I didn’t get much sleep but the adrenaline coursing through my veins left no room for exhaustion. This wasn’t just any mission. It was our first mission, the first real test of what we were capable of as adventurers. The thought filled me with both excitement and dread, and got my whole body shaking.

  Ryu however, had no trouble sleeping. His loud snoring echoed through the room all night and by morning, he looked annoyingly well rested. He’d even taken the time to polish his sword and boots before we left the guild, a small ritual to settle his nerves. When we arrived at the courthouse, the prisoner had already been put into a cage on top of a horse-drawn cart, ready to be transported. Some of the guards were just about to do the final preparations, throwing a huge piece of cloth over the cage to block all vision into and out of the cage.

  I tried to look past the cart and the royal soldiers surrounding it, to spot Ryu and Shizuka on the other side of the convoy, but couldn’t see either of them.

  I felt a soft tug at my sleeve and turned to see Hina. Her wide eyes and the nervous look on her face told me that she felt the same excitement as me.

  “Kuro, do you know when the convoy will start?” her voice was trembling slightly, betraying her nervousness.

  “I don’t know, it could start any minute now. Just stay ready, everything will be fine.”

  Even though I was nervous as hell, I tried to calm her down a bit. This was also her first mission, and it was important to stay as calm as possible. Even the soldiers around us were restless, so it would be nice if at least Hina and I could stay calm. I grabbed Hina’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, signaling her that everything was alright. Almost ten minutes later, the convoy finally started moving. We had talked about the route of the convoy with one of the leaders of this operation when we arrived at the courthouse, and it seemed like this whole transport was only about fifteen to twenty minutes long. Hina and I positioned ourselves on either side of the road and began moving after the convoy, throwing each other nervous and reassuring glances.

  We slowly followed behind the convoy and kept an eye on our surroundings. Even though everything had been quiet until now, I slowly got the feeling that something would go wrong. When we talked to the guards earlier, they told us that the prisoner was a member of one of the most criminal smuggling networks operating in the city.

  “Hina,” I whispered, keeping my voice low enough so the soldiers couldn’t hear me. “something doesn’t feel right. Stay sharp.”

  “I-I feel it too. Everything is too quiet for my taste.”

  We followed behind quietly as I waited for something to happen. I didn’t even know what I was expecting, maybe that someone would dash out of the shadows and free the prisoner or something like that. I sped up a little bit, closing a bit of distance between me and the cart, just in case. It would be nice to know if Ryu and Shizuka had the same bad feeling about this as we did.

  “Hina, can you quickly run to the other side of the convoy and ask Ryu and Shizuka about their thoughts?”

  I wasn’t just asking her because I wanted to know their thoughts, but also to take a bit of Hina’s nervousness and anxiety.

  “Uhm, sure. I can go and ask them.”

  She sped up to the point where she almost ran and quickly caught up to the front of the convoy. I lost sight of her when she moved past the cart. I moved from the left side of the road where I had been walking to the middle, to cover both sides of the road with my vision. The bad feeling in my guts got even worse when the convoy came to a sudden halt and Hina still hadn’t returned. I could hear stressful and aggressive shouts from the front of the convoy and immediately started running to see what was up.

  The horse of one of the guards that were walking in front of the cart had slipped on a slippery fluid that covered the street in front of us. I got down to my knee, dipped my finger into the liquid and brought it up to my nose. It smelled like animal fat and oiled up my finger. A commotion from behind caught my attention and I turned around. One of the guards had cut a hole into the cloth that was covering the cart and opened the cage. So that has been the reason they were recruiting adventurers for this transport. They had a traitor among their own ranks. Ryu was the fastest to run forward and stop them from escaping, followed by Hina and me. Shizuka’s leg was still hurt, so running wasn’t an option for her.

  Just as some of the guards, followed by hina and ryu reached the cart, the traitor had already opened the prisoner’s shackles and drawn his sword, getting ready to face us head on. The soldiers around us scattered, effectively blocking off the street in all directions and leaving the fight to us.

  Hina and Ryu wasted no time, squaring off against the traitorous guard and the prisoner with their weapons drawn. I sprinted to their side, taking up position just behind them, ready to support however I could. The air was thick with tension, each side waiting for the other to make the first move.

  When Ryu finally decided to make a step forward and strike first, the prisoner vanished, leaving no trace behind. Or at least that was what it looked like. I had heard of teleportation spells, and spells that opened portals to other places, but both of them were not easy to pull off without incredibly much preparation and a long incantation. Maybe it was something completely different… something that made it look like he had vanished. As my eyes darted around, looking for any trace of the vanished man, the guards around us grew more and more restless.

  They started shouting and screaming at each other, fearing the prisoner had escaped.

  “Where has he gone, has anyone seen him?”

  “Catch the traitor, let him pay for this!”

  “We need to send someone to search the area of and around the city, immediately!”

  All of the soldiers were shouting over each other, making it hard to think. I blocked out the noises around me, focusing only on my thoughts. If he didn’t really vanish, then maybe he cast an illusion spell. In that case, he was still here, just invisible to our eyes. I sent my mana through the ground, feeling for the resonance where it touched with the mana of others until I could feel him. He was next to Hina, trying to sneak up behind her.

  “Hina, he is invisible behind you!”

  My warning came just in time. When Hina turned around with incredible speed, the prisoner had just dropped his illusion, revealing himself again. He had tried to grab Hina from behind, hold her hostage and escape by threatening us with her death. I could see the perplexed expression on his face when he realized that he would make acquaintance with Hina’s mace now. He barely managed to summon a stone shield from the ground before her mace connected with his hip. The stone wall shattered and he was thrown back a bit. With the prisoner behind Hina, we found ourselves in a dire situation. Hina could face the prisoner, but she would bare her back to the traitorous guard if she did that. My magic wouldn’t be of much help as it could hit one of my friends while they were in close combat.

  Fortunately for us, Ryu understood the situation instantly, positioning himself between Hina and the guard. It would have been nice to create a situation in which Shizuka could safely fire her arrows, but she was in the same situation as me and the chance that she would hit one of us was just too great.

  “Shizuka, stay back. You can’t help us right now.”

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  Shizuka’s face contorted into a frustrated expression, but she knew I was right. Considering the speed in which the prisoner had put his stone shield up, he was used to short-ranged fights, which I wasn’t. All I could do was support Ryu and Hina while I watched them fight from the sideline. I could actually relate to how Shizuka must be feeling right now quite well. Neither Ryu or Hina, nor the traitor or the prisoner seemed to want to do the next step. We were all just eyeing each other, trying to figure out our next moves.

  Well, if they didn’t want to do something, then that’s a lot better for me. I pressed my palms firmly against the ground, filling it with my mana. The only earth spells I knew were the earth wall and earth spikes, which both wouldn’t help me now. Instead I filled the immediate ground around us with as much mana as it could hold, which made my head start spinning and hurting. If my thought process was correct, then filling the earth with mana effectively prevented the prisoner from using any kind of earth magic himself, by making him unable to infuse his mana into the earth. But If I was wrong… Well, if I was wrong, then I had just completely rendered myself useless for nothing. I reached for the short sword at my waist, which wasn’t there. I had left it in our room in the guild building because I thought I wouldn’t need it.

  Sometimes I was an idiot but I made a mental note to myself to always carry that damn thing around in the future. The traitorous guard finally made a move, trying to circle Ryu. Ryu readied his sword and attacked him with a downward swing, followed by a step to the side and a swing from the left. The traitor dodged the downward swing to the side, but wasn’t able to dodge the follow up attack. Ryu’s blade left a long cut on his right arm, which immediately started to bleed profusely. The man screamed and cursed Ryu.

  “Ahh, you damn brat. I will cut you to thin stripes starting from your feet until you beg me to finish you off.”

  Ryu smirked but didn’t reply to his provocation. He had learned the lesson that Layla tried long to get into him. He was solely focused on his opponent and his weapon, and didn’t let anything destroy his precious concentration. Hina now also sprang into action, swinging her mace at the prisoner again. Instead of trying to dodge, the prisoner closed in on Hina, restricting her arms from swinging the mace, and then delivered a hard blow to her stomach with his knee. I saw it coming and hardened the air around her with my magic, taking away some of the strike’s force. The rest of its force got absorbed by the mana shield on her skin that her skill created for her. She grabbed the man’s leg and threw him off balance, making both of them stumble to the ground. I jumped on top of them, trying to hold the prisoner down with Hina.

  “Shizuka, come over here and help restraining him!”

  Ryu and the traitor crossed their blades, trying to find an opening to strike. The traitor tried to swing his blade at Ryu’s legs, but he jumped out of the way in time and punished his opponent with another bleeding wound on his hand. Shizuka took my place in restraining the prisoner, giving me the chance to help Ryu. I was already dizzy and nauseous, but I still gathered everything I had left for one last spell. I let all of the mana that I had stored in the ground flow into Ryu’s opponent, hoping that my spell would work. I focused on the water in his body, trying to change its viscosity. The world started spinning around me, I fell down and smacked my head on the hard pavement. Through all the stars and specks of light that filled my vision, I could see the traitor wobble and shake violently. A large puddle of blood had formed by his feet. I had changed his blood’s viscosity, making it flow out of his wounds like a river.

  He fell down to his knees and his blade clattered to the ground. Ryu sheathed his sword and bowed slightly, a last gesture of respect for his fallen opponent. My vision started spinning faster and faster, making me unable to hold my breakfast in. The last thing I remembered was that I vomited violently until my stomach was empty, completely drenched in cold sweat. Then I lost consciousness and faded away into the black abyss.

  A familiar voice reached my ears, deep down in my subconsciousness.

  “Hmm, the youth nowadays… so dramatic… Isn’t that hard floor really uncomfortable?”

  I tried to slowly open my eyes but closed them immediately when they were flooded by bright light. I covered my eyes with my arm and opened them again, trying to get used to it. When I looked around, I found myself in a familiar place, accompanied by a very familiar demon woman.

  “Lia? What happened? Why am I here? And what happened?”

  The woman that was sitting at the table in front of me looked down and a gentle smile played around her lips.

  “Lia? Are we really already talking about nicknames?”, she shook her head in a dismissive manner, “You used too much of your mana and fainted. As for why you came here… I don’t know.”

  I tried to get up from the floor, but my body felt weak and tired.

  “Tell me, did we make it?”

  She got up from the table and sat down on the floor next to me.

  “Make… what exactly?”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about. The quest! Did the prisoner get away after I fainted?”

  Her beautiful laugh filled the room and ringed in my ears.

  “Well, there were some casualties… but I would say that you guys did a pretty good job, considering this was your first quest. I would really advise you to take a weapon that doesn’t rely on mana with you in the future.”

  Her remark about the weapon made me spurt out a response without thinking.

  “Well thank you captain obvious.”

  Both of us laughed. I tried to get up again, and managed to shift into a sitting position at least.

  “Well actually… I’m proud of you. You did your best with the limited resources you had. You analyzed the situation and acted with utmost consideration for the consequences, even though you were incredibly nervous and excited. Not many people are able to do that in such a situation.”

  Her compliment and appreciation ignited a pleasantly warm fire in my chest.

  “Thank you… I feel like I’ve gotten so much stronger… I also wanted to thank you for helping me with the awakening of my mana core back then again.”

  “You don’t need to thank me, I just gave you a little push, igniting what was already there.”

  Her smile remembered me of when we had first met each other, it had been similar to this. I was asleep and met her in my dream.

  “How long do we have until I wake up?”

  Her face changed into a thoughtful expression as she thought about her answer.

  “You may wake up any minute. Your mana is regenerating quite fast, and you’ve already been unconscious for quite some time… I’d say we have less than five minutes.”

  So I’d wake up in less than five minutes… I had planned to ask her to explain the Anomaly to me, but five minutes wouldn’t be even nearly enough. I just sat there, next to her. Her presence was soothing my soul and helped me forget my sorrows.

  “I’m afraid of the Soul Eater. She promised to come for my soul.”

  The words left my mouth without permission, but they were true.

  “I know. I see everything you see, hear everything you hear, and know everything you know. Everything you do, and more actually. You needn’t worry about the Soul Eater for now. You’re not her current top priority. But you should still be aware, she’s also here in the capital.”

  The Soul Eater was in the capital? So there was a chance to cross paths with her when I strolled through the streets? That wasn’t really what I needed to hear. I would have to keep my guard up.

  “Thanks for telling me. I will keep my eyes open.”

  She showed me her beautiful toothy smile again.

  “Don’t be afraid. You can…”

  The rest of her sentence got cut off when I suddenly woke up. I was in Ryu’s and my room in the guild building. They must have paid a carriage to bring me here. I looked around the room, but I was completely alone. My head was still spinning a bit, and I also still felt a little nauseous. I stayed in the soft bed and looked at the ceiling. The Soul Eater was here in the city. The very woman that had sworn to devour my soul was here. Why was I even afraid? I might not have Layla here with me this time, but I had my friends. Even if she came for me, my friends and I wouldn’t lose against her. I slowly sat up and swung my legs out of the bed. There was a note on the nightstand and I reached over and grabbed it.

  “Hey Kuro,

  We are currently out shopping. We got a huge bonus on top of our reward for our excellent services. Lay back and rest, we will be back for dinner.

  Ryu”

  I opened the shutters and looked outside, seeing the sun high up in the sky. I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious, nor if it was even still the same day. They wouldn’t be back too soon… I couldn’t keep laying in bed, I had to get out and do something. I entered the guild’s spacious bath and cleaned my body of the grime and cold sweat. The hot water really felt like a blessing to my sore body. I stayed inside the bath for way too long and my skin turned into that of an old grandmother. I pulled myself out of the tub and dried my body, getting ready for dinner. I spent one last thought on the Soul Eater’s Words that she said before she vanished into the shadows. She said she would find me, make me wish I was dead while she devoured my soul.

  A humorless chuckle escaped my throat.

  “You want my soul? Then come and take it, if you think you’re strong enough.”