Merry treated Cyg with the same lack of trust as usual, and he was sent out into the woods while she worked. But instead of swapping rocks, he was testing Alicia's third iteration of the blast plates. By now, they’ve become small metal rectangles woven into the heel of his boots. One layer to stop any harsh terrain from scratching up the circle, a second layer to house the circle itself—crammed full of runes so the first layer would not require holes to release air—and then a third layer composed of Alicia's golden locks, full of mana, sandwiched between the other two as a small bundle. It had been enough time that the elf’s mana could be drawn without permission, but not so long that it had diffused entirely. And, if Cyg needed to, he even could fuel it himself.
Testing was questionable at best and painful at worst. Alicia gave it a go first, finding the line between “being sent flying” and “a light push” to be nonexistent. She swore herself off from testing it for the rest of the day after nearly hitting her head on a tree, leaving it to the person who asked for it in the first place.
As for the thief, he shared that discovery of finding it far more difficult than imagined. He tried very hard to make it work, but because all the force was applied to his feet, any miscalculation—and there was plenty—caused him to spin instead of accomplishing any traversal.
The fifth iteration was a breastplate, the core of the circle contained in the same sized rectangle inside while extending little tendrils of runes outward. Four cardinal directions, each with one exit point angled skywards, horizontally, and downward. This should be much better, Cyg thought, right before he sent mana in and felt himself get shoved forward into a stumble.
Baffled, he tried it again with the same results. *Of course* that would happen. If there was an aburpt change in momentum, that meant his body was being jerked around. And, if he gave it a particularly heavy kick, he would feel his brain rattle around in his skull.
He toyed around with it for a bit more before dropping down to his hands and knees, having exhausted his mind, body, and mana.
“Uh, are you okay?” Alicia asked, having just started her break from taking care of the guard.
“This sucks,” Cyg sputtered, “Definitely a last resort type of thing.” Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he then added, “And it needs more exit points, so I can catch myself without spinning when I fall.”
“If you aren't up to it, we can avoid fighting Bassy tomorrow. We still have almost two months to practice and get used to it,” she tells him, “And something worse might come of it if you're to go in there unwell.”
“We're at the end of the week; it'll be a waste if we don't,” he said, lying on the ground, “But I will take a break because Gods this is tiring.” After a few seconds of wordless panting, he looked up and asked, “Hey, wait a minute, don’t you have the same healing magic as Merry? Can’t you handle Bassy easier than I can?”
She glanced down at herself and half-raised her arms, as if presenting her feebleness. “You want someone like me to take on a basilisk?”
“...Yes?”
* * *
Inexorably, Sunday arrived.
“Bassy!” the apprentice called out as she stuck her head outside of the window, “I have another treat for you!” This time, she was the one wearing the breastplate, appearing somehow paler than usual. She had enough mana left for a single big push, and that was it.
With the help of Cyg, Alicia managed to procure another bite-sized snack to entice the beast within the hour of Merry leaving. They wouldn't live long enough to be punished for raiding the cold storage anyway.
After a few minutes had passed, Alicia shouted again.
The thief, watching, scratched his head. “Do basilisks even have ears?”
“Of course they do! How else would she have heard me just a few days ago?” she answered before giving it another go. “My voice only goes so far, you know.” And as if right on cue, they see Bassy bounding through the woods.
Its gallop slowed into a canter which then slowed into a walk, eventually stopping halfway between the house and the forest line and in front of the bird. Instead of gobbling it down right away, it cautiously approached, refusing to even open its mouth.
Alicia sighed, “It remembered what I was thinking.”
“It's smarter than I thought,” Cyg mumbles.
Bassy raised its foot and gently lowered down on the treat, bone and wood splintering under the weight, signaling to the two that the plan was a bust.
“Poison's also out the window, I see.”
Cyg nodded. “Plan B it is.”
It turned its head, growling, before half a dozen bombs went off underneath, throwing it off its feet in a fiery explosion, the shockwave shuddering the house. The two took a deep breath before throwing open the door, the thief running out first.
Bassy, shaken from the whole thing but little more, rolled over back upright. It managed to gather itself for a split second to see Cyg slinging a “bomb” at it. The creature swiveled around to dodge the explosion, but instead of fire, out came a burst of water that splashed all over the basilisk and its crown.
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It let out something between a cry and a snarl as it shook its head vigorously when Alicia ran forward, using the last of her mana to fly forward. The breastplate launched her close enough to touch Bassy, and upon landing, she had two thoughts—firstly, the damn metal dug into her arms painfully, and secondly, there was no way she could hold on long enough to actually do anything with her Aspect.
With a fierce twist of its body, the basilisk threw Alicia off its tail, sending her tumbling and rolling away.
“Damn it!” she huffed as she climbed back to her feet, only to see Bassy running off into the forest.
Sighing, Cyg said, “I would suggest we get a big net next time, but I doubt we can build one that can hold something like that.” Then, he added, “I can't believe those bombs did nothing. They were right under it!”
“It probably did... something. Not enough to tear her hide or to stop her completely, but still damaged something underneath.”
There was a minute of silence as they stared off into the forest. “...Now what?”
“You'd have to invent a better trap, I suppose. One that doesn't involve treats.”
“Hm. I was about to suggest we dig a giant pit for Bassy to fall into, but would that even work? Hiding it by covering it would only work against something with eyes, and, well...”
“I'm not quite sure what she sees with, but it's either her mind-reading Aspect or echolocation with her ears,” Alicia deduced, “It won’t do us any favors by overcomplicating the situation, so let’s assume Bassy’s like any other magical animal and therefore has only one Aspect.”
“Then, we have to box it in—”
The horrific sound of wood snapping and glass shattering came from behind them, and they jumped in surprise. They spun around to find that it had come from inside the house, just in time to see Bassy blowing through the wall of the study, taking a good chunk of its contents flying out with it. It continued to race off back into the forest, disappearing once more while papers and trinkets finished raining down.
They watched, baffled, before Alicia blurted out, “Did it just alert Merry?”
“She did say the house was warded or something,” Cyg added, “And she did notice when I entered the basement. Magic tripwires?”
“...Merry's coming back,” she continued, “What are we going to do?”
Frowning, Cyg answered, “Let's reset. I don't really want to fight Merry again. If at all.” He shuddered thinking about what the witch had done to his leg that one time.
And with a mixed expression, Alicia asked him, “Do you want me to help?”
“I don't think we have any bombs left... sure.” He placed his hands on his hips as if rudely greeting death, not that he knew what exactly was in store.
The apprentice placed her hand on his chest, and after a second, he fell over without a heartbeat. Then, looking at the sky in the direction of the town, she lingered, wondering if their fears really were true. She stood there, spellbound, until a little dot appeared in the sky that grew larger by the second, and before it was close enough to confirm, Alicia did the same to herself.
— ! —
If there was one fortune she had, it was she was never abruptly woken at the start of each loop. It was early but not too bright, the sun having only started to rise.
With a grunt, she climbed out of her plain-looking bed and left her plain-looking room whose bookshelf and desk were dangerously approaching personal. It was intentionally so, as the girl never dared to get too comfortable here. Even ignoring the occasional basement horror, the elf always thought it was a temporary stay. One day, she'll go home, wherever that was.
After she returned and had a quick change of clothes, Alicia settled at her desk, retrieving one of the many notebooks she kept. Instead of opening it normally, she thumbed through the pages, checking to see if all the small seals were there. It was impossible to stop someone like Merry from reading everything she wrote, but by lightly attaching some pages together, she could check what was read. And yet, not once were any of these seals broken. At this point, it was more a paranoid routine than anything else.
She then flipped to the latest page, silently bemoaning all the schematics she lost when the loop reset. Oh, if only there was a way to maintain notebooks between weeks, but such things are relegated to daydreams. Instead, as best as she could, Alicia tried to transcribe the three blueprints and four variations she had created, but there were plenty of gaps and holes that had to be worked out later.
When Alicia was done, it was already time to go wake Cyg. She placed her handmade map into her apron pocket and went down the stairs to find Merry finishing up breakfast, and after exchanging greetings, the witch asked, “Got lost in a book this morning? You're down here a bit later than usual.”
With an awkward laugh, the apprentice replied, “Well, you know how it is,” before entering the thief's room. She grabbed his arm and woke with a quiet “Good morning”, and after he'd opened his eyes and gotten up, Alicia loudly mentioned, “We're going to check out a portion of the forest today—I think there's a faerie nearby.”
Cyg's eyes opened wide in surprise, then narrowed into an interrogative glare.
Merry, outside of the room, answered, “It'd be good for Cyg to start moving around too, so bring him along. Oh, and take Bassy with you; you never know what could be waiting for you.”
Alicia motioned to Cyg with a hand, as if telling him Merry's reply served as a self-evident answer.
“Good morning,” the thief began as he walked out, still half-annoyed. “I'll happily go, but are faeries dangerous?”
And while plating, Merry answered, “They're varying as any mage but with the moral compass of a toddler. Really, consider it a roll of the dice.”
“...Oh.” Suddenly, Cyg found the idea of being escorted by a basilisk a lot more appealing.
When they finished eating and it was time to leave, the thief followed Alicia out the back of the house where Bassy was basking in the sun. It got onto all four legs after noticing them and walked on over, and the thief could not help but wonder how he could possibly go through this without ever thinking of the murder plot. The one that involved finding a way to kill Bassy, the creature that's listening to those words at that very moment.
Cyg just pursed his lips as he was treated to a first-hand experience of a life-or-death ironic rebound, but the basilisk didn't snarl or threaten to bite off his head. Instead, it tapped the top of the thief's head with its jaw, as if patting him.
“It seems Bassy is used to intrusive thoughts,” Alicia, who pieced together what had happened, reassured him while holding back a grin, “What a clever, magnanimous girl.”
“...I see,” he mumbled.
The basilisk then laid down next to Alicia, leaning over slightly. “Are you telling me to climb onto you?” the apprentice asked. Her question was met with a thump of a tail, and Alicia obliged with a bit of effort, settling herself at the center of its back, “Aww, thank you Bassy.” Without further ado, the basilisk began to venture off, following directions relayed mentally. “Let's see if I remember where it is.”
And Cyg, momentarily stunned at the strange sight, soon followed after in awkward, uncomfortable silence.