Apart from that the weapon is doing well. I should give it a name, I think. Ah, but Legosia was always the more poetic between us, brutish as he might be. I’ll give him the honours. Who knows, maybe this time I won’t cringe at his suggestions?

-From The Last King of Elneshe’s 2nd Note

Galeon and Emile walked through the damp grass slowly. Sometimes Galeon’s feet would sink in so far into the grass he thought he was being swallowed up, but it would always come out with a bit of tugging. He could have used his hallowmancy to make the trek easier, but Emile and Noviselle had both restricted him until they reached Latren.

Galeon and Emile entered into a thicket of forests. Emile stepped around something but Galeon didn’t see it. In making that mistake, he accidentally stepped into a puddle of mud that splashed onto his boots. Galeon was about to let out a groan when Emile looked back with a quieting gesture. So instead, he simply sighed.

“Really, how do you do it, Emile? You’ve got some sixth sense for knowing where to step?” Galeon asked.

“Yup.”

Galeon stopped, looking up at his cloaked friend. “What is it?” he asked.

“The common sense,” Emile chuckled, moving over the hill they were going just as Galeon considered flying over the whole plains.

“How far are we now?” Galeon asked. He was getting tired of having to spend so long wading through mud and dirt. He couldn’t even see the sky through the numerous trees above them. It felt suffocating for an Afterburner.

“Just a bit more, Galeon. You’ll be free as a bird then.”

“Free to get shot down, maybe,” Galeon quipped back. In the distance, Galeon saw something grey peeking between the trees. Looking around, he realized it was the beginnings of a fortress and his pace quickened.

He wouldn’t tell Emile, but when the scout wasn’t looking, Galeon let some bewl into his body and cycled it around. He felt a well of stamina appear out of nowhere, along with the aches softening a little. Just enough that he could bear the last bit of their hike at the very least.

As soon as they reached the outskirts of the forest, Emile let out a hand to stop Galeon.

“What’s the matter?” Galeon asked in a whisper. Emile eyed their path towards Latren stronghold, muttering to himself along the way.

“We’re just out of the range of a Commander. We need to stay just abouts here,” Emile said, striking a line ahead of him in the dirt.

He walked backwards from that line and crouched near one of the bushes. Galeon eyed him all the while, watching his friend rub some dirt and throw some leaves on his own body.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Cover up, Galeon,” Emile said to him from the covers. Galeon walked over and Emile dropped a handful of mud and dirt in his hands, along with the leaves that he’d been scrounging up.

Galeon looked at the pile hesitantly, then shrugged and began to cover the outside of his cloak with it. By the end of the process, he looked like a smooth field of grass had been plucked up and given to him to wear. His face was covered in dirt as well, with Galeon picking a design that he thought looked scary.

“It’s a mental game. No one wants to fight the Afterburner who hasn’t showered in five weeks,” Galeon explained, though Emile didn’t seem to be paying attention.

His eyes seemed focused on the stronghold instead. Galeon took a look himself to see what Emile was searching for, but all he found were soldiers positioned on the tops of the walls. When they’d switch out, Emile would note down the number and kinds on a piece of paper that he had brought with himself.

Sometimes, a hallowmancer would take off from one of the spires of the stronghold and Emile and Galeon would have to duck, but that was a rare occurrence. At a certain point, Galeon got so bored that he twisted himself around and started looking through the spaces between the trees.

Time passed so slowly that Galeon was glad for the setting sun. He looked over at Emile, who was still stalwart, though even his gaze drifted once in a while.

“I’m kind of sad I didn’t get to use my scary disguise,” Galeon said.

“You can come back to spook them once we’re done with the mission,” Emile said, his voice flat and uninterested. Galeon looked back up at the stars, at least the ones he could see through the thicket.

“Ever since Noviselle sent you out here, you’ve been a bit serious, don’t you think?”

Emile paused, looking over his friend.

“I’m always serious,” Emile said as he grabbed a handful of nuts and raisins and shoved them into his mouth. He started to chew on them slowly, but the noise made Galeon look. The kindest way he could describe it was that Emile looked like a chipmunk with enough food to last winter.

Emile turned away from that judgemental gaze, coughing into his arm.

“Most of the time,” he chuckled and Galeon went along with it. Another moment passed between while the two of them lay there. Once Emile had swallowed the last of his mix, his mind wandered. Unconsciously, almost, he spoke.

“Hey, Leon, what do you think of Noviselle?” Emile asked.

“Hm? Novi? She’s fun.”

“Fun? Whatever. No, I mean, do you like her?” Emile asked. Galeon thrummed his fingers over his stomach for a long while, letting every memory of Noviselle run through his mind.

“Nah, not like that.”

Or so he had wanted to, but he quickly discarded that line of thought after only a moment’s worth of recollection.

“Really? Why not?” Emile asked, his attention on Galeon.

“Well… Maybe if she put me on a better job than this, I’d like her?”

“Oh, you’re stupid, okay,” Emile said, as if it made everything make sense. Galeon chuckled.

“I just like using my powers, Emile, that’s it.”

“Well, if you really want to, I could go over there and write something crude on their walls? That might get their attention enough that we’d have to fly away,” Emile offered.

“Kind of you, but,” Galeon yawned, “I’m too tired now.”

Emile looked up at the sky and nodded.

“I’ve seen enough about their patrols for the day, anyway. Let’s go,” Emile said, standing up slowly and rubbing the dirt and blades of grass still clinging to his cloak. Galeon stood up as well, energy in his step as he did.

He touched his fingers to his palms and was about to make some jets when Emile grasped his hands again.

“Quietly.”

And that’s how the walk back was ruined for Galeon.