The ship continued to dance, and the skies continued to sing. They did not care about Armei’s turmoil and kept blanketing her with the cold.

The ship’s upper deck was charred black. The Fireball had ignited the wood, but since it was raining pretty heavily now, it was put out before major damage could be done. The Fireball spell had hit both Armei and Remina. Armei was dexterous enough to react in time and jump back, so she didn’t take any life-threatening injuries from it. Remina wasn’t so lucky.

Armei simply sat on ground and hugged her knees, leaning her back against the ship’s railing.

She fucked up. She knew she was impulsive and prone to outbursts, but this was the first time it went this far. The burns on her skin still stung, even more so as the rain kept seeping into them. But she couldn’t move. She didn’t know what to do, or what to say to everyone.

Armei could hear footsteps approaching. It was faint, but as they got closer, she could her them better and better. It was a stride devoid of any strong emotions. She knew of only one person who walked like that. Hearing that used to fill her with stomach with butterflies, but now, her pounding heart was born of fear.

“What happened here?” The nonchalance in Kalaman’s voice was heavy on Armei’s ears.

Armei looked up at him. “Kalaman, I...”

He looked at the charred floorboards. “Did you find the assassin?”

“I ... n-no.” Armei went back to lowering her head. “I messed up. I got too ... agitated, and as a result, I hit Remina with a Fireball.”

Kalaman didn’t react. He wasn’t angry, or shocked. He just stood there and said, “I see. Is she alive?”

“...Yes. I don’t think her arm will work anymore, though.”

“Where is she now?” He looked around. The upper deck was empty, save for a few crewmen. Some were there since the beginning, while others came up to see what the commotion was all about.

Armei clenched her first. “The cleric took her below deck and is healing her. She’s probably in her room.”

“I see. I must’ve missed them while coming here, then.”

Kalaman turned around and started walking to the stairs at the same pace he usually does. For a while, Armei just sat there, letting the storm judge her.

†

After a few minutes had passed, she stood up. She needed to support herself against the railings, lest she falls down. After she gathers enough strength in her legs to stand and walk upright without help, she starts slowly walking to the stairs.

She had no idea what to do next, but she thought at least that she should apologize to Remina.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

She slowly dragged her feet across the ship’s halls. Truth be told, her body was in agony all over. Trying to shrug off injuries from a Fireball was no walk in the park. She felt very thirsty. The fire must’ve evaporated most of the water in her body.

As she walked, she heard footsteps. In front of her was Nentonia Brava. It seemed like she was heading back up to the upper deck. There were a lot of things Armei wanted to say to her. “How is Remina?”, “will she live?”, and “are you done healing her?”, among other things. Perhaps she needed to say, “I’m sorry” to her as well.

But the two of them passed each other by without saying a single word. Nentonia didn’t even bat an eye.

Armei continued her walk. After a while, she saw Kalaman, walking towards her.

“Kal—”

“Where is Nentonia?” Kalaman interrupted her. There was a hint of urgency in his voice.

Armei could only laugh inside. Even after all that had just happened, the world saw fit to break her even more.

“...I think she went to the upper deck.”

Immediately after she said that, Kalaman walked past her. Not even a word of thanks. Armei couldn’t even muster the energy to turn around. Rather, she knew it’d be useless anyways. If she turned around, would he turn back, too?

No, of course not. He’d keep going forward. Armei wasn’t ever really anything to him.

...She felt miserable. This was the worst feeling she’s ever had in a long while. Why were so many things going wrong?

The halls felt much longer than they were. Maybe it was because she was walking more slowly now. Everything felt so much duller than before. After what felt like forever, she finally reached the hall where Remina’s room was.

Jarvarax was there, standing by the doorway, looking inside with an aghast expression. He wasn’t there during the fight, so seeing Remina’s condition was probably shocking to him.

“Jarvarax, where have you been?” Armei asked, catching his attention.

“Armei ... what happened?” Jarvarax asked, his tone grave.

“I’ll explain later, but don’t worry, she’s still alive. She’s small, but she wouldn’t go down that easy. A single Fireball wouldn’t be enough to kill her,” Armei said. “I need to apologize to her, too. This was my fault.”

“She’s ... alive?” he said in disbelief, then turned back to look inside the room. “What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean, what am I talking about?” Armei stopped by the door and peered in. “Are her injuries really that severe—”

Inside the room was a nightmarish scene. Remina was lying on top of the bed, and a river of crimson was flowing from her neck, down to the white sheets, and down to the floorboards. The red contrasted greatly with the otherwise dull colors of the room, making for a striking, yet sickening visual.

“—Huh?”

What on earth was she looking at? Why did Remina have a stab wound through her throat?

When will she wake up from this nightmare?

Jarvarax stepped forward, closer to the body. He inspected Remina closely. Then, after a moment, he spoke.

"She’s dead.”

Armei’s body almost went limp, and she slumped against the doorway.

Dead.

She’s dead?

But ... how? Why?

When Armei hit her with that Fireball, she went into a panic, thinking she had killed her. A wave of relief passed through her when Remina opened her eyes. She was still alive then. So why...?

“It wasn’t me ... I ... I didn’t ... I didn’t kill her...” Armei tried her best to get her voice out, at least to explain to Jarvarax. She did say that it was her fault earlier.

“...It is fine. I know, Armei. You ... this could not have...” Jarvarax’s own voice was weak.

That’s right. She couldn’t have done this, obviously. There is a stab wound through her neck. A Fireball can’t do that.

Remina was strong. She was an experienced adventurer. But it wouldn’t be hard to stab her throat like this if she was incapacitated.

Right. Even a fledgling cleric could do that.

The culprit here was so obvious that Armei could barely believe it. Nentonia Brava was the one who brought Armei here. She was the one who was supposed to heal her.

“...”

Armei began walking, heading back to the upper deck.

She didn’t care anymore.

She just wanted all of this to be over.