We stood shocked for a moment, staring at Shizu standing there idly with her bloodstained knife, before Leo reacted.

"You what?!" Leo tried to grab Shizu's arm, but before he could even touch her, she swiftly lifted her knife and pressed it against his throat.

"Get your hands away from me," Shizu warned, her tone and demeanour suddenly serious. "Or I'll kill you."

"S-Shizu!" I intervened, tugging her away from Leo. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Leo's our friend for god's sakes!"

"He tried to touch me," Shizu muttered, her eyes softening. "I don't like being touched."

I almost reactively withdrew my hand from Shizu's shoulder, but then I realised I was the only exception. 

Leo rubbed off the wet blood on his neck from Shizu's knife, looking impatient. "Forget that, Ryuji. Ask her about the damn Imperial Mage!"

"Shizu," I turned her around to face me and gave her a grave stare. "You... you said you caught an Imperial Mage. What exactly do you mean by that?"

Shizu raised her blood-stained knife, which emitted a strong odour of iron and rust, making me lean away a bit. "I wounded her badly," she said, her excitement returning. "She's still in the forest, but she won't be able to get far."

Leo clutched both hands to his head in the first real sign of distress I had ever seen from him, causing me to worry. "Y-you... attacked a-an... Imperial Mage!?" he stammered, before shaking his head and regaining some composure. "Are you fucking insane?!"

Shizu ignored Leo completely, as if he didn't even exist in her mind. 

I could feel the tension in the air, and I knew that I had to do something quick before Leo suffered a heart attack. "Let's take a deep breath and calm down," I said, trying to diffuse the situation. "First, let's figure out what to do next. We can't just leave the Imperial Mage in the forest."

Shizu proposed, "Let's hunt her down and kill her!"

"Please, Ryuji, tell me you're not going to listen to this insane girl," Leo implored, covering his face with his hand. "I've tolerated all her bizarre behaviour until now for your sake, but this is too much."

"W-we're not killing her, Shizu!" I said to Shizu. "If the Imperial Mage is as wounded as you say, we have to help her."

"But I left the kill for you, Ryuji," Shizu protested, her brow furrowed in frustration.

Leo stepped forward, his voice stern, but this time he didn't dare touch Shizu. "Do you even realize the gravity of your actions? Attacking an Imperial Mage is tantamount to treason and a capital offense on this continent. You've potentially started a war with the Mideron Empire all by yourself!"

Shizu flicked Leo an annoyed glare, treating him like a pesky mosquito buzzing in her ear. "Stop talking to me," she said. "I'm speaking with Ryuji."

"They'll send the entire army after us!" Leo roared, raising his voice in anger. "You've not only doomed yourself, but sent me and Ryuji on a death sentence alongside you!"

Shizu shrugged, "Ryuji and I will be fine. He's got me. You can go hide in a hole somewhere and die alone." 

"Guys, let's focus on the task at hand," I interjected. "We need to find the Imperial Mage before she gets away or someone else finds her first."

Leo nodded, taking a deep breath to refocus. "You're right, Ryuji," he said. "We should go quick."

As we started to move, Leo suddenly stopped, turning around to look at Shizu who was following us. 

"You're not coming with us." Leo stated firmly, stabbing a finger at Shizu's direction. "We won't be able to explain ourselves if we're seen with you, and the Imperial Mage might even attack us on sight."

Shizu glanced at me.

"Yeah, Leo's got a point," I said. "It wouldn't look good if we bring you along, Shizu."

"But she never saw my face," Shizu protested. "When I attacked her, I was behind her, so she wouldn't recognise me. I made sure of it."

"You're certain?" I asked.

"Yes!" 

"Fine," I sighed. "Come along then."

It's probably a good idea to keep Shizu in my sight rather than leave her alone.

"Yay!" Shizu hopped forward, grabbing onto my arm, and twirling onto her knife with her other hand. "I can find her. I won't let her escape, Ryuji."

"Remember, we're not trying to finish her off..." I told Shizu.

"Yes, I know."

~x~

As we followed Shizu through the forest, she led us to a secluded area that was shrouded in mist. The trees were gnarled and twisted, their branches hanging low and creating a sense of foreboding. The air was thick with the smell of decaying leaves, and the only sound was the crunch of our footsteps on the forest floor.

Shizu paused for a moment, scanning the area with her eerie violet eyes. "This is the place," she said finally, pointing to a small clearing in the center of the grove. "The Imperial Mage is somewhere around here."

I could feel a sense of unease settling over me as we made our way towards the clearing. The mist was so thick that it was difficult to see more than a few feet in front of us, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Leo asked, his voice strained.

Shizu didn't respond, instead pressing on through the mist towards the clearing. Leo followed closely behind her, his hand resting on the handle of his mace strapped on his back.

"We need to be careful," I warned, my voice barely above a whisper. "We don't know what kind of traps or spells the Imperial Mage might have set up."

Leo nodded. "Agreed. We need to stay alert and be ready for anything."

Shizu giggled, glancing back at me, "Don't worry, Ryuji. I made sure to hurt her real bad. You should be able to take her down easily."

"Shizu, we're not here to kill the Imperial Mage," I reminded her. "We're here to help them, remember?"

"I know," Shizu replied, and smiled. "But just in case."

"How the hell did you even manage to hurt an Imperial Mage anyway?" Leo asked, his tone incredulous. 

Again, Shizu ignored Leo's inquiry, refusing to acknowledge his existence.

"Shizu," I said. "Answer Leo's questions when he's talking to you."

Shizu gave me a reluctant look, then glanced ahead into the fog with a pout. "I... I just snuck behind her and stabbed her a few times in the back. She didn't expect me. It wasn't too hard."

Leo's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you sure the person you attacked was an Imperial Mage?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Shizu snapped, eyeing Leo irritatedly. "She had the King's crest on her lapel underneath her cloak, just like all the others."

Leo's face went ashen as the possibility of Shizu being mistaken was eliminated. "Oh god..." he muttered, shaking his head to himself. 

Shizu suddenly halted in the middle of the clearing, scanning around at the mist. "Hm, that's strange," she pondered. "She should be here somewhere..."

" [ Light ] ," I casted a spell to create a glowing sigil where we stood, illuminating our surroundings. It wasn't strong enough to disperse the fog completely, but at least it could be clearly seen from a distance. "Let's spread out and search for her. We will meet up back here after a couple of minutes."

Shizu and Leo nodded, then the three of us split up to wander through the small clearing looking for the Imperial Mage. 

~x~

Scouring the misty clearing, my eyes scanned the ground for any signs of struggle or blood. The ground beneath my feet was damp and slippery, making it difficult to move quickly.

Even though I had my [ Magical Sight ] turned on, I could find no traces of past activity, not even from animals. It was as if the place had been magically cleansed, rendering tracking spells useless. 

I kept my eyes peeled, listening to the sound of my heart thumping inside my chest and my shallowed breathing. 

"Nothing over here!" 

I heard Leo's voice call from the distance. 

"I can't find anything here either," I shouted back in the direction where his voice came from. 

"Shizu, did you find anything?" Leo called out.

Silence followed. 

"Dammit, that girl," Leo cursed to himself. 

I tuned out his frustration and refocused on scanning the area. Still, nothing.

"Let's meet back at the sigil, Ryuji," Leo called. 

"Okay, I'll meet you there," I replied.

Not finding anything else, I turned around and began retracing my steps back to the sigil glowing in the distance. 

That's when something from below clasped onto my ankle and yanked me down to the damp earth with a jolt.

"W-what--" I was taken aback. I had set up a complete physical barrier around myself to deflect against an initial surprise attack, but somehow this person had slipped past my barrier without even setting it off. 

Crashing to the ground, I scrambled to cast a [ Fireball ] spell with my free hand, but my attacker deftly brushed my hand aside, snuffing out the flames before they could fully manifest. Before I could even try to get away, they cast a spell, chaining my arms and legs to the ground with an ethereal loop.

A hand clamped over my mouth, preventing me from even calling out for help. It was painfully clear that my attacker was far more skilled and experienced than I was, effortlessly anticipating and countering every move I made.

"Shut up," she said. "And listen closely."

I glanced up with wide eyes at the girl straddling me, her ruby eyes glowing vividly amidst the mist and shadow from the hood of her dark, tattered cloak.

Past the hood of her cloak, her blonde hair fell in gentle waves past her shoulders, with what appeared to be a separate short ponytail tied at the back of her head.

As she leaned closer, I noticed slight freckles dotting across her nose and cheeks and angled eyebrows that gave her a fierce look. She seemed to be around the same age as me, about seventeen years old.

"I won't hurt you," she whispered. I felt hot blood trickling down from her torso onto my stomach. "I need your help. Can I trust you?"

She glared down at me intensely, and I nodded slowly. 

"Someone in your group is trying to kill me," the girl said, removing her hand from my mouth and undoing the chain spell around my arms and legs. "I can't sense their presence right now, but I was ambushed a while ago. Tell me exactly how many people are with you."

"Three..."

"That makes it easy," she said, moving her magically glowing ruby eyes up to glance around the fog. "I can pinpoint one of your friends, but it's not him. He's too weak. It must be the other one then."

"Are you talking about Shizu--" I tried to get up, but she pressed down on me hard, keeping me trapped on the floor beneath her.

How the hell was she still so strong?!

Her body was petite, smaller than mine, and to top it off, there were more than 10 different stab wounds riddling her torso. Blood was seeping out from the gashes, staining her clothes and the ground beneath us. I couldn't believe that she was still able to overpower me, even with such grievous injuries. 

"Don't move," she said. "Not unless I say so. You're a Mage as well, right?"

"Yes..."

"Heal me."

"Huh?"

"Cast a spell to seal my wounds at least," the girl said, wincing. "I need to stop losing blood. Hurry!"

"I... I don't know how to do that..."

"What?"

"I said I don't know any healing spells."

"I heard what you said. I'm just wondering how you can call yourself a Mage if you don't know how to heal."

"Well, do you?" I retorted.

"..."

She ignored my question and glanced around the fog. It seemed to be a recurring theme that none of the mages I encountered knew how to use healing spells. 

"Look, I..." she flinched, her glowing ruby eyes flickered for a second. "I have gold and silver on me. Everything I have on me is yours. Whatever it is you want, I'll give it to you. But I need you to help me get away from here. I can't fight them in my current state."

"You don't need to give me anything. I'll help you. That's the reason we cam--"

"We need to move quick," the girl cut me off, her breathing growing haggard and brisk. "Your friend is coming..."

"How do you know?"

"I can sense their presence. They're close," she exhaled, her face in pain. The glow on her ruby eyes were flickering on and off in intervals. Every time the glow faded, her body felt light and weak, as though I could easily push her off me if I wanted to. 

In the distance, I could hear Leo calling for me, "Ryuji! Where are you?" It didn't sound like he was the one approaching us. 

Unable to sustain her strength anymore, the girl collapsed on top of me, then she whispered very quietly into my ear, "M-my name is Amelia... I'm the 11th Imperial Mage granted ordinance by His Majesty of the Mideron Empire... please help me..."

"I--"

"Found you~~"

I glanced to my side, seeing Shizu emerging from the fog with the bloodied knife twirling in her hand. 

 

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