After we left the scene of the previous battle, Kahli and I gathered our tents that had been knocked aside when we rushed out to help Mander. At first, she seemed to have some difficulty forcing herself to gather up Mander’s belongings. However, after I attempted to help her, she shook her head and insisted that she do it herself.

From there, we decided to head back towards the Hunter’s Guild. Right now, there was no certainty that the Mad Monk would still be targeting this city, so we had to perform another tracking. More importantly… there was something else that I needed to take care of.

“Are you able to keep hunting?” I asked Kahli as we were walking back towards the town. With our energy low, we weren’t able to rush as we had before, so this was the best time for us to talk.

“W-what do you mean?” Kahli looked over to me after my question, and I thought I saw a bit of fear in her eyes.

“You know what I mean. Something like this can ruin a bard. I need to know that you will be able to still hunt if we meet him again.” There had been several bards who had completely lost their ability to find their inspiration after suffering a mental trauma, after all.

“I… I can do it. Please, let me do this.” She held the quest scroll with Mander’s body close to her chest as she pleaded. “I won’t hold you back.”

I could only sigh, nodding my head slightly. “Alright. But, if you can’t sing later, I’ll need to leave you in town while I hunt. I can’t have you getting killed because you lost your powers.”

Her eyes widened slightly at that. “N-no, I’ll sing. Don’t leave me behind…” One of her small hands reached out to grab the end of my sleeve, as if worried that I might disappear at any moment.

Looks like she was hit pretty hard. I glanced towards her desperate expression, shaking my head. “Just don’t get yourself killed.”

Kahli meekly nodded her head when she heard that, choosing to silently follow along next to me until we reached the Hunter’s Guild. When we arrived, I had her wait in the reception area while I went back to conduct the tracking. By the time I returned, I found Kahli sitting on a stone bench along the wall of the lobby. In her hands was a clay cup filled with tea. Judging by the steam still billowing upwards slowly, it had only recently been brewed.

I gave a nod to the female receptionist, who simply returned it with an understanding smile as I approached Kahli. “He’s on the move, it looks like.”

Kahli’s body jerked when she heard my voice, and she gradually looked up at me. Her eyes, at first vacant and lost, slowly became more determined as she processed what I said. “Where?”

“The tracking is pointing further west. My best guess is that he’s slowly making his way to the coast, and plans to hide out in Rokindrol now that he knows we’re on his trail.” I shrugged my shoulders as I made the guess. There wasn’t much to back up the claim, but if it were me that would be the best place to hide.

She gave a brief nod, setting the steaming cup down next to her. “When are we leaving?” Her voice was eerily calm, as if something inside of her had died with Mander. Hopefully, it wouldn’t stop her once a fight broke out.

“The next city is only a few hour’s ride from here, so it would be faster to go by wagon than to wait for a gate.” I purposely said that part louder, glancing to the receptionist. She gave another nod of her head, and moved to walk out of the room to prepare a wagon.

Looking back to Kahli, I saw her staring up at me. “I won’t hold you back, Theol…” She said once again, though I felt like she was more saying it for her own sake.

“Good. I’ll be making sure of that before we get to our next stop.” Her eyes suddenly had a worried look to them when she heard that. “I need to know that you haven’t lost your song. If you can still use your abilities, I’ll have no problem keeping you with me.”

Honestly, that wasn’t exactly true. I was tempted to make her go back home and retire, now that her partner was dead. However, there were two reasons why I chose not to do such. First and foremost, her mental state. If I attempted to abandon her here and send her back home, I did not doubt that she would simply follow me on her own, no matter how I tried to stop her.

The second reason was that I was not entirely confident in my own abilities to take out the Mad Monk, after seeing how quickly he was able to dispatch with Mander. As an experienced hunter, I knew that his level should have been near the pinnacle, if not already at it, and yet he was killed as soon as he was able to act. My abilities might be different from his, but I still wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle the Mad Monk’s mysterious speed and strength.

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However, if I add in the boost from Kahli, that concern lessens considerably. A bard’s song would be able to turn the tide of our battle, as long as she was able to do her job. If she truly couldn’t sing, though, I would have no choice but to leave her behind, for her safety as well as my own.

Kahli nodded weakly when she heard my condition, and closed her eyes. She didn’t open them again until the receptionist had returned, letting us know that a wagon had been prepared. Even then, she only kept her eyes open long enough to climb onto the wagon with me, before closing them again.

“Would you mind driving..?” She softly asked as I sat down. “I… want to focus.”

I nodded my head slightly, and the wagon began moving beneath us. It was clear that she wanted to do everything she could to clear her mind, and make sure that she was able to do what she needed to do. Right now, the pressure must have been heavy for her, knowing that whether or not she could sing would determine whether she would be able to help get revenge for her partner.

Like that, the two of us left through the western gate, moving off towards Halen. Even at a generous estimate, it would take a couple of weeks to make it all the way to the coast, unless we got lucky with the gates. Given that we’d have to stop at each city to repeat the tracking on the Mad Monk, we couldn’t simply rush straight to Rokindrol.

While moving along the road, I kept my eyes peeled for any monsters lurking in the distance. This time it wasn’t so that I could avoid them, but rather so that I could purposely encounter them. After all, it would be much safer to test Kahli’s abilities with a monster partner, rather than someone who could intentionally target her.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the public safety of this area was fairly decent, so there weren’t any powerful monsters between the two cities. Instead, I had to take the wagon off of the road for a short distance. Finally, I was able to find something that would suit my needs.

A large, horse-like creature with two curved horns atop its head. We called it the bicorn, and it was known for wielding lightning and ice magic. Its size was a full three meters tall, and its fur was a dark blue. They were known to be fairly docile unless provoked, so it was no surprise that one of them managed to be left alive this close to the cities.

“There we go.” I said with a smile, hopping up off the wagon. Kahli finally opened her eyes, having kept them closed this entire time to focus.

“We’re… fighting that?” She asked, confused. “Couldn’t you defeat one of those on your own, without needing my help?”

I nodded my head slightly, not disagreeing with her assessment. “I could, but that’s the point. If you can’t sing, then I still need to at least be able to protect myself. I won’t be as arrogant as to challenge a monster that is too strong for me alone just to wind up dead if you can’t do your part.”

She flinched slightly when she heard my words, but I continued. “Now, at first I will only draw its attention and avoid receiving damage. I’ll give you five minutes to start singing before I kill it. If you can’t manage it in that time, then there is no way you’d be able to survive a real battle.”

She nodded her head meekly when she heard that, but wasn’t able to argue. After all, the entire battle between the Mad Monk and Mander hadn’t even lasted that long. If she really wasn’t able to use her power within five minutes, then she might as well not even be in the fight in the first place. “I’ll do it.”

“Good. Let’s take care of this, first.” I said as I pulled out my badge, causing a wall of stone to surround the wagon. “Don’t want a stray bolt wrecking it, after all.”

Kahli nodded her head again, and then followed me as we proceeded towards the bicorn. She stopped roughly twenty meters away, while I moved until I was only ten away from it. I glanced back at her, and nodded, before turning towards the bicorn in front of me. “Spark.” I called out, casting a low level lightning spell.

As the formation for the magic formed in my mind, a strand of lightning arced out from my hand, snapping against the bicorn. I knew that they had resistance to lightning, so this was the easiest way to get its attention without actually damaging it. And sure enough, the previously grazing beast lifted its head up as soon as the spark struck it.

At first, I wasn’t sure if it was going to take the bait, but the lower of its two horns began glowing. Another bolt of lightning, quite a bit thicker than the one I had shout out, launched itself at me. Given that I was anticipating an attack like that, it wasn’t hard for me to jump away with the help of my ki. “Come on, you big beast, let’s see if you can keep up with me.” I taunted, firing another spark spell at its head.

Naturally, it wasn’t capable of understanding my words, but the spell was more than enough to keep its attention focused on me. Looking back, I was able to see that Kahli had once again closed her eyes. Her hands were pressed over her petite chest as she took several deep breaths. Part of me considered taking one of this monster’s attacks on purpose in order to stimulate her, but that was nothing more than a foolish idea.

The seconds ticked by as I continued running circles around the bicorn, the two of us firing streams of lightning at each other. By now, the bar of life had appeared above its head, showing that I had done a little bit of true damage to it. On the other hand, I had managed to avoid all of its attacks, leaving my own health bar invisible.

“Hmmm hmmm…” A faint hum gradually entered my ears as I was engaging with the bicorn, causing a smile to form on my lips. It wasn’t a song, but it was good enough for now. Even a bard’s humming was able to bring about an effect, as long as it was from the heart. And looking back at how a faint golden light was being emitted from Kahli’s body, and how my mana and ki were slowly filling back up, it seemed that she hadn’t lost all of her powers after all.

“Good.” I said quietly, getting ready to seriously end this with the next spell. However, I paused briefly when a small voice came from behind me.

“I will fight.” The voice was undoubtedly Kahli’s, and when I looked back I could see her eyes opened, her normally blue pupils a glowing gold.