"This is my guild card. If you want to join it, just look for us in Raiver Village."
It was nighttime when Kael received the card from the man in front of him. He put the object away and said goodbye, ending yet another one of the many conversations he had with guilds interested in recruiting him. That was the last card he would receive that night, and, after putting it together with the others, Kael looked at the path leading away from the city.
"I've already said goodbye to Arvanys and Dorian. Those two have potential, so I hope to see them both again sometime."
He intended to use Kael's disguise again during the vacation and might end up meeting the two of them during that period. However, for now, he needed to return to the academy. The next day's class would start early, and he did not intend to arrive late. Since he had managed to leave the academy thanks to switching places with his clone by sending it in the form of a small flame, he only needed to get minimally close to the academy to perform another switch.
Entering a forest, Kael decided to speed up his return. He summoned his elemental clone and began reducing it until its body became small enough to look like a firefly. Then, he sent the clone away, toward the academy. Controlling it from that distance was extremely difficult, as he needed to maintain absolute concentration while continuing to provide mana to the clone across an increasingly greater distance.
"Crimson Eyes. Activate ability."
His eyes once again acquired the characteristic glow of the Crimson Eyes, allowing him to keep track of the distance his clone traveled and notice when it began approaching his room. Since the mission had taken place about three cities away, it would still take some time, but the clone continued advancing without stopping.
"It took five minutes for it to reach my room, and I'm already almost out of mana because of this."
Kael switched places and appeared inside the bathroom of his room. As soon as he arrived, he immediately dispelled the clone, as he could no longer maintain it with the little mana he had left. Even after the improvement he had received in his ability, allowing the clone to remain active for another minute, controlling a body from that distance still consumed an absurd amount of energy.
Kael removed the disguise and his eyes returned to their golden color. In front of the mirror, he observed his black hair, which had been specially dyed to complete his appearance as Kael. Fortunately, despite all the battles he had faced during the mission, no one had managed to destroy or remove the dye.
"I think it's today..."
When he turned his back to the mirror, he saw the Fire Cancer mark glowing slightly. That was the sign that this would be the night when he would suffer from the pains of the disease again. Without wasting time, he began washing his hair to remove the magical dye.
The dye had been produced by Giulio's family using their color and painting magic. Because of that, it lasted much longer than ordinary dye and was extremely difficult to remove unless the person who had applied it wanted to do so.
'This magical dye really is the best of all.'
[That family must make a lot of money.]
"The word 'a lot' is an understatement for them. His family is one of the twenty richest on the continent."
After finally restoring the original color of his hair, Kael removed the blue necklace. That necklace worked similarly to his ring, which increased his fire abilities, but instead, it strengthened his water magic. Naturally, it had the same limitations and restrictions as the ring.
"It took me seven attempts to manage to do this..."
[Blame your luck for that.]
Kael had created the necklace even before taking the test to become a mercenary and had almost ended up arriving late because of the attempts.
At least, during the mission, he managed to create some new water magics after conducting several tests.
Even so, that had been extremely dangerous. If any of those experiments had exploded in his face, his identity as Kael could have been compromised.
'My back is starting to burn. System, could you do me a favor and store the necklace and return my ring?'
[Sure. But remember that I will only do that with these two objects and nothing else.]
'Yes, I know. Stop being annoying.'
Kael had made a personal agreement with the system about storing objects. After realizing that the food he prepared always mysteriously disappeared, he asked if he could do the same with some objects. The system agreed, but naturally, it placed some restrictions.
'You're such a cheeky system.'
[You can keep talking, because I won't change.]
Kael left the bathroom and left the room. As soon as he opened the door, he found Angela beside Yumeha, who seemed quite nervous. He had almost been discovered. Angela appeared every day when a new month began to check whether the Fire Cancer had manifested again, and she had probably come precisely for that reason.
Luckily, Enrico had told Yumeha that he would need to leave the academy to undergo personal training and asked her to take responsibility for the room during his absence. Thanks to that, she had managed to prevent Angela from entering before he returned.
"I told you he was in the bathroom, Lady Angela."
"...Right. How are you feeling, Enrico?"
"It's today. So it's quite possible that I'll pass out at any moment."
Yumeha seemed confused upon hearing that. Enrico then remembered that, now that she was regularly sleeping in his room, perhaps it would be better for her to know about his illness. He let out a tired sigh, preparing himself to explain everything that was happening.
But he had no time.
His body began suffering from the pains of the Fire Cancer.
'This is going to be troublesome.'
Blood began flowing from his mouth, and Yumeha immediately ran to his side, her eyes becoming filled with tears of concern. Angela also reacted without hesitation, surrounding Enrico's body with her violet-colored magic and beginning to treat him while he endured the pain. That sensation was even more intense than the previous month's, making his entire body tremble as he tried to remain conscious.
'Damn... Yumeha is going to worry.'
The pain ended up being too much. Enrico lost consciousness, and his perception once again plunged into that silent void. There, his body seemed to float in an endless space, while a dark hand emerged below him and tried to reach his back.
However, for some reason, it could never touch him.
The distance between the two seemed infinite, and the more the hand tried to approach, the more that distance increased.
'How troublesome.'
The dark hand began to change shape until it took on the appearance of a panther. The creature sat down and made a sarcastic expression, as if it had already accepted that something was preventing its approach.
It seemed that it could only assume that body if Saul allowed it. That void would never allow it to simply take control. Even so, with so many friends being made over time, one day it could end up losing control if all of them were killed by someone.
'Especially because the difficulty of this world seems to be increasing over time. The only problem is that this will also be bad for me.'
A weak voice echoed through the void.
"You... still need... time to become... perfect... like... Nartheis..."
The panther recognized the weak transmission coming from the egg of that Ranvil. It approached and lay down beside it. As she had said, he was slowly becoming a Nartheis, although, at that moment, that was equivalent to something close to the Zara 1 level.
'But it will be different when I take this body. As his level increases, mine will also increase.'
"And then... exterminate... him..."
The panther tapped the egg's shell with its finger and made an irritated expression upon hearing those words. It did not like that idea. After some time, it lay down again to rest and raised its eyes to observe Enrico's body floating above them.
'I would never do that. We are one. Without the other, we will be nothing.'
That was how it should continue. They could never separate. Until the day they died, they would remain one, because they were the only ones capable of truly understanding each other.