that Samuel is a…”

“Yep. He’s a she.”

---