Rin and Rose were very understanding when Adrest returned alone. They had a few more rounds as they cleaned, Rin was dancing around happily humming an off-note tune as she swept. When they finished the large room was completely spotless, Rose was thankful as always. Adrest thought it was the least they could do after she generously handed out dozens of Gold worth of spirit liquor.

Adrest and Rin carefully walked up the stairs, job well done. As they got to Rin’s room, she stopped to face Adrest, then jumped into him chest, hugging him, “I’m glad you’re okay Adrest.”

She was off him in just a second and making her way through her door before he had a chance to say, “It was all thanks to you Rin, see you tomorrow.”

“Night..”

Adrest stepped inside the pitch black room where he was Alissa and Belle in the same position he’d left them, Belle now fast asleep.

Alissa looked up from her book, “Welcome back Ady”

“I’m back. Are you sleeping there tonight?”

Alissa set the book down and rubbed the small head buried in her side, “Looks like I’m stuck here. Think you’ll be okay by yourself ?”

“I’m just happy I won’t be getting punched in the face or kicked tonight.”

“I Do Not!” Alissa said in a whispering growl.

Shrugging, Adrest crawled into his own bed tired as soon as his head hit the pillow. “I guess you’ll never know, will you? I’m going to sleep Ali, today was exhausting in a lot of ways.”

Alissa gave a comforting smile to the boy a few feet away, “You did a good job Ady, you just need a little more time. In twent-, no ten years I’ll have you fighting Earthen Titans as a warm up.

He shuddered, wishing Alissa had a second token.

“I’ll do my best Ali, just don’t leave me too far behind.”

“Don’t worry about that, you’ll catch up soon.”

Adrest woke with a fright, his heart pounding and leg twitching. He had dreamed of being chased and eventually trampled by a herd of Titans. Adrest cursed his overzealous teacher as he stood up to shake out his limbs and go downstairs. It was already mid-morning but the room was basically empty with one person slowly eating at a table in a far corner.

Adrest chatted with Rose to pass the time, eventually joined by a chipper Rin and shockingly Alissa was up with Belle in tow. They ate with Rose and were out the door, wanting to hear what the Guild had found so they could leave this evening.

They were quickly escorted to the top floor once again standing in front of the large desk, Gerard hunched over it, leaning on his hands troubled.

“I had a feeling as soon as i saw their eyes, but confirmed it was a mercenary group from the Warring States, they were hired to kidnap Ms. Isabelle, and take her back to Everflow City. This didn’t know who hired them or why. They were just contacted via a broker in the city. Be careful after this, they’re an arrogant bunch and won’t be happy about this.”

Adrest looked troubled hearing that the Warring States were involved. Under the Holy Emperor they had once unified over half the continent. It might not sound impressive, but Adrest had been given some sense of scale from Alissa’s lessons and maps. Adrest felt confident in saying just this continent was the size of at least four Pangea’s of Earth, or all seven continents together four times over. There were easily over a thousand races, dozens of empires, millions of small kingdoms and tribes. Aside from a few exceptions, the Emperor would’ve probably managed to unify the entire continent if he hadn’t been assassinated. At the peak of his glory, his trusted retainers cut him down from behind.

“The good news is they’re too busy always plotting against themselves they won’t pay you much attention. And since everyone saw a certain someone dragging around one of the attackers, they’ll assume it was her. They aren’t stupid enough to pick a fight with the entire Guild. Just be on your guard and alert.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Gerard wasn’t particularly worried, with both Alissa and Rin traveling together an S rank would have to show up to suppress them. The group was sent off and assured the Guild would take care of the rest.

The four passed the day quickly doing any last minute shopping and spending their last few hours with Rose. It was just after another wonderful dinner that the four were packed up, with Rose ready to cry that they were all leaving together. It would be a long two months until business started to pick back up.

“We’ll come back before you know it Rose, and Rin’ll be stopping by every few weeks too.” Alissa had to console the innkeeper before they could leave, but with some promises and a bottle of Spirit liquor forced into their hands, Rose let them leave. They were easily let out of town and walking the trail towards the mountain.

“So where are we going?” Rin followed the older two as she skipped along.

“We just needed to get a little further away from the town. From here, we’ll be flying back. It’s a few hours away, need one of us to carry you?” As Adrest spoke, both his and Alissa’s wings shot out, one sleek and raven black, the other a crystalline purple.

Rin jumped at the sudden motion, but then closely inspected both wings, eyes glowing. “So pretty, I didn’t get a good look last time, but they really suit you.”

She had to touch the wings to sate her curiosity, Alissa’s a hard but unnaturally warm stone, Adrest’s a cool but not cold, and soft layers of feathers hiding hard as metal black chitin.

Curiosity satisfied, she said, “I should be fine, I can use wind magic to run on the air.”

“Then let’s get going. I miss my forest.” Alissa grabbed Belle and shot off, with Adrest right behind. Rin smiled and took a second to stretch, then started sprinting on the snow. She was already moving faster than even the fastest of C ranks, then one foot stopped some inches above the ground, the next slightly higher.

She rose into the air, high above the trees to match Adrest and Alissa a few hundred feet ahead, The wind was now raging against her, so she used the same magic normally used on her sword stilling the air to something almost comfortable around her.

With nearly no resistance and support magics, she ran even faster than should be possible, a blur slowly catching up the speeding pair who saw the racing Rin as a challenge and sped off.

That was the start of a multi-hour race that left Adrest and Rin exhausted when they landed at virtually the same time. Alissa was patiently waiting for them with a roaring fire in the large outdoor pit, as if she had all the time in the world waiting for them.

Rin took in the surroundings, the large stone house looking out of place in the middle of the wilderness. The snow covered tables and benches strewn across the open landscape. With fresh snow coating everything, it looked like an untouched wonderland. She couldn’t believe how quiet it was, she’d gotten used to the busy nature of cities, and even the town still had animals and drunks making noise all hours of the nights. But here, there was nothing but the sounds of nature.

“It’s so pretty.” The sun was long set and the three moons were casting a tri-colored symphony of light across the undisturbed snowscape.

Alissa interrupted her daydreams by grabbing her hand and leading her to the house. “I’ll give you the tour!”

Swinging open the thick door and strutting inside, Alissa waved her hand to light the fireplace and turn on the magic lights scattered through the house. “The first floor…”

As Alissa was walking Rin through the house, Adrest snuck off to give them a little surprise on the second floor. He ran over to the Lodestone and used a significant amount of his hard earned savings to purchase the bathroom remodel, the change silently taking place before the two had even made it to the stairs.

As Alissa opened the door to the bathroom, she was stunned by what she was. It was nothing like what she’d remembered. The large wooden tub transformed into a solid stone rectangular bath big enough for 4. Along the wall on one side to it was a set of four showers with magic drains built into the floor below, the other wall had another set of four sinks and a mirror that stretched across the wall above them.

Alissa whistled at the upgrade, their bathroom now looking closer to a resort than a home's.

“And this is something Ady has been dying to get for a while, he must've used you as an excuse to do so just now. I’m guessing you had something similar in the Capital but if you need any help just ask.”

Rin was stunned, not expecting this level of comfort in the forest and was even more excited to stay here through the winter. so far, this house was better than some of the Inns she'd had to stay at on the trip over.

“This is amazing Alissa! Staying here will be so much fun!”

“Wait a few days to say that, you aren’t staying here for free. I’ll be running you just as ragged as Adrest and Belle.”

Rin laughed it off, thinking it couldn’t be any worse than some of her past instructors.

“Now let’s go, I’ll help you unpack if you’ve picked out your room.”

Rin was rushed off to her new room, next to Belle’s, where Alissa was helping her put away most of the things in her storage that were non-essential, mostly clothes.

Belle rushed in, excited to see her new neighbor with Adrest right behind.

He spoke first, “Like my surprise Ali?”

“It looks amazing, and it’ll be nice for you to have something to look forward to after your new and improved training every day.”

Adrest blanched at the threat in her words, thinking his training was already life-threatening enough, but knew better than to fight it.

Rin laughed as she folded away clothes, “I can’t wait to spar with you Adrest, Alissa already told me I don’t have to hold back with the Lodestone so close by.”

Adrest was scared for his life in the coming days.