When Vern opened his eyes again, the brightness made him squint. After blinking a few times and having adjusted – though his vision remained blurry – he realized he was lying on the bed in his inn room.

He wanted to sit up, but all his limbs felt heavy, and he could barely move them. Slowly tilting his head instead, he tried to remember what had made him end up in this state. His gaze fell onto a chair next to the bed that shouldn't have been there. The person that sat in there with their eyes closed also shouldn't have been there.

»Irina …«, he mumbled weakly, and as she opened her eyes and bowed forward, he realized it wasn't her. He sighed and closed his own again, feeling a sting in his heart. Irina was still dead after all.

The voice that repeatedly talked to him eventually annoyed him enough to make him groan.

»Are you feeling alright?«, Joyce asked again and shook him gently as he didn't respond.

»Mhm … what … what happened?«, he asked in a hoarse voice.

»I don't know. You tell me. You were found on the street, almost entirely covered by snow…«

Vern closed his eyes and faintly remembered what happened.

»I … need …«

But before he could finish his sentence, Joyce had already put a jar of water in front of his face.

»Here.«

»No …«, Vern shook his head. »Beer … please.«

Joyce blinked a few times. »No, this is better for you. You can drink that later.«

»Beer … important … please.«

She looked at him sternly, pushing the jar forward, but Vern's mouth remained tightly closed.

»Alright, alright, I'll see what I can do«, Joyce said after a few seconds of staring each other down. She left the room, mumbling to herself and shaking her head.

›Velvet, are you there?‹, Vern asked hesitantly, fearing to get a voice to answer that wasn't his. However, there was just silence. He repeated it a few more times, and when he still didn't get an answer, he started to worry.

He wasn't dead, right? Surely, he was just resting, which was entirely understandable after what had happened.

Joyce returned and stopped him from thinking about it for now.

»Here«, she said and pushed the mug to his face while not looking like she approved. »I'll help you with it.«

After the liquid had entered his body, a warm, fuzzy feeling quickly spread across it.

With Joyce's face close to his, he only now noticed the dark circles around her eyes. She must have been watching over him instead of resting herself.

»Thanks … that's quite enough«, Vern said after taking a few more sips. »You can … go and sleep yourself. I … already feel much better.«

Joyce raised an eyebrow. »Well, I don't think that is for the right reasons … but I guess you're doing well enough. Just shout if you need help. Me and my brothers are right next door.«

With that said, she put the mug on the bedside table and stood up. She ordered him to sleep and not do anything else and left the room to lie down herself.

Vern's eyelids really wanted to fall shut again, but he first tried to recall the events before giving in. His eyes suddenly widened when he noticed he was lying on his back without his sword being there. He opened his mouth. However, he hesitated and pushed his upper body up with lots of effort instead to look around the room. There were his clothes scattered on the floor. His coat and gloves were the first things his eyes fell on. Vern looked at his fingers, and all the rings were still there, relieving him a little.

Then, he started to feel the familiar pull of the sword right next to the side of his bed. With that confirmed as well, he picked up the mug and emptied it to get rid of any of those annoying feelings. Then he sunk back into his bed.

The next time he woke up, it was the middle of the night. Although his body still felt heavy, the urge to relieve himself was too strong to ignore. Therefore, he carefully moved out of bed to fulfill this desire. The entire endeavor took him about half an hour in his state, but after moving his body around, it started to feel a lot better.

As he entered his room, Velvet materialized and his silvery body illuminated the room like a second moon.

›Uh, there you are. Almost was worried when you didn't show up after calling you …‹

›Yes‹, Velvet replied, licking his paw. ›This was indeed quite troublesome. It is getting worse, and I don't feel like we're getting anywhere.‹

›Well, what am I supposed to do?‹ Vern dropped himself onto the bed and sighed. ›Our only lead is nowhere to be found. So if you have a better idea, spill it.‹

›I don't have one. But I think it is best if we put our entire focus from now on onto the mission that was given to us instead of wasting our time day in and day out. Don't you agree?‹

›Yeah, yeah.‹ Vern closed his eyes. ›I know … what you're getting at … I do … And I am sorry … that it took me so long … to recover …‹

As he whispered the words in his head, the sleepiness overtook him before he realized it.

It took him two more days to recover enough to engage in everyday activities without effort. During these days, Joyce and her brothers took turns bringing him food and beverages as well as making sure he had everything else he needed.

Therefore, on the morning of the third day, Vern invited them to an ample breakfast. They laughed as plentiful as they ate, and he had really grown to appreciate their company – even though that had to end soon.

While he finished the last of his bun, he wondered how to best approach the topic. But a sudden remark by Joyce interrupted his thoughts.

›By the way, I was wondering why you are dyeing your hair. I think your natural blonde–gold suits you much better.‹

Vern instinctively touched his hair, realizing his last look in the mirror had been some time ago.

›Great, Velvet, that's something you got to inform me about …‹

›What? Why me? You have never told me to do that! As if I paid attention to how you look when I am inside you most of the time …‹

»Ah, yes«, Vern replied with an uncomfortable grin. »Long story. But there is something more urgent I wanted to talk to you about.«

Hearing his serious tone, they paused their eating and looked at him.

»I am very grateful that you all took good care of me.« He fetched the pouch containing the coins of their joint hunt and shoved it across the table.

»No, no, that's alright«, Dilan replied, the only one whose mouth was currently empty. »That's in no way appropriate compensation.« He rejenctingly rose his hands.

»Well, it isn't only for that. The truth is, I won't be needing all that money going forward as I plan on … engaging in a different kind of project. Since I don't know how long I'll be staying here, just take it as a farewell gift.«

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»What do you mean by that?«, Joyce asked, breaking the moment of awkward silence. »You're just going to leave now?« She glared at him much more intently than Vern had expected.

»Well, I am not sure myself, to be honest. But it is a possibility if I don't find what I'm looking for …«

»If you tell us what it is, we can help you for sure«, Joyce interjected, slamming her butter knife much harder on her plate than necessary. »We've been traveling around for some time. So we've seen plenty of things, heard plenty of rumors and such, right guys?«

As she turned towards her brothers in hopes of verbal support, their faces weren't as determined.

»No!«, Vern said assertively, relieving the brothers from their sister's gaze. »This is absolutely something I'm going to do on my own. You three just make sure to stay safe and don't do anything reckless.«

While the brothers nodded, Joyce didn't listen to his words. »But how long will you be away? Will you come back at some point? «

Vern scratched his head. »As I said, I don't really know myself. However, if an opportunity arises, I'll come back to visit, given you are still staying here and–«

»Yes, we'll definitely will«, Joyce interrupted him.

»Wait, what?«, Garet replied. »That's not something we can just–« But he went silent when she glared at him.

»Well, well, well.« Vern arose from his seat, not wanting to be engaged in this any longer. »I am very grateful to have met all of you, and I am certain our paths will cross again sooner or later. Take care of yourself until then.«

He respectfully bowed as the others reciprocated his words.

Afterward, Vern returned to his room to finish his preparations for going outdoors.

While leaving the inn, Velvet informed him that a familiar person was following him. Vern couldn't help but smirk and quickened his pace significantly. At this speed, he ran around the whole village, checking every single building to make sure his person of interest really didn't live or stay here. A few hours later, he and Velvet had checked every place they could imagine without any results, and Vern stopped to think about his next steps. Surprisingly, Joyce had kept up with him for now, though she seemed quite exhausted.

›Hmm, I guess we should check the forest and surrounding areas next until it gets dark. Maybe she is camping there. Then we can check the village at night, maybe we'll find her at that time of day. You're up for this, Velvet?‹

›Sure‹, Velvet replied without hesitation.

›Excellent.‹

Vern turned around and smiled at Joyce, who was watching him from the corner of the building. She grimaced when their eyes met, and her glare only intensified as Vern started to run again. This time, however, when he reached the outskirts of the village, he increased his speed to the maximum, tapping into the vast mana reserves of his rings. In less than a minute, he had left Joyce behind in the dust as he completed a semicircle around the village to make sure she wouldn't know where he was going to go next. He headed off into the surrounding forests near the bailiwicks to continue his search there.

The snow–covered trees seemed to endlessly stretch into the distance as Vern traveled as quickly as he could. However, as the sky grew darker, he hadn't come across any other human soul.

›Well, guess we'll continue tomorrow, though I'm not sure how much longer I want to try before we move on‹, Vern said as he paused to take in some liquor.

›Hmm, which way do you want to travel then?‹, Velvet asked. ›The population centers stretch from north to south in a rather thin line along the river, so our odds of going the right way are 50-50.‹

›Hmm, true. I thought, since spring is about to take its effects, most travelers go from south to north. So maybe we have the best chance of finding her if we follow that pattern.‹

›Sounds good.‹

Although Velvet agreed with him, he didn't feel like what he was doing would yield him any success. But there was no other clue he could follow, so clinging to that tiny one he had couldn't be the worst idea.

Vern put his pocket bottle away that was running low on content. Since he had given the siblings most of his money, he wanted to use this opportunity to take some monsters back with him from the nearby bailiwick. After informing Velvet of his plan, he headed inside while the last rays of the sun faded in the sky.

The pitch darkness of the dense forest didn't faze him as he had Velvet by his side to illuminate his way, and there weren't any strong monsters he would've had trouble dealing with. This what the exact bailiwick he had hunted in when arriving here, although he could only faintly remember the details of his mad killing spree.

For today, he swiftly avoided most monsters that crossed his path, as he wasn't looking for anything but stoats whose value was far above anything while also being easy to carry.

It felt amazing to run like this, and he hadn't realized how much he had missed the thrill of all those monsters being hot on his trail.

›There is a small one coming from that dead tree on the right. Maybe it is what you're looking for‹, Velvet informed him, and Vern turned in that direction. A little creature jumped at him, and as Vern identified it as a stoat, his hand dashed forward to intercept it without slowing down the rest of his body. As Vern's finger closed around the animal's neck, he exerted more force until it broke with a crack.

He had to go in much deeper to find more, but eventually, he had a few hanging over his shoulder while dragging a large group of monsters along.

Suddenly, Velvet stopped in his tracks, looking to the side. ›There's someone else here‹, he informed Vern. ›And they're getting hunted by monsters.‹

›Oh?‹, Vern replied, thinking briefly of Joyce, but he knew there was no way she could've followed him. ›Lead me there. Maybe I can help them.‹

Velvet jumped ahead, and Vern wondered if it was a good idea to lure all the monsters over with him. But if necessary, he probably just had to kill them all. He dodged a bat that pounced out of the darkness in front and followed Velvet's lead.

They soon caught up to a figure that dashed through the forest, with a few wolves directly on their heels. As Vern increased his speed further to catch up, he drew the attention of the lagging wolf.

It turned to him mid–running and threw itself into his path. The sword on Vern's hip switched into his hand almost instantaneously, and the blade cut through the wolf like butter since it wasn't capable of using mana.

Hearing the commotion behind, the figure turned around for a second, but that was enough to make them tumble. So Vern quickly pushed forward to get the attention of the other wolves and finished them off.

The figure came to a complete halt and looked at Vern, swiping off the blood from his blade with a wolf's fur while holding stoats over the shoulder with his other hand.

»What are you doing here alone?«, Vern asked before Velvet urged him to remember the monster horde closing in from behind.

»We need to hurry and get out of here«, he addressed the silent, cloaked figure. »There are a lot more coming. Can you still run as fast as before? «

However, he didn't get an answer. Instead, the figure turned around and started running again. Vern gritted his teeth, not wanting to believe his mind that was telling him this was the person he was looking for. Cloaked, silent, and alone … and apparently, they just wanted to head even deeper into the bailiwick despite his warnings.

›Track her down‹, Vern told Velvet, and they took up pursuit, but for some reason, it was much harder for him to catch up with this. With every second that passed while passing trees and jumping over bushes and rocks, he was all the more certain that this was the opportunity he needed to grasp.

He closed the distance bit by bit, and Velvet's shimmer gave him line of sight on his target. Mid–running, Vern picked up a stick off the ground and contemplated hurling it at her feet, but that was probably overkill and wouldn't end without serious injury.

So instead, when they crossed an area of sparse vegetation in a straight line, he flung the stick forward. It spun through the air, and as it narrowly crossed over the figure's head, the generated air blast made the hood shake violently and fall back.

The white hair that was revealed reflected Velvet's light like a silver moon for a brief moment, before she managed to put it on again.

Vern smirked, appreciating how lucky he had gotten for once. With the amount of mana left in his rings and Velvet, there was nowhere to hide while he would catch up steadily.

However, the sudden shift in terrain that included a steep slope hidden in between dense thicket increased their distance, as she seemed to be more familiar with this area.

Vern lost sight of her, but Velvet continued to monitor every one of her moves, so he wasn't worried.

Suddenly, Velvet went silent and stopped feeding him information on their target.

›What is it?‹, Vern asked. ›Which way?‹

›Err, I don't know. She just vanished.‹

›What?! Where exactly?‹

Velvet showed him the area that looked like any other part of the forest.

›You're sure, you didn't just … I don't know … blink or something and she got out of range?‹

›Hmph, of course, I did not lose her like that!‹

›Alright…‹

He had to trust Velvet on this and took out his sword, ready to level this entire spot until he found something. As he started hacking away, the monsters that he had gathered were still mostly so far behind that he hadn't spent too much time in between to fend them off.

Growing increasingly frustrated, he swung his sword with all his might at the massive trunk of an old tree. However, instead of his sword cutting through the wood as expected, it bounced off.

Vern gasped as the force partially redirected into his arm, and he stumbled backward.

›Well, looks like there is something‹, Velvet said. ›Like I told you.‹

›I guess …‹

He took a closer look at the tree after recovering from the swing, but he couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary with his eyes.

›Velvet, does this tree look strange to you?‹

›No. Not at all.‹

Vern circled it a few times and even climbed up, but it still was no different from any old tree. Even Velvet didn't get anything out of moving in and out of it.

»Guess you're leaving me no choice!«, Vern shouted at the tree but it didn't respond.

His hand shook a little as he dropped his prey and the sword at his hip to the ground, reaching towards the hilt on his back next.

He wasn't sure about this, but he didn't see another way.

When his fingers closed around the hilt of the black sword, he felt something deep within resonate.

Vern shifted his mind away from that feeling and concentrated on the opponent in front – an old, thick tree – and moved the sword into position. He lunged out wide and let the blade cut through the air, gaining speed, before it penetrated into the trunk.

As soon as it entered the wood, something liquid–like spilled out of it and spread across the ground. When some of the drops hit his hand, Vern's vision blurred, and his body felt like it spun around itself several times before he hit the floor face first.