Chapter 6: Ignis’ toys are not for having fun.

We follow the map to what seems to be the nearest road. As we descend the hill, the rocky landscape transforms into a beautiful forest.

Towering exuberant trees, gigantic rocks covered with moss, bushes of all sizes and shapes spread through the floor, and clear water creeks run here and there. The trees shine as light hits their trunks. I lean closer to look at them; little metallic streaks of what seem to be gold and silver spread through the tree's bark.

Despite the abundant amount of plants, we don’t see many animals, just a few colorful fishes swimming in the creeks and some birds chanting here and there, but that’s all.

At noon we decide to take a break. We've made good progress, and according to the magic map, we're close to the road.

"That was quite a good walk,” I say, taking a sip of water.

“Yes! I thought it would take us longer to get this far,” says Ellie, catching her breath. “By the way. I thought that you wouldn’t hold my pace for this long.”

“Well,” I say proudly. “ Since I started working on the conbini, I have way more free time. So I began working out.”

“Sasaki Rin working out?!” Ellie jokes. “Ha! Never imagined I would live to witness this!”

I let out a forced laugh. She's right. Back in high school, I would be the most unathletic student in the class. I hated working out. Nowadays, I enjoy going out for a walk every day. Ellie used to be in both the athletism and kyudo clubs, she was the star of every sports festival at school, so I’m surprised as well to be able to keep up with her pace.

“However, it seems that the one struggling to keep pace is someone else,” I say.

“Shut up!” she says, offended. “We’ll see at the end of the day.”

We take out a couple of sandwiches Ignis prepared for us. I don’t have the slightest clue of what they're stuffed with, but every bite is as delicious as the next one.

“I wonder how she made bread?” Ellie says, inspecting her sandwich.

“I think it’s better not to think about it,” I say jokingly.

Once we’re done with the mysterious sandwiches, I begin picking my thing up, and as I’m about to close my backpack, Ellie stops me.

“Hey!” Ellie says with mischief.

“What?”

“Don’t you wanna try the toys Ignis gave us?” she says.

“I mean… we better not waste some valuable time,” I say.

“Come on!” Ellie exclaims as she takes the bow out of her backpack. “Just a few minutes. I’ve been dying to give my bow a try!”

I fall prey to my curiosity. I want to try my sword too!

“I guess that practicing a little is not a bad idea,” I say as I take my sword out of the backpack, and we run to a nearby meadow. We stand there for a moment, analyzing the terrain and choosing a good target for practice. A big rock at the edge of the forest is the winner.

“You first!” Ellie says, getting behind my back.

I take the sword out of the mounting. I take a deep breath, remembering the postures my father taught me, then I give a clean cut to the air with the sword.

I haven’t even touched the rock, but its surface bursts as if I did. Hundreds of little stones sprinkle all around. When the dust cloud disperses, the rock has a significantly big slice carved on it.

“Wow!” I mutter, intimidated by Ingnis’ gift. “I guess I better be more careful with this sword,”

“You guess?” Ellie says, impressed.

I carefully take the sword back into its mounting.

“My turn!” Ellie shouts.

Now we take a few steps away from the rock. So Ellie can get a more challenging shot range.

As a precautionary measure, I stay behind Ellie.

“Now we’ll see what she meant when she said this bow needs no arrows,” Ellie says as she tenses the bow, then she shoots.

A lightning bolt flies out of the bow, instantly impacting the rock with a rumble. A cloud of dust rises right where the lightning arrow hit.

Ellie turns back at me. “We better not play with these,” she says, stunned, and brings the bow back to her backpack, I do the same with my sword.

“We better get back on our way,” I say, looking at the sun.

“It’s time to see if Mr. Fitness keeps up with his stellar performance,” Ellie mocks.

Suddenly, the scent of something burning draws my eyes back to the rock. The grass around it has started catching fire.

“When did that happen?” Ellie asks, scared.

“Maybe a spark when the lightning arrow hit the rock,” I say. “We better turn that fire off!”

“Should we use these?” Ellie says, pointing at her necklace.

“I don’t see why not,” I say, unable to hide my excitement. “Necklace, turn the fire off!” I command.

A few drops of water fall on the fire. That was disappointing.

“Necklace, turn the fire off, please!” Ellie exclaims, just as a few more drops of water fall on the fire without affecting it. It appears that being polite is not helpful either.

We face each other, scared. The fire is getting bigger. We start screaming orders with little to no result. Helplessly choreographing the craziest moves with no better outcome.

“Swoosh!” I turn back at the sound as a whip of water strikes into the fire. Extinguishing it completely.

I look back at Ellie. “That wasn’t me,” I say.

“Wasn’t me either,” Ellie says.

“Look what we got here!” a voice says behind us. “A pair of vandals trying to destroy the forest!”

We turn towards the voice, and there stands a man dressed in a long navy coat with a crest with a crown on its sleeve.

“You’re detained under the name of the Emperor,” says the man as he approaches us.

We instinctively run the opposite way, but two men wearing the same uniform knock us into the ground.

“Ouch!” I gasp.

The imperial police have caught us. I can’t believe how fast we’ve screwed up the mission.