Chapter 26

"You're sure you're okay?" Wolfe asked for the umpteenth time as he escorted Rika to Ferran's atelier.

"I'm sure," Rika said again. "Whatever Ferran and Dryden did seems to have rejuvenated me."

"Good, but what's bothering me is why you were drained. What did you do?" Wolfe stopped and turned to her.

"Do? I didn't do anything." Other than fail.

He stepped towards her, and she stepped back, straight into the wall.

"Oh..." What's going on now? Don't tell me he's suspicious again. It's because of that quest I failed, isn't it? She remembered the pop-up. Damn it. And here I was enjoying the nicer version of him.

He leaned in close, his hands on the wall behind her, boxing her in. "Magical drain doesn't happen out of nowhere like that. Something must've happened."

Rika swallowed hard and averted her gaze, finding it hard to stare into his grey eyes. How do I explain this?

"What did you do, Rika?"

"N-nothing."

"I'd ask what he did to you, but Ferran didn't find any traces of his magic."

"I don't know what happened. I didn't do anything."

"Then why can't you look me in the eye and say that?"

Rika swallowed hard. "Because, in case you haven't noticed, you're intimidating. All I know is that I used your techniques to take Kael down to his knees, and then I felt faint."

Wolfe smirked. "Took him down, did you?"

"Yes."

"Good girl." He patted her on the head heavily, the rose over his head glowing, and he backed away. "I still think you're hiding something, but Ferran's waiting, so this will have to go on hold." He started back on his way.

Rika touched the top of her head in wonder, heat rising in her cheeks, and followed him to Ferran's atelier. What was that about?

A quest screen popped up. 'New Quest: Create the Barrier with Ferran.'

'Reward: All Suitors Affection Up, Hope Up, Ferran's Affection Up.'

'Failure: Hope Down, Demon Activity Up.'

Ferran's affection will go up twice then? Wait, what the hell? Demon activity up?! Crap. As if having hope down wasn't bad enough after last time! Rika gritted her teeth, clenching her fists as she worried about failing again.

The door opened as they got there. "What took so long?" Kael complained, and they could hear Ferran talking in the background. "I asked him one little thing, and he hasn't stopped talking. He even went on a tangent and started on a completely different topic. How do we get him to stop?"

Wolfe smirked. "Guess even you're no match for Ferran." He pushed past Kael.

"Oh, Wolfe, Miss Rika, you're here," Ferran's face lit up, and he bowed. "Welcome back. Now, shall we get right to it?" He motioned his hand towards the three seats he set up in front of him and rushed to move a blackboard over with a magical crest on it. "I'm hoping we can put the barrier up today, but first I should explain what it is, especially since it might drain you again. I'm sorry to chance pushing you so far again so fast."

"It's okay. It's important, but maybe don't let Dryden give me any more magic. He doesn't seem to be doing all that well." Rika sighed, thinking about him still in bed. He had reluctantly let her go, and even took a kiss on the cheek as payment to be good while she was gone.

"Oh, is shouldn't get that bad. With how your vitals were, I'd say yours was an extreme case." His eyes widened. "I forgot to do my check."

Rika held up her hand, stopping him. "It's okay. I assure you I'm fine."

"I could check." Kael shifted his chair closer to Rika.

Of course, he'd offer to. Rika's cheek twitched.

Screech. Wolfe dragged Kael's chair back and a bit further away from hers than it was before. "You are to keep a safe distance from her."

"That wasn't part of the deal."

"Too bad."

Rika shook her head and hid behind her hand, blocking her view of them. "Please continue."

"Yes, Miss Rika. This pattern here is actually engraved in the stone below on the dais."

She admired the pattern, getting lost in it while Ferran kept talking, explaining each part of the pattern.

"Because of how intricate it is, it's hard to replicate, so..."

That looks familiar. I wonder if it was in the intro or screenshots of the game. For some reason, I want to reach out to touch it.

"Miss Rika, are you listening?" Ferran asked.

"Hmm. I'm sorry." Rika shook her head.

Kael snickered. "I don't think our bunny has the attention span to listen to all of this. Maybe I should entertain her instead."

"Don't you dare," Wolfe grumbled.

"Oh." Ferran's shoulders slouched. "I'm sorry, Miss Rika. I thought it would be best for you to know everything about it, and I get caught up in explaining things I find interesting."

Rika held up her hand. "No, I'm the one who's sorry. I find the pattern entrancing and zoned out."

"Oh!" Ferran's face lit up. "I agree with you. I've found myself doing the same thing before. Maybe we should move on, though." He flipped the blackboard over to his map on the other side, showing the pedestal in the middle of the stone dais, with the kingdom listed in the distance. "Since you don't technically need to know every little bit about it." He tapped on a book on his desk. "But I do have text you can read on it if you want to."

"Thank you, Ferran."

Ferran smiled and bowed. He turned towards a large trunk behind him and held his hand up to it, speaking a spell under his breath. The trunk glowed green and popped open on its own. He pulled out a delicate crystal rose and gently placed it on his desk. "This is the artifact that needs to be placed on the pedestal, and you have to use your powers on it."

Of course, it's a rose. This whole kingdom revolves around roses. I wonder how that happened in the first place. Was it natural or was someone making it that way? If it's a game, I guess that makes sense, but if this is real, how would that even happen?

"Is there a spell or enchantment or something? Or will it activate as long as I concentrate on it?" Rika asked.

"Well, you need to feed the crystal artifact energy that resonates with it, which should naturally happen, since you're the saint, and I will do the enchantment for you. Do you want to feel it?" Ferran motioned for her to touch the rose.

"It won't explode or anything, right? You saw what happened to the orbs for a while there, and this looks more precious."

"No, it won't explode. This is quite different from the orb. And as delicate as it looks, this ancient artifact has stood the test of time," Ferran assured her.

"Exploding orbs?" Kael laughed. "I would've liked to see that. Can you show me— Ack." Kael tapped on Wolfe's arm around his neck. "I'll be good," he promised, his voice strained.

As soon as Wolfe let go, Kael inched his chair forward, hoping to be out of his reach.

Rika stood at Ferran's desk and reached a shaking hand out to touch the rose. She hesitated for a moment, her hand hovering in the air, before lightly touching a petal. "Oh, it's warm."

"Is it? That must be it reacting to you, Miss Rika," Ferran said. "To anyone else, it's cool to touch like glass is at room temperature. The previous saint never mentioned that." He stroked his chin, leaning in close. "Can you feel your magic resonating with it? It won't activate the barrier without the crest, but maybe you can charge it beforehand."

"Maybe it's best to only do that on site," Wolfe suggested. "In case it eats her magic and dissipates."

Ferran nodded. "You might be right, but at least we know it reacted to her powers right away. It should make for an easy ritual."

"Good, then we can get going, right?" Kael stood up, and Wolfe shoved him back down.

"We go when Ferran says so." Wolfe gripped his shoulder tighter.

Out of curiosity, Ferran touched the rose before Rika could pull her hand away. "It is warm now. Interesting. I would love to study your magic more. The previous saint tried to let me study her, but she was quite busy, and... we didn't have enough time with her." He sighed, remembering her.

"Were you two close?" Rika rubbed his back, brows furrowed with worry.

Ferran nodded, the yellow rose above his head glowing. "I grew up alongside Prince Alrice and Wolfe because of my magical aptitude, and she treated me like one of her own when she was around," his voice cracked as he struggled to hold back.

"Tch. Let's get a move on!" Kael yelled from the back and sent his chair clattering to the ground as he took off before Wolfe could grab him again.

"He's like a rowdy child." Rika sighed, shaking her head.

"Worse," Ferran mumbled. "Because he has so much power, there's not much we can do to stop him unless he hurts someone. Maybe we should go before he causes more trouble."

"Agreed."