Day 39, 2:30 AM

  Edna cracks her eyes open as much as her welts allow, her head on my lap. She looks up at me, and I place a finger over my lips, telling her to be quiet, then motion towards the sleeping girls.

  “Heal yourself first,” I whisper, ignoring her dismay as she realizes we have two more companions. Her swollen face and quarter-open eyes detract from her furious glare, and just like with Gila, I ignore her anger. She will get used to things.

  “I suggest you start healing your hands and whatever else you need to cast more potent spells. We’re heading out as soon as the rain lets up. If you can’t walk by then, I’ll carry you.”

  Her glare remains unchanged, but she starts singing. I close my eyes and perceive the world with my mana sense. Hints of red swirl where the fire is burning, while the surrounding green rushes towards Edna. It forms thick clumps, which rapidly merge and grow into head-sized spheres, which then condense into tiny marbles, moving from something fluffy and immaterial to solid and real. I can almost hear mighty trees grow in a primordial jungle behind Edna’s wordless song.

  The beads fuse with her liquid rainbow arm, a fraction merging with her, but most of it evaporates in greenish-brown mist. I look Edna over and notice she’s got a lot more brown than usual in her rainbow. The mana of death and burial according to what she said during our lectures.

  Does that mean you die as death mana accumulates in your body, or is it accumulating because pieces of you are dying? A thought I should consider one day when I capture someone or something I can experiment on free of guilt.

  Brown fades from Edna’s hands first, then she moves on to her face. That confirms that even with the simplest healing spells, you can choose which wound you are healing, a very convenient feature.

  Half an hour passes, and the girls are still asleep when Edna is done.

  “I need to sleep an hour or two before I can restore the rest of my body.” Her words flow much smoother and her breathing is more regular than the last time she spoke, so I’m guessing we’re making progress.

  I open my eyes, and my healing skill tells me Edna’s out of the woods, but far from healthy. Her feet and legs are burned, the wounds from the spikes on her legs still raw, while she has healed the ones on her arms just enough to restore her fine motor skills.

  “Sleep. I will guard you.” I wanted to say more, but she’s already out cold, and holding speeches for the sake of talking is Blunt’s domain more than mine.

  An hour and a half later, Edna stirs again. She starts singing without saying a word to me, and I switch to perceiving the world with mana sense. Her rainbow arms weave into complex patterns and with mana sight, I can tell that the shapes and holes left behind almost resemble some alien glyphs beyond my understanding.

  With each glyph, the tide of mana she’s pulling grows stronger, until it becomes a verdant tsunami and smashes into her body. The emerald storm drowns the brown hues, expelling them from Edna’s body. As the brown surges out of her body and into the forest of life it maintains a withered, skeletal shape for a moment, before dissipating, dismembered by life’s tenacity.

  Edna draws a deep breath, bones cracking, and stands to face me, a furious humanoid rainbow thrumming with mana.

  “Why did you bring them?”

  Where did the grateful woman go? Well, that’s not fair. I expected a similar outburst as soon as she had the strength for one. I just hoped I was wrong.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Because they were already involved. The townsfolk would have discovered who was the person behind the rescue, then they would’ve found out my connection with them, then they would have suffered because of me.”

  “Wasn’t there a third one?” I open my eyes, and the blazing rainbow avatar becomes a confused, disheveled, and angry woman. Mostly angry.

  “Yeah, he’s a dumb little shit. Would’ve run off to fetch the inquisitors as soon as he saw you, and that would have resulted in either me killing him, or killing another bunch of inquisitors, and I really don’t want pointless blood on my hands.”

  “And the fact that you are alone with three women is a coincidence?” She crosses her arms.

  “Well, yes.” I smirk, and shoot the accusation right back at her. “And when you traveled in mostly male company before that was because you were looking to start a harem?”

  As expected, the counter-accusation stumped her.

  “You will see they are hardworking and talented. I won’t force them down any path, but they are caught up in this storm we have caused, and Lucy’s breathing changed, so I think she’s awake.”

  “She’s been awake the entire time,” Edna says. “The first time I healed myself, too. I don’t think she slept a wink.”

  Well, I missed that. Then again, mana sense pretty much overloads my brain as I try not to think about how the forest smells of bleeding lettuce and sounds like a symphony of beating hearts and intense farts.

  “Lucy, you are free to speak your mind,” I say and glance towards Gila. “Is she just that good at acting or?”

  “She’s sleeping like a bellex.”

  I have no idea what a bellex is, but I’m guessing they are sound sleepers.

  “Should we wake her then?” I ask Lucy. “Doesn’t feel fair to discuss your shared future without her, unless you have some questions relevant only to yourself?”

  Edna glares at Lucy, who, faced with an angry witch, scampers back into her shell. Whatever questions she might have had will have to wait a long while.

  “All right, should we wake her, or delay this talk until she wakes up on her own?”

  Edna graces me with a death glare, and I shake Gila awake.

  “Just a bit more, please. I don’t want to wash the dishes.”

  Typical Gila. I shake her once more, and she opens her eyelids. Confusion, remembrance, realization, fear, and finally resignation flicker through her eyes as she stares at me. A hint of resentment stews there as well. I ignore it. I knocked the girl’s life off the rails, even pure hatred is understandable.

  “Gila, Edna is awake, and we should discuss our next steps going forward. You have a short while to collect yourself. I know you are sharp, and you understand that this is going to be an important talk, one that decides all our futures.” I consider it while talking, and end the short speech with a “Thank you.”

  To her credit, the girl is ready almost immediately, and so I once more seize the initiative.

  “Edna here doesn’t want you to join us. I know you would have been safer back at your homes never meeting me in the first place, and the two of you aren’t all that enthusiastic about traveling in a magae’s company. Things are what they are. I was afraid the inquisition would snatch you, torture you, and I had to pull you out of Tallrock.”

  “Why isn’t Fred here?”

  “Good question, Gila, one I won’t get tired of answering.” I don’t know what it is about Fred that pushes my buttons. Is it the fact that he used the girls? That he tried to shift the blame on me? I really don’t know, but it’s fun hating him. “Because Fred is a little piece of shit. He formed a party in which he was the strongest. He appointed himself leader, then took you to the dungeon without permission. He’s also a coward. Had he found out about Edna, he would have run off to get the inquisitors without considering what would happen to him afterwards.”

  “You don’t like Fred either, do you?” Gila’s voice is flat, her frown telling, so I decide to liven things up a bit.

  “Actually, I like him a lot.” All three of them stare at me with eyes wide open, even Edna.

  I burst into laughter, probably more into the role than what normal people would consider healthy.

  “Nah, I’m kidding, I hate the little shit. He tried to frame me, he was willing to risk the life of others for his own benefit while he stayed safe. You might say he’s a natural born politician, and I hate politicians.” I drop the flippant act and focus on the three of them.

  “I do care about you. Edna here seems unaware of it, but I challenged ten inquisitors, four guards, and a priest just to save her life, valuing her life as more important than fifteen, well technically eleven others put together, not to mention the risk I faced while fighting one against ten.”

  Edna’s frustrated expression turns to shock. I mean she knew I’ve slaughtered her captors and tormentors, but she somehow failed to grasp the implication. I have no idea what she’s doing with all her mental stats, but apparently, thinking isn’t heavily involved.