Lucimia felt tainted, like ink seeping through rice paper; otherwise her thoughts wouldn’t keep snapping like frost-bitten twigs.

She admitted the self-sacrificers she’d met had moved her, like lanterns bobbing in fog; Bevi, with a death like a falling star, proved he wasn’t tied to Ment.

But that didn’t mean she’d become one of them, like a willow bending just because the wind insists.

She decided she could help, so long as it didn’t cloud her own vision, like rain that waters fields without flooding the path.

She shot north toward the Royal Capital like an arrow loosed; high above, she spotted Rexi running, a lone deer on a winter road.

“Mm… I’ll take her along,” she murmured, voice cool as night rain.

Lucimia dove, a hawk stooping for prey, and streaked straight toward Rexi.

On the ground, Rexi sensed danger like a hare pricking its ears; she glanced back, saw a shadow diving, and bolted faster, dust flying like startled sparrows.

“Don’t chase me, don’t chase me!” She yanked out a mana crystal, fed it core mana, and hurled it like a spark into dry grass.

A net of lightning lunged at Lucimia like a storm-tossed wave; Lucimia just blinked away, a ghost in crosswind, and appeared right before Rexi.

“Uwaa!” Rexi tried to brake like skidding hooves, but speed carried her forward; she crashed into Lucimia’s arms, a thrown bundle, and Lucimia staggered back like a reed meeting current.

“So hard—ouch…” Rexi clutched her head, palm on Lucimia’s arm, then looked up and froze like a rabbit seeing the moonlit blade.

“…”

“…” Lucimia’s gaze was cold, a frost on glass.

“What did you just say?” Her voice was a thin blade, gleaming.

“Uh…” Rexi rubbed her head, fog in her eyes like morning mist. “I… what did I… say? Ow… my head’s broken, I can’t remember.”

Lucimia stared, mask-still as carved jade, then released her hand like dropping a pebble back to a stream.

“How did it break?” Her words tapped like knuckles on wood.

“Th-this…”

“You must’ve hit something very hard, right? Otherwise how would it break?” Her tone rang like iron on stone.

“Th-this…” Sweat ran down Rexi’s face like summer rain; her tongue tangled like vines.

A thought flashed; she brightened like a candle catching. “I got it. I must’ve hit the upper middle of your chest. I mean… the soft parts are on the sides!”

“…”

Did that change anything, or just paint the same wall a different color?

Lucimia was speechless, like wind cut off at a cliff, and dropped the topic as neatly as a blade in a sheath.

“I’ll take you to the Royal Capital.” Her words were steady, a straight road through fields.

“Eh? Weren’t you not going?” Rexi’s eyes blinked like sparrows on a wire.

“Mm… I’ve got things to do. And this isn’t for you all. It’s for me.” Her tone was cool as well water.

“Is that so?” Rexi’s doubt hovered like a moth at a lamp.

“Yes.” Lucimia nodded, a bell tapped once in a quiet hall.

“So… are you one of those prickly-outside, soft-inside types?” Rexi blurted, a pebble skipping across calm water.

Lucimia went blank, exasperation rising like steam from hot tea. “Who’s like that with you? I’m just stating facts. Don’t overthink.”

She extended her hand, pale as moonlight. “Take my hand.”

Rexi glanced at the small hand, then at Lucimia’s serious face, blinking like a cat in sun. “Then you’re a straight-shooter?”

“???”

Lucimia’s thoughts scattered like leaves in a gust.

What in the world is in this girl’s head, a cupboard of mismatched teacups?

She ignored the nonsense, snagged Rexi’s arm like catching a fishline, and shot skyward.

The sudden climb and brief weightlessness hit like a drop over a waterfall; Rexi screamed, “Waaaah! Actually I’m afraid of heights!”

She wrapped around Lucimia’s neck like a facehugger, clinging like ivy, blocking the view like a curtain in wind.

“Let go!” Lucimia snapped, voice cracking like a whip.

“No! If I let go I’ll die!” Panic beat in Rexi’s chest like a frantic drum.

“Use your head! I warded you with magic—you won’t die!” Lucimia’s anger flared, a spark in dry pine.

She pried at Rexi’s fingers, but fear had forged them into iron clamps; no matter how she pulled, they wouldn’t unwind, like knots wet with rain.

Their flight wobbled left and right like a kite in crosswind, vision smeared like ink; Rexi’s screams climbed higher, a gull chased by storm.

“Waaah, I’m gonna die, land, land!” Her plea tumbled like stones down a slope.

In the tussle, Rexi slipped one hand free like a fish from a net, then grabbed for anything; her fingers caught Lucimia’s hair and yanked, a thorn snagging silk.

“You—” Lucimia’s teeth clicked like hail on tile; she wanted to curse, but swallowed it like bitter tea, then released the Fuzzy Orb.

It popped out with a gaping mouth like a cave in a cliff and stared at Rexi; Lucimia snarled, “Quit yelling! I hate loud yappers the most! Keep it up and I’ll eat you.”

“Uu…” Rexi wilted like grass in noon heat. “I’ve got acrophobia… I don’t want this. I don’t usually scream.”

“Sigh…” Lucimia’s breath left her like wind over reeds; she hadn’t expected Rexi to fear heights.

“Do you have that blanket?” Her voice settled like dust.

“Blanket? I do!”

“Take it out.”

Rexi obediently pulled the original blanket from her Storage Ring, the fabric unfurling like a small river.

Lucimia took it, traced magic into it like threads of light, then tossed Rexi onto it with a flick, still keeping the ward, like a net beneath a tightrope.

“Will this do?”

“Uh…” Rexi patted the patterned weave like testing sand at the shore, then nodded. “If I can’t see below… it’s not as scary.”

“Then we’ll do this.” Lucimia settled onto the blanket too; more than cloth now, it was a magic carpet, a leaf the wind agreed to carry.

She sat and kept quiet, thoughts turning like millstones under clear water.

Rexi, for some reason, grinned and stared at Lucimia’s face like a sunflower tracking the sun.

Lucimia noticed and turned. “What are you smiling at? Is there something on my face?” Her tone was cool, a shaded brook.

“Hm? Nope.” Rexi cupped her cheeks, smiling like a crescent moon.

“Then why smile?”

“Because I’m happy! Traveling with a girl as cute as you? That’s a lot of people’s dream—adventurers always say so.” Her words bubbled like spring water.

“Who said I’d travel with you? I’m just taking you to the Royal Capital. After that, I’m not involved. We go our own ways.” Her voice was a gate closing, firm wood and iron latch.

“Hey, don’t be like that. And also, Bevi went to the Bloodkin. I thought I’d have no one to talk to, but now I’ve got you—my favorite… beautiful maiden. Yep, beautiful maiden.” Her grin sparkled like frost on petals.

“Bevi…” Lucimia’s attention drifted like a cloud snagged on a peak.

“Hm? What about Bevi?”

“Uh.” She paused, thoughts like birds circling, then shook her head. “Nothing. He did go to the Bloodkin. I watched him leave.”

“Oh, then it’s the two of us from now on.” Her cheer rose like a kite catching wind.

“Who said it’s the two of us.” Lucimia’s answer fell like a stone into a pond, ripples tight and small.