"Lord Maledic," Canes said as he bowed.
Maledic gave a nod. Aes stood beside him, with around ten guards from the Hidden Manor in black behind them, amongst the uncounted men outside the room.
Canes stood before them. His twenty men kneeled behind him.
Vitreum was out of sight and far away from anything as dangerous as these things.
They were not in any sort of throne room, as the Hidden Manor had none. As for Maledic's study, the desk without a chair in his small bedroom was all he had. So they were gathered in the nicest sitting room.
Maledic rubbed his brow.
The entire day had been a headache. From the morning when he heard this "delegation" of soldiers had arrived to the meeting now, with this snide young man acting like he was clever.
"I believe you have a message for me," Maledic said. "Otherwise you would have gone to Lapis."
"Yes, we don't have to waste time with pleasantries."
Canes pointed out the lack of manners given to him while he agreed to skip them for the Lord's sake. Positively cheeky for a sorcerer not even ascended in front of Lord Maledic.
Maledic let it slide without comment. Canes began his message.
"The great Lord Caducus Nix of the City Nix, who is the patriarch of the bloodline Nix as well, would like to extend one final invitation to you, the good Lord Maledic of his Hidden Manor, to join him."
"Final…"
That confirmed what Lord Maledic already presumed, that Caducus was aware of the past.
But does the messenger know?
Canes waited with a patient sneer for Maledic's full reply. He ignored the sounds of tapping coming from the wheelchair.
"Why would your master choose me to join him? And did he even say in what?"
"My lord simply wishes to not leave such a… large reserve of Aeternitus' strength to languish in a secluded corner of the land. Isn't that normal? I doubt his is the first offer you've received."
"And all of them have been rejected all the same. Why does Caducus think he'll be different? If I wasn't willing to raise Lapis above the other city-states, why would I be willing to raise Nix?"
Canes looked up at Lord Maledic. He waited a single moment to make certain the lord wouldn't answer his own question.
"Well, there are rumors you don't favor Lapis," Canes said. "Don't ask me why! I think staying near the city for centuries speaks for itself. But we also don't know why you haven't raised Lapis up. So, instead of trying to come up with your motives, why not just ask and receive a direct answer?"
It seemed this messenger didn't know of the past. Canes stopped his tapping.
"My answer is the same to Nix as it is to everyone else. And to Lord Caducus I'll say this. 'You seek not to create an inheritance, so when you die, your ways will be forgotten with you.'"
"Yes, as you say, Lord Maledic!" Canes accompanied his words with a bow. "'Lord Nix wishes to express his gratitude for all the time spent and accepts this final refusal.'"
"So he expected rejection," Maledic said.
"Why wouldn't he, my lord?" Canes said. "Forgive me for wasting your time with such a pointless message."
"Pointless?" Maledic said. "I'm sure it wasn't pointless at all. Just as I'm certain you'll wish to stay the night after the journey."
"…How could I reject your hospitality?" Canes said.
He still wore the smile that almost split into a sneer, but not quite.
The game was on.
Canes' true mission was simple. Put pressure on the Hidden Manor and uncover all he could.
It was simple, but it would take time. Actually, that was the whole point.
Wasting time.
The most valuable resource life gives.
———————————————————
Aureum, Hiems, and Gemmo continued their slow journey. When they were hungry, they ate, and when they were tired, they rested.
Aureum was the one leading, and Hiems made no objections so far. It was off-putting for her, but she tried not to overthink it.
The third day passed without problems. That night they rested underneath a cluster of trees.
Aureum didn't end up saying anything to Hiems. She felt the urge to, but the words never quite came out.
When she spoke, it was about dinner or Gemmo. Whatever specific problem they needed to know about to handle together.
It could be said that Hiems was stabilized on the third day. He wasn't coughing from just walking, and color seemed to come back into his scales and skin. Not using his mana seemed to have paid off.
But he's a warrior, not just a sorcerer. His mana should be shoved through his entire body, not just condensed in his pearl.
What do you do when your body is filled with poison?
From the way he's acting, it might not be exactly poison to him.
The pearl was the source of a sorcerer's mana. It wasn't so strange to call it a source of the sorcerer's life.
So his life source is also poison to him?
She didn't have the medical background to understand it, but Aureum still wasn't about to place bets on him in any fights. If she could avoid it.
The farther along they got through the day, the more anxious he seemed. Aureum was trying to ignore everything he did, but even she noticed it.
He kept looking back. Constantly.
Finally, he stood and stared at the forest behind them, not moving. Aureum had to go back.
"You're the one who told me not to be anxious!" Aureum said. "What are you doing? We need to keep going. We need to keep ahead of them."
"They should already be here," Hiems said.
"Please stop trying to curse us," Aureum said.
"A day or two at our pace? They should have caught up to us by now. There's no way they wouldn't have caught up."
"So? They're lazy! They got lost! We don't have time to question it. We have to keep going!"
Aureum pulled at Hiems with her free arm as she spoke, but he didn't move.
"I didn't expect this… Heh. I suppose to them we are worthless."
"Expect? Worthless? Who cares? Why do you need a reason? Let's just go!"
Hiems looked back at her. Aureum flinched.
There was fury in those pale green eyes. He pulled away from her as he went ahead.
"What is wrong with you?" Aureum said.
"Nothing," Hiems denied.
"Oh, really?" Aureum said, tone scathing.
"I don't understand it myself!"
Hiems shot back, turning to face her directly. There was pain in his eyes. A sort of tautness to his body. His hands curled into fists.
"Ello, Geeemmo!" Gemmo said.
He sort of reached for Hiems, who backed off even though the baby was nowhere close to touching him.
At this point the child was too used to arguing.
"…I'm not mad at you," Hiems said.
"So, you're just mad," Aureum said. "Crazy!"
"I suppose. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Hiems said.
What is making him so riled up? Aureum thought.
"I wanted to hear why." Aureum replied. "Is it the not knowing? Is that what's getting to you?"
"…"
"If it makes you feel any better, I've been trying to scatter our traces of mana around. It's possible they really did get lost."
Aureum saw his jaw clench and his fist get tighter.
"All right, all right, forget it. But we still need to keep moving! They might not stay lost forever."
What is wrong with him? Does he want to die?
The tension between the two lasted for the rest of the day. It killed any hope Aureum had of an honest conversation. They walked in silence. That night they slept under more trees. They were in the foothills now.
Aureum had given up on keeping watch. She was always too tired, and she needed to be awake the next day.
Not that Gemmo didn't wake both her and Hiems up multiple times a night. At least he was growing up fast. Maybe the crying would end soon.
Gemmo needed her, and she had to catch something to eat, and she had to walk miles the next day on top of all that. While carrying Gemmo. Aureum figured grabbing what sleep she could would be fine.
Hiems was still weak. If he wasn't coughing by the end of the day, he was done almost as soon as he sat down. He didn't even need a blanket to fall asleep.
His condition was stabilizing, but Aureum worried about it. He wouldn't let her check.
The fact that he was hiding it was a bad sign.
And so, unless Gemmo unlocked an unreasonable amount of intelligence in a single night, there was really no one available to keep watch.
Of course, there was a reason for keeping watch.
That night as they rested, Aureum woke up unexpectedly.
Gemmo…?
But Gemmo wasn't crying.
Aureum sat up and felt rather than sensed anything amiss. Turning her head, she came into view of two glowing eyes in the darkness.
"Agh!"
She jolted in surprise. The eyes lowered and rose, becoming larger by the second.
Aureum rolled to the side. The large beast, which was some kind of panther, landed and turned. Out of hiding, his form became somewhat revealed in the dim light.
That's not a house pet, not a little kitty, no, Aureum thought.
"WaaaaAAAAAH!"
Gemmo's cry woke the night. Hiems was already standing to her left side.
Aureum would have trusted Hiems and run, but Gemmo was closest to the cat. He was just a yard away from it and its swishing tail.
She didn't wait for the cat to do anything about that. She pulled out her spear from her ring and charged.
It leapt away, as hoped. Some ice slid across the ground to where it landed.
"Knock it off!" Aureum yelled to Hiems. "You're barely better! Do you want to die for—
The cat leapt for her again, claws out.
She wouldn't roll away this time. It was luck that Gemmo hadn't been hurt the first time.
She blocked its claws with her spear. The full force of the cat would have knocked her down, but she twisted with it, and it was pulled into falling into a tree.
It wasn't a strong beast. The pearl didn't have decades of mana inside it. It bounced off the tree and shook itself a little.
It still would have killed them all the same if they hadn't woken up in time.
Hiems lifted his sword.
"I told you to stop!" Aureum said. "You need to wait until a real doctor looks at you before you get up to any more tricks."
Hiems didn't respond but raised his sword and went to attack the panther.
Aureum lifted her foot and tripped him. He fell on his face.
"Why?"
Those were his only words. It made Aureum want to spit.
Did he hear a word I said?
"If even I can trip you, of course you need to stay down!" She yelled.
The cat growled and lowered itself. Aureum turned toward it.
"What do you think I spent every day working hard for?!" Aureum spat.
It was so—
The cat rushed her, this time staying on the ground instead of leaping. Aureum lowered her spear. She would get one stab at this.
I could finally—
Before it hit, Aureum aimed for the neck and did one simple stab.
The one she had practiced hundreds of times before. It hit.
Take a step forward on my own feet.
Life was truly unfair.
Aureum had improved by leaps and bounds with only the basics, her own perseverance, and the scantest of mana to use.
Unfortunately, her progress was just enough to keep her from getting killed.
Even now, her victory against the cat didn't give her any satisfaction. Certainly the ugliness of death played a part in it, but the beast was trying to kill her. The problem was her perspective.
After having Caducus' mana pressure her for so many years and Maledic's mana as a recent reminder, she couldn't see herself as strong. No, to her own eyes, she was just a leaf. A leaf being blown about by whatever wind took her.
She hated being the leaf.
Aureum put her spear away and picked up Gemmo. She pointed at Hiems.
"You! You stupid bastard!"
Hiems looked up from the cat to wait for her to finish accosting him.
"Waaaaahhhh!"
Gemmo was just mad at being woken up, but it felt like he was joining in with Aureum's fury.
"What were you thinking? Wouldn't fighting that cat have made you more ill? If you collapse, I really will abandon you!"
Hiems closed his eyes. It felt like he had swallowed something nasty.
Perhaps I am just a burden, Hiems thought.
"If you really need to abandon me, you should," he said.
"AGH!" Aureum said. "You… jerk! Don't you think I would have done it by now if I thought you were that useless? I'm not going to abandon anybody tonight!"
She wanted to pull out her spear and smack him with the butt end of it. But she did realize as she thought back that she had just threatened him with abandonment.
"I'm just frustrated with you," she said. "What if we meet a foe that I can't handle? I'll need you then. So just stop wasting your energy on these and get better."
These words made Hiems perk up a little.
"So you want to help me get better so you can use me later?" Hiems teased.
Aureum got the sense that she was walking into some kind of trap. She didn't understand why his tone had brightened so much.
"Eh? What are you saying? All day it's just been nonsense from you. Why would I agree to make use of you?"
"We should sleep in shifts now," Hiems said, letting the conversation shift from its previous focus.
"Can we?" Aureum said.
Despite the attack, everything from before remained true.
"I can keep watch for half the night now," Hiems said. "I should have done so earlier."
Hiems had only anticipated the guards. And he was fully willing to throw down his life so the others could escape. He'd have gotten woken up by them long before they arrived.
He hadn't planned for his part of their journey to be so long.
Once Aureum was by herself, she could fly away in the daylight. This is what Hiems saw. In truth, Gemmo could easily be tied to Aureum if she had to travel quickly.
Things didn't go to plan, and as they drew further away from the city-state the beasts would smell their weakness. He hadn't planned for it, so he overlooked that in his single-minded goal.
"Fine, but we go in halves," Aureum said.
"Of course," Hiems said.
Despite a few surprises, the biggest surprise was that night fell back into a peaceful one. They helped each other with cleaning the mess and getting back to sleep.