The first thing I notice as Lydia descends us down to the camp is that Colt is encased up to his neck in stone and is looking very grumpy over it. I would be pissed if I were in his shoes, not grumpy.

"He's back!" Colt exclaims, wriggling a little. "Ben! Let me out!"

"Wait until they land," Lord Benjamin tells him. "The last thing he needs is you tackling him before he's even landed, Colton."

Lord Benjamin is the one who encased him in stone? Why would Colt tackle me? Does he really think he can hurt me?

"I told you, call me Colt here!" Colt tells his brother. "And let me out! They've almost landed!"

Colt isn't released until after we've landed, and I brace myself for whatever pathetic attack he'll try. To my immense surprise, Colt just approaches me and starts looking me over, talking a thousand words a minute.

"Are you okay?" He asks. "Why were you sending off those signals? Your clothes are covered in damage from wounds! Did Evan heal you, then? What are those monsters? Did you kill both of them? Did you get rescued? Are you okay? What happened?"

"Colton," Thomas says. "He's not going to answer when you ambush him like that. Benjamin, you only told me about the gaia bear, you did not mention a crystal gaia bear."

Lord Benjamin told Thomas about the monster being there? So it was Colt's brother who set me up! Not his bodyguard!

"There wasn't one," Lord Benjamin says. "You asked me to check an area for any monsters that Max could kill that wouldn't be too difficult for him and scout out everything within five miles of it, to make sure that was all that was there. The gaia bear was the strongest thing I could find within ten. Do you really think I'd have left a Crystal Beast alive? Not only could I use the Levels from killing it, but Max is Colt's friend. I'm not going to put him in danger like that."

"We ain't friends! And why are you trying to lift up my tunic?"

"I want to make sure Evan healed you right," Colt says. "Now stop struggling."

I slap his hands away and walk over to the stew. Aaron serves some up for me and hands me a chunk of bread, then I plop myself down by my tent and start digging into my food. Fortunately, Colt leaves me alone as I eat. Thank the gods. I'm freaking out because the slap was instinctive and I'm definitely not going to get a pass on that.

Thomas, Peter, Lord Benjamin, and Lady Elise seem to be arguing about something now, and Colt joins them at one point. They've stepped outside of camp, making it more difficult to hear them. If only my senses were superior to how they are now, then I could… maybe I could try this?

Setting my spoon back down into the bowl of half-eaten stew, I close my eyes and focus, tapping into my Mana.

Wind. Air. Breezes. Sound. A voice heard on the wind, gone the next moment as the wind shifts directions, then returns as the wind blows my way again. Voices drowned out by the wind, carried away as soon as they leave mouths.

[Ears of Wind] Learned!

"We're not leaving!" Colt insists, the voices of the group carried to me on the wind, a slight and subtle breeze. "Not unless Max says he wants to! We've got a bet and I'm not going back on it just 'cause you're inefficient at scouting things out, Ben!"

"I'm not inefficient," Lord Benjamin says. "There was no crystal beast there. And you said it was a crystal voidstone bear, Peter?"

"Yeah," Peter responds. "Max had already removed its [Dimensional Crystal]s before we got there. If nothing else, that kid has an interesting set of priorities. Take the valuable-looking crystals before signaling for help."

"There are several reasons for that," Lady Elise says. "Max saw the crystals as important and valuable because they would no doubt sell for a lot. Once he returns to civilization, he could sell them for a lot of money. He tends to focus on his own plans first. If he is alive and not in danger, he can worry about healing after he takes care of things. I would not be surprised if he only signaled for you because he was unable to figure out a way to bring the bears back."

How did she know that?

"He did mention he was trying to figure out how to put it onto an [Air Barrier]," Peter says. "Once he was healed, lifting it up wasn't an issue for him. I think he was wanting to throw it at Thomas. He was muttering to himself about doubting that even Thomas could avoid getting hit by such a heavy item."

"Why would he want to do that?" Lord Benjamin asks.

"I'm the one who told him to go there," Thomas says, and I open my eyes and start eating my stew some more as I focus on continuing to use [Ears of Wind]. "He probably thinks that I intended on him dying against the beast. Benjamin, how did you miss a Crystal Beast?"

"It. Wasn't. There."

The older prince looks aggravated at the repeated questioning.

"Yes, it was!" Colt exclaims, though they're still far enough away I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't using this. "How else do you explain Max nearly getting killed by it?"

"I'm trying to figure that out, myself," Lord Benjamin says. "As soon as we're done with this argument, I'm going over there. That one is too small and new to have teleported in after. There might be a more dangerous one around there that teleported it in."

"Will you be okay against it?" Colt asks.

"I've got an item that defends against dimensional magic," Lord Benjamin says. "It's almost used up, but it should suffice against a fully-fledged crystal voidstone bear."

"It would be best if we left," Peter says. "If there are more-"

"No," Lord Benjamin says. "The beast Max fought wasn't powerful enough to teleport more than a hundred feet-"

"How do you know that?" Colt asks. "You did know!"

"I've fought them before," Lord Benjamin says. "Though I've never seen them this far east, I've only encountered them by the mountains. Fighting them is why my artifact is nearly used up and part of why I'm Level 58 already. The size of the bear and the amount of crystals converted to [Dimensional Crystal]s suggests a hundred-foot maximum range for its teleport."

Lord Benjamin is Level 58? I've heard he's a five-affinity, too. He's definitely more powerful than I am, so that beast would have been easy for him. Especially since he's apparently fought them before.

"Oh," Colt quiets down. "We're not leaving, though!"

"That wouldn't help," Lord Benjamin says. "Something else must have teleported it in after I scouted the area for something for Max to hunt. Something that powerful likely already knows the beast is dead, and it would only track us down. I'm grabbing my team and we're going to look to see what it is. I'll send up a signal letting you know what we find if we can't take it."

"Will you be fine?" Colt sounds concerned now.

The way Colt is talking, it all sounds the same as when he's talking with me. His concern and worry sound the same. Has he… been showing his real feelings this whole time? Colt has been genuinely concerned about me this whole time?

Or is he acting now, the group aware that I'm using [Ears of Wind]?

"I'll be fine," Lord Benjamin tells his brother. "Have you ever wondered why I've always managed to come back home safe, no matter the threat I've faced?"

"You're going to tell him?" Thomas asks.

"Yes," Lord Benjamin says. "It's time Colton and Elise finally found out, and Peter might as well learn it, too."

"Your father-" Thomas begins.

"Asked me to only tell them if I feel it's okay to," Lord Benjamin says. "And if it's to assure them that whatever threat I'm facing, I will be fine. This fits that situation, and no one else can hear us. They're all too far away, so unless someone has [Ears of Wind] and is using it to eavesdrop, we're safe."

"My guards will not do that," Lady Elise says. "They know they are not allowed to eavesdrop on me, even when the discussion is about something they already know."

"None in my party are able to," Peter says. "Lydia has tried to learn the spell, though she's failed every time."

"Everyone else is too unskilled to know it," Lord Benjamin says. "Already knows it, doesn't have an air affinity, or doesn't know that such a spell does exist. Just in case, though, I'll conjure a barrier."

A moment later, I'm unable to hear anything from them. There's something messing with the flow of wind around the group, and it's preventing the wind from carrying their words to me. That's annoying, and I want to see if I can figure out a way to listen through it.

"Do you want more stew?" Aaron asks, having approached just as I started working on improving my [Ears of Wind] spell.

Perfect timing. Suspicious timing. But also good timing, because I'm out of stew but still very hungry.

"Yeah," I answer, canceling the [Ears of Wind] spell since it's useless now.

"Want me to get it for you?" Aaron holds out his hand.

He's going to mess with it, but if I refuse him, he'll probably get angry at me. That's why he put out his hand – to let me know I have to.

Instead of answering, I just hand him the bowl. Aaron walks over to the stew pot and fills the bowl with more and grabs another chunk of bread, then returns to me, handing me the food. I accept it and Aaron sits down beside me.

Now I'm even more uncomfortable, especially because he's not saying anything. It isn't until I'm done eating this helping that he speaks. That's a pretty long time, since I ate it more slowly out of worry that it was poisoned. Maybe it was a slow-acting poison that still works with my high Constitution?

"Is there a limit to the number of Blessed Oaths you can make at a time?"

Him asking me this can only mean he wants to make one with me, probably as a form of trying to develop trust from me.

"Why?" I ask. "And what would you want to make one with me about?"

"I don't," he shakes his head. "But I noticed recently that you have a scar on your left thumb, too. The scar from the oath with Colton is on your right thumb. While it could just be another of your many scars, the one on your left thumb almost perfectly matches the one on your right, including its placement. When explaining them to us the other day, Thomas said the scar disappears after the oath has been completed or canceled."

I look down at my hands, examining the matching scars on my thumbs. Colt definitely hasn't noticed yet, he'd have asked me if he had. Until now, I'd thought no one had noticed, but Aaron apparently did.

"Are you limited to one per thumb?" Aaron asks. "Two active ones total?"

"No," I answer. "You can do more than that, but you can't have the scars overlapping. I did my right thumb because I didn't want Colt to notice I already had one active."

"Is it with Hailey?" He asks. "To make sure that she follows through on the deal you two made? You don't have to answer, I'm just guessing here because it would make sense. You don't trust her, yet you're confident she'll follow through for you."

"She already has some," I say. "She's told me about a few things. I know she will because she sees the arrangement as her getting the superior end, so she will uphold it. Plus, she's too scared of me to try to betray me. I'm powerful enough now that she knows I could torture her worse than she'd ever been hurt before if she betrayed me. Hailey prioritizes her safety, and betraying someone like me wouldn't do well for that."

I examine the scar on my left thumb.

"This one is older."

Not by much, but it's still older.

"Oh," Aaron goes quiet for a few minutes. "Do you want to toss a ball around?"

"Huh?"

"Cyrus, Nicholas, and I were going to throw a ball around," he says. "We can get some of the others to provide light for us, but we wanted to just play a bit before going to bed."

Why do they keep pretending I have a choice? Just tell me to play with them, don't ask me if I want to. I can't just say 'no' to a noble! If they want a lesser person to do something, that person has to do something.

"Okay," I say.

Aaron and I stand and put the bowl and spoon from dinner with the others, then go a little outside of camp. Cyrus and Nicholas join us, Nicholas tossing the ball to Aaron first. One of Lord Benjamin's team members creates [Light Orb]s to illuminate the area we're tossing the ball around in.

They're not throwing it any harder to me than they are to the others, though they do start pelting each other with the ball. There's not much force behind it, which means they're not bothering to use their extra Strength. Even when they throw it at me, it's just… normal. I'm still uncomfortable, though. Are they wanting me to participate because Colt's not available at the moment?

I'm still hesitant with my throws, though. It's not that hard to use a more normal amount of Strength, but I'm still worried about what will happen if I accidentally hurt them. Or if I throw it to someone who doesn't want me to throw it to them. Joining them in pelting each other with it makes me even more nervous, and I try not to.

They seem to accept that, just throwing me the ball from time to time as they continue to pelt each other with it and run around. Colt even joins us at one point, and oddly, they don't tell me they don't want me here anymore.

"Max," Lady Elise calls out about eight minutes after Colt joined us. "Can I speak with you for a minute?"

A princess wanting to speak with me is as good an excuse as any. I can escape now so I do. Lady Elise wishing to speak with me makes me nervous, though, especially since her bodyguards stay with us as she leads me over to my tent.

"I didn't actually want to speak with you," Lady Elise tells me once we're at my tent. "But you didn't look too comfortable and those boys are a bit too oblivious to realize you weren't having any fun and didn't want to participate. If Colton asks you what I wanted to speak with you about, tell him that I asked you not to talk about it with anyone, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Lady Elise gives me a small smile, then leaves. Did she really pull me away because she could tell I didn't want to play with them and wasn't comfortable? Or was it actually because she didn't want me playing with her brother?

Shaking my head, I grab my pack and climb into my tent. I won't be sleeping tonight or tomorrow, but I can still rest a little.

Maybe tomorrow, I'll test Thomas a little and give an honest answer to his question from earlier.

Tomorrow is one week from when Elm told me to return in a week to the goblin outpost I destroyed to find something unexpected and surprising.