Alira watched the blood moon ever so slowly falling down the sky through the carriage window. They had to make their move during the night since that was the most ideal time to kidnap some children, but Raine had left her alone in the carriage for some quick business he had to take care of first.

  Well, she technically wasn’t alone.

  From the corner of her eyes, Alira peeked at the sleeping pile of noodles on the seat across her—A, Raine’s Familiar Spirit. He’d left the wyrm behind, saying it could protect her if something happened while he was gone, but Alira doubted it as she watched the Spirit deep in its dreamland with jaws slack open and shiny pointy teeth on display.

  Alira couldn’t bring Loch with her since she couldn’t put a deer in her pocket like Raine could put a snake in his. Then again, that Familiar Spirit of hers was also blissfully asleep when she left, and she doubted she could wake it up even if she tried.

  “Why do they sleep so much when they don’t need to at all?” Alira complained to herself. “If I could stay awake for twenty-four hours, I would waste a second at all.”

  Alira’s ears twitched as they caught a faint puff of air. She glanced around and saw no one or nothing moving.

  What was that?

  She kept herself entertained and distracted for a while with a pouch of coins, casting new Position Exchange and replacing older ones. It was moments like that she wished the Judgement scroll worked more like the usual systems she’d read in novels and displayed real-time EXP gains, even if she was capped out at rank ten for now.

  Wait, was the laugh(?) just now from the inside?

  “Hey, you here?” Alira called. It was around three past midnight for her, so at this time on the other side of the world, Xia should have just finished his weekly briefing. As expected, a low hum answered her.

  { Bored? }

  “Not really,” Alira said, eyes unfocused on the red ball in the sky. “Just worried.”

  { For a dead person? }

  “She’s not dead.” Alira frowned. She opened her mouth but swallowed the lump in her throat down along with what she wanted to say. “I...I’ll admit. I’m scared that she might be, but before I see her corpse, she’s not dead.”

  That was the thing with off-screen character ‘death’. Unless the story blatantly stated and until the narrator declared the character dead, there was always a chance of them surviving, no matter how slim. And Alira was the narrator to them. So long as she herself hadn’t seen Lillian’s corpse, the girl’s vital status would remain unknown, not deceased.

  Until I find her lifeless body, I should still believe she’s alive no matter what...

  She, of all people, should.

  “Just... Just be ready to let me use your flame whenever,” Alira said with a sigh. “I have a feeling that it would be so easy to leave once we get taken to where we want.”

  { Alright. I have some time to spare for some excitement this evening. Of course, unless the excitement in question starts to bore me. }

  Alira clicked on her tongue. He could have stopped with just an ‘alright’. Whatever he said, Alira knew he would let her use his fire anyway and didn’t care enough to resist.

  “I won’t use you for free,” she said. “I have a surprise gift for us when I get back.”

  { Oh. What might it be? }

  Alira chuckled lightly. “Wouldn’t be a surprise if I tell you now, would it? Anyway, that’s for later,” she said, brushing it off. After all, she still had to win a few more rounds before she could get her hands on that third prize artifact. “But man...Raine sure is talking his sweet time—”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “Fu—!” Alira yelped as a voice came from outside the carriage. “You scared the crap out of me, Raine!”

  “You and your language,” Raine mumbled. “Come down, we’re leaving. Bring A with you. He’s suffered enough listening to your solitary chatter.”

  How was it that he walked even quieter than a cat-girl did? Even Alira made some noise when she walked, but Raine moved like a ghost.

  “How do you know he wasn’t a willing participant in this conversation?” Alira shouted back as she scoped A up with both hands, careful not to wake it up lest it decided to sink its fangs into her.

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  She stepped out of the carriage to the view of Astrail that felt more familiar than it actually was. Raine stood in front, hand extended as he handed her a basket filled with bundles of small, colorful flowers, most of which were withered at the edges.

  “Hm?” Alira hummed. “Aww. For me? It looks like some weeds, but thanks anyway.”

  Raine stared at her blankly for a moment before plucking the sleeping wyrm from her arms and dropping the basket on her wrist. “Because they are. What kind of fancy flower do you think orphan kids can sell for a small cash?”

  “Oh.” Even though she was mostly joking just now, she felt her face heat up slightly at the fact that Raine was already in mission mode. “So, we just stroll around and sell flowers?”

  Raine gave her a slow blink, one he usually did whenever he was too lazy to nod. “Yeah. Most of the kidnapped victims were apparently roaming around the backstreets of the inns for extra cash during the night.”

  Alira followed Raine around the buildings, wondering if it was too late to consider how this might not work at all.

  She wondered if she could improve their chances somewhat by using them. She hadn’t seen them for days. As much as it was uncomfortable to be reminded of the fact that they were watching her every move, their presence had also been comforting in a strange way that reminded her of the power she had from her Role.

  This must be what the Goddess meant when she said they are both my protections and damnations or something.

  The rowdy night of Astrailars could be heard as muffled cheers and chatters as they approached the row of inns that shone a bright yellow light through the windows. Alira peeked at the inside of an inn through the smudged glass panes and met a man’s eyes. He quickly shooed her away with a dismissive wave and ‘ain’t buying anything.’

  Alira scoffed. She caught herself feeling displeased with the treatment after already getting used to the careful respect she’d been shown since she became the duke’s daughter. It was almost scary how easy it was to get used to a situation. She shook the thought off and sprinted a few steps to catch up with Raine, who had already disappeared into a narrow path between two buildings.

  “Do you think this will work?” Alira poked at Raine’s back.

  His strides seemingly became larger as he widened the distance between them just enough to be out of her reach. “If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

  “Tsk,” Alira loudly declared her disproval. “Have some trust in me. Or do I need to remind you that you’re with possibly Staywes’s one and only prophet?”

  Of course, that was mostly bullshit since she wouldn’t have any real vision unless it was on Monday, but she did believe in the protagonist’s built-in trouble magnet. With Raine with her, something was bound to happen.

  “So, what great vision has Staywes’s one and only prophet seen?”

  Alira went quiet for a moment for dramatic effect and also to buy time to make stuff up in a way that was the least bit believable.

  “We’re getting something, or someone, back tonight,” she muttered.

  “And that’s totally not just what you want?” A hiss punctuated his words as if the wyrm very much agreed with its contractor.

  “Don’t interrupt me,” Alira hissed back. “I wasn’t done yet. We’re gaining something...but not without losing something. It’s going to be a long night for many people.”

  “What did you read? Or saw?”

  Alira shook her head. “It’s not a vision. Just a prophet’s gut feeling.”

  She wasn’t confident she could tell specific and good enough lies to directly trigger her Role’s ability, but she could at least nudge it in the direction she wanted. A gain and a loss seemed balanced enough to reason with.

  I’m willing to lose a bit as long as I can take Lillian back to the Academy.

  “What about you? Did you pray yet?” Alira asked, recalling that Raine’s aspect allowed him to talk to the literal gods of Staywes.

  “No answer.”

  That made sense; the 7% chance he had wasn’t all that high.

  The two of them circled the blocks until their feet became sore and even managed to make a sale before a shiver went down Alira’s spine. She met Raine’s eyes, who gave her a small nod of confirmation. Someone was onto them.

  Alira swallowed and got herself ready to start with the prepared script. “Ray, I think we should go back home now. It’s dangerous around here these days...”

  “But we haven’t sold much tonight,” Raine said, his lines. “How about we try searching for customers in the lower streets?”

  “But!” Alira tried her best to sound scared. “...Fine. I don’t want to go to sleep hungry again tomorrow.”

  Lower streets were where people who couldn’t afford to be sitting in the light of the inns hung out, though not always in monetary terms. Alira noticed a lot more people hidden in the shadows, but she knew that none of them would blink at the sight of some strays getting knocked out and shoved into black bags. The people following them knew this, too, as they hurried their steps toward the two.

  Alira subtly dropped a card cast with Position Exchange—the cast had a distance limit and would be broken if it were whipped away too far from the city, but she would take her chances.

  When a tall shadow loomed over her from behind, she was expecting the classic kidnapper move in books and movies involving a chloroform-soaked cloth over her nose. Instead, a blunt force slammed against her skull and knocked her onto the ground.

  Ouch! What was I expecting?

  Of course, they clearly didn’t plan to be gentle with some kids who were most likely about to be used as a sacrificial offering anyway. Still, this was just rude.

  Alira subconsciously pushed herself up, ears ringing and vision spinning. The Complete Bind transferred her injury away, and she quickly recovered, but she remembered at the last minute that she was supposed to make it easy for them to kidnap her.

  She gave in and dropped herself on the ground, seeing Raine sprawled out near her. He had his eyes closed as blood streamed down his forehead—a strangely uncomfortable scene that stirred up her stomach even though she caught his finger twitching once to know that he was faking too.

  His bloody face with an expression too peaceful on it was the last thing she saw before she slowly lowered her eyelids and let her consciousness fade away.

  { Sweet dreams~ }

  Xia’s voice echoed before she was shoved into a heavy, slightly damp bag, and the world became a musty black.