That night, Simon, Lorraine, Toto, and Eshe were gliding down a snowy field on wooden skis.

"Haha! This is so much fun!" Eshe shouted, her voice ringing with liberation. "This is what a training camp is all about! A little rebellion is the best part!"

Her Curse Dolls flew overhead, their light illuminating the surroundings. Thanks to Eshe’s ability, they could see where they were going, but the heavy snowfall and steep slope made the descent just as perilous.

"Aack! Aaaah!" Toto’s legs trembled precariously on his skis. "S-Skiing at this hour! I’m going to die!"

"Oh, don’t be such a baby! Just follow me closely," Eshe cheered.

Simon watched her with a worried expression. "Are you sure that village really exists?"

"Of course! I heard it directly from one of the TAs. They said they went there to buy ingredients for tonight’s dinner! Just trust me!" It was just like Eshe to answer a one-sentence question with five.

Even amidst the chaos, Lorraine moved with masterful skill on her skis. While keeping an eye on the novice Toto, she executed a skillful turn to avoid a tree that had loomed out of the darkness. The sight of her descending the pure white slope, her black hair streaming behind her, was nothing short of impressive.

"You’re amazing, Lorraine!" Eshe exclaimed, practically wagging an invisible tail. "Are you sure this is your first time skiing?"

"I’ve always been a quick learner when it comes to physical things," Lorraine replied nonchalantly.

Eshe nodded, then turned to Simon with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Looks like the country boy over there, who keeps stealing glances, needs to try a little harder, hmm?"

Simon gave an awkward smile. He’d used skis on snowy days back in Les Hill, but since it wasn’t a region with heavy snowfall, he was far from an expert. "It’s just that Lorraine is too good at this."

"I’ll take that as a compliment," Lorraine said.

"Ugh!"

Suddenly, disaster struck. Toto’s skis flew off his feet, and he plunged headfirst into a snowbank. The rest of the team screeched to a halt.

"Toto! Are you okay?" Simon shouted urgently.

"Y-Yeah, I’m fine!" Toto’s head popped out of the snowdrift, his face flushed and dazed.

"Bwahaha! Toto, your expression is hilarious!" Eshe cackled. The Curse Dolls lighting their path seemed to imitate her, giggling in the darkness.

Toto struggled to his feet. Lorraine, creating a burst of Jet-Black at the tips of her skis, pushed herself up the slope and offered him a hand.

"Th-Thanks! I mean, thank you!" Toto was still clearly intimidated by her.

"Are you hurt?" Lorraine asked.

"N-No!"

Simon approached and pointed to Toto’s knee. "Wait, I think you hurt your knee." It seemed he had hit a rock or tree when he fell. Toto insisted he was fine, but he was limping slightly. He was in no condition to ski.

"I’ll carry him," Simon offered.

Lorraine shook her head. "No, you look unsteady yourself, Simon. It would be dangerous. It’s better if I take him."

"How?"

---

A moment later, three pairs of skis were swooshing down the snowy slope.

And Toto...

...was nestled snugly in Lorraine’s arms. He was curled up like a baby koala, his face beet red with a mixture of embarrassment and shame.

"I-I can just walk!"

"There’s no need to refuse," Lorraine said with a smile.

Unable to argue with the daughter of Nephthys, Toto squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hee hee! Ooh-hoo-hoo!" Eshe, it seemed, still had energy to spare for laughter. She slipped into her reporter persona, something she often did when she was in a good mood. "It doesn’t get more luxurious than this! Being carried in the arms of the daughter of Nephthys and the future chancellor of Kizen! How does it feel to be in the V.I.P. seat, Death Knight boy?"

"Stop it!" Toto wailed.

Everyone let out a small laugh. Just then, Eshe’s eyes widened. "Oh! And just as I say that! There it is!"

There really was a village.

---

Upon arriving, the members of Team 10 were struck silent. It was a village, yes, but it was a ruin, completely deserted.

"Eshe." Simon’s eyes narrowed as he turned to face her.

When their gazes met, she let out a little, "Hic!" and flinched. "Wh-What! Don’t glare at me like that! You scared me!"

"I’d also like a proper explanation," Lorraine added, turning to Eshe with a deceptively sweet smile. "If Toto got hurt for nothing and we have to go back empty-handed, I think I might get a little angry."

Though she was smiling, Eshe found this far more terrifying. She broke into a cold sweat before shouting, "I’m sorry!"

She immediately bowed at the waist. "B-But please listen to me! The TA really said there was a village! They’re not the type to joke about something like this when students are trying to find food!"

Simon stroked his chin. "Then did we come to the wrong place?"

"That’s probably it, President!" Eshe insisted. "They said it was an hour away, and it’s only been about thirty minutes, right? It’s a bit too early to have arrived already!"

Simon sighed, then walked over to Toto, who was huddled on the ground. He looked to be in bad shape. "Since we’re here, let’s treat your wound before we go."

Simon took a bag from his subspace and pulled out bandages and a few potions. "Can you straighten your leg, Toto?"

"O-Okay."

When he rolled up Toto’s pant leg, the area below his knee was badly swollen.

’Which potion should I use?’

As Simon was choosing a healing potion from the ones he had made in his Venomics class, a fragrant scent wafted from beside him. He flinched as he turned his head. "L-Lorraine?"

He was startled by how close she suddenly was. She was squatting beside him, her eyes shining as she watched him work.

"What’s wrong?"

"N-Nothing. Just keep doing what you’re doing."

As she silently watched Simon apply the potion to a gauze pad, Lorraine’s expression grew serious. ’It was definitely then.’

She was thinking about the healing ability Simon had shown during the Tarados Dispatch Evaluation. The patient had been Simon’s client, a man afflicted by the Union’s curse. His internal organs were failing, and she had thought there was no way to save him. But then...

"I’ve done what I can."

In a short time, after Simon had done ’something’, the man’s breathing had stabilized, and his complexion had become incomparably better. He had saved a man on the verge of death—a feat that should have been impossible with the potions they learned to make in class.

’How did he do it?’ Harboring that question, Lorraine had entered the tent where Simon had treated the client and felt a strange tingling in the air. It was faint, but she had also felt her own Jet-Black reacting with repulsion. ’Could Simon be... No, that’s impossible.’

Jet-Black and Divinity were opposing forces. Not only was it impossible to use both at once, but attempting to wield them simultaneously would cause one’s body to explode. Above all, Simon was a Legion Commander. He was the last person who should be associated with Divinity.

While Lorraine was lost in thought, Simon finished treating Toto’s wound. His methods were ordinary. He simply applied a healing potion and another with a pain-relieving effect, then wrapped the injury with a bandage.

"There, all done."

"Thanks, Simon."

Toto felt his leg. "Wow. It really feels a little better!"

"It’s still just a temporary fix. Show it to the medical instructor when we get back to base camp."

Lorraine was still staring intently at Simon. Feeling the prickling on the back of his neck, he gave an awkward smile. "What is it?"

"No. It’s nothing," Lorraine said, quickly turning her head away.

"Then let’s decide what to do now," Simon said, looking at his teammates. "Should we head back? Or go a little further?"

"Let’s rest for a bit first...."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Suddenly, Eshe screamed and threw herself into Lorraine’s arms.

"What’s wrong, Eshe?"

"D-D-D-D-Didn’t you all hear that?" she cried out, her face brimming with tears of terror. "I heard a strange sound from that village!"

"Stop joking around," Simon said, shaking his head.

Lorraine chimed in. "You must have misheard. What could there be in an empty ruin?"

"It’s true! I really heard it!" Eshe shrieked. "A woman’s crying!"

The four of them fell silent, straining to listen. There was only the sound of trees rustling in the wind and the faint hoot of a distant owl.

And then, a faint sobbing sound reached them.

They really did hear a woman crying. Simon flinched, and Toto let out a choked scream, clinging to his arm.

’Please save me. Please save me.’

An overwhelming, suffocating fear washed over them. They all stood as if struck dumb, their eyes wide with terror.

"Hmm."

The only one who could move was Lorraine. Standing up, she swept her hair back. "I’ll go check it out."

"G-Go where?! Let’s get out of here!" Eshe shouted tearfully. "This place is so creepy! It gives me the chills! There has to be a ghost!"

Lorraine shook her head. "Ghosts don’t exist. She clearly asked for help. It could be a rescue request; we can’t just ignore it."

"Who asks for help from inside an abandoned house?!"

"A stranded person could have taken shelter from the snow."

’Please save me. Please save me.’

Now Eshe and Toto were clinging to each other, trembling violently. After watching them for a moment, Lorraine turned around. "I’ll go. You guys wait here."

"Wait."

With a rustle of clothing, someone else stood up.

"...I can’t let you go alone. I’ll go with you." It was Simon.

---

Simon and Lorraine, each holding a lantern, stepped into the ruins.

A broken door swayed on its hinges, groaning with each movement. His senses on high alert, Simon swallowed hard as he walked.

"This is strange," Lorraine muttered, sweeping her lantern across their surroundings.

"Wh-What is?"

"Our job is to handle the undead, and ghosts are no different. For a necromancer to be scared of ghosts is... odd." As she said that, she stopped and looked back. The lantern in Simon’s hand was shaking like a leaf in a storm.

Lorraine’s brow furrowed. "Are you scared of ghosts, too?"

’Flinch.’

Simon’s body went rigid. "...Haha, of course not."

"Your legs are shaking."

"That’s just because they’re sore from skiing earlier."

"Hmm..."

Lorraine whipped her head around and took the lead. "So the Legion Commander who leads tens of thousands of undead can be scared of ghosts."

"I-I told you, I’m not!" Simon protested, his face flushing.

A playful smile finally graced Lorraine’s lips. "I’m kidding. Just trying to get you to relax."

"Grr."

Just then, the mournful cry of a woman drifted on the wind. Simon stiffened again.

’Please save me. Please save me.’

Lorraine’s ears perked up. "It’s over there. Let’s go."

"Wait! Let me mentally prepare myself...!"

"Hurry up. It could be an injured person," Lorraine urged, pulling at his sleeve. Simon squeezed his eyes shut and followed her.

’Thud. Thud.’

They arrived at the source of the crying—a dilapidated, abandoned house. The windows were shattered, and everything was draped in cobwebs.

’Ugh.’

Simon felt a chilling sensation crawl up the back of his neck. He wanted to enter this place less than anything. He would rather fight the Blood Heaven Cult or the Union a hundred times over.

"Is anyone there?" Lorraine called out calmly through a broken window.

Instead of a reply, they heard only an ominous sobbing.

"This is the place. Let’s go in." She grabbed the door and rattled it. It seemed to be jammed, but she gathered Jet-Black in her arm and yanked.

With a crash, she tossed the shattered door aside and stepped forward, her lantern cutting through the darkness.

"Be careful, Lorraine!"

Simon quickly followed.

The inside of the house was a disaster. Torn curtains, shattered furniture, and dried, reddish bloodstains were everywhere. It wasn’t just a ruin; it felt like the middle of a murder scene. The two of them passed through the living room and into a bedroom.

’Please save me. Please save me.’

They had finally reached the source of the voice.

Simon stopped dead, a chill running down his spine. Under the moonlight filtering through the tattered curtains, a small girl in ragged clothes was crying, her face buried in her knees.

A faint sob escaped her.

The hair on his arms stood on end. Why was a young girl all alone in a place like this? This was not a normal situation.

"Leave it to me," Lorraine said, approaching with confident strides.