Iron Lotus

The carriage traveled along a winding road, moving through vast forests. Arya was the one driving, being the only one among them who knew how to handle horses. Edward sat inside, occasionally pulling the curtain aside to speak with Arya and, from time to time, climbing up to sit next to her.

The carriage was far from a luxury vehicle, but it was enclosed, offering enough space to store supplies and clothes. Speaking of clothes, Edward and Peter had taken some of Belchior’s coats and overcoats for themselves — not only to give themselves a look more fitting for mages but also, in a way, to honor their heritage.

The first village they passed was the one that used to trade with their old home. The young travelers offered help with manual labor, since this village was mostly inhabited by elders. As a way of showing gratitude, the villagers offered them a place to stay for the night, along with some extra supplies. At the end of the night, they held a mourning ceremony to pray for the souls of the friends they had lost, as many there had known Belchior and the others.

The next morning, the group set out again on their journey, heading toward a new village. The emblem of the Mercenaries’ Guild wasn’t even necessary — the mere presence of one of Mors’ fragments was enough to convince the villagers of any story they told. Reaper took charge of negotiations, exchanging information about the travel routes and offering small favors to the villagers. Once again, they were rewarded with food and a comfortable place to sleep.

Two days had already passed since the beginning of the journey, and little by little, the young group was starting to get used to their new routine.

“Kimi no mune kyun!” “Kyun~” Reaper and Magdalena sat at the back of the carriage, feet dangling out, singing a beautiful song about love.

“They’re starting to get on my nerves,” Peter grumbled.

“Let them be. At least they’re having fun.”

“A good song is essential to keep your sanity during a trip!” Reaper chimed in, all cheerful.  “Magdalena is amazing! Thanks to her, I can listen to songs in my head. All I have to do is ask her to find one I’ve heard before inside my Soul Palace.”

“Soul Palace? What’s that?”

“Oh, you guys don’t know? I thought that was common knowledge among mages.”

“We’re not exactly mages. We never went to the Magic Academy.”

“Well, allow me to explain — but pay attention, because this is one of those important concepts that might be useful later.” Reaper paused, thinking of the best way to explain. “Have you ever heard of a Memory Palace?”

Edward was the only one who knew what it was. “It’s a memorization technique. First, you imagine a place you’re familiar with, then you associate objects and furniture with the information you want to remember.”

“Exactly. Now here’s the important part: all of us have a space like that inside our minds. An imaginary space where our memories are stored — a place that represents our mind in a physical form.”

“That’s a pretty strong statement.”

“It’s a fact. Mag, show them, please.”

At Reaper’s request, Magdalena let her body melt, wrapping herself around him and transforming into a black cloak.

“This is Mag’s artifact form. While she’s like this, her physical body can enter my Soul Palace. Well, in my case, my Soul Palace isn’t just mine anymore — Mag’s Palace overlaps with mine.”

To be more specific, Magdalena had transformed Reaper’s Soul Palace into a massive library. “I organized his space in a way that pleases me, so I have all his memories at my fingertips. It’s fun to read through them when I’m bored.”

“Please, don’t use me as your toy. Anyway, the Soul Palace is essentially that — a literal Memory Palace, but one that also holds additional information like personality traits, intrusive thoughts, dark memories, that sort of thing. You know when a protagonist faces an evil version of themselves? That version is trapped in there.”

“Wait a minute, what did you just say?” Edward asked, clearly surprised.

“Oh, come on, you’ve definitely seen something like that before. Like that fox guy, for example…”

“That’s not what I meant. Dark memories? Are you saying it’s possible to recover memories through this Soul Palace?” Arya turned to Edward, her eyes wide — she had quickly understood where he was going with this.

“…Yes. I believe it’s possible.”

“So, maybe—”

“But it’s not like Magdalena can do that for her. This is something exclusive to our oath.”

“However,” Magdalena returned to her human form, “there are plenty of powerful mages in this world. If you manage to get in the Mercenaries’ Guild, finding someone who can help won’t be difficult.”

“So, there is a chance…”

(...)

After a few more hours of travel, they arrived at their third village. The village was protected by an elderly couple, who asked them to deal with some demons lurking in the nearby forest — a task Edward and Peter handled with ease.

Arya was alone, waiting for Edward and Peter to return, when two figures appeared behind her, their faces filled with bitterness.

“Why is there a star thief here? I thought a bearer of Mors fragment arrived in the village.”

Arya wasn’t intimidated by the men’s aggressive stance, but she also had no words to respond.

“And if she’s a necromancer, what’s the problem?” Edward had arrived at just the right moment. “Where’s Reaper? He was supposed to be watching over you.”

“He said he was doing some research in the village.” Arya had distanced herself after realizing she didn’t understand the questions he was asking. “I figured it was better to wait for you guys here.”

"Hey, do you really think you can just ignore us?" shouted one of the villagers.

"Are you sure we should mess with them?"

"Of course we should, Mors would never allow something like this..."

The atmosphere was about to grow tense, and conflict seemed inevitable, but suddenly, the villagers felt their feet being pricked. What was wrapping around their ankles were black vines, resembling those of a rose bush.

"I wouldn’t do that if I were you," Magdalena appeared behind the villagers, emerging from the shadows. "Your admiration for Mors is praiseworthy, but it’s way too soon for you to meet her in person."

The two villagers were startled and fled in desperation the moment the vines let go of their feet.

"Don’t worry, mi Romeo may be useless, but he's not irresponsible. I’ve been keeping an eye on her."

"Thank you so much, Mag." Arya smiled at Magdalena, who quickly averted her gaze, trying to hide her embarrassment. It was still strange for her to think about becoming friends with a necromancer.

The three of them followed Magdalena, who led them to meet up with Reaper. "So, are my two employees tired?" he asked sarcastically.

"Edward, I want to punch him in the face..."

"Calm down."

"It wasn’t difficult, but you could have helped, you know!"

"Magdalena’s presence would have scared those small demons away — the Scent of Death terrifies those worms; they run off in fear!"

"Wait... so the Scent of Death actually repels demons?"

"As the name suggests, it's a smell that reminds of death. Demons have a keener sense of smell than humans, so they can sense it from a distance. The lesser demons stay away, but the problem is that stronger ones end up being drawn to it."

Reaper’s explanation brought a heavy silence over the group. It didn’t take long for Arya to start spiraling into her thoughts, feeling guilty about what had happened to her village. Had she been the one who attracted Galle to the village?

"Speaking of smells... You guys reek of sweat."

"You're the reason we ended up like this!"

"It’s all right — that elderly couple prepared a place for us. Let’s go take a bath."

The building made available to the young travelers was the former headquarters of the Mercenaries' Guild in the village. Most of the place was now used as storage, but there were still plenty of rooms left on the second floor. Each person chose a room for themselves, with Reaper and Magdalena sharing one.

Later that night…

"Wow, this bed is comfortable," Reaper commented. "Maybe I’ll finally wake up without my arms numb?"

"If it doesn't work, maybe we’ll have to find a healer to take a look at them." There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "(He still hasn’t realized that he wakes up with numb arms because I’m the one sleeping on them?)"

"(You silly girl, of course I realized! From now on, you’re forbidden to sleep on them!)"

"But I need them to sleep comfortably!"

"Seriously, why do you say that part out loud?"

"Anyway, I think you should try to sleep soon. Tomorrow's going to be a tiring day."

"Why are you saying that all of a sudden? How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Remember how I said I don’t care about hunting necromancers? I don’t, but Mother has someone to do that job for her."

"Wait, you mean..."

"He’s coming. Undertaker Jack is on his way."