XV.

Madoka's chest ached and her head throbbed. She grunted in frustration. What was happening to her? A golden light hung above her. Its effulgence was ceaseless and stinging, only matching the throbbing within her chest. She had her eyes closed! Light should not affect her when she had her eyelids squeezed shut!

She sat up and braced herself for the piercing light's brightness as she cracked one eye open. A magical sphere greeted her, evidently surrounding the entire bed. A bed? Madoka looked down and realized she has been placed on a soft bed. By who? She wondered. The throbbing in her head must be caused by this awful light! As the coolness of the night passed through its radiance, she realized it was her own Knotting magic condensed into the sphere that trapped her.

What did she do last night? Madoka groped at the sphere, looking for a way to free herself. Her heart also pounded and she quickly checked herself. Her core was glowing! She has not used this glowing shield since her battle with the AI Servitor Hesonoo. She plunged her hand into her chest with considerable effort, calling upon the magical weapon within and breaking the glass-like dome to pieces of erratic strands.

Someone let out a snore beneath her bed, startling Madoka. She was not alone in this room, nor did it seem to be a dream. She groggily wobbled towards the edge of the bed to see who the culprit was, and recognized the sleeping blonde girl resting at the foot of the frame.

"Audrey?" Her voice cracked at every syllable. The princess snorted in response, but remained unfazed by Madoka's calling. She was glad she did not wake her up, because her voice embarrassed her. She remembered she drank that strange liquid, the alcohol as Audrey called it, and laughing. The same kind of drink Nobles in the Palace had. She instantly covered her mouth. She laughed? Such a dangerous drink! "The floor is no place for Her Highness, Madoka."

"Soft, feather, ball of goose," Audrey murmured as Madoka prepared to get up. "Affable, honking, don't bite me!"

She scolded herself, and carefully placed both her feet on the ground. Her vision was straightening, but her head still felt pangs of an unknown headache. It must have been caused by the alcohol. Madoka has worked in the palace under worse conditions, so she shook her head and forced herself up. She probably succumbed to the alcohol and must have been a burden to Audrey, yet again.

Madoka sighed and scooped the sleeping princess up. Placing her upon the soft bed, she realized that the girl was still in her traveler's garb. She pouted, once again reminded of her failure to attend to her princess, but there was no use fussing over it since she did not have access to the storage portal to change her into better clothes. Her body burned and her head throbbed. She cursed — she needed some fresh air.

"Wo- woman of my dreams," Audrey murmured. The sun was still tucked away, and that was the last thing Madoka wanted to hear from Her Sleepiness. "H-Hope the maid gets paid sick leave..."

"I'll be back," Madoka assured her before stepping out their room, and recieved a snore in response.

Something was amiss. The downstairs of the inn was completely spotless. Madoka grasped her head, but moved to inspect the handiwork of the mysteriously cleaned tables. Did that one maid do this all by herself? How impressive! Perhaps one day, she mused as she traced a finger over the spotless surface she would speak with the bar maid and exchange their routines!

A sudden sharp sting struck her eyes made her recoil. Maybe their conversation can wait until after she recovers from whatever magical side effect was hurting her. She pushed open the door and felt the night's chill brush across her face. A sigh of relief escaped her lips. Light mist hazed the twin moons and she was alone, trudging to nowhere in particular.

It was odd to her that she felt at ease, even in another country faraway from her home. She supposed that since she was given away, she never had felt anything familiar such as a place to clean all by herself. The Palace was not her home— it was someone else's. Madoka thought about such feelings as she walked down the main street towards the Guild Hall. It had been a few days since they have gone there, and yet they were departing from this place already.

She wondered if this adventuring thing the princess was obsessed with would get old and she would settle down. Madoka longed to serve and clean for her in a place of their own. She felt the icy handle of the Guild Hall's door. If they worked enough they could get a place together so she could finally feel at home. The hall, as usual, was empty. The staff must have been busy with their operations in Tritorjan, although she knew they moved quickly.

Perhaps that fallen city could be the rebirth of new homes for the ones that lost theirs already.

"Lady Madoka," a lady's voice greeted her, with a brush of discomfort. Madoka realized that the awful headache was slowly disappearing, and thanked the kind gods for it. "Lady—"

"No honorifics, please," Madoka begged. The frazzled woman who approached her was not anyone she knew. An iron tag slung from her neck, as she recovered from the apparent shock of speaking with her.

"S-Sorry, Lady, er, Madoka," the woman stammered. "Y-You're just quite famous, aren't you?"

"I don't know," Madoka shrugged. She let the lingering silence pressure the woman until she cracked, secretly unsure of what to say to strangers.

"Sir E-Eraziror is outside in the training yard," she squeaked, then scurried away before Madoka could respond.

He's training? She realized this could be an opportunity to shake off the rustiness she felt. Lord Leopride would scold her if he learned that she neglected to exercise. The thought made her instinctively hurry past the few parties standing around in there. She also had to thank him for distracting the crowd last night. Sand and light rain smattered against her cloak as the damp dawn greeted her, even though the sun has not woken up yet.

She marched through the garrison and took out a dull wooden blade. Eraziror was out there, his blue armor barely visible in the mist, and had his sword above his head, in a striking stance. Holding the stance for a moment, he opened his eyes and slashed downward. In that moment, Madoka could sense some strength in his swing, but she realized that the fighting style he had adopted was designed for fighting animals or monsters. Yet, it was too clean as if he was expecting a fair fight. He continued his strikes for a few minutes before noticing her.

"Madoka," his voice was low and subdued, unlike his usual cheerful tone. "What brings you out here?"

"Clearing my head," Madoka raised the wooden sword up to practice her Cherish-Style movements. Eraziror stayed quiet, and continued his own strikes.

As soon as she let out her first stance, she could sense something off. The hissing air was the only thing heard while Madoka contemplated what she was missing in her practice. A single slash at air would not do, she concluded she would need a rock or something to break.

"Say, Eraziror," she broke the quietness. His sword nearly fell out of his hand. Why was he nervous around her? "I wanted to thank you. For helping us last night."

Eraziror froze, but then began to laugh.

"What is it?" Madoka asked him. What could she possibly do last night after drinking a few of those mugs?

She continued her training out of nervousness and embarrassment while the Sovos man kept laughing.

"You really are something, Madoka," he howled, but stopped after noticing her confused expression. "For someone so uptight all the time, it was refreshing to be around you last night after a round of reveries, eh? You didn't disappoint!"

Madoka's sword stopped midway through her swing, feeling the color warming up her cheeks.

"W-What did I do?" She was horrified at the sudden realization that she had no recollection of the events last night. Alcohol was a dangerous substance for her!

"Oh, man!" Eraziror laughed. "You were quite the wild one! Drank like no tomorrow, laughed with us and made fun of your master, broke a few tables, and then proceeded to clean everything up with that crazy magic of yours!"

Madoka cringed. With each new deed he listed, her heart pounded out of sheer terror that such a drink was responsible of her disorderly behavior. Eraziror smacked her shoulder lightly.

"You drank me under the table, but when the rest of us tried to help you to your room you nearly tore the place up again defending your master from us!" He chuckled. "She had to heft you up all alone because you didn't let us help!"

"H-How much," Madoka's eyes shifted and her grip in the sword shook while the Sovos man looked like he was going to pop from his hooting and hollering. "How much did I drink last night?"

Eraziror wheezed, but stuck a hand to his chin in thought. That motion alone made her worry. That was not the bar maid's work she inspected, she realized that she was inadvertently complimenting herself! Kind gods, she groaned. She has really made a horrible mess of things!

"You don't know?" The Sovos man chuckled. "Enough to fill a table besides our own tab! Don't take this the wrong way, but you'll fit in just right with all the rest of us with how you drank! Hopefully we can get drinks in Gladeban when we get there, Miss Shining Knight of Audrey."

He seemed to be referencing something she must have said last night.

"Did I really call myself that?"

"Who knows?" Eraziror's sword swung in the same repetition from before.

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"Answer me!" She begged, but the cruel Sovos seemed to enjoy holding the forbidden knowledge over her head.

"Naw," Eraziror refused and laughed. "You needed to loosen up, anyways! And I dare say the drinking last night worked like a Substance's perfected talisman!"

"I cannot be loosen up," Madoka growled. "Or whatever you said."

"Ho?" Eraziror chuckled. "You are using Commoner with me already instead of your usual Reverent Noble!"

"It's merely a slip of the tongue!"

He chuckled and raised his sword up. Madoka felt a twinge of annoyance from knowing he was teasing her, but gave up fighting it. Whether she cared to admit it or not, the man did lighten her mood up already. Eraziror continued practicing his sword techniques as if nothing happened, while she continued her training in a fit of frustration. What was worse yet, he never took that smug grin off his face the whole time, and she felt his eyes watching her. She would think of something to get back at him somehow!

"If it helps you feel better, your Noble friend was in a dark mood until you took the plunge," Eraziror breathed in and took a small break. "I don't know what you two have gone through, but she is lucky to have you serving her."

"That's where you're wrong," Madoka muttered, trying to remember the movements Lord Leopride did when he made those stones.

"Huh?" Eraziror looked at her strange behavior. "What do you mean?"

"I am lucky to have her," Madoka simply told him.

A flash of inspiration struck her, but she was sure it was the dizzying sensation she could not shake out of. The motions Lord Leopride started with his feet, kicking up dust and clasping his hands quickly. She thought he was praying to a kind god for access to the magic. Perhaps this was the way how.

A small sense of satisfaction gathered at the corner of her lips. She was young back then, unable to track his movements nor detect the cursed golden strands flowing all around her from the ground to the sky. Within a splash of a small droplet from the myriads of clouds above, she kicked up small grains of sand and shaped them by clasping her hand.

"W-What do you plan on doing with those?"

"Watch," she simply raised the wooden sword above her hand. They were not as tough as the ones Lord Leopride constructed, but would serve her well all the same. One by one, each of her stances shattered the rocks to pieces.

An audible gasp came from the hall, as other adventurers were watching from a distance. A glare sent them away, but Eraziror remained, crossing his arms. She sensed he had trouble believing what he saw, but she simply moved back to the first stance and performed her breathing techniques.

"A third tier spell? I think you're stronger than that Noble for sure," he retorted. "I don't mean anything wrong against your master, but, can she split rocks like those with no effort? D-Don't answer!

"She is much stronger than I am," Madoka replied blankly. The Sovos waved his free hand at her in protest.

"Gods, so quick to admit! I said I was too afraid to actually know. But it makes sense, you two did not even flinch once at the dead in Tritorjan. No normal person could see that and not sleep soundly at night," he rested a hand over his eyes. "I know I couldn't."

"You led us within the city's gates with the dead all around us in the end," Madoka remembered the earless, gaping jaws of lifeless faces hung upon the city walls. Each of them were once a living person, capable of experiencing things for themselves, removed too soon by vile forces she herself could communicate with. "What does that make you?"

"C-Certainly not as strong as you, or even," He sighed. "Her. And I can't say it didn't make me queasy looking at them."

"Kanys," Madoka remarked. Of the people her princess was weary of, Kanys of Ustelan was the most skilled of all of them besides Armor. Eraziror spat dust out his mouth from the wreckage of Knotting chains.

"When we fought the, ah, imposter posing as you in that temple," Eraziror pointed at Madoka. He had a knack for being theatrical, though the stabbing motion made her feel odd for some reason. "She was the one who got the fake you to run with the final stab. I, on the other hand, well... I'm here training."

"Was I really that weak?" Madoka muttered. If a shadowy illusion posed as her, she guessed that it still only had its own strength and could not copy hers. "To be defeated by such people?"

"Huh?" Eraziror feigned being hurt by the maid's musings. "I have to be stronger. Like you need to be for Lady Audrey, probably. She's always been a few steps ahead of me. Although, I've always been better with instuments than swords."

"Well," Madoka pointed at his feet and then at his sword arm. "Your form is too proper, pretty to watch but won't get you far in battle. If an enemy knows how stiff you are they will catch you with feints."

Eraziror did another swing and shrugged.

"I see," he muttered. "I lose to Kanys in duels all the time, but I always thought she was too quick."

"What will happen to her if she were to become a Night Agent?" Madoka asked. The Sovos frowned as he loosened his grip and tried to copy some of her movements. With enough practice, she was sure he could succeed in being a strong fighter. She made a rock for him, and gestured at it expectantly.

"I'll... She'll go back home in Esmeralda, to the Enclave of Shadows no doubt," he grunted as he slashed his sword at it. The rock did not budge at all. "Such powerful magic... What did you do to this thing?"

He did not give up, to her surprise. Instead, he steeled his breath and swung down with even more might upon the rock. A grinding shower of sparks flashed in the air, evaporating, but the rock was split in two.

"I'll do anything to get stronger," he breathed, satisfied at his work. Madoka clapped her hands at the strands between her fingers, and the rock turned back into sand. "I'll even find those fairies if that means keeping Kanys around."

"And what if she doesn't stick around?" Madoka asked. Eraziror grew a dark tone along his scales as he lowered his voice.

"I'll rip off their wings myself to gain that power," he growled, but returned to his cheerful self. Madoka was unnerved at the process of tearing apart a fairy like that, but she has never seen one so she shrugged. She has torn the wings off of a dragon before so the process might be similar.

"Looks like you need to smash more rocks, then," she offered.

"What? Look, you know," Eraziror exclaimed incredulously. "Ceghinort's blood, I barely could cut that thing, you know. Not only can you turn an entire army of goblins inside out, you got powerful magic to boot! It's freakish. How I still even get surprised at your tricks is a miracle in itself, don't you think?"

"Here," she shrugged, and conjured up another rock. She was more meticulous about her movements this time, ensuring that the training rock was even more reinforced than the other one. What showed up instead was a metal sphere the size of a boulder, towering over the both of them. Eraziror gawked, while Madoka was reminded of the slime's core she slung at Hesonoo. "There you go, now I must go collect Audrey. We're going with you to Gladeban."

Eraziror was too shocked to respond, staring up at the metal boulder. Madoka deemed it a fitting revenge for him teasing her and smiled to herself. Other adventurers soon approached the rock as she left, each attempting and failing to shatter it with their swords. She still had a dull pain thumping in her head as she walked down the streets alone. Wagons and people were marching along the roads, but a strange squabbling started around the corner much louder than the traffic and crowds.

"Attention!" Squawked one voice. Madoka approached the noise, only to realize that the voices were coming from a small flock of grey birds with red beaks gathered around the street corner. She observed them, while they largely seemed unbothered by her presence.

"Beak 1, report!" The plumpest bird seemed to be the leader of the flock, hopping back and forth as if it was pacing. "God of Tomorrow, where is that bird-shit-for-brains?"

"Sir! Beak 1 has been lost, sir!" A smaller bird, who was evidently not Beak 1, piped up. The Leader marched up to the small bird and sized him up by puffing up his breast.

"Is that so?" The Leader pecked at his wings, in a fit of exasperation. "Beak 2, report!"

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Beak 2 squawked. "We've lost all contact with any wings in Squadron 4, Squadron 3 has gone completely MIA, and we're the last ones of Squadron 2."

"It's the great Orange Demon! Took out our Espionage Tower perch!" Another Beak cried out. "Tore Tweetsum to pieces, within a flash!"

Demon? Madoka suddenly felt nervous. Such beings were only described in legends, yet these birds spoke of one that hunted them?

"Gods," the Leader sounded shaken up by the apparent loss of his fellow birds. Other people walked past them, unaware of the dire circumstances the birds were facing. "Good work, Beak 2, take the rest of the men and get some rest. I'll have to send this report to Command tonight..."

Beak 2 marched up to Madoka's boot, and his beady eyes peered up at her.

"These feather-less ones sure are bold to encroach upon the Pigeon Territory, aren't they? I don't need a wingman, get away from us!" He chirped angrily at Madoka. She ignored him, and soon he rounded up the other squabbling birds to fly off. All that remained was the Leader, standing over the corner pecking for smaller insects.

"E-Excuse me," Madoka spoke to the Leader Bird. Instantly, the bird's neck perked up in a commanding motion as it turned to her.

"Name and rank, two legs?" It scolded her. "I am Commander Steel, the leader of the finest Aerial Communications unit in the Tropious Zone, and you speak too familiarly with me!"

It bobbed its beak expectantly. Madoka cleared her throat.

"A-Apologies, sir. Squire Madoka, of House Dalion," she made up her rank to the bird, but it appeared to relax and accept her self-designation.

"At ease, squire," it paced. "Situation's dire in the East, a territory of the Tropious Zone has been conquered by the enemy. You ground-walkers call it Gladeban. A demon walks amongst the civilian center. And you people do nothing!"

It bellowed, but sounded like a sweet chirp to other ignorant people walking by her as she knelt down beside the bird.

"I happen to be on the move to Gladeban," she informed Commander Steel. The bird raised its wings, holding them defensively. "With my Knight."

"Is your Knight a fool, Squire?" He roared. "I just informed you of the dangerous being who cleaned out our tower there, and yet you state his intention is to march back to the jaws of the Abyss itself! God of Tomorrows, preserve this one!"

"What do you know of the Demon?" She asked him.

"I know I lost quite a few good men there, wings torn apart, every single feather massacred upon that tower," he squawked. "Orange, as a ravenous fire. Silent, as the night. Sharp claws. Tell your so-called Knight good luck in his pursuit of Glory or whatever you featherless ones chase. Hmph."

"I can go investigate the Demon for you if you'd—"

"Negative, squire. It's suicide to return there, and I shant lose another Beak or ground-walking merc in enemy territory!" Commander Steel cut her off. "You got your orders from your knight, though you're as good as lost already. Get to them. Not like a green soldier like you could accomplish much against such a vile Demon. Dismissed, squire."

With that, the bird waved her off with a wing, and Madoka found herself moving towards the inn wondering what just happened to her. Has she always been able to speak with animals directly? It all started with her being able to hear their thoughts. They all seem to have faith in the mysterious God of Tomorrows, she pondered if that meant that it also was the God of all birds and monsters, or even all animals and monsters.

Awhile later, Madoka stood above her sleeping princess. The sun was well up, and she avoided eye contact with anyone who could have potentially seen her in her drunken state last night. For the first time, Madoka hesitated on waking Audrey up since she was the one who experienced the brunt of her disorderly behavior. What if she did something unforgivable to her?

"I wanna be a goose!" Audrey sat up on her own suddenly, checking herself all over and ending up seemingly disappointed. Madoka sighed, but after the two locked eyes, the princess turned away and turned red. "Mornin', Madoka. How are you feeling?"

"I have this, headache," Madoka groaned. "It's been with me ever since I woke up, beating the sides of my head."

"That's called a hangover," Audrey explained. "I don't know when it will go away, I never drank any of that stuff in either of my lives. And before you ask: Last time I tried to heal someone's head they went mute, so."

"I don't need your healing, Audrey," Madoka snapped. "I need you to get up. We are going to go to Gladeban, remember?"

"Unfortunately," Audrey still could not look her in the eyes. Why were her cheeks red? Madoka put her hands on her hips and narrowed her suspicion on her princess.

"What did I do last night?" Madoka asked, though she held regrets over the question.

"A-A lot of things," Audrey stammered. "You said some things to me, but then you complained it was too loud and put yourself in that big bubble of yours."

"Like what?" Madoka pressed, but knew the girl's lips were sealed. "It doesn't matter. Let's get to the Guild, Eraziror's already there."

"You already got up?" Audrey complained. "Forget alcoholic, you're a full blown work-a-holic. Naee waaah!"

Madoka did not care for her princess's remarks, for she was already dragging her out to the Guild Hall. She shall forget about these mistakes to Gladeban!