“Ohh, Mada, where are you? I miss you so much. Please come back to me. And make me feel good with those hands of yours.”

I can hear Nil’s voice right behind me.

“Can you stop it? It’s annoying!” I push her away from me.

“Ahh, she’s mad at me.”

“Nil, stop teasing her and help me prepare the dish.” Ariana yells at Nil.

“Okayyy…..”

About five months ago, Mada left for ruin of Unuan. He didn’t tell any of us about his objective. Well, maybe Ariana and Sei are the only ones know about it. Until this moment, I still can’t figure out why Mada talks so much to Sei. Is it mean that Mada believe in her more than me? Is it mean I’ve got no hope of being with him?

Sometimes a letter came for us when we celebrate our birthday. Even in my eighteen birthday one month ago, he still didn’t come. Well, apparently he sees me no different from the others.

“EVERYBODY! BAD NEWS! BAD NEWS!” Suddenly Euca open the door and scream at us. He breathes so fast.

“What is it honey? It’s so unlike you to panic.”

“Just like usual, I chat with Ogla after I sold him my hunt. Then, I take this one page from his newspaper.“ Euca come to the room and put a piece of paper in the table.

Euca opens it and shows a picture of a man in a clown mask. But what take most of our attention is the headline of the newspaper. “NEW ONE WORD FUGITIVE TITLED: MADA THE RAIDER”

“Wait, you can’t be serious. It’s not our Mada, right? I mean, Mada is a common name. Right?” Burue tries to deny it.

“Nobody sure of it. As you can read, his identity is unknown because of that clown mask.” Euca points to the picture in the paper.

“For what reason they give the title?” Firn asks himself as he tries to read the paper.

“Read it out loud Firn! I’d like to hear it too.” Nil asks Firn.

Firn moves his eyes so fast. “I’ll summarize it.”

“Two weeks ago, beast man and human set out for another battle. The battle was in west of Ul Thadur, in the forest of Krull. Another week passes but no news heard about the winner. Later, it is discovered that both parties consist of total 100,000 soldiers have completely been annihilated without leaving a single living being. All of their weapon, artillery, armor, gold coins, anything has vanished into thin air. The nearby ruin, known by ruin of Unuan, also found empty. All the place that previously locked and no archeologist could open it has been opened and nothing left inside of it. As such, the title of Raider given to this person. The name Mada is nothing but a name given to identify him. It is not the real identity.”

The whole room falls empty. No one speaks a word.

I can’t imagine Mada really did that. Even if his identity is still unknown, the fact that it happened near the ruin of Unuan makes us sure it is our Mada. Mada Arcaness, he annihilated 100,000 soldiers singlehandedly. That’s, I, I don’t know. Everything is messed up. I can’t think of anything else.

Firn adds another words. “This newspaper is today’s newspaper. I can imagine the government tried to capture him in the past two weeks and have the headline as ‘a criminal has been capture’ or such. But as their effort seems futile, they finally announced it officially.”

“Firn, it’s okay. We don’t need to hear it for now.” Ariana stops him. “Let’s have our lunch and then take some rest.”

We do as Ariana told us. We had our lunch. That lunch is the worst lunch I’ve ever had. I bet everybody felt the same. The air feels so heavy. Nobody wants to speak a words. No conversation. Nothing. We just finished and then we go to our own room. In our room, I’m the only one taking a rest. Nil decided to train outside to fresh her mind while Sei still need to clean the dishes. I can feel my eyes so heavy and finally close it

~~~

I realized I’ve dozed off and take a nap. How long did I take a nap? I take a look outside but it seemed not too long as I see the sun is still up. I take a look outside and let my eyes wander. By using Eagle Vision, I manage to look better and further. Nil is still on her martial arts training out in the forest. Burue, Euca, and Nois is fishing in the river. They seem to talk about something. I can’t see Firn everywhere. I guess he’s in the library as usual. My eyes wander into another direction and see Sei and Ariana in the woods. But what surprised me the most is the person standing in front of them. Mada has come. But it seems the others haven’t realized it yet.

~Speed boost~

I jump from the windows and run towards them. But before I reached them, Mada bows down and left already. Sei and Ariana didn’t say a word or try to stop him. I don’t care. I’ve got tons of questions for him. Thank god he doesn’t use any spell so I can catch up to him. Even without a body enhancement spell, it still took me some time to catch up to him.

“MADA!” I shout at my lung content.

As he hears my shout, he stops and waits for me. Finally I manage to reach him. I stop and bow down for a moment to take a breather. But even after all those running and jumping, I’m not seeing him out of breath at all.

I stand, “Ma–“

Before I finished it, suddenly he hug me out of nowhere. I can feel his usual warmth envelop me. Yes, this is the Mada that I know.

“I’m sorry. I have to leave.” Mada tells me in a sad tone.

“But, but why?”

“I have something I need to do.”

“The, then take me with you. I beg you. Please take me.”

“Sorry, but I can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

Does he mean the news about him being the one word fugitive is right?

“I don’t care about it. You see me all this time right? You should know that I’m useful if you against a mage.”

“You’re safe here.”

At that moment, I suddenly lost my consciousness. Damn, it seems he did something to make me unconscious.

~~~

“MADA!”

I yell at my lung content. But when I look around I see nobody else. I’m back in my bed with my blanket.

“Finally you awake.”

I hear Sei’s voice in the door and take a look at her.

“What happened? Where’s Mada?”

“He already left. We heard his shout at the forest, but we only found you.”

I see. He really has gone.

“Can you walk? Everybody is downstairs. We’re waiting for you to wake to tell about Mada.”

“Yes.”

I set aside my blanket and walk towards the door. Sei walks in front of me leading me downstairs. The room is unusually empty.

“Alright, now that everyone is here. I’ll say it clearly that Mada has decided to leave. He needs to go on a journey to collect some items.” Ariana explains things vaguely.

“But, what those items actually?” Burue asks a question. He seemed pissed. “To leave us without any note or even saying goodbye. Is it really that important? He even just left Nevi in the forest.”

“Bu–“

“If,” Sei interrupts me. “You know what item he wants, what would you do? Would you beg to tag along with him? Or what?”

“No, I just,” Burue doesn’t finish his words. He just look away.

You’re just pissed. That’s all.

“Ariana, Sei, can’t you let out some more details?” Nil asks for an explanation. “At least it might help us to understand the reason he left.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want to tell it. It’s just,” Sei fall silent. She can’t continue her words. No. she doesn’t want to.

“Then, let me ask another question.” Firn comes with another question. “Is he Mada the Raider?”

The room falls silent. Sei and Ariana both looked away. They seem to know the answer to it but they’re hesitating. I can see it in their eyes.

Firn tilts his body forward. “I conclude he said nothing about it. And by your silent answer, I say both of you also realize that the possibility of him being Mada the Raider is high enough. But, both of you still hesitant about it. Am I correct?” Firn tells all of his thinking.

Ariana and Sei just silently nod to his words.

“Then. I guess it’s time for me to leave too. It is time for me to see the world by myself.”

Suddenly Firn said something unexpected. All of us turn our head to him.

“Firn, what are you saying?” Euca asks him.

“Isn’t it obvious? It is time for me to leave too. I mean, we’re boys. It is normal for us to leave and see the world with our own eyes. Don’t worry though, I’ll say my goodbye properly.”

“Firn, don’t you think it’s the wrong time to say it?”

“No, I think what Firn says is right.” Ariana speaks. “It is time for you all of you to go out and see the world. I got so happy with this family that I forgot that in the end, all of you need to go and leave me alone.”

“But, Ariana,” Nil still can’t accept the change.

“It’s okay. Each one of you can think about it. Think what you want the most. I will stay here to hear your answer.”

~~~

What Firn said is right. Sooner or later we will have to leave this place. Mada opened our eyes. And I want to see the world. I want to see the world where Mada goes. If I can’t do this, I will never be able to stand beside Mada as the same. He will look at me as a little sister figure forever. This way, I might have the chance.

“Nevi, are you awake?”

I turn my head to the left and see Sei is looking at me. Half of her body came out of the blanket showing her slender body.

“Yes, I’m awake.”

“So, where are you heading?”

It seems Sei already that I will leave this place too.

“I want to go to the Sairkhan. I want to check out my hometown before I go somewhere else.”

“Coming home, eh. That sounds nice.”

“No, I’m not so sure. I just want to see it. The town where my parents and I lived. That’s it. Nothing else.”

“Hmm, then, should I go to En’ia? I wonder if my old orphanage is still intact.” Suddenly Nil takes part in our conversation.

Nil is an orphan that left by her parents when she was a baby. She said she lost when she played and then she got taken by a pirate. Ariana found her when she goes to Us’a. A lot has happened but the point is she got her from the pirate.

“Then, how about you Sei?” I ask Sei.

“Hmm, I’ve always wanted to explore the land of no man.”

“Wait, what? The land of no man? Are you serious?” Nil asks her.

“Yeah, I always wonder about them. Like why it’s getting bigger, why beast and monster mostly habit that place, all of it. I want to know it.”

I take a look at her with a discouraged face. I knew Sei is special but this is beyond my imagination.

In the next morning, apparently everybody decided to leave. We throw a party before we left. Mada’s leaving is the trigger to all of us. We have a party for a whole day then we spent the night having a nice long chat. By the morning, we left Ariana place. Toward our own adventure.