Paced footsteps, soft yet rapid, drum across the shed wooden floor.
This is Rosa's fourteenth lap as she walks in circles.
Listen, pipsqueak, we probably have one chance. Either we can save her, she get killed, or worse, we all die. So do your best.
That confident, infuriating smile flashes in her mind. She did not just casually hand her a life or death matter.
She said yes to Akira's plan, true. But handing her the executioner's axe is quite unfair.
Quite. A cushion for how steep the feeling really is.
Her plan quite literally needs everyone. Their mana, to be exact.
That's why she had to ask Erika yesterday. Without Lilia, she might not have been able to face her at all.
She wouldn't have known what to say either, or how to handle last night.
Yet even with her softening up to Lilia, Erika still doesn't have a clear answer whether she would help or not.
Guess I'll have to make do…
That's right. This is how she always thrived and survived. Like how her sister taught her.
Plan. Plan everything with what you have. Plan contingency for contingency.
Her fingers tighten on the brim of her hat.
The most reliable person in this world for you is yourself.
Right, so she needs to design a foolproof plan.
So even if everyone messes up, she still can come out on top…
Her feet stop.
An impossible plan then.
"Rosie… you've been going around in circles. In a literal sense…"
"Lilia… name."
"Fine, Rosa. Anything I can do to help? I have nothing to do after all."
Then there's this girl. She has been following her since this morning.
Asking her why she does that only replays a broken record at this point.
"Don't distract me, that's all I ask."
"Hnnnn…"
The groan of protest again. Same as every time Rosa shuts her out.
Focus, Rosa! Focus!
Her eyes glance to the window. The sun keeps rising. Time is ticking.
She takes another paced walk.
Drain the mana. She needs to drain every drop from the creature.
In a mana-rich environment of this farm. It's like trying to dry a fish in a middle of a lake.
If she didn't destroy the last bit of void element in her last experiment. Or if Lilia brought hers.
No, she had enough of what ifs in the last hour or two. Concrete steps. Now.
No matter how she turns it, it comes back to last night's plan.
Trap the creature with something to enclose its surroundings, multiple mages to maintain it.
Another wave on standby when the mana drain occurs.
Then have someone or two dance around with the creature as the environmental mana being depleted.
It would be a battle of attrition. Maintaining the barricade while the second wave readies to cast when the first wobbles or shatters.
Support magics would be cast to make sure the person inside survive the stall.
The creature would be back to the shed for sure. So people need to guard it. With the killing intent, no less.
If the creature got there in the first place, then the plan to save it already failed after all.
Now, there are several problems to address.
One, potions. Mana potions. A lot of mana potions for casters. All casters she needs.
If possible, she must have them gradually make the radius smaller and smaller.
Smaller area means fewer casters needed, less mana consumption per round of casting.
This means she needs to gather all the casters in the farm and brief them.
Will they even listen to me?
Rosa swallows. She shakes her head. Right, she still needs to brief them.
After that, secure the ingredients to make potions. Wait, does the farm have its supply?
Who to check to? Pauline? Erika? She has no clue.
She paces faster.
Any time spent checking is time not spent gathering and brewing.
But if no one briefs the mages, the consumption might be too much and no amount of mana potions could keep up.
If she briefs and checks first, then potions might not be enough when they need it…
Her crimson eyes sharpen as she fidgets her fingers on her hat as she taps the rim.
Her jaw tightens.
If her sister were standing in her place, what would she do?
She probably needs to check the potion supply first. If they have enough potions, no need to brew more.
Rosa spins to the door and walks. Straight. Paced.
"Where are you going?"
"Ursula's house, I need to check the potion supply."
Rosa answers, not slowing her walk.
"Heeey! Wait for me!"
She arrives at the house after a walk from the shed.
On the left side of the courtyard, several rows of armored men and women stand in their position as Werner gives them his speech.
Behind them are casters. Although she can feel their gazes pointed at her, she chooses to ignore it for now.
She can hear murmurs as she walks past them and goes through the door.
The chains of sound greet her as the logging system notes her entrance. Lilia's follow soon after.
A brown-haired girl, tying her hair in ponytail, approaches her.
"Ah, Rosa! Welcome!"
"Pauline…"
"Pauline! Everyone really pumped up for today, huh?"
Lilia strides in, head swiveling from one end to the other.
Maids seem to be walking back and forth. Entering and exiting the house.
"Well, after what Akira said last night, Ursula told them to assist the mercenaries as best as they can."
Rosa casts her eyes down, as if something pulled them to the ground.
She clenches her teeth as she lifts her head up. Sharpening her eyes once more.
"Pauline. Is Ursula here? I need to ask her about what we have in stock…"
"Ah, then leave it to me! Grandma was out on her cart this morning, she'll be back this evening."
Rosa calculates in her head. The closest she can imagine is ward sigil.
Only problem is that she didn't bring that many wards.
She brought around ten scrolls. These should work in smaller area. For surrounding the beast, she'd need more.
Second option would be Varriere. It is a defensive spell. Not designed to be maintained for a long time. She has cast it herself, but never for sustained containment.
She only knows two person who can maintain the Varriere for such a long time.
One of them is even more impressive considering the place was actively siphoning her mana.
The other one is the obvious. No further praise needed. She probably has plenty more incoming.
Pauline tilts her head, watching Rosa's distant expression.
"Then… Can I check how many potions this farm has? I need supply for around thirty to thirty-five people."
All people from the courtyard, plus herself, Lilia, Werner, Erika, and for Akira just in case she needs it.
"Follow me then! The storage room should have some of those!"
Pauline immediately gives her thumbs up and turns around, leading Rosa.
Rosa nods and follows, Lilia is humming behind her.
As they walk, something crosses Rosa's mind. The old still in the shed.
"Pauline…"
"Mmhm?"
Pauline doesn't stop. Neither Rosa nor Lilia.
She gulps down the thought. She needs to check first. Hopefully the supply is plenty.
"The potions… where do you guys get them?"
"Grandma usually makes a trip regularly to the town to negotiate contracts, she usually buys some on her way back. We never need that much though."
Rosa draws a deep breath as they approach a door at the end of the hallway.
Pauline reaches the door handle and opens the door. Revealing a dark room.
Rosa can make out the shape of the shelves from the corridor light, yet she can't see what's on them.
She presses her hand on the sigil paper sticking to the wall on her right.
Light glyphs begin to shine from above them. Illuminating the whole room.
As they enter, the same logging system sound echoes.
"Here… There are like…"
Pauline points at each bottle from where she stands, counting.
"Around twenty bottles?"
Rosa's expression freezes. She has a gut feeling, but having it confirmed sinks it.
Not to mention not all of them are mana potions. Some are stamina, some are for healing.
If she assumes the fight takes two hours or so, ten wards would need at least three or four bottles each.
Forty bottles is the bare minimum. Not even considering the people who will dance inside the blockade with the beast.
Then again, with the drain from ninjutsu, she doesn't know if it will affect the potion durability.
"Mana stones…"
Right, there are plenty of mana stones throughout the house for furniture, kitchen tools, and other appliances.
The thought dies as quickly as it comes. Yesterday, the logging system flickered. If ninjutsu can drain mana stones…
Any mana leaking into the environment would feed the creature. The whole point is to starve it. Adding more would defeat the plan.
At least, once mana potion is consumed, the mana stays in the mage's body. Unless void element is present.
Rosa clenches her fists yet again as she grits her teeth.
She brought four batches of potions when they set out, but half was consumed as they fought through the bandits.
In total, much less than needed. She needs to brew more herself.
Even those she has are almost stale.
Because her own still broke, she wasn't able to produce anything before they set out.
If it was her sister…
She bites her lips before she finishes the thought.
"Pauline…"
She calls once more with wavering voice.
"Are you okay, Rosa? Sorry… Our farm doesn't have enough to begin with…"
Pauline casts her eyes down.
It was Rosa's burden to carry. She should've thought of this. Not Pauline.
She is the planner, she should've calculated that the farm probably doesn't stock that many mana potions.
What is she even doing? Blaming the person she should be easing up to begin with.
"I…"
Rosa's voice begins to tremble even more.
"Sorry…"
Rosa spins around and darts off.
"Rosa!"
Lilia calls. Yet Rosa doesn't turn around. She doesn't stop nor slow down.
If her sister was here, she probably would've brought more.
If her sister was here, she probably wouldn't need the entire mages.
If it was her sister… she probably could deal with the creature alone.
She runs past the front door, past the maids, past the rows of mages, past Werner.
Then she hits something. No, someone. Her small body instantly falls backward, landing her to the ground.
She looks up. Black robe. Going further up. The face she last saw in the rain. Erika.
"Rosa…? Are you okay?"
"Hnngh!"
Something threatens to spill from her eyes. She pushes herself up and runs past her before anyone notices.
She runs and runs and runs, she doesn't care where her legs take her.
Pathetic. I am pathetic.
Is this what a candidate for a Royal Wizard should be?
This is the aspiring student of the Grand Magic University?
This is Callista Grace's little sister?
Sharing the same blood as the top graduate?
The same one who climbed herself up to be a Royal Wizard?
The only commoner to rise and possibly the best caster in this country?
Her thought, no, she curses herself. She already knows all of that.
This one is just another evidence to the pile.
She knows she will never earn the right to stand with her.
She knows she will never be enough.
Your sister made it! I am sure you can! You just have to believe yourself!
See? Your sister can do it! That means you can do it too, sweetie!
She was mistaken. She was wrong. She doesn't know anything.
Her chest finally tightens as she runs out of breath. Before she knows it, greenery of the forest surrounds her.
She drags herself to the nearest tree and slumps her back to its trunk.
Her eyes look up the rustling leaves, gazing the sunlight seeping through the gaps.
Another familiar landscape. The same as the forbidden area of her hometown.
Adults warned her as a child to not come near the place.
Yet she came anyway, along with Callista who was much older than her.
Things were much simpler back then. They would hunt monsters together. Right after Callista taught her a new spell.
Her training was strict, Callista made sure she drilled every kind of discipline into her back then.
But, despite all of that, things were fun. Until she had to make a choice to leave the town.
Her mother is wrong. Rosa could never even come close to Callista.
Even now, she can't even prepare the plan properly. She hasn't communicated anything yet.
Furthermore… she doesn't have the materials. The time. The tools.
"Callista…"
A sense of nostalgia rushes with the wind as Rosa mutters the name.
She misses how she can stand side by side with her. Now, she can't even imagine a dream where she can.
Her eyes begin to get heavy. She shouldn't. Yet her legs won't move. Her body won't move.
Until everything goes dark.
…
"ROSIEEEEEE!"
Pain shoots through her shoulder, jolting her up.
"Urk! L-Lilia!?"
"Huwaaaaaa! I'm glad you're fineeee!"
Stream of warm tears hits Rosa's neck, but there's something else.
Itch. A lot of itches.
Her hand feels around the neck, aside from the wet, there are some bumps.
Going further down, she realizes she is wrapped in some kind of blanket made of leaves.
"Morning, squeak. Got plenty of rest now, eh?"
"Akira… How long did I…"
"Quite long. Had to sniff around, lucky I got these old sharp nose."
Akira grins as she points to her nose with her thumb.
Sure enough, subtle yellow starts to seep on the light. The forest also feels a bit darker.
"The potions! I have to…"
"Rosieee! It's alright! I'm sorry! We're sorryyyyy!"
"Save the cuddles for later, will ya? Look at those…"
Akira gestures her face towards a direction.
Rosa follows. Her eyes widen. A track wasn't there before. Coming to and going from Rosa's spot.
The creature's track. It was here.
Rosa grabs at the leaf blanket.
"Lilia… did you make-"
Lilia shakes her head as she cries before Rosa finishes her sentence. A shiver runs through her body.
She tries to look at Akira. She also shakes her head.
Rosa's throat can't help but bobs.
"Let's go to the dorm, Erika was waiting for ya too."
"Erika?"
The collision from earlier flashes in her mind. She probably saw Rosa's expression.
Rosa wonders what Erika would even need from her. She explicitly said she doesn't want to be involved after all.
Rosa tries to move her legs, yet she can't. A literal weight is sitting on top of her.
"Lilia… You can let go of me now…"
"Nooo waaaay! If-If I do that, you'll disappear agaiiiiin! Hwaaaa!"
Guess I reaped what I sowed…