The halls of the castle were unlike anything Lona had ever seen. The main hall stretched quite a ways, and as they reached the end they were guided down another hall that went left. Soon after, they reached a room with double doors, and upon entering, she could tell that this room was used for meetings. There was a long table with chairs on either side, and on the opposite end of the table from where they stood, there was a desk. Indolis took a seat at the desk, and gave an evil smile.

Indolis: “Please, have a seat.”

The four did as requested. Looking at Vese, she seemed so calm, and this perplexed Lona. Didn’t she hate this man? How could someone remain calm while facing such a monster as Indolis, especially after what he did to her? Before any more thoughts continued, he spoke again. He had asked about the events that transpired before the four had shown up, to which Adhara had given him a briefing.

Indolis: “I’ll start this off by giving my thanks. Despite the unforeseen happening, it seems as though the Little Chaos and the Harbinger of Madness won’t be bothering us for now. However…”

He stood up and walked towards Vese. The tension in the air was thick.

Indolis: “It should go without saying that it’s shocking that a wanted criminal would help out the kingdom pursuing her, Vese.”

He put his hands on her shoulders, to which she had stiffened up.

Indolis: “It’s too bad you were the one bad apple.”

He took his hands off her shoulders and walked towards Lona.

Indolis: “And you. The girl without her memories, the Queen of Ruin’s pupil.”

He gave a smug look and turned around to face the two.

Indolis: “Now, I must say, today is your lucky day. As I’ve been graced by the presence of my long lost wife, I’ll let the two of you stay without the worry of being apprehended. However, as soon as you step foot outside of the walls of the capitol, you’ll be treated as criminals again. Understood?”

Vese nodded her head.

Indolis: “Good. Adhara, secure these two a house in the West high class residential zone.”

Leaving the meeting room and stepping out of the castle, they made their way towards the residential zone.

Adhara: “I’m surprised, you remained calm throughout that entire ordeal.”

Vese: “Well, even if I wanted to, you know magic can’t touch him.”

Lona: “He can’t be hurt by magic?”

Vese shook her head, and went on to explain his Divine Skill, dubbed the Holy Shield, magic not only has no effect on him, but it also greatly reduces the damage taken from any physical attack.

Vese: “What doesn’t make sense to me, is why he’s letting us stay without being charged as criminals, so long as we don’t leave the confines of this kingdom.”

Adhara: “It’s true, that doesn’t make much sense. However, while you are here, you could use this time to your advantage, before the King does whatever he has up his sleeve.”

They had finally made it to a house that was available. It was a small house, with a wall separating the kitchen and the bedroom. While it was small, it already had everything needed inside, including a bookcase, a bed, blankets, cooking utensils, and more.. However, also inside were Guille, Albree, and Elisa.

Guille: “Hey, where have you two been?”

Adhara: “We just got finished talking to the king about the attack by the two witches.”

Albree: “Wait, you mean the king held an audience with you guys?”

Vese explained to the three their situation, on how they’re to stay within the kingdom’s walls to not be charged as criminals. Taking into account the situation, after moments of silence, Albree spoke up.

Albree: “I think this might actually be a good thing. I mean, this is a rare opportunity for you to be able to gather any information you might want.”

Vese: “Thank you, but the most I’ll be doing for now is some idle reading.”

Albree: “Are you sure? Isn’t there something you want to do?”

Vese pondered for a moment, which got Lona to think. With how reserved Vese has been, what could she possibly want?

Vese: “Well, there are a few things. First and foremost, I’d like to help Lona here recover her memories, however…”

Albree: “However?”

Vese stared out the window.

Vese: “I would also like to find the remnants of Mother.”

The room fell silent, much to Lona’s confusion. Tinges of fear showed on the faces of everyone else, except Adhara, who looked furious.

Adhara: “And why do you want to find the remains of that damned monster?”

Vese: “You should already know the answer. All seven of us gained a talent she once had. However, she was known to be the only witch who bore eight talents unique to witches. And that one talent, is the talent that will make Indolis suffer for what he’s done.”

Adhara: “But we’re talking about a dangerous large scale spell, that is still unknown on whether it works or not, let alone the consequences for gaining a talent hundreds of years after being born!”

Vese gave her a glare unlike any other. While on the surface it looked like her normal stoic face, Lona could sense the hatred coming off from it.

Vese: “If you want to try to stop me, you are welcome to do so. However, my decision is final.”

Adhara fell silent, and although she looked like she wanted to say something, left.

Vese: “Now, since that’s out of the way, you three should go wherever you’re staying. It’s been a very eventful day, and I’d like some rest.”

Elisa: “Right. Let’s go, Albree, Guille.”

Leaving a distasteful tension, the three had left the small home.

Vese: “As for you, Lona, you may want to go see Adhara. See what it’ll take to start the process of recovering your memories.”

With that, Lona had headed back towards the castle. Only after reaching the castle, had she realized that she didn’t know the layout of the place, even less so where Adhara would be. However, it was then she heard a familiar voice.

Erris: “Lona…?”

Turning around only confirmed that the voice did indeed belong to who she thought it was. Erris was visibly shocked. The last time the two had seen each other was over a month ago, when Erris commanded knights to kill her. Seeing Erris now, led Lona’s eyes to glance away as she greeted her.

Erris: “What are you doing here? I thought you were with Vese.”

Lona: “Well, I am. The King is letting us stay here, as long as we don’t leave the capitol. Oh, but right now I’m looking for Adhara.”

Erris: “I see.”

With a cold expression, she walked past Lona.

Erris: “Follow me.”

Walking through the castle, they took the right hall, and at the end were a flight of stairs leading to the second floor. Upon reaching the second floor, Erris walked straight ahead to the door opposite of the stairs. She then knocked on the door.

Adhara: “Who is it?”

Erris: “It’s me, Erris. I have Lona with me, she says she was trying to find you.”

Adhara: “Ah.”

The door opened to Adhara in her usual holy garb, bearing a smile.

Adhara: “Come on in you two.”

The two had followed Adhara into what looked to be another meeting room, except there was a round table with twelve chairs neatly placed around the table. The desk on the other hand, was cluttered with paper and half empty glass bottles. The three had sat down at the table, and after a moment of silence, Adhara spoke up.

Adhara: “Now, as you have been informed, I can only help start the process of you getting your memories back. And even then this won’t be an easy task. But before that…”

She looked at Erris.

Adhara: “You were the one who found her, correct?”

Erris: “That’s correct. How’d you kno-”

Adhara: “Now, now. How I know isn’t important at the moment. Right now, I’d like to confirm something, so I won’t waste any energy on something that won’t be guaranteed to work otherwise. So tell me, in detail, how you found her. Back from a few days before you found her, to a few days after you found her.”

Erris: “Well then, if I may. The days leading up to finding her were pretty placid, as they had been. I remember visiting a friend of mine from town, Sybel. My robe at the time was torn from the days previous, and as he’s the guy to go to for just about anything, I had him fix my robe. Other than that, nothing strange had happened, until the day I found her.”

Adhara: “Oh? Do tell.”

Erris: “Well, I was going to find some herbs in the forest, but when I opened the door, she just collapsed right in front of it. I put her in my bed and kept an eye on her, and when she woke up, she wasn’t frightened, surprisingly. But, she did look distressed. It surprised me how easily she accepted being in a new place, especially with her missing memories. And so I gave her the name Lona.”

Adhara: “I see. Well, that just about confirmed my suspicion.”

Erris: “Which was?”

Adhara: “That’s a secret for the time being. Come now, we have some work to do. Lona, if you would, please go get Vese and meet me in the courtyard. Erris, I’d like you to follow her so that she doesn’t get lost.”

Erris: “... Right.”

Once more, Lona had gone out of the castle, and to what her and Vese called home, with Erris following close behind.

Erris: “So… What made you decide to follow her, and not me?”

Lona paused and thought about her answer, as to not create discourse.

Lona: “I’m not quite sure myself, but since I’ve been with her, I’ve been granted so many more opportunities.”

Erris: “I see. Well, I still don’t like your decision, but as long as I’m not ordered to attack, I won’t try to harm either of you. While I can’t say how I feel about Vese, I don’t bear any ill will towards you.”

That last statement had once again been met with more silence. They walked through the high class residential zone until meeting the small house once more. Lona opened the door, to be met with a nearly nude Vese, putting on the robe given to her by Adhara. She glanced up and smiled at the two.

Vese: “Hello. How’ve you been, Erris. I heard from Anastasia that you and Sophia were granted an audience with the lord Koriall.”

Erris: “That’s correct. However, right now Adhara wants all of us to go to the courtyard. It’s time to start the process.”

Vese nodded, and the three once again headed back to the castle. By this time, night had fallen, with the only light being from torches and lanterns. The three had made it to the castle once more, however, they went right instead of entering the castle. To the right of the entrance was a large open field, and in the center stood Adhara.

Adhara: “Good to see you make it, Vese. Now, Erris, we need you to step back. Lona, stand between Vese and I.”

Lona stood between the two as instructed. She was nervous, but the curiosity of her forgotten memories had gotten the better of her. Adhara and Vese proceeded to make a magic circle surrounding Lona. This magic circle looked almost like a clock, with many gears exposed, although rather than ticking, the hands smoothly navigated around the large circle.

Adhara: “Vese, are you ready?”

Vese nodded.

Adhara: “Good. Now, Lona, we need you to close your eyes, and soon, you will relive a moment in your past.”

Lona, nervous, did as instructed. She closed her eyes, and felt a warmth surrounding her.

Adhara: “Now, open your eyes and discover this moment of your past.”

She opened her eyes to a small room, which looked to be plain. She checked the time.

7:46am.

Getting up, she took off her night clothes and proceeded to get changed for work. Looking at her phone next to her bed, she noticed she received a message.

Tomika - Hey, Haruki. Remember today is your day off. I know how you forget and go to work. Anyways, if you’re not busy, let’s hang out!

Haruki? Is that me?

Haruki proceeded to sigh. Well, I’m not going to go through the hassle to change back, she thought. She walked out of her room, and into the main room of her apartment. Passing by the calendar, she stopped for a moment. The current day was September 5th.

Haruki: “Huh, it’s so close already?”

Looking on the calendar, her birthday was marked as September 7th. She was almost 25 years old. Continuing to walk, she sat on the couch and turned on the TV.

The news talking about the rainy weather, too boring. Click

An anime about a rookie succubus? Watched it last week. Click

Flipping through the channels, she found nothing interesting, and so she turned off the TV and laid there.

Haruki: “Maybe I’ll just sleep a bit longer.”

She then started drifting off to sleep.

Ding dong!

Tomika: “Haruki? Are you home?”

Waking up, she heard Tomika at the door. What was she doing there again? She got up and opened the door, and gave a groggy greeting.

Tomika: “Haruki! Were you sleeping? You know sleeping too much is bad for your health.”

Haruki: “Yeah, yeah. So, what’re you doing here? It looks dark out. I didn’t forget to pay my rent, did I?”

Tomika: “Well, you never replied to my message, so I came to check up on you. I wanted to hang out today, but since it’s so late in the day, want to go grab some drinks?”

Haruki: “Oh, uh yeah. And, uhm. Sorry about not replying. I didn’t think I slept in that much.”

Tomika laughed.

Tomika: “It’s fine. Just be sure to give a reply before you go back to sleep next time. Anyways, let’s go.”

They now wandered the streets of the city. Even with it being night, it was lit up with all the buildings and cars. They walked to Tokko’s Bar, a place they went to often. However, before anything could happen, right as she pulled out her wallet, someone swiped it and ran.

Haruki: “Hey! Get back here you bastard!”

She ran after the thief, but as she caught up to him, there was a sharp pain on her left side, followed by screaming and a flash of white light.

She opened her eyes to be greeted by the night sky of Sanctum once again. Slowly getting up, she was approached by the three who had watched over her as she was unconscious.

Vese: “So? Anything you remember?”

Haruki: “Yeah. I remember my name and age now, and I remember something hitting me after chasing a thief that stole my wallet.”

Adhara: “So, since your actual name isn’t Lona, what is it?”

Haruki: “It’s Haruki. And I’m 25 years old, although that memory was of a few days before my birthday.”

Adhara: “I see. Haruki, if you want to gather your other memories, I suggest wandering the world. To regain your memories, you’ll need to find ancient crystals scattered across this world, as they’re the only way the spell can be performed. However…”

She then helped Haruki get up.

Adhara: “I suggest that you and Vese stay here for the time being. Use your time here to train in magic and combat, and to learn about the world.”

Vese nodded in agreement.

Vese: “That would be the wisest decision. After that, though, we head to the western continent of Shūdan. If anyone would know where more are located, it’d be Kura.”

Adhara: “That’s a bit risky though. You know how those twins are.”

Vese: “Yeah, but at least they have some common sense, unlike Beelzebub.”

Erris: “I’ll be joining you, then.”

The three looked at Erris, who was silent up until now.

Adhara: “Are you sure? You know if you go with them, you’ll be deemed an enemy of Sanctum.”

Erris: “I know, but if they’re going around the world, I’ll be going around the world as well, if only for my own reasons.”

A moment passed, followed by Adhara nodding.

Vese: “Well, this is an unexpected development. But, it’s a happy change nonetheless.”

Erris: “This doesn’t mean that I trust you, Vese. However, I feel bad for leaving Lona, er, I mean Haruki the way I did, and I miss having her as a companion.”

Vese smiled and nodded, and then looked at Haruki.

Haruki: “Well, don’t look at me, I don’t have any objections. The more people, the better.”

After a bit of idle chatter and going back to their homes, Haruki had fallen asleep, awaiting to see what the next day would bring.