Oz picked the way across the meadow, sliding into the forest with careful footsteps. Fflyn’s instincts guided his feet, picking the spots between fallen sticks and on the firmest ground, avoiding the slick piles of leaf mould and slippery, loose rocks. Oz paid attention, noting down Fflyn’s stealth movement technique. People can be books, too. After all, Madame Saoirse didn’t capture every tiny, unnotable technique, only the large, important ones. I can learn from anything, including the world around me—not just books!

There’s no need to limit myself to what Madame Saoirse curated. There’s value in many things beyond her purview! Like that rotting disease.

Or, wait. If this is really an attempt to turn mortals into undead, shouldn’t I check curses and dark magic instead of medical books?

Oz swallowed. Yeah. Er. I guess I have to go read those dark magic books. Ugh. I don’t want to, but… if I want to know what’s happening to these people, to know what to expect…

Alright. If I don’t encounter an undead that tells me what’s happening by tonight, I’ll go read the dark magic books. But I’ll be careful! If it hurts, if it feels like I’m being corrupted, I’ll immediately put them down. And—and I won’t scan them. I feel like that’s asking for trouble. I’ll read them normally, so I can forget them normally if I need to.

Besides, it’s not like I’m going to dark magic for power. I’m just trying to learn what the baddies are doing. How am I supposed to know what to expect from this world’s evildoers if I never touch dark magic?

Purely for the knowledge. Purely for the knowledge!

“I told you to go back.”

Oz and Aisling stopped. They turned.

The wolf girl stood just out of reach, watching them with wary gold eyes. Shadows loomed in the forest around her, the ruffle of leaves and the crunch of undergrowth hinting at a pack, though nothing could be seen of the wolves themselves.

Oz glanced at Aisling. She gave him the same look back. Since we’re moving through the forest anyways, where we can’t be seen by mortals, we were using movement techniques. She was able to keep up? Definitely half-fey. And perhaps… a powerful half, at that.

“What’s your name?” Oz asked, stepping toward her.

Her eyes flicked to him. “I have no name. You can call me Loup.”

Wolf, huh? And the reluctance to give her name. There’s no note in the bestiary about names being a thing for fey in this world the way they are in my world’s myths, but then, the bestiary treats fey as animals, not as a civilization of clever human-equivalent beings—if not superior to humans. With that kind of human-centric bias in the low-level books, I can’t treat them as absolute truth, nor expect them to include every possible detail on a species. I should treat the bestiary as an introduction, at best, and keep my mind open to learning from everything around me, as well.

“Do you know what’s going wrong with this region?” Oz asked.

Loup hesitated. She lifted her head, putting her nose highest, as if sniffing the air. “That way. That direction has the worst smell around here.”

Oz nodded. “Lead the way.”

She looked at him. “You want to go there?”

“We’re trying to figure out what’s going on. We want to help. Fix this, even.”

Loup hesitated. She shook her head. “No one can help. They all die.”

That’s not good. Oz shook his head. “Don’t worry. We know we’re weak. We’re just here to take a look and get out. No one will even know I’m here.” He nodded at Loup. “You’ve seen it and survived, right? With you leading us, we ought to be safe.”

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And in the worst case, I’m the one who dies, huh? Fflyn muttered.

Says the guy who tried to swallow poison.

That was different.

Was it?

It was for the mission.

This is for the mission.

The Black Blades… it’s different. You don’t understand. If I didn’t swallow poison, I’d face a fate worse than death.

Oz paused. No… that’s right. I guess I knew that, in the back of my mind. Fflyn didn’t want to die. It’s merely that he didn’t have an option. He turned back to Fflyn. Then, should I turn back? I shouldn’t risk your life without your consent.

What? No. You’re using me because I’m disposable, right? Just like the Black Blades. If I’m not disposable, I’m of no use to anyone.

That’s… not… Oz gritted his teeth. It’s not right, but it’s not wrong either. Ugh. Yeah. I’m scum, aren’t I? Sometimes. When I don’t realize it. If I don’t watch myself closely, I become scum, just like everyone else.

At that, Fflyn laughed. You, scum? You might be too pure for this world, but you aren’t scum. He shook his head. Go on. Don’t stop on my account. I’m fine with this arrangement.

Loup hesitated, then nodded. “I know a safe route. But I won’t show it for free.” She thrust her hands out.

“How much do you want?” Oz asked, as Aisling stepped forward, opening her coin purse.

Loup frowned at the coins inside. “I can’t eat metal. Meat!”

“Meat?” Oz asked.

“I want meat! The pack is hungry. The deer have all fled because of the bad smell. I can’t hunt meat and feed my family any more. Give me meat, and I’ll take you there.”

Oz nodded slowly. He put his hand to his chin, then smiled. “If you take us there, I’ll bring you back to a magical place where you can hunt all the meat you want. How about that?”

Loup gave him an uncertain look. She backed away a step. “Magical? You’re lying, aren’t you?”

“He’s telling the truth. He really can give this to you,” Aisling confirmed, nodding.

Loup looked at Aisling. Flatly, she snapped, “He’s ten!”

Oz coughed, as Fflyn raged inside him. Half laughing at Fflyn’s anger, he corrected her, “Tw-twelve. I’m twelve, thanks.”

“One’s apparent age does not indicate one’s power,” Aisling intoned.

Loup narrowed her eyes at both of them. “If this is true, then make meat appear, right here!”

Oz stiffened. Er, I don’t really have an answer to this. If Linnea was here, she could call spiders, but Aisling…?

Unbothered, Aisling made the same gesture as usual, passing her hand over a bracelet she wore. A whole raw chicken appeared in her palm. “Here.”

Loup’s eyes widened. She darted in and snatched the chicken with her mouth, only to whip about and retreat, the whole thing executed in one fluid motion. Backing away, she looked from one of them to another, entire raw chicken dangling from her jaws, then whipped around and vanished into the forest.

Oz looked after her, then turned to Aisling. “Why did you have that?”

“In case you got hungry,” Aisling said simply.

“An entire raw chicken?” Oz asked.

Aisling shrugged. “Sometimes I get hungry enough to eat an entire chicken.”

“Raw?”

“I’d cook it for you.”

Oz’s jaw worked, but he came up with nothing. I just don’t know what to say to that. Praise her for her thoughtfulness? Laugh at the concept of carrying entire raw chickens like a goddamn video game character? “Er, did you… bring more than one?”

Aisling nodded.

He eyed her bracelet. I’ve read about artifacts like that. That’s a storage ring, isn’t it? Or rather, a storage bracelet. They’re supposed to be incredibly expensive.

…I guess Linnea wasn’t joking when she said Sachairi was in the running to be Grand Mage. He was super rich and super influential before his injury, huh? Giving out storage bracelets to his disciples… wait. His single disciple?

Is Aisling Sachairi’s only disciple? Really? But eh, if he’s that influential, couldn’t he found an entire sect? To have only one disciple… is he that exclusive? I suppose it’s possible. Still, I can’t imagine his sect is happy that someone with so much influence has only taken one disciple. And if he’s really an incredibly exclusive Master who only wants to handpick a single (or a few) disciples, why come to me and offer to help? Sure, there’s extenuating circumstances out the ass there, but even so, I didn’t get the snooty vibes I’d expect if he was exclusive like that.

Unless. Oz bit his lip as a thought came to him, a thought that felt more likely with every passing moment. Sachairi told me to go find a scandal. Sachairi has a mysterious past that Linnea isn’t comfortable telling me about. Could it be that some horrible scandal occurred to him that was so horrible, so overwhelmingly negative, that it totally upended Sachairi’s career and lowered him from on the path of Grand Magus to a lowly, unliked member of a small sect?

Oz raised his brows and nodded. I really need to ask Sachairi about it. Though, if it’s really that bad, he probably doesn’t want to talk about it.

The underbrush crinkled. Loup reappeared, her eyes shining, excitement and energy in her body. She nodded. “I’ll take you there. I’ll take you to the bad place.”

Oz nodded. “Please. Lead the way.”