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It was a rather short talk I had with Eiri. He still had a steeled glare at me even whilst we spoke, but it didn’t take me long to realize that it was just his resting face. I felt bad for him, he must’ve been so misunderstood with that expression as his default.

Lio listened intently at first, but drifted off into a slumber and slumped forward onto the table. He had the audacity to sleep through such an important discussion? Pfft! I tried to shake him awake, but Eiri advised me against it.

I agreed, seeing as what he went through recently. I didn’t know why, but he was much more silent and still after our encounter with those knights at the restaurant. I figured fatigue was the culprit. Today was a strenuous day for him, given that he was shooting out magic nonstop for nearly half an hour at that boy. I let the little angel sleep.

The matters discussed revealed that Dalat was indeed the one to accuse us of the crime and try to blame us. He somehow knew the boy was obsessed with magic duels, and predicted exactly what would happen. Either we run into him in the streets and see him carrying the cat, or he breaks into our home to take the cat he was “selling” , Dalat made sure that he interlaced our paths. From then on, he knew the boy would challenge one of us to a duel. We played right into his hand.

And thus he made the criminal report solely off of his belief that one of us would surely beat him to a pulp during the duel. I was sure he was aware of the history behind the magic duels in the first place as well. We definitely underestimated him.

Through negotiations, Eiri agreed to pin up wanted posters of Dalat all over Galligar, and swore that if he came across any Military Knight, they’d arrest him on the spot. They’d even use extreme force if they had to, donning their immaculately polished leather chest plates with gorgeous white pauldrons (except for Eiri’s! He loves gold!) and shields that glowed like luminescent fish.

It wasn’t like there was much to negotiate about making Dalat a wanted person of Kori Soaro, he did break multiple laws, big and small. Let’s see, I have a list of the laws he broke. Aha! Here:

* Assault with lethal magic (Occuring in Garden Dungeon)

* Attempted Murder with Magic

* Threatening to invoke public harm

* Reckless endangerment of a minor

* Manipulation of a minor

* False criminal report

That’s all I got so far. According to Eiri, though, the Soaran government takes false criminal reports very seriously to the point that it is a felony along with assault and attempted murder. So he’d definitely have quite a lot of time to do behind bars if he gets caught.

Key word was “if” because Lio and I knew first hand just how hard it was to track Dalat down. To be fair, though, our main focus had been steered towards my business, so the Military Knights would definitely fare much better than us.

I just hope no one else gets hurt while trying to find him. It would break my heart to see another situation similar to what Fiar experienced with the loss of Isla. That is why I want Dalat off the streets as soon as possible. Even if I have to get my hands dirty.

X X X

“Drink up Magicians!” Kueler’s voice roared throughout the entire tavern. He was a beast in a good way, a specimen among men. Why, you may ask? Well, I was dumbfounded by the amount of alcohol he drank and not be affected in the slightest. Any normal guy would have passed away from alcohol poisoning, but he stood strong and continued to out drink anyone.

I hated that side of Kueler, when he got too carried away and motivated others to head into a drunk stupor. I wasn’t sure if he knew just how much I hated both alcohol and drunk people.

C’mon, Magicians! You’ve been through a lot lately, no? Let loose!” He slapped me on the back, dancing all around our table.

Nope, he didn’t know.

“I don’t drink, remember? Besides, I’m not old enough.” The drinking age was twenty one. I was a year too young.

“One year too young hardly makes a difference. What about you, Magician number one?” He stared down at Lio, who was poking at his charred meat with a wooden fork.

Wait, why was he number one? I made a pouty face.

“No, I’ve quit drinking.” Lio finally picked up his knife and pierced through his meat.

“Oh really? Bwahaha! Funny joke Ma—”

Christia, who was sitting next to me at our table, grabbed Kueler by the arm and yanked back onto his seat. “Enough out of you. You should be the one to quite drinking, you alcoholic.”

Kueler let out a sigh and continued to gulp down his mead. He shrugged.

Now that everyone was already sat, we can get to business. That being my business, since I’ve had quite a handful of clients reach out to me since that fiasco with the Military Knights. I didn’t have to search for Dalat anymore, due to the Military Knights taking over the hunt for him. That was good news for me.

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I bit into my sandwich in one hand and threw a few sheets of paper onto the table with my other one. It was a Curuni-style sandwich, the pinnacle of handheld foods. “So these are the details of requests I’ve received. They’re all relatively simple, so all we have to do is choose which ones to do.” I spread the papers out so everything could be seen.

Ever since recruiting Lio as my employee, word spread that he was an Expert Rank Fire Mage. As a result, we’ve been getting more and more escort requests specifically requesting Lio come along too. He was quite popular with the clients, I dare say so.

That was why half of them alone were escort quests, I assumed. Christia and Lio picked up a paper and read through them. The minute Christia began skimming through the request, she clicked her tongue and raise her eyebrow. “Geez, this one is requesting Lio specifically. It’s an escort.”

I knew it, but it wasn’t like Lio could split into hundreds of mini Lios. He had to go about picking them strategically to save time. Lio was chewing on his food when Christia complained about the request, his head rising and his ears perking up curiously.

“Really? Where do they need an escort”

“The Aqua Dungeon.”

“Huh, the clients must be beginner adventurers then. I can do that one quickly. You do mine.” He slid over the paper in his hands to Christia. I looked over her shoulder to see which request it was. It was a delivery of food to the Forest Dungeon. The clients planned to camp out in that dungeon overnight, therefore needing to replenish their rations. We’d be their saving grace.

“Okay I can do this. Charliette, want to come along?” She asked as she turned her whole body to me.

We’ve already decided that we’d split up to do quests much more efficiently, but we hadn’t decided on the groups. Looks like Christia had decided for us already. It has been a while since I went dungeon diving with her, so I thought it would be fun for the both of us to catch up. I agreed, nodding my head and throwing a thumbs up into the air.

“Yay! We’ll have so much fun!” Her smile was blinding.

“Okay, then I’ll take Kueler along with me. I’ll try to keep him sober,” Lio said, ripping another piece of his meat with his teeth. We all giggled, and Kueler cackled louder than anyone else in this entire building. He had quite the boisterous voice, just didn’t know when to dumb it down to an indoor volume.

“Oho, now you’re the one cracking the jokes? Save the smack talk for the dungeon monsters.”

It was quite the cheery atmosphere, despite what was going on currently. Dalat was on the loose, and the Military Knights bumped up their security around the city. The average person could definitely tell that something fishy was going on with the increased military presence. That definitely hit the morale of the tavern, meaning less drunk people. I mean, I didn’t mind that at all. But that prompted me to bring up the subject to them.

“Hey, are you two aware of what's going on right now?” My eyes darted between Christia and Kueler. They both tilted their heads.

“What is going on?” Christia scooted her chair closer to mine and ran her fingers through her gold locks. That didn’t change her perplexed face. Kueler, on the other hand, only lifted his head as a response to Christia.

“Dalat is a wanted man now, after trying to assault Lio and I and framing us for a crime. The Military Knights are searching for him as we speak.”

I could have sworn Eiri said he’d put up wanted posters, it just came to me now that I haven’t seen a single poster since speaking with him nearly two days ago. He was lagging on getting that done.

They both jerked back in shock. The thought of a friend betraying you and becoming a person that you never expected them to be would be heartbreaking, and that was precisely what they were experiencing. Dalat was no longer a friend, but an enemy.

“But, why would he do all of this?” Christia’s voice was strained as she asked questions.

“I don’t know.”

I didn’t know anything. No motives, no objectives, not even a full picture of what he was even trying to do. He was so obsessed with my cat for what seemed to be no reason. I felt bad not being able to give them comfort as they came to that realization that their friend was no longer a friend, but a backstabbing asshole.

“You two have known him way longer than Lio and I did, right? What was he like?” I put my forearms on the table and glared at the two of them. That realization hit me at this very moment.

Kueler rested a hand on his chin and hummed. “The man was a sorry sat of shit at first. He would frequent the tavern Fiar and I would drink at after quests, always barking about being ‘veteran potential.’ We were sick of it, and brought him along on a quest to get him to shut up. He was stuck in our party after that.”

“But he wasn’t as bad after a while. We really did warm up to him,” Christia added.

It truly was hard to hear them talk about Dalat like that. He was originally just a man with an absurd amount of confidence. I wonder if that confidence led to him becoming the fiend he is now? It was interesting to ponder about, yet I could never truly know why he was doing what he was doing until we crossed paths again.

A somber atmosphere blanketed over all of us like fog. The situation with Dalat shredded open a chance of doubt and anxiety. I sat there, changing my focus from one of my friends to the other. Could this happen again? My eyes narrowed. I was sure I wasn’t the only one to think of this. Were these people sitting with me now actually who I think they are? Or are they backstabbing fiends too? I let my brain take control, fabricating the most outlandish futures to come.

The scary part was that I couldn’t refute these futures. There was no way for me to tell the true natures of my friends, only assume they wear it on their sleeves. I wasn’t particularly close to Dalat, so I would never imagine how I’d feel if Kueler or Christia were to do the same. I didn’t even want Lio’s name in my mind, I just couldn’t imagine it being possible for Lio of all people to betray me.

“Hey, you okay? Here, have some more water.” Christia stopped me in the middle of my intense thinking and plopped a cup of water in front of me. “You look so pale, Charliette. Are you sure you’re fine to go do the delivery?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.”

I wasn’t fine. My mind was swimming in many different traitorous outcomes that it made me nauseous. I tried to shake it off though. They were only thoughts, after all. I was just being paranoid. Hopefully.

I grabbed the cup and downed all the water in one gulp. “Let’s go, Christia.” I jumped out of my seat and tapped her on the shoulder. I didn’t have the appetite anymore to finish my sandwich. A shame.

Kueler waved to us as we both began our departure. But before we left completely, Lio locked eyes with me.

“Stay safe, please.”

The softness in his voice made my stomach churn and my teeth chatter. I didn’t know why, but it gave me warmth. He gave me rest from my restless thinking, even though it may be temporary.

“You too.” I wanted to continue looking into those gold eyes, but nothing nice lasted forever.