“I can feel I’m getting close to something,” Adion said, manipulating Sell’s fire above his palms, “But it sure is slow.”

It was the day after their big attack on the beasts around the peach tree. Everyone was resting as they would be heading back the day after. Everyone except Sell and Adion, who had decided it was an excellent opportunity to get some training done.

“Of course, it is,” Sell said, sitting beside him, “You can’t just grasp concepts in a week or two.”

“What about what you told me? About the burning of Iitha, didn’t you gain like an epiphany?” Adion asked.

He had wanted to ask Sell about her extremely powerful attack ever since he saw it. But he hadn’t had a chance to bring it up yet.

“Hmm,” Sell mused, “I guess it was a little like that. But I still had to think about what that epiphany meant for a long time, if that makes sense.”

“I think I get it,” Adion said, “But…did you actually find Words of Truth? A Deep Concept?”

“I’m not sure,” Sell said, “I just kind of made up some fitting words for what I could do. I always wanted to have Words of Truth of my own ever since I was small, after all. But hearing Lomin talk about Deep Concepts, it feels like it fits. I could really not explain my ability in any clearer way than my ‘Words of Truth’ after all. It’s so much more than just ‘fast’ or ‘hot.’ It feels like I’m still just scratching the surface of it, though.”

“I’m jealous,” Adion said, “Words of Truth seem so cool. And extremely powerful.”

“You’re jealous of me? Are you kidding?” Sell asked, raising an eyebrow mockingly, “You can control fire for hours, and it’s not even your core’s element. You are probably the only space mage in the world. You can even teleport! And you’re a Bronze mage at your age, on top of that. Speaking of which, you’re actually a middle Bronze mage, right? You should be able to tell me that now.”

“Who knows,” Adion said with a small smile.

“You are,” Sell nodded, “Otherwise, you’d react differently. You should work on that if you want to hide your strength properly in the future.”

Well, I’m actually high Bronze. And I’m not far off from reaching peak Bronze. I wonder how she’d react if she knew that?

“I don’t think I’ll run into many people like you in the future,” Adion said.

“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Sell said, “If you’re going to Cyalis Academy, I doubt there wouldn’t be any people there able to figure you out.”

“I guess I’ll have to keep up the aura training,” Adion said.

“And hope you don’t run into any Soul mages,” Sell added.

“Are there many Soul mages at the Academy?” Adion asked.

“A few,” Sell answered, “But they don’t really teach classes most of the time. However, I did hear that the Headmaster returned to teaching a few years ago. My sister takes a class with him.”

“Oh? Who is the Headmaster of Cyalis Academy?” Adion asked.

“His name is Vermon Demorr, the only Sage on Shiora and one of the few known Pure Soul mages on the continent.” Sell answered.

“A Pure Soul mage? That’s amazing,” Adion said, “Do you know if anyone has reached higher than that?”

“The Pure Soul stage is seen as the peak currently,” Sell said, “But I think there are surely people who have reached higher.”

“Why do you think that?” Adion asked.

“The world is big. I just doubt there hasn’t been any genius who has managed to reach the stage above,” Sell answered.

“Hmm,” Adion thought about it, “I guess you’re right. I don’t plan on stopping at the Pure Soul stage, so why would anyone else.”

“You’re aiming above the Pure Soul stage?” Sell asked with a small smile.

“Aren’t you?” Adion asked.

“Of course I am,” Sell said, “It would be stupid not to.”

“Mm,” Adion nodded.

“By the way, how are you planning on taking those Merillian Soul Peaches?” Sell asked, “Surely you can tell me now?”

“I’m going to teleport, of course,” Adion answered, “If I can find out where they are, I can just teleport them into my hands as long as I’m close enough.”

“That’s…incredible. With that power, you can just steal anything as long as you are close enough. It doesn’t matter if something is behind locked doors,” Sell said, “Remind me never to invite you to my house.”

“I wouldn’t steal from you,” Adion said, “But the rest of your family might not be safe. I would think Royals have quite the treasures, after all.”

“Then I guess you could come,” Sell said, “It would be fun to watch.”

“You really don’t get along with your family, do you?” Adion asked.

“I don’t,” Sell said, “But I won’t have to deal with it for much longer.”

“What do you mean?” Adion asked.

“I’m going to Cyalis Academy soon,” Sell said, “And I plan on going to Quemer after graduating.”

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“Quemer, huh,” Adion said, “I would like to go there too someday.”

Adion and Sell continued talking for hours, not realizing until dark that they hadn’t gotten as much training as they had planned. Not that Adion minded. His grasping of concepts was something that needed time. He knew it wasn’t something intense training could hurry along.

As the next day arrived, it was time for the expedition to start their journey back to Lermen. Adion was looking forward to returning to Lermen. He liked the idea of having more time to practice with Sell and not wasting so much time just walking every day.

“You know when you are going to steal the peaches?” Benji asked Adion as they were leaving the outpost along with the rest of the expedition force.

“I think it’s better to wait a few days,” Adion said, “Let them relax their guard a little. But they will definitely notice the theft, so my only dilemma is if I should steal them during the trip or do it once we get to Lermen.”

“Hmm,” Benji thought about it for a moment, “If we do it during the trip, it will definitely cause a commotion. They won’t just let someone steal their treasure, after all. But they won’t be able to do much either. They don’t have the power with them to force us Outskirters into anything. But it will also make it obvious that one of the people here is the thief. It might cause trouble when the Derolm family sends their stronger mages to look into it.

“But if nothing happens during the entire journey, and the peaches are only stolen after we get back to Lermen, and rumors start spreading, it might shift the suspicion on other family clans instead of us Outskirters. It will probably be harder to steal it once we get to Lermen, though. They might have already sent someone with word to their family of the success of the mission. It will get more and more complicated the longer we wait.”

“That’s what I was thinking, too.” Adion said, “But I have to say that waiting until we get back still seems like the better option. It will at least give us some peace of mind once the theft is done. I don’t want to drag our team under suspicion from a family with a Soul mage.”

“Then let’s do it like that,” Benji nodded.

The day went by quickly, with no beasts at all showing up to fight the team. Adion and his teammates spent most of the time talking and laughing. Adion found himself in a great mood. He wasn’t even that concerned with the plan of stealing the Merillian Soul Peaches. Perhaps because it didn’t seem like much compared to what he had done in Wender. He also didn’t hold the peaches in that high regard. The main reason for wanting to steal them was because he didn’t want his enemies to have it.

Even if he hadn’t found out exactly how the Derolm family was connected to Heavenly Light, the connection he knew about was enough for Adion to consider them enemies.

“Do you think we can do some teleportation after eating?” Sell asked Adion as they were setting up camp after the first day of traveling back to Lermen.

“Sure,” Adion said. He had teleported around with Sell during the past two days, something she didn’t seem to tire of. Adion was happy to oblige, as it gave him good training.

“Haah,” Rufus sighed, “How is it fair that both Adion and Lomin can teleport? Such a good excuse to get close to girls.”

Adion thought about throwing something at Rufus but decided that the best course of action was to ignore his comments.

“Hey, Lomin,” Rufus said, taking a seat next to the faelin, “You should take a page out of Adion’s book and tell more girls about your powers. Isn’t that why you came here? Finding a nice girl to bring home?”

Should I? Adion thought, looking at a rock in his hand that he didn’t know when he picked up.

“Just how many people know that you are a space mage?” Sell asked quietly from beside him.

“What? Just you and the others,” Adion gestured to his teammates, “Why?”

“Oh, nothing. Sorry,” Sell said, looking away, “Not even your family?”

“Mm, no,” Adion said with an awkward smile, “But I will tell them when we meet again.”

“I see,” Sell said.

Did I miss something?

“I’m not here to find a nice girl to bring home,” Lomin answered Rufus’s question from earlier.

“I heard that it’s common for faelin to look for a partner during their journey,” Sell said, “You’re not interested in that, Lomin?”

“Well,” Lomin hesitated. Adion noticed that everyone had turned quiet and turned their attention to Lomin.

Having people hanging on to your every word like that is pretty cool. How does he do it? Can I practice it?

“I guess I am, and I’m not,” Lomin said, “I think I’m not a very good faelin sometimes. I decided who I was going to end up with a long time ago.”

“Wait, what?” Rufus looked at Lomin, shocked, “You’ve never told me about that.”

“I haven’t told you a lot of things,” Lomin said calmly, “Some things need time until they can be let out.”

“Then who is the lucky girl?” Sahra said, sitting down with a smile. Adion and Sell also took a seat, joined by Benji, who hurriedly made a fire for everyone to cook some meat on later.

“Taela,” Lomin said with a happy smile, “Her name is Taela.”

“Who is she? Tell us about her,” Sahra urged.

“We grew up in the same village,” Lomin said, “I knew that every faelin would leave for a journey once they grew up, and hopefully meet their fated one along the way. But I had decided that I wouldn’t need a journey to find my partner.”

“So what happened?” Rufus asked, “Why did you leave?”

“I grew up on the Stretch,” Lomin began explaining, “It is a long and thin stretch of land along the coast between Fornia and the Fire Phoenix Empire. Unlike many other Kingdoms and Empires on Quemer, Fornia is far from any neighbor. For a long time, the only way to travel to other Kingdoms without passing through the Outskirts was to sail on ship. But eventually, it was decided to clear a path to the Fire Phoenix Empire along the coast. It is still a dangerous area; no big cities exist on the Stretch, and beasts frequently roam there.

“But I very much enjoyed life there. I thought it would be a fine life to simply stay there and grow old together with Taela. She was of a different mind, however. She would always stand staring out over the Warm Waves, longing to one day sail across them and see what the world had to offer.

“I didn’t hate the idea of traveling the world together before settling down. But I never got the chance to travel with Taela; perhaps I wouldn’t have been allowed to by our parents even if it had never happened.”

“If what had never happened?” Rufus asked in a low voice.

“When we were only 14, before our journey even began, Taela spoke her Words of Truth for the first time,” Lomin said.

“Before even starting her journey? So young? Isn’t that like…very rare?” Sahra asked.

Adion sneaked a look at Sell beside him. She hadn’t told anyone else about what she could do, and Adion hadn’t told anyone either.

“It is,” Lomin nodded, “She was taken to the Spire not long after in order to record her words. That was the last time I saw her. She never returned to our village.”

“Then,” Rufus hesitated, “Is she on Shiora?”

“Who knows,” Lomin shrugged, “I’ve grown a lot since then. And even if I still think she is the only one for me, I don’t think she is someone you can chase. I will travel my own path, and I believe it will eventually cross hers.”

“Mm, I think so too, Lomin,” Sahra supported.

“I support you, Lomin,” Rufus said as he put a hand on Lomin’s shoulder, “But I guess we will never get the chance to pick up girls together. Haah,” Rufus sighed, “Even Adion has found himself a little girlfrie-” Rufus didn’t get to finish the sentence as he was hit in the face with a rock.