Nero covered the last of Brad's face with leaves, leaving a careful opening for his nose to breathe, just in case.

"Man, I don't envy these guys. Imagine getting some bug into your ear while you lay here...", said Nero.

"Ew...!", Khina complained.

"We have hidden them well enough.", said Sharmon.

"Great... Im'a just... take a minute here.", Nero sat against a tree and took a deep breath.

"Yeah... me, too.", Khina did the same against another one.

Sharmon seemed to agree there was nothing else to do, as he leaned against a tree trunk.

Nero took a moment to contemplate him in silence.

From the way he conducted himself -his speech, his mannerisms- to the poise and grace with which he did everything... Nero couldn't help but feel some awkward admiration towards him. Would he, too, be like that one day?

Could Sharmon teach him how to become a fearless sorcerer? Would he also... become more like him?

Nero was worried, for no matter what Sharmon did, he always did so with an air of... displeasure. The boy hadn't even once seen Sharmon be happy, glad, or relieved about anything. He only ever laughed to poke fun at someone's ignorance -usually Nero's- and, as far as he could tell, Sharmon felt no love, care or nostalgia towards anyone or anything. Sharmon never shard anything about him with Nero: his life, his stories, his magic, the people he knew, his adventures -if he had any-, his love life -if he had any-, and so on.

He simply knew nothing about him other than his name -one that he had never heard before, which also amounted to nothing-, and the fact that he was a self-styled master of magic.

...of which, he had seen very little himself, too. Sure, Sharmon was teaching him theoretical arcana very well, but Nero had never seen this "sorcerer" do anything more than just play some magic chess once.

Then there was his attire. Even someone as immature as Nero could tell Sharmon was very much actively hiding his true identity; it didn't take a genius to tell the reason he -or anybody- had never heard of a powerful sorcerer called Sharmon was because that names was just an alias.

If Sharmon was even half of what he claimed to be, then everybody should know about him. There weren't that many mages around, and most of them came from noble families, meaning they were all known for being landowners and holding titles, as well as participating in battle.

So, who the hell was he, really?

By putting together what little Nero could gather, he could more or less build the following: a foreigner -he had a very peculiar way of constructing sentences, as well as a distinctive accent- who hid his face and name, probably due to being on the run. However, if this was indeed the case -and not some mere speculation-, then what would his next step be? He was teaching Nero how to handle his arcana in order to survive, but then what?

There was also the matter of Sharmon's absolute lack of dependence from food or sleep in any capacity whatsoever. How did he do it? It simply was not possible for Sharmon to do these things while Nero didn't look, it was just not reasonable. Sharmon flat-out never slept nor ate.

...speaking of which, the sorcerer seemed to notice Nero's gaze, and returned his own from behind the mask.

Nero did not blink or divert his eyes from his; he locked his stare deep into the yellow glow behind the top hat.

Sharmon, in turn, pierced through Nero's stare, peering deep into his heart and soul. It always felt like that... being stared by the mysterious sorcerer, that is; one would always feel like it was impossible to hide anything from him.

...that's how Nero experienced it, at least, and it could very well have been due to the Blood Pact. Nero had no way to know.

All he knew was that his soul was tied to an enigmatic figure who could very well be either a charlatan or a criminal on the run, and both options were equally bad for him. Hopefully, Sharmon would turn out to be somewhere in the middle... or maybe there was another explanation to his behavior and his identity that didn't spell the catastrophic end of his magic career. Without any information, he could only hope so...

"Now, kiss."

Nero blinked, the words abruptly cutting him off his train of thought.

Khina was giving him a mocking smile.

Nero tried to return the smile and play along her joke, but these thoughts were so worrying that his lips only managed to curve into an awkward grimace. He never knew if she noticed this, however, since something else interrupted them.

The bushes and leaves in front of Nero began to shake, and suddenly, lots of animals were running out of them towards the group.

"What the...!?"

Deer, squirrels, and all sorts of animals were rushing past the group, heading further south.

Above, they could see birds doing the same.

"Did something happen...!?", asked Khina.

Then, a familiar figure also emerged from the bushes: a small, brown-haired girl.

"This is bad...! We have to get out of here...!", she panted.

Sharmon was staring into the forest, in the direction where Selene and the wildlife were coming from.

"Cover your ears.", he said.

"What...?"

"Do it now if you do not want them to bleed. That includes you, Selene. We do not have the time to run away from it."

"Ye-Yes...!"

She hid behind a tree, covered her ears and closed her eyes tightly.

Out of pure pack instinct, Nero and Khina did the same behind their respective trees. All but Sharmon, who stood in place, staring into the forest.

Then, a prolonged, deafening shriek pierced through the air. Despite his best efforts to hide, he could still feel his ears nearly splitting; the pain the scream caused was so acute he felt it made it all the way to his brain.

Nero's muscles tensed up and his whole body began to shake, doing its very best to prevent itself from a shock-induced fainting.

Close to him, Khina and Selene were going through the same ordeal.

Sharmon stood where he was, apparently immobile, until it died out after some twelve seconds that felt like an eternity to Nero and the girls. If he had done something, anything, to protect himself, nobody had been able to see it.

"....the hell was that?", he murmured.

His ears were suffering from severe tinnitus, and even his own voice worsened the pain, so he kept it as low and soft as he could.

"The scream of a banshee.", said Sharmon, also in a low tone.

Nero secretly thanked him for that.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"A banshee...!?", shouted Khina, much to Nero and Selene's discomfort.

"Aren't those super dangerous...? What is one doing here?", murmured Selene.

"I sense a strong presence further north," said Sharmon, "that must be her."

"What do we do...?"

"We must confront her head-on.", said the sorcerer.

"He-Head on...!? Are you crazy...!?"

Sharmon turned to look at Nero.

"Better to fight her now than getting assaulted by her from a blind angle."

Sharmon began walking.

"I feel her arcana dim. The banshee could be attempting to flee. Let us give chase before she can escape my detection."

"Wa-Wait...!"

All three of them had to get up and start trotting behind Sharmon, who was quickly disappearing deeper into the forest, to avoid being left behind.

"Do you even know how to fight against one...?", asked Nero.

"I would not be heading to meet her if I did not, brat."

"What is the banshee running away from...?", wondered Khina.

"Banshee attack unsuspecting prey. Once they give away their location they go into hiding until everybody in the near vicinity lower their guard and convince themselves she is gone. She usually attacks again after that."

"I see, so she prefers to attack from the shadows... that means she's not strong in a head-on fight?"

"She is not. Her cry takes a while to build up; someone such as myself can prevent her from doing so, and banshee have grown aware of this over the centuries."

"Wow...! You sure know a lot...!", Khina was very impressed.

Then, Sharmon lowered his dash to a walk.

Nero and Khina did the same behind him.

"Is she... around here?", he whispered.

"No. We are too late."

Sharmon looked to his right.

"Her arcana has dissipated entirely."

"What... are we going to do now?", asked Selene behind them.

She had camouflaged herself during the chase out of pure instinct, just to be sure.

"That depends on what you scouted. Did you find anyone around here?"

"Ah...! Yes, I saw Marcus and Luna further east!"

Selene pointed her finger in that direction and Sharmon immediately began to walk over there.

After some four minutes, the group arrived at a small clearance. There, a boy lay on the ground, facing up, next to a bonfire that had just died out.

He had short, brown hair, and was wearing a pair of now shattered glasses.

He appeared to be sleeping peacefully and yet... Nero noticed that a drop of blood was coming out of his left ear.

"Oh, no...", he murmured.

Sharmon walked up to Marcus and knelt in front of him.

"He lives.", said Sharmon.

Nero let out a sigh of relief.

"He could suffer permanent damage to his hearing and parts of his brain if he does not receive immediate treatment, however."

"Then...! Can you help him?"

Sharmon shook his head.

"This amount of damage far exceeds my current capabilities." -meaning, Nero's Blood Pact disabled him to help Marcus trough the arcana cap.

Khina covered her mouth in horror.

"Don't tell me..."

Sharmon grabbed Marcus' medal and removed it from his neck.

He then turned around and offered it to Selene.

"Care for it well. I do not want to procure another one for you.", he told her.

Selene's eyes opened wide in disbelief.

"Take it."

She gulped and nervously took it from Sharmon's gloved hand, then hanged it around her neck and put it under her white shirt.

"So... what are you gonna do now that you got your medal?", asked Khina.

Selene looked at her, then turned to Sharmon.

He nodded.

"You may stay with us if you so wish. It will be safer for you with us around, and we can still make use of your talent."

She smiled.

"Then... I'd like to stay."

"No reason for you to leave now, I guess...", Nero scratched his head.

"What do we do now? Keep looking for the banshee?"

"We should", said Sharmon, "this area of the forest is clear for us to explore safely now. Most contestants around here are probably out cold."

"Wait a second, what about Luna...?", asked Nero.

Sharmon turned to look at him.

"We already have the medal we retrieved for Selene. We have no need for another one."

"That's not what I'm saying...! If Selene saw her around here, then we gotta find her...!"

"For what reason?"

"Because... because she's my friend!"

"How many times do I need to tell you, boy, that you have no such thing as friends?"

Nero frowned.

"So, you're willing to collaborate with a girl who almost disqualified us, but you're not going to look out for someone who has done us no wrong!?"

Selene also seemed to be making herself smaller. Maybe he didn't like her being there, after all.

"She", said Sharmon, "is useful."

"Luna could also help us...!"

"How?"

"I... well, with her skills...!"

"And what are her skills?"

"We'll ask her when we find her!", he shouted at Sharmon, exasperated.

"She will not answer when we ask her, because she will be lying on the floor, out cold, blood coming out of her ears.", he sentenced.

Nero froze at Sharmon's cold tone.

"For the third time today I will say, boy, that you do not have the luxury to worry about others."

Nero clenched his fist and pressed his teeth in anger.

"Well, I don't care about any of that...! If she's around, I wanna help her and have her join us, too! She was given a medal, we can all collaborate!"

Sharmon's eyes narrowed in displeasure.

"You will waste our time at best, and bring about dead weight at worst."

"Then so be it! But I'm not abandoning her!"

"You do not seem to care about this brat behind me, however.", pointed Sharmon.

"Well.. he..."

"He did nothing to wrong you, either."

"But you said we couldn't help him...!"

Sharmon took a step towards Nero.

"And just how are we going to assist that other girl, according to you?"

"We'll see when we find her! Maybe she'll be awake!"

"Wishful thinking."

"Just stop arguing and do what I tell you, damn it...! I am your summoner!", shouted Nero.

Khina gulped. Was it always like this between them...?

"You may be the summoner, but I am the real sorcerer here."

"Well, see if your chess skills are able to stop this...!"

To everyone's surprise, Nero threw a punch directly at Sharmon's chest.

...and to everybody's shock, the hit landed.

What was arguably even more surprising to Khina and Selene, was that Nero's body reacted just like Sharmon's; he coughed and fell to his knee.

"What the... hell..."

"You fool," said Sharmon, "attacking me will only hurt you in return."

He gave him a meaningful stare, reminding him of the terms of the Blood Pact.

"Then... why didn't you... freaking block it..."

"The contract does not allow me to, you useless brat...!"

For the first time, Nero witnessed Sharmon raising his tone.

The sorcerer got up, and looked at him from above. He looked so furious Nero thought he would have definitely knocked him out cold if he could have.

"Your emotions are keeping you from your real objective. Stop behaving like a damn child and use the right head to think."

Sharmon's tone had lowered in volume, but not in intensity.

"We are currently being circled by a dangerous fairy creature -a banshee-, and none of us has the arcana reserves to fight her off, and instead of taking proper measures we waste our precious time arguing over some girl you do not even know personally."

He narrowed his eyes, his barely visible expression being that of absolute disgust.

"I just... I just wanted to see if I could help her... before deciding it was too late for her."

"This is not about her, boy. This is about the banshee. Get it through your useless head, already."

"Well, you keep saying that, but you also said you lost track of the banshee...!", Nero retorted.

Sharmon stared at him in silence.

"How are you gonna find her, if you have no idea where she went? Huh? Tell me!", he pressured.

"Gu-Guys... I think we better settle down a little...", said Khina, raising both her palms with an awkward smile.

Nero let out an exasperated sigh, and looked away from his familiar.

Sharmon remained silent.

"I think...", said Selene in a very low voice, "we should look for the banshee, and keep an eye out for Luna. if we see her... we might want to take a moment to see if she's alright...?, she proposed.

Everyone looked at her.

"...you might be right.", said Nero, frowning and looking down.

"Ye-Yeah...! That sounds like a good compromise, right...?"

Sharmon took a few steps away from group.

"Let us start our search, then.", he said, and resumed his walk without looking back.

Both girls hurried after him, leaving Nero behind.

The boy took a moment to look back at Marcus, whose body lied still.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you...", he murmured.

Nero then turned his back on him, and went after the girls.

We aren't done yet, Sharmon. I'm not letting you do whatever you please around me.