[S3] Chapter 40: Vacation?

"I like trains."

"Okay?"

"No, I just realized how nice it is not to have to drive myself."

"Is that another dig at me because I don't have a license?"

"Maybe."

Miko sulks and stares out the window. A week after the news that our guild is no longer, we are sitting on a train to finally start the vacation that we had planned at the end of the Dungeon Raid four months ago. Our first destination is the capital of our country. The place where the said Dungeon Raid took place. What do we want there? Visit Maisy, of course. After I told her about our vacation, she suggested that we could make a little detour to her place.

While I can't turn down the chance to meet a friend, Miko is keen to talk to Jora. Kajsa suggested that he might know more about Miko's past or her family. So, we kill two birds with one stone.

"Ah, I feel sick," is my reaction after we leave the train and have to walk past hundreds of passengers on the platform to get to the stairs leading into the station building, which is even more crowded. I have no idea how many thousands of people are constantly running around here.

I check my phone to see where we are supposed to meet Maisy and roll ahead with my suitcase, Miko follows me before I see in the corner of my eye that she is slowing down.

"What's going on?"

"Do you see the blue light?"

I try to look through the masses of people and spot the light from police cars coming in through the huge glass front at the entrance to the station. But in fact, nothing unusual for this city. During the few months we lived here, we got used to the constant wailing of sirens and police on the move.

"We have to go that way. "

"Okay."

And so, we just keep walking. Most people don't let themselves be irritated either and continue to head for this exit. I am startled when I suddenly hear scattered screams and, indeed, several people appearing to flee from where we are heading. From behind us, three, no, four figures in uniforms suddenly come running and simply jump over the crowd of people and land at the front doors. Two leave the station, and the other two seem to be trying to calm the crowd of people down a bit.

I don't know why, but Miko and I are picking up speed and continuing to move towards the police operation instead of moving away like all the other people. My heart is racing a little, but not in a negative way. It's hard to imagine that I've missed this kind of thrill, but it's been almost half a year since my last mission inside a dungeon.

In a relatively short time, the entire area in front of the entrance is empty. A few people are standing on the sides, chattering. The two policemen, who are wearing ponchos that remind me a lot of our old guild uniforms, are obviously from this new magical unit that was established just recently. Miko is staring at one of them the whole time, so much so that even I feel a little uneasy.

"Do you know him?"

"No."

"Oh."

I try to see what happens outside. However, the police have set up a visual barrier in record time. Before I react, Miko starts marching towards the two magic policemen. I follow her, and both of them come towards us.

"Stop. You can't use this exit."

"No shit, Sherlock. I want to know what happened."

Both mages have activated their mana. Their eyes glow red, and they give off a certain aura as if they are ready to take action at any time. But the moment Miko starts talking in this disrespectful tone, it seems as if they begin to relax.

"You're Miko, right? We weren't quite sure. Sorry for staring."

"I thought you didn't know them?" I ask quietly.

"I do not, but I recognize the expressions of people who know me."

And I recognize the expression of people who are hurt by the fact that Miko does not remember them. I smile at them almost apologetically.

"Sorry, but we can't say anything specific." Meanwhile, I hear the sirens of ambulances getting closer.

"One person was causing trouble, and one of our guys took care of it."

"Trouble? Why all the ambulances?"

"The magic has struck passers-by."

Without a single thought in my mind, I take a step in the direction of the door, but Miko grabs my arm. I look at her as she briefly shakes her head.

"That's not our job."

She's right. But I feel like I must help, and suppressing this urge makes me uncomfortable. Suddenly, the vibration of the phone in my pocket brings me back down to earth a little.

"Kayla, where are you?"

"At the exit of the station."

"Which one? "

"The one that's closed off. "

"Do you see the donut shop near you? "

I turn around and look along the sides, which are full of all kinds of shops, and immediately spot the donut place. I wonder how I didn't notice it before.

"Yes, I see it."

"I'm coming over there now. Stay safe."

"We're fine, Maisy. Everything's good."

She hangs up. I don't know why she's so panicked, but it's sweet that she's worried about us. Miko looks at me questioningly.

"Maisy said we should meet at the shop over there," I point to it. Miko nods at me, grabs her suitcase, and rolls off without saying goodbye to the two policemen. I show them my apologetic smile again, give them a little wave, and go after my rude girlfriend.

Less than two minutes later, Maisy comes marching towards us, taking the biggest steps her short legs can manage. She looks really cute again; her mint-colored hair is tied in two braids, and she's wearing fake glasses with a thick black frame. I give her a big cuddle, and after I let go, she and Miko look at each other for a few awkward seconds before taking a step in each other's direction to share a brief hug. It's a picture I'd like to print out and put in a frame.

"I'm glad to see you, but why are you so relaxed?"

"Shouldn't we be?"

"I heard about the fleeing masses, that a mage ran amok. That's horrible."

"It is, but the police seem to have it under control. And think about who I'm traveling with," I say, winking at her. With Miko by my side, a few things would scare me. What's scarier is that people are talking about a mage running amok when it was one of the magical police who caused the commotion.

"I admit it, I wanted to go. But I couldn't sense any mana anymore," Miko says, turning her face to the exit where the two policemen are still standing guard. Maisy gives a deep sigh.

"You two are definitely not normal."

"I'll take that as a compliment," no, she's right. My head tells me that my reaction is not as it should be. I neither experience a small amount of fear nor do I feel a spark of empathy for the injured out there. The fact that I wanted to run out to heal them was not because I felt sorry for them but because I was under the impression that I just had to do it.

"Who wants a donut?" Miko asks, already studying the vast selection of delicacies in front of her.

◆◆◆

After stocking up on sweets, we headed towards the other exit so that we could walk to the guild building of Jora's guild. It is actually only about ten minutes from the train station, which saves us from having to squeeze into the overcrowded trams.

"It's crazy. You don't even realize that something happened here," I note as the next police car races past us.

"There's always something going on here," Maisy says with a rather tired laugh. She may look like she would fit in in a big city, but her personality is definitely too gentle for it.

The rest of the way, we keep quiet. First of all, it's strange that Miko is traveling with us because she doesn't seem to have any genuine interest in being here. It's not that she seems to be rejecting us because every time we make eye contact, she smiles more friendly and relaxed than ever before. Somehow, no one seems to have any ideas for a starting topic.

What have we been up to recently? Maisy's guild is in a bad state, and ours has disbanded. Lilith is still missing, and the first thing we experienced on our vacation was a major police operation with a mage involved.

Before we can think of anything, we have already arrived at the guild building, or rather, a building complex. From the outside, it looks a little like an old police station. We have to walk across the parking lot before we can take a small staircase up to the main entrance.

"Is this your first time here? "

"Yep."

"Okay, would you like a little tour? "

"Why not?"

Maisy smiles at us and begins to guide us through the six buildings. The first thing we entered was like an office, including a reception and meeting rooms. This is connected to changing rooms where guild members prepare for missions. A small building nearby serves as a storage room, which is locked with magical and physical locks, preventing us from looking inside. An entire building is used as a dining hall, where guild members were able to enjoy fresh food together every day until recently... but they had to fire the cooks because they couldn't afford to pay them anymore. Then we come to a small gym, which, together with another building, is somewhat hidden behind the others. When I see how well-equipped it is, I understand why Maisy was so disturbed by our training hall in a run-down industrial area.

"So, and here is the last building, the dormitory. There are twelve small one-room apartments here. Not much for a guild that used to be so large, but living space in such a good location in this city is incredibly expensive and, above all, hard to find. That's why new members usually had priority and could move in here until they found something of their own. I just somehow ended up staying here for all my four years." She smiles, but I can hear a certain sadness in her voice.

"Can we see your room?" I ask excitedly, hoping to lighten the mood a little, but Maisy just starts laughing, somewhat embarrassed.

"Unfortunately, I don't have one anymore."

"Huh?"

"I resigned from the guild." She smiles broadly and flashes us a peace sign. I've never heard of that before. Is that why she wanted us to drop by?

"When?"

"I signed the dissolution agreement yesterday."

"Why? I mean, you weren't thrown out, right?

"Jora and I had a little disagreement about my future in the guild. That's why I decided to leave." She shrugs her shoulders and sighs a little. She seems to have shed some of her worries. The sadness I felt from her earlier has apparently disappeared.

"Oh, wow. What on earth are you doing now?" I was asked that question myself just recently, and now I'm finding myself on the other side of it.

"I'm going to go to school. I'll teach magic and study something ordinary along the way."

"You're going to be a teacher?" Miko asks, holding back a laugh.

"Yes? What's wrong with that?"

Miko waves it off. "No, really not. You're just so cute and small. I hope the students treat you well."

How do I feel about Miko calling Maisy cute? Since when does she do stuff like that? What the hell have I missed? No matter, Miko's worries make sense. I still remember the first shift of our healing service at the Dungeon Raid. She had difficulties talking to a single patient, and now she is supposed to speak in front of a whole classroom.

"When are you starting?"

"In four weeks. I'm taking a little break now and need to move as well."

"What was the problem? With Jora, I mean?" Miko asks quite directly. Of course, I'm curious about it, too, but I also feel that it's none of my business.

"He wanted to work more closely with me and give me more responsibility. But I wanted to carry on as before. I didn't want any change. Now, I'm moving to another city and working in a completely different field. It doesn't make sense, does it?"

It still makes more sense than my decision to join some guild back then because I just wanted to work with Miko. Maisy's decision, on the other hand, seems very well thought out and grown-up. She remains true to magic to a certain extent, passes on her knowledge, and still tries to build a career that works outside of being a witch.

Wait... somehow, I still have no idea what I'm going to do once our vacation is over. In fact, Miko and I haven't discussed our future, which we probably should do at some point. It's unlikely that anyone will take the decision out of our hands.

"Um, I don't want to change the subject, but is Jora here? If possible, I'd like to speak to him." Ah, yes, that is the reason Miko was so eager to come here. Maisy looks thoughtful for a moment, making Miko a little anxious that her visit may be in vain.

"Yes, of course. He's in his office. I'll take you to him."

From the dormitory, we make our way back to the main building. Once there, we climb more stairs, and, whoosh, we are standing in front of a room with a nameplate hanging on the side. Now that looks pretty official. Maisy knocks on the door, and a little too fast, someone says, "Come in."

One by one, we walk into the room, which is so big that this small chamber that Lilith used as her office seems even tinier in my memory. In this spacious place, Jora sits behind a large desk. As always, he is wearing a suit, and his long platinum-blonde hair is tied back in a ponytail.

"I've seen you through the window, and then I sit here waiting for twenty minutes for you to finally show up."

"Sorry, I was giving them a tour."

"Oh, would you both like to join my little guild?"

"No, thanks," Miko says, but she goes ahead and sits down in the chair opposite Jora. "But I would like to ask you a few questions."

Maisy heads for the door before Miko turns around and looks at us.

"Stay here, I have nothing to hide."

◆◆◆

"I see. Yes, I do know the kingdom you are said to come from. Your parents were probably not yet born when I was still living in my old world. But what I can tell you is that the king who ruled at that time also had a name similar to yours. I can't remember which one exactly. However, as you said yourself, I don't see why Ayma would have lied to you." It's eerie how Jora's expression changes as he speaks her name.

Personally, Lilith impressed me more, but the two of them are definitely a scary pair of sisters. At least as far as their magical abilities are concerned. When it comes to human behavior, there is definitely something wrong with both of them.

"What are you going to do with the information you gather?"

"I think I'll process it for now."

"I understand. I would also understand if you wanted to visit the world you were born in. But as someone who fled from there, I would advise you not to. This place was already heading for self-destruction by the time I left."

What does he mean? How is the world destroying itself?

"All right, I'll keep that in mind."

Hey, Miko... why are you getting up? Aren't you going to ask him what he means by the destruction of the world? I could ask him myself, but somehow, the conversation seemed to be over. Whatever, I'll ask him another time.

"May I invite the ladies to dinner?"

Jora, my man. Where do you learn to ask the right questions the way he does?

"Can I come too?" Maisy asks timidly.

Jora responds in a whisper. "Please don't act like I'm mistreating you!"

We start to laugh and walk down the stairs. When we reach the entrance, Jora looks around briefly as if he is looking for someone.

Maisy makes eye contact with him and shakes her head.

"There is nobody left."

I don't know whether she means today or in general. But whatever it is, both of them, especially Jora, look pretty defeated. It seems that wherever we go, everyone has their own problems to deal with. The important thing is to realize that it's not my job to solve them.

So… take a deep breath, Kayla. Look ahead and enjoy your time. After all, it's our vacation, I guess?