Four days had passed since his encounter with the assassin and his metamorphosis, making this the 7th day.

He was still having some minor issues with controlling his strength, the new mass enhanced his body beyond what he already was, but at the same time, he was losing that mass when he was hurt or even just from overusing his magic, forcing him to constantly pay attention to what his power was at the moment.

His body seemed to understand that this was not him, it was a temporary measure to get power and healing quickly.

If he intended to use such a method to make Ava stronger or heal Adina, he would need to refine it, test subject 14 to ensure that he wouldn’t burn himself through his new form.

The national army had replaced the noble army on the 5th and many changes had come from this change in command.

Golems now roamed the streets alongside soldiers, mages were either relegated to riot control or parasite removal.

The army did not like independent mages running around doing whatever they wanted, so they were temporarily conscripted and under their command now.

Unless of course they could make a very convincing argument for them being a free agent.

For Harlan it was fairly easy, on his file it was known that he was the useful kind of unknown and Sepul had a lot of sway though he was not part of the army structure.

He could look through a crowd of 200 people and pick out each and every spider without fail and he had retrieved an as of yet unknown model of gun which would be able to pierce golems.

Harlan was currently flying through the sky, looking for anyone outside after curfew.

The complete ban on outside travel had been rescinded as soon as the army arrived in force.

The man in charge, though Harlan had only one meeting with him, was not a fighter, he was a talker.

He understood that if the people were locked inside for another day then they would likely revolt in force again.

But if they were allowed outside during the day and could make their complaints openly, then there were fewer people who would be incited to violence over being unheard.

The curfew made it easier to find who was skulking about, if everyone was doing it, then it became hard to know their intentions.

But nobody in their right mind would want to be outside at night when there were possibly spiders around every corner.

The fear which first let them cause the city to riot in mass had been flipped around so that the people willingly shut themselves inside, more scared of the things they didn’t understand than the soldiers who generously rescued them from the noble’s army who had clearly been incapable of handling anything but a docile population that followed orders.

It further solidified the faith of the people in their king instead of their ruling noble when soldiers came in with rations for the people and helped with the rebuilding.

A scream rang out, two people, a boy and a girl.

Robes meant they were from the academy, he couldn’t make out their features but judging by their state of undress and location, he guessed 4rd years who had snuck out for a little private fun.

The boy tripped over his pants which fell down due to his lack of a belt and was about to be clubbed over the head.

Harlan came down at a 45 degree angle, his feet making contact with the man in front and turning his body from that of a human into resources that did not resist his magic once the soul had dispersed.

Cutting blades of blood and bone shrapnel killed the three other would-be kidnappers in a mercifully quick, but gruesome display of might.

These men were not infested with spiders, rather they were simple criminals hoping to hold noble brats hostage for quick coin. Harlan had little issue justifying their deaths.

The pair of students saw Harlan standing tall, blood glistening on his armor, the embossing of a skull catching the light of the full moon.

They ran, worried that they were dealing with something worse than a handful of kidnappers.

Harlan was back in front of them in a moment, yet now they had a spell ready for him.

Cooperative casting wasn’t something he had actually seen yet, generally it was taught as part of warmagic, since a dozen spells might not be as good as one spell that a dozen mages all poured the same mana into, yet it was not exclusive to those classes.

Harlan had these thoughts right before the couple’s blast of air struck him, throwing him through a solid stone wall like a ragdoll.

He laid there in the rubble, his bones setting themselves, his flesh knitting itself together and lamented the loss of his last bits of extra mass.

Were it not for the horrifying crunches and pops, they might’ve believed him to be a golem.

Yet now that they were frozen in fear, they had the time to actually get a close look at him.

They could make out the shape of his armor, it was distinctive enough that they realized what they had done.

They thought about running again, but while the young man wanted to flee after hearing all of the rumors about Harlan, his lover had been helped by him in the past.

She pulled him towards Harlan, worrying about the attack that they had hit him with.

The two of them pulled him out of the rubble and tried to pry his armor open, not seeing any straps or latches which might be used to remove it.

It wasn’t long before he was up and flimsily grasping the girl’s hand with a grip that was supposed to be bone creaking.

“Are you awake, can you hear me?”

“I’m telling you, we should go to the army, have them send a healer.” The young man said

“No healers, I am fine.”

“I very much doubt that. Your legs were entirely in the wrong direction.”

Harlan opened his armor, they could tell that he had been bleeding and his clothes under the armor had holes poked through them by bones, but he looked fine.

“Now, leave, go back to your hotel room or wherever they have you set up at and don’t sneak out again.”

“Wait, I didn’t get the chance to thank you yet.”

“Now you have, goodbye.”

Harlan tried to get up but found that he was a little woozy after having healed his body and it would take a moment for him to acclimate him to being back at his original mass.

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“Not for this.”

“Alright, come on, what did I do? I helped you once with a spell, right?”

“You gave us the courage to be together, to show the world that our love will cross borders and cultures.”

Harlan sighed, realizing that he was in no condition to fight for at least another 10 minutes, if he couldn’t fight there was little reason to leave.

But he didn’t want to listen to whatever was happening here.

“We were destined to meet at the survival camp. Like good Reinoans and Ragnites, we held the flames of hate in our hearts. Yet as we lived in those woods for that week, the fire turned gentle, and we understood our forbidden love for one another. Now, we will finally be living our lives freely, no matter the cost.”

“Adina and I aren’t lovers, if that is what you are implying.”

“But by taking her hand, you have given a path for my future husband and I to live as two people with one heart.”

He was tempted to fly off anyway, but he was likely going to end up escorting them.

“Boy, is there an end to this story?”

“My name is Sir Cuprum Verdigris, and I am older than you. And yes, it ends with the city letting us leave and her meeting my family before we announce our engagement. We are both grateful that you already exist as an example of bringing a Reinoan over without everyone treating you like she is made of waste.”

“Oh, my land borders your father’s. Are you two at least realistic about how your meeting is going to go.”

“Even if it costs me everything, we will be together. I hope that the rest of my family will see reason.”

Harlan was trying not to laugh, but from the way he moved it was clear to the couple what he was doing.

“Is there something funny?”

“Sorry, sorry, do you think nobles don’t disown their children all the time?

What about her parents? Adina had to completely renounce the country and isn’t allowed to go back unless something changes. Are you and your girlfriend going to have that resolve? Would you die for her? Kill for her? If you can’t say yes to any of these things then give up, keep hiding it, marry some woman you don’t love and keep her as a mistress.”

Harlan could tell that this was not how they wanted this conversation going.

If they had approached him at the academy he would’ve at least politely entertained their notions of love, but there were currently 4 dead bodies cooling not 50 feet from them and with them here he wasn’t going to be able to subsume them, the fight had been a net loss in his mind, not counting having done the right thing.

Cuprum puffed his chest, ready to refute him.

But the girl stepped forward first.

“I have already spoken with my family, even if his family cannot accept me, they will accept him. We are not naive, you just don’t know anything about us. Can you really not see this working? Why not?”

“First off, I think it is a little awkward to have this conversation without knowing your name.”

“My name is Sherah.”

“Thank you. Now, Sherah, I am also saying this with my full heart, because it is what I have seen, not read in books, Reino is a land of lies. Can you say that your family would accept him honestly and in good faith without anything to gain but your happiness in the case that he is disowned for you?

My positive experiences with your people are limited to Adina and Grand Saint Fragile Peace. Why do you think that is?”

She failed to understand it was a rhetorical question and Harlan had to cut her off before she spoke.

“Don’t bother answering, the reason is that nobody else is willing to speak with me or try to be friends.”

“It doesn't seem right to condemn me. I have never been cruel towards you.”

“I am not condemning you, and I am not saying your relationship won’t work, but, how much are you willing to give up for him? If you were both disowned, would you live simple lives? Could you be farmers or soldiers and settle down?”

“Of course, isn’t that right, Rummy?”

They were now standing face to face, their hands interlocked.

“I would be willing to give up my comforts, because you are all of the comfort that I need.”

Finding lies was hard, Harlan could feel out their emotions, try his best to decipher them, but it wasn’t a sure thing.

However, it was clear that they had conviction and believed every word of it.

The real test would be when conviction collided with reality.

A man could tell the complete and honest truth, yet if they said they were going to hunt a Lindwurm and never met one before, then that true at the time statement could easily turn to a retroactive lie.

“You seem to believe what you say, so I will be rooting for you. If you are what you say you are, if you keep your word and are willing to live a simple life, I might have work for both of you. I said some harsh things, but I did say them from a place of well meaning. If you could not stand up to me, then you would never stand up to anyone else.”

Sherah brightened up.

“Thank you for everything then. I hope you find a love as beautiful and pure as ours.”

“I’m not sure skulking around abandoned buildings and doing what you were doing was exactly pure, but sure.”

“There is not greater purity than a love between those like us, to fully bare ourselves at out most sensitive-”

“Please, stop. I don’t really want to hear it, just, pick up anything you dropped and let me walk you back to a safe area.”

Harlan had killed far more time than he would’ve liked and his body felt strange not having anything extra to burn anymore.

“That was fun.”

“It really wasn’t, I don’t want to hear the sordid details of a late night rendezvous. I didn’t really care for the books Yara sent like that, and Sherah seemed like she believed she was inside of one.”

“You are the rain on a children's tea party.”

“They aren’t children.”

“You know what I mean, but yes, they aren’t children. Not with what they had.”

“I never would’ve thought you the romantic type.”

“Oh, I meant their bodies. They look older, maybe they both went to the academy late?”

“I don’t feel comfortable getting into this talk with you.”

“Listen, it is just biology, you didn’t see anything worse than what you saw in the diagrams for healing.”

“That was just drawing. They are real people, it isn’t the same.”

“Once you’ve seen enough of them, it loses its luster.”

“I don’t want to hear this from you.”

“It’s not like I’m your mother, I am just a woman with a bit more experience with the feelings of the flesh.

Should I have the talk with you?”

“Which one?”

“Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much…”

“I am aware of the mechanics of reproduction.”

“I’m just trying to lighten the mood, things are looking better in the city. Right? So cheer up a little bit or you’ll scare your niece and nephew when you get back.”

“It feels wrong to be happier than just neutral with everything happening here.”

“I know, but you have to see the bright spots in something like this. You already know that being in the shadows won’t help, so try to focus on the people you are helping more than the people you need to hurt. Your little shows have been very good at giving the people hope, so take some of that instead of giving it all away.”

“You don’t need to try so hard.”

“I am not a great speaker, but you know what I want for you. Stop thinking that it is a personal failing when you can’t save somebody or convince them of what is right. People are terrible and you can’t change that, so when that happens you can do what you do to evil people who can’t see what they are.

I know we didn’t talk about it, but I don’t think you did anything wrong with that bandit or that mayor.

They were just different flavors of scum that needed dealing with.”

“Thank you.”

Harlan walked the couple back to the hotel, Cuprum was working logistics and wasn’t a great fighter despite his combat magic classes.

Even still, had he not tripped they would’ve had enough time to get off the windblast that sent Harlan flying and would’ve likely turned whoever got hit by it into something more resembling over ripened tomatoes thrown off a rooftop.

Sherah wasn’t supposed to be outside at all considering the rather delicate position of being a Reinoan in Ragne.

It was past midnight, and Harlan hadn’t slept since the day after he came out of the tunnels.

Adina was already sleeping, so he didn’t want to bother her.

He slipped in bed and closed his eyes.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Good night, Harlan.”

“Good night, Dawn.”