“Evening, Adion,” The bartender, an old elven man called Belkim, greeted Adion as he entered the inn, “Want some warm food?”

“No thanks,” Adion said with a polite smile, “I just ate.”

“Alright then,” Belkim nodded.

Due to being absorbed with his painting, Adion had skipped lunch back at Hevima. So Adion had stopped to eat on the way back, too hungry to wait until he got to the inn.

I should skip lunch more often. It was a nice little place to eat. It’s starting to get dark early now, too, so I should make the most of the daylight and not waste time on eating.

Fall had arrived, but it was still very pleasant outside. Adion even preferred it to the warmth of summer. Even if it was slightly cold during the night when he went around the city practicing shadow magic, nothing could be worse than the heat in Quahim’s studio during the hottest days of summer.

It will be rough going out when it gets really cold, though. But I guess I’ll leave for Cyalis before it gets too cold. Admission is the first day of spring, and I don’t want to be late.

Adion climbed the stairs at the back of the inn, planning on doing some meditation before heading out to practice his shadow magic.

I think I’ll have to stop my nightly visits to the manors around the city. I couldn’t find out much useful information anyway.

Adion had noticed an increase in guards around the city lately. He didn’t know if anyone had noticed what he was doing and notified the authorities, or if it was unrelated. Either way, it would be for the best if he didn’t do anything too risky at the moment.

As Adion stepped inside his room, his senses screamed, and his eyes shot up to look at the corner of his room.

No one’s there!?

His room was completely empty, but Adion trusted his spatial awareness. He released space mana from his core and could immediately feel the shape of a person standing in the corner of his room. He focused on the aura and felt that it was just the strength of a peak Stone mage.

Did they notice I could tell that they are here? They should have. No time to waste then.

Adion leaped to the corner of the room and froze the one standing there in space. He put his hand on the throat of the invisible body, feeling incredibly strange at knowing there was a person in front of him but not able to see them.

“Who are you?” Adion asked, releasing the head from his space prison, allowing the person there to speak.

“I-I-I’m sorry, I-” The voice of a young boy stammered. Adion felt that he was only 13 years old from his aura.

“Show yourself,” Adion interrupted.

Suddenly, a boy appeared in front of Adion. A human boy. His brown hair was dirty, and his clothes were shabby. He was looking at Adion with fear in his eyes, which was not strange as his body was frozen in space, and he still had Adion’s hand around his throat.

“A Gift?” Adion asked, curious about the strange ability.

“Er…I’m not supposed to say,” The boy answered.

“You answer, or you die,” Adion threatened.

“It’s a Gift! I can turn invisible,” The boy fearfully answered.

“What are you doing in my room?” Adion questioned.

“I’m really sorry, I-” The boy began but was once again interrupted.

“Just answer my question and nothing else,” Adion said, “Should I cut off a limb for motivation, or do you think you can answer without going that far?”

“I can answer!” The boy yelled, “I was sent here to spy on you.”

“By whom?” Adion asked.

“My superior,” The boy answered, “Silver Gumo.”

“Why?” Adion asked.

“I’m not sure. He just told me to bring information about the talented human that was going to Hevima each day. I couldn’t find anything about you from just watching from afar, so I took a gamble today, not wanting to bring disappointing news to my superior.” The boy answered.

This is worrisome. But at least it seems like none of my secrets are out.

“What organization are you and this Silver Gumo a part of? What is your purpose in looking into me?” Adion asked.

“Er, we are called Heavenly Light,” The boy answered.

Adion felt such a surge of emotions that the image of Atao appeared in front of him almost on instinct. He calmed down and thought things through, trying to keep his expression from revealing any emotions.

Okay. They probably don’t know anything about me. They sent a Stone mage after me, after all. But this is a tricky situation. If they just have weak mages here in Rethi, I can take care of it, but otherwise, I have to find a way to keep them off my back.

“What’s the strongest mage in your organization?” Adion asked.

“I’m not sure,” The boy answered, “I only know about Silver Gumo and a few other weak mages like me.”

“Alright,” Adion said. He realized he was still holding the boy around the neck.

He let go of his grip and released the boy from his space prison. The boy collapsed onto the floor, his body shivering.

“What’s your name?” Adion asked.

“P-Perk, Sir,” The boy answered.

“Don’t call me Sir,” Adion said.

What a bothersome situation.

“Sit,” Adion said and pointed to a chair. Perk hesitantly walked over and took a seat.

“So, what do you know about Heavenly Light? Why did you join them?” Adion asked.

“I only know something about beasts…that we are supposed to defeat them once and for all or something. I’m sorry I didn’t pay much attention during our introduction.” Perk answered.

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“Then why did you join?” Adion asked, staring down at Perk.

“My brother is sick,” Perk answered, “My brother and I were heading to Cyalis. He said that my Gift would make me able to enter the Academy, and we could make a home there. He also said I shouldn’t tell anyone before then…”

“No one besides your brother and me knows about your Gift? No one at Heavenly Light?” Adion asked.

“No one,” Perk answered.

“Makes sense,” Adion nodded. If they knew, Perk wouldn’t be around doing spy missions like this, but probably trained by some powerful mage to enter the Academy as a spy for them once he got older.

It seems he was just recruited without knowing anything. But now he knows too much about me…Hopefully, he’s not as big of a fool as Konfed and chooses to remain loyal to Heavenly Light. I’ll have to force an Oath on him, though.

“So you needed money for your brother?” Adion asked.

“Yes,” Perk answered, “We came here from the Delovan Empire, we…we were slaves of a family clan there and escaped when the chaos of the civil war reached the manor. My brother got sick a few days before we reached Rethi. I asked around for help, and that’s when Silver Gumo found me and helped my brother with some medicine. The medicine works a little, but in order to cure him, I have to get my hands on a really powerful medicine. I don’t have the money for that, but Silver Gumo said he could get it for me with enough merits.”

“Haaah,” Adion sighed.

I’m really not in the mood to get involved in all of this. I just want to train and head for the Academy. But since Heavenly Light seems eager for me to kill them quicker, I’ll fulfill their wish.

“Show me to your headquarters,” Adion said, “You should know where it is, right?”

“I do,” Perk nodded hesitantly.

“...Let’s go see your brother first,” Adion said, wanting to confirm Perk’s story and take a look at what kind of disease needed some mysterious medication to cure.

He also needed time to think. It wasn’t a situation he should rush into.

If they are too strong for me, I might be able to ask Quahim for help.

“...what will you do to my brother?” Perk asked.

“I’ll take a look at him. I want to see if you’re telling the truth.” Adion said, even though he could tell from the boy’s aura he wasn’t deceiving him. But Adion knew better than anyone that you could make something false seem true with the right wording.

“You promise you won’t hurt him?” Perk asked.

“I’m not planning on it,” Adion answered.

“You have to swear an Oath not to harm him. I’d rather die otherwise.” Perk said with a determined look.

Troublesome kid.

“I’m not swearing any Oaths,” Adion said, “I’ll just say that I don’t wish him any harm at the moment. And if you don’t show me to him, you’re dead. How will your sick brother live without you to get him medicine?”

Perk got a conflicted look on his face, seemingly thinking through his options.

“If you and your brother don’t try to harm me, I promise I won’t harm you,” Adion said, “I might even be able to help your brother, who knows?”

“Will you really help cure him?” Perk asked.

“If I can, sure,” Adion said, “If the price isn’t too high.”

“Alright then,” Perk nodded.

“Lead the way,” Adion said, “Turn invisible before going out. It will look weird to the people downstairs if you appear here out of nowhere.”

“Okay,” Perk nodded. In a flash, he was nowhere to be seen. But Adion had his senses locked on his body and could tell he was still there.

“Go,” Adion ordered.

Perk walked out of the room with Adion following. Once they got out into the street, Perk became visible again.

“I can’t hold up my invisibility the entire way,” Perk explained.

“Mm,” Adion nodded.

Interesting ability. Even as a Stone mage, he would be able to spy on a lot stronger mages. Even in daylight. It’s just his aura control that would need work.

It was a long walk to get to where Perk and his brother were living. They had to exit the city walls and make their way to the slums, a place Adion had never visited before.

Stopping in front of a building looking like it was on the verge of collapsing, Perk turned and looked at Adion.

“This is it,” Perk said.

Adion inspected the place with his sphere of space mana and didn’t notice anything suspicious.

“Go ahead,” Adion said.

Perk opened the door and led Adion up a flight of stairs before unlocking a room at the end of the hallway.

Once inside the room, Adion saw it was a very small room with two thin, shabby-looking mattresses on the floor. A boy was sleeping in one of them, sweating and seemingly in pain.

Twelve years old…not even a mage yet.

Adion stepped up to the boy and took a look. He wasn’t a doctor or anything. But he knew that there weren’t many diseases that couldn’t be fixed with a healing pill.

Adion took off his backpack and took out a Green healing pill. Even if he had found a great hiding spot for his backpack in his room, Adion always took it with him when he visited Quahim during the day.

Adion didn’t feel bad losing a Green healing pill; he had plenty of those. He even had a couple of Yellow ones since he was pretty wealthy and didn’t want to end up in a situation where he had to waste a Supreme Healing Pill of Mesana.

Hopefully, this is enough. Even a Blue healing pill should be enough for most illnesses.

Adion placed the healing pill in the boy’s mouth and made him swallow it. Immediately, the hurried breathing calmed down, and the pain seemed to disappear from the boy’s face. He was now sleeping with a peaceful expression.

“Is this usually how he reacts to medicine?” Adion asked.

“This…” Perk hurried to check his brother’s condition, “I’ve never seen anything like this. What did you do?”

“I just fed him a healing pill,” Adion said, “Not many illnesses that can’t be cured by one of those. Basically everyone knows that, Silver Gumo amongst them.”

“Then…this was the medicine I had to earn merit for?” Perk asked.

“This pill costs a few silver coins,” Adion said, “You could easily earn that in a few weeks. Or you could steal it in a day with your ability.”

“Then…” Perk looked at Adion with a confused look.

“My guess is that this Gumo just wanted someone to work for him,” Adion said, “If your brother were sick, you would continue doing so. I’m guessing you are pretty good at your job, so he didn’t want to let you go. Bad call, as I would assume just healing your brother would earn your gratitude. But maybe he was planning on doing so when you were a little more desperate. Making you take an Oath or something in the process.”

“Why would he do that?” Perk asked.

“He’s a bad guy,” Adion said, “Not surprising. It’s an evil organization, after all.”

“E-evil?” Perk asked.

“Mm,” Adion nodded, “I don’t know all about them. But I witnessed myself how they killed innocent people, women and children among them, just to gain something they valued.”

“I-I didn’t know,” Perk stammered, tearing up.

“I know,” Adion said, glad that he couldn’t find himself feeling any malice towards the boy. “I would have killed you if I thought you were loyal to them. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“Y-yeah,” Perk nodded nervously.

That doesn’t change the fact that he knows about me. But he hasn’t asked how I froze him in space or how I noticed him in my room…Is he too stupid? He does seem a bit dumb.

“Anyway,” Adion said, “Let your brother rest. If he doesn’t get better, I have a stronger healing pill I can give him, so don’t worry.”

“T-thank you,” Perk said, bowing to Adion, pressing his forehead to the floor.

“Okay, okay. None of that. Get up,” Adion said.

Perk got up and no longer looked at Adion with fearful eyes. He was looking at Adion as if he was some sort of hero.

Don’t know how I feel about that.

“Lead me to Heavenly Light’s headquarters,” Adion said.

“Right,” Perk nodded and started walking away.

Maybe he just doesn’t ask a lot of questions.