“Where is it…?” Clair muttered, her eyes scanning the area restlessly.

I felt the same frustration, since we ended up right back where we started. For a while now, we had been searching for Elora, the village’s cartwright, who was said to be our best chance at securing a new means of travel.

Do we have time for this?

“As I thought, I should just use my ma–”

“Lune,” Clair interrupted me. “Don’t. It might be dangerous.”

“No, it’s not…”

Since fairly recently, Clair refused to let me use my magic on a whim. This too was frustrating. Well, we had discussed it a few times already, so I understood her reasoning.

It all came down to this question: how did these oracles manage to take us by surprise in those woods? Before leaving the capital, I had even confirmed with Guidance magic that there were no survivors nearby, so it was unlikely that they had been following us all along.

Specifically, Clair was afraid this shady group had a way to use my own magic to track us. Maybe I was giving my target a way to trace back my location as I found theirs, a bit like secretly watching someone in a mirror and realizing afterward they could see my reflection as well.

Not relying on my magic for every little thing was probably wise, but there was one major issue: both Clair and I had a terrible sense of direction. Without my magic, I believed we would be incapable of surviving. This was just made evident by the fact that we had managed to get lost in such a tiny town.

We certainly had grown dependent on the spirit of Guidance. Maybe it had specifically chosen me as a host to fill the gaps in our hopelessness.

With this magic, I was given the ability to find just about anyone or any creature as long as they still had a spark of life. This power had saved us many times and it was pivotal in my search for a sanctuary.

Therefore, while I believed Clair’s worry was natural, I just couldn’t bring myself to think my own spirit would put me in danger. Moreover, the restricted range of this search meant my mana wouldn’t leave the village, minimizing the risks of being seen by our pursuers.

For these reasons, and maybe also because I didn’t want to waste the rest of the day going in circles, I believed relying on my magic in this particular situation was the right choice.

“Spirit, do you hear me?”

“Seriously? Are you in your rebellious phase?”

Sorry. I’ll take whatever punishment comes later.

“Please,” I continued, “listen to my plea. Will you show us the way toward Elo— Ngh…?!”

But my prayer was interrupted by a wave of nausea.

Wha…?

Instead of feeling the familiar warmth of guidance, a chilling mix of sadness and fear washed over me. The spell didn’t work.

But it wasn’t because my magic failed to find this Elora person or because I ran out of mana. Rather, the spirit of Guidance had simply refused the task altogether. It was one of those times when it arbitrarily acted on its own.

“Lune,” Clair said with the realization of what it entailed. “What did you see?”

She’s sharp.

In truth, just like the other times this phenomenon had happened to me, the denial of my request by my spirit didn’t come with just lightheadedness. In fact, this sickening effect was the consequence of something else. More specifically, I had been shown a terrible scene.

“... It’s Alice,” I revealed once I pulled myself together. “She’s in danger.”

The scene I saw was blurry and short with indistinct sound, but the intense feelings and sensations that accompanied the vision were all very clear. This nausea was just my mind getting overwhelmed after I experienced everything at once.

The message was clear: my spirit was asking me to save someone. I did find it ironic that I was the one being tasked to do something right after having my own request flatly rejected, though.

These warnings from my spirits were initially rare, but they got more frequent this year after we started taking more and more risks in this kingdom. Just this month, my spirit had let me know about three different tragedies that would affect me or people close to me.

“That girl… Did she say something out of line?”

“I don’t know.”

“How long do we have?”

“... I’m not sure either, but less than an hour.”

“What should we do?”

On these rare occasions, Clair entirely gave up her elder sister's role and let me decide on what to do instead. Just a few days ago, her full trust in my sudden and unexpected directives had saved us right before that threat reached us in the capital.

But in this situation… I didn’t know what to do.

I had no idea how to prevent that scene from happening. To begin with, it wasn’t like I had a clear idea of what would occur. I had only felt the distress of losing someone I cared about, along with a metallic scent and the hazy vision of someone with long white hair lying on a wooden floor. That was all I had experienced.

It was so approximative that I couldn’t even rule out that I was watching an elderly woman. Though the emotional response I had felt matched more what I’d expect if something happened to Alice, the target of salvation.

“For now,” I said, “let’s return to where we left Alice earlier.”

“... Can’t we just run away?”

“You can’t be serious…”

It was only natural that Clair wasn’t too enthusiastic about us throwing ourselves into unknown danger, but we couldn’t just leave Alice to her fate. Especially after we had suffered so much to find her.

“Fine, fine,” she complied. “So... Where do we go?”

Ah…

Whenever I had similar visions, the danger was usually upon us before we could figure out where to go, but now we had to relocate to prevent a tragedy.

But I was just denied…

I had never asked for help from the spirit of Guidance so soon after such a vision, so I wasn’t sure if it would agree or give me another vision instead. This thought was scary.

“Spirit… I implore you, please guide me to Alice’s location!”

…!

This time, my spirit didn’t reject me and told me exactly what direction to go, as well as a good estimation of the distance separating me from Alice.

Thank you!

***

Within only a few minutes, we reached the place where we had left Alice with those gentlemen.

This is the house.

As much as I wanted to barge in, I reconsidered. Because the threat might have already been there, bringing all the attention to us could make things escalate even faster.

Slowly opening the door, what we saw was… Alice, comfortably seated at a table and nibbling on an assortment of biscuits. That gap between the calmness of this scene and the one I saw earlier was surreal and made me question my sanity.

“... Alice?”

“Bfft–?!” Alice, finally noticing our presence, started coughing uncontrollably.

She’s choking?!

“Huh,” Clair smirked. “Looks like we were the danger all along.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes! Do something, please!”

“Y-yes!”

She started running, but Alice eventually managed to swallow before Clair reached her.

“What… are you doing here? I’m not finished yet...”

“That much I can see,” Clair said as she pointed to the plate filled with treats on the table. “Go on, keep guzzling while we are trying to save your life.”

“Y-you’ve got it wrong, I was talking about the discussion with the mayor! And I’m only eating this for the sake of my magic!”

She’s definitely lying about that last part…

As far as I knew, cookies didn’t replenish mana. This was clearly a cheap attempt to keep face as a noble after being seen stuffing her mouth with sugary treats.

Clair, who surprisingly was the only one still focused on the task, grabbed Alice’s hand. “Whatever you say. We’re leaving this place.”

“L-let go of me!” Alice cried out. “What is wrong with you?!”

She was so baffled that even her tone and way of speaking slightly shifted and betrayed her noble background.

I could understand her confusion, however. Clair had shamefully abandoned her with those gentlemen before, and now we had come back not that long after just to tell her what probably sounded like nonsense.

“You can’t stay here, Alice,” I explained. “It’s dangerous.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t even given my testimony yet. Go buy a carriage or something.”

From the change in Alice’s expression, I could tell Clair increased the force she was applying on her arm. “I said we’re leaving.”

“F-fine! What the hell…”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

… Sorry about this.

I felt bad for Alice. Our warning couldn’t be more specific than simply telling her she was in danger, and yet Clair acted as if our words were absolute and Alice was in the wrong for not blindly stopping everything she was doing.

Once we left this familiar wooden floor and found ourselves outside, I sighed in relief. This did not mean something similar to what I had seen couldn’t occur outside, of course, but it was a start.

Is danger still looming somewhere?

“So,” Alice said as she slowly rotated her now unrestrained wrist, “What was that about?”

“Well… I’m not sure.”

“Are you being serious…? Can I go back, now?”

“You can’t! You’ll die!”

“I’ll what, now?”

Clair gestured for us to quiet down and pointed in one direction. “Um… Are these soldiers coming at us?”

Alice traded her annoyed expression for one of disbelief. “What are knights doing here…?”

In the distance, I indeed noticed a squad of about a dozen people in armor coming straight at us.

If this is the source, do we even stand a chance?

The three of us stayed like that for a moment, not daring to move. Alice was just generally confused, Clair was likely gauging if impairing their magic was the right thing to do, and I was at a complete loss about our next course of action.

“Lune,” Clair said in a much more serious tone than before, “What should I do?”

I don’t know…!

While I appreciated that she trusted me, I was put in a very uncomfortable position. Should I be the one to make the call about her magic even though she knew its limitations more than anyone else?

Given that she hadn’t started impairing these men, she likely estimated it wouldn’t work. There were too many of them, they might also be too far away, and they could probably still fight with their weapons. I wasn’t even sure if they were the cause of Alice’s harm. And even if they were, since I didn’t know their motive, starting the hostilities by removing their ability to use magic could make things worse.

It was also possible Clair was simply reticent about getting actively involved and was considering letting Alice deal with the situation by herself.

By herself…?

I finally looked at Clair. “Augment Alice.”

“Are you sure?”

“... Yes.”

“Fine,” she grumbled.

I was perfectly aware Clair had explicitly asked me to never mention this ability with Alice nearby, but the situation was dire. I didn’t have the time to convey what I needed her to do in a roundabout way.

Eh?

Just as I checked if Alice seemed to have pieced Clair’s magic together from just these fragments, I realized she hadn’t been paying attention to our little exchange at all.

Now she’s scared…?

She hadn’t been displaying fear when we were all tied to a tree in front of those violent people threatening to kill us, and yet, her current expression was much more intense.

I looked at those knights, and I noticed there were other people dressed in more colors at the center of the formation. Even from this distance, I could see that these clothes looked similar to the ones Alice’s group had been wearing when we buried them.

So the knights aren’t there to attack Alice after all.

They were there to protect these seemingly important people. That didn’t mean there was no danger, however: there were many famous stories about nobles assassinating rival families to gain power and such in Wetrekha.

Upon closer inspection, there were three people without any armor. There was an imposing man with a beard, and the other two looked like they’d stepped out of a fairy tale. One of them was another man with blond hair and a necktie, while the other was a girl that stood in contrast with her black hair. She was just a bit taller than Alice and me and wore a beautiful dress.

“Good Lord,” Alice muttered to herself, “What were the odds of crossing their path…?”

“Do you know them, Alice?”

“Ah… A bit.”

If she knew them, maybe they were fine, after all.

Who am I kidding?

From Alice's consistently scared expression, these people were bad news.

“Clair?” I asked, urging her to cast her spell.

I didn’t know if augmenting Alice was the most optimal option, but it seemed to have worked really well previously. As soon as she was affected by Clair’s magic back then, she had managed to break free from her bindings and then easily defeated the oracles. This scene had been very hard to watch because of its violence, but she had undoubtedly saved both Clair and me. This was why I hoped this little push right now would be enough for Alice to save the day once again and survive this.

“Done,” Clair informed me.

“Thank you.”

Alice’s expression softened a bit and she glanced at Clair. “Did you just…?”

“Don’t say it.”

It seemed Alice was perceptive enough to notice how close to her spirit she had become. Although it was artificial and temporary, their connection truly had been strengthened.

“Alice de Ravendall,” the black-haired girl declared in the distance, which made Alice jump back to reality. “Of all people, I did not expect to meet you here.”

This noble girl’s voice had no trouble carrying across the distance left between us. Was that what they called charisma?

“W-what a serendipitous encounter, Lady Isabelle!” Alice stammered. “I hope… the road was not too arduous!”

In comparison, Alice was straining her voice just to be heard, which showed she wasn’t nearly as used to speaking in public.

Is Alice of a much lower standing?

Even though Clair and I had done some research about this kingdom before we left the empire, the name ‘Ravendall’ didn’t ring any bell. Since the noble girl didn’t even bother responding to Alice and instead continued walking while she talked with the two men by her side, she probably vastly outclassed Alice.

My intuition was confirmed when Alice greeted the other two noble men… respectively a prince and a duke.

W-what in the world?!

I had trouble imagining such powerful people would randomly attack Alice without a reason.

Are they unrelated to the vision, then?

Besides Alice’s stiffness, which seemed in character from the little I knew about her, there didn’t seem to be any animosity from these people either. Or at least, there wasn’t if we ignored the fact that the entire squad had stopped a bit too far away to have a leisurely conversation. I couldn’t decide whether it was normal for royals to keep their distance or if it meant they were currently on their guard.

“Tell me, Lady Alice, where is Isaac de Vallmont? I remember being told that you would be accompanying him for his son’s coming-of-age ceremony.”

“I…”

That marquis this girl mentioned must have been the man we buried. I considered speaking in Alice’s stead and telling that lady he had died along with his wife and son, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had no manners, so I was scared of getting immediately restrained for talking without being prompted to. That was the kind of pressure this girl was emanating.

… I guess Alice’s lack of composure here isn’t just a personality trait. — Mmh?

The absence of an answer from Alice was starting to feel very unnatural, even for someone trying to find the right words. I initially thought she was just having trouble explaining how the people she cared about had tragically died, but I noticed she was agitating her hands behind her back in a peculiar way.

It didn’t seem like a nervous quirk but rather a deliberate series of movements, similar to those Clair had taught me to move my mana.

Why is she doing that now?

Suddenly this Isabelle person stopped smiling and started moving her hands as well, this time in plain view.

Eh?

A second later I realized Alice was on her knees gasping for air, her face contorting in a silent scream.

Why…?

Considering what I had just witnessed, this surely had come from this girl. Maybe the wider movements helped her reach Alice faster.

Why is this happening?

“Isabelle!” the blond prince shouted at her. “What is this about?”

“She was sneakily moving mana toward us. A suspiciously large quantity, at that.”

“Lady Alice was…?”

“Alice de Ravendall,” Isabelle continued, “This is a deliberate attack against the royal family.”

What? What?!

Alice was defeated, and even Clair was too stunned to cast a spell. Not that she would have the time to do anything to this lady, since even Alice’s secret attack had been shot down so suddenly. As for me, I still had no idea what to do.

Why did it escalate so quickly…?!