The Flicker was a strange sort of spirit, seemingly incorporeal, but very much physical.

I still didn’t know what made them so valuable, so I asked Umara.

“Hey, what’s this thing used for? Do you hunt them for a Crystal or something?”

“Oh, heavens no. Quite the opposite. Flickers are almost always turned into a Companion Spirit. Because they’re similar to summoner spirits, they can be bonded to a human, turning them into a lifelong companion. The only thing that makes something like that difficult is the age of the Flicker. Younger is better because the bond has longer to mature and you don’t need to overcome as many existing connections. At the very least, there’s no difference in talent among Flickers, so age is the only thing to pay attention to.”

“How can you tell its age?”

“They have Crests that grow. The larger, the older. But you need a special magic to display it. Mina should have a device to reveal it. We’ll wait for her.”

“Mm.”

I bobbed my head, staring at the creature for a bit longer before looking back out.

All the others were still trying to capture their Flickers, but some groups had already given up or failed entirely. I could only see four bikes in the distance.

At some point, Umara tapped her Aerial and sent a message. After that we waited, and eventually, Mina came driving over.

“Hey! You got it?!”

“Yea!”

Umara smiled as Mina came to a halt beside us, taking large strides and observing every inch of the six legged wolf.

“It looks cool! Oh, let’s see how old it is.”

With a wave of the hand, she brought out a device. It was a large collar, which she placed around its neck and activated.

The collar flashed before some magic projected an image into the air before it.

It was the Crest. This creature had a crest composed of a bunch of star formations overlapped on top of each other. In the middle of all these layers was a single circle, and the layers, despite being erratic, had clear levels to them.

And after the device did its work, we saw a number pop up below the crest.

1553.

I tilted my head, unsure of what that meant. Surely this thing wasn’t over a thousand years old, right?

I heard Mina gasp a bit beside us, muttering in surprise.

“Under 2000 days old! Amazing! You got a young one, Umara!”

“Not even 5 years old… This would go for a lot of money.”

Umara mumbled, kneeling down and dispersing her spell that bound the creature.

It seemed the collar acted as a restraint since it still couldn’t escape. Like that, Umara looked into its eyes for a bit before standing back up.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to have this, Mina? It’s your birthday, after all.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. I couldn’t choose my own Companion even if I captured it myself. If my family finds one that fits me then I’ll get it. Otherwise it isn’t happening.”

“Even if this one might fit you?”

“Trust me, it’s not worth the trouble. Just take it. Even if you don’t want to use it, you can just sell it. Young ones go for sky high prices these days. You could buy yourself something nice with that.”

“Hm, alright. Thanks, Mina.”

“Hey, you caught it on your own. That alone means you earned it.”

“I only did the easy part.”

Umara turned and looked back at me, smiling before reaching out and intertwining her fingers with mine.

“I had some great help.”

“Is that right? Heh, you two are chummy everyone you go, huh? I heard you guys were close, but you can’t keep your hands off each other.”

“Hm…”

Umara hummed and reddened a bit, trying and failing to keep her embarrassment hidden.

Mina laughed.

“Hehe, you’ve always been cute like that. I know there’s some bad words going around, but I wish you two happiness. John, be sure you treat my friend well. She deserves nothing but the best. I hope you can give that to her.”

“If I can, I’ll do so for the rest of her life.”

“Oho.”

Mina sported a funny grin as I leaned down toward an increasingly red Umara, giving her a kiss on the head and letting her sink into my chest.

We both chuckled.

“Alright. So long as she’s happy, I don’t wish for anything more. Hopefully these people will be wrapping up soon so we can go back. Until then I’ll go watch them, but you two can head back ahead of us. The head butler back home will be able to help you with the Flicker. To get it there, just use this cage.”

She waved, a large sled appearing on the floor before us.

On top of the sled was a large cage more than big enough for the Flicker. Using magic, Umara was able to guide it in before shutting it and hooking the cage up to our bike.

With that, we started making our way back to the estate, Flicker in tow.

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……

…

Umara and I were alone within the Hawk Estate for over an hour. It was only then that Mina finally returned with the rest of her guests.

Apparently they managed to capture two more Flickers, though it took collective effort and large dedication. At least it paid off.

Not that we minded alone time, but sitting around awkwardly in an unfamiliar estate wasn’t exactly fun.

In that time though we were able to have the head butler send the Flicker we caught to the Talerria Estate. Umara also sent a message to her mother notifying her about it.

After that we held a little discussion about what to do with it.

Umara liked the Flicker, that much I was aware of. And they were rare enough that not even nobility could hold stockpiles of them. While they could be found and hunted with relative certainty so long as a noble wanted it, the problem of age and type was a major factor in why they were still incredibly rare to acquire.

Flickers could live longer than humans, and they only gained more power the longer they lived. And they couldn’t be held in confinement otherwise they would die. There were only two places they could properly thrive.

The mind of a human, and the wild.

How they worked, what they were, and almost everything else about their existence was a mystery. But that was all overshadowed by the fact that they could be made into Companion Spirits.

These were creatures that could fight and assist in battle, and one notable trait they all shared was their hatred for the Scourge.

Flickers were actually known to be found on battlefields. You could find groups of them out in the wild hunting Scourge beasts. There were even historical records of entire armies of Flickers appearing during some of the biggest Scourge Tides in military history.

They were thought to be the antithesis to the Scourge, and because of that, where the Scourge was known as evil, Flickers were regarded as sacred, though not officially.

Some people called them fairies. To even see one was a legendary encounter for the ordinary.

It was also said that Flickers were common in the Outlands. The only reason they were rare around the Kingdom was because they were hunted so often. Our recent hunt proved that fact.

However, there was one place within humanity’s territory that they appeared often.

The Church.

Apparently, Flickers could be found in abundance within the Church. It was said that to attain a Companion Spirit was normal for the Templars, the Church’s soldiers.

I decided to ask Vetsmon about that sometime. Still, I couldn’t help but think that the Church had a lot of things going for them. This was yet another thing on that list.

All of this painted a clear image that Flickers were incredibly valuable. While all Flickers had the same talent, their environment dictated how much they could grow.

The Flickers that hunted the Scourge regularly were said to be incredibly powerful, while ones residing within the peaceful borders of the Kingdom were weaker. However, this was only a matter of training.

And if a Flicker became the Companion Spirit of someone who fought the Scourge, that Flicker would grow alongside its partner.

If I or Umara bonded with our captured Flicker, then its future power would be directly dictated by our own. So while it was useless in the hands of the average or ordinary, it was disgustingly powerful in the hands of the strong.

It effectively doubled your combat power, depending on how you used it. When thought of like that, it was almost like their very existence on this world was for the express purpose of either fighting the Scourge or helping humans fight the Scourge.

So a young Flicker that could be easily bonded to a human was incredibly valuable. Even someone like Mina said they could go for sky high prices, which meant that a single Flicker could move a mountain of gold.

No wonder everyone was so excited to go Flicker hunting. Though, I couldn’t help but feel like these nobles really did live in an entirely different world from everyone else.

Hunting extremely valuable creatures was simply seen as an exciting activity, not the chance of a lifetime that it was. And that was only to the children who didn’t have a Flicker. Otherwise, it wasn’t even that.

I could barely wrap my head around that level of living.

Either way, I understood how valuable the Flicker was. In fact, if I were able to make it my companion, then I would have a creature with the strength of a knight to protect me. For my fragile self, it could be another critical layer of protection.

But it was the same thing for Umara. Having a creature to occupy targets so she could release spells without contention would do wonders for her combat prowess.

Despite that, when we talked about it, she actually brought up the notion of giving it to me.

When she said that, I just stared at her for a bit before putting a pin in that conversation. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to fight that battle yet, especially since by that time, everyone else had come back.

So from there, the two of us shifted back into birthday part mode. Mina only had a large feast planned, during which many more people showed up. Not everyone was invited for the hunt, only her closer friends.

During that feast, we simply engorged ourselves with foods and exotic treats. There was also Mina’s favorite band that came and gave us music.

However, unlike the last noble gathering I went to, I wasn’t really allowed to stay out of the way. That was because of Umara.

Since she was Mina’s close friend, we were seated at the main table of the dining hall where many of the other guests came and went. It was the center of the function, and I was right there in the middle of it.

Despite the rumors, or perhaps because of them, Umara was talked to a lot. And since it was rude to eat while entertaining someone, I wasn’t allowed to do so since I was her partner.

And it wasn’t like I was completely detached. I was introduced to a bunch of people whose names I forgot 10 seconds after they gave it to me. And then I had to go along with their small talk, which was painfully boring.

They seemed to have that down to a science. A conversation could be dragged on for hours if you let them bounce between dozens of light topics with no substance to speak of. And it seemed to accomplish nothing but prevent other people from coming over.

It was nothing but trying to maintain attention, as if sitting before Umara for longer somehow gave them more brownie points.

I was sick and tired of it 10 minutes into our conversation with the first pair of individuals who sought our time. And there were at least a dozen afterward.

And yet, Umara went with it all without ever showing discontent. She smiled the entire time, showing utmost courtesy and friendliness to everyone that came over. Every conversation she held looked as genuine as they could be, as if she truly cared about every detail of these people’s lives.

I was amazed. Despite my commitment to laying low for our sake, I was almost tempted to shatter the veil of fake pleasantries and chase everyone away. That was especially so when men started coming over and introducing themselves to her as if I didn’t exist.

I wasn’t jealous or threatened in any way. It was just annoying to be so blatantly undermined like that and be held back by social etiquette.

But I wasn’t interested in making a scene. They weren’t outright attacking me, just playing a bunch of irritating social games.

So I endured through all the snide remarks and provoking smiles. Even without my Aura, the contempt was palpable. It was like they did it all for no other reason than to piss me off. Anything that would make me slip, cause a scene, and degrade our reputations further.

Yet I simply rolled with it, responding politely where necessary and taking small victories when I could. The little things, like refusing to shake someone’s outstretched hand, was where I got my small slice of payback.

Everything else was handled by Umara. She was the star of our show anyway. I was just the dunce who followed her.

And she knew just what I liked to hear. Unlike me, she could navigate the social bullshit gracefully. The wording, the delivery, the intent and implications. She wielded it all like a damn sword and struck at every opportune moment like a snake.

She wasn’t one to be pushed around, and insulting me was an insult to her. So I let her do the work for both of us.

And it was like that until the feast finally ended. It went without direct confrontation yet I found myself more drained than if it actually had.

Once we boarded our carriage to head to the city teleporter, I let out a long sigh, loosening the collar of my shirt before taking out my cigar case.

I lit one and took a few puffs before handing it to Umara so she could do the same. After a few seconds both of us felt its rejuvenating effects, sitting in silence while the carriage rolled.