"So, what are you doing here?"

Orisa flinched from a sudden phrase. For the past twenty minutes, she had been brooding over her decision to let the girl go alone. It was a weighted choice she took after considering other options and possible danger, but it made her heart ache all the same. She wasn't afraid of the girl bringing back not only her father but guards, too. Probability of this was extremely low since none of the twins found out she was on the run, and their father would lack any details to come to this assumption. No, instead, Orisa was worried about Lif and her life. Would it be possible to keep on living if something were to happen with her?

"Um, Big Sis? Are you sleepy, too?" asked Lifthrasir slowly while trying not to yawn. As the adrenalin from a previous battle wore off, it became harder for the boy to stay awake because of all the stress and injuries he suffered.

During all this time while Orisa was pondering the issue, she had been healing him with the Regeneration Seal. As a result, most of his wounds turned from deep tears into small cuts. The cracked ribs, however, showed no signs of getting better because of how weak the Seal's effect was.

"No, I'm fine, but you definitely need to take a nap, Lif."

"Nah, that's boring. Tell me something cool about yourself. What did you do to get this strong? Teach me, alright?"

"Hmm, I don't know about cool and teaching, honestly," Orisa looked at her guest apologetically.

"Why not!? You are so greedy. And here I thought you were nice and everything..."

"It's not about being greedy, Lif. First of all, I trained hard under the guidance of the training camp's teachers. And you should do the same when it's time. Besides that, I don't think I'd be able to teach you anything useful since my fighting style is rather strange."

"And what's that supposed to mean? You are trying to trick me!" A pout on Lifthrasir's face became even bigger, and he stared at Orisa unhappily.

"Why would I do that? Come on, don't behave like a little kid," she used a dirty method to calm the boy down. "I mean that my spells are all custom made by me because I'm actually rather weak and need to come up with ridiculous tricks to stay on par with others. But I do have two important things to share."

"Really?" his eyes lit up and glistened like a Christmas tree.

"Yes, so listen carefully. First, you need to stop going into dangerous places. And don't look at me like that. There are special people in training camps who will summon weak monsters for you to train with, and that's how you start your path."

"Hey, that's cheating!"

"Idiot, that's how a proper training works - you start with something small that you can handle, and gradually grow stronger. Anyhow, that's what you should wait for instead of going into a forest where real Beasts dwell. In the meantime, you can and should practice Mana control and other things, and with this, I can help."

Orisa took out bottle water and taught Lifthrasir the basics of practice. She then dived deeper into what magic is and how to use and tweak spells, but the boy finally fell asleep half-way during her lecture. It was getting colder and colder, so Orisa brought two blankets, covered him with one, and used another for herself. She was feeling rather weak as well, perhaps due to all the worries she had about Lif going alone.

Wrapping up in the quilt, Orisa prepared to wait. She almost dozed off several times but managed to stay awake despite her eyelids growing heavier with each passing moment. Finally, she had noticed movement half an hour later.

The first to appear was Lif. She skipped towards the cavern in a carefree manner, ignoring rain and dirt. Next, a tall skinny man appeared between the trees. It was hard to make out his features yet, but what caught Orisa's attention was a two-edged battle-ax that rested on his right shoulder. A little shiver ran down Orisa's spine as she witnessed how easily the man carried the weapon.

"Liffy, wait here," he said in a cautious tone and moved closer. There was no hostility in his eyes or posture, only concentration, and determination.

Orisa stood up, leaving the comfy and warm blanket, and waited for the men to close the distance with her hands in plain view. She tensed a bit but otherwise was unfazed after judging the situation calmly - the cavern was too narrow and low for her guest to utilize his axe fully. Aside from that, Orisa was rather confident in her own defensive skills. The only problem she had felt just now was that her body felt heavier for some reason.

The man stopped near his son and bent down to check his conditions. Lifthrasir was sleeping soundly, covered with a blanket. Orisa even bandaged his leg during their previous interaction. After checking the boy's condition, his father loosened up a bit and was now standing in a more relaxed manner.

"Name's Oudr, this brat's father," he said, still a little wary while studying Orisa's face.

"Nice to meet you. I'm-."

"Already know the name, saw and heard it enough for the past day."

"Um, right... Well, sorry that I couldn't lead them back home, didn't want him walking with his ribs cracked. And I have no means to heal him. So, I had to-."

"That's a given. Although can't appreciate my girl walking alone in the forest, at least you gave her this," he handed the bracelet back.

"Dad, is everything okay?" Lif suddenly appeared at her father's side and pulled his raincoat.

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"Of course, my flower."

"I told you Big Sis is awesome, right?" the girl looked at Orisa proudly as if it was thanks to her efforts that their savior ended up awesome.

"Good work, dear, you did great," Oudr ruffled his daughter's hair and looked at Orisa again. "And what did you do?"

"Let some Noble trash harm my friend and push the blame on me."

"And that's why they pay one grit for your head?" a doubt oozed from his voice.

'One grit? And that's it? Half a million yen for my head? Are they fucking kidding?' Orisa was thoroughly shocked by that amount. For the ordinary people who lived a modest life in a village, it was a large sum, almost a life-long saving. But for the Military and especially for the Supreme Commander - nothing but spare change. 'Something's fishy.'

"Honestly, I thought it should have been way higher," Orisa finally squeezed a response. "Considering who wanted me dead, that is."

"Upset that bounty is low?"

"It pisses me off how little that bastard value his daughter." Orisa gritted her teeth, hands clutched into fists. It was beyond insulting towards Tiana and how perfect the girl was. Orisa thought that she was already past the point of getting angrier, but now her blood was boiling again.

"Right. Makes no sense. Don't care that much. Can we go now?"

Orisa looked at Oudr as if seeing him for the first time. Her veins were still filled with magma, but she took a deep breath to calm down a bit and raised her brow:

"What do you mean, Oudr? Am I in your way somehow?"

Instead of answering, the father eyed Orisa for several moments, then took out a tiny pouch and handed it to her.

"Who do you think I am?" Orisa got angry again, unconsciously clenching her fists once more.

"You might need it more than we do," Oudr answered, and Orisa noticed a hint of compassion in his voice. In instantly cooled her rage.

"No, I have enough for my needs. Besides, it must be hard dealing with two hurricanes. Just make sure to keep them safe."

Orisa even pondered for a moment if she should give the man a bit of her own money after learning from Lifthrasir how poor they were but decided against it in the end. She understood that this gesture came mostly from the guilt of sending the girl alone through a dangerous forest, so it was a pointless and even harmful desire. 'I did enough.'

Oudr removed the blanket and took the still sleeping son into his arms, covering him with the raincoat.

"Whatever you did, hope you'll find a way out. Thank you."

With that, the man turned around and stepped into the rain. His daughter, Lif, smiled and waved to Orisa before following after her father. Orisa, on the other hand, waited for a few moments before slumping down on the stone floor. Her legs were so heavy that she couldn't last a second longer. Pulling both blankets over her cold body, she immediately fell asleep.

---

---

"Huh, must be nice to wind up wanted criminal. You can laze around all day under a blanket while your loyal slave is running errands under a cold rain. Feels good."

"Uh? Sorry, break is over? I'll get back to work right now..." Orisa muttered half-asleep. She opened her eyes and stared at Kanai in a futile attempt to grasp the situation. After blinking several times, she finally came to her senses, "Kanai? Oh, it's you... Sorry. Glad to see you back..."

Everything was so fuzzy, and Orisa's mind felt hazy. She shivered under blankets and focused her gaze on Kanai. Her partner glanced at her for a moment then began to unload his luggage. Several envelopes came to light from his pocket, and he handed them to Orisa:

"From Rita, the squad, and Nana plus Nene."

"Thanks, that's great. Can I read them later? My head hurts a little."

"Probably because of the weather. I was sleepy half the day as well, especially while waiting for the letters. By the way," he suddenly lit up and looked at Orisa with burning eyes, "saw your poster! You actually look great, at least way better than IRL."

"You dick..." she protested weakly, pulling one of the blankets and handing it to Kanai. "Do you want to rest a bit or should we move out now?"

"Want to leave? I thought about spending the night here."

"Um, I don't think it's such a good idea..."

Orisa proceeded to retell the events of the day. With each passing second, Kanai's brows went further upwards. He looked at her in disbelief, shaking his head slowly:

"You are incorrigible, you know? You had only one job - to lay low and sleep, and you went and did this..." Despite his harsh words, Kanai's eyes were laughing. "Okay, what's done is done. And I would have done the same so don't fret it."

He stretched under the blanket and yawned soundly before checking his wristwatch. They still had a good four hours of daylight at the very least, so Kanai decided to take a short rest before leaving their temporary shelter.

"How is everyone?" asked Orisa some time later.

"They are back to the Lair and having a short vacation to celebrate this stuff. Iten wrote that Dippo tried to poach Toatre into the squad, but she shot him down soundly. Said she was ready to help any time but wanted to keep to her studies."

"I wonder what will happen to the squad. How many members there are now?"

"Iten, Onuki, Marina, and Shou. Dippo kicked both degenerates from the squad, and from what I heard from Iten, he actually got in trouble for doing so. Says a lot about the man, I think."

"A bit strange but a nice guy, I think," added Orisa while reminiscing about the good old days when her worst problem was to deny Dippo's attempts at calling her weird names.

"As for the squad, I don't know. Maybe they'll join some other group? We'll see, I guess."

"How is the atmosphere in general?"

"Iten wrote that everyone was panicking the first day you fled, but now things calmed down surprisingly fast."

"It's all kind of strange, don't you think? The trial was so big and official, but it looks like they stopped caring the moment I got away." Orisa paused to catch a breath. Her mind was still hazy, and it was rather hard to focus on her thoughts. "I also heard about the bounty, well, on my head. For the crime I supposedly committed, it's laughably low. It all looks like they only wanted to mess up my life and don't care at all what happens next. At least as long as I'm on the run."

"Now that you've said that," Kanai looked at her thoughtfully, "indeed, it does. Well, aside from getting even more pissed, isn't it a good thing? I mean, we shouldn't expect any real difficulties as long as we don't provoke trouble ourselves."

"Yeah..."

They stayed quiet for some time, resting under the constant noise of the neverending rain. Each of the pair had their own thoughts, but they surprisingly ended up at the same idea, thinking how nice it was to be around each other.

"Time to move out, I suppose," Kanai got back on his feet and went deeper into the cavern to gather their belongings.

When Orisa tried to stand up, she swayed violently and managed to stay on her feet only after leaning on the wall. 'Damn, that weather is surely killing me," she thought, taking a small sip of Stamina Potion.

They were ready to depart ten minutes later. Orisa's backpack wasn't as heavy as Kanai's but her legs still trembled a bit. She steeled herself and prayed for the potion to carry her through their march. Giving one last look at their shelter, the pair moved out. It was only two minutes later that she called her partner:

"Kanai, wait..."

Orisa had to lean on a tree to stay on foot since everything was blurry in front of her. Her head was heavy and filled with cotton at the same time, and she had a hard time squeezing out even a single thought. Next moment, Orisa was already on the ground.

"What's wrong?!" Kanai dropped his backpack and rushed to her side. He turned Orisa on her side to see her face. It was completely red, sweat dripping from her forehead. It took him only a second to check her skin, and he almost yelled, "Are you nuts!? You are burning with fever!"

But Orisa couldn't answer.