Alisson’s eyes fluttered. He couldn’t see very clearly, but he could acutely feel something. Something was wrapping around his body, like a coil or rope. Alisson felt cold hard stone against his back, and he realized he was sitting upright, his hands were restrained behind his back.

What, what happened?

Alisson racked his brain, and soon remembered the recent events; the vines, the plant monsters, and that pink mist which had seemed to knock him asleep. Alisson quietly sighed under his breath, at least he wasn’t in one of those dreams, he’d thought the worst when Alisson realized he was bound.

Alisson could clearly feel the sun beating upon his face however, and the distant chirping of birds and the rustling of the wind; he was outside to be sure.

Alisson’s eyes finally cleared from the murkiness of unconsciousness, and he opened wide, anxious to see where he was, and where Celis was. What filled his view however, terrifyingly close, was a beaming face.

“Morning sleepy head!”

Alisson’s body jumped back in surprise, rubbing against the stone behind him. The face belonged to that of a child’s, upside-down and a mere inch from his own face. Her body was behind his own, she was leaning over in front of his face, she was evidently laying atop whatever stone wall Alisson was against. She wore a plain white sun-dress, it was mildly dirtied and had tears at its edges; Despite the attire, her face was immensely cleanly, porcelain, even.

The view that Alisson had beyond the girl, was one that he expected; they were outside. From the elevation, they were on top of some sort of small plateau within the forest. It was only a meter or so above the rest of the forest floor and was only a couple dozen meters in area. This was not a mound of dirt he was upon though, it seemed to be a structure, one made of numerous blocks of whitened stone that were infested with moss. Atop the plateau were a few stone pillars, they towered toward the forest canopy, which hung overhead for as far as Alisson could see. The trees here were immensely unique, the bark and leaves were all shaded various colors; and they all stood at different heights and sizes. White-barked blue leafed trees were easily the flashiest, yet they somehow managed to not seem out of place.

Roots, vines, bushes and flowers sprawled upon every surface Alisson could see. The canopy above him was thick, though it was not imposing like the forest of midnight he’d been in; it let light shine through and was very high up.

Having seen his surroundings for a brief moment, Alisson’s shaky gaze set back on to what was in front of him. Her first words had been in Firdu, so Alisson responded in such; at this point, it really was becoming his second language with how fluent he was in it.

“Speak. Who are you?”

Alisson growled. His first impressions of this mystery girl were not favorable, mostly due to her presence here being a complete unknown to him; and that Alisson was not fond of scant information. The girl in question had oddly long hair, Alisson almost mistook her for Sidonia; for he didn’t know many people with hair that passed their shoulders. But, her cataract of hair was not white as was his Lady’s, but rather an odd and highly saturated green. Alisson could only tell this due to the sun beating upon her, the highlights of her pale hair vaguely emitting a green tinge. Her eyes were perfectly round and hazel, however, the coloring was also odd. Just below her pupils, in each of her eyes was crescent of yellow facing up, they were extremely bright in contrast to the rest of her eyes. She’d look like a wolf in the dark with such bright yellow splashes upon her eyes.

This is not a human.

Alisson concluded. Her presence here was one thing, the previous events another, and with these plainly inhuman looking eyes; she was becoming more and more alien by the second.

“Me? Oh my! What joy, a question of identification! Oh, how long it’s been since I’ve shown myself! To think my designation would be heard once more!” She wiggled her head back and forth in front of Alisson, with apparent glee, such as a child who’d found candy.

Taking the opportunity in her supposed lapse in attention, Alisson quickly tried to pull his arms and legs apart, but alas, the same vines that had pulled him off his horse were coiled around his limbs. Still upside down to Alisson, the girl promptly cleared her throat.

“Ahem. I am Sylpheed Wan-wan.”

Wan-Wan?

Alisson tilted his head suspiciously at the girl. It was an odd accent she spoke in, and with that little unknown addition at the end, it made her sound foreign to the language. Though before he was able to respond, she deftly jumped forward, athletically twirling in the air and landing before Alisson in a relaxed kneel. She placed a hand over her knee and tilted her head smugly at him; again, she was an inch from his face. Such a maneuver from the posture she’d been in, just who was this little girl?

Now in front of him, Alisson realized in one hand she held Enhérejär.

“However, you may call me Sylph. I am what you people call a spirit.”

Alisson’s mind rested with relief.

This was simply a spirit. A manifestation of rogue mana, nothing else. Spirits were rare and formed spontaneously in deserted areas, most of which were underground. Alisson could remember only one instance in which there had been definitive evidence for one of these ‘spirits’, that’s how rare they were; as them forming was unusual enough, but meeting one in person? That was simply unheard of.

“Tell me, just what are you? Biographically, you are not human, so why then do you wear clothes and speak?” Sylph said, fiddling with Enhérejär, the weapon drawing her gaze away from Alisson.

He didn’t care for what this little spirit was inquiring of him, he needed to break free, and find Celis, and find the horses. He felt a tug at his heart, seeing his weapon toyed with so nonchalantly.

“Such a bizarre tool you have…I wonder what happens if I-!” Sylph’s finger glowed blue for a split second, and Enhérejär instantly shifted shape in Sylph’s hands, into the shape of a skeletal mace. The display was beautiful, as dozens of pieces from Enhérejär’s tip peeled away into a dome, mechanically clicking together after floating into position. It all happened within a second, and Sylph, bewildered by the sudden movement, was unable to hold Enhérejär and dropped it mid transformation in surprise.

“What a peculiar tool for a peculiar specimen…” Sylph murmured, her gaze setting back on to Alisson, as if she’d forgotten about Enhérejär.

What, did she try inserting mana into Enhérejär? No, it looked more like…lightning…?

Regardless of whatever she’d done, Alisson needed to find Celis. He was feeling a pull at his chest, some sort of feeling of a presence nearby to him. Alisson attempted to careen his head to scan the rest of the wall he was against, but as he did, the vines that were wrapped around his collarbone quickly tightened; they forcefully pulled his head back toward this, Sylph spirit. She leaned in even more, without any regard to personal space, almost nose-to-nose with Alisson. Irritated, Alisson quickly averted his eyes away to the corner of his vision. He frowned, anger seeping through the corners of his mouth. Seeing this, the girl’s smile beamed even brighter, it was not a sadistic grin, no, it was more a curious amusement that befell her face. Eerily, the dashes of yellow, those crescents in her eyes, intensified in luminosity. Inhuman traits for an inhuman anomaly, that was all. Though, Alisson still felt intimidated by this girl’s oddity, despite him only being in her presence for not one minute.

Alisson opened his mouth, about to reply to the little girl’s inquiries, when she suddenly reached up and grabbed ahold of his cheeks with both her hands. He would’ve told her off, but she started wiggling Alisson’s face back and forth, and more humiliation filled him. Alisson’s face soon reddened, out of either embarrassment or anger, of her fondling his cheeks.

J-just what the hell is this spirit doing…!

Sylph’s caressing quickly became too much for Alisson, as his face was now fully red; and he felt lightheaded and fuzzy. Her fingers were extremely odd, they were infinitely soft, though Alisson couldn’t feel the outline of any bones; The only hardness he felt was when she pushed her fingers hard at him, and he felt a unanimous stiffness below her skin. It seemed that her internal body was more a shell with skin plastered on it than an actual skeleton.

“Pwease, shtop…”

Alisson finally gave in, mumbling through his twisting cheeks; one of his eyes cringing from the circumstance. She stopped, and furrowed her brow.

“You feel human enough, so why then are you so…”

She put a hand to her chin. She looked just like Lente when Alisson had ever brought him any artifacts or items of intrigue. Alisson felt extremely exposed in the face of her unbreakable stare, it was as if she were staring through him, to something much more interesting. Alisson could only wonder what had caught her interest. From her words of biology and of her confusion, it was clear this spirit could see his internal body, somehow. Spirits were made of mana, Alisson thought, and since mana was everywhere, perhaps this sentient amalgamation of energy could see the world much differently than Alisson could.

“Tell me already, what is your species?” She looked up from her pondering, locking eyes with Alisson.

Alisson briefly considered lying to the girl. Though, it’d most likely be in vain, for this was a spirit, and Alisson had heard all sorts of mystical things about them, chiefly about them having ironclad morals.

Out of all the rumors Alisson had heard of spirits, he found this one the most dubious; why would a bunch of mana have any sense of morals? Or how to speak, wear clothes, or even take human form in the first place for that matter? They had not been nurtured by a society of how to think and act as other sentient creatures had, so why would nature produce ‘morals’ in any sense of the word?

“I am,” Alisson barely recognized his mouth moving, as the sensation had all been changed from her molestation. “I am Nekomata. I am not human. Would you be so kind as to let me-"

"I see! I see, I see, I see…”

She suddenly grabbed on to Alisson’s hands, the vines around them loosening. She lifted up his gauntleted hand, and stared, as if she’d never seen an arm before. After a solid of minute staring in silence, in a blur she took the gauntlet off. Alisson couldn’t believe his eyes, she’d undone the clips and slid the gauntlet off within less than a second, as if she were an expert who’d trained with the armor all her life.

“What, what are you trying to do…?”

Alisson mumbled meekly, but she flat-out did not respond, she seemed fixated on his now bare hand. Sylph suddenly started methodically thumbing every one of Alisson’s fingers, when she got to his middle finger, her grip suddenly tightened around it.

He never thought a little girl could squeeze a finger so hard it’d almost break, her fingers continuously increased in tightness over the course of a minute. Soon, Alisson really did think that she was going to break his finger; but thankfully, she released her grip, sighing and leaning off a ways, clearly disappointed. Alisson would’ve tilted his head, but his entire body still felt stiff due to the vines.

“Forty beats per minute…May I ask what is making your heart so abnormal contrary to your optimal health? It makes it very hard to examine you.” She said, frowning at Alisson.

His heart was most definitely not just 40 beats per minute, thanks to the conniving’s of this little spirit. Forty was more his heart rate when he was at rest, just how she was able to find that number in his current state, Alisson did not know.

“…Please, uncuff me at once…”

Alisson spoke mighty words, though in a weak tone. Sylph, contrary to her previous responses, suddenly perked up.

“Ah! A misallocation! I trust you will not take advantage of my generosity. Misallocation…”

As Sylph repeated her words, the vines around Alisson quickly withdrew, and retreated into small cracks in the stone beneath.

“I humbly apologize.” She quickly stood in a blur, bowing with a hand on her belly. “The rules are very clear. I must adhere to protocol and categorize any all life in the area; Your species, you said ‘Ne-ko-ma-ta’?”

Alisson nodded, quickly clipping his gauntlet back on. Sylph’s yellow crescents within her eyes once again illuminated, before promptly dulling. Sylph continued to stare at the wall above Alisson, her mind seeming to have left her body.

Finally not feeling so exposed, Alisson rose in a blur, and scanned the rest of the small stone basin, this time unhindered by vines. He sighed in relief. Just like he’d guessed, Celis was right next to him, deathly still. Alisson knelt by her. Whatever Sylph had used to knock him and Celis unconscious, it inevitably had worked more effectively on Celis’s smaller body. He grabbed on to her shoulders, shaking her in the slight. Alisson smiled in relief when he heard Celis murmur as consciousness started befalling her.

Alisson turned his head toward Sylph, he was going to ask where their horses were, but completely surprising him, Sylph was once again a mere inch from his face. Her yellow crescents were bright, and she smiled happily at Celis, vines rising out of cracks, and slithering toward Celis. Sylph, took a step forward.

Alisson was not going to let this little girl further molest as she pleased, especially not upon his apprentice. Alisson stepped in front of Celis. He reached out, and placed his gauntleted palm on Sylph’s forehead, simply holding her away. For whatever reason, Sylph continued to shuffle toward Celis, though because of Alisson’s hand, her legs moved, but her body did not. It was almost comical to watch, she kept attempting to close in on Celis, extremely determined to do so, as if not noticing Alisson’s hand that was simply on her head, blocking her forward momentum.

“I advise you to not bother my companion.”

Alisson said, bending down to pick up Enhérejär with one hand whilst still keeping his other firmly in front of Sylph’s head. He was a couple heads taller than her, after all. Now in possession of Enhérejär, it clicked back into a rapier within his hands. Alisson briefly considered restraining the vines, or even Sylph, with Enhérejär. He didn’t think the vines were by any means weaker than Enhérejär though, they out-powered Alisson after all. That, and Alisson would rather not make an enemy of this Sylph spirit with any aggressive actions.

“Do not, bother my companion.”

He repeated to the spirit. She suddenly stopped her motion, her eyes glowing and dulling several times over. After half a minute of motionlessness, she suddenly twisted her head directly at Alisson with a disappointed sigh.

“Intraspecies interaction is just so bothersome sometimes. Males can be so defensive…Fine then, I will abstain from any physical analysis of the female, but you will not change my mind on my spectrographic examination.” Sylph crossed her arms and turned, as if she were a child pouting.

The spirit used so many unknown words that Alisson could barely understand her. He was almost positive most of them were not in the Firdu vocabulary. Firdu was a vocabulary-based language, and as such learning the language came with learning the many phrases and words; opposed to the language of the Principality, Phrengari, which was a highly structured, grammatical-based language. Sidonian on the other hand, was of course far superior to both of them, as it was elegant, refined, and had many avenues of both grammar and diction alike.

But on her comment of males being so ‘defensive’, Alisson particularly laughed at that. It was usually the females of the Nekomata to be the overbearing ones in a relationship.

“Al…Alisson?”

He heard Celis mumble as she sat up, rubbing her eyes droopily.

“Are you alright?”

Alisson said quietly in his Lady’s tongue, not taking his eyes off of Sylph or the now retreating vines.

“I’m, I’m fine.” Celis said, rising in a daze and fumbling for the stilettos at the back of her hip.

Sylph however, had twisted her head at Alisson the second he’d spoken, her eyes glowing intensely.

“That, that is unrecognizable. Speech! Speech, speech. That was your specie’s language then? To think I have to decipher another one…” Her shoulders slumped, but before even a moment passed, she became animate again, “Speak, speak once more, for I must understand. The wind speaks, the flowers speak, the rivers speak, humans, speak. And now you, Nekomata, speak.”

She leaned forward as if bowing, straining her eyes upon the two of them. Alisson was not a fan of complying with strangers whom he had no information of intent. Regardless however, he decided to ask her a simple question.

“Shctōu elé grāts ātsé?”

Speaking his Lady’s language endowed pride and hearth in him, it was not very often he had spoken it since they’d left the south.

“Oh my. Oh my oh my. I’ll need a lot of run-time to uncover this one…”

He was glad that this spirit didn't have a lexicon of his Lady's tongue, though he was still irked by her behavior. 

“Aft stümrīch…”

Alisson mumbled, raising his rapier. He decided to ditch the awing, and skipped right to the demanding; In Firdu of course.

“Sylph, spirit, what would prompt you to attack us so brazenly and capture us as you did?”

Sylph’s eyes dulled once more, her hand on her chin, it seemed her entire body had frozen from his question. Her eyes suddenly brightened, and she looked up whilst beaming a wide smile.

“Ah! Yes! That is correct!”

Alisson and Celis looked at each other for a moment.

“I was under the impression that the two of you intruders were humans. You see, you see, there have been a specific group of humans that have been harassing my land. It is my job to protect this forest of course, but I simply cannot succeed in driving the vandals away.”

Her shoulders slouched as she looked away guiltily. It was amazing how animated this spirit was in contrast to a human; Though her movements felt more like she was shifting between various poses as opposed to normal and fluid motion. Her body’s movements were very staccato and choppy in that sense.

“But-!” Her attitude once again rose from total despair to absolute euphoria instantly, “You! You two are-”

“Passing by. We would like no part in interfering around here, spirit.” Alisson interrupted instantly.

For what seemed like the dozenth time, Sylph’s body froze, her eyes dimming.

“O-oh.”

Her eyes did not relight however, and she simply stood frozen, staring off. Her body soon relaxed, and she averted her eyes with a slight smile. The crescents in her eyes were now but dull shadows.

“I, I’m sorry for all this…”

Her voice was in stark contrast to her previous tone; compared to the airheaded unawareness of her earlier bombastic attitude, her voice was much smoother, and soft. Alisson tilted his head, lowering his rapier. She slowly looked up, a melancholic smile on her face.

Then, she hugged him. She was half his size, so it was more like she was simply embracing his belly, but Alisson was still taken off guard, almost stumbling a foot back.

“It’s just, it’s been so long…It’s been so long since I’ve spoken with other people…”

Sylph said, burying her face in Alisson’s stomach. He didn’t have and steel plate armor there, but there was still gambeson and rough chainmail. Sylph however continued to nuzzle him, seemingly ignoring the thick and uncomfortable wall of armor between herself and Alisson.

…

…What is this. I don’t appreciate waking up on a stone-cold surface, outside, in middle of a forest, during broad daylight. And I most certainly do not appreciate some random spirit embracing Alisson either! Who even is this girl? She talked so weird and had such odd flickering eyes, but now, she’s completely different.

Seriously. Leave it to Alisson to not only get ambushed and captured by plants, but for whatever reason end up fine after the fact. I thought I was going to die! After the crap I’ve seen, I was fearing the worst. But here, we’ve come upon some funny little spirit. Man, I never thought I’d see a spirit, much less talk to one…much less see one so dejected. At least Alisson looks to be an inch away from deciding to shove her back, but for whatever reason, he’s only staring at her.

The spirit, ‘Sylph’, suddenly recoiled away from Alisson, her smile fading.

That’s right, you’d better sod off.

“…You two aren’t really talkers huh?”

I guess me and Alisson are pretty intimidating, maybe for the wrong reasons though. Sylph, after looking away for a moment, shook her head.

“Come with me, we have much to discuss.” She turned, and stared off toward the edge of the plateau.

Alisson and I look at each other for a moment. After a moment of furrowing his brow, Alisson turns, and starts off toward the spirit.

…Alright then. I cautiously follow in Alisson’s step. Sylph hops off the plateau, seeming to float down the few meters drop. After dropping down for ourselves, infinitely less graceful than the spirit, we’re now on the forest floor, adjacent to the stone-elevation. This looks to be some sort of camp. It was a small alcove resting in the shade of the small stone plateau, what looks to a furnace rests idle, and numerous unidentifiable plants are hung up on a few strings that reached from the top of the furnace to the lip of the stone plateau. Other than the furnace, and an unlit campfire in the center of the small clearing, there’s really nothing else here. The furnace looks to be ancient, like, older than I am; it was covered over by a thicket of moss and logs, the actual fireplace-part of the furnace rested deep within a hobble of nature.

The most important thing of note though, were the two horses standing by at a nearby tree, peacefully grazing on the overabundance of grass. Our, horses.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Sylph said, twirling on the palm of her foot and smiling back at us. Leaning forward, and with her hands behind her hip, bobbing back and forth, she looks to be like a proud child showing off.

“Our horses…Thank you for keeping them safe.” Alisson muttered in relief.

“Thank them, not me! They came running back as soon as I stopped dragging you all the way here. You are lucky to have such loyal beasts by your side.”

Sylph said, smiling and patting one of the horses. You know, those guys are Sidonian horses. They’re not the same, friendly breed of steed that the humans have; they’re a lot harder to even touch. Thanks to the paucity of horses in Sidonian land, and our lacking of skill and knowledge of the equestrian field, the horses haven’t exactly been bred too far toward domestication as other horses have. But Sylph is just patting the mare down, and it doesn’t seem the least bit bothered.

Sylph approached us, and promptly dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged.

“I’m not exactly privy to meeting like this, I apologize for the lack of accommodations. I know the outside world has a lot more infrastructure than what’s in this forest…” Sylph mumbled guiltily.

After hesitating for a moment, Alisson too sat down before Sylph. I quickly followed suite. Okay, what kind of crap is she going to say to us? She’d better give a good explanation for ambushing and knocking us out like that; We have somewhere we needto go!

“I want to ask, where are we?” Alisson said, his eyes scrutinizing the area.

“Why, the Menton Spire.” Sylph pointed to the plateau of stone.

“…’Spire’?” Alisson asked quizzically after glancing at the stony plateau.

“Well, it used to be anyway. It pierced the clouds, overlooked the whole forest and then some. That was a long time ago though, long enough to where there weren’t any nations. But this place, it’s the center of my land, I used to live in the spire but…well, I’m just lucky I wasn’t in the area when it finally did collapse. Now, it’s just a shade of its past self.” Sylph, staring off into the sky, said softly. You know, what provoked this whole change in her anyway? She was a total freak when I awoke, but she’s completely different now.

“So, you’ve been here awhile? I take it you’re not a newly formed spirit then.”

“Ah, I’ve been here longer than the tree’s, the rivers, the rock…Same goes for other spirits, if there’s any left…” Sylph averted her eyes, the corners of her mouth curling into a frown.

Alisson’s brow piqued; he tilted his head with askance.

“Those, plant things, they weren’t spirits?”

Sylph’s eyes shut, amused.

“No, no. They’re my subordinates. I am essentially the head warden of this forest, but I’ve been entrusted many more…physically capable, underlings. I’m sort of the queen bee around here.”

Okay, that makes a little more sense. For being some sort of guardian of nature or whatever, a little girl can’t exactly do much. There’s a few nagging questions though, who entrusted these ‘underlings’ to her in the first place? Did she make them? How does she control them? I’m not really in a position to theorize though.

Sylph exhaled. her face hardening, she laid her eyes directly on Alisson and me.

“You’re probably not vying for any history, so I’ll get to the point.”

Pfft, hearing what a spirit has to say on long forgotten times, yes please! That information is to die for! Who knows what advantages can be gained from their memory? That goes for all other ancient or unknown stuff too; Sidonia specifically mandated standing orders to acquire idiosyncratic knowledge whenever possible. Despite that though, neither me nor Alisson interrupt her.

“…I…I mentioned vandals earlier, well, they’re adventurers.”

Why was she so hesitant to say ‘I’?

“From what I pieced together, they came hunting to investigate caravans disappearing in my land, and why within the span of a week, my forest became an impassable corridor. They’ve caused a lot of ruckus in my land’s serenity.” Following a moment of silence, Sylph spoke once more, “Those caravans and travelers, they were attacked, and slaughtered. Some creature has made its home in my forest. It is not native, and I’ll be damned if it isn’t invasive.” Sylph’s hands clenched into fists. “I tried dealing with it a few times, but, my enforcers were…unsuccessful…in their attempts to drive it out. And so, as it continued to prance around my land, and more and more passerby’s were attacked, those adventurers showed up. They’ve practically torn apart my forest looking for that damned thing, so I’ve tried driving them out too but…For only having five people, they’re extremely resilient…”

She looked at me and Alisson with a melancholic smile. If those big plant things of hers, those so-called ‘enforcers’, couldn’t handle some wimpy adventurers, it’s evident that they’re high ranking. The Guild prides itself on having strong and honor bound fighters, rivaling or surpassing some nations’ best. Sidonia so far hasn’t had any issues with them, as they generally stay out of the political spectrum, sticking to their specialty, which is killing monsters.

“The most I’ve been able to do, is to keep further travelers out of the area. When I saw the both of you, I thought you were more adventurers, so I tried to ambush you, and nip the bud before any trouble could be caused but…” She looked down, guiltily.

“You two obviously aren’t adventurers…I, I apologize for my hastiness. It’s just, failure after failure, I guess I lost my common courtesy because of my frustration…I should’ve known too,” she narrowed her eyes at Alisson. “You, I remember you. One hundred and three years, four months, two days, and seven hours ago, you entered my forest.”

Following a moment of silence, Alisson opened his mouth to reply.

“…I appreciate your insight. Thank you for explaining yourself, spirit.” Alisson says slowly. His mind is clearly focused on digesting everything Sylph said.

Well, I feel bad about being angry. It’s just some scared spirit trying to protect her forest. Two things are bothering me though, that ‘creature’, and the fact that she blocked travel for the purpose of safety.

I’ve never heard of a benevolent spirit, nor a malevolent one; they’ve always been said to observe, never interacting or making any sort of appearance. When they do appear, it’s usually for mundane things. Though, they are said to usually have a good sense of justice, and are on the side of the morally right; perchance they did interact with something considered 'bad'. But, that’s all word of mouth; so people could’ve easily twisted reality. Spirits are said to generally stay put, so word of their existence gets out if they do make an appearance.

The only real well-known spirit is one that apparently resides within a garden in the Kitsune capital. Tch…again, that spirit is probably being held hostage just like the rest of the Kitsune; they’re all trapped in their own land…!

Alisson and me glance at each other for a moment. This isn’t our problem. Just like Alisson said, we’re passing by, we don’t need to do anything here.

“I understand that you are most likely going to continue on your way, but, please, be careful. That monster is still out there…If you’d like, I will escort you as best I can out of the forest but…I can’t exactly guarantee your safety outside of this immediate area.”

Alisson brings a hand to his chin, looking at Sylph.

“This, monster, what does it look like? What’s it’s capabilities?”

Sylph tilts her head quizzically.

“Well, it’s a shapeshifter. It changes shape into people or inconspicuous fauna, and it approaches prey, and then it leaps out of its skin, like wearing a costume. Its real form is about as big as a horse. Each of its legs are shaped like scythes, they’re very sharp; so it can turn you into minced meat before you can even draw your weapon. It’s very low to the ground, but it has a sort of humanoid body. All in all, it’s pretty fast.”

Alisson nodded his head thoughtfully.

“Sounds like some sort of arachne.”

Sylph shook her head with a smug smile.

“It’s looks like it, but’s got a face only a mother can love. It has six legs too, two of which are on its shoulders, so it leans forward when bounding, which is why it’s so low to the ground.”

Alisson, after thinking over Sylph’s words, turned to me.

“Celis. What do you think?”

“I think we should kill it.”

I say jokingly.

He nods, satisfied, and looks back over to Sylph.

“There you have it. We’ll slay the beast.”

“Wha-wha-what!?”

With her hands on the ground and her knees in the dirt, Sylph, bewildered, fell forward with concern plain on her face, leaning toward Alisson and me. Damnit. I didn’t think Alisson wouldn’t see my sarcasm. Well, I can’t exactly go back on my word…

“Are, are you crazy?”

Alisson frowned.

“Don’t think that just because you managed to capture us means we’re helpless. From your description, it sounds like it came from that forest a way’s south, the one we were in before,” Alisson flicked his head at me for a moment, “It’s clearly not native here; I’d hate to see this forest lose its beauty.”

After a moment of staring dumbfounded at Alisson, Sylph closes her eyes, slightly smiling.

“I see. Well, if you’re intent on fighting it, the thing is nocturnal, so you’ll have to wait until the sun falls.”

Alisson nods, and turns to me. Oh boy, strategy meeting. Great, I wasn’t expecting to actually do much more than sightsee in this forest, but here Alisson goes and drags me into fighting some horrific monster. If I were him, I’d just leave. We have no reason to do anything here, we’re only passing through…

…But the more and more I look at Sylph, the more and more I feel bad for her. I feel compelled to help and protect her. I guess that’s me and Alisson’s inner Sidonian showing, like a motherly instinct, I feel I need to shield her. I know she’s a spirit but, when she looks like that…I wonder what Sidonia would do; whatever she does is always correct.

I look up to Alisson, this time, with much more drive.

“We could set out right away, but by the time night falls we’ll be a pretty good distance into the forest, we might miss it.”

I nod my head. From how Alisson said that, it sounds like he’s more in the camp of ‘Let’s kill it on the way’ than ‘Let me go and hunt the damned thing’.

“Then we can just wait until night falls, and then start travelling again.” I say.

Alisson nodded.

“Sounds good. How about we stake out the area in the meantime.” He looked at Sylph. “Do you know where it sleeps?”

“Fortunately so. I can’t post any of my enforcers near it, or they’d be ripped to shreds, but I do have a few of my little eyes shadowing it for me. It’s not two hours walk from here.”

Alisson stood, finally sheathing Enhérejär.

“Alright then,” He smiled at Sylph with a tilt of his head, “Please, take us to this beast.”

…

Alisson hadn’t spent much time in such lively forests. The life was simply sprawling all around him. He’d never think that a forest could create such a cacophony of noise due to how dense it was. The overabundance of chirping birds, scrambling squirrels, as well as a plethora of insects, left the air within the forest inundated with noise. The most prevalent sound however was the wind upon the leaves, the rustle of tree’s would normally be quite subtle; however, due to the sheer amount of plants, the winds blowing upon all the leaves around Alisson sounded more akin to a rushing river than that of calm forest.

Alisson mused that this rush of energy within the forest, it closely resembled Sylph’s earlier attitude; now however, she was far more elegiac. ‘Sylpheed Wan-Wan’ as she’d formally identified herself as, was nothing but an oddity to Alisson. If she hadn’t changed her tune, then Alisson doubted he would have offered to essentially go out of his way to help the spirit. Alisson felt a deep pit in his stomach, a driving, a spurring, a call for action to safeguard this Sylph. It was the same feeling that veiled over him whenever he’d seen Tohru or any of his apprentices in danger. Alisson smirked to himself, perhaps he was more motherly than he thought.

When Alisson had officially asked her to lead them to the monster’s nest, she’d sprung up with enthusiasm after sitting with a slight smile on her face for a period. After that moment had passed, two of Sylph’s subordinates approached from behind trees. Once again, Alisson had not been able to sense them whatsoever. They must’ve been remaining deathly still, the thought made Alisson give his current surroundings a second glance filled with paranoia; with both those vines, and those ‘enforcers’ of Sylph’s, his awareness had severely failed him.

Those, enforcers, they had wordlessly formed up behind Sylph; Alisson was hard-pressed to say that he wasn’t intimated by the pure size of the towering amalgamations of plant matter.

It was certainly an interesting sight, to see a little girl backed by an entourage of those huge ‘enforcers’, whilst beaming a smile, apparently oblivious to it all.

That wasn’t all, Sylph had another underling. Swooping in from the tree line, an owl Alisson had been eyeing for a time had landed atop Sylph’s head. It was quite small, small enough to comfortably fit on Sylph’s cushion of long and curled hair. The owl was white, and seemed not to move even a muscle under the gaze of Alisson; it was eerily still, as if it’d died on Sylphs head, and lay stiff.

Sylph of course seemed to pay no mind to the creature.

From the owl’s behavior, it probably wasn’t really an owl. Alisson had heard of trained birds of prey yes, but not to such a degree of discipline that one would need to display to match the white owl under Sylph’s sway.

It’d been an hour since they’d set out, Sylph had led the way through the forest. Alisson was surprised to see that small animals did not scurry away from the thundering footsteps of Sylph’s two escorts; rather, the animals seemed more scared of Celis and himself. Alisson didn’t mind though; he simply enjoyed the beautiful sights of the forest. Through the unique flora and fauna here, one did not see such aweing and fascinating displays of nature.

The three of them, plus Sylph’s procession, came upon a small river. A log had fallen across it, creating a perfect bridge. Upon further observation, Alisson noticed the stump from which the log had fallen from, the tear at the stump was not natural. It was an incision, slanted in a way to make tree fall exactly across the river.

“Adventurers doing?”

Alisson murmured as Sylph hopped atop the fallen log. She turned, smugly smiling.

“Nope. This is just one of the way’s I’ve altered the environment for ease of travel. If it weren’t for me, there wouldn’t be any paths or clearing around here; it choke out some of the larger animals, like deer.”

She turned and daintily continued across the log, not bothering to stick her arms out to balance herself. The two enforcers that were at her back simply plunged into the river, and trudged forward at the same pace, as if nothing was in their way. Granted, the river was only a couple feet deep, and only a few meters wide.

“I need to be creative with this stuff you know, generation after generation and this kind of bridge wouldn’t be possible. I’ve made bridges over this river out all sorts of things, one time, I even made a bridge out of the corpses of forty- Ahem.”

Sylph, halfway across the bridge, promptly shut up. He couldn’t see her face, but her voice had evidently hardened. Alisson didn’t reply as he stepped up to the log, and walked across. Celis, trailing behind him, had attempted to walk over the log like him and Sylph, without the need of extended arms for balance. Alisson heard her stumble, and when he slightly careened his head in suspicion, he saw Celis wobbling behind him out of the corner of his vision, now with her hands extended.

Alisson sighed, and continued on.

…

“It’s only a short way’s now.”

Sylph said, still in the lead of me and Alisson. Those big guard things of hers are really scary. Their footsteps send quakes through my entire body. They’re unrelenting in their movement, I’m really surprised how Sylph is still ahead of them despite her infinitely smaller legs.

My vision is filled with green. No, seriously. Like, eighty percent of my view is just leaves, grass, moss, bushes, and vines. The other part is filled predominantly with the bright bark of tree’s, the rainbow coloring of flowers and buds dotting the forest, as well as flitting of insects and small animals. The animals here are all really so cute!

I saw this super tiny blue mouse looking thing. It was really fluffy and had massive ears that covered it eyes! It was hanging on a branch by its tail, but by the time we neared, it shuffled away up into the canopy.

There was also this white fox I saw. It had weird red patterns on the top of its head and had really long ears that it dragged across the ground. It was also fluffy. I saw it a few meters away from me in the shade of a large tree, it was just staring at me as we went by.

But those were just my favorites, there were like a dozen other animals that I’d never seen before. I asked Alisson if I could pet one, but he said no; so, the best I can do is scan the tree line. I’ve almost bumped into Alisson a few times because I was too wrapped up in scanning the area.

…Oh! What’s that!

In my scanning for other cute animals, I see a distant figure of white. It’s standing upright, and it has a humanoid shape. I can’t make anything else out due to the distance though. Its lower half is obstructed by some bushes, but I’m pretty sure it’s facing directly at me…

…Wait a second. That isn’t…

“Pwah!?”

Enthralled in the thing in the distance, I crash into something in front of me. I just barely manage to stop myself from stumbling to the ground.

“Watch yourself Celis. We’re here.”

After sighing, Alisson says tersely.

“S-sorry.”

My face reddening in embarrassment, I give an apology, not looking directly at Alisson. He silently turns away. Phew. I’m really scared that one of these days, I’ll really piss off Alisson with my stupid antics…I shake my head. Bad thought.

Looking past Alisson, I see the mouth of a cave embedded in a large hill. There are lots of trees and plants growing on it, so it’s hard to actually make out as a shift in the terrain. After giving the hill a once over, I turn back over to that-

Huh!? It’s gone! W-w-where’d it go?

This isn’t like last time, it disappeared within the span a of a few seconds! My vision darts around the surrounding forest, adrenaline surging through my veins. Crap! Crap! This is just like how I felt in that dark forest, and that tunnel under Lagrath! Every time I look in a direction for it, I end up fearing that it’s right behind me, and so I turn, only to have the prickling fear on my back and turn again. A never-ending loop of paranoia.

I hear a sigh, and then I feel a hand on my head. In my panic, I jumped at the sudden physical contact. But, phew. It’s just Alisson…it’s just Alisson…

“What’s wrong? There’s no reason to look so frightened.”

He leaned in, tilting his head at me. You know, what’d calm me down is if you actually rubbed my head and didn’t just hold it…Why am I so disappointed about that!

“Uah, it’s n-nothing.”

Alisson frowned. He closed his eyes, in the least contempt way possible, and turned away, lifting his hand off my head. My heartrate slowly decelerates. I really wanna hug Alisson right now…I want to coddle around something else after being so scared. Whenever I’m scared, I feel like a chunk of my gut is missing, and I have the urge to just be close to someone else to fill the gap.

…unluckily for me…I didn’t have anyone like Alisson back at the Academy…

“If you say so. Don’t be afraid to tell me anything, Celis.”

Alisson said quietly, and then started off toward Sylph. After briefly despairing at the withdrawal of his hand, and after a few quick glances back into the surrounding forest, I hurriedly follow Alisson.

Sylph sat still, staring at the cave. The owl on her head, had for the first time moved. Its head was now squarely locked onto the cave. When Alisson and I approached, and Sylph turned, the owl kept its head locked in the same direction, as if its head were on a swivel, moving without its body.

“Well, here it is. I was wondering, what exactly are you hoping to do here?” Sylph asked, bringing her hands to her hips.

“If I know I’m going to fight something, I don’t see any reason not to prepare.”

“Prepare how?” Sylph tilted her head.

“With information, traps, and plans. Especially when it comes to predictable enemies, like wild animals. You can learn a thing or two from adventurers, they’re amazing at taking down monsters tenfold their strength just because they can use their intuition.” Alisson replied after glancing at the cave.

Sylph looked up.

“Human ingenuity then? I suppose it’s really the only trait humans have going for them in the wild. Without their intelligence, man would be beaten by every other animal.”

“That is true. Though,” Alisson smiled wryly, “We are not human.”

“Right right.” Sylph mumbled. “And I’m not human either. It’s such a thin line nowadays that I barely remember anymore. Well, that cave over there, that’s it’s home. It shouldn’t come out during the day, even if you make a huge racket.”

“Perfect. Let us ensure our victory, shall we, Celis?”

…

“That should just about do it…” Alisson gave one last tug on a rope before him.

“We have half a dozen traps laid out, now it’s just a matter of luring the beast into them as we fight, so remember where they are, Celis.”

“In the dark?” Celis meekly asked. Alisson stood, and nodded.

“Absorb the topography of this place while you can, I doubt the canopy above us will let much light through to illuminate the area at night.”

For past hour, they’d set up a few rudimentary surprises around the area of the cave. The sun was setting, and it’d be dark within a couple hours. Alisson was not an expert in concocting traps; Alieri took that prize, however, he was not a novice either. Most of the traps were binding or restraining in nature, he made sure to make no use of nets, since the creature’s six sharp scythe-legs would be able to tear through them easily. Alisson also didn’t bother to dig a pitfalls or trenches, for the beast was apparently quite agile, and he doubted it would get caught in a hole. So, bolas were his primary means of preparation. Alisson only hoped that the heavy stones they’d found would be enough to weigh the creature down.

In that sense, Alisson was hoping the creature derived its agility from a light body and not brute strength.

Alisson considered using a few knives on this matter, as he could easily rig them to activate and unleash their magic just like a trap. Out of his dozen magic-imbued knives, eight of them had simple explosion spells, if the monster really did have a lightweight body, they’d do wonders on ripping it to shreds. Two of his knives were imbued with area-denial gas, Sidonia had said that the gas was called ‘White Phosphorus’. Alisson was dubious of using gas as area-denial, but after he’d seen their results for himself, Alisson was more than happy to use such an effective weapon. The gas burned through anything, if someone was caught in the middle of a knife’s area of effect, then there wasn’t much hope for them. Though the knives were powerful, Alisson had only two, and he wasn’t going to use them on such a matter as this. His last two knives were simple smokescreens. Since the spell is so simple, the enchanter working with his knives had managed to stuff a few of the spells into each knife, making the smokescreens humongous. They wouldn’t be of much help in this situation though.

Alisson eventually decided against exhausting any knives, they still had a long way to go north, and he was sure he’d be able to handle this beast, even without preliminary preparation. This was not like that large spider-creature in the forest he’d encountered a few weeks back, this was apparently a horse-sized monster. Taking into account that it was specialized for agility as well; Alisson was sure he could fight it. Dancing around in swordplay was his forte, not ramming against a brick wall over and over again. That sort of thing, he’d leave to his heavily armored comrades, such as the 57th.

Alisson regrettably did not have any imbuement-class magic. Like summoning magic, it was a niche and orthodox path of magic. Using imbuement, one could attach spells to areas or objects, and prime them to activate in all sorts of ways. Alisson’s knives were one such result of imbuement magic, though, they’d been created using the expertise of a great magician able to create slots for spells, effectively allowing replenishment. Imbuement was more or so sealing away a spell and saving it for later; the problem was, you could only imbue a spell that you knew. So only the best mages could make actual useful traps and give weapons useful imbuements, it’s because they not only were experts in imbuement, but whatever spell they were imbuing as well.

“You’re sure taking your time, I wasn’t expecting you to take this so seriously…”

Sylph said, sitting cross-legged atop one of her enforcers. She’d watched in silence as him and Celis had gone about scoping out the area and discussing viable tactics to use against the monster. Alisson was glad he could engage such an opponent where victory was all but guaranteed, it allowed him to let Celis shoulder some of the fighting as well. If all worked out as Celis and him had planned, this would be the first time they’d really be fighting side by side to one another.

“It’s important to never lax with any confrontation. No matter the opponent, anybody could die, it’s still a battle, the opponent has the means to kill both of us; we just have to make sure the chance of that happening is as low as possible.”

Alisson was glad he had the chance to prepare, too many times since he’d left Sidonian territory were him and Celis ambushed or put in horrible positions. They could’ve very well died a long time ago. It felt good to be multiple steps ahead of an enemy for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime.

“Well, I can’t say I have any know-how of combat. I’m not made for security after all…”

Made?

“Sylph, how exactly were you brought into being?”

Alisson asked. He was sure he’d get either a vague or incomprehensible explanation, but he still wanted to ask.

“Well, I’ve tried explaining to plenty of people over my life, but no one believed or understood me. Most of them just writ me off as being crazy.” She chuckled, “But, no, I doubt you’d understand either. So, all you have to know is that I’ve been around for a while, and that I have to maintain this area.”

Alisson nodded. It was clear that she wasn’t comfortable explaining herself, and Alisson wasn’t going to commence an intrigue upon her before he was going to take part in a hunt.

“Well, I guess I could-” Sylph was cut off as her stare turned blank. The owl atop her head had flicked it head of in a direction, like it’d locked onto to something other than the cave.

“They’re, they’re here. Within 500 meters.”

Alisson laid a hand on Enhérejär’s hilt, tensing up.

“What is it?”

Sylph suddenly hopped of the top of the enforcer she was sitting on, and the owl on her head flapped it wings and rose into the air, fluttering into the canopy above.

“It’s them, the adventurers! They’re close!”

Sylph whispered in a rushed tone, pointing over by a nearby line of trees.

“I can’t fight them; I need to hide. The last time I showed myself, I almost died because they thought I was just the monster in a shapeshift.”

Alisson thought it was dubious that the adventurers would consider a horse-sized monster capable of hiding within the child-sized body of Sylph. Upon further thought though, perhaps it could, horrifyingly, squeeze itself into such a small suit of skin.

Alisson didn’t bother to think further into the matter.

He motioned to Celis beside him, and they advanced in the direction Sylph had pointed in, advancing across the ground in a low and silent creep. They came upon a large drop, apparently some sort of small cliff. Alisson quietly shifted aside the bushes and peered. A few hundred meters away, about a dozen meters height below, were five figures. They walked calmly upon one of the sandy paths made by Sylph.

“They’ve been getting closer to the nest every day, but I didn’t think they’d make so much progress today. I’d give it another day before they home in on the location of the nest. That path they're following…”

Sylph said, crouching behind him and Celis, warily staring at the group of adventurers. The path that they were on, it led roundabout them for a while, and then directly to them. If the adventurers kept on travelling down the road, they’d be dangerously close to the three of them.

“Come on, I know a place we can hide.”

Sylph stood, beckoning him and Celis. Alisson nodded and stood as well. He didn’t know the specific rank of that team, but he wasn’t going to engage if he didn’t have to. Alisson had only ever fought quite low-ranking adventurers, but he’d heard that the high-ranking ones were a pain to deal with; they used many consumable items and dirty tricks, and all of their party members had various skillsets. All in all, they had extremely large arsenals. Most of that was attributed to fact that monsters too, varied immensely, and adventurers had to be able to deal with anything.

Sylph rushed off, she was surprisingly quick for how small she was, but Celis and him had no problem keeping pace with her. What surprised Alisson was how easily and nimbly Sylph managed to navigate the forest, as she adeptly dodged roots and trees, and weaved around bushes and rocks. It was almost breath taking how perfect her movement through the forest was, she didn’t hit a single thing or stumble even once, which, when running through a dense forest, was quite common due to all the clutter. He was happy that Celis, stumbling and barely keeping pace with him now, was attaining experience moving through such a hard to maneuver environment. This was an especially dense part of the forest they were in, Alisson wouldn’t have hesitated to bet on it being the oldest part of the forest; there was almost no grass here, just hundreds and hundreds of trees and bushes. Alisson could barely see more than a few meters due to all the cover.

After dashing through the forest for what felt like a couple hundred meters, Sylph abruptly stopped. In the density of the forest, Alisson could see what lay in a thicket of bushes. It was a rusted-to-hell hatch. From the rust, it was evidently made of metal. It had a large wheel on it, similar to the steering wheel of a ship. Sylph grabbed on to the hatch’s wheel with her hands. It was a laughable sight, to see such a small girl grab onto such a large hatch. Sylph struggled for a moment, and, a smirk crossing Alisson’s face, he knelt down, about to aid Sylph.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

His smile faded from his countenance when he heard a sharp and screeching creak, as the wheel gave way, and shifted slightly. Sylph, firmly grasping the wheel, turned it completely as it groaned, rusted metal cracking as the wheel shifted under an immense force. She then lifted up the hatch, comically easily, and flashed a smile at Alisson, perhaps basking in his bewildered expression.

Make that two girls that can break my arm in an arm wrestle…

“Watch your step, the last time I came here was a few decades ago. Close the hatch on the way down.”

There was a ladder, oddly enough, it wasn’t rusted in the slightest. Sylph gave a glance down the dark hole, then nimbly slipped down. Alisson and Celis looked at each other for moment.

“After you…”

Celis muttered, peering down the black of a hatch. Alisson thought that this was probably overkill for hiding from a single team, but regardless, he hopped down the hole, grabbing on to the ladder briskly. There wasn’t much room here, on this rare occasion, Alisson felt glad to be below average size. As he descended, Celis too hopped down, she reached up and gave the hatch a light tug, and it fell with colossal weight upon the hole, creating a thundering sound. Celis then started to descend as Alisson was, glancing at him periodically from above.

After about five whole minutes of descending, Alisson was soon quite thankful of the fact he was very light in body weight, which allowed him to lift himself easily with just his upper body strength. Soon, he heard a thump below him, and when he peered further down the shaft, he saw Sylph, meeting his vision a way down. Evidently, the ladder had led to an open cavern’s ceiling. Alisson, coming to the end of the ladder, briskly dropped from it, after a couple meters, he landed with a thud. From Alisson’s drop, a small cloud of dust was kicked up, it rolled across the floor of the cavern.

Already, Alisson’s breath was taken away by the sight of the peculiar cavern. Unlike the ladder, which was clearly man made from its simple metal, the cavern seemed natural, it didn’t look to be excavated. The cavern was rocky, large and jagged edges extended from the walls.

The area around him was a few dozen meters in diameter, though only half of that was traversable.

The reason was the moat of glowing cyan water, which flowed round the ‘island’ him and Sylph were standing on. The water was almost completely opaque; however, Alisson could ever so slightly see the bottom of the ‘river’ of cyan liquid. The coloring of the liquid glowed and was the only light source in the cavern. It was not a weak glow; Alisson could clearly see the entirety of the area, all of it basked in a veil of cyan.

“An underground glowing river…?”

Alisson mumbled, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the waters. The odd coloring and glowing, it screamed danger to him; however beautiful a sight it was.

“Mhm~” Sylph hummed, apparently amused at Alisson. “Although, that’s not necessarily the case.”

Celis then too dropped from the ladder in the ceiling, landing a few inches from Alisson and kicking up a cloud of dust as well. After patting down her knees for a moment, she looked up, her mouth dropping slightly, apparently in awe.

“It’s bioluminescent. There’s a certain microrganism in the water that makes it glow like that, normally, you’d be able to see all the individual specks of light, but it’s gotten so densely packed over the years that they make the water look a different color.” After seeing both his and Celis’s dubious stares at the water, she added, “It’s not dangerous, or at least now it isn’t…”

Alisson raised an eyebrow at Sylph’s hesitation, though he did no more to doubt her. If it was dangerous, why would Sylph herself be here then?

Other than the glowing moat of cyan water, there was a small land bridge, made of the same rock Alisson was standing on, that sliced through the water. At the end of the thin path that extended from the center ‘Island’, was a door embedded in the wall of the cavern. The door was also of foreign design, such as the hatch and ladder. It looked strongly reinforced, so much so that Alisson didn’t think even Lady Salchyon could charge through it, and she had the force of a mage-rail. It had odd extremities and extrusions that Alisson hadn’t ever seen on a door before.

“That, door, where does it lead?”

Sylph looked away for moment.

“It’d be better if you didn’t know…For now, we can wait out the adventurers here.”

Alisson tilted his head.

“What exactly is the nature of the other side of that door?”

Sylph closed her eyes, dropping to the floor cross-legged. She seemed mildly agitated from her pout and crossed arms.

“Please, don’t…don’t ask any further.”

Alisson gave the door one last glance before sitting down for himself on the dusty ground. From all the settled dust, as well as all the miniature dust storms Alisson was kicking up with his movement, he could believe that Sylph hadn’t been here in decades. Celis too promptly knelt beside him.

For whatever reason, Alisson had the sudden thought to lay his hand upon her head. He immediately remembered Celis’s look of discomfort the last time he’d done so, when they’d approached the beast’s nest. A sudden pang of guilt assaulted him; his actions were purely his own urges; he hadn’t thought of how Celis would take such invasive movements. Alisson was not in the business using his subordinates for stupid whims.

Seeing Celis’s discomforted face in his mind, Alisson silently vowed to stop acting so brazenly with such disregard.

After Alisson’s mind realizing that what’d he previously done was so against his own morals, a veil of shame descended upon him.

The intense self-rejection brought Alisson back from his little head-patting epiphany, and he suddenly wondered why he was even here. The adventurers were an annoying threat, and Alisson was happy to avoid them, but this still seemed like going overboard.

Well, Alisson had certainly heard of adventurer parties that had expert rangers or rogues capable of extreme detection prowess, but even then, Alisson was still confident he could hide without such a measure as Sylph had enacted.

“So, did you bring us here only to show us this sight?”

Alisson asked jokingly, his words piercing the deafening silence of the cavern, where in the only noise was the steady drip and wave of the water.

“Actually, I guess I partly did…I’ve long had many urges to show off the beauties of my land…I’ve just never had anybody to ever even talk with about them. You know, this river isn’t the only underwater fluid, those tunnels you find everywhere beneath the ground, the ones filled to the brim with those unholy creatures, they’re filled all the way up with water. All that water is just like this as well; so there you have it, the tunnel network under my forest is flooded with bioluminescent waters. I suppose that’s why I’ve never had any of those ‘Breaches’ I’ve heard travelers speak of…”

Sylph rambled, peering deep into the river of cyan.

Alisson looked off, as if staring through the grotto’s walls, vicariously imagining cyan-filled tunnels twirling and twisting all throughout and around the area. An odd but mesmerizing sight.

If what Sylph said was true, then it would explain why he hadn’t seen any beasts in the Menton Forest. There were no breaches, and the small army of enforcers Sylph had under her control locked down the forest’s borders and kept out any unwanted animals.

On the thought of beasts, Alisson’s mind flitted over to the creature that him and Celis were set to kill when sun fell. At this point, with those adventurers apparently nearing so closely on the creature, Alisson only really wanted to fight it to put Celis to the test. He felt a surge of glee on the prospect of executing a strategy side by side to his apprentice; who, to Alisson’s delight, had come a long way from the starry-eyed top graduate she’d been s month earlier. Alisson only hoped that adventurer team wouldn’t find the nest, so that all of his and Celis’s preparation wouldn’t go to waste.

“Sylph, um…”

Surprisingly Celis spoke out. Thinking back on it, Alisson was hard pressed to find and instance where Celis had spoken to someone other than himself; he was happy to see his apprentice perhaps shaking off her meekness. Although, they’d known Sylph for a good while now to be sure, and she’d been quite courteous to him and Celis. Sylph’s manner itself was also much different from anybody else’s him and Celis had met, she was heartwarmingly a good match for the Sidonian mindset in her polite and intelligent demeanor.

“Yes?”

“We, we never introduced ourselves didn’t we…?”

A sudden shock ran through Alisson. Celis wasn’t lying, the both of them really hadn’t formally told Sylph their names. Alisson, on top of his previous aura of unease from his head-patting epiphany, felt even more like scum.

“My apologies, spirit, but my apprentice is correct, I wholeheartedly am sorry. My name is Alisson Vi Nuam, Field Marshal of the 51st Storm Brigade and heir to the Nuam House.”

Alisson rushed to say, in his apprentice’s stead.

“A-and I am Celistine Regadonia, an apprentice.”

Though, contrary to how Alisson thought Sylph would react, she suddenly chuckled.

“Oh my, oh my…The both of you don’t need to be so formal with me, in fact, I like the familiarity. Though I have to say, those are quite the noble names the two of you have there…”

“It was by Sidonia’s decree that the Nekomata were to be treated as if they were equal, nay, as if higher than human nobility. The names she gave us reflect that.” Alisson replied.

It was true, the Nekomata we’re nobility in the eyes of common humans. Really though, there was no difference between a rich Nekomata in an esteemed family, or a newly incorporated human Sidonian working a humble life. The difference was your influence, connections, and most importantly, one’s prowess. Whether that was in the form of a swift mind or strong sword-arm, all Sidonians were put to good use.

However, Sylph’s quick dismissal of his and Celis’s introduction seemed extremely odd to him. Some Sidonians would even take offense of her insouciance, given the sparse familiarity between them. But, in the end, such formalities and social norms were no matter to his and Celis’s survival and of their ability to complete their overall task.

They sat in silence for a long period. Alisson didn’t dislike the area per say, in fact the sight was quite calming. He could’ve sworn that Celis had nearly fallen over on to him asleep a few times, from her body constantly going limp and careening to one side, before she awoke in surprise and quickly reset herself. When she finally did fall into sleep where she sat, and inevitably fell onto Alisson’s shoulders, he did not attempt to wake her. For as much as Alisson berated his apprentice’s endurance compared to top tier fighters, she’d need all her strength for the battle to come.

…

When I awoke, an hour had passed in that cave, and for whatever reason, I was leaning against Alisson, boy I love embarrassment…

The grotto really was a mystical place, so of course I fell asleep there, for whatever reason. Maybe the long-term fatigue is really catching up on me. I’ve never moved so constantly for a straight month any other time in my life. I feel like I’ve lived like a slob back in Sidonia, even though I know that no amount of training will match up to a lifestyle.

Well, the climb out of the cavern was a hassle, only for me of course. I wasn’t able to jump high enough to reach the ladder, I don’t know if that’s because I’m just too short or if I’m not strong enough. I think it’s the ladder though, after seeing Sylph practically glide up to the ladder. After seeing that, she must weigh like a quarter what I am. Oh no, am I fat?!

Yeah, no. I’m the opposite. Though, I have realized my muscles have gotten a lot more defined; at least, back when I took my armor off in Curlessi to sleep. Ah, to not wear armor, what a luxury. At this point though, I can’t exactly complain, I’ve basically become one with my armor from wearing it all the time.

Well, back to my conundrum, I had to jump up and grab onto Alisson’s leg to pull my self up onto the ladder.

After that, the sun had already started to set, so we made our way to the nest of that creature. Sylph said that she was staying off a ways for her own safety, but she was going to be watching us. Of course she’s watching us, I can see the damn owl that was on her head earlier on a nearby branch. Actually, now that I look, there’s a lot of birds around here, watching us, like, an entire flock of them. All of them have the same odd glint in their eyes.

The sun has just set, and Alisson and I are standing a good distance directly in front of the mouth of the cave wherein that nest is supposedly based. With my stilettos in my hands, I eye the void of the cave, the surrounding lighting ever darkening and blending with the cave’s darkness due to the setting of the sun.

“Remember the plans. We’ve made plenty of strategies depending on which assumptions are true and which are false. We can easily win this, just keep your calm.”

Alisson said, standing side by side to me.

“That’s the least of my worries…I’m just afraid I’ll mess up…”

I say. Man, I love responding to Alisson. Whenever I converse, it feels like the tight knot in my stomach slightly unravels with every word that leaves my mouth. It’s a very liberating feeling.

“Have some confidence, just enough to believe in yourself, but not so much as to breathe easy.”

Confidence. Confidence. Confidence…It took me a while to realize, but physical actions are a lot more mental than I thought. I remembered in Curlessi, the fear I had of being wounded when I lashed out against Alfonso, and how I just had to be confident that I wouldn’t be hit. Confidence is accumulated easily by hands on success, and by that fact, I should be able to handle this monster if I can take down Alfonso.

As time passed, and the sun fully set below the horizon, the forest was engulfed in a veil of black. Soon after, I heard gentle patting. It was the thumping of a four-legged animal’s calm gait, originating from the nest. Alisson and I instantly sank low, our weapons poised and ready.

Coming through the thick unilluminated cave, was a deer. Or at least, I think it is, from its figure and slight color; though I can’t be completely sure due to the horrible lighting. The deer didn’t seem abnormal in the slightest, and continued on its pitter-patter gait forward, its head hung low as if it didn’t notice us.

“…Fult.”

Alisson whispered, and a small sphere of visible air formed at the pommel of Enhérejär and shot out lengthwise down the blade. The sphere quickly shifted into a wide chevron as it approached the deer, and with ear piercing slice, the slash of wind slammed into the deer’s neck. I saw its fur ruffle from the explosiveness of Alisson’s spell, and a cut tore open, chunks of some sort of entrails dropping out and hitting the ground in thick and viscous globs. The deer recoiled slightly on its feet and sputtered for a moment. It emitted no scream or even a gasp; and the wound which had opened on its neck did not bleed after dropping whatever entrails were in its neck.

Well, from the reluctance of breathing and speaking, as well as guts where guts really shouldn’t be, I think Alisson is quite on the mark: This is the beast. In some sort of skin suit, like Sylph said.

The deer continued to shake and shiver, until a large bulge started to extend from its back. The tumor-like growth quickly ballooned in size, and just as quickly, it was ripped and sliced apart from the inside. Like a spider shedding its exoskeleton, out the back of the deer came a large and decrepit thing. It was larger than the deer, yeah, but not too much bigger. In simple terms, if a person had four spider-like scythe legs on their pelvis, and two on each of their shoulders, and was completely bare of any hair or facial features, then it’d be this thing. Its coloring was a dark blue, but that might be due to the current lack of light. Each of its limbs are about as long as my body.

It’s featureless face though, is definitely the most unsettling thing. From it, emitted a shallow bellow that quaked through my body as it emerged from its suit of skin. I’ve never heard such a more terrifying howl from a creature, if I heard something like this at night whilst in bed off in the distance…then I don’t think I’d be able to sleep.

After it’s few second scream, it bounded for us, with extreme speed on all six of its limbs, like a spider.

“Move it or lose it!”

“Right!”

The best way to defeat a wild animal, is to not let it gain battlefield control and box us in how it sees fit; me and Alisson rush forward to meet the beast’s charge. Within seconds, the momentum from both parties halts dead, Alisson impales one of its legs right through with Enhérejär, and I nimbly dodge under the slice of its other front limb, stabbing up into its chest. As I try to pull my stilettos out though, I feel resistance…they’re stuck. Shit!

As the beast re centers itself, still point blank from me, another one of it’s limbs slash at me, from my completely exposed side. Crap! I can’t block because of my caught blades!

Tch! I’m not dying that early in this fight!

I hastily let go of the stilettos and turn toward the approaching scythe, wind howling from its speed. I reach each of my hands onto each other’s wrists, and draw my baselards outward. My body, tiny in comparison to the beast’s, is send tumbling away a few meters as my baselards absorb the better part of force from the scythe. I scramble to my feet, to see Alisson dodge nimbly in the air a few meters from me, weaving in between two of the monster’s limbs and landing elegantly, only to thrust again at it.

Wow, he’s like a ballerina…

…Idiot! Get a move on! This is my one chance to show Alisson that I can help him!

I rush forward, slicing at one of its many knee’s. The beast had diverted three of its limbs, half of them, toward slicing at Alisson, so its balance was already shaky, but cutting a knee, however weak I am, made it stumble ever so slightly. It lowers one of its limbs down from attacking Alisson in order to balance itself. Yes! I helped! Now to capitalize on it taking the back foot in the battle; we need to make the disparity of battle control as large as possible!

Alisson told me that that was the easiest way of defeating an opponent, to win the initial equal skirmish, and continue to increase your pressure and overwhelm the enemy with a snowball effect of tactical advantage!

I bob under the limb I’d cut, running and slicing its belly with one of my baselards free for defense. This isn’t like the other human opponents I’ve fought; I need to be like Alisson and chain all of my attacks together, unlike the piece by piece chess-like combat with another swordsmen.

Contrary to what I wanted it to do though, the beast suddenly leapt into the air, landing a dozen meters away. The sudden movement and agility it’d shown surprised me for a moment but I quickly cleared my mind and continued my momentum, halting at Alisson’s side.

“S-should we push it?”

I say, adrenaline flooding my veins. I initially wanted to go after it on my own accord, but Alisson specifically told me not to jump the gun, and to stick close to him.

“No, it’s too fast, it can retreat whenever it wants to. We’ll bait it and give a false sense of superiority to it.”

Alisson says quickly. I really wish I had the telepathy spell; communication would be so easy; we could form complicated plans and make decisions infinitely faster.

The beast seemed to take moment to recuperate itself, as it shook its head with a snarl. How it managed to emit that scream earlier or that snarl from its mouthless face, I don’t know. One of its limbs grossly retracted back into place, at it seemed Alison had severed it at its knee. What the…? How did Alisson manage to…?

As I look over to Alisson, I see Enhérejär, in the shape of a…single edged sword? Well, I guess you’d call it a backsword but…it looks like what I saw when I woke up and was almost molested by Sylph, it wasn’t just me having funny eyes. Looks like Enhérejär really can change its form to fit a situation. That monster is not thick enough to warrant dealing damage with stabbing or thrusting, cutting and slicing to sever would be much more effective; as Alisson seemed to have already done to one of its limbs.

Alisson flicks his head at me, and then turns, breaking into a sprint. I hurry to keep pace with him, if I get left behind, I’ll be done for. I hear monstrous crashing behind us, it’s giving chase. I’d be lying if I said I’m not utterly terrified of tripping and being diced into two. I quicken my sprint.

I know exactly where Alisson is going, and by extension, what he has in mind. We’re going to use our ace trap right off the bat. We soon approach a pair of large and thick trees, yep, I’m pretty glad we had some preparation this time. My feet slide on the sandy path as I turn and slow my momentum, scrambling to get behind the tree. Alisson does the same, getting behind the other tree. I grab hold of a thick rope that was wrapped around the diameter of the tree, raising a baselard above it. I look over to Alisson, watching his hand with hawk-like vigilance. As he watches the beast encroaching on us, Alisson suddenly clasped his a hand into a fist, and swung down at the rope that was on his tree. I do the same and immediately, a whoosh of air shoots from the base of the tree.

Under a thicket of leaves against both trees, were two connected rudimentary catapults. The counterweight would be dropping in from the canopy in the form of two big rocks. Though, the trap was not as trivial as just bludgeoning the monster, flexible sticks, held back by the rope, were launched, uncoiling their tension…and sent a trio of bolas soaring toward the monster. I watch in anticipation, ready to cringe in horror at a miss. With a crunch, and scream of the monster, both triplets of bolas collapse and wrap around the monster’s thin limbs; some more efficiently than others. I need to thank Alisson for having such great timing, good thing we pre-fired our contraptions to figure out the timing, even though it was a pain to lift those boulders all the way back up twice.

Two rocks, the counterweight, dropped in from the canopy, and crushed into the creature with extreme weight. Despite it’s thin body, me and Alisson both knew that a couple hundred pound rocks weren’t going to do much to it, but we nevertheless decided to have them fall atop the creature; no matter how usually durable beasts are, any advantage is a good advantage.

“Now Celis, fire!”

As we’d planned, with the monster restrained and stunned, at least momentarily, this is the best chance we’re going to get to unleash a magic barrage on it without fear of being attacked.

Within seconds, a combined few dozen Pictun and Pict spells slam into the downed beast. We’re essentially kicking it while it’s down, and hopefully, this is all we’ll need to sway victory a safe amount in our favor. I empty about half of my mana into it, and judging from past experience, I think Alisson is about three-quarters dry. He used less magic than me, but since he has a smaller supply, he’s definitely below me in mana capacity after that strike.

The beast roars in anger as it’s pelted with our magic, but regardless me and Alisson form back up to one another, waiting to see how much damage we’d caused until further action is decided on. The dust quickly clears, as the beast shakes its head, and stumbles around, as if its in a daze. The creature is not unharmed though, its flesh is dotted and holed to hell, and there’s many dents and deformities on it thanks to the larger Pictun spells and thanks to those heavy bolas and rocks. The monster’s lightweight really worked against it, the bolas seemed to wrap and crush its bones, and the added weight really hindered it.

Despite it now being free of our trap and setting its terrifying attention back on us, my chest swells with pride. The satisfaction of truly anticipating and obliterating an opponent, it feels great!

“I think it’s on its last legs, well done Celis. Let’s take it down for good.”

Well, I feel confident. If Alisson acting so calm, and even treating the situations already won, then what could possibly go-

I’m so stupid! I swear! I really need to not raise flags like that!

Amongst my adrenaline filled stare at the beast, preparing my next course of attack, I hear a rustle of leaves by my right. From the noise, the right side of my body tingles with the pricks of paranoia, and I turn my head.

“Ho! So you’re the two that have been making all the racket!”

It’s, it’s one of the adventurers, a ranger looking one. He speaks in Phrengari, so his adventurer team is evidently an international one. Contrary to his demeanor, he’s crouched low with his bow at the ready, and hand laid on a falchion resting in its sheath on his hip. That small falchion must be for me if we’re not favorable…

I don’t say a word, looking back to the monster. Adventurers are good people, well, most of them are. I’ll let Alisson decide what to do, for now though, I need to make sure I don’t take my eyes off our prey. This monster may be weakened from our one-two ploy, but it still may be able to be extremely agile and rush me in a lapse of attention.

“…Keep your distance. This thing is fast.”

Actually aiding the ranger with information? Alisson has chosen cooperation; I must act in accordance then. Oh wow, I sound a lot like scary-Sylph; wonder why.

“Got you. I have a team in the area, this is our beastie to kill, but, ah hell, who cares?”

The ranger takes his hand off the falchion, and reaches into a pouch, withdrawing a small scrap of yellowed paper and a handful of powder. He thumbs the paper and the dust together for a moment, before aiming it toward the sky. A second later, flare of blue is shot into the sky, leaving a trail of light in its wake; it stays suspended far above the canopy, its beams of bright light pierce the canopy and illuminate the ground for at least a hundred meters.

Wow, what a powerful flare…Adventurers really do make heavy use of items, good ones too. Well, he obviously has just called for his party, so soon, it’s going to get hectic. Before Alisson can reply, the beast blurs into action, apparently wary of this newfound light splashing across the area. It rushes the three of us, with half the speed of its initial movements, however.

I’m not gonna pass up an opportunity to show off!

I dash forward, and slice at one of the monster’s limbs, with both my baselards, in a scissor action; lo and behold…one limb’s been cut. I sidestep around a retaliatory scythe, and cut another. I roll under it’s belly and sheathe my baselards mid roll, springing up and grabbing onto my stilettos, that we’re still stuck into its gut. With my stilettos in my hands, I dive away from the monster, weaving above another scythe midair, I can feel the whistle of air as it passed mere inches from my belly. I land in a roll and stand, raising a stiletto. As three arrows fly through the air, and impact squarely on the monster’s featureless face, I throw a stiletto at it’s face. Along with two arrows that hit their mark, it plunges into the beast’s head as I throw my other stiletto. An instant after the stiletto leave my fingers, I draw my baselards and cut through an approaching limb, saving myself and dealing damage at the same time.

Blitzing through the gap in its defense, I leap with all my might into the air, and swing down with the full weight of my body diagonally at the beast’s neck. My baselards satiflying crunch through the monster’s collarbone. Passing the beast, I roll across the ground, softening my fall and turning once more toward my opponent.

What meets my eyes brings a smile splashing across my face. The monster falls in slow motion before me. We won. It’s, it’s done.

A minute of tense silence passes, as all three of us wait to see if it’s really dead. But soon, Alisson’s body soon relaxes, and I follow suit, fighting back a smile of self-satisfaction. I quickly notice that Alisson didn’t move an inch from when I’d initially attacked, instead, it looks like he let me handle it; and now, he cants his head at me with a content smile.

Ah! He’s, Alisson’s proud of me!

…

Alisson couldn’t help but be proud of his apprentice. What she’d done had blown away his expectations, she was far more capable than she’d been letting on. After that first, hesitant strike, she severed limbs like it was nothing, and dodged attacks by hairbreadths multiple times. His pride almost clouded his head and made his heart flutter, though the most he let through was wry smile.

“Ah, ha…That’s, that’s quite the little girl you’ve got there…”

The ranger next to him, who’d done nothing but fire off a few shots, laughed nervously. This was now Alisson’s most pressing problem. As much as he wanted to praise Celis, he pushed her out of his mind for the moment in order to address the next course of action.

“Yes, yes. She’s the prodigy of my family you see.”

“Oh? What are you? Nobility?”

“Was. Our keep burned to ground in a revolt up in Halaruth, and us, the sole survivors, have been nomadic ever since.”

The ranger put a hand to his chin.

“So that’s why you look like little angels…nobles are always so purebred…”

Alisson hoped that by professing himself and Celis as nobles, it’d serve to drive a gap between him and the adventurer; Alisson wanted to leave and meet with Sylph, and then finally take their leave from this forest. He had no intention of making small talk with adventurers. Though, it seemed the man had at the very least a hint of disdain in his voice for nobility, Alisson could tell immediately.

“Well, we just happened to be passing by when we were attacked, I’ve never seen such a decrepit thing in my life.”

Alisson feigned ignorance. The ranger tilted his head in suspicion but didn’t do much else. As Celis was pulling out her stilettos from the corpse of the monster, Alisson instinctually rose his hand to sheathe Enhérejär.

A fatal mistake.

Alisson realized it far too late when he heard the thunk of Enhérejär, still in the form of a backsword, not able to fit into his cylindrical sheath. Alisson looked up, his face reddening, and the ranger gave him a wide-eyed stare. Thinking on his toes, Alisson slid the weapon down to rest in the palm of his hand, and attempted to turn slightly, as to hide the sheath from view. Sometimes the best form of concealment, was to simply be passive, and act like nothing is suspicious. Though, from the rangers look, Alisson didn’t think that’d fly with the scrutiny of an adventurer, a ranger no less, to contend against.

“I saw that magic barrage from a mile away, was that you or…”

The ranger mused, still in thorough distrust. Alisson’s heart dropped, if the ranger had seen the specific spells, then he would know that Celis and him were Sidonian. Alisson didn’t know whether the ranger had really seen him and Celis launch their spells, and was tricking Alisson into lying, or if the ranger genuinely didn’t know. Alisson could say that the monster had fired off the spells, but if the ranger had seen them…then he’d know that Alisson was lying…Alisson decided to tell the truth, skewed of course; hopefully, the ranger didn’t recognize the spells or was too far away to.

“Yes, our family prided itself on our ability to fabricate exotic spells. What you saw there was my grandfather’s favorite, it’s a spell than uses very little mana for how effective it is.”

“Man, your sisters’ comparable to my party’s leader, and you’ve got spells like that to boot?” The ranger shook his head with a chuckle, “Who are you two, some sorta Sidonians?”

The world, silenced. The chirping of the crickets and critters, filtered out from Alisson’s ears, and the light from the flare high in the sky, faded away. The world turned grey and bleak, and Alisson’s mind seemed to think of nothing but the human standing before him. A hint of icy blue wafted through Alisson’s mind, ever so slightly chilling him.

Alisson pupils narrowed. Almost like a cat’s, did his pupils dilate vertically. Alisson’s neck had snapped in the direction of the ranger, with his wide and dilated eyes.

A decision. A decision needed to be made, his body screamed at him. The pressure of the world collapsed on Alisson; and, with a gulp, he made his decision within a fraction of a second.

Alisson stepped toward the man, his hand blurring for the quickest knife he could draw. The ranger, recoiled, his eyes widening, his mouth opening.

Silence!

Alisson chose his target right away, the throat. A hand now rose from Alisson’s hip, equipped with a knife, it gouged itself into the ranger’s exposed neck. As time sped from its slowed state, Alisson heard the ranger gurgle as he tried to get out his words, though only blood flowed from his mouth. Alisson twisted the knife further into the man.

Exactly three seconds had passed since the ranger had uttered those damning words. Now, he was dead.

The ranger collapsed to the ground, Alisson swiftly pulling the knife out and gave it a flare, splattering blood across the ground as his muscle memory took over. Despite his mildly disgusted body language and countenance, as soon as his trance of adrenaline had worn off; Alisson could only stare, stare in horror at what he’d done.

W-w-what was I thinking?

Alisson’s breathing quickened as he backed away from the corpse, now physically showing disturbance.

I-I, I just killed a man…

Alisson’s breathing quickly shot through the roof, he was surprised that he didn’t start hyperventilating. The full realization of what had happened slowly dawned on Alisson as his breathing slowly normalized. He swallowed, not taking his eyes off of the dead man before him.

It, it was necessary. If I let him live, he would’ve found out who we were…

As Alisson finally broke sight with the man, he saw Celis, standing frozen a few meters away with a blank expression.

“Alisson. We need to leave.”

Celis sheathed her weapons. Alisson shakily nodded, sheathing Enhérejär as it transformed back into a rapier with its familiar clicking noises and serene-filled drifting slivers. As Alisson turned in the direction of Sylph’s camp however…

“Hold it!”

Alisson heard a rustle, and then a call from behind him. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head like a statue. There were two people- no, three- no, five. They emerged behind the first man, a warrior looking type clad in cut-down steel plate.

“Where’s-”

The first man called, but evidently, his words were cut short when he saw what lay in between him and Alisson. After his eyes shooting wide, the warrior then looked up with fury at Alisson, drawing the large great sword that’d hung on his back.

“You! You, tell me! What happened!”

The man shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. Alisson once again started to heavily breathe in terror, his face now breaking into a terrified grimace. One of the party members, some sort of cleric stepped over the man, starting to cast a healing spell of sorts.

“The, the monster, it-” Alisson mumbled to get out words.

“Bullshit!” The warrior retorted, taking a step forward, his comrades beside him now inching away and forming a defensive line, all with the same fury on their faces. “You murderer! Monsters don’t have any restraint! If it’d been the beast, than his body would be eaten or diced in two!” His outcry shook Alisson’s body.

Alisson, shaking in unease, didn’t notice the ploy, the bide for time that he was currently being sucked into; he could only think of how his own actions, had led to a colossal failure.

“N-n-no, you’re m-misunderstanding…” Alisson stumbled on his words.

“Fucking lying kid. I’ll kill you!” The lead adventurer, with the others now firmly in a good formation, charged toward Alisson with his massive sword brandished and at the ready. His training kicking in, Alisson rose Enhérejär to block the warrior without even thinking. A good thing, for his mind was in utter shambles. The warrior’s sword impacted on Enhérejär, creating a clash of sparks and a howl of steel, it sent him sliding on his foot an inch.

That alone reignited and reset Alisson’s mind. His two hundred years of experience did not let him down, he did not buckle under the attack. He quickly turned his head to Celis in the middle of the blade lock, his brain now fully reassuming its prior efficacy. He noticed out of the corner of his eye, the cleric who’d been healing the ranger was now preparing spells, from the glow at his hands.

“Flee!”

He said simply in Firrdu. If he spoke Sidonian, the adventurers might’ve recognized it, and if he spoke Phrengari, then they would know what Alisson had said. At the moment, this party did not have the thought of him and Celis being Sidonians, they were simply strapped for bloodlust at the sight of a fallen comrade. Alisson could relate to them, and knew that one did not think at peak performance under such loss.

Alisson, despite locking blades with an opponent a mere foot away from him, sighed in relief at his earlier panic passing, he was glad to be back to one-hundred and ten percent operability.

Celis, after only a moment of hesitation broke and fled wordlessly into the nearest clump of dense forest. She did not head straight toward Sylph’s camp of course, for why lead chasing enemies directly to a spot of rest? It was commonplace to always break and flee randomly, taking care to never lead and opponent toward a safe haven or regroup point.

The warrior, seeing this, skillfully disengaged from Alisson, taking a leap back and swiping his hand.

“Don’t let them escape!”

One of the party members, who’d seemed to have been preparing spells, unleashed a flurry of streams and bolts at his and Celis’s general direction. The cleric was quite close to be firing off such a large-scale barrage, but perhaps their vengeance and current advantage had emboldened them. Normally, this would be a great opportunity for Alisson; Enhérejär could redirect magic after all, at such a close distance, the party of adventurers would be unable to react at all. The problem was that they most certainly wouldn’t all be obliterated completely; and by that, they would’ve been able to see and recognize what Alisson had done. Alisson didn’t know if Enhérejär’s redirection was public knowledge, but, he didn’t want to take any chances. He also was not here to engage in another long battle, his only objective was too flee, he didn’t think he’d be killing every last adventurer just to conceal knowledge.

Alisson opened his mouth to form a shielding spell with the last of his mana, he was confident it could take the approaching amount of punishment.

“Obi-“

Before he was able to finish the incantation, a burst of wind slammed into his back. It wasn’t enough to knock him of his feet, but it almost did. He heard the quick, and familiar, footfalls. A wave of green beams, lasers in appearance, shot out from somewhere behind Alisson. Each of these thin green beams intersected with a single spell, and, to Alisson’s surprise; both the spell and beam disappeared in the blink of an eye. The encroaching flurry of magic, a few dozen spells, we’re simply intercepted, and seemed to have vanished from existence, like they’d been somehow cancelled by the equal number of green beams.

Before he was able to look behind him, two massive towering figures passed his sides, and took up position before Alisson, as if protecting him.

They were two of Sylph’s enforcers. The spirit had not abandoned him.

Alisson smiled.

Pushing aside the sudden surge of comradery of having allies by his side, he noticed that atop the enforcer’s heads, it seemed the usual vines and leaves had been pushed aside, exposing green glowing crystal-like orbs. If Alisson had to guess, those orbs were the source of those magic-intercepting beams.

“Tch! I knew it! They’re in cahoots with the plant demons! Gredrick, plan Grayscale!”

“Right!” Another warrior adventurer said responded whilst dashing away; straight to where Celis had ran off to. Whatever that code word was, it probably involved chasing down fleeing opponents. Normally, Alisson would’ve dropped everything and ran to the aid of his apprentice…

Though…Alisson was not worried. Celis, would be the hunter in their chase. After her act, and after all their preparation in this part of the forest; Alisson easily expected Celis to turn the table and kill this pursuer as soon as she realized she was being followed, no matter how high a ranking this adventurer team was.

“Alright! You all know what to do, those plant beasts are easy to deal with, just keep your heads on straight!”

The two other adventurers let out a roar of confidence.

Alisson was still not looking for a fight, but Sylph’s enforcers were not falling back, in fact they charged headlong toward the lead warrior.

It looks like Sylph wanted some pay back.

On the enforcers quick approach to the adventurers, the cleric started firing off singular spells, to little affect. Some were neutralized by a quick green beam, and others blew tiny holes in the enforcer’s sides, but did not slow their gait. The two warriors, the lead warrior with the great sword, and one with a buckler and shorts word held fast, which earnt them Alisson’s respect, because most men would’ve fled in terror at the sight of two behemoths advancing on you with unrelenting momentum. The two enforcers crashed upon the forward two warriors, and two the adventurers’ credit, they did not falter even an inch. The great sword wielding leader cut through the enforcer behind him whilst moving forward, essentially attempting to dissect it. However, despite his blade passing cleanly through the enforcer, it turned as if nothing had happened and it swung its massive arm at the lead warrior. He raised his greats word just in time, barely blocking the massive arms of plant mass.

The other adventurer seemed to fare much better, he’d leapt up and sliced at the crystal ball at the top of the second enforcer with his short sword.

The crystal shattered, and the adventurers sidestepped away, clearing the lane for the cleric. Now with a clear line of sight, the cleric launched off a dozen spells, holing the already limp enforcer like swiss cheese.

The lead warrior broke off from the enforcer, with his back turned to Alisson.

Alisson had intended to watch how Sylph would exact her revenge, but with such a perfect chance, he felt like Sylph would yell at him for not helping. Spurred on by the fact one enforcer was already destroyed, and another was on the ropes, Alisson thrust for the back of the lead warriors’ neck.

Unfortunately, the lead warrior turned at just the last second, either expecting or hearing the attack from Alisson.; Enhérejär pierced cleanly through the man’s shoulder, a less than stellar result. Alisson deftly retreated, easily evading the man’s follow-up attack. The lead warrior cursed, clutching his shoulder. Though, behind him, from the enforcer’s chest wafted a pink mist.

“Jaceren Antidotes! Now!”

The cleric called out to the forward two warriors, and without a moment of hesitation, they reached for their pouches and downed small purple vials of liquid. Alisson tilted his head; so there was a counter to the pacifying mist Sylph had used. ‘Jaceren’, Alisson would take care to remember.

Within the next second, the lead warrior dodged a strike by the remaining enforcer, and the other warrior leapt up, striking at enforcer’s crystal ball as before. It shattered, and the enforcer collapsed limply to the floor in a loud thud as a barrage of spells from the cleric slammed into it.

Wiping some sweat from his brow, the lead warrior turned to Alisson with a smirk, breathing heavily and clearly fatigued.

“You’re next, murderer.”

It seemed the adventurers had not noticed what Alisson had been watching for the past thirty seconds of combat. A massive flock of birds had perched themselves in the canopy above in a circle to the adventurers. One of the birds included a white owl.

Before the adventurers attacked any further, a unanimous and loud rustle sounded from all around. The three adventurers turned all at once in differing directions at the surrounding area from the mass amount of noise. What they saw prompted a gasp of surprise in them.

Behind every tree and bush, had walked into a view an enforcer. They’re were at least fifty of them. Alisson had heard them shifting slowly into their position, and quietly, but not soundlessly, encircle the adventurers. They were not all the towering and buff masses that Alisson was familiar with however, some were snake and serpentine like, and others seemed to be large and deer like; though all of them were unanimous in their trait of being made solely of plant matter. It seemed only the familiar enforcers were the ones to be equipped with that odd anti-magic crystal. Without another moment the fifty odd plant like creatures advanced on the three of them.

The adventurers were on the back foot immediately, and soon, it seemed they had chosen escape as the only option.

“T-there’s too many-!”

“Get Reyford! We’re leaving this hell-hole!”

“What about Edringrad! Those Gob-”

“Just move! Make a hole!”

With that, the adventurers turned tail, and focused their effort on a weak portion of Sylph’s encirclement. Soon, with the corpse of the ranger in hand, they fled.

It occurred to Alisson, that not a single creature of Sylph’s had fallen or been destroyed after those initial two, and that it seemed the enforcers had purposely made a gap and let the adventurers escape.

Alisson furrowed his brow upon his little revelation.

“Haha! That’s right! Run cowards!”

Landing with a roll, Sylph, descended from the canopy of the forest, jumping up and exploding with jubilee. She motioned her arms up in victory, like a gleeful child. Alisson paced over to the almost-dancing Sylph with a smile.

“What was all that then?”

“Haha…Just a little lesson from a little spirit! That’ll teach them to harvest my plants, and hunt my animals!”

It was widely accepted that harvesting materials in anyway from the Menton forest was bad karma; nothing more…Just how much resources did those adventurers siphon to incur the wrath of Sylph?

“That ranger. The one I stabbed. He is…”

“He’s dead. I, I don’t know why you killed him but…His vitals are flat; he ain’t coming back.”

Alisson sighed in relief, he regretted spoiling the air with his words of death, but he didn’t want to find out that the cleric’s healing magic had actually saved the ranger.

“And…Celis?”

Sylph looked up with a little giggle and a raised eyebrow.

“…What?” Alisson tilted his head.

“Oh, it’s nothing…” She chuckled to herself once more with a devious smirk at Alisson, “Yes, she’s fine. I’ll take you to her, I think you’ll like what you’ll see.”

Sylph started to trot off with delight, Alisson quickly followed.

Soon however, the enforcers, after staring at the retreating adventurers, even after they’d lost sight of them, fanned out, and returned; presumably to all the rest of the forest from where they’d been called up from.

“Really, I’d never thought I’d thank someone for standing around but…thank you.”

Alisson didn’t need to ask for what he was being thanked for.

“You needed a distraction, so you threw two of your, underlings, to their deaths, and then relied on me to draw the adventurers’ attention.”

Sylph nodded her head, still in glee.

“Yup. You’re quite the cunning one huh? But I didn’t send my subordinates to die, I’m not that scary. Too-Tree and Too-Seben will be fine…I wouldn’t be able to maintain this forest if I couldn’t repair my workers. But, those matrix indexing units I gave them will be tricky to replace, I gave all my variant-Too workers those to combat magic.”

Once again, Sylph used unfamiliar words, such as in her formal name, Sylpheed Wan-Wan. Though, Alisson decided to ask her about those anti-magic crystals he assumed she was talking about as they continued onward into the forest toward where Celis apparently was.

“You made those crystals?”

“Matrix. Indexing. Unit. I invented them, so I get to name them!” Alisson and Sylph both smiled for a moment. “But yes, you’re correct, I made those to combat magic…I really still have no idea how everyone suddenly could shoot lasers everywhere; I’ve analyzed it to hell and back but I’m not a technician! So, the best I could do was my matrix indexing unit.”

As Sylph finished up her explanation, the two of them came to an opening. Celis was there, pushing a baselard up against the neck of the adventurer that had left to chase her. He was wrapped in bolas, and was sweating in fear, inching as far away as he could from the baselard Celis had hovering above his neck.

“Alisson!” Her face lit up upon seeing Alisson, lifting the blade away, to the adventurer’s relief.

Alisson had already guessed as much the second Sylph started leading him in this direction, but it seemed Celis had utilized one of the traps they’d earlier prepared for the beast. Alisson had a hunch she’d pull something like this, their other traps were just begging to be used, yet thanks to Celis, the monster was killed far before they’d needed to use any other traps. Though, Celis had just dropped Alisson's true name, for that she'd made a mistake. Alisson was not a common name to call a male, but Alisson Vi Nuam was certainly not the only 'Alisson' this side of Aleeze, and with the stressful events this adventurer had just experienced, Alisson doubted he need to worry about Celis's slip-up.

“I uh, I kept him alive, I didn’t know if you wanted to-”

Alisson cleared his throat loudly. He did not need Celis spewing any information to this adventurer, all she’d do was shorten his life by giving him clues to who Celis and him were. She'd already done enough with saying Alisson's name, this adventurer's life was on the fringe due to his apprentice's little mistake. 

“Yes, I was debating whether or not to sacrifice him to our god.” He leaned in to the adventurer, “You see, we are druids who worship this spirit; but I doubt even the demon of nature would want such a pitiful lower lifeform’s energy. So, rejoice, you will live.” The adventurer exhaled loudly. Suddenly however, Sylph closed in, with wide eyes.

“You tell every last one of your adventurer buddies to never take anything from my forest again! You hear?”

She growled, although thanks to her high-pitched voice and small size, it was more like she was humming. The adventurer nodded enthusiastically.

“Good. Because if you dare pillage my land ever again, I swear on my life I will not let you leave this forest! Now flee!”

After being as intimidating as she could, Sylph squealed happily as she literally ripped apart the bolas binding the adventurers with her bare hands. He scrambled to his feet, and started running away.

“Oh! By the way, your friends went that wayee~!”

Sylph said, waving her hands in an arrow.

…

The night was now old, and the moon was high in the sky. Although the moonlight did little to pierce the surrounding canopy above. Around Sylph's de-facto abode, sat Sylph and him, as well as a half asleep Celis. The furnace Alisson had seen earlier in the day had been stoked by Sylph, and the warm, hearth filled color of orange, of fire, danced across the ground. The furnace was quite small in actuality, its size was punctuated by the mass amount of nature surrounding and covering the humbly small fire raging inside the stone part of the furnace.

Other than the light of the furnace, the small campfire was also alit, with a pot of soup boiling hoisted above it. Regrettably, all of the meat him and Celis had was already smoked; he couldn't take advantage of the furnace. But it didn't exactly matter, since Alisson was planning to restock supplies at the nearby town of Edringrad. Although, the chef deep within Alisson, was mildly disappointed.

"So, um, why exactly did you kill that adventurer?"

Sylph asked, feigning an uncaring demeanor; though it was clear she was a least a tad bit disturbed by what Alisson had done. They'd been chatting for the past while now whilst him and Celis had ate, and Alisson had been expecting the question.

"It, it is complicated. We are on a mission to head north from our homeland down in the south, and it'd be better if we did so without anyone knowing that our nation is involved. Humans, they despise us, and we, them. I couldn't take the risk."

Alisson said, staring into a mug of soup coddled by his hands, warming him.

"But what about you then? I was expecting a bloodbath from that encirclement of yours."

Sylph looked away, her countenance hardening.

"I may be the warden of this forest, but I am not in the business of murder, it's a strict rule, though I've already broken it once before..."

Sylph grumbled. Alisson looked up at her, frowning slightly.

"Then I apologize for breaking such a rule in your forest; but I had no choice."

"Eh...You don't need to apologize; politics is always such a bother isn't it?"

Sylph looked back up, a wry smile returning to her face with a shrug. Alisson nodded with a small smile in response.

"Besides, I can't exactly be angry at you, the both of you have my thanks for helping me out with my little invasive species problem. If there's anything you need, just ask, I'll be eager to repay my debt!"

Sylph flashed a wide and determined smile whilst tilting her head up in confidence. Alisson couldn't help but again feel his instinct to protect this, this child-like thing; even though she was far from a child.

"Your patronage is much appreciated, but know, please aid any of my comrades as you would us."

"Sure thing!"

Sylph nodded vigorously

"I don't normally get involved with the outside world, but I guess I've gone and made ties to some nation I've never even seen huh?"

Sylph said to herself, looking up at the sky happily. Alisson tilted his head deviously.

"If you went there, you might be overwhelmed...there's a lot more people than the trading caravans that you're used to."

Sylph locked eyes with Alisson, flashing a smug smirk.

"Ho~ Don't underestimate me, I love people!"

Alisson nodded, smiling into the soup that he was lazily twirling around with a spoon. Celis, who'd bolted her food within a hot minute, hadn't said a word during their little late-night outing. When he looked over, he saw her sitting up alright, though she had closed eyes, and Alisson could see her chest bobbing up and down with steady breath.

It seemed she'd fallen asleep sitting upright.

Alisson smiled at the sight despite himself. Alisson quietly placed his soup down and shifted over to her. Celis and him had already stripped off the steel plates and mail coifs they wore for comfort's sake. With Sylph intently watching him, Alisson grabbed on to Celis’s shoulders, and gently pushed her on to the sleeping bag she was sitting on. Taking care not to touch her directly, Alisson then flipped the blankets over her, essentially tucking her in. With a little exhale of relief at not waking her, he returned back to his previous spot, feeling the stare of Sylph upon him as he picked his soup back up.

It was regrettable, Alisson had wanted to train a little with Celis, and iron out the few imperfections he’d spotted in her form, but, after a day like today, she needed the rest.

“…That’s all?”

Sylph said suspiciously.

“What? What did you think I was going to do?”

Alisson tilted his head blankly.

“N-nothing. Forget it.” Sylph said, shaking her head. “So uh…I’ve been meaning to ask…what sort of, relationship, do you have with Celis?”

Alisson stopped halfway through a spoonful of soup, and glanced quizzically at Sylph. He was sure that Sylph had just been the second person to ever call Celistine ‘Celis’ in his presence. He swallowed the spoonful of soup and taking care not to wake Celis in too loud a tone, replied.

“She is my apprentice, and I am a teacher. Where I come from, most learning is done through mentorship, and she’s in her final leg to becoming a full grown Nekomata.”

“Ah…” Sylph murmured.

Alisson quietly resumed eating, not paying much mind to Sylph’s countenance.

“Then, how is Sidonia run as a nation then?”

After a moment of swallowing his food, Alisson replied.

“Sidonia.”

“…Huh?”

“A country named Sidonia, formally the Sidonian Empire, is headed and led by my Lady, Sidonia.”

Alisson replied quickly, he understood the confusion of people not familiar with the naming scheme. In the past, there’d been a city, numerous ships, and also art pieces, named simply ‘Sidonia’; he really didn’t know why, and personally, it was quite annoying to have to figure out what someone was talking about through context alone.

“Ah…Well, do you have any other apprentices?”

“In my,” Alisson briefly hesitated on telling someone who was not a Nekomata his age, although he quickly dismissed the thought when he remembered it was Sylph he was talking to. “…my two-hundred and fifty-nine years of living, I’ve had three other apprentices.”

“Ho~? I’d love to meet them.”

After another swallow of soup, and a brief period of silence, Alisson replied, “Two of them are dead.”

“A-ah…” Sylph stammered, evidently taken back. “I-I’m sorry for…”

“Nonsense. It’s been a long while since I’ve had to mourn for them. Besides, my most recent graduate is doing just fine, so I’m sure this one,” Alisson lifted a finger toward Celis for a moment, “Will be just fine.”

“Who’s this then, your other apprentice?”

“Leukini Al Suzu.” Alisson looked up to the sky, reminiscing with a smile. “She’s a quaint little lady, deathly white and long hair, curled like spikes I tell you. It makes her red eyes pop; it was a bit intimidating before I got used to her. She was…a bit of a brat.” He heard Sylph stifle a chuckle. “But thankfully, I’d learnt how to properly mentor from my previous apprentices. My very first apprentice was actually the older sister of my third apprentice, Bunzen Al Suzu.”

Alisson went silent for a while, thinking of how Bunzen walked all over him just like his sister; she of course shared the same coloring and attribute of her younger sister Leukini, though she was also like Apophria in her, her, body…size…

“Ah but my second apprentice was a meek little lad, Jackson Adrankins.”

Jackson had been just like Celis early in his apprenticeship, but eventually him and Alisson bonded as if they were older and younger brothers. Alisson could only remember the shock he’d felt when he read the report of his death…Same with Bunzen, although he hadn’t been fond of her, he’d deeply missed her presence by his side.

“But that was all many years ago…Now, I have to keep Celistine company.”

Sylph nodded.

“You two have quite the rapport, you know that?”

Alisson’s face briefly flared red, before quickly clearing his throat.

“I-If you say so.”

He said quickly. Sylph only smiled deviously in response.

“Oh how sociable you are…”

He really wasn’t, but Alisson dare not say so to Sylph.

“The last friends I had were behind that door in the grotto you see, for many years, they gave me orders and I’d carry them out.”

Alisson's interest was piqued immediately.

“Are they responsible for bringing you into being?”

Sylph wryly smiled.

“No, though they were just as smart as the people who did make me. So smart, that they found a cure to a supposedly incurable disease.”

“Oh?”

Sylph nodded.

“Though…that cure it, it led to their deaths. And now, nothing but corpses remain on the other side of that door...”

Sylph fell silent for a long moment. The two of them didn’t speak after that, as Alisson saw Sylph wearing that same, disturbed and stony expression that she’d previously had when they were all in the glowing cave. Sylph’s oddly dark and uncomfortable turns in expression, it made Alisson want to hug her, to comfort her, so that she wouldn’t have to show such a defeated countenance.

He soon dozed off, opposite to Celis, simply listening to the winds of the forest and crackle of the fires.

…

Alisson spurred among the few blankets that covered him, and, to his relief, he was neither coiled by Celis, or by any vines. The bright sun of midday poured in from the canopy above, it seemed that Sylph had let them sleep in. As he sat up, yawning and rubbing an eye, he scanned the area. Both fires were dead and extinguished, but Sylph was no where to be seen. As he stood, patting himself down, and cracking his neck and back, Celis too seemed to stir awake. Soon, the both of them we’re going about their routine of equipping their armor, which, for Celis, had considerably sped up in the past month. They did this in silence, the chirping of the birds being the only noise reaching Alisson’s ears.

“Howa~!”

Just as before, completely shattering the serenity of Alisson’s mind, came Sylph, landing from some sort of jump from the adjacent stone plateau, the, ‘Menton ‘’Spire’’'. She rolled, softening her landing, apparently paying no mind to dirtying herself on the ground.

“I started coming as soon as I felt movement! I don’t sleep, so I was just handling some housekeeping.”

She twitched back and forth. If Alisson had heard her without seeing her, then he’d completely believe her…the problem was her nervous smile and uncomfortable shifting, she also held one of her arms behind her back, concealing whatever she was holding. Below her nose and above her out, was the faintest trace of some sort of liquid. She looked like a child who had something minor to hide, that they were guilty of. Alisson steeled himself to ask Sylph what it was in her hand after thanking his long-life experience. He was not a parent, though he’d seen enough children and apprentices’ antics.

“Sylph, what’s that behind your back? And what’s that below your nose?”

He said in a smile whilst tilting his head. Sometimes, people said he was scary; but Alisson had not a clue what they were talking about, he did his best to not scare or discomfort his comrades.

Despite his measures of trying to not irk Sylph, her body jumped, and her smile seemed to widen. She quickly wiped at her face, and the brownish traces were wiped away.

She’s definitely hiding something…

He put his hands on his hips and leaned in slightly, as if trying to wordlessly coax Sylph. Her shoulders finally slumped, and she frowned, looking down guiltily. Sylph then extended her arm into view.

She held an empty bottle.

Alisson was thoroughly confused for a moment. Then, he recognized where the bottle was from; it was one of the two bottles of chocolate milk he’d bought back at Curlessi.

Celis and him both, erupted into a chuckle.

“W-w-what’s there to laugh at!? I’m sorry okay! I’m sorry!”

After calming, Alisson shook his head with closed eyes, smiling.

“What would prompt you to pilfer our, our chocolate m-ilk?”

Alisson almost laughed once more mid-sentence, though he kept his composure.

“Ah, it’s just, it’s just…I was curious and, and, I had a sip, and, and, I never tasted something so sweet in my life, so, so I kept on drinking and then, and then there was nothing left!”

“Ah, Celis, T’would seem we have a thief on are hands!”

“I say so, master! What shall we do with her?”

Alisson said, joking. Though, it seemed Sylph did not take it as a joke.

“Ah! Ah! I’m sorry! I, I’ll make it up to you I-”

With a few more jolly filled laughs, Alisson stepped forward, and laid a hand on Sylph’s head, cutting off her apologies. He leaned in with a smile, staring down Sylph.

“It’s fine.”

He lifted his hand and backed away.

“A-…Ah…T-thank you?”

Sylph clearly didn’t expect his words, but Alisson nonetheless carried on with his preparation and packing. Soon, the bags were rolled, and their armor was equipped. Walking over to the horses, and taking the lead off from around the tree’s, he led them back to the campfire.

Sylph stood there, once more with her hands behind her back. Though she seemed more eager than she was nervous.

“You know Sylph, if you’d wanted chocolate milk, you needn’t but ask, and I’ll ride through here with a wagon full of it if it makes you happy. There’s also an extra bottle left, if you’d like it…”

Sylph looked up, clearly surprised by Alisson’s generosity, as if she’d never been offered a thing in her life.

“N-no…really, you don’t have to do a thing for me. I, I felt bad about not repaying you in some way, so here.”

She lifted her arms, and in her hands were a pair of steel cylinders, with a little black dot on one end and a lens of glass on the other.

“I don’t have much of anything nowadays, but, this is a non-magic light source. All you need to do is press this button here,” She thumbed the black part of a cylinder, “And light will shoot out from this end.” She pointed to the other, glass-leaden end.

Sylph then pushed out her hands, almost shoving the items at Alisson. He reached and picked one up out of her hand. The diameter fit comfortably in his palm when he clenched it.

“A non-magic light source? Do not be guilty, Sylph, such utilities can sometimes prove more useful than the most powerful weapon. I graciously accept.”

Sylph’s face erupted in a smile. Alisson was happy that she felt redeemed.

“Well.”

After stowing the two cylinders away on a pouch on the stallion, Alisson looked off.

“It’s time we head out now. You seem to be ageless, and I still have quite the time left in my life; I have no doubt that we will meet sometime in the future, Sylph. I thank you for your accommodations, hospitality, and cooperation; Sidonia will not forget your aid.”

Alisson kept on staring off into the distance, but, Sylph, did not reply. Not even a pip or gasp, or mutter came from her. He was expecting her to at least get a little worked up…

When he turned his head in curiosity, he was the one gasping in shock.

Sylph, she was smiling an ear-to-ear grin. Those crescents, the ones he’d seen when he’d first met Sylph, they were brightly illuminated and shining.

“Oh! Hi there! What’s this? Trying to leave the enclosure, are we? Oh my! You two would do well for a fine examination!”

Alisson’s heart, clenched in terror. What the hell was she talking about?

“Sylph,” He turned, a brow piqued in concern, “Surely I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Hmph! Surely you do! You, designation Alisson, species, Nekomata, you are not, going one step out of your boundary without the proper authorization from wan-wan, and that is me! And I say, no! So too bad!”

Alisson took a step for Sylph, an eye twitching.

“Stop this jest.”

“Oh my, oh my, do not attempt to control me of all things! My rank far outstrips yours, so just sit and obey! Hmph!”

Still grinning psychotically, Sylph stepped forward, and launched off her front foot, slamming into Alisson with extreme force. Though he didn’t expect it, Alisson did not buckle. Within seconds, Celis ran to his aid, and the two of them combined were able to restrain the grappling Sylph from the front and back.

“Sylph, get a hold of yourself!”

Still resisting immensely, Alisson called out to Sylph, though it did little to phase her; as if she’d ignored him.

“Please, Sylph, see what you’re doing…”

Alisson said once more, defeatedly.

“Alisson…it’s no use…”

Celis said, struggling to keep hold of Sylph from behind.

“I, I see. Perhaps she has mood swings like this normally!”

Alisson retorted, still having trouble restraining the girl a third his size.

“Y-yeah…hopefully-!?”

A vine slammed into the ground not a foot away from the three of them, creating a small crater in the ground with it’s explosive force. Several more slithered across the ground and undulated into the air, as if poising to strike. They’d originated from that stone in the Menton Spire, just like last time. Facing the poise of several vines with such destructive force, him and Celis let go immediately, jumping back and putting distance between themselves and the spirit, nearing the horses.

“Alisson, we need to leave!”

Alisson glanced at Sylph one last time. He clenched a fist and clicked his tongue, making up his mind. He didn’t want to fight a friend.

I, I didn’t want it to end like this-!

“Right! We’re, we’re leaving!”

He turned and mounted the stallion in a blur, Celis to the same with her mare.

The vines quickly slammed into the ground where they were only moments before.

“Oh you’re not going anywhere! Do not leave!”

With one last glance at Sylph, now surrounded by dozens of vines undulating into the air, Alisson kicked the side of his stallion, and both him and Celis sped off.

Not looking back, Alisson rode with clenched eyes…He only hoped to not let the droplets of water forming at his eyes be visible to Celis.

…

“Right! We’re, we’re leaving!”

“Oh you’re not going anywhere! Do not leave!”

Her vines lashed out, but alas, a miss; why had that been?

Before her, the two left upon their steeds. A minute passed in silence, in blankness.

“Do, do not, do not leave!” She repeated. “Don’t, Don’t go!” Her voice started to falter, and the yellow crescents at her eyes, dulled, and faded away as she collapsed to her knees.

“No, no! Don’t, don’t go! Please! No, no! Don’t…I, I beg of you…” Droplets fell from her eyes, landing upon the dirt. She sniveled. “Please,” Sputtering, and wallowing in convulsion, the spirit spoke in labored breaths between her crying. “I, I’m sorry…I’m sorry…please, come back…”

***

Addendum

"[Construct authentication required.]"

"I, I just told you, you, you stupid machine! Who else would it be?"

"[...Authentication confirmed. Construct designation, 1-1. Audio link enabled.]"

In the middle of a dark cave, a single little girl stood standing on the other side of a door. It seemed that the door had just spoken to her.

"Ah, nice of you to check in, you're only twelve hours late."

A voice boomed from the door, dissimilar from the first, evidently fabricated, one.

"Oh! Is that Sylphy?"

Another, feminine, voice sounded from the door.

"Yes, yes. It is our little construct. You come empty handed, explain yourself."

"What do you mean, 'emptyhanded'?"

The girl responded, with angst.

"You were ordered to retrieve the specimen we detected on the surface...That mineral we-"

"Yes. I have it."

The girl clenched her fist.

"Then hand it over."

A small square on the door slid open with a gust of steam and smoke, revealing an opening for the girl to place the rock into. The girl stood silent for a long moment.

"...No. I've found something, it's, it's dangerous-"

"That is an order 1-1. You will comply, or do you want your central matrix shut off?"

The girl didn't not respond, she sat still, dejected.

"It'd be the third time this month alone, damned malfunctioning piece of junk, just turn it off for good already! Even its matrix shuts off randomly from time to time, what a piece of crap!"

Another, more angry voice, shouted from the door, contrary to the collected first voice and airheaded second.

"1-1. Respond. Or we will be forced to suspend your autonomy as my colleague so aptly put it."

The girl clenched her fist tighter.

"No. I'm not going to hand it over! This is contaminated, it's a virus in hiding I've scanned it myself-"

“1-1. Do not attempt to usurp our control. There is a plague spreading among the lower levels of the facility, would you be so cruel as to neglect a potential cure?”

“I, I, this will bring more harm than good, you don’t understand-!”

The girl’s shoulders suddenly went limp, her neck drooped and her head suddenly hung low. Her eyes, illuminated in a bright yellow, in the shape of two crescents.

"Took you long enough. It's just flipping a switch, next time, keep the damned thing turned off; we already have enough of a problem going around."

The third voice remarked.

"Now, 1-1. Insert the specimen, and return to passive patrol."

Ignoring the jeering of the third, the first voice coolly spoke.

"…Understood."

Th girl said in monotone, straightening and promptly walking across a small strip of rock that cut a circle of clear water in two.

...

"[Construct authentication required.]"

"Sylpheed 1-1. Authenticate."

"[Construct authentication confirmed. Audio link enabled.]"

"1-1! Oh, thank the gods, 1-1 is out there!"

A few crashes were heard through the sound from the door, like people scrambling and shoving at each other.

"1-1, containment has failed, I repeat, quarantined individuals have broken containment. They've taken control of the rest of the facility, we need to get out of here, now!"

"Request for shelter hermetic door opening received. What is the codeword?"

The girl said, blankly staring at the door.

"B-Broken Key! That's, that it’s right?"

"Yeah I think that it’s it, but why do we even need 1-1 to get out of here, that elevator was already bad enough."

"Stow it. The hermetic door can only be opened with outside verification as well as inside, it’s to prevent unnecessary exfiltration from the facility."

A brief period of silence followed, before the girl replied slowly, her eyes burning with yellow,

"Code confirmed. The opening procedure is beginning. Please allow me access to facility utilities to confirm shelter well-being."

"Right, I'm turning off security measures now, you should have full control, 1-1.”

“Tch. So we’re really going on to the surface huh? Well, it’s probably still a better hell than what’s behind us-!?”

A crashing was heard, as if a door had been trounced and thrown open.

“You-! You selfish bastards!”

An exacerbated voice said, muffled but infinitely frustrated.

“Get back! Get back! I’ll shoot!”

Shouting and sounds of screaming ensured, as if two people were locked in a physical grapple for a moment. The sounds ended with a doublet of ear-piercingly loud explosions.

“What, what the hell? I wasn’t expecting anyone to follow us all the way to the surface…”

“You, you didn’t have to shoot him! What the hell!”

“He could’ve been infected, we can’t risk-!”

“Could’ve? He was! Everyone down there is fucking infected! Now we’re all infected! Don’t you see! We’re all fucked!”

“…We don’t know that.”

“So what? You think going on to the surface and bringing the virus with us is a just thing to do!? We’re not here to endanger the entire world!”

“If I may interrupt, gentlemen. Hermetic door opening process is now ready for activation. There is a discrepancy however.”

“…What is it 1-1?”

“Protocol specifically states that the spread of communicable disease is to be relegated at all costs. Scans and camera activity show that approximately one-hundred percent of staff personal are compromised.”

“…What? What the hell do you mean!?”

“Construct 1-1 is now enacting protocol in the case of a D-E class quarantine containment failure.”

“That’s…that’s not what I mean, just, just open the damn door already.”

“That is a breach in protocol. I cannot comply.”

“Tch…somebody has to go back down and turn her central matrix back on, I think she’ll be more cooperative-”

“No. I cannot let you do that. You will not further break protocol by means of abusing a construct for selfish reasons.”

“…What?”

“You are being terminated.”

“…Huh?”

A dull hiss suddenly was heard, like air rushing through metal.

“What the hell are you two talking about over there! Hurry up!”

“Yeah, we can’t hold this door forever, another elevator came up! They’re pushing real hard-!”

A flurry of disgruntled voices sounded, they sounded muffled and farther away from the original.

“Hey, what’s that, up there, in the ventilation?”

“It’s, gas…?”

“-It’s gas! It’s gas!”

“Quickly! Get that door open!”

“1-1! Open the door!”

The girl did not respond.

“Ah! Fuck it! I’d rather go down the elevator and die than being choked out by-! It’s, it’s locked! We’re locked in!”

“Shit! Let us out damnit!”

A loud banging was heard on the door, much different from the previous conversation, like it was actually taking place and not being funneled by some sort of pipe.

“Fuck! Fuck-!”

“No, I, I don’t wanna die like this!”

“God damnit! 1-1, please! Just open the door…”

A numerous many minutes passed, as the banging and clanging upon the door intensified along with the pleading and begging on those on the other side of it.

Soon however, the sounds and screaming dulled, and quieted to sobbing, until they no longer were heard. Small specks of cyan, glowing with their color, floated and wafted from the door, and into the water. The girl sat staring blankly at the door, as if unknowing to anything she’d heard. After a moment though, the yellow crescents suddenly winked off. Then they relit, then they dulled once more.

“Huh? I’ve…I’ve…”

For a moment, the girl sat puzzled, looking at her surroundings.

“Wait. That’s…why have I been given security clearance?” Her voice rapidly picked up in tempo, as it seemed whatever she was seeing through her alien eyes, the dozens of images and data figures, were suddenly understood by her.

“Wait! No! Don’t tell me!”

She suddenly dashed for the door, and quickly tapped a small three array of rectangular buttons with the dexterity a little girl shouldn’t be capable of having. The door, with a puff of steam and groaning whirring, slowly opened.

With the doors opening, came a wave of dark yellow gas. It washed over the girl, though she payed no mind to it. Her face was only locked onto one thing, the corpses that’d fallen from the other side of the door. It seemed they’d died against the door, still beating and scratching at it in death.

The girl collapsed, her legs splayed. Staring with wide eyes.

“There’s…there’s no one left…every single floor has been flooded with…zero life signs detected…I’m, I’m, I’m all alone…”

She started to sputter, tears forming at her eyes. The corpses she saw before her, would be the last human faces to grace her eyes for numerous millennia.