Chapter 58

Sometimes, Camilla wished that she wore more clothes. Particularly on days like today, when it was properly cold out. She was a cultivator, well into her second stage, and thus didn’t truly need clothes in the way that others did. So long as mana flowed within her, she doubted there was anywhere in the vast Empire cold enough to give her frostbite. That didn’t stop the frosty air from nipping at her bare skin. If only she didn’t need her sense of touch, or if clothing wasn’t so restricting, comparatively.

As annoying as the cold was, it wasn’t what was important right now, though. The sorceress stood stiller than a statue in the shadows behind a small shack. The mine was fairly quiet, at least up in the open portion. It made listening easy. Many of the workers were on edge—making it clear something was happening, though the ‘what’ was up in the air. A dark sense of anticipation lingered around the area. The sorceress could feel it in every small breath.

She didn’t fear the smugglers. The true danger was lingering sentinels. Camilla wasn’t where she was ‘supposed’ to be—hiding away in the small estate and twiddling her thumbs. If they spotted her…

What she feared more was the possibility that she was playing into the Praevus’s hands by going out on this search. Leaving Pearl behind, alone, had been Not easy. Her insides still felt thoroughly shredded after rushing off as she had, but she knew it was the right choice. Could the Praevus have planned somehow for Rosetta to be grabbed in order to split them? It seemed unlikely, and yet, she was terrified of underestimating the man. She was certain that he’d picked up on her attachment to Pearl by now. If he—

Camilla shook her head. This wasn’t the time to get lost in emotions. Being so distracted and allowing feelings to control her was abnormal for the well-trained sorceress. She needed to focus, to sharpen her senses and continue forward with practiced calm and patience.

With grace, she slid through the shadows, keeping the path she knew Rosetta to have walked down within vision. Tracking her had been difficult, in some ways. Guessing at where they might be hiding was easy; there were only so many possibilities in such a little town. Properly following Rosetta’s trail was quite a bit more difficult. Had they been in a city or even a larger town it would have been near impossible. Camilla was making use of the slim remnants of mana they left behind in the air. It was something she had to put effort into focusing on, a skill she was still in the process of developing. It was unfortunate that she was so unpracticed at sensing it outside of herself, else she might have noticed it building within Pearl much sooner.

The downside to even a few minutes of mana sight was the throbbing headache building in her skull, along with the continual drain of mana from her core. It wasn’t ideal in the least. If Rosetta’s trace amounts of mana led her somewhere deep in the mines, she might have to consider cutting the mana to her shadowy dress to keep her focus on the trail. The sorceress’s lips curved into a smile at the scandalous idea, certain the miners would love that.

It would be smarter to enhance her sense of smell instead and use that. It was how she’d have done things not so long ago. Though she hated feeling more like the Empire’s obedient hound than she already did. Tracking people was what she did best, in their eyes. It was something she thoroughly despised about herself. Not that the Praevus actually made use of her skills. They didn’t trust her, rightfully so, she supposed. Unlike many other sorcerers, she’d never bought in to the propaganda. Not since the incident—

Once more, she shook her head, emotions swirling wildly. Now she was thinking about that too? She was losing her touch. Camilla took a quiet breath of air, briefly closing her eyes and releasing the various thoughts and worries to the breeze flowing past her. When she next gazed out across the mine, an intensity filled her eyes that would have paralyzed anyone unlucky enough to spot her.

Shadows swirled around her as she prowled through the large mining area, an elite predator on the hunt. Rosetta’s path led her to a small building that served as a makeshift bar of sorts. It was where the miners went to grab a quick meal or sip on some watered-down alcohol and rest their feet for a short time—if one considered the slop served there to be a ‘meal.’ Camilla had seen inside it only once since she’d arrived, having followed a group of sentinels to look it over. To her, it seemed a terrible place for smugglers to meet, but she had no plans to argue about it with them at this point.

Camilla approached the small, poorly built structure, sliding from shadow to shadow, and deciding how best to enter. Finally, she arrived just a few meters outside it. It was time to figure out exactly what was going on here.

— — —

We’d both been silent for what felt like hours, quietly listening, as though we would hear something happening outside the mansion if we were quiet enough. Lena had a small pack along her back, walking just in front of me as we shuffled back down the hall to her room. The weight of my own leather bag dug into my shoulder, as though weighed down by whatever impending event loomed around the corner.

“I’ve got this terrible feeling,” Lena whispered, a few feet ahead, “that something is going to go horribly wrong. Not just with the rescue, but, well, everything.”

I shuffled the bag to another part of my shoulder, putting together that she meant the something involving the Praevus.

“W-we’ve got a plan though, don’t we?” A rhetorical question. We had made a plan for what to do if Camilla wasn’t here and we had to run, though we’d assumed that Lena, Rosetta, and I would all be running together. “Everyone knows where to go—to meet.”

“I know,” she muttered. My assurance did little to help.

The one aspect of it that I hadn’t stopped to consider was that no part of that plan involved going back for anyone. A deep, gnawing pit filled my gut. Did that mean we wouldn’t be going back to rescue anyone left behind?

“Camilla will find her,” I repeated, as much for myself as for Lena. “And then we’ll figure things out. We just—we just need to wait.” My words trailed off to a whisper, unable to even convince myself.

The redhead let out a sigh, one that somehow made her look even more tense than before. Silence once more overcame us.

I ran through things once again in my head, as though it would somehow help. Rosetta was grabbed by someone. One of the smugglers, or someone working for the Praevus? It was too difficult to tell. If it was the smugglers, then I was fairly confident that Camilla would manage to find them. Hopefully. But what if it was the Praevus, instead? What if splitting us up was intentional? Rosetta missing, then Camilla rushing off, and now the two of us, alone and effectively defenseless.

The dagger against my leg didn’t feel so cold anymore, but somehow it seemed all the heavier. Should we have made our escape days before? Had we all waited too long, giving the Praevus the time to find out our secrets? Sentinels could be marching in right now, just down the street, or even within the mansion—making their way right to—

“Pearl!”

I jolted, meeting Lena’s gaze as my eyes widened in terror. For a moment, I was certain they’d found us and she was screaming for me to run.

Lena stood just in front of me. Her hands reached out and rubbed both of my shoulders, eyes filled with the smallest spark of determination that pierced through her void of worry.

“You’re okay. Take a deep breath, Pearl.”

I followed the advice, realizing that I hadn’t been breathing at all. Air filled my lungs, and as I let it back out, a bit of calm returned to me. Lena instructed me through several more breaths until the panic that I hadn’t even realized I’d been developing subsided. To my surprise, we weren’t in the hall any longer, instead, having arrived in her room.

“I—Thanks,” I managed, surprised that the deep breaths had worked to help calm me. How had she even known to do that?

Lena nodded. Though the fear and worry laden in her eyes almost broke me. “You weren’t responding, and then when I turned around, I realized you were lost in a panic.” She stared for a long moment, not yet letting go. Hesitating.

“I know it might not be smart, but,” she stared deep into me, “I can’t stay here, Pearl. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.” My lips parted to protest, as much as it crushed me to, but she continued, “You can come with me—or stay here. Either is fine with me. But I’m going to get my sword, and then—” Her eyes shined. “I’m going to find her.”

The blazing fury within her piercing gaze held an intensity that nearly made me step back. I knew it would be difficult to talk her out of this. The correct choice was to try anyway, though, wasn’t it? I’d talked her down once already. With the right argument, I could again.

But… did I want to?

A choice had to be made. I wasn’t a hero, or anything close to a skilled adventurer of any variety; I knew that. But what did that make me? A maid? Some young woman far in over her head? Certainly in over my head, but I wasn’t a true maid or woman either. Even if I wished it were so.

I was a man—Felix—playing charades.

My heart felt as though it was cracking, a bleeding husk, ready to shatter. A sickness that seemed impossible to overcome. It was the truth, though, the hard-to-accept reality staring me in the face. No matter how much I despised it, or how much others wanted to placate me with white lies to the contrary, the facts were what they were.

The right choice was to step up and protect others. It was the masculine and noble thing to do. Of that, I was quite certain. Even were I to convince Lena to stay here, what of the others? What about Rosetta? And my father? What if Camilla was in trouble? For all Lena and I knew, staying here was as much of a risk as leaving. They’d grabbed Rosetta inside, after all.

Perhaps Lena was right. Perhaps going out and finding out exactly what was going on was the best decision. I couldn’t do much to help, should things go poorly, but I could at least serve as a distraction. It was a poor justification, I knew. Camilla asked me to stay here, and we might step outside only to meet our demise, for all we knew. And yet…

I took another deep breath of air and met Lena’s eyes once more. “Alright. Let’s go.”

The corner of her lip quirked up into the briefest smile.

One last adventure. Together.