Right on Time

In the end, we decided to leave that very afternoon.

Not only that, but after consulting some local maps, we decided to take a somewhat roundabout path until we reached Shellkeep, another large town that came very near the capital. My hope was that we could shake off Two’s pursuit that way.

We needed to face her at some point, but right now I was hoping to have some time to at least practice my newly learned spells.

And so we were on the road again. According to our approximation, we were going to spend at least one night out in the wilderness again, but it was much less dangerous than back in the forest, so that was fine.

“C, didn’t you say you have some new levitation spell or something?” asked Kai. “Can’t we just fly, at least some of the way?”

That was something I obviously considered, because it would be cool as hell. Unfortunately…

“Sorry, can’t really spare the energy,” I replied. “I’ll probably get the hang of it the more I use it, just like with my healing… but right now it’s too wasteful to cast on even one person. Let alone all three of us.”

“Ah, well. It would’ve been cool.”

“Yes, it really would.”

With that being said, we had no choice but to go on foot.

This time at least I had the fatigue-mitigating spell, which was a great help. I hated the constant physical exertion, but when compared to that horrible forest it really was like a walk in the park.

“So… I was thinking about how to tackle this fight,” I told my companions as we camped for the evening. I failed in swatting an annoying mosquito before continuing. “Two has that magic-absorbing metal I told you about, but we can take advantage of it.”

“How, exactly?” asked Kai.

I smiled. “You two will act as bait.”

“Hah?” said Saga. Kai frowned as well.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. You misunderstand. She has no defenses against physical attacks, right? If Saga engages her and Kai shoots some arrows, that’ll keep her on her toes. And then I swoop in with a nice bit of magic to catch her unaware. That way she wouldn’t be able to use her knife to block it.”

Kai seemed to consider this for a moment. “Wouldn’t it be better to do it the other way around, then?”

“Huh?”

“What I mean,” Kai explained, “is that you’ll keep her busy with your spells while Saga and I go for the kill.”

“He’s right,” agreed Saga.

“What? No, that wouldn’t work,” I said. “Clearly my plan is the better one, because, uh… I mean, she would obviously…”

Kai deadpanned me. “You’re just saying that because you want to be the one to defeat her.” Even Saga nodded.

I twitched. “What? No! I really am thinking strategy here, and…”

“Just stop it, C. It’s transparent,” said Kai. “If we’re the prophesized Three Warriors or whatever, we need to work together. That’s our thing. It’s not right for you to want to take all the credit.”

“Says the one who finished off One!”

Kai actually smiled, the bastard. “Hey, it was a really cool shot, you can’t deny that. Don’t look at me like that! Aren’t you the one who killed that stupid dragon? Besides, I never claimed I killed One on my own or anything. If anything, Saga’s the MVP there. And uh… I guess you helped too.”

“Grk,” I grunted, clenching a fist. “Is it that weird I want to beat the boss?”

He kept smiling. God, he was mocking me for sure.

“You wanted us to act as bait—if it’s good enough for us why not try it yourself, too?”

“Tarisha and I will get the job done,” mumbled Saga.

That lone sentence instantly made both Kai and me stop our small beef with each other. We turned to look at her as one.

“…Tarisha?” asked Kai.

Saga moved her eyes away from us and wore the smallest of frowns. Was I imagining it, or did she look somewhat… embarrassed?

“It’s my sword,” she said simply.

A few moments of silence passed as we let the meaning of those words sink in.

“You… gave your sword a name?” I asked incredulously. Not to mention it sounded like a girl’s name.

It was hard to forget sometimes, but Saga was a teenager like us.

“Hah,” she said, her voice completely flat. “Is there any problem?”

“No,” said Kai, half-chuckling. “It’s just… it’s kinda unexpectedly cute from you.”

I wish I could see Saga blush at that moment… but she just closed her eyes and sighed. She responded to no further prompting that night, but Kai and I would look at each other from time to time with a knowing smile.

Hopefully we wouldn’t get stabbed in our sleep.

We luckily survived the night. No attacks came from either Saga or Two, so as the sun rose we quickly took care of business and carried on our way.

Still feeling a bit paranoid, I checked the sky from time to time—but there really was no trace of that crazy woman. Good.

Our journey went as smoothly as it possibly could. We could even spy the great capital of Triccius from a certain tall hill. There, Three would wait for us as the final challenge. Oh, and supposedly Mana as well. Though I had the feeling Kai would end up rescuing her or something, with how things went around here.

As a town, Shellkeep itself did not really look any different from the previous one. It wouldn’t get any extra points for level design if this was a game, but it did have a neat feature in the form of a clock tower right in the center of town. Other than that, it was the same old.

“I’m beat,” grumbled Kai, hands clasped behind his head as we entered town. “Let’s quickly find another inn.”

“Are we doing alright on money?” I asked. Kai had been left in charge of all monetary matters for simplicity, so I had no idea.

“With Saga’s earnings, it should be…”

However, he trailed off as we both heard a distressing sound.

A scream.

It affected the crowd in a delay. Although we couldn’t see what exactly happened, many civilians began running away.

I had a bad feeling, though, and so I ran not away from the sound, but to it.

“C! Wait up!” Kai called from behind. Unlike him, Saga was already rushing next to me.

As more screaming continued, it was not difficult to find the source of the disturbance. I noticed with a chill that a body was lying on the floor and that a stockinged leg stepped on it.

It belonged to none other than Two.