Aera was pacing around the room with a strained expression. She kept glancing at the clock on the wall. Not because she was fascinated by such an invention, but because she was gauging the amount of time that had passed since Erin and the rest left for the mission. She alternated between fidgeting with her fingers and biting them. It had been hours. They left at the brink of dawn, when the sun had even taken a peek from the horizon. It was currently midday, and there was still no news from Erin.

“I should have gone with them… I should have gone with them…” Aera kept repeating those words like a mantra, though it was doing everything but calming her down.

“Do you think things would be better if you had gone with them?” asked Iris. She was also in the room with Aera. That was only a given, as this was her room. None of them felt comfortable leaving Aera alone at the inn. If she had been alone, she would have long followed the panic voices in her head and secretly followed them. It was decided that Iris would watch over her.

“I can help!” Aera snapped at the Umbrum. “I’m not weak… I’m not useless… I can fight… I can fight better than all of them.”

“I won’t say all of them, but definitely most of them,” said Iris. She was lying on a longue with one hand supporting her head and the other holding a pipe as thin as a reed. “Still, you won’t be of any help. You may be a fighter, but you are still inexperienced. Tell me, what's your experience with stealth?”

“Stealth?” Aera stopped in her tracks. “What do you mean by stealth?”

“Stealth means to be careful and surreptitious in your actions and movements. For example, if I turned my back to you, can you find somewhere in this room to hide where I won’t immediately find you when I turn back around?”

“I-I… I can…” Aera stammered. Her eyes were darting around, as if trying to find some way to escape Iris’ scrutinising gaze.

“Oh? Can you, now? Well, in that case, shall we put that to the test?” Giggling, Iris turned her back to Aera. “You have twenty seconds to hide. Twenty, nineteen, eighteen…”

Aera narrowed her gaze. “I’m not playing this stupid game.”

Iris stopped counting and sighed. She turned back around. “It’s not stupid. If you pass, I will allow you to join them.”

Aera scowled. “I’m not stupid.”

“Did I say you were?”

“I don’t need your permission to join my friends. And if I go now… it would be too late. I would be too conspicuous.”

“Ah, you are not as naive and foolish as I thought. Forgive me. I have regarded you quite lowly. Well, if you understood, then you should sit down and just wait for them to come back. Have some tea and cakes while you’re here too. I have chocolates too if you want them. Have you tried chocolates before? They are an absolute delight. They—”

“I don’t care about your teas and sweets! They do not matter. My friends do! In fact, how can you be so calm here? Do you not care?! Are you not worried!?”

“What do you propose I should be doing, sweetheart? Panic chanting while pacing around the room with a strained face? What would worrying do? My worries do not determine their success. You should have more faith in your friends.”

“You don’t understand…” Aera muttered under her breath.

Suddenly, an empty cup on the table in front of Iris began to glow faintly and chimed sweetly.

Aera immediately snapped her gaze to the cup. She knew what it meant. “They have returned!” It was a signal. “Quick! Let us go. We must go to them immediately!”

“Alright, alright. Just let me— Whoa!” Iris was in the middle of getting up from the longue when Aera suddenly came and yanked her straight up to her feet. Aera didn’t stop there. She took Iris by her hands and dragged her to the other side of the room, where a pair of curtains covered the wall.

“Quick! Do your magic!”

“Sheesh. Where are your manners, lady? You can’t just yank another lady—”

“Now,” Aera said as she clenched her fists tightly.

Iris shut her lips when she heard Aera’s knuckles crackling. “Alright. I’m doing it now.” She pulled on the trapeze beside the curtains, and they unfolded, revealing a wall with a large runic symbol drawn on it. She placed her hand on the wall and uttered a string of incantations. The symbol glowed, and the light spilt out from the wall, swallowing the two.

They were spat back out immediately, but they were no longer in the same room. Gone were all the fancy and ornate decorations that gave the room a glimpse of the owner’s vast fortune. Now, this room was simple and dark with only a few torches hanging on the walls, illuminating just enough for one to see their own hands. There were no windows or a skylight. There was only a single door.

“They’re not here?” Aera muttered in confusion as she looked around. The room was empty, save for the apparatus and instruments strewn about in the room.

“Oh, give it time. We took the shortcut here. This place may be close to the noble district. It is still some distance away. They’re probably still—”

Before Iris could finish her sentence, the door to the room burst open, and Amyra rushed right in with Lyra cradled in her arms.

“Erin? Where’s Erin!? Where’s Aedan!?” Aera couldn’t find Erin and Aedan, no matter where she looked. There were Amyra, Lyra, and Siv who followed behind, but no one came into the room after the Wolf-kin. “Where are they!?”

“She’s fine, Aera,” said Siv. “More importantly, Lyra needs immediate medical attention.”

“Kyu! Kyu!” Ruri was standing on Siv’s shoulder, chirping loudly as if to announce her presence.

Amyra pushed through Aera, who was demanding her for Erin’s whereabouts, and laid Lyra gently down on a table that was specially prepared for circumstances such as this.

Iris took one look at Lyra, and she knew what she needed to do. “I’ll summon the physicians immediately,” she said and retreated into one corner of the room.

Aera’s face paled when her gaze fell on Lyra and she saw her condition. She immediately felt guilty for not having realised the direness of Lyra’s health. “W-what happened to her?”

“A demon,” answered Amyra. “That’s what happened. It was more than what we could handle. We escaped and hurried back here, but as you can see, it wasn’t without a casualty.”

“E-Erin… is she fighting the demon?”

“Kyu.” Ruri nodded.

“Yes, she is.”

“She will win, right?”

“Of course. Her Grace is strong, and she is no stranger to fighting demons. I say, she probably has the most experience, compared to all of us here.”

“Haven’t you fought a lot of demons?” Siv asked.

“Lesser ones. Dregs, mostly. Can’t compare to what Her Grace had encountered and fought.”

“Make way, please,” Iris said. She has returned to the table with three ethereal figures behind her.

Ruri hissed at the three phantoms, but Siv calmed her down before she could do anything in response.

“Who are they?” Amyra questioned.

“My familiars,” answered Iris.

The three phantoms surrounded the table and began waving their hands around as if they were conducting an orchestra.

“Come,” Iris said. “We must leave them to their work. We must not get in the way of their focus.”

Magic circles formed above Lyra, who was groaning and panting heavily. The circles layered on top of one another as lines appeared between the circles, connecting them.

Iris ushered the three out of the room and into the next room, where refreshments and snacks awaited them on a small table, surrounded by chairs.

“What kind of familiars are they?” Siv inquired.

“My very own physicians. When it comes to my own health, I trust no one but myself. And so, I went through great lengths to create them.”

“Those aren’t normal familiars,” said Siv. “They don’t look ephemeral. They move and act on their own without any explicit commands from you. How is that possible?”

“Why is it not possible?”

“Even talented mages struggle to have two summoned familiars persisting. You have three autonomous familiars that is currently performing acts of extreme precision. What sort of price have you paid?”

“Price? Hmm… Lots of time and money. I was without any reserves for a few months. I came close to ruination, but I didn’t. I pushed through those difficult moments.”

“That is not my meaning. Time and money can only get you so far. It wouldn’t have been believable if you had told me that you hired a talented mage to create those familiars for you, but you claimed to have created them yourself.”

“Aye, I did. That’s the truth.”

Siv stared at the Umbrum dubiously.

“What’s with those eyes? Is it so difficult to accept that I have quite the talent in being an Anima?”

“You may have forgotten, Lady Iris, but I was once in Lord Hegan’s servitude. He told me plenty about you, one of which was that you are not a fighter and you have no aptitude for any sort of magic. Are you telling me that you have been lying all this time?”

“Well, I suppose I have been lying all this time.”

Siv narrowed her gaze. “Why?”

“Why?” Iris scoffed at Siv’s confusion. “Lord Hegan may be a close acquaintance of mine, but he is still my rival in business. I can’t be revealing all my cards to a rival. That would be extremely foolish of me.”

“If that is so, then what more are you hiding from us?”

“Come now, you don’t have to be so suspicious all of a sudden. Have I not done enough for you?”

“Are you implying that all of your favours so far have been nothing but an attempt to garner our trust?”

“Nonsense. That is not what I’m implying.” Iris sighed. “What have I done to warrant so much of your suspicions?”

“Nothing comes to mind, but Aedan has warned us plenty of times about trusting you.”

Iris swooned dramatically. “Ah, I’m hurt. He’s still holding that grudge, though he never stop accepting my night invitations.”

Aera, who had been brooding on her own in the corner, suddenly looked up and glared at Iris.

“What grudge?” Amyra asked.

“Oh? Interested, are you?”

“Of course, I am,” answered Amyra. “Your answer will define your trustworthiness, after all.”

“What did you do?” Aera demanded as she walked straight up to Iris.

“Well, I may or may not have used him as collateral in a bet with another fellow merchant.”

Ruri snarled like a cat preparing to pounce.

“Don’t,” Siv stepped in before Aera could throw her fist that she had already raised and before Ruri could actually pounce on the Umbrum.

“The other fellow merchant was also quite a pretty lady. She also appeared to have set her sights on Aedan. She won’t make the bet with me unless I offer him as collateral.”

Siv stared. “That’s not any consolation, but I can see why Aedan told us to be wary of you.”

“In my defence, I knew I was going to win the bet anyway. So—”

“Quiet,” Aera growled. “You have irked me quite enough.”

“Alright, alright. Let’s not talk about Aedan anymore. How’s Erin?”

Amyra snorted. “She’s fighting a demon, what do you think?”

“Should we send for reinforcements?”

“What reinforcement could we possibly send that won’t make the nobles take up arms in retaliation? We have ruined the surprise. With a demon present, everyone in the vicinity will smell the stench. People will approach the estate to sate their curiosity.”

“So, no one’s getting back into the estate without being seen. Looks like Erin and Aedan will be on their own. And what are we to do in the meantime?”

Amyra fumbled around under her garments and pulled out a bound book with quite a worn leather cover. “We do what we are supposed to do.”