“Hey, Lucia,” Durandal said after Algar left. “What did he want from you and why did you agree?”

“It’s a secret!” This is between me and the crown prince. It’s highly illegal, which is why I have no intentions of sharing it with Durandal or Ilya! And I won’t even say it in my thoughts because Ilya and Durandal are mind-readers. Think happy thoughts like steaming hot chocolate! The payoff for the request is going to be great; I can’t wait though it might take a while.

“Oh my lord,” Ilya said and bit her lower lip. What was her problem? “I really feel like she’s been bribed with sweets.” Hey, I’m not that easily fooled. I’m not a child. Besides, even if I was tempted by sweets, how would that be any of her concern? Jeez. I’m an adult, and I’m completely responsible.

Ah! That reminds me. “Puppers! How could you blatantly lie to Evelyn like that? I didn’t kill Lan! I don’t even know who Lan is.” I killed a rare spirit monkey to obtain Puppers, remember? It was a bit persistent and knew how to use a spear, but it definitely wasn’t a person. Puppers should be thanking me for freeing him from that monkey’s clutches. How can I punish him for slandering me like that? I could poison him and feed him to a divine beast! …Well, I do that regardless—I need something better. I could force him to spar with me and beat him to death! …I just realized I never treated Puppers that nicely.

Puppers looked at me, shook his head, and disappeared into my socks. Looks like he’s going to give me the silent treatment again. Right, I’ll punish him by not speaking to him. Think of how devastated he’ll be when my lovely voice is always present around him, but never directly addressing him. It’ll be torture. Gah! “Don’t flick me!”

“You were thinking something weird,” Durandal said. “It’s fine if you want to keep secrets, I won’t keep asking.”

“Is it? Is it really?” Ilya asked.

“Mm, probably,” Durandal said and shrugged.

Why does it sound like the two of them don’t trust me? It’s not like the world’s going to end just because I made a deal with the crown prince to—ah, I almost spoiled it. Positive thoughts! “So where do we go now?” I want to go shopping! I saw so many neat things outside on that road, but I didn’t say anything because Ilya’s dad looked like he wanted to keep up his fierce expression. It wouldn’t have been nice of me to ruin it by telling him to wait so I could look at the displays. He’s a bit like Durandal in that aspect. Why are men so prideful?

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“I was going to reserve some lodgings for us,” Ilya’s dad said. “Why? Is there something you wanted to do? The request the crown prince gave you, perhaps?”

“No, that’s not going to happen for a while.” It isn’t! Really. I promise. They’ll probably forget about it by the time I fulfill the deal, or if their memory’s anything like mine, they’ll forget about it as soon as I’m out of sight. “I want to go shopping. Maybe there’ll be spirit seeds that I can plant in my underwear.”

“In your underwear…?” Ilya’s dad asked. Was that concern on his face? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they’re female spirits! “Why…, no, never mind. Then I’ll be waiting at the Demon’s Peak Inn. I trust you’ll be able to find your way there after you’re done?”

“Nope! Let me take Ilya, and then it’ll be fine.”

“What? You’re a wanted person right now! I don’t want to get involved,” Ilya said and pursed her lips. “Besides, you have Durandal. He’s so … confident. His sense of direction should be good, right?”

Durandal looked away. “Nuh-uh. He’s even worse than me when it comes to navigation.”

Ilya’s face fell. “What about Puppers?”

I’m not sure…. The only thing I know about Puppers is his ability to soften my socks and poison the enemy. Is he good at directions? Can he cook?

“I’m an ex-spear spirit, not a map spirit,” Puppers said from my socks. “The only navigation I have to do is finding my way to my opponent’s vitals.”

Easy there, Puppers. You’re a sock spirit now, remember? Just do your job and make my socks nice and fluffy. “And there we have it. You’ve officially volunteered to lead us to the inn after we’re done shopping.”

“What volunteering? I’ve been conscripted,” Ilya said and glanced at her dad. He smiled at her and nodded. As usual, he’s on my side when it comes to bullying Ilya. I’m not quite sure why that is, but I won’t question it. Ah, did I say bullying? I meant guiding. Mhm. “This is ridiculous. How come a divine warrior doesn’t know how to differentiate north from south? You just look at the sun and know.”

“Not everyone can be as smart as a mage, Ilya. It’s called tradeoffs. I get super strength, you get super brains.”

“There’s some smart warriors out there,” Ilya said and sighed, but started leading the way despite her complaints.

“Well, those aren’t real warriors.”

“Technically, they aren’t,” Ilya said and shrugged. “They’re called battlemages, people who’ve crossed the first wall in martial arts and magic. None of them have been able to cross the second wall though. Their combat prowess is amazing, but their potential caps early on. The path of the magician is the only way to the top…. Unless we’re talking about someone like you.”

“Why can’t they pass the second wall?” That’s the one from spirit warrior to divine warrior, right? Just shove some cores down their throats and bam! Evolution.

“Magicians can’t do what you did. Cores are painful for us to absorb, remember?” Ilya sighed before waving a badge at the guards. What was that? Her family emblem? How come I don’t get one? The gate opened, and the sound of the rabble outside filled the air for a second before it fell silent. Everyone had turned to stare at us again. I should buy a cloak; I’m tired of being stared at. It’s squirrel nature! The only things that stare at squirrels are those that want to eat squirrels. Hmm. Would I taste good?