The cold stone walls of the royal palace, once a gilded cage, now felt like a bastion of safety. David had spent the last two days resting in Elisa's private study, a quiet space with bookshelves and a crackling fireplace that felt miles away from the roaring coliseum. He was still in pain, the crimson lines on his skin a constant reminder of the physical cost of his victory. But the pain was no longer a lonely burden. It was a shared secret, a weight that Elisa had willingly taken upon herself.
Their plan was a logistical nightmare. They couldn't simply walk out of the palace. Prince Valerius's intelligence network was vast, and the entire city was still abuzz with rumors of the duel. Every noble, every guild master, and every ambitious young elite would be watching David's every move. The last thing they needed was a public departure that would alert Valerius to their true destination.
"It will be tricky," Elisa said, her voice a low, conspiring whisper as she went over a map spread out on the floor. Her mind, a whirlwind of strategy and knowledge, was breathtakingly efficient. "The main roads are too dangerous. We'll have to take the old merchant's route through the Whisperwood. It's longer and full of minor magical beasts, but it's secluded."
David, who was sitting on the sofa, simply watched her. He had never seen a noble work so diligently. "What's the cover story?" he asked, his voice still a little hoarse from the strain.
Elisa looked up from the map, a playful glint in her eyes. "Oh, the most boring one imaginable. We're a young, talented Mage and her new bodyguard, traveling to the city of Port Elysian to study the ancient ruins there. My brother will be furious that I've left without his consent, but I have a few notes I can leave him. And besides," she added with a sly wink, "I'm a Princess. He'll have to get over it."
David couldn't help but crack a small, dry smile. "A Mage and a bodyguard? That's simple enough."
"And you have to act the part," she continued, pointing a finger at him. "Less brooding, more… well, more silent and intimidating. You're my bodyguard, not my wounded patient."
He scoffed. "And you have to act the part of a mere Mage. You're a Transformation Four Mage, Your Highness. That's not easy to hide."
"It's a good thing I'm a good actress then," she said with a triumphant smile.
Their departure was executed with a precision that would have made a guild master envious. Under the cover of a moonless night, they slipped out of the palace through a series of hidden tunnels that only Elisa knew. A simple, unmarked carriage was waiting for them outside the city walls. They climbed in, their faces hidden by the darkness, and the journey began.
The first few days were a mix of quiet travel and awkward conversation. David, still wary and guarded, kept to himself, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. He was an adventurer, a renegade, but he had never traveled like this before. He had always been alone, and the constant presence of another person was as foreign as it was comforting.
Elisa, however, was a master of breaking the silence. She would ask him about his past, not with a pitying tone, but with genuine curiosity. "What was it like, to have a path that was so reviled? Did you ever just… give up?"
David, who had spent his entire life avoiding such questions, found himself answering them. He told her about the ridicule, about his family's neglect, and about the burning need to prove them all wrong. He spoke of his first breakthrough, a lonely, desperate act of defiance that had set him on a path of no return. The more he spoke, the more the walls around his heart began to crumble, not from a forceful assault, but from a gentle, persistent curiosity.
One evening, as they were making camp by a quiet stream, David felt a familiar, sharp pain course through his veins. The crimson lines on his skin flared, and a wave of nausea hit him. He bit his lip, trying to hide the pain, but Elisa, with her heightened senses, noticed immediately.
She knelt beside him, her face filled with concern. "It's the Aetheric residue, isn't it? The mana is fighting your body."
He nodded, his jaw clenched. "It's... a constant battle."
Elisa placed a hand on his arm, her touch a light, soothing comfort. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice filled with a profound sadness. "You have so much power, but it comes at such a terrible cost."
David looked at her, at the genuine empathy in her eyes, and a wave of vulnerability washed over him. It was a new and terrifying feeling. He was used to pain, but he was not used to someone caring about it. "It's a lonely path," he admitted, his voice barely a whisper. "No one could ever understand."
"I understand," she said, her voice firm. "I may be a Transformation Four Mage, but my path has its own burdens. The expectations, the pressures, the constant need to be perfect. The solitude of being different. You're not the only one who has had to walk a lonely path, David."
Her words were a balm to his wounded soul. For the first time, he felt a kinship with someone. Not because they were similar, but because they both understood the quiet burden of power.
---
Meanwhile, in the Royal Palace of Aethelburg, a different kind of anger was brewing. Prince Valerius, his face still pale from the mana backlash, stood before a massive map of the Snowess Kingdom. His spies had just given him a report: David William and Princess Elisa had left the capital.
"Left? Where did they go?" Valerius snarled, his eyes burning with a cold fury. His humiliation was still fresh, and the memory of David's calm, victorious demeanor haunted his thoughts. He, a Transformation Five Mage, had been defeated by a clever trick, by a man who was nothing more than an educated brute.
"Their destination is unknown, my lord," the spy stammered, his body trembling. "They are traveling with a simple merchant carriage. The cover story is that they are headed to Port Elysian for study."
Valerius sneered. "A study? A Princess and a genius of a new path do not simply leave on a study trip. It's a ruse. A flimsy one. They are hiding, running from a humiliation they brought upon themselves." He laughed, a short, bitter sound. "But they cannot hide from me. Not in my kingdom."
He walked to his desk and pulled out a small, intricate runic sigil. It was a spell he had been working on for years, a powerful tracking spell that would embed itself in a person's aura and follow them wherever they went. "Find me the first opportunity," he commanded, his voice a low, dangerous purr. "The first town they stop in, the first inn they sleep in. I will not send men to confront them. I will send a whisper. A reminder that their journey is not a secret from me."
He was not going to give them the dignity of a fight. He was going to make their lives a living hell, using his political power and his vast network to make every step they took a trial. He would show David that magic was not the only form of power, and that a man with a genius for war could defeat a man with a genius for magic.
---
A week into their journey, they came upon their first obstacle. The Whisperwood was true to its name, a dense, ancient forest that seemed to whisper secrets on the wind. As they approached a narrow pass, their carriage was stopped by a shimmering, invisible wall. A complex magical barrier, laced with aetheric wards, blocked their path.
"A simple barrier spell," Elisa said, her face lighting up with a mixture of annoyance and determination. "Someone doesn't want us to pass."
David's hand was already on his sword. "I can cut it. A single, powerful strike should be enough to shatter its integrity."
"No," Elisa said, her voice firm. "You're still recovering. A powerful strike would only hurt you more. Besides," she added with a smug grin, "this is an opportunity for me to prove I'm not just a pretty face."
She took out her own mana-infused staff, a delicate piece of magical art, and began to chant a complex incantation. She was a Transformation Four Mage, her power was immense, but she was a perfectionist, and she would solve this with elegance, not brute force.
David watched, his arms crossed, a small, amused smile on his face. She was a formidable force in her own right. He had never seen her truly wield her magic, and it was a graceful, beautiful thing to watch.
Elisa's spell, however, was taking longer than she anticipated. The barrier was more complex than it looked, its aetheric wards a clever piece of magical craftsmanship. She was beginning to sweat, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"Having trouble, Your Highness?" David asked, his voice full of dry humor.
Elisa glared at him. "It's not as simple as it looks. The mana is braided in a way that... oh, never mind."
David sighed, walking up to the barrier. He didn't use a spell or a chant. He simply placed a single hand on the shimmering wall. He channeled his Pill Master's mana, his hand glowing with a soft, silvery light. He wasn't trying to break the barrier; he was trying to understand it. He sensed the flow of mana, the subtle imperfections in the weaving, the single, tiny knot that held it all together. With a single, precise, and almost invisible pulse of mana, he undid the knot.
The barrier shimmered, its shimmering form rippled for a moment, and then it simply vanished into thin air.
Elisa's mouth dropped open in stunned silence. She had been trying to dismantle the entire spell, a feat that would have taken her hours, and David had simply… untied it.
"That's… that's not how magic is supposed to work," she stammered, her voice filled with a baffled awe.
David simply shrugged, a small, triumphant smirk on his face. "My path is a genius of contradictions, remember? And besides," he added, his voice lowering to a whisper as he stepped back into the carriage, "we have to save you some energy for the next challenge, Your Highness. We have a long way to go."
Elisa stood there for a moment, still stunned. The two of them, a man of contradiction and a woman of strategy, were a force of nature. She shook her head, a smile finally gracing her lips, and followed him into the carriage. Their journey had just begun, and she had a feeling it was going to be a lot more interesting than she had ever imagined.