Everyone gathers in Louise’s study. Louise sits behind her desk, resting her head on her interlocked fingers. Quinn takes the open chair across from her. Ellen and Phiona take positions to Louise’s left and right, respectively. Their expressions have changed since they entered.

  Even Phiona wears a serious look, her usual pyfulness gone. The shift sends a slight chill through Quinn. This isn’t the time to mess around. The expedition is a matter of life and death for their people, if not the entire Aksha kingdom.

  “Since you’re here, am I right to assume you’ll be joining us no matter what I say?” Louise asks in a monotone voice.

  “No. If you really don’t think I should go, I won’t.” Quinn’s sudden change almost makes Phiona freak out. “But I hope you’ll change your mind and let me join. I know it might sound selfish, but I have my own reasons for going. This isn’t something I can walk away from. I promise I won’t cause trouble. So please, give me a chance.”

  “Once we’re out there, I can’t guarantee your safety. Although I believe we have the firepower to eliminate the monsters, we still ck numbers, leaving a gap in our defense and making it likely that people will die. So I’ll ask one st time. Are you sure you want to go?” Louise asks, her expression grave.

  “I’m sure.” Quinn meets Louise’s gaze head-on. Now's not the time to waver.

  “I see. In that case, I have no choice but to say…” Louise takes a long pause.

  Come on, come on. Say something already. The tension is suffocating. Quinn’s mouth goes dry in anticipation, but he is too nervous even to swallow his spit.

  “We would love to have you come.” Louise offers a gentle smile. Ellen does her best to hide the one creeping onto her lips. Phiona, on the other hand, is openly excited. She comes around the corner and hugs Quinn tightly.

  “Haha, I knew you could do it.”

  “What the? Get off me!” Quinn tries to pry himself free from Phiona’s grasp, but to no avail. It’s too te; once she tches on, only a miracle can make her stop.

  “Aww, there’s no need to be embarrassed. Didn’t we grow closer during your training? If anything, it’s thanks to me that you won. So I’ll take this as my reward.” The hug tightens. Quinn’s face turns bright red as Phiona smothers him.

  “Is that so? Then I guess you won’t need the bck forest cake we got you from La Vida Dulce this morning,” Louise chimes in. Phiona immediately lets go of Quinn.

  “Eh? You don’t mean… the one with hot fudge and cherries on top?” Phiona has to wipe away drool from her mouth.

  “Yeah, that’s the one. Too bad you already cimed your reward. I guess I’ll have to give it to Eustas.”

  “What? No. Over my dead body will I hand over my cake!” Phiona sprints out of the room and heads to the kitchen.

  “Thank you,” Quinn says, letting out a sigh of relief.

  “No worries. Well, since she’s out of the way, let’s continue, shall we?” Quinn composes himself and gives a slight nod. “Perfect. We pced people in roles we believe are best for the entire group, given everyone’s talents. With that in mind, we decided the best pce for you is right next to me.”

  “What? Why? I thought we needed more people on the front lines. Are you saying I’m not strong enough to fight alongside the others?” It didn’t make sense to Quinn. Is she still underestimating him? Quinn is strong, stronger than most adult adventurers. He expected to be fighting on the front lines, facing the threat head-on. How would he keep his vow if he stayed in the rear while the others fought in his stead?

  “It’s not like that.”

  “What’s it like then?”

  Louise sighs. “Technically, there won’t be much, if any, fighting on the front.”

  “Huh? How does that make any sense?”

  “Just hear me out. I’m sure Albert already told you, but with our numbers, we can’t fight the monsters in an all-out brawl. No, we have to be smart. So we will use a hit-and-run tactic. Thanks to the reports we received about the monsters, we now know they’re a group of basilisks, snake-like beasts. They can grow to at least 23 meters long, breathe poison mist, and turn you to stone with a single gre if you have a weak will. The pack consists of at least the mother and ten of her young, teetering on the edge of the border. This is estimated to be at least A-rank difficulty.”

  Quinn listens patiently to the entire pn. Besides the hired adventurers, the only other participants are Louise, with her two contracted spirits; Ellen; Albert; and, stly, Quinn. Everyone has a role to py, and his is to protect the rear.

  Louise and Albert managed to hire six adventurers—one priest for healing and buffing, a padin and a warrior to hold off any monsters that get too close, a mid-tier mage to cast combat spells alongside Louise, and an alchemist to provide the party with a variety of potions. Albert will be with the st member, a ranger, as they scout ahead and rey information to the main party.

  There were originally seven hired adventurers; however, Albert, without hesitation, fired Grant, another warrior. Quinn filled Grant’s position. As a result, Quinn now holds the second-most important role. It didn’t matter that their expedition party was small; as long as he could keep the backline safe so they could freely cast spells, they had a chance to annihite all the monsters.

  “Alright. I guess that makes sense. I’m sorry,” Quinn says, apologizing for his outburst.

  “No, it’s okay. Albert already warned me you might react like that if I didn’t expin it properly.” Hearing Louise say that only makes Quinn sink further into the chair. His face is beet-red with embarrassment and anger.

  “So you knew and still did it?”

  “Hehe, sorry. Are you mad?”

  “Of course not. Why would I be mad?” Quinn says, pouting and crossing his arms.

  How adorable. Louise and Ellen share the same thought. It is moments like these that remind Louise and everyone else that Quinn is still a child. He is impatient and tends to overreact to even slight teasing.

  “Anyways, we are free for the next few days thanks to the festival, so how do you feel about heading into town to do some shopping? Unless you’re pnning on continuing to borrow Albert’s old clothes.”

  Right, the festival, Quinn recalls Phiona bringing it up during their training. The festival begins tomorrow night and will lead into the next night when they all leave for the expedition.

  Quinn gnces down and stretches his shirt out, studying it. He hasn’t thought of getting clothes for himself in quite some time.

  He only had the essentials since leaving Amber. Would now be a good time to start thinking about settling down for a bit? Quinn wondered. Orbis is a wonderful city. Although he has only met strange people so far, he likes it here. Maybe if I stay, I can keep learning more about magic and figure out what happened to me. Louise and they might not have all the answers, but Orbis is big. I’m sure I can find clues about whatever possessed me and learn to control it. Once I do, maybe I can finally go back home and beg Mom and Sam for forgiveness.

  “No. I also think it’s about time for some new clothes.”

  “Perfect. Let’s go right away.” Louise abruptly stands, and the chair she sat on skids back.

  “Wait, you’re coming with?”

  “Of course I am. Who else would go?” Louise tilts her head, looking puzzled.

  “I assumed Albert would accompany me-”

  “Albert’s busy, spending time with his family.” Louise cuts Quinn off.

  “Then, I could-”

  “I’m going, and that’s that.” Louise ends the debate by cpping her hands and smiling.

  Quinn helplessly gnces at Ellen, who shakes her head. These whole “give up, there’s no helping it” replies are becoming a common occurrence for Quinn.

  “Alright, so where are we going?”

  “Yes! I’ll take care of everything. Meet me out front in ten minutes. I’ll get the carriage ready.”

  “Ah. My Lady, wait. Please allow me.” Ellen tries to stop Louise, to no avail.

  “Don’t worry about it. It will be faster if I do it myself. See you in a bit.” Louise quickly leaves the room. As soon as she reaches the hall, she uses wind magic to fly through the corridor, increasing her speed.

  “Is anyone in this pce normal?” Quinn finally screams.

  “Aha-ha,” Ellen lets out a nervous ugh. “I apologize. Lady Louise is never like this. In fact, she is usually always so calm and keeps to herself. When she first started learning magic, she shone so brightly, but as she grew, so did people’s expectations. As the only child of the Verdey family, she was expected to eventually take over as the family head and assume the responsibilities that came with it. People stopped seeing her as just Lady Louise and began to see her as a future protector. They started avoiding her, assuming she was too busy to think about anything besides getting stronger. I guess having you here, someone who doesn’t know anything about our city or Lady Louise, is a sort of escape from everything.”

  Ellen confirms a feeling Quinn has had since he arrived. The main house is filled with expensive items, and the dining room is rge enough to host a small vilge, yet it feels lonely.

  The only people he has interacted with are those close to Louise. Every other worker seems indifferent to him and is solely focused on their tasks.

  Maybe that’s why Louise focused on spirit magic. Quinn assumes that since Louise couldn’t find any friends in such a big city, she could at least make friends by forming contracts with spirits.

  “I guess I can py along with your Lady’s wishes for now. Consider it my appreciation for everything so far.” Ellen stands frozen. “What?” Ellen pces both hands on Quinn’s head and ruffles his hair vigorously. “Ah! What the hell are you doing?” Quinn’s hair is left in a complete mess.

  Ellen retracts her arms and lets out a satisfied sigh. “I apologize. I had to get it out of my system. Let’s go. Lady Louise must be waiting.” Ellen swiftly walks away.

  “That didn’t expin anything. Hey, come back here!” Quinn chases after Ellen while fixing his hair.

  ***

  Outside the main house, Louise stands by a silver stagecoach. She has changed out of her previous attire and now wears a simple white blouse and a long bck skirt. Louise turns and smiles broadly as the main doors open, and Ellen steps out. Her expression shifts when Quinn emerges; his hair is still disheveled.

  “Uhh, what happened?” Louise points at Quinn’s head, and he clicks his tongue, frantically trying to adjust his hair again.

  “Nothing happened.” Quinn swallows the many words he wants to say, not wanting to burden Louise with something trivial. He decides to keep Ellen’s actions secret. Ellen realizes this and gives Quinn a sweet smile. Quinn gres back and quickens his steps toward the stagecoach. “Ahem, anyway, do I just get in?”

  “Ah. Yes, please do.” Before Louise can open the door, Ellen rushes over and beats her to it.

  “After you, My Lady.”

  “Geez, Ellen. I can open the door myself.”

  “I’m sorry, My Lady, but if I can’t do something this simple, what good am I as a maid? Especially after you went ahead and called the stagecoach, at least allow me this.”

  “Okay, fine.” Louise gives in and enters the stagecoach. “Quickly get in. We have a lot to do.”

  She actually gave in. What kind of trick did Ellen use? In the short time Quinn has known her, Louise has been nothing but persistent in arguing to get things done her way. At first, it was about where Quinn would spend the night. The st time was when she decided to come along and go shopping with Quinn. This was the first time Quinn had seen Louise admit defeat and listen to someone else rather than do as she pleased.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m getting in.” As soon as Quinn hops in, Ellen follows and signals to the driver that they are ready. The horses then begin walking, pulling the stagecoach smoothly out of the estate.