“Alright, Mila, we have some work to do!” Glyn yells out as the three return to the manor. “First, we’ll need to plan out how we’re going to tackle each of the cursed spots. I say we take care of that forest first.”

“Um, what about the manor?” Mila asks.

“What about it?”

Mila points to the dilapidated building as parts of the roof slide off. “Are we going to use this place as our home?”

“It’s the best place. It’s away from the village, so if enemies attack, they don’t have a reason to go after the civilians. And it’s a completely defensible position.”

“Oh, you were thinking about the war.”

“Duh. I don’t know how long it’ll take to beat who I wanna takedown. So, I might need you for the long-haul Mila.”

Mila nods. “You can count on me. Although I don’t think there’s much I can do on my own.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll work on that.”

Miller looks around and stares at Glyn. “It’s a solid plan so far. But are you going to make it work with just the two of you?”

Glyn turns towards Miller. “Oh, right, I forgot you were here.”

“You forgot!”

“Yeah. I kind of considered you and Mila a package deal. But if you don’t want to be around, you can leave.” Glyn says, walking into the building.

Mila smiles. “Brother, I’ll be safe. You don’t have to watch over me like you used to.”

Mila chases behind Glyn and in a flash, Miller’s mind goes back. He sees the young Mila with a wide smile on her face. Instinctively, he reaches forward and grabs onto Mila’s hand with a look of determination on his face.

“Brother?”

“Mila. How do you plan to do anything on your own when you’re such a crybaby?”

Mila blushes. “Brother!? I’m not a crybaby. I’ll have you know I haven’t cried in over a month. Ask Granny!”

“Well, you still get lost all the time. I had to take you by the hand so many times, so we wouldn’t be late for meetings.”

“I wasn’t allowed to leave the house/”

“That works the first time you’re late. Not the tenth time!”

Mila glares at Miller as he folds his arms and turns to Glyn. “I think my sister would be too much of a handful on her own. She needs a little guidance.”

“You kind of have a point.”

Mila turns to Glyn as her tail points up. “Don’t agree with him!”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Let me join your little war game. I’ll work hard to keep Mila and you safe from any danger.”

Glyn smiles. “Well, you're not the finest. But you’re a pretty strong dude. Are you sure?”

“Of course. I have to watch over Mila.”

“Even more than the island?”

“Yes. Fight for the things that you love above all else. And I do love the island. It’s my home. But I love my precious little sister more.”

Mila stares at Miller. “Brother.”

“Besides. I’m still worried about her nightly accidents.”

Mila grabs hold of Miller and shakes him. “How could you say something like that? I haven’t done anything like that in years!”

“Calm down. I do talk to Grampa, you know.”

Glyn smirks. “Alright then.” He holds out his hand and calls a chess piece to his hand. “Just hold out your hand and let’s form the contract.”

“Yes please,” Miller says.

A chess piece comes into Glyn’s hand as he moves it towards Miller. The piece merges into Miller’s hand as a mark forms across his palm. Miller looks down at the mark and then turns toward Mila.

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“I promise to work hard as your knight.”

“Knight no way,” Glyn says. “I used a pawn piece on you.”

“A pawn?” The siblings ask.

“Oh, neither of you know. The pawn pieces are the lowest rank of pieces.”

“Huh?” They ask in unison.

“I can’t afford to use my most powerful pieces so fervently.”

Miller shakes his head. “Well, I’ll just have to grow stronger on….” As Miller clenches his fist, a fire forms around his fingertips. “What is this?”

“Another feature of the pawn pieces. They can tap into the power of the higher pieces. In this case, you’re taping into Mila’s flames.”

Mila stares at the fire in Miller’s hand. “My flames?”

“Does that mean…”

“Yup. Even if her powers rage out of control, I’ll be counting on you to siphon off as much of the flames as you can. Understand?”

Miller bows. “Of course. I’ll protect Mila with my life. Oh, and I’ll work hard for you too.”

“Don’t force yourself. Just do your big brother thing and I’ll come up with the plans.” Glyn smiles. “And the first order of business is dealing with that forest. With the two of you, it should be a snap.”

“Are you sure this is a good time? The sun’s setting.” Mila says.

“It’s perfect. Remember ghosts and such only show up at night. So, we should hurry up and get out there!”

“Well, might as well. Besides, the sooner we clear it as soon as possible, the sooner we will have established ourselves.”

Glyn smirks. “Right, so Mila let’s go!”

“Okay fine. But I think this is a bad idea.”

The three prepare their equipment in the manor and as the moon rises into the sky, they take off. Rushing to the forest, they are met with the still unmoving forest. The surrounding trees long withered away and only patches of grass along the ground. Glyn grips his book as he looks around, noticing the large hollowed-out tree in the middle of the unnatural clearing.

“So, what happened here?” Glyn asks.

“Not sure. Either it was an execution ground, or something else.” Miller says.

Mila hides behind Miller. “Either way, this place feels creepy. I hated coming here the first time and I hate it more coming here again!”

“Don’t worry. Those bird monsters should be gone at least so now we just have….” Glyn pauses as she sees something moving underneath the earth. “To deal with the wretched curse of this place.”

Miller grips his sword. “Plan?”

“Distract the monster and I’ll get to work on the sigil. We’ll need a lot of mana for the banishing spell, but we can count on Mila for that.”

Mila sighs as she stands next to Glyn. “Don’t get hurt Brother!”

“Trust me. I can do this at the very least.” He unsheathes his sword as the blade around the hilt pierces his hand.

A figure emerges from the ground, a frail-looking thin white monster. The creature’s long claws reach out into the air as it howls with its oddly shaped mouth at Miller. Miller charges in with fire sparking around his limbs as he swings the sword, cutting into the apparition.

“No blood. Figures.” He says, landing on the other side of it. “But enchanted weapons work on your sort either way.”

The creature roars out and focuses on Miller.

“Mila now!” Glyn yells as he grabs Mila’s hand.

Mila nods, refusing to take her eyes off Miller as he continues the fight.

After a few moments, Mila slams her hand down on the makeshift magic circle Glyn formed. A blast of light envelops the area and encompasses everyone. As the light fades, Miller approaches the two, with Mila running to his side. She throws herself onto him, wrapping her arms around him.

“You’re not hurt, right!?” She yells out.

Miller nods. “I’m fine.”

“No creepy spirit injuries, right!?”

“I’m fine,” Miller smirks. “Since when were you this worried about me?”

“I was always worried when you went out to fight. I just didn’t want you to, so I didn’t let you see me worry.”

“And I can now.”

“I can’t help it!”

Miller pats her head. “Calm down. Your big brother’s fine.”

“You two are cute together,” Glyn says, examining the area. “It looks like that did it. Good work team. Who’s ready to tackle another one?”

“What?!” Mila yells.

“There are eight cursed grounds, including this place and the manor. We have to take on several in a single night if we want to deal with them effectively.” Miller says.

Mila shakes her head. “That’s no good. You’ll exhaust yourself at this rate!”

“Not to mention your Mana supply.”

“And my own isn’t up to snuff in all honesty. We’ll have to look for allies faster than I would’ve liked.”

“Considering Mila’s status, that’s going to be hard.” Miller thinks on the subject. “It might take a while, but I could ask some people from the Defense Force. My unit was pretty close.”

“Good. Get seven more and then we’ll be able to tackle more. Until then, how do you feel about handling one more?”

“Bad!” Mila yells.

“Fine. We’ll leave it with the six remaining ones for now. Let’s go back to the manor and rest. I guess we’ll have to assign rooms and such now.” Glyn says with a smile on his face. “If we spruce it up enough, it can be just like home.”

“I think it’ll take more than a little work,” Mila says.

Miller smiles. “Don’t worry, we can take it a step at a time. For now, let’s focus on one thing at a time.”