[S3] Chapter 35: Forward

I am not at an airport, but I'm still a bit upset that I didn't make a welcome sign. I stand here with my cell phone in hand and pretend to be busy while I just scroll from left to right and wait for the minutes to pass. When two trains arrive, I only look up briefly before I pretend to be busy again; in the end, I don't want to appear more excited than I actually am.

"Hello, sweetheart.”

I cringe inwardly and turn my head in the direction of the voice. Maisy, the one I've been waiting for, has come. As we promised, we've stayed in touch after the end of the dungeon raid three months ago, and finally we've managed to actually meet again.

“Eww, do I know you?” I look down at Maisy with an extra disgusted expression before I can no longer suppress a giggle.

The fact that she is wearing a knee-length skirt makes me appreciate how warm the weather has become again. It's mid-March already, and the temperatures are steadily rising. The dark and cold times are about to end. Although this year's winter was quite cozy since I had someone to snuggle up to. I'm only thinking about Miko for a moment and Maisy is already staring at me with a big smile.

“Is there something on my face?”

"You look quite feminine with that long hair."

“So what did I look like before?”

I don't think they've grown that much in the few months we haven't seen each other. But when I look at Maisy she seems to have grown up, on the one hand it might be because of her clothes but somehow her face looks less curvy.

“Maisy... did you lose weight?"

“And you've put on some, haven't you?”

I just wanted to compliment her but she decides to murder me on the spot. Maisy grins and steps towards me to wrap her arms around my body. Her mint-colored hair right under my nose smells as fruity as ever, and I have to be careful not to sniff it too obviously.

"I missed you, Kayla."

"I missed you too."

While Maisy was just the healer I connected with best during the Raid, thanks to our regular chats and phone calls, she became the person I would most likely call a friend. It's nice to have someone around my age to talk to. Of course, I have Miko, but I can't exactly discuss everything with her, especially not my thoughts and worries about Miko herself.

"Where are we going?"

"A cute café that opened a few weeks ago." Just the thought brings a smile to my lips.

Since it opened, I've walked past it almost every day and usually manage to resist the temptation to go in. Maisy's visit is the perfect excuse to finally give in to my cravings. From the station, it takes us just under ten minutes to reach the café. Like a true gentleman, I open the door for Maisy, and the tinkling of a bell rings through the air. We are greeted warmly by a waitress who leads us to the table I had reserved.

"It is so cozy in here," Maisy says quietly as we take our seats.

"Right? We haven't had anything this beautiful in our town for a long time."

"I almost feel sorry for you. However, how are you doing?"

"Before we talk about me, I want to give you something."

Excited, I reach into my backpack, which I had put under the table, take out a small, hand-sized gift box, and give it to Maisy.

"Happy belated birthday."

"Aww…thank you. May I open it?"

Maisy seems happy but also somewhat surprised as if she hadn't expected to get anything from me... Her birthday was just ten days ago, as if I would forget it. I wonder what she thinks of me? Whatever it is, at least I can tell from her expression that she is enjoying the present. Without waiting long, she carefully takes the rose gold bracelet with cute flower decorations out of the box and puts it on.

When I saw it in the shop, I immediately thought of Maisy and just bought it.

"What do you think?" I ask, grinning at her.

Before she answers, she pulls a face and looks as if she's about to cry. I start to panic a little. It's nice that she likes it, but she doesn't need to cry.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes... but how can I accept such a gift? It must have been super expensive."

"It wasn't, and even if it was. I wanted you to have it."

"I love it."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

Maisy sniffs loudly and sulks a little.

◆◆◆

While we get started on the first round of small different tarts, I tell Maisy how our guild fared after Lilith left and Eliza had to take over the lead. To summarize briefly. It's not that easy.

"Doesn't sound all that awful. I guess," she says, staring somewhat disheartened at the pastries on her plate. I almost feel sorry for the troubled look on Maisy's face. It seems to be more challenging for her to talk about Lilith and our guild than it is for me.

"I think the first week back home was the worst. Even Miko cried a little from time to time. But things got better quickly, and everyone learned to look ahead. So don't worry. By the way, don't tell Miko I told you that."

"Never in my life, my lips are sealed."

"Thanks…"

Suddenly, Maisy claps her hands together and takes a deep breath.

"Another topic, alright?"

"Sure."

"Are you still getting any missions?"

I knew this topic would come up… From one problem to another.

"Not really. Eliza also seems to have given up looking for any."

"It's no different for us. Jora recently had to lay off a large part of the guild."

"I'm sorry about that."

"There's nothing you can do about it."

It felt like the appearance of Ayma and the disappearance of Lilith marked the beginning of a noticeable decline in the appearance of dungeons. In recent months, it got even worse. While our guild used to be quite picky about which mission we would take on, now Eliza doesn't even get the chance to accept a job that is even remotely close to our area.

"But you're still part of his guild, right?"

"For now, yes. But I don't know what's going to happen in the near future."

Maisy seems depressed. She was in such a good mood earlier, but suddenly I realize how stressed she is. It looks like something is dragging her down even more. And I'm not sure if I dare to ask her about it.

"Maisy, are you okay?"

She shakes her head slowly and shows me a faint smile.

"I'm sorry, Kayla. I know you're burdened by a lot yourself, and yet you tried to have a nice day with me. I completely ruined the mood."

"Don't worry, I'm here for you."

"You know, Jora will step down as King of Mages."

I don't know what to say in response. I don't understand what it means for the guild and for us mages when he steps down. I call her my friend, but I can't read Maisy at all, and without knowing precisely what's bothering her about it, I may be hurting her more than helping her with my following words. I hope she doesn't realize how helpless I feel at the moment.

"He… probably wants to spend more time with the guild, right?"

"I don't know. Jora hasn't told us why he's doing it. But all this is giving me a horrible feeling. It seems like everything is falling apart."

Maisy and I sigh at the same time, look at each other in the eyes for some seconds, and start giggling.

"Enough serious talk for today?"

"Definitely," I agree with her. The world will not end, but there is no doubt that we have been going through a few crises recently that nobody was prepared for.

"What are the others up to? How is your wifey doing?"

"They are training. Since we have so much time, we've thrown some money together to rent a hall where we can practice."

"You too?"

"Yes, of course. My training looks a bit different, but I think I'm pretty hard-working as well."

They say self-praise stinks, but I've developed a lot in the months since we've been back home, at least as a witch. As a girlfriend and a person, honestly, not that much.

"Shall we pay them a visit?" I ask.

"Sure."

We had to take a bus that took us to the industrial estate on the outskirts of the city. The longer we travel and the closer we get to the hall I mentioned, the more suspicious Maisy looks at me. Finally, we arrive in front of a large, apparently empty industrial hall.

"What's that?"

"Our training ground."

"I kind of imagined a sports hall."

"You think someone would actually rent us a sports hall?"

"I suppose not."

Thanks to several magical barriers, you can neither see nor hear what is happening inside the building at any time. I activate my mana flow in my eyes and take a look inside before entering with Maisy. It gets pretty heated in there from time to time, and especially today, I don't want to get caught up in anything.

"Okay, follow me."

I slowly lead the way, and Maisy follows me with her arms protectively around the carton full of little cakes we brought with us from the cafe. The moment we pass through the sound barrier, my ear fills with the loud sound of clashing steel. A short time later, we can also see where the noise is coming from. Miko and Kajsa are engaged in a sword fight, not with any sort of practice weapons, but with the real deal. I have to say that the two are not necessarily out to hit each other. Kajsa's focus is on improving her technique, and Miko wants to keep up with the physical power of a demon. The experience they shared in a dungeon has motivated them to support each other in their respective training.

After I try to follow the fight between these two for some seconds and fail miserably, I turn around and look at Maisy. Her eyes glow a bright red and dart wildly around the hall, her mouth slightly open. Sometimes, I forget that despite her young, petite appearance, she is a fairly experienced and talented witch.

For now, I just leave her there and walk into a container near the entrance. As I expected, Luna is sitting there reading a book. While Miko and Kajsa are bursting with energy and strive to get stronger every day, Luna is dedicated to two things in particular. One is to improve her mana control, as using her massive fire spells always leaves damage to her mana system, and the other is to teach me everything she knows about the forbidden magic circles.

The magic circles are written in the other world's language; the ones that are banned in our country due to their dangerous nature. The circles allow Luna to destroy whole mountains and Lilith to stop the time. I don't have a massive pool of mana or an incredible talent for anything that isn't healing magic. But what I do have is the perseverance to learn these spells and memorize as many as I can.

I have no intention of ignoring the law, but I have realized that when it comes down to it, everyone will use everything at their disposal, regardless of whether it is allowed or not. In a battle where everything is at stake, no one will refrain from using their strongest magic.

"We've brought cake."

Luna puts her book aside and looks up while the noises coming from the hall suddenly stop. Apparently, they've noticed Maisy. A moment later, I hear footsteps and some chatter coming towards the container. With an expectant smile, I turn to the entrance.

The first to walk in is Maisy, with a degree of disbelief written all over her face. Miko comes in behind her. She is wearing a black crop top that shows off her sweaty, toned abs.

While I shamelessly stare at my girlfriend, Kajsa excitedly jumps into our circle. "I hear there's cake?"

A few minutes later, the five of us are sitting together at another table outside the container. Miko and Kajsa went to freshen up and brought chairs for everyone. Although Maisy and I already had cake today, we also enjoyed the delicious treats. We were also focused on not bringing up the negative topics from our previous conversations. Still, as if it were inevitable, Luna asked how Jora's guild was faring with the dungeon regression. I don't know what kind of reactions I was expecting, but the three of them didn't seem that surprised. Neither about the layoffs nor that Jora will step down as king. Instead, the topic ended as quickly as it was started.

"Come on, Kajsa, get up," Miko says energetically.

"I don't want to."

"Luna?"

"Do I look like it?"

My poor girlfriend sighs in disappointment. I also won't be able to offer her any help. After all, I still can't fight, and I'm not really interested in learning to. Just before Miko seems to have resigned herself to the fact that today's training is over, her eyes remain glued to Maisy. She herself only realizes a few seconds later that she is being stared at.

"What's going on?"

"You don't want to fight, do you?"

"I'm not really in the mood. Maybe another time," Maisy says, averting her eyes somewhat awkwardly. Maisy's state of mind is a perfect chance to test a form of magic on her that I've been practicing lately. I actually wanted to surprise her with it in the café, but the mood didn't allow it.

I activate my mana flow, and similar to the way I heal, I let mana flow out of my hands. But right now, it creeps slowly across the floor before it disappears into Maisy. However, I don't intend to ease her pain. Instead, I built a connection to her body without her noticing.

"Hey Maisy. Look over here."

With a puzzled "Huh?" she turns her gaze in my direction and looks at me questioningly.

"Are you alright? Do you need anything?"

"No, thanks."

I look around and see the confusion on the faces of the others before Maisy's expression also shows the same. I end the spell and sever the connection. The moment she realized that my mana had flowed into her system, she would have been able to simply repel it, so my magic would have been canceled anyway.

"How are you doing that? But you can't read my mind, can you?" Maisy's emotional state seems to be a mixture of excitement and irritation.

"Hard to explain. It's kind of a feeling thing," I say, shrugging my shoulders. It's also not my goal to learn mind reading, but if I can get into another person's brain with my mana to let them hear my voice, it's hardly that far off to be able to listen to their thoughts in some way.

By the way, it was Luna's idea for me to learn something like that. She suggested that I make something out of my experience of using my mana in another person's body. Healing basically works the same. The only difference is what magic my mana creates.

In the case of transferring thoughts, it fails as soon as the other person notices that I'm using magic on them. According to Miko and Luna, it is quite possible to force my mana on someone.

"What are you learning that for in the first place?" Maisy suddenly asks.

Is it me or her questions that I can't think of any reasonable answers? The simplest explanation would be that I want to be more like Lilith. When she saved me from Kajsa back then, she spoke directly into my mind and put me to sleep. Even on the day she disappeared, she didn't use her magic to hurt anyone. Instead, she prevented any more violence by stopping time and disappearing with Ayma. Something about that made me want to be like her. And maybe if I hadn't just focused on healing magic, I might have been able to stop her or at least ask her why.

"I don't know," I answer after thinking for far too long.

"Do I need to understand that?" Maisy looks around questioningly.

"Nope, you don't," Luna says, getting up from her seat and starting to collect the paper plates we've used. She then nods to the side, and my gaze follows. I spot Kajsa and Miko, who look like they're going to fall asleep at any moment. The loss of tension, coupled with the cake, has put them into some sort of food coma.

We quickly gather our stuff and then leave the hall together. The two sleepyheads seem a bit groggy but quietly follow us along. Luna locks the gate with a regular padlock. I can see from Maisy's face that she is almost disappointed with this magic-free method.

"What are you going to do now?" Luna asks, her eyes glued to the yawning Kajsa next to her.

"I have to get back to the station. If the trains run somewhat on time and don't spontaneously get canceled again, I'll make it home by tonight." Maisy explains somewhat shyly.

I didn't notice it when we were sitting together, but Luna and Maisy didn't really talk that much to each other. When I met Maisy for the first time, she told me that she was a fan of Luna and was jealous because I was in a guild with her. During the Raid, they only saw each other a couple of times, but I know first-hand that Luna likes Maisy.

"If it's all right with you, I'll take Kajsa home. It was great to see you, Maisy. I hope we have a little more time on your next visit."

"I enjoyed it too." Oh dear, she's blushing all the way up to her ears.

"We'll walk her to the station," Miko announces as if it were a matter of course, stretching her arms over her head and then offering me her hand.

With my girlfriend on one side and Maisy on the other, we arrive at the station sometime later. Her visit was short, and I had already offered to stay a little longer beforehand, but she declined. She didn't want to leave her decimated guild alone right now.

I hug Maisy goodbye. "Say hello to the guys for me."

"You can leave out Wace," Miko adds.

"I will." Maisy giggles, without us knowing whose question she has answered, and walks up the stairs to her platform.

Miko and I look into each other's eyes for a moment without saying anything. Sometimes, we just lose ourselves like that. With a smile and a satisfied exhale through my nose, I turn my gaze away.

"Home?"

"Yes, please."

"Do you need my help, by the way?" I ask Miko after we leave the station and enjoy some privacy.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Her tone sounds like I've caught her doing something fishy. I sigh and shake my head slightly.

"You're limping a teeny tiny bit. The training must be getting to you."

"It's amazing that you noticed."

"For almost a year, I've only had eyes for you. I have no idea what else you expect from me," I sometimes scare myself how I manage to simply say such corny lines without cringing to death.

"A year? It doesn't feel like a year passed, but then again, we've been through an awful lot."

How right she is. About the same time a year ago, Miko approached me in the alley behind the pub. After that, I joined the guild, got my license, saved my first life, went to a school for mages, entered a dungeon, fought a demon, continued to gain experience, and eventually was a part of the Dungeon Raid.

"Oh, what I just remembered. Weren't we planning to go on vacation? Your battered body could use it."

I may have imagined it, but it felt like Miko flinched slightly.

"Vacation? Did I say something like that?" She doesn't try to hide the fact that she doesn't really want to talk about it.

Miko had said two times that she didn't want to be a witch anymore. The first time after she realized that our enemies also have feelings and loved ones, the other time after the Dungeon Raid was over. Even though she did go through to the end of the Dungeon Raid, despite Lilith being gone, after that, she finally seemed drained. Miko looked as if she had used up all her energy and drive. But just a week after we arrived home around New Year, she introduced me to a plan to get stronger. On the same day, I went to Luna and begged her to teach me all the magic circles and spells she knows. I didn't want to fall behind, so I can hardly blame Miko for not taking some time off.

Perhaps sometimes you need someone or something to take such decisions out of your hands.