“Thale! Thale Feldrast!”

  A familiar voice called me out of the depths of sleep. My eyes fluttered open, and I found that I was lying on one of the cots in the middle of the First Church that had been set up for injured refugees. I was the only person still lying there, since everyone else had been healed or had died already.

  When I looked up, I saw David York standing above me, his arms crossed and his foot tapping on the ground. Father Galen stood beside the Captain, his posture frantic and angry.

  “...not interrupt Lord Thale’s rest. He collapsed from exhaustion after the battle.”

  David looked down, and as soon as he saw my eyes open, he said, “Good, you’re alive. Who’s in control right now?”

  “I must ask you to leave, Captain. You’re harassing my…” Father Galen continued to insist, though I cut him off.

  “Good to see you too, David,” I said groggily. Switching to English, I said, “It’s me, the doctor from Michigan.”

  The Captain’s posture relaxed significantly, and his hand moved away from the hilt of his sword. “Michigan, eh? Now, that’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time.” David turned away from me and shouted, “He’s back!”

  I looked around, and I saw that every one of my companions except for Eadric had made it to the church. Haydith was conscious, though Miriam had to support her to prevent her from falling over in the pew.

  Beltane, now wearing a glove on his left hand, came over to me and said, “What’s the next move, Thale?”

  I began to speak, but my words caught in my throat. Without the imminent threat of death, the weight of everything that had happened fell upon my shoulders with crushing force. I looked at my hands and saw only eight fingers there. As if mocking me, the Ring of Etron was still fastened firmly on the middle finger of my left hand. Eadric would never be able to fight again, Beltane was infected with the Death Blight, Haydith had come seconds from death, and I had barely been able to limit the destruction from Thale’s control over my body.

  “I’m so sorry, Beltane,” I said, slowly lifting myself to a sitting position. “Right now, we need to take some time to recuperate. We’ll leave the city and rest at camp.”

  Most of the people around me nodded and began to move. Miriam helped Haydith get up from the pew. The only person who didn’t move immediately was David York, who scowled at me and the rest of my companions.

  “Are you just going to ignore what happened?” David asked. He switched to English, leaning in close to me. “You were possessed by some fucking demon for several hours. We searched for you all night, and I heard that…” he looked back and forth around the church before whispering, “...that Princess Rosa was killed by a pyromancer.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  In English, I said, “Yeah, that was the other guy. It won’t happen again. I’ll explain everything at camp.”

  “What language are you speaking? Is that the same language the Blue Mage spoke?” Beltane asked.

  “This is all a conversation for camp,” I said as Beltane helped me get to my feet. “Thank you for your hospitality, Father Galen.”

  “Go with Nyx,” he said, waving to us as we left.

  We returned to the south gate of Etron. I was able to get away from the myriad commoners thanking me for just long enough to retrieve a pouch from my carriage and approach Tancred, who stood with Miriam and the barely-conscious Haydith.

  “Hello, Tancred,” I said, appearing suddenly from behind a corner.

  Tancred jumped noticeably as I approached. Fearfully, he said, “Uh, h-hello, L-Lord Thale.”

  Without further fanfare, I pushed the pouch into Tancred’s hand. “Here,” I said. “Use this to learn a trade. You can become a merchant or apply to the Magic Academy in Hinnom. If you want to become a merchant, you should join the Grimhold Guild. Whatever you do, just make sure you find some stable employment so that the desire to be king never rises in your chest.”

  “Th-this is gold!” Tancred gasped. “How much…?”

  “One hundred Etronian gold coins. You could live off that for a long time.”

  “I can’t take…”

  “It’s a small price to prevent a war,” I said quietly. “Just make sure you don’t lose it. If you need more money, send a request to Marquis Eadric Vanta of Tethyr.”

  “Th-thank you, Lord Thale.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Haydith and Tancred said goodbye. When Haydith and Miriam returned to my carriage, there were dark bags under Haydith’s eyes.

  Our caravan of three carriages pulled off the road five miles south of Etron. We got far enough away from the main road that no one could find us without actively searching. While the others began setting up camp, I hitched my horses to a tree before going into my carriage. Inside the carriage, I was overcome with a feeling of lethargy once more, and I fell asleep again.

  When I woke up, I felt as well-rested as was possible for someone who had fallen asleep in a carriage.

  “Oh, God,” I muttered, scratching my head. “How long was I asleep?”

  I stepped out of the carriage. The evening sun was getting low in the sky, and Beltane was clearing an area for a campfire. Haydith sat on a felled log, drinking water from a leather waterskin.

  As I stepped away from my carriage and toward the clearing, Kinro approached me. He looked at me with a serious expression and said, “Hey, Boss. There’s something I need to talk about.”

  That was right. In the frenzy of the battle, I had completely forgotten that Kinro was still just a mercenary.

  “I understand,” I said, leaning against my staff. “You want to talk about your contract, right?”

  “Yes,” Kinro said quietly. “This level of danger wasn’t part of our agreement. I signed up to be the bodyguard of a noble, not a soldier in a war between… I don’t even know… two omniscient mages from another world. Consider this my resignation.”