"We meet again, Young Master Woodime. I didn’t know that you would be here as well, but I hope we can get along during our stay."

Alice returned Caine’s greeting with a curtsy but didn’t finish it off by offering her hand for a kiss. She heard the sound of hooves from behind her and saw Caine’s eyes glide past her, her own gaze narrowing. She really hadn’t expected Caine to be here, she would have hidden Gabriel better if she did. Caine hadn’t warned her as Abigail did, but what if he knew whatever she did?

"Those must be your escorts. I’ll stop blocking the path, it must be a bit too cold to linger around here."

Luckily, Caine only let his gaze slide over the entourage for a moment before he stepped aside so that they could make their way towards the mansion. Alice could see some people scurry about around the entrance of the mansion, occasionally casting their gazes towards them, Caine to be specific. They were probably his attendants, each one scurrying to get dressed so that they could follow him.

"That sounds good, I don’t think my maid would be able to handle the chill for much longer. Shall we stop by the chapel first?"

Alice stretched her arm to the side as she spoke, Gabriel arriving at her side to escort her. Servants from the Barong estate were already working on bringing away the horses and carriages so that Alice’s entire entourage could follow her. This was evidently standard fare for Arioch, who took the lead with Caine in heading for the estate.

"That’s probably for the best, I don’t want to think about the sermons I will have to endure if I completely ignore tradition."

To be more specific, they were heading for a building that was slightly separated from the mansion, a large temple made from the same white and sky-blue stones as the chapels in the capital. This meeting to foster good relations was a tradition, and offering thanks to the gods for the chance to make such relations was another tradition.

As they walked, Gabriel observed Caine, who was chatting with Arioch. He only saw him one other time after the day his mana affinities were revealed, and that too was through a projection. The original male lead of the story, a man who came here through a World Fissure and ended up settling here to protect the empire and the Crown Princess. He was a good man. He didn’t always make the right choices in the show, nor did he always make the best choices, but he always tried his best for the peaceful future he wanted.

And standing next to Gabriel was Alice, the little villainess who would fall in love with him at first sight and continue to pursue him until it drove her to madness. He glanced sideways to check on her, but she wasn’t even looking at Caine. He observed her eyes, her body language. Thanks to their life together, he was confident in being able to read her, and he had seen it enough times in the show to know how she would look at Caine when her one-sided love overflowed.

But there was nothing. Even when her eyes occasionally swept over the spot where he was standing, it was as if Caine didn’t exist to her. Perhaps he should have expected it. She didn’t grow up to be the same girl that she was in the show so it was only to be expected that other things about her would change, like preferences and values.

That was originally what he set out to achieve, so parts of him had considered the possibility that she wouldn’t form any ties with Caine in this life. But to actually see it…

"Something good happen?"

Alice’s voice came from the side and drew him out of his thoughts. She was looking directly at him, his own face reflected in her eyes, a crimson hue shrouding his entire body thanks to her irises. It was a rather sudden question that he didn’t quite understand so he could only tilt his head as she explained it a bit clearer.

"You looked relieved. Something good happen?"

Relieved? He studied his own reflection and saw that indeed, the corners of his lips had turned up ever so slightly. He touched them just to be sure, but yeah, he was seeing things correctly.

"Yeah, I guess I was feeling a bit relieved. How strange."

What a peculiar sensation. Relieved. It was an emotion he wasn’t all that familiar with. He simply worked, he acted and he moved, when a job went wrong it was all about fixing it, when a job went right it was just expected.

Relieved. It was a new experience. It wasn’t bad.

——

"Our chapel is a bit simpler than most, but if the gods were the kind of beings to care about something like that then I’m sure they would have piped up long ago."

Arioch gestured broadly after they stepped into the chapel, which truly was ‘simpler’ than most. There were no benches for worshippers, no pulpit, no lectern. It was just one large open room with several circular fountains, a statue of a different god etched atop each one.

Orobas, Tyvar, Hakoten, Kaisel, Kardur, Yvernus, Akarash.

There was one statue for each of the major gods that this world worshipped, each one standing for a different element or act. Well, Akarash was a bit out of place since he was already dea… Hadn’t been worshipped in quite a while, but it was probably just because the chapel was old.

The people in the entourage spread out so that they could gather around the fountains of their respective gods, or at least the god closest to the one they worshipped. Alice only followed Arioch over to the statue for Orobas, a serpent coiling around the sun. It wasn’t exactly the god she worshipped, it was just polite to follow the host if you weren’t going to offer any prayers of your own.

"No one to offer your prayers to?"

As Gabriel was standing there, someone else came up to him. His gaze landed on Caine, who was looking at the statues in order but didn’t seem to attach any importance to any one of them in particular.

"I’m afraid not, Young Master Woodime. I’ve never found myself to be a very spiritual man."

He offered a polite bow and a suitable excuse. Gods were very much a thing in this world, there were even times they descended and walked amongst mankind. But Gabriel didn’t see them as something worthy of prayers.

"You can just call me Caine. You’ve probably already heard, but I came here from a World Fissure so I’m not used to all that exaggerated politeness. So I’d much prefer it if you could talk more casually."

Caine’s hand landed on Gabriel’s shoulder, his other hand somewhat awkwardly scratching his cheek. In the original story, Caine came from earth, whether or not it was the same earth Gabriel came from he didn’t yet know. But even in the show he had a hard time adjusting to the polite and reverential way people treated nobles in this world.

"Alright. So what about you? Not interested in any of the gods in this world?"

If he didn’t have to display needless politeness then Gabriel wouldn’t be shy about accepting the proposition, reversing the topic while he was at it. Caine allowed his gaze to sweep across the statues for a moment, lingering on some of them for a moment before he shook his head.

"I just don’t think they’re beings we need to worship. We give them a prayer here and there and they give us magic or miracles fuelled by those things. We give, they give. I’d much rather we look at each other as equal partners."

Equals. If most people in this world heard that assessment then they would undoubtedly consider Caine to be beyond arrogant. Hell, if he said it in the Yverial Empire then they would just burn him for his blasphemy.

"Ah, you can keep those words a secret between us, I already have enough people on my ass about ‘arrogance’."

Caine was evidently quite clear about this world’s stance to that kind of thoughts so he quickly covered his bases. There was a bit of movement from the side, the two spotting Arioch and Alice heading over now that they were finished. Caine allowed his gaze to slide back onto Gabriel, giving his shoulder a few pats.

"Seems like our time for an intimate chat is over. Probably for the best, I almost forgot what I originally came for. Later on, there’s going to be a few sparring matches between your entourage and the people of this estate, a friendly exchange to enhance each others skills. You should tell your people to be a bit careful, there haven’t been any demon attacks lately so the people of the Barong estate are getting antsy, several of the younger knights consider this a good chance to show off their overwhelming prowess. You’ve already had a long journey, wasting energy on something like that will only make you more tired."

He waved somewhat casually after he pat Gabriel’s shoulder, turning away to meet Alice and Arioch halfway. He looked down slightly as he walked away, inspecting the mark on his neck. From the looks of things, it seemed like Alice and Gabriel also weren’t able to see it.

"Alright, with that we’ve managed to get the more boring tradition out of the way."

Arioch clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention once the prayer session was over. He called this the boring event, but Gabriel found that his expression looked somewhere between annoyed and bitter so it didn’t really seem as if he was looking forward to the next tradition either.

"I would love to say that we can all split up here and go get some rest before lunch, but there’s just that one last pesky tradition left, the sparring matches. We’ll have a few more over the days or weeks you spend here so don’t worry if this first one doesn’t go too well, I’m sure you’re all tired from the last two hours of travelling."

The air around the entourage became markedly tenser after Arioch spoke about the sparring matches. Lawrence, serving as the overseer of this group, and just the overseer sadly, had an especially dark look as he swept the people that came along with a narrowed gaze.

"…"

He didn’t say anything, but Gabriel could see it on his face. The people who came along… They weren’t particularly stellar. Marion and Francis obviously wouldn’t send any of their own knights along so it was mostly youngsters that were still in training, people who had never been in fight. The ones here with the most experience would be Gabriel and Trisha, and they were only 15 and 16, it was a very pitiful group of people so it didn’t take a lot of thought to realise just how the sparring matches would end up going.

"Right… Follow me everyone."

Arioch clapped his hands again before he turned and took the lead, stepping back into the cold while everyone else followed, some more downcast than others. Gabriel was walking with Trisha and Lawrence, the family pair already discussing how to proceed. Arioch looked back at them before turning to Alice and whispering somewhat apologetically.

"I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to tell the participants to go easy and not make it too difficult for you."

Generally the party that came to visit would bring several knights of varying strength with them. That way both sides could have some even fights that would look good and wouldn’t make either side feel too bad. But this time… The people that were sent with Alice were just too weak compared to what was the norm, none of the people Arioch had picked out and prepared in the last few weeks were suitable to give them a fair fight. He could already see the outcome, but Alice simply smiled as she shot him down.

"No need. Just let them all do as they please. Really, just let them go a bit wild."

There was a slightly mischievous curve to her lips, a light spring to her steps as she walked. Arioch could swear that he could almost hear her humming. And for a moment, he got curious. What was waiting for them?