"Hey, Joshua," Ronald called. "I wonder why Spiri Raians don't write spirit ranks with a capital letter."

"Eh?" Joshua turned his head down to his junior. "What do you mean?"

"From bottom: lesser spirit, spirit, intermediate spirit, greater spirit candidate, greater spirit heir, and greater spirit. All of them aren't written with capital yet titles like Spirit Bard and Spirit Knight do." Ronald deadpanned, listing it out to his mentor. "It's not like spirit art that's too generic like magic system."

"Oh, that," Joshua uttered in understanding. "Well, then I guess it's like an everyday phrase to them. Like the rank is to describe the maturity of the spirit, like in a 'biological' sense."

"That still doesn't explain the last three ranks," Ronald shook his head, looking up to his tall friend. "They are titles; being eligible, directly chosen by the current, and being the leader of the spirits respectively. In a 'biological,'" he said the word sarcastically, "perspective, the former two are literally the same thing."

"Eh, then maybe it's just a cultural thing since the spirits seem to be fine with it for centuries." Joshua shrugged. "Kinda like how we never write some terms like regular old maneg with capital, even the Element attachment unless it's with Guardian while Element itself is in capital letters. The Four Nations seem to do it, though that's definitely thanks to the First Guardians."

"I see," Ronald nodded in a sort of understanding. Then again, things like capital letters shouldn't be fussed about, much less being a lesson from your mentor... "Hm, I think my dad told me more or less the same thing we're talking about," he recalled.

"Really?" Joshua raised his eyebrow, at least that's what Ronald thought. "When?"

"The night after the mission in Geron Yor last year, where we fought the huge army of Spawns teleporting into the cou- noble's mansion," Ronald answered.

"Oh yeah, We lost count after we killed the two-hundredth Spawn," Joshua recalled. "Might be almost a thousand before we get to the runes. Obviously, the Green Deity watched us and had Spawn generals guard them along with a lot of Spawns."

"Now that I think about it, people in Geron Yor only write Spawn with capital letters while whatever role attached to them, like mage, archer, aren't," Ronald pointed out.

"Probably because they're just to describe each Spawn type." Joshua shrugged, though he seemed slightly annoyed. "I mean, they kinda alternate around where it goes with Spawn, like 'mage Spawn' or 'Spawn mage.' Although general should at least be with a capital letter."

"Hm, I guess it does," Ronald nodded, though Joshua wouldn't be able to see it as with all the other head gestures earlier. "I must have forgotten about it with my conversation with dad that night. Oh, there's also the 'Maneg Contract' or simply Contract too, and probably even more terms we flip-flop with the capitalization we haven't listed."

"...Ugh, was that when your dad wants to 'talk' with me afterwards?" Joshua cringed. "'Cause I remember a bit after that mission your dad suddenly broke into my apartment, poured a bucket of water on me while I'm in my bed, then berated me on how poor I mentored you." Joshua shuddered as he said this, probably recalling the sudden visit by Ronald's father.

"So my dad really did it, huh?" Ronald smiled wryly, imagining whatever could happen between his dad and mentor whilst silently apologizing to the latter for the former's overreaction. And most likely to the rest too while I'm not looking.

"Yeah, I can't even sleep on my bed for a while afterwards," the tall man who loved to sleep complained.

"Well, at least we got the Grand title from all of it," Ronald consoled his friend's loss. "Though that's mainly because everyone else's stuck in the discussion about Emilia's..." he trailed off in which his voice became softer and softer in the last few words until he went silent in the end.

"..."

"..."

The two Court Wizards said no more. The mission in Geron Yor would have been the worst mission they had when it happened, but the next mission afterwads...

Readjusting their masks, they ventured onward to the target of their current mission with the huge pond of Kirash on the horizon, this time on their terms.

TZANG

TZANG

"Dammit!" Joshua cursed, avoiding the trees as they [Eject]ed. "They're getting to the carriage! We should've brought more guys with us!"

"Less talking and more to the carriage!" Ronald berated, almost crashing face-first into the rough texture of wood as he did so. "I swear, it feels like I'm the mentor sometimes!"

Simply put, the opportunistic nature of prince Van with the ridiculous number of bandits he hired to hide inside the Illyer territory to kill the duke when the chance came had reared its ugly head. Yes, the second prince had men camping in the wild like bandits just to ambush the duke the moment he went out anytime, anywhere.

To make sure Illyer's knights don't visit their camps, the bandits cannot attack anyone else in the meantime, just the duke, so that they wouldn't be spotted. And that had bad implications as...

"So what did the letter say?" Joshua asked.

Ronald, holding the parchment he received from the Bell Branch manager, look up at his tall friend and said, "The duke wants to give his daughter her first time out of town, and it also says here that he hasn't gone out since earlier this year."

"Okay, and why do I feel like there are bad implications of it?" Joshua cringed. "Like, very bad implications."

Now I know the bad implications Joshua was talking about. That prince must have a lot of money to keep them in line for so long, Ronald snorted internally, as he and Joshua had gotten out of the forest hill and that served as the natural wall keeping the Fichs Empire out. Probably extorted it from his 'friends'.

Case in point, the bandits must've gotten bored out of their minds staking out for months and do nothing but sweating under the sun because, right now, literally all the bandits decided to go overkill and simultaneously assault the carriage altogether just as the duke was on the way home.

'Uh, sir? We are seeing all the lot of messaging birds flying between camps of bandits, even the ones far away from the duke. It looks like they're relaying messages.' (Operator)

'Hm? What are they planning?' Ronald replied to the operator back at Manegia, reminded of those annoying avians he and his backup had to catch after that breakfast as he and the other Court Wizards stood on the littered bodies of bandits camped near the duke's carriage traveling to the other town in his territory.

'Probably coordinating the attack. Makes no sense for the camps far away from the duke though.' (Joshua)

The Court Wizards obviously didn't think that every bandit would come to dogpile the duke until the Transporter Room operators called them in sheer panic that the bandits were rushing to the duke's carriage and looked like they would reach him before he and his daughter get back to the safety of their town.

Considering the loose bandits, who camped near part of the border occasionally visited by the duke, Ronald and Joshua were chasing, the operators were right, which led them into the predicament Joshua ranted about: they didn't bring enough Court Wizards for this mission.

After all, they figured only the bandits near the duke's traveling route would attack him, so only that appropriate amount of Court Wizards participated. When that wasn't the case, the team ended up scrambled, splitting up and rushed to deal with one group of bandits to the next while reinforcements such as Rose Bloodlight and even Master Gertrude transfer to Spiri Raia.

Even Benjamin came, and he won't break the fourth Rule as long as there are no people to be exposed to his futuristic rifle, Ronald internally grimaced.

BOOM

Suddenly, they heard the sound of an explosion over the distance.

CRACKLE CRACKLE

CRACKLE CRACKLE

Then, a circling hellfire over the grassy plains with the great pond of Kirash as its backdrop appeared before their eyes.

TZANG

TZANG

"Looks like they've just begun," Ronald observed, him and Joshua intensifying their [Eject]s. No need for [Telepathy] since they're far away from eavesdroppers.

"And Van even got his men equipped with those fire talismans," Joshua added. "We're gonna need to visit the fire territory after this."

"Worry about that after we save the duke once more," Ronald retorted as he willed [Emilia's Right Dagger] to his hand.

"Right." And Joshua manifested [Emilia's Left Dagger] to his hand.

TZANG

With no more words, the two Court Wizards synchronized their [Eject]s as they launched themselves towards the nearest bandits who were about to madly jump into the fire they created, either being very brave or that loyal to Van.

Or maybe just desperate to finish their job and finally go home, Ronald thought as he pulled his dagger to the back of his head.

Emotion suppression activated.

"Oh, intermediate water spirit Neptune, bestow this talisman with your strength!"

Holding a long and rectangular piece of paper, Allister put his other hand in front of it at a distance as if to bless it. Of course, it was Neptune beside him who does the actual work, adorably pointing his two hands towards the paper.

SHIING

With the blue light from the intermediate spirit's hands fading, the duke moved his hand out of the way to see the intricate blue patterns drawn over the paper, with Neptune's symbol of water at its center.

"Incredible..." His little daughter, Irene, sitting in a chair, swinging her legs, beside him gasped in awe. "Father, this is?"

"Yes," Allister nodded warmly, lifting the paper. "This is called a spirit art talisman. If you are liked by the spirits enough or named a spirit yourself, you can request them to bestow a spirit art onto this talisman that you can invoke later. People who cannot request spirit arts can also use these talismans instead."

CRACKLE CRACKLE

A fire spirit art talisman? Allister suspected as the fire he observed was the fire that erupted after a single explosion. It can only be from such an item, a powerful one even, for it to instantly surround the carriage in flames. It didn't directly engulf us though, he noted, prince Van probably couldn't find the right one. But still, how did prince Van get his hands on them!?

Even though the elemental spirits weren't hostile to each other, their elemental nature still meant that one spirit does not interact well with some of the other elements, hence the elemental territories, and there can be no better example than the water and fire spirits.

"Uuh... S-So much fire!" Neptune whimpered, his blue body shaking.

"There, there," Allister comforted the intermediate spirit with a hug. "It will be alright." But with this large fire, it will be difficult to chant water spirit arts, he internally groaned, however.

With the opposite ends of water and fire, though the greater water and fire spirits' domain were ironically beside each other, both water and fire spirits become weakened when exposed to elements of the other and...

"Are you alright, Layla!?" Irene said to the spirit she named in concern, the more immediate situation than the one outside.

"Eurgh!" Layla gave out an unrefined groan, looking lethargic even. "The fire spirit art is choking me!"

...especially if it came from spirit ar-

TZANG

"What was that!?" Suddenly, among the cries of battle and the burning of fire, Allister heard a foreign, yet familiar sound coming from his right. Moving to his right side of the carriage, he looked out to the window, "...!" and widened his eyes.

"F-Father!" Irene gasped, glancing out to the same window. "Who are they!?"

"Eek! It's getting worse!" Layla groaned while Neptune simply looked frightened.

Sharing the same reaction as the knights and bandits fighting each other at that side, Allister saw two brown figures, literally flying through the air. Though they were facing the carriage, the duke could not make a face as these figures donned a dull grey mask that covered their entire faces.

By all means, Allister should not be able to identify these figures, but he knew who they are for one look at what they are holding on their hands corresponded to one of the most peculiar things he discussed with Oswald: the ornate ice-blue and fiery red, with a tinge of the former, daggers wielded by Joshua Ruze and Ronald Bell respectively.

TZANG

THUD

As Ronald and Joshua were about to land between the knights and the bandits, the latter 'hopped' mid-air, leaving motes of light-blue from that spot, likely his arts propelling him upward to go to the other side of the carriage. The former landed without issue.

Of course, the garbed Ronald would cause wariness to the knights, unless they noticed the dagger, in front of him and so they steeled their swords against him. Ronald, however, did nothing but turned around to face the stunned bandits, expecting the duke to tell his knights that he was here to assist which he fully intended to do so.

But before Allister, or anyone, could say anything, Ronald lifted his free hand, pointed it to the bandits who were about to break from their stupor, and...

WHOOSH

CRACKLE CRACKLE

...burst the frontmost bandit into flames.