Gerhart reentered the cabin, his hair dripping wet.

“Fuck. It’s raining outside?”

“Hi to you too, Talia. Slept well? And no, I decided to take a swim in the nearby lake.”

“Really? Isn’t that stupid?”

“Yep. I thought, ‘What would Talia do?’ And before I knew it, I was already in the water.”

“...”

“No, I’m kidding. It’s raining pretty heavily for some reason.”

Gerhart removed his shirt and tried to wring as much water as possible from it.

“Damn. That’s going to make it a pain to move.”

“Unlike your wounds?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me! Can’t we just take it easy until it stops raining?”

Talia began sitting up but realized it was too strenuous, so she laid back down and looked at Gerhart from behind Ritzy’s white hair.

“Nope. I wish we could, but a certain someone went ahead and put us on the run, so we need to keep moving. And the rain is good. It will cover our tracks. We should make use of it.”

“Can you carry me again?”

Talia blinked her eyes repeatedly in a flirtatious manner. But coupled with her pale face, it looked like she belonged in an asylum.

“Depends. Did you lose weight while I was gone?”

Talia realized her winking didn’t work, so she stopped. Thankfully.

“I lost a lot of blood. If that counts.”

She tried an old-fashioned smile. It didn’t work either, and Gerhart remained unmoved as he unwrapped his harvest.

Gerhart unwrapped a large leaf and revealed a pile of berries of various kinds.

“Oh, is that breakfast!”

“Awfully convenient time to wake up, Ritzy.”

Talia narrowed her eyes as Ritzy sat up and grabbed a few berries.

“Hmm?”

“Gimme some.”

Gerhart held forth the leaf so that Talia could grab some berries and try to stave off her hunger with one hand, and he kept Ritzy away with the other. Gerhart looked at the third of the pile that was left and threw it down.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He hadn’t managed to find much, but it was better than nothing. And they would need as much as they could get their hands on if they were going to try and escape from the people coming to chase them because they killed Michmond. Oh, and burning down Vestor. Some people were probably angry about that.

Gerhart looked at his two friends.

“Okay. I need a nap. But first, it looks like the rain’s going to continue through the night, but we should get going as quickly as possible. So, we need to decide where we’re going.”

“What do you think, Gerry?”

Gerhart sat down on the floor as he thought about it. He had thought about it a little when he was outside foraging for something to eat, but he had prioritized concentrating on the food, so he hadn’t gotten very far. He still came to an answer relatively quickly, though.

“I say we cross through the forest to Chitran first as a general objective. We can think about what we’re going to do there when we get there. But with the certificate, I can find simple work. Talia can probably find some work doing what you did for Old Man Kelps, and Rit will do his necromancy stuff.”

Both Ritzy and Talia looked a little hesitant. But they didn’t outright deny Gerhart’s suggestion.

“Eh… Isn’t Chitran at war with us, well not us, but Shiria? How are we going to cross the border?”

Gerhart nodded at Talia’s reasonable point.

“Baron Michmond will probably send out wanted posters as soon as he learns about Michmond’s death. We’ll use those and say we’re political refugees or something. I doubt Chitran will say no to three someones who partook in the assassination of a noble.”

“Can’t we just sneak our way inside?”

“Too risky, Ritzy. We’ll probably have to revise our plans when we get there since Ritzy’s necromancy is a little off. But it sounds like a decent plan, Gerhart.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah. One could almost suspect that you’re the one who planned it all, not Ritzy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way little ol’ Gerry could do something like that. Right, Gerry?”

“...”

Ritzy and Talia looked at Gerhart in shock as he was silent for a little longer than they expected. But when they looked at him and squinted to see anything in the darkness, they could vaguely see that his eyes were closed. The faint snoring only confirmed that Gerhart had fallen asleep in a sitting position in the middle of their conversation.

Ritzy put his finger over his mouth and shushed Talia as they also laid back down to rest as much as they could before they had to move.

But they didn’t lie down for long before Ritzy sat up with a start. Talia grabbed his shoulder, despite the pain in her limbs, and yanked him back down. Ritzy could faintly make out her glare but ignored it and whispered in Talia’s ear so that Gerhart didn’t wake up.

“Let’s go to the dungeon.”

“This isn’t the time for that, Ritzy. I know you wanted to go before we ever left town, but we need to prioritize escaping Baron Michmond’s knights. Unlike the metal clowns in town, they will be actual knights with mana. We need to take advantage of the chaos caused by your little fire and our headstart.”

“Yeah, I know. But your injuries will only worsen and drag us down–”

“Whose fault is that? You two are the ones who didn’t help me against a swarm of guards.”

“I was busy. Anyways. Clearing the dungeon will give us stuff like potions, and we can probably find actual food inside that we can bring with us instead of relying on leafy berries and berry leaves.”

Ritzy made a compelling argument, and Talia glanced at her body. The cuts and scrapes all over her arms and legs weren’t that bad. It looked worse than it actually was due to all the blood, but all of the wounds were shallow and would heal in a few days – a week at most – as long as she rested and ate properly.

But the gash in her stomach required her to stay in bed if she wanted it to even begin healing. Moving around would only tear it open. She looked at Ritzy again.

“And…?”

When Ritzy made sense, Talia knew there was something else lurking behind his words.

“I’ve always wanted to try a quick summoning and a battlefield summoning. If we go to the dungeon, I’ll get to try both.”

Ritzy had an eager grin that filled his eyes with light as he confirmed Talia’s suspicions.

“...knew it.”