After the ceiling of the cave started to brighten up a bit again, Amelia began waking up. She seemed a bit surprised to find me awake still.

“Are you okay? Did you get any rest?” She began questioning me as soon as she got up.

“Mm… Remember that whole talk about my body and stuff?”

“Yes?”

“Well. I’ve come to believe witches don’t sleep.”

“W-what…? I mean… I did find it a bit surprising to find you awake in the pantry when we had to escape the swamp… but you mean you didn’t sleep a single night?”

“That pretty much sums it up…! It’s pretty weird to me too.” I scratched the back of my head. “I don’t really know what to do at night all by myself.”

“T-that…” Amelia got up properly. “I… I see. I understand why you’re so keen on finding out about yourself now. Forgive me… I didn’t realize.”

“That’s nothing for you to apologize for! I’m fine! As you see!” I did a bit of a guts pose to show off my noodle arm, but the pose ended up a bit half-hearted. Literally.

“You sound like you get quite lonely at night, though.” As dense as Amelia was with some things, she was pretty perceptive emotionally.

“Well… I mean…” I mumbled.

“It’s okay to lay down with me if it would help. I’ve been told I’m rather relaxing to hold on to.” I take back everything about her being emotionally perceptive. This knight was an idiot. A muscle head.

“AHEM! I appreciate your offer… But I’ll pass. I don’t want to disturb you.”

“It’s not disturbing at all. I’m a deep sleeper.”

“ANYWAY!! UH!! HOW ABOUT SOME BREAKFAST!?” I had to end the conversation. Seriously, if I had a heart, it’d probably have exploded at this point. It was moments like these that make me happy I was reborn a witch.

Currently, we had a bit more important things to figure out after all. Things along the lines of being stuck underground with supposedly hostile dwarves. We needed to find our way to the surface, so doing a survey trip was pretty necessary.

“Shall we go explore?” Amelia suggested after we had some more of our heavenly mystery stew.

“Let’s. I’ve had my fill of underground air. It’s honestly getting a bit tiresome.” I replied.

“Agreed! Are you okay walking around without my support?”

“I think so. If you don’t mind going a bit slower.”

“Very well. Not a problem at all.”

With that, we were off. The forest was vast enough for us to take about fifteen minutes to reach the outer perimeter of it. Great fields of grass bathed in blue light spread ahead of us outside the woods. An eerie stillness due to the lack of wind made it almost look like an illustration.

I wondered how plants in here spread their pollen or seeds and stuff? Doesn’t that stuff usually traverse with the help of wind?

“Do you mind if I ask about something?” My knightly companion broke my line of thought.

“Oh! Uh, of course. What is it?”

“It’s about magic. I’ve only really seen you cast that one fire spell. Is there a reason for why you’re not casting anything else? Or is that the only spell you remember?”

“Ah… Yeah…! That’s a fair question, especially after I mentioned sorta not remembering any magic stuff. I do actually know a bunch of sigils… Remember how you always found me in the pantry back in the swamp house after your wolf-hunting trips??”

“Yeah? You lectured to me about your magic theory a bit.”

“Yeah… I know magic functions through spell sigils, like the symbol I always draw on things before I cast the spell. The sigils have meanings to them. The one I draw simply means fire.” I explained.

“Ohoo…! So, why specifically that one?”

“Well... Out of my experimented sigils, only three ever worked. Specifically, the fire, water and lightning sigils.” I began explaining. “I know a bunch more… But for whatever reason, they have no effect whatsoever when I draw them on things, even if I do inject mana into the object I carved the sigil in.”

“Ohoo. Do you have any idea to why they don’t work?” Amelia questioned curiously as we walked through the grassy fields.

“I don’t…which is more than disappointing.” I sighed deep. “I can’t quite figure out how magic functions. I don’t want to rule out the sigils of my memories as useless… I feel there is some kind of trigger to understanding how they work.”

“Interesting!!” Amelia piped up. “Magic is rather mysterious, isn’t it? I’ve always admired magic casters.” She laughed gently. “I’ve…never had much in terms of magical affinity for myself, so I was over the moon when I got blessed with holy magic by my paladin’s oath, but as you know, now I’m just…”

“Hey! You said it yourself! Magic is mysterious!” I pat her on the back. “Maybe you’ll get a new, better oath!! You never know! I’ll do my best to figure out my magic too.”

“Right… Right you are!” Amelia’s frown soon turned into a smile and she nodded. “So, is there a reason to why you didn’t use the water and lightning for things?” She asked.

“WELL! To put it really simply, water has been kinda useless in the situations we’ve been to. It allows me to drain moisture from stuff, but the water you can suck out of rocks and such with it is generally full of impurities, and it’s not good for you to drink it. The lighting one just makes things give off jolts at the level of static electricity.” I chuckled at my own weakness a bit.

“Oh…! That… does explain a bit. I suppose it must be because fire has the property of spreading naturally, even if it starts from a small spark, like your magic?” I kept getting conflicting messages from Amelia. WAS SHE A MEATHEAD OR NOT?! She was awfully perceptive!

“Y-yes! That’s right. I’m surprised you figured it out so easily!” I nodded, eyes sparkling due to the opportunity to gush more about magic. I went on another tirade about my magic theory to Amelia as we walked along.

We decided to follow along the river that encircled the entirety of the underground cavern. The river seemed deep and very cold. It had carved a seemingly bottomless burrow into the cave wall, which concealed its actual width. The part we could see might have simply been the peak of the iceberg, or so to speak. It was a rather mystifying sight.

Sometimes fish would jump around at the surface. I agreed with Amelia to come back and fish after our expedition. I could really go for some right about now, hungry or not!

“Say… Yverna… What is that?” My attention was drawn forward as Amelia began pointing at something.

At the southern border of the enormous subterranean hollow, we found something that looked like a train station, and to my surprise, Amelia was completely caught off-guard by the sight of a train.

“Oh! Wow…! It’s a train station!” I voiced my thoughts as the two of us hid in some nearby bushes to spy on the station a bit better.”

“A whatstation?” Amelia was completely flabbergasted.

“It’s a… large vehicle that transports things with the power of steam. It can transport both people and supplies. Have you never seen one before?”

“N-no, I have not…! What an incredible thing…! It’s like a serpent made from dark steel.” I suppose dwarves were technologically advanced in this world. Judging by Amelia’s reaction, it must have been the case.

The train was jet black and polished to perfection. Golden highlights adorned its features, alongside large emboldened symbols on its front. They were decorative and added an air of mysticism to it. Calling it a work of art was selling it short.

The train station was built into a cavern wall, so the train itself most likely traversed through a tunnel. A wooden building was blocking access to the train. It had a big clock on the front of it facing a large set of dwarven queues. There were menacing guards standing and inspecting what I assumed to be passports or tickets of the dwarves walking in. A river flowed down from a little cave underneath the train station. The crystal-clear cave water reflected off the golden lights all around the building subtly.

We could only marvel at the steam engine from a distance, for the area was surrounded by vertically challenged men up in arms. The security in the area seemed extremely strict. I felt it was maybe slightly over the top just to guard a train.

Our amazement was cut short by a commotion at the station.

“NO! PLEASE HELP!!” A scream echoed from the crowds of short people.

It was a bit difficult to see, but judging by the noise, there was a fight of some sort going on near the train.

“You bastard! You aren’t running anywhere!” The shouts of more dwarves echoed their way to us.

“What’s happening?! Infighting?” Amelia was about to get up. Her sense of justice seemed to be a bit self-destructive, so I had to pull her back down and hush her. As much as it clearly pained her to ignore someone’s pleas for help, our situation would end up much worse if we were to reveal ourselves.

The screaming continued… and to our puzzlement, none of the other bystanders even blinked. Not a single one. They simply kept walking along like brainless dolls, while one of their brethren was getting brutally assaulted, and soon enough, the screams stopped.

The now limp body of the male dwarf was dragged to the side of the train station and got thrown into the river.

Nobody even turned their heads to look, and it was getting clear there was something weird going on down here as well.

“This makes no sense… Dwarves may be violent and rambunctious, but they are known for their incredibly tight-knit sense of community… why are they all simply ignoring this one’s plight?” Amelia seemed to share my thoughts on the matter.

We backed away far enough to not be detectable by anyone at the train station. Amelia slid into the stream and swam over to the man floating along the current. She was a great swimmer, so the weight of the dwarf seemed to be of no concern for her, and she made her way out of the river while pulling the man out.

The dwarf was cold and unmoving.

He… didn’t look like he was alive anymore. I don’t know how to describe it… but it was easy enough to see he had gotten several ribs broken. His chest was caved in a very unsettling manner. The beat down he got was definitely not meant to be a warning…

“Stand back for a second.” Amelia guided me out of the way and began doing chest compressions.

“A-Amelia… I don’t think he’s-“

“BHUAH!! COUGH!!” I was proven wrong the moment the dwarf began coughing out water. This guy was one tough piece of work!

Sadly, our elation over his waking up was short-lived. He began heaving instantly as he woke up… and the amount of blood coming up his throat was certainly not a good sign.

“H-humans… underground? I must have… gone to hell…”

His voice was raspy and there was a most unsettling gurgle to it due to all the blood clogging up his throat.

“Or maybe… You are the envoys of death… finally sent to end the madness of this godforsaken hellhole…”

Despite having faced death myself, it was still a bit painful to look at someone having to come to terms with theirs right before my eyes. The old, wrinkly man teared up, lifting his hand longingly towards the ceiling.

“To perish a failure like this… I only wish… I could have seen the sky one more time…”

Amelia grasped his hand, holding on to it firmly. The tired, dying man turned to look at her wearily.

“Please. I understand this isn’t the time for something like this… But my friend and I are lost here. What can we do to get out of here?”

“What… terribly cursed beings you are… The Goddess of Fortune doesn’t smile upon you… Getting lost in this… Subtherma… Or… is…” The voice of the poor man was shaking.

“W-what do you mean…?”

“The king… beware… the king… Ever since her Highness… Fana… el… “

And… then there was silence. The dwarf had his hand extended up weakly still, but his eyes were beady. I wasn’t exactly sure if I saw correctly, but I think there was a small orb of light, that exited his mouth for just a split second. After the light was gone, the man was left staring into nothing… Like his soul had left his body in such a rush, he didn’t even have the time to close his eyes.

I had to look away.

Amelia was clearly frustrated. Gripping onto the hand of the dwarf firmly, until she finally let go and closed his eyes for him.

The small man was lifted up by the paladin, who seemingly wanted to let him have a burial of sorts by flowing into the depths of the river, when something fell out of his pocket. I picked it up as I followed my knightly companion, only to suddenly call out for her.

“Amelia. Before you let him go, can you check his body for any personal effects.”

“Y-you’d desecrate the dead…!?” Amelia’s misunderstanding was easy enough to understand.

“N-no. Look! It’s wet, but the ink isn’t totally unreadable yet!” The thing I had picked up was a notebook. It was dripping with water, but the ink was indeed sticking to the paper well.

“What is this…? An amulet?” Amelia’s outrage quelled slightly at the sight of the notes as we opened the small book.

There was a very impressive drawing of what looked to be an amulet in the book.

“This is all they must see in order to understand our plight.” I narrated the text in the book out loud.

“I… I think I found it.” Amelia replied upon feeling over the man’s body.

There was a secret pocket woven inside his shoe, and within said pocket was a golden amulet so beautiful, even the incredible drawing was put to shame. It looked like a bunch of golden roots amassing around a beautifully carved crest with a stylized geometric on it. Every single root was carved perfectly and even textured to mimic the surface structure. It was one of those things, where you can instantly tell it’s valuable with a simple glance at it. Alongside, we also found the man’s passport and other legal documents.

“H-how did you figure out it was in his shoe?!” I stared wide-eyed at my companion.

“I used to work as a guard. Smugglers often hid things in their shoes.” Amelia gave me a firm thumbs up.

“H-huh…! You learn something new every day…!” I marveled in a strange sense of awe.

I then turned the page and began reading through the book. Surprisingly enough, I could read the letters. I didn’t recognize any particular language they were in, but somehow the meaning was conveyed to me from simply seeing the page. I didn’t really think much of it at the moment, but it certainly was odd.

“The advisor is aligned with them.” I continued to read.

Amelia seemed as confused as I was, so she went over his body one more time before releasing him into the river, paying her respects.

“Who’s the… advisor? And who are ‘them’”? Amelia questioned after a moment of silence.

Her guess was as good as mine, but there was more to it. There was also a magical graph and some theoretical talk on curses. The focus of the text was specifically about the duration of hexes and other debilitating spells.

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“I don’t understand a thing about this.” Amelia’s voice had a noticeable twinge of frustration to it.

I gave the paper a good look. It all seemed like total nonsense to me, until I started recognizing some of the concepts described in it. It was a study on magic theory!

“On the subject of curses and their function” I began reading it out loud for Amelia. “Curses are black magic exclusively cast by monsters. In order to curse a subject, a sufficient amount of mana must be provided. The duration of a curse is affected by how much mana is supplied to the target of said curse.” I continued.

“W-what…? What does this have to do with anything?” Amelia pondered.

“That’s what I’d like to know as well. It’s just a quote from some sort of magic authority. ’The guild of magic deconstruction and investigation’ it says.”

“Do you understand what any of it means?”

“I understand it as a concept, but I don’t know why it’s written here.” I replied, then read on a bit. “The last thing it says is, ‘The tree is infested with snakes.’”

Why did the book have to end in code?! It certainly created more questions than answers.

“Well… No matter what, we need to get out of here.” Amelia began. “The way we arrived in this cave system through is blocked, and the train seems risky enough even for dwarves. What can we do?”

“Even if we somehow could get to the train yard, I’m pretty sure they check your tickets or identity somehow when you enter.” I added, before we wandered back a bit closer to the forest and then sat down on a big rock to fish.

“If only we could have some method of obtaining some form of forged identification, we’d at least be able to try…” The paladin, who was now busy digging for worms for bait, spoke aloud.

“It doesn’t seem like things are going well in the kingdom to begin with.” I added while I helped her.

“Yes… The behavior we saw just a moment ago was not dwarf-like at all, at least from what I know. Admittedly, I’ve never met one in person until now, but still. Even if they’re not particularly nice even to their own, what happened at the station was most certainly excessive.”

“Did you see how nobody even batted an eye at the sight of the beating?” I asked, while both of us seemed to realize we had no hooks.

“I did… It was as if they were all in a trance of some sort.” Amelia groaned.

We fell silent for a moment and weighed our options in terms of both fishing and our rather bleak situation. We looked nothing like dwarves. To appear even remotely believable, we’d need to have our legs cut at the knees.

“Ah…”

A memory hit me. An idiotic, pointless and completely stupid memory from my early youth.

“I have… ideas…” I spoke quietly. Amelia slowly turned to look at me. “Bad ones.”

She replied with the most ‘Oh no…!’-kind of look.

“I might know how we can disguise ourselves to look like dwarves.”

“You’re out of your mind…” Amelia didn’t even need to hear my idea to come to the conclusion it was going to be a bad one.

The memory I mentioned a moment ago was of a circus. I was very young, still oblivious to the situation regarding my health. It was one among the first good memories I remember of my past life.

I was there with my parents.

There was… a clown? It was a clown show about a bank robbery, I believe. The robber was this incredibly short clown who walked a bit funnily and was dragging a huge bag of money behind him. I remember being shocked to my core when I saw him at the end, where all the circus talents bowed to the audience.

He was a totally normal, if not a bit taller than any average man!

I remember asking my parents how the man changed his size so easily, and they simply told me it must have been magic.

Thinking about it as an adult, I think I figured out the trick.

The man was walking on his knees, with his lower legs hidden inside the bag of money. He had shoes on his knees, giving the impression his legs were just really short.

He was walking funny because obviously, it would be difficult to walk on your knees with shoes on.

Unsurprisingly, Amelia thought I was mad as I explained the idea to her. Realistically, we didn’t really have a lot of options here. We were stranded in an unknown, hostile country, where being even the size of a shorter human was enough reason to get beaten to death.

“First dust explosions and now this? You clearly have no sense of self-preservation…” The poor paladin groaned.

“Right? We could at least try, though. Even if the guards at the gate see through our disguises, we’d still have plenty of opportunity to escape, and if we do end up being able to enter the city, we might be able to obtain papers one way or another.”

“I hate how lacking I am with ideas…” Amelia grumbled. “It’s not as if I can argue against your lunacy, when I can’t come up with anything better to offer as an alternative.” The poor woman seemed a bit defeated over having to go along with my craziness.

“Hey! Don’t knock it until you try it!” I tried to cheer her on to no avail.

“So, what’s the other plan?” She slumped her shoulders dejectedly.

“Other…plan?” I tilted my head.

“You said you had PLANS as in multiple.” This was true. She was correct. I simply forgot for a moment.

“RIGHT! The other one...is only related to fishing.” All I could do was smile sheepishly. I’m sure she was hoping it’d be some sort of alternative to the disguise plan.

“Ahhh... I don’t even know what I got my hopes up for.”

Amelia was quite impressed with my fishing plan, though. Impressed enough to get a bit upbeat, even. We made a simple float out of some slightly magically charged wood bark, and the fishing line was made out of string we pulled from Amelia’s clothes. The string was tied around the floating piece of wood and a worm was bound to the underside of the little boat like how cartoon villains tie up the damsels in distress.

The water was clear enough for us to see when a fish was coming to the surface to steal the worm, and at that moment, I cast a lightning spell to electrocute the surface of the water. The magic symbol was carved into the little wooden piece itself! It was like a…land…water mine, waiting patiently for the unsuspecting fish.

As I mentioned before, the sigil of thunder only produced effects comparable enough to something akin to static electricity, but when activated in water, it had enough kick to at least stun the fish momentarily.

Amelia was quick enough to swim and pick up the temporarily knocked out fish. It was a pretty slow method, but it worked. I also got some much-needed long-distance casting practice out of it, so it was a win-win all in all.

With a few fish in tow, we returned to the forest, meanwhile the sky was growing darker already.

“So, I don’t suppose we’re meant to disguise ourselves as dwarven women?” Amelia spoke as she walked ahead of me a bit. “I hear they’re dainty enough to be comparable to dolls, not to mention how they’re supposedly even smaller than the men.”’

“Eh!? Really?! Mmmmghh… I didn’t know that. I expected them to just be…miniature humans.”

“Not at all. They have a rather unique anatomy. While all I’ve seen are pictures, the man we saw up close was a textbook example of a dwarven man. They have shorter limbs, a bit stouter midsection, and they’re usually extremely muscular.”

“I see… So, if anything, we’d have to disguise ourselves as men…” I pondered as we walked along. “We’d need quite full beards, huh?”

“Indeed. Our voices would also be a dead giveaway. How would we deal with that?”

“Gaahhhh… I’m starting to get why you were so incredibly against the idea…!” I squirmed in place as we walked through the forest. As we went on, I ended up tripping and falling on my face, but luckily, the moss on the ground was soft. “Whuaaa!”

“Ah…! Um… Are you okay…?” Amelia didn’t seem too concerned over my wellbeing due to the padded landing spot.

“WHAT ABOUT MOSS!?” I lifted my face out of the wet moss.

“NOBODY HAS A GREEN BEARD!” The paladin snapped back at my idea.

“GAHHHH…” I rolled onto my back and began staring up at the trees lazily. “What the hell are we supposed to do then…?”

My eyes wandered around. There were a lot of birds’ nests in the trees. I’m guessing most likely due to the forest being the only area in the cave that had trees in it. Upon closer look, it seemed like a lot of the nests were made of what looked like wool…or even…beard?!

“AMELIA! BEARD!!” I pointed at the nests.

“What…?” She shook her head and then looked up. Her expression grew a bit puzzled…until it brightened a bit. “That’s not…beard. Isn’t it usnea?”

“Howatt??” I got up with Amelia’s help.

“I believe it’s some sort of fungus…and it does…indeed look like a beard.” She sighed as she finally realized we now had a functional beard replacement. “It grows in forests where the air isn’t polluted.” She ended her nature exposition, glancing at me. My eyes were sparkling.

“IT’S LIKE FATE!” I proclaimed loudly.

“Whatever your concept of fate is, I hate it.” She sassed back at me.

With that, our beard issue was solved. While the stuff did look really haggard, when piled up properly, it simply looked like a REALLY DIRTY and clumpy beard. Some of it was somewhat greenish, but a lot of it was also more in the hues of gray.

The darkness in the forest grew as night drew ever nearer. I was eating the fish with Amelia, but sadly, we didn’t really have much in terms of salt or spices. The fish was a bit mild in flavor, but it was very satisfying to bite into.

We still had the issue of creating those big bags and dwarf-like clothing. I was weighing on some ideas, when I noticed Amelia had laid down to rest.

“Good night.” I piped up as I kept tying the weird beard-usnea-pieces together.

“Forgive me for leaving you alone like this… My offer still stands.”

She was already asleep before I managed to retort. I chuckled a bit to myself and kept working on the beards. While it was definitely darker than during the daytime, the cave never went quite as dark as proper nights did. It was easy enough to see for me to continue my task of creating the manliest of beards.

I hummed to myself and kept knitting until I was done. The beards were full and ragged! Surely, we’d look like true men of the forest with these. I nodded in approval of my handiwork, before I realized how young the night was.

There wasn’t a whole lot I could do, but wander around. I didn’t want to go into the forest by myself, though. Sure, it wasn’t as dark as it could be, but it was more than dark enough for me to not want to go exploring at this hour. Who knows what kind of horrors rise from the earth upon nightfall.

A small twinge of something shameful ran up my spine as I looked at Amelia sleeping so soundly in the moss.

Shiftily, I looked around a bit before gulping dryly. I took my worn-out shoes off and slowly crawled to Amelia.

“A-Amee…liaaa…? You awake…?” I whispered. There was no reply.

I looked around once more, before I awkwardly laid down on my back next to her. I was a good meter or so away from her…for the sake of uh…personal space!! Yeah…that’s right…

“Mmmhhm….” Amelia mumbled something in her sleep, and it caught my interest a bit, so I rolled a bit closer to her. It totally was simply curiosity over her mumbling! I didn’t crave the warmth of her embrace at all! I swear!

I leaned in to listen in on Amelia’s sleep talking, but to my shock, she rolled over me a bit! She was totally spooning me at this point!!

My mind was racing!! I had never had any kind of human contact like this in my life… What was I supposed to do in a situation like this!?

Ah…she was so warm and soft…

WAIT! No! I definitely needed to put some effort into getting free!

“Whr….am…” My panic was cut short by Amelia, who suddenly made an almost comprehensible sentence.

My ears perked up as I snuggled up to her a bit to listen better. It definitely wasn’t because of her incredibly soothing warmth and softness! I was just curious!

“Bones…?” She mumbled.

Bones? What the hell kind of dream was she seeing? Now I was actually a bit curious, so I began to listen more closely…and then, a huge chill ran down my spine.

Out of Amelia’s partially open mouth, a cold air flowed out, very faintly. Alongside the coldness flowed words. They were a bit like whispers, but there was a notably wavy presence to them…almost like the chilly air coming out of Amelia’s mouth somehow carried them.

“What if I told you…there was a way to get your daughter back…?” The cold air whispered out of her mouth. My eyes were wide. What the hell was this?! What was going on?!

I rapidly got up and began shaking Amelia, but she didn’t respond.

“AMELIA!! AMELIA!! What’s wrong?! Who’s speaking in there!?” I screamed, but she stayed asleep. I leaned in to listen again.

“Whuh…do you mean…” Amelia’s own voice spoke in a less clear mumble.

“The witch… I can teach her necromancy… Magic to raise the dead…” The cold whisper continued.

“HEY!! WHOEVER YOU ARE! GET OUT OF HER HEAD! DON’T YOU FEED HER THIS BULLSHIT!!” I screamed at Amelia, but the whispering voice seemed to ignore me, or it simply couldn’t hear me.

“Magic…to raise the dead…” Amelia repeated.

“Yes… Wouldn’t you wish to have your daughter back…?” The frozen air flowing out of Amelia’s mouth kept luring her.

“Yes…yes I would…” The knight replied quietly as her eyes began to tear up. The big dollops trailed down her cheeks as she slept.

“AMELIA!! I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS SHIT IS!! BUT IT’S DEFINITELY NOT GOOD!” I shouted at her, shaking and slapping her, but again, there was no response. She seemed completely paralyzed by whatever was locking her within that dream.

“But…” Amelia interrupted my panic.

“But…?” The cold voice repeated.

“I do…not think it’s my decision to make anymore.” Amelia’s voice was shaky, the tears kept flowing out as her voice grew clearer, almost like she was fully awake. “My daughter… I truly love her…and I wish I could see her again….”

“All the more reason to rely on the darkness of the witch…necromancy can bring your precious daughter back…” The voice kept hissing through her mouth.

“But…what if Amy doesn’t want to come back?” The weeping mother wept in a soul crushing sigh.

“Of course, she does…she loves her mother…” The voice kept tempting her.

“No! Death isn’t something that simple… If life and death were convenient enough to be denied by magic, this world would be a paradise where nobody had to die or suffer anymore!” Amelia continued.

“YES! Amelia! Don’t trust the voice! I don’t know what the hell necromancy even is! Even if I did! I’m a monster! I don’t think anything good would come out of it!!” I protested, whether she could hear me or not.

“I don’t intend to disrespect the passing of my daughter by yanking her soul back from wherever she has found peace. Death is inevitable. To some it comes faster than to others. As cruel and unfair as it might have been for my daughter, death itself isn’t to blame.” Amelia argued. She had an air of conviction to her voice despite the shakiness.

“Death…isn’t to blame…?” The hissing voice quieted down to a point where I had to lean in closer to hear it properly.

“No! Whatever this necromancy you speak of is, I’m sure it’s a direct offense to the very nature of death itself! I don’t know what unholy nonsense you’re trying to get me tangled up in, but KEEP MY DAUGHTER OUT OF THIS!!” Amelia screamed the last words with enough force to cause my ears to ring. Due to her sudden increase in volume, I had to pull my head further away from her.

“Cur…o …s… ns….” I couldn’t hear what the ghastly voice said. I was too far off…and then suddenly, Amelia’s eyes were wide open.

I scurried over to her, grabbing her shoulders, shaking her. “AMELIA! Amelia!! Are you okay!?”

The paladin seemed perplexed over my state. “Wh-whuh? Did something happen? What’s wrong?”

“W-what do you mean…? Don’t you remember?” I stared at her in disbelief. She simply stared back at me, looking puzzled.

“Remember what…?”

I fell back on my butt. Amelia didn’t remember… It was as if she didn’t have that conversation with the frozen voice to begin with. What was it then? Did I imagine it…?

“Uhm… Why am I…” Amelia began wiping her eyes, as she finally realized she had been crying in her sleep.

I took a moment to calm down and explain what happened to Amelia. She had no memory of the conversation she had with…whatever entity she talked to in her dreams. Her tears were the only reason I knew I wasn’t hallucinating the whole event.

Oddly enough, Amelia didn’t dismiss my words as nonsense. She didn’t have any recollection of what happened as she slept, but somehow, she believed I spoke the truth.

The most fearsome thing about the whole ordeal, was how I was completely unable to wake her up. Whatever took hold of her in her sleep was strong enough to keep her under, even with me shaking and slapping her.

We agreed I’d rest close to her from now on, so I could hear if she ever started seeing that weird dream again.

I felt a bit bad about my original reasoning for laying close to her to begin with, but it probably was for the best considering the circumstances.

Amelia slept for a few more hours afterward, but she didn’t begin mumbling in her sleep again. She rested peacefully as I watched her carefully, listening for any potential noises.

As the brightness in the forest began to grow, my adventuring companion finally woke up.

I was too nervous about the events of the night to really worry about anything else, which… I guess in a really weird sense is a good thing?

“Did I mumble in my sleep again?” It was the first thing Amelia asked as soon as she opened her eyes.

“No. You slept like a baby.” I was relieved to see she was okay.

“Very well. Forgive me for the fright I gave you.” She bowed at me politely. She was an earnest woman for such a ladykiller.

“Don’t worry about it! How about you pay me back by making something nice to eat for breakfast?! I don’t know whether I feel hunger or not, but the satisfaction of eating things is not lost on me!” I declared, feigning my real mental state a bit. I was still a bit nervous, but I was also simply glad Amelia was okay.

“Hah! You got a deal.” The knight stood up and stretched a bit, before she walked into the forest. I decided to follow her.

“Oh! You’re coming too?” She smiled.

“I hope you don’t mind. I can’t help but still be a bit worried.”

“Well, aren’t you a worrywart.” The paladin giggled in a surprisingly girly manner. “You are more than welcome to do so! How about we discuss our plans for today?”

I walked along and explained to her how the beards would work, but there was still the issue of lacking clothes… Which brought us to the next subject matter.

“So, how do we get dwarven clothing?” Amelia smiled as she collected some herbs while we moved along. Sadly, I wasn’t very helpful with my lack of an arm, so I did my best to at least be good company.

What better way to be good company to Amelia, but with another crazy plan! “We need to rob a caravan.” I stated matter-of-factly.

Amelia just dropped her herbs and stared at me with eyes of immense disbelief. I get she must have been quite out of her element with my crazy ideas, mostly because they went completely against the morals, that she had valued her entire life.

“I must still be asleep. I seem to still be getting tempted by some sort of a shadow demon.”

“Nope! You’re totally awake! Let’s rob a carriage! I’ve seen them driving around near the roads a bit of a ways away from the forest.” I declared cheerily.

“NNNNNNGHHHHH…” Amelia’s sense of justice was being tested as she convulsed in the moss. It was clear she REALLY didn’t want to go through with this.

“Don’t worry! We’ll just threaten them a bit and steal their stuff! We won’t hurt them!” I tried my best to reassure her.

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY LESS ILLEGAL!” She screamed into the moss, which muffled her rage ever so slightly.

“Well…do you have a better idea?” I tried my best to not snicker as I spoke because I already knew the answer to my question.

“………………………………… No.” She almost shouted into the moss.

“I’m sorry to pull you into this… But I don’t know-“

“I know…! You wouldn’t be safe robbing people as you are…! But one day!! Just so you know! ONE DAY! WHEN YOU FIGURE MAGIC OUT! I’ll leave this immoral nonsense to you!” The paladin kept shouting into the moss.

“Deal.” I smiled a bit apologetically and helped her up.

From plans to action. We began taking notes on when the carriages would travel down the road. We didn’t have a clock, so we could only make rough estimates based on the brightness of the day.

Around midday, a rather poorly guarded caravan ran all the way to the train station. From observing it a bit, it seemed to be the ride of a noble who happened to be working in there in some administrative position. Whenever he’d get out of the cart, a few guards would walk up to him and greet him politely.

For whatever reason, the carriage seemed to be full of more stuff when it returned than when it went. I wondered if it was used to transport something out of the station?

“Okay. The next time it drives away from the station, we strike.” I explained to the nervous paladin, who sat right next to me in a bush we were hiding in.

There was a somewhat paved road that went all the way from the station to the city. It was honestly quite poorly kept. The surface of the road was worn out and there were big potholes on it about once every twenty meters or so.

“Something is seriously fishy about this kingdom…” Amelia whispered under her breath.

“How so?” I asked.

“While the dwarves look as they did in the books I read back in Rachasia, their behavior is completely off. That gigantic stalagmite castle is not a feat any other race, but dwarves can make. They are known for their immense skills in handicraft of various sorts.”

“Ahh…! You mean the disrepair of the road? It is weird, isn’t it!” I piped up.

“As much as I hate your illegal ideas, I am admittedly curious to see what is going on behind the castle walls.”

“The tree is infested with snakes.” I quoted the text we found on the dead man.

“You mean… The tree refers to the castle?!” She peered up at the vast structure extending far into the distance. “That… I didn’t think about…”

“We’ll worry about it later! Now’s our chance!” The carriage started approaching us in the distance.

We jumped out of the bush with a mighty war cry! The horses got spooked and started dashing around a bit.

“YAAAAGH! WHAT!? BANDITS?!” The dwarf riding the carriage screamed and the horses stopped.

“ARRRRGGGG! GIMME ALL YOUR MUNNNEHHH!” Amelia grumbled. I almost burst out laughing the moment she said it. WHAT WAS SHE EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE?! A BANDIT OR A PIRATE!?

“YARRRR! THAT’S RIGHT!! ARRR!” I went along with Amelia’s character.

To my amusement and immense surprise…IT WORKED.

The dwarves were absolutely horrified to see humans attacking them. It was clear their initial perception of us was basically that of monsters, and luckily for us, it worked in our favor.

… Somewhere in the back of my head, I had a feeling they were just scared of our crazy behavior, though.

Even some more guarded dwarves dropped their weapons and surrendered at the sight of our towering height… and Amelia’s fearsome ‘ARR’s...

We only took what we needed, and conveniently enough, the carriage was carrying a bunch of old dusty clothes. I didn’t quite understand why they’d need to do it so frequently coming from a train station, but it’s not like I really had the time to ponder on it. As soon as we gathered the supplies we needed, we fled into the tall grass, leaving the cowering dwarves screaming for help.

“Hahahahah! That was exhilarating!!” I giggled as we carried our haul into the forest.

“IT WAS AWFUL! WHAT DO YOU EVEN MEAN!? Ahhh…! I’m so ashamed of myself!” Amelia lamented dramatically.

“HEY! You were a great highway robber! Your ARRR’s were totally natural!”

“YOU BE QUIET!!” She flailed; her ears were red like a beet… I was content, though! I finally discovered her weakness!! INJUSTICE! Whenever she bullies me with her infinite handsomeness, I’ll in return swing back by forcing her to commit petty crimes!

The momentary laughter helped us focus less on the slight air of nervousness. Our sneaking missions were now becoming a reality, but would it really be worth the risk?