Isabella gave me her old clothes. Things she couldn’t use anymore because she had grown out of them. It was strange using pants after such a long time. Despite the heavy work of a farm hand, my mother and I, or any other female farmer out there, never wore pants, always using dresses and long skirts to work. Only now it occurred to me how unusual that was.

The armor wasn’t heavy, which I supposed was the purpose. I felt a little stiff in it though, and my movements weren’t so fluid but that was maybe because I wasn’t used to it yet. Apart from that, Isabella gave me a small dagger to defend myself, but she had no time to show me how to use it or anything.

“Just stab and run. It’s your better option at the moment.”

True. I wasn’t going to be fighting myself but I was going right into a battle. Better to have a weapon just in case.

Lucas was a little more than surprised upon seeing me arriving with Isabella, but he didn’t ask any questions. Noah was too enthusiastic though, and he offered to share his horse with me when I told them I didn’t know how to ride. I refused and instead mounted with Lucas, the only person out of all of them I trusted.

And then we were off, riding rapidly through the forest. I hugged Lucas with all my might, scared I might fall off while I buried my face on his back to protect my eyes from the wind. I had no idea how long we were riding, but it was enough time for me to decide I truly didn’t like it. My inner thighs were sore from the constant trot. Funny, I always thought it would be the crotch area that suffered in these situations.

And then I heard Lucas gasping and the horse slowed. I lifted my head to see the reason, and my eyes widened in shock. Big, bluish flames licked the walls from the inside. The fire was confined to a section of the castle, but its intensity didn’t allow us to thank the fact.

“What did your brother do?” I asked without thinking. At our side, Gale clicked his tongue.

“Change of plans. Noah, we’ll need your help now.”

“Understood” the boy nodded, trying to act serious but his big, almost demented smile betrayed him. I shuddered involuntarily.

We parted again, but this time I didn’t close my eyes. I saw the fire as we approached the castle, getting bigger and bigger, my attention caught only by it and the continuous question floating in my mind of what exactly Mathias did. This definitely didn’t happen in the manga. Everything was dark and silent when Noah and the rest of the mercenaries got here and broke in.

My heart started beating faster when we reached one of the castle walls, a distance from the fire. I didn’t need to ask the reason we were so far away, Noah’s smile making it obvious to me. Lucas, on the other hand, was too much of an innocent cinnamon bun, it seemed.

“I can guide you guys to one of the back doors, though I don’t think I can open it… why are we stopping?”

“Lucas” I put a hand on his shoulder. “I hope you’re not too attached to this castle.”

“With the sweet memories I got from it? Not specifically, but what…”

“Explode!”

And boom went the wall.

The ground and the air shook. Debris fell, big and heavy boulders of stone reaching for us and not hitting us only thanks to one of the other members of the party casting some sort of wind shield to protect us. The horses all neighed and fidgeted. And Lucas… well, let’s just say Lucas wasn’t very pleased.

“What did you just do?! You don’t know if there are people inside! Do you want someone to get hurt?! And my home! Why are you destroying it?!”

“I thought you said you weren’t really attached to it?” I countered, bewildered.

Lucas pursed his lips, glaring at Noah. “That doesn’t mean I wanted it to be destroyed like that.”

“Calm down boy. The fire will keep your father and brother entertained. Let us come to them and join their fray” Gale said a little too carelessly.

Lucas’ eye twitched. Ohhh, how interesting. Was he regretting joining this band of mercenaries after all?

“Charge!” Gale shouted before Lucas could put another word in. I pushed him forward, softly, urging him to follow them. He did so reluctantly.

“Come on, Lucas. With a little bit of luck, your father was behind that wall.”

“Very funny, Elaine.”

Well, somebody had to lighten the mood. He was very nervous, I could tell, but unlike me he was probably planning on finding his brother and fighting alongside him, while I just wanted to watch from afar. It made sense his state was worse than mine.

We left the horse behind with the other horses from the rest of the members; that for some estrange reason didn’t move from their place, and ran inside. Smoke rose from the floor and other scorched items. The visibility was low. I coughed, covering my nose and mouth. Lucas coughed too, but he seemed to be doing better than me. He signaled with his head to go after the disappearing team before we lost them.

Outside of the broken hallway, everything was silent. Only the sound of crackling from the flames could be heard. I stood behind Lucas, turning my head in every direction. Noah approached us.

“Perimeter covered! Not a single body found! Aren’t you happy no one died?” he asked with that ever present smile on his face.

“Hn;” Lucas growled in response, eliciting a laugh from Noah.

“Come on, man! We knew beforehand there was no one on the other side! Domenic can sense life in a radio of eight-hundred meters. Have a little more faith in us” he patted him on the back a little too harshly before getting serious. “Your father and that butler though; they’re not asleep, are they?”

“Father it’s a high-level mage while Sebastian it’s a descendant of the Magi and practitioner of the ancient arts. Whatever spell Mathias casted over this castle, I doubt it was enough to affect them” Lucas explained letting his annoyance slide momentarily. I blinked in surprise.

“Sebastian is a descendant of the Magi?”

“Quite powerful too.”

Look at that; more light shed upon my fellow extra. It wasn’t enough he was a martial arts specialist, he had to be good at magic too? How troublesome.

“Elaine, you come with us” Isabella spoke, standing at a juncture between two hallways. “Lucas will go with dad and the others to take down the viscount, you help us with Sebastian.”

“Huh?!”

What’s the point of me coming if I can’t see while they kick that psycho’s butt?

“We can’t have them fight together. We need to take them down separately. Lucas knows about his father’s techniques and fighting style, so he can help there. In the meantime, you can help us with telling us Sebastian’s fighting style thanks to your gift.”

“I already told you it was a one-time only thing!”

“But you still got the vision, no?” she interrupted; “the future might have changed, but the way he fights surely hasn’t.”

I hated it when people threw their logic over to me and made me accept it. But what she was saying was the truth. In the manga, the viscount and Sebastian fought together, and it was a no easy battle by any means. I bit my lip and looked at Lucas, who seemed as uncertain as I. However, there was no time to lose. Gale and his men ran over in the direction of the fire, while Noah, Isabella and another nondescript man ran in the opposite direction. It was a one-second decision, but in the end both me and Lucas accepted our orders and ran with our respective groups.

In any case, I was with the hero, so chances were I still would get to see the viscount defeated and humiliated before the night was over. Bringing down Sebastian was just a nice bonus. I was looking forward to that.

A.P.R.L.

The disappeared author returns. I took a long while with this chapter (chapter 5 in general, not just this one piece) because I truly can't write fight scenes to save my life. I wanted to wait until I had the entire first arc done before publishing, but I also don't want anybody thinking I abandoned this story, so here's an update in the meantime. I'm editing part 2 so it should be up in a few hours.

P.S.: I like explosions. Noah likes explosions. And Elaine also likes explosions (though you won't caught her saying it for anything in the world).

Do you like explosions?