"I can smell them," Treska said.

With one hand, I placed our bags back inside. After telling the lady I was leaving my luggage there, we moved. Treska and I started looking around and ran through the streets.

Treska, the young boy who previously would fight with all his might, had an air of calculated coldness about him now. He was completely ready and present.

"Through here." We went to the streets behind the bookstore first, then made our way into the alleyways.

After a short chase, we finally reached the place. There they stood. Delka was in the hands of a hooded figure, right in front of us, and on the other side, from the other half of the alleyway, stood Weiss.

"...want to talk." We only caught those words as we reached. The hooded figure had noticed me or Treska.

On the other side, Weiss’s gaze went to us, and she ignored us perfectly so as not to set the hooded one off.

"Why don’t you let him go, and we’ll talk?"

I was about to step ahead, having killed my presence, when Treska looked at me.

"I’ll get Delka," I mouthed at him, and he nodded back. There was no way someone could snatch the kid under Weiss’s watch. He must have walked away.

How could he tell that the person was corrupted in the first place? And if he could, was the corrupted one able to tell it, too?

I moved ahead, gently, right behind the hooded figure. It still hadn’t noticed me.

"Look, do you think such tricks will end well?" Weiss asked. "I am only not popping your eyes out right now because I don’t want to cause a scene."

With those words, the Witch Queen let out her killing intent.

That alone was enough to rattle the hooded figure. In that same instant, I jumped and grabbed Delka.

The hooded figure shook, surprised at my sudden appearance.

"Hah!" It gasped and tried to swing its hand as a spell formed, aiming for me while I covered Delka. At the same time, Treska had reached us, too. He swung his sword, which was filled with aura, at the magic circle, crushing it into bits.

The circle itself. Magic cancellation? The armorers were really going hard on him.

I rolled and moved behind. Weiss started walking closer while the hooded figure moved back. The ground around started turning into ice.

"Hah!" Treska scoffed and leaped through, charging his way in. He closed the distance in no time and punched the hooded one.

It dodged to the left.

He kicked, but ice blocked it. Treska planted his sword on the ground with enough force to make the hooded figure shake, and at the same time, he used the sword to boost himself up and counter with a kick to the face of the hooded figure.

The hooded figure barely managed to block it, but at that very moment, the cloth draped over its head fell.

Red hair revealed itself, alongside a flushed face.

My mind raced. Hundreds of thousands of faces went past my eyes in a millisecond.

Jackpot. I knew this person. Like every single person I had ever learned of, I knew her.

Arlene Desmond il Reinvelt.

The second child of Duke Desmond Reinvelt, and the eldest daughter. Alongside those two, she was also one of the most important figures in the duchy, going as far as being hailed as one of the indomitable shields of the north itself.

Arlene Desmond il Reinvelt.

Treska was about to hit again.

"Stop!"

I said loudly. Treska pulled his punch one inch from her head.

It was unmissable for both Weiss and me. Around the neck of this girl was a black mark spreading. It had already spread into her veins, stretching under her clothes and toward her eyes.

Her face was flushed with fever, and her eyes seemed tired.

If she hadn’t been this weak, she would have probably folded Treska, too, but even so, he was matching up with someone of her caliber.

Delka, in my hands, suddenly wriggled.

"Look, Mr. Phantom," he said. "She’s sick..."

Arlene Desmond il Reinvelt was corrupted.

"How..." she suddenly spoke up. Her back leaned on the wall behind as she turned our way. "How did you know?"

How was it possible for us to know?

That she was corrupted, and sick.

"You said ’like me,’ didn’t you, kid? Who are you people? Please, tell me, do you know of any cure for this?"

Weiss stopped next to me and looked at the girl.

She seemed to be in thought for a few seconds, then sighed. "You’re someone from this city, right? I feel nice, so I’ll help you."

I shot a glance at her as well.

This was crazy. I held Weiss by her sleeve and pulled her closer, but she didn’t think much of it.

Arlene Reinvelt perhaps lost her strength at those words. She slid down the wall and fell onto her back.

Her eyes closed tightly as she sighed.

"Thank God... thank God."

She fainted.

***

To give a rundown of what happened afterwards, it went like this.

We didn’t know how long it would take for her to be fully corrupted, and we also didn’t know what had caused it. To heal her, we would have no choice but to run back to the Palace, which was something the children couldn’t do.

So we took her back with us to the hotel we were staying in.

We laid Arlene on the bed, sent Treska and Delka back, and did the most important thing.

Roll another fucking joint.

"So you’re saying..." Weiss said. We both had a bunch of chocolate shakes and some really nice fried chicken (we ordered room service) on the table as we sat on chairs near the window and smoked. "This girl right here is the child of the Duke of the North."

"Yup."

"She’s corrupted and running about in the streets?"

"That’s what I am saying, yes."

"Fuck off outta here." She passed the joint. I took a drag as well, and sighed.

"Look, it’s possible that her family tried to kill her after realizing she was this way, and she ran away."

"Alright, so we should help her."

"If we do, we can’t make proper use of her."

That was our point of discussion.

What do we do with a child of a duke from an empire that could move to kill us at any time? Did anyone know?