Elderspire night life is busy, but even for a city of its size, things begin to slow down after a certain point.

  By the time Sincir sneaks out of the house, other than occasional drunk or homeless, barely a soul can still be seen still walking around. However, even if it feels almost pointless to go through the trouble under these circumstances, he does still inspect his surroundings using mind magic every once in a while in order to make sure he is not being followed.

  At first, when he read No Barnett’s letter, he was determined to ignore it, since he already has enough problems as it is… But he’ll admit he is curious to know what her intentions are, by arranging a meeting with him at this time and with such secrecy, so he ended up reconsidering it, throughout the day.

  Thankfully, the pce No set up for them to meet isn’t all that far from Inquiry, which also makes it close from the house...

  Elderspire main source of water, a rge river that cuts through the city, called Turraine, gleams beautifully under Itera’s two moons. As the darkness hides the dirt which is usually visible during the day, Sincir appreciates the sight… What he doesn’t appreciate, however, is the coldness that comes from being so close to a body of water in the middle of the night.

  Furthermore, he had to leave Esme’s warm bed to come here, and so, he is rather annoyed to realize No is not already at their meeting spot, under the shadows of one of the many bridges built over Turraine, when he finally arrives.

  However, it doesn’t take more than a single sweep using mind magic to realize she is waiting in a nearby alley, with view of their meeting spot... Her thoughts are hidden from him by some sort of artifact (presumably, since she isn’t a mage, as far as he knows), but it isn’t hard to guess that she probably wanted to make sure of his intentions, and that he wasn’t being followed, before showing up.

  Unfortunately for her, Sincir is grumpy and tired in virtue of having cut his sleep short to come meet her, and so he chooses to simply approach, instead of waiting for Creator knows how long until she felt safe enough to show up on her own...

  As she immediately begins to back away once he starts to head in her direction, Sincir chuckles; Had he the mana to spare, he’d have teleport behind her for the comedic effect of watching her shit her pants, but since he doesn’t, he simply continues to walk calmly toward the alley’s entrance, even as No grows increasingly panicked by his actions.

  Well, she is the one who wanted to meet him, so if she chooses to run away at this point, then so be it…

  But No doesn’t run away, contrary to Sincir expectations; Instead, she straightens herself as he enters the alley, quickly adopting a posture befitting of a noble dy, and reminding him of when they first met, at Inquiry.

  Other than her posture, however, No is dressed in such a way no one would guess her noble origins just by looking at her, including an oversized, cliché hood which hides most of her features.

  It is plenty clear she saw him coming, so Sincir doesn’t bother trying to hide himself, simply crossing his arms after walking far in enough that he’ll not be spotted easily from outside the alley’s entrance.

  “Isn’t it past bedtime for uptight noble dies, already?”

  For a moment, No stares at him without answering... But then she shakes her head. “I should’ve known trying to hide myself from a mage of your caliber would be pointless, Mr. Sincir. Thank you for answering to my request, however unusual it might’ve been.”

  Sincir sighs. “Mr. Sincir, eh? Please, you might be good at keeping a bnk expression and tone, but I can tell you still hate my guts for what happened.”

  It is hard to tell No’s reaction due her hood and their dimly lit surroundings, but Sincir has a feeling she is pressing her lips together.

  “...I suppose it was also foolishness to hope we could put it all behind us with a simple written apology.”

  “Nah, I’m willing to let it go, but the problem is, I’m not sure what you could want from someone you hate so much… It can’t have been easy for you to put aside your pride for this.”

  Again, No takes a pause before answering. Then, to Sincir’s surprise, she slowly lifts her hands and pushes back the hood covering her head, revealing her pale skin and long, curly brown hair, before crossing her hands in front of her body, in a very dy-like fashion.

  Seeing her proud expression and posture, Sincir can’t help but chuckle; He was right about her pressing her lips together, after all.

  “Careful, one look at that hair, and anyone would be able to tell your identity,” he says.

  No sighs. “I’m aware. Being recognized at a gnce by the peasantry is usually the point of how we are taught to dress and portrait ourselves… My pride aside, Mr. Sincir is right in that it wasn’t easy to deceive my own guards in order to come here, so please, at least listen to my request.”

  Sincir uncrosses his arms to point a finger in her direction. “Look, I’m busy, and this evening makes for the second night in a row I’m unable to sleep, so at the very least, I want you to expin what the whole deal with trying to make me walk home naked was, before asking for anything from me.”

  No smiles, though there’s little warmth in it. “I thought you said you were willing to let it go?”

  Sincir shrugs. “I am willing, but if I’m going to or not will depend on your expnation… Asking for this much is fair, right?”

  “…I suppose,” No admits after a moment, sighing a she does so. “Very well, then. First, I’d like to make clear I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused, and not just because it backfired monumentally.”

  Her usage of the word monumentally causes Sincir to snort; For this, he decides he likes her a bit more than before.

  “It was an overreaction… And not something I’d have done under normal circumstances. The truth is, I’ve been stressed and anxious tely, enough so that I mispced a book, also something I’d never have done, but Mr. Sincir is correct in that it was my pride which kept me from simply apologizing for my mistake.”

  Sincir scratches his head. “Still, don’t you think it was a bit too much, trying to have me walk home naked in front of everybody, just for that?”

  “It was… And so, I’m not surprised Mr. Sincir sought retribution, merely thankful you still chose to spare my life. More importantly, I was impressed by your abilities, which is why I have chosen to arrange this meeting.”

  “…Right. Fine, I guess I can see why you’d have lost it, considering your situation. And I assume you have a job for me, if my abilities are what attracted you... I’m not opposite to making money, so I’ll hear you.”

  No sighs, her shoulders sinking slightly in virtue of her obvious relief. “Thank you… Since Mr. Sincir is aware of my family’s situation, this will be much faster. As you may already know, my father has been reported missing by me, now three weeks prior, and no progress has been made, either by the city’s guard, or the adventurers who I’ve hired to look for him.”

  …Oh. Now that he thinks on it, Sincir supposes he should’ve seen it coming.

  “…Look, Miss No, I’m not sure how to tell you this, but-”

  “Stop,” No murmurs, while shaking her head, “I’m not stupid. I’m well aware three weeks is a long time, and that if somebody wanted to extort our family for some sort of ransom, they’d have already contacted me long ago... No, this was done by someone who wanted my father gone, and in this case, two possibilities come to my mind; Someone who was wronged by him in the past, due his work as a judge in the city, or someone who was after our nds and assets, but failed to convince him to sell them.”

  Sincir sighs. This is dangerous work, the type that’ll get your food poisoned, or a knife in the back when you least expect it… He feels bad for No, but unfortunately, he’d not only be putting himself at risk, if he were to accept her request.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help you, Miss No.”

  No lowers her gaze, but she doesn’t seem surprised by his refusal. “I see… Well, it was a long shot. I thank you for at least listening.”

  Sincir imagines she was refused countless time during these past weeks, having grown used to it by now.

  “Let me escort you home,” he offers as she begins to walk forward, but No shakes her head while walking by him.

  “No, there’s no need… Please forget we’ve ever met, Mr. Sincir.”

  Sincir watches as No raises her hood once more and exits the alley, her back straight, and her steps firm.

  “…Fuck,” he curses softly once she is out of view.

  He won’t be able to put this out of his mind for a while, will him?

  Damn soft, bleeding heart…

  Shaking his head, Sincir decides to at least follow after No in order to make sure she’ll reach her home safely... As he exits the alley, he realizes she is heading toward the bridge. Which is weird, since she shouldn’t need to cross it, in order to reach her home…

  Sincir raises an eyebrow, but he doesn’t call out to her, as he had initially pnned to. Instead, he waits for her to gain a bit of a lead before following, keeping himself to the shadows as he does so.

  Sincir is confident in being able to fallow a sheltered kid without being noticed, so his immediate concern is on keeping No safe, which is why he inspects his surroundings with mind magic once more while approaching the bridge, having decided he’ll do so at regur intervals from now on…

  However, to his surprise, No doesn’t go far before stopping; More specifically, she walks across the bridge until she’s more or less in the middle of it, before slowly, almost methodically, beginning to remove her hooded coat.

  What in the...? Is she a pervert, after all?

  But no, No stops undressing after her coat, which she folds neatly, and pces below the bridge’s rail, before also removing her shoes.

  As he watches the whole thing from afar, Sincir frowns; The night is cold, and furthermore, despite looking inconspicuous enough in the dark, Nalo’s coat wasn’t something even a rich person would discard easily… Just what in the hell is she doing…?

  Once Nole climbs over the rail, then looks at the dark waters below, Sincir blinks, and he’s about to call out to her… When she jumps.

  …After staring at the now empty bridge for a full three seconds, with his mouth hanging open, Sincir curses out loud, beginning to run toward the pce she jumped from.

  Fuck! Is he retarded?! There’s no way the noble dy is going for a swimming night session, obviously!

  While running, Sincir stares toward the river below, but even at night, it is possible to see how fast Turraine runs, and he curses again as he bumps onto the bridge’s rail, while searching for any signs of No through the darkness below.

  Had she hesitated for even a second, he’d probably have been able to catch her with a spell before she jumped, but she didn’t, and he was far enough away that…

  No, that doesn’t matter now!

  Stupid fucking girl!

  “Fuck!”

  Sincir allows himself a full second of contemption regarding his life choices as he stares into the water below… Then, he shakes his head, and jumps.

  The impact takes the air from his lungs as his vision is instantly filled with darkness; The cold is striking, but Sincir pays it no mind as he immediately casts a mind spell in order to detect No’s location, ignoring the hundreds of fishes to pop up on his senses as he continues to expand the spell to its limits…

  Catching a glimpse of something at the edge of his senses just as he is about to reach his limits, he is able to recognize No in virtue of the artifact she was wearing earlier, which hides her thoughts from him (not that there was much of a chance he’d have found someone else down here), and so he immediately casts a water spell which allows him to take control of the water around himself, directing it to help him chase after No, beelining in her direction.

  The spell is much faster than the river’s natural current, allowing Sincir to gradually catch up to his target as he maintains his mind spell active in order to keep track of her...

  Still, his lungs are about to reach their limits by the time he tackles No’s body, firmly wrapping his arms around her while immediately directing the spell to take them upwards (his mind spell allowing him to maintain his notion of direction due the fact it showcases the human minds beyond the river’s margins, in a three-dimensional fashion).

  Sincir would’ve felt better if No was struggling in his arms, but her body is soft against his, making it clear she has lost consciousness already, and as he breaks the river’s surface with her, taking an immediate deep breath, he curses out loud.

  Since he is a good enough swimmer to drag No toward the margin, and his mana is running dangerously low already, he also releases hold of both of his spells as he begins to swim away from the worst of the current, while maintaining No’s limp body firmly in his embrace...

  During the time it takes him to reach the margin, Sincir curses constantly, though he releases a sigh of relief when he finally fells firm ground under his foot.

  Grunting, shaking, and cttering his teeth, Sincir quickly drags No by her armpits until they’re upon solid soil once more, before carelessly dropping her as he also falls over; Then, after panting heavily for a brief moment while staring at the stared sky above, he quickly forces himself to roll over and rise to a kneeling position besides No unconscious form.

  Thankfully, a spell to remove the water from her lungs is easy enough to cast, and Sincir does so without wasting any more time.

  As No begins to cough, spilling water through her mouth, Sincir then casts two more spells, one to dry them both, and one to warm their surroundings slightly… Though the second spell doesn’t do much, unfortunately, and he is back to cttering his teeth almost immediately.

  Once No abruptly opens her eyes, widening them while rolling over and continuing to cough, Sincir finally allows himself to fall back again.

  …You know, he has to admit, in spite of everything, that the sky is beautiful tonight.

  “Why?! Why would you…?!” Nole screams, once she is finally able to speak again.

  “Why…? If you’re going to kill yourself, then do it in a way where I won’t feel responsible… Or at least, where I can’t see you, dumbass.”

  “I told you not to follow me!” No screams, then sobs, rising in spite of her obviously unstable legs.

  “Hey, where do you think you’re going…?”

  As No begins to head toward the water one shaky step at a time, Sincir blinks, staring at her in disbelief... In his incredulity, he actually considers simply letting her go through with it for a moment, if she is so inclined, but seeing her desperate, frantic expression, Sincir eventually sighs, then waves his hand as he creates a wind ball which hits No square in the stomach, knocking her down once more...

  Now even more thoroughly covered in mud than before, No continues to cry unconsoble, assuming a fatal position, but she doesn’t try to rise again.

  After a moment of watching, Sincir decides he has had enough, rising, then approaching her as he kneels by her body while releasing a heavy sigh.

  “All right, woman, time to put it together... Hey! If this keeps going, we’ll attract attention to yourselves…! Fuck, I can’t believe I really jumped in to save you…”

  “Shut up! Go away! Who wants your help, you…! You…! You peasant!”

  Sincir ughs, in spite of himself; Apparently, being covered in mud hasn’t made of No any less of a noble dy…

  After considering what to do for a another moment of watching her cry, he gently moves her hair away from her face in order to meet her gaze, which causes No to pause briefly... Though she still sps his hand away, in the end.

  “Look... Fine! I’ll help you find your father, or at least, the people who killed him, so you can stop crying now, okay?!” he murmurs exasperatedly, while facing her gre.

  “Don’t treat me like a child…!”

  “You don’t want it?”

  “I…” No clenches her teeth, then avers her gaze, swallowing as she does so. “Just… Just leave… Some of the people I hired to investigate disappeared already… I doubt I have long before they come for me… If you help me or not, it doesn’t really matter, anymore…”

  Sincir sighs... So, the situation is as he expected.

  “Say, did you tell anyone you were going to meet me tonight?”

  No throws him a sidelong gnce. “Why would it matter?”

  “Did you, or not?”

  “…No,” she murmurs after a moment, “Daniel, my knight, was the one who delivered my letter to you, but even he didn’t know of its contents.”

  Sincir considers the situation...

  No said she sneaked out to come here, and he checked that she wasn’t followed when they first met, which means, at the very least, he wasn’t seen meeting with her. Her knight delivered the letter to him on a very public situation, and it is possible they were being watched by the people who are after No, but it was two days ago, and it’d be a bit of long shot for anyone to believe they have a deep connection, just because of that… Since all of their previous interactions happened in private, no one should know about them knowing each other.

  If No were to disappear tonight, what would the people who are after her think? Most likely, that she skipped town on her own, leaving her servants and fortune behind, for fear of losing her life.

  “…What?” No asks, after he hasn’t spoken for a while.

  Sincir chuckles, then shakes his head. “It’s just that I could save you, but I don’t think there would be much of point in it, if you don’t want to go on living.”

  No’s eyes widen slightly, but, after a moment, she shakes her head, averting her gaze him. “No… I… My whole life, all I’ve ever cause is disaster to those around me… I’ve watched my family reach ruin, and now, I’m the only one who is left… I’m cursed...”

  Sincir rises an eyebrow. “You were unlucky, I won’t deny that, but from what I’ve heard, none of the things that happened to your family were your fault.”

  No ughs humorlessly. “I insisted… I missed the family manor, and I insisted to have my birthday party in there…”

  “Okay, that’s… Really unlucky, but you can’t bme yourself for something like that. You didn’t mean for anyone to die, right?”

  No ughs again, even more bitterly than before. “Unlucky… Yes, my life has been one streak of unlucky happenings, and to top it all off…”

  As she speaks, she aims him with a look which makes it clear she considers their meeting to be the cherry at the top of the cake.

  Sincir pauses, then sighs. “Fuck, I already told you, didn’t I? I’m the universe giving you a break… And if you want, I’ll prove it to you; You just have to say the word.”

  For a long moment, No simply stares at him, her brown eyes filled by a spark of hope so fickle, Sincir is sure it’ll disappear at any second… And yet, it does not.

  In the end, No takes a slow, shaky breath, before speaking again. “Are you… Are you being serious, Mr. Sincir? Will you really help me?” she murmurs.

  Sincir sighs again. “You didn’t leave me much choice, did you…? Anyway, we should move from here before somebody decides to check on what all of this noise has been.”

  Having said as much, Sincir rises while inspecting their mercifully empty surroundings... Just to make sure, he also expands his mind senses again, releasing a sigh of relief once it becomes clear no one is nearby.

  He has taken a total of five steps away from No when he realizes she isn’t following; Gncing over his shoulder, he confirms that she is indeed still on the ground, and groans.

  “No, I thought I told you to move… Let’s get the hell out of here, before somebody sees us.”

  No presses her lips together, then murmurs something too low for him to catch; Although it is hard for him to tell in the dark, Sincir thinks she also might be blushing.

  “…Idiot, that was too low. I couldn’t hear you.”

  No closes her eyes briefly, before opening them to gre at him. “I said… My shoes… I took them off, before jumping, so I don’t have them.”

  Sincir blinks. Her shoes? Who the hell cares about her… Oh.

  “Are you saying you cannot walk without your shoes?” Sincir asks, incredulously.

  “Would I have brought it up, otherwise?” No murmurs, averting her gaze from his.

  Just… Unbelievable.

  “…Fine, but if I have to carry you, then I’ll clean you up first. It may be uncomfortable for a moment, but please bear with it, Miss Barnett.”

  No shudders as he casts a cleaning spell on her, widening her eyes, but for here credit, she doesn’t scream... And since he’s already at it, he also casts one over himself, before approaching No and offering her his hand.

  Convincing No to jump on his back and assume a piggy-back position is a hassle which sts a few minutes, but Sincir manages to persuade her in the end, by saying that after everything which she has put him through, she’ll either ride on him with her clothes on, or walk on her own, while naked…

  It did the trick.

  “I-I think I would rather walk barefoot, after all…”

  While gncing at her over his shoulder, Sincir grins toward a blushing No. “No, no, you said you couldn’t walk without your shoes, right? This much is no issue… But if you really want to enact your fantasies of exposure tonight, I won’t stop you.”

  No’s brow twitches, a brief fsh of fear crossing through her expression. “Mr. Sincir was serious about that?”

  As Sincir simply continues to smile at her, No pales slightly.

  “…I guess Mr. Sincir still hasn’t forgiven me for before. I’m sorry for being whinny… Really, I can walk on my own. Since Mr. Sincir is a mage, and still a boy, your arms won’t hold my weight for long…”

  Sincir clicks his tongue. “I said this much is no issue, didn’t I? If you’re sorry for being whinny, then stop doing it already.”

  In fact, No is a bit heavier than Esme, but not by much, and he is able to walk with her on his back no problem…

  Once they leave Turraine’s margin, reentering the city proper, Sincir quickly casts a spell which creates a light mist around them, spending a good portion of his remaining mana to cover their immediate surrounds with it.

  Since No also left her cloak at the bridge, and he is pnning to hide her from now on, it’d be dangerous if she is seen with him now, so Sincir considers the mana to be well spent… However, he isn’t sure he’ll be able to keep this up until reaching the house; In fact, they’ll probably have to take a break or two.

  “…Thank you.”

  No’s whisper catches Sincir by surprise, but in the end, he just smiles at her again.

  “Idiot, there’s no need to thank me yet… Save it for when I find your father.”