“Would you mind if I pat them?” Professor Sigor asked. There was a note of childlike zing to his request.

  Alira placed her hand on the Loch’s back and pushed it forward. “You don’t have to ask me for permission, Professor. It's your job to access the familiars.”

  “I do actually,” Professor Sigor replied. “Spirit Familiars share emotions and senses with their contractor. If you didn’t like me patting them or just me in particular, your familiar would express it clearly in action.”

  Oh. So that was the reason Raine’s familiar, the griffin, attacked the duke at first sight, despite Raine putting on the act of a perfect, golden child when he first joined the duchy. It was implied, but not stated.

  “I’m alright with it,” Alira nodded. Professor Sigor was the closest to what would be her favorite professor, which she didn’t have because getting attached to anything and anyone meant future complications. She caused him just as much, if not more, trouble than she did for Professor Daw. Yet he scolded her far less than the other professor. Plus, Professor Sigor was quite adorable for an ice-cold elf.

  The Loch huffed. Alira heard no biting or yelling after the professor moved, so the fussy beast must be tolerating him just fine. She wondered who might be bitten, however.

  Definitely the duke if given the chance and reason. Though she guessed the Loch might not necessarily lash out as Raine’s familiar did. She hated him plenty, but only for the pain he’d caused her. She didn’t hate him as a character despite what she knew about him from Raine throughout the novel. He was, well, just a character in the novel. The same way everyone in this world was. Alira wasn’t the type to hate the actors and actresses for the role they played and the script they were given.

  “It’s truly an accomplishment to have a Loch as your first familiar,” Professor Sigor said, snapping Alira out of her somber thoughts.

  “Why? It is not particularly strong,” Alira said. “Headstrong, maybe.” She immediately side-stepped the moment she finished. There was a swoop of wind which would have resulted in a blunt kick of a hoof to her shin if she didn’t know better to dodge. She’d learned her lesson the first time, still remembering the almost bone-shattering kick.

  “Why do you think horses are domesticated for riding, but not deer?”

  “Too weak?” Alira replied without thinking. This time, she failed to anticipate the Loch’s reaction as it stomped its foot onto hers. “Ouch!” Alira yelped and snapped at the Loch. “I was talking about deer. Are you a deer? I thought you were a Loch!”

  “Brk!” The Loch replied. It sure was strange to hear a deer bark.

  Professor Sigor must have brought out a quick snack for the Loch at some point, as Alira heard it munching on what sounded like a carrot the next moment.

  “Sure, they have fragility problems; weak ankles, weak backs, and such. This doesn’t apply to Loches. A Spirit’s physical form is much more resilient than living beasts and could be indefinitely repaired so long as there’s a mana supply.” There was the sound of some rustling as he took out yet another snack before the Loch proceeded with its munching. “The one deer problem that translates to Loches is the panic problem. They’re too skittish and would not bow to anyone who couldn’t overpower them in every sense.”

  Alira felt the professor’s scrutinizing gaze on her face. She could almost see his eyes despite the stage of her eyes and the cloth over them. “So it’s unusual for a half-baked apprentice mage to have a Loch familiar. Of course, you don’t technically count as one. No apprentice mage can burn down a section of Vesper Reign, down to ashes. And they definitely can’t drain the mana to the point that the forest could no longer heal itself.”

  Alira subconsciously took a step back. She heard the sound of another step that wasn’t hers as Professor Sigor suddenly felt much closer.

  “I saw the flames. I felt it. The last time I was in the presence of something so wild was when I visited the Seventh High King’s grave,” he said.

  Alira swallowed. She didn’t know who the Seventh High King was, but she was almost entirely sure he was an Imperial Mage when he was alive.

  “I—” Alira started, but before she could think of anything to say, she felt a soft touch landing on her lips. Ticklish touches latched onto as Alira felt her breath getting blocked by a pair of fluttering wings. She put her hand up to hover over the butterfly whose light she could vaguely sense.

  Professor Sigor clearly didn’t want her to talk. It was getting a bit suspicious how convenient he was making things for her. Back when Alira and Raine split off to search for the artifact as well, he definitely knew they were up to something, yet he had allowed them to go anyway.

  There was no doubt that something was going on. For better or worse, Alira had no plan to dive below the surface to find out. The longer she stayed in the world, the more reminders she had to give herself that she wouldn’t linger a second longer than she had to.

  “Since you’ve gotten yourself a familiar already, a retake won’t be necessary,” Professor Sigor continued, promptly changing the subject. “So how about we thaw both ice chunks with one flame?”

  Huh? Alira’s eyebrows squished together. Was it a Staywes version of kill two birds with one stone or something?

  “The Keeper would be happy to receive a helping hand in nursing the forest back. Especially from the same person who created all the extra work for her.”

  +++

  “Ouch!” Alira hissed. “You put too much in! I said one drop. That was two...”

  She blinked fast and squeezed her eyes shut when blinking didn’t help stop the sting. Her view was a blurry mess with fuzzy figures, but hey, she had regained somewhat of a vision now, after three days had passed since she had gone blind. The burning sensation gradually lessened as the medication settled in, but the itch, however, didn’t.

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  Alira raised her hand to give her eyes a good rub. But before it got anywhere close to her face, the tallest and nearest figure before her caught it.

  “Don’t.” Raine’s voice was firm as he kept her hand in place.

  Alira tried to yank it back. As always, any attempt to overpower each other ended up in a stalemate with the two of them being equally matched in terms of raw strength.

  “It’s itching! It doesn’t itch this badly normally when Maria does it for me,” Alira accused.

  Raine let her hand go only when he was sure she had given up. “Why didn’t you ask Maria then?”

  Alira flailed her hands around. “Do you see her around? You’re the one who suddenly sent a message in Morse code with your emergency flare ring, saying you’re crashing into my room! Now, you’re suddenly so eager and just can’t wait to visit my bedroom that I had to send her away despite it being my medication time.”

  “I’m surprised you actually know Morse code,” Raine said. That was what he decided to respond to.

  Alira groaned. She shut her eyes tight, hoping for any relief. Knowing Raine would stop her again, she fought the urge to rub her eyes. “I’m glad you’ve gotten over your initial prejudice of me, but you do remember that I’m still that guy’s daughter, right? Maria is how he keeps an eye on me.”

  Raine grabbed her chin, tilting her head upward. Alira tried to back away, only to have him place a firm hand over her shoulder.

  “Keep still,” he said, leaning in. Alira’s heart skipped a beat as his blurry face inched in, becoming less obscure. Her eyes widened, jaw dropping, as she didn’t know how to react to this sudden boldness. “Good. Stay that way.” Raine’s breath brushed over her face from how close she was.

  She sat there in stupor, unintentionally listening to him in confusion. Raine’s face hovered over her. Alira thought she had become immune to the protagonist’s face card, but from this distance, she couldn’t even form a thought as she stared blankly.

  She noticed every flaw that wasn’t on his face, every flutter of his long eyelashes, and every twitch of his facial muscle. She didn’t miss it when he pursed his eyes slightly.

  Was he—?

  Alira jerked as Raine blew warm air into her eyes. She blinked. And blinked again.

  “Stop blinking,” Raine said, a small frown creeping onto his face. “Or is the itch gone?”

  “Y-Yeah, it’s not itchy anymore,” Alira stammered. Either it was completely gone, or she was too dumbfounded to feel it.

  { I’m feeling a bit left out. }

  Alira jumped at Xia’s voice, sending her heart, which had yet to calm down, off to another race. Her eyes darted toward the grandfather clock against a wall. Three o’clock. It was a little early for Xia to be awake, considering he had gone silent, off to bed, less than two hours ago.

  { If you’re going to have fun, you should let me join too, sweetie. After all, we should do things together to become even more harmonized, won’t you agree? }

  Alira felt her face getting hotter at that. Why did he have to say it like that? She should have used a different word than Raine had chosen to describe the alignment rate of the two artifacts’ owners. Xia had decided he wanted to ceaselessly bring it up since their harmonization rate had gone up from 44% after the test to 48%. Just two percent shy of the boundary for the second stage in less than three weeks, when it took three years for Raine.

  She couldn’t reason why the progress was so fast with anything other than the privilege of being a transmigrator. Not that she actually would complain. She could use a trip to the Eastern Continent.

  “Why are you all... red?” Raine asked. The corners of his lips were turned upward about ten degrees as a tint of mirth colored his amber eyes.

  { Oh. Are you all red, sweetie? Too hot around here? }

  Xia echoed after Raine. Alira waved her hand, fanning her face in an attempt to cool herself down.

  “Just a bit stuffy. More importantly! I had a vision just now before you came?” Alira asked. “I think it might be related to Lillian.”

  The hint of a smile was quickly wiped off Raine’s face at that, returning to its stone expression.

  { Who’s Lillian again? }

  And why are you here again?

  Alira could barely hold herself from saying it out loud. She almost wished she could talk to Raine telepathically at this moment. Wasn’t it already that time of the day when he needed to clock in to his royal duties?

  “What did you see?”

  Alira swallowed. “Children. I saw children getting snatched by men in cloaks. From the way they are dressed, all of them are commoners, most likely street orphans. The vision changed location multiple times. One of them was at Astrail. It looks like some alleyway at the back of an inn or something.”

  “Kidnapping,” Raine said. “It’s not very uncommon for things like that to happen to street urchins. I will try to see what I can find out.”

  “Alright, thanks,” Alira said with a small nod. “I’m inclined to believe it’s those cultists every time I see some shady people. There are only so many things they can use kidnapped children for, and I’m sure one of them is to turn the kids into Fellsworns. Hopefully, we can find a lead about Lillian from here.”

  { Oh, that girl. Shouldn’t she be presumed dead by now? You are trying so hard to convince yourself otherwise. I wonder why. }

  Alira tightened her fist, nail digging into her palm. Her knuckles were especially itching on this day when His Majesty Xia decided to run his mouth like he was getting paid to do so. She calmed herself with a deep sigh.

  “That’s all from me. Your turn,” she turned to Raine.

  “I found someone who has a connection. They said they can get us to a Trial ground, but we’ll have to go underground,” Raine said with a heavy voice.

  Unofficial means. It would be fine for the time being. When the Academy caught on to it, they might get punished a bit. Alira didn’t really care about it, but it was still Raine’s plan to emerge from the Academy as a top student before he revealed himself as the duke’s child.

  “Do you want to try with the headmaster again? We’re taking the second-semester courses, so I think our chances will improve if we wait a bit,” Alira said. “Don’t worry. We can focus on Lillian’s matter first. We could use more hands-on experiences before we do the Trial.”

  “Doesn’t matter to me,” Raine said.

  Though Alira noticed his posture relaxed just a bit at that. It seemed he still planned to do what he did in the novel.

  “It’s settled then. Let’s forget about the Trial for now. You find out where the kidnapping hotspot is, and we see for ourselves where the victims are being taken to!”

  Raine’s face tensed up again at that. “That’s your plan? Get kidnapped ourselves?”

  Alira shrugged. “From what I’ve seen and felt, I’m willing to bet it is the cultists, and I’d further assume Lillian is wherever they’re taking all kidnapped victims. Trust me. You won’t lose from betting on a prophet’s guts!”

  “I won’t,” Raine agreed, but added before Alira could grin, “Only because I’ve nothing to lose anyway.”