Alistair moved away from the battlefield with quick, purposeful strides. He kept his pace brisk, the tension from the fight still fresh in his muscles. After some time, he veered off the main path and disappeared into the woods. He continued walking until the path was no longer visible, then stopped to survey his surroundings.

Once he was satisfied that he was alone, he began removing the black leather armor piece by piece.

“Ameera, can you check if Kotan put... something strange on this armor?” he asked, holding it up for inspection.

-No, there’s nothing like that. I checked the first time you wore it.- came Ameera’s voice, soft and certain.

“Hm. What a waste,” Alistair muttered, running his fingers over the leather. “I suppose I could sell it. Should fetch a decent price.”

“You’re going to sell it? Isn’t that risky? There are people searching for whoever’s wearing this armor,” Ameera pointed out.

“I don’t have to sell it here. I can sell it in another town—or a city.”

-Meera left you with coins, no? It’s not like you’re lacking.-

“Ho ho ho, my dear child. Let me tell you something: there’s no such thing as too much money.”

-… You’d make a good merchant.-

“I was a merchant, you know.” Alistair carefully folded his gambeson and placed it aside before rummaging through his inventory. He pulled out an old leather armor, probably something one of the other admins had thrown into the magic bag in a hurry. The sight of it made him scowl. After a long sigh, he began putting it on.

-You were a merchant? I don’t have any information about that. When was this?-

“A long time ago. Before Aenduil.”

-Before you came to Aenduil?-

“Before the kingdom was founded.”

-… I sometimes forget how old you are.-

“I am ancient. But let’s agree that between the two of us, I have a better grasp on matters of coin and stewardship.” He took out a black cloak with a hood and a piece of black cloth from the bag. “Lucky everything’s black.”

-You know what? I’ll let you handle our fiscal responsibility.-

“The what now?”

Ameera didn’t answer, but he could feel her smirk.

Alistair draped the cloak over his armor, fastening it securely, and wrapped the black cloth around his lower face. He then pulled the hood low to obscure most of his features. From his inventory, he retrieved a knife and placed it at his hip. The cloak concealed the weapon, but it would be easy to notice when he moved.

“Hm. Close enough. Too bad there isn’t a bow in the bag—I could be more convincing with that.”

-You could’ve taken the guy’s bow,- Ameera remarked.

“No. I can’t risk carrying something his friends might recognize. This will do.”

-But you had no problem taking their coins,- Ameera reminded him, her tone wry.

“I consider it the spoils of war. Besides, there’s no such thing as too—”

-—Much money. Yes, you’ve said that already.-

“And I’ll say it again and again. Because it’s true.”

-Fine. Now, would you please tell me what the plan is?-

“Oh, and we need to come up with secret signals,” Alistair said suddenly.

-What?-

“Well, when we’re in town or around people, it’s not like I can talk to you freely. We need to agree on some hand gestures you can sense. For example, if I want you to check certain items for... anything strange, I don’t have to speak out loud.”

-There’s no need for that.-

“Of course there is. And it’s not just—” Alistair’s words trailed off as a wave of information suddenly surged through his mind. After a moment, he cocked his head to the side.

+I can actually talk to you without speaking?+

-Of course. Our souls are connected; it doesn’t take much effort to interact like this.-

+This is so much better. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?+

-…-

+Ameera?+

-I prefer hearing your voice out loud.-

+…+

-It feels like having a real conversation when you talk out loud.-

Alistair could sense a faint hint of sadness and frustration in her response.

“Alright then,” he said after a pause. “I guess we’ll use this when there’s no one else around.”

As Alistair reached the road again, he turned and began walking along it. The afternoon light stretched shadows across the path, and after a while, Ameera spoke again.

-Thanks.-

“It’s fine. Look, we can already see the town,” Alistair said, pointing toward a bustling little settlement in the distance. “We should reach it before nightfall.”

____________________________________

Lordton was a small town near the border between Crilia and Aenduil. Although the latest war had officially ended, the tension among its people lingered.

Many of the town’s young men had joined the war, unknowingly, but not all of them returned. Those who did brought back only memories of trauma.

The town was protected by a 6-meter-tall wooden wall, with just two entry points. Each gate was guarded by town soldiers.

At the northern gate, two soldiers were on duty—or more accurately, lounging. They had dragged out a table and a pair of chairs to sit on. Resting on the table was a greenish crystal ball mounted on a pedestal.

The soldiers leaned back in their chairs, looking bored. Traffic through the gate had been slow ever since the war ended in defeat. Few people ventured out, and even the usual merchants avoided the border town.

One of the soldiers sat up and narrowed his eyes, straining to see something in the distance.

“Someone’s coming,” he said to his companion.

“Hmm?” The other guard, who had been on the verge of falling asleep, raised his head and squinted ahead.

A lone figure was approaching the town. Though still far off, it was clear the person was traveling alone.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“What do you think? A merchant?” the first soldier asked.

“I don’t see any horse or bag. Maybe a hunter?” the second replied.

“Nah, there’s nothing to hunt up there. Can’t be a gatherer either—no bag.”

They fell silent after that, deciding to wait for the visitor rather than make further guesses.

When the visitor came close enough, the soldiers finally got a clear look at his attire.

“Yeah, that’s no villager or merchant,” one of the soldiers said, noticing the visitor wore leather armor beneath his cloak.

“Yup. Play this right, we might get something out of this,” the other soldier replied.

They both stood up from their chairs and grabbed their spears, positioning themselves in front of the open gate.

As the visitor approached, the crystal ball on the table began to glow. A faint green smoke started to rise from the visitor’s body, drifting toward and into the crystal ball.

Noticing this, one of the soldiers raised his hand and yelled, “Halt!”

The visitor stopped in front of them, his eyes scanning the two soldiers before flicking to the glowing crystal ball on the table.

“Welcome to Lordton, traveler. This is just a simple gate check. We need to verify you before—”

Before the soldier could finish, the visitor removed his right glove and placed his hand on the crystal ball. A moment later, a green window floated above it.

Name: Ronan

That was the only thing written on the green window. Unlike the blue windows, which could only be seen by the awakened they corresponded to, the green window was visible to everyone.

One of the soldiers pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. It contained a list of names, and he began comparing the name displayed on the green window with the names on the list. After confirming it wasn’t a match, he jotted the name down on the back of the paper.

After a moment, he nodded to the other soldier, who turned to address the visitor.

“Excuse me, sir. We need you to remove your hood and mask,” the guard said.

“Why?” The visitor’s voice was low and calm, his first words of the encounter.

“We need to make sure you’re not here to cause trouble in town,” the soldier replied.

“And? Is my name on that list?” the visitor asked, gesturing toward the paper in the other soldier’s hand.

“Well, no, sir. But we can’t just let any awakened walk into the town unchecked.”

“Oi. What. Do. You. Think. This. Is. For.” The visitor’s tone sharpened as he enunciated each word, tapping the crystal ball with a drawn knife.

Both soldiers flinched in surprise. The visitor was now holding the knife in the same hand he’d used to gesture at the paper. Neither of them had seen him draw it.

“Tell me something, boy.” The visitor stepped closer to the guard he was speaking to, his voice dropping into a dangerous register. “Is it worth it? Do I need to make you the reason my name ends up on that list?”

The guard was now sweating. The only part of the visitor’s face he could see were the eyes, and those eyes told him everything he needed to know—they were deadly serious. He was seconds away from having his throat slit. Sure, he and his partner had emergency whistles to summon reinforcements, but what good would that do him if he were already dead? The visitor was right—it wasn’t worth it.

“I… I’m sorry, sir. I… I don’t know what came over me. Yes, of course, you can enter,” the guard stammered, lowering his head.

“Good,” the visitor replied smoothly. “I knew you didn’t mean it that way.” He patted the man’s shoulder with his right hand—the same hand that had held a knife moments ago. The gesture only made the guards even more uneasy.

“Any fee to enter the town?” the visitor asked, his tone now casual.

“Fi—no, three coppers, sir,” the guard with the paper blurted.

“Hmm.” The visitor stepped past the guard in front of him, pushing him lightly to the side as he headed toward the gate. On his way, he placed three copper coins on the table with the same hand, as if he’d been palming them the entire time.

Without another word, the visitor walked through the gate and into the town. A moment later, the lead guard collapsed onto his rear, his face pale and drained of color.

“Did… did you get the name?” he asked his partner weakly.

“Yeah, I wrote it down,” the other guard replied, a note of pity in his voice as he looked at his shaken comrade.

“Yeah… good. Go check it. I’ll… I’ll stay here,” the lead guard muttered, making no attempt to get back on his feet.

The other guard hesitated for a moment before turning and walking into the town.

____________________________________

-What was that?– Ameera finally asked after Alistair was far enough from the guards.

“Which part?” Alistair replied, his voice low, almost a whisper.

-Everything. What was the deal with the green crystal ball? The moment you stepped into its range, it started siphoning a minuscule amount of mana.-

“It’s an identification ball. Like you mentioned, it reacts to the mana of awakened—initialized—ones.”

-Players. We usually called them players. Initialization is the process of awakening.-

“Right. The ball is used to identify players. Any town with a gate check like that would have one.”

-Yeah, I figured that much from the name. But I was wondering how the hell it works—it generated a system window.-

“The identification ball is one of the specialized items the church sells. I don’t know how it works; nobody does. And I’m pretty sure most of the people in the church don’t know either.”

-Okay, that makes more sense. If it’s the church, it’s probably connected to the ruling admin. I noticed it displayed your alias.-

“Exactly. The ball is used to extract information, but the user has limited control over what gets displayed. They can reveal everything, or, as most people do, they can give the bare minimum—just a name.”

-Is that why you were so pleased when you figured out you could put any name as your alias?-

“Precisely. Aliases aren’t supposed to differ much from your full name, or at least they’re supposed to be some derivation. Being able to use completely different names gives me an extra identity.”

-He checked your name against a list?-

“That would be the list of criminal players in the area. If necessary, they usually have a longer list with names of criminals from across the kingdom. They keep that at their base, and I assume that’s where the other guard is going now. He’s probably already comparing my name.”

-Why did you act so hostile back there?-

“I had to. I know those types. If I let them, they would’ve tried to squeeze more coins out of us. You noticed how he dropped from five coppers to three? He probably planned to charge ten originally.”

-Wait… what?-

“Yup, useless bums. They’re probably also a menace to the local populace.”

-That was… to save between two and seven copper coins? I thought we had enough coins?-

“Hmm? Oh, we do. We have more than enough to cover their extra charge. But I’m not about to give those parasites even a single extra coin.”

-How… how much is seven copper coins worth? I mean, what could you get with that amount?-

“Let’s see… you could probably get a decent meal for around five coppers.”

-Okay. Let me get this straight.-

Alistair stopped in his tracks. Ameera’s last sentence was tight, restrained. He could feel her frustration mounting, her tone edged with upset.

-You deliberately antagonized—what I can only assume is—a representative of the authoritative entity in this place, all to save an amount of money that couldn’t even buy a decent meal for both of them.-

“Well, if you put it—”

-AND!– Ameera cut him off sharply. -We actually have more than enough money to cover that extra cost. But because your cheap ass is so obsessed with our fiscal independence, you’re perfectly fine with inviting more problems, RIGHT?!-

“…You’ve used that word twice now. Fiscal means money or wealth, right?”

-ARE YOU STUPID?!-

“Oi, that’s a bit much, don’t you think? You’re overreacting. Those two guards won’t cause any problems.”

-God damn it, Alistair! Do you even realize what you are now? You were the strongest man alive in this world. You were the head of, probably, the strongest and most influential family in existence. And I’m pretty sure you had the backing of an entire kingdom.-

She didn’t let up, her words coming faster now, heated and raw.

-But guess what? You’re not any of that anymore! Sure, you’re strong—for your level—but if that guard had called for backup and they had a master with them, what would’ve happened? We’d be dead! You need to stop relying on your instinct to face problems head-on, forcefully.-

She paused, her anger cresting before her next words hit with bitter finality.

-There’s no one who can help us. It’s just the two of us. That goddamned Meera left you! The other champions have admins ready to assist them, but we don’t even have that!-

While Ameera poured her heart into her rant, Alistair had already moved into a nearby alleyway. Leaning against the wall, he listened in silence.

-Am I wrong?! Do you actually have a more profound reasoning for acting like this?-

“No… you’re right,” Alistair said after a pause.

-I… wait, what?-

“You’re right. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have done that.” Alistair slowly slumped to the ground, his voice quieter now.

“I… I’ve always been like this. I try to think things through, sometimes even overthink. But when I’m in the field, I act impulsively. If I see something I don’t like, I confront it head-on.

“This has caused me problems more times than I can count. Luckily, I usually had someone with me—someone to remind me, hold me back, act as my scabbard. The last person to do that for me was Albert.”

-Your grandnephew?-

“My son.”

-Oh.-

“Yeah… the kid always knew what to say and when to say it. But now, I have you, and honestly, I’m glad it’s you. I hope you’ll remind me if I’m about to do something stupid again.”

-…Of course.-

Alistair stood up, taking a few deep breaths before glancing back toward the main street. “It’s getting late. We should probably find an inn. We can look for transportation tomorrow.”

-Yeah…-

Alistair started walking along the main road. The fading light bathed the street in soft hues, and shadows stretched across the path. After a while, Ameera spoke again.

-Hey, do you remember those guards’ faces when you pulled that knife in and out of your inventory?-

A grin spread across Alistair’s face. “Ha ha ha, yeah. Oh, I’ve still got a few tricks I haven’t tried yet.”

-Tricks? Like what?- Ameera asked, her curiosity piqued.

“You’ll see,” Alistair replied with a chuckle, his tone playful.

The two continued their banter, their voices growing softer as they walked into the dimming horizon. Alistair’s mood lightened, and so did Ameera’s. The night fell, wrapping them in its quiet embrace. That day, the two of them had learned how to truly speak to one another.