“From the start, those guys were looking for something specific, right?” Rai asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Yes. You two.” Jin replied.

“Well, what if the clues they used to track us were proven to be... kinda... how do I put this... unstable? Unreliable! What if we somehow made it unclear whether they were on the right track or not? Then they’ll have to go back to the drawing board and leave!”

“I see what you’re going for. Then, I’ll use this as a learning opportunity. I won’t help you during your plan.”

Rai stared back at Jin, deadpan.

“You’re just being lazy.”

“Go on, tell me the rest of your plan. I’ll guide you through it, but I won’t help you act it out.”

“That’s... fine with me. I have all the tools I’ll need.

To start with...”

Rai explained his plan to Jin as they stood outside Ms. Talvier’s house.

Jin was genuinely surprised at Rai’s idea, which in turn surprised Rai, since Rai thought that Jin was impossible to surprise.

“It’s a solid plan.” Jin said. “But. As solid as it might be, there’s a flaw to your plan that could cause it to fall apart.”

“Oh? Tell me.”

“You’re banking on persuasion, which could work. But there’s just as much of a chance that it doesn’t, given how surface-level a lot of these officers’ intelligence seems to lie.

Then there’s Sin. She’s important to your plan, which is fine... but you can’t continue to rely on her so much.”

“First, about the persuasion bit... if that young looking guy is the one leading them, then I’m almost certain this will work. He seemed really sure of himself, so if he thinks that something’s logical then he’ll believe it wholeheartedly! Now... about Sin... I know.” Rai said, lowering his head a touch. “I realised that she’s more versatile than I am. Honestly... she’s the only reason this plan’s even possible. If I’m gonna get stronger then I need time to work through Hellfire, the grimoire that Aunt Elly gifted me, and see what it’s capable of. As annoying as it is though... right now all I’m good for is destruction.”

Jin stared at Rai as he verbalised his thoughts and musings. Then, he smirked.

“Good. You’re recognising your own weaknesses. Now, you can work to turn them into your strengths.”

“I will... oh. You only use your Dance for everything, right? You must’ve run into something like this when you were younger... or while you were still learning the Dance at least. How’d you overcome the problem?”

“We can talk about that after you’ve sorted this out. Although, I’m sure it won’t help you as much as you think.”

“... Alright. Let’s go back and fill Sin in on the plan.”

Jin nodded, and followed Rai’s lightning back around the long way to the farm.

After a few minutes, they returned.

Rai opened the door to a pouty Sin, and his mother sat on the sofa in the living area.

“You! Why’d you run off like that!?” Sin asked.

“... I’m sorry.” Rai replied. “I had a gut feeling that those officers were still nearby, so I had to check it out.”

“... Fine... what did you find?”

“They’re still here, like I thought. But I thought of a way to get them to leave.”

Sin subtly winced at Rai’s words.

“You came up with a plan? All on your own?”

“Yep!”

“... That’s not good...” She whispered under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Oh!” Sin perked up. “Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Tell me your plan!”

“So...”

Rai explained his plan to Sin. She seemed enthused at first, but the more he spoke, the less enthusiastic she became. In fact, she seemed more exhausted the more that Rai explained the plan.

“You want me to do all of that?” Sin asked.

Rai nodded.

“That’s... not gonna be easy...”

“You can use your own spells while you’re mimicking someone else, right?”

“Yeah but... Rai I don’t even know if I have enough mana for that. I’ve got a lot in my mana reserves, but nowhere near as much as you do.”

“I don’t think it’ll take that much...”

“Do you even know how much mana it takes to make a single portal? Let alone the amount of portals you’re asking for? That, and I can’t even make portals!”

“Uh...”

“Rai... there has to be another way.”

“What if I transferred my mana into you?”

Sin’s cheeks warmed up a bit.

“Th-... That’s not possible. Our internal mana is unique to us, which means that transferring them into someone else could kill them. I’m sure Aunt Elly would’ve already told you about that.”

“Yeah... alright alright. In that case, don’t worry about the portals. Can you do everything else, as long as the portals aren’t on the list?”

“... I think I can.”

“Alright, then I’ll fill in the gap for the portals. I’ll explain the adjustment on the way. Are you ready?”

Sin nodded.

Jin observed as they went to execute Rai’s plan.

“Tower mage, what’s your name?” The investigative officer asked.

The mage with the green hood lowered it, revealing his bald head and plain elven ears. He wore elegant elven jewellery across his forehead.

“I’m John.”

“That’s... jarring.”

“Aye, an elf adopted by humans tends to do people up like that.”

“Well, I’m Marly. And that’s Therin.” He said, pointing at the young looking officer.

“I’d appreciate if you didn’t announce me to the world, Marly.”

“Oh shut it. If I don’t, then how’s anyone s’posed to know you?”

“Who said I wanted to be known?”

“You and your pretty eyes and silky hair, why wouldn’t you want people to know you?”

“Just... I’m going to patrol for a while. Don’t come with me.”

“Alright then, pretty boy.” Marly teased.

Therin got up from the log he was sat on. He left the campfire that the three of them had set up. All he really wanted was some space from his fellow officers. It was fine working with Marly normally, but having to spend this much time with him was far too torturous.

“Hopefully I’ll run into one of those monsters that’s supposedly running around loose out here.” He said to himself.

*Baaah. Baaaaaaaah*

“Huh.”

Therin looked down to his right at the sheep.

This thoroughly confused Therin, as there was not a sheep there just a moment ago.

*Baah*

Now it was on his left.

What confused Therin even more, was that he couldn’t feel any fluctuation in the wind, which meant that the sheep was somehow moving between two different locations instantly.

In fact... all signs led to the notion that the sheep was... teleporting.

That was the only logical explanation!

Therin looked around thoroughly.

There were some animals further out in a field.

He watched them. Some grazed on the grass in the field, while some walked around in packs.

Keeping his eyes peeled, and his senses unhindered, Therin watched.

An instant.

A literal instant.

All of the animals’ positions changed.

They all ‘teleported’ from one place to another, and continued what they were doing.

It wasn’t enough to confirm that him and his peers were wrong... but this kind of anomaly in this area could’ve messed with their initial conclusions about the portal’s exit-point.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more Therin found it making sense.

“Wouldn’t it be impossible for our trackers in the tower to pinpoint exactly where they ended up all the way out here?!...”

Therin pondered even more.

“And... how would students even learn how to create portals? It definitely wasn’t that helpless old lady, and it definitely wasn’t that crazy old man with no mana. Even the old man’s daughter hadn’t a single shred of mana in her... Then it’s not possible? No one else lives out this far...”

He’d convinced himself.

Therin returned to camp.

“Hey!” He yelled.

“No need to yell, Therin. We’re right here.” Marly replied.

“We were wrong. They’re not here.”

“What? How’d you come to that conclusion after leaving for just 5 minutes? We set up camp to observe the area for a reason, you know.”

“There have been some problems in this area already, with reports of monsters and magical anomalies. I just witnessed animals teleporting around randomly.”

“Eh? You sure it weren’t your eyes just playing tricks on you?”

“I’m certain. I confirmed it using my wind magic.”

“Hmm... Is that all?”

“No. It makes little sense that ‘students’ that age would’ve learned to make a portal that transports them this far. The furthest it would’ve taken them was just out of the city.”

“... Aye. He’s right on that.” John said. “Portal magic ain’t easy. Every single portal spell is a legendary tier technique, or higher. Far as I heard, less than 10 kids from Aether Academy got legendary techniques from the first years. They ain’t easy to learn.”

“See?” Therin affirmed.

“I see...”

“There’s more!”

“There’s more?”

“Oh yes. To top it all off, not a single resident in this area has the capacity to use such a spell, which means that there’s no way they’d have had an anchor here to teleport to.”

Marly looked at John, who nodded in response.

“Hmm... Alright then. We’ll return and start the search from scratch... though it’s probably a waste now since they’d have had enough time to escape even from outside Draconis.”

“Yes, but it’s better than us wasting our time here.”

“Indeed. John, prepare a portal for us to return. We’ll pack up the camp in the meantime.”

“Alrighty.”

John began preparing the portal, while Marly and Therin packed up their camp. After a short while, they were ready to leave.

Therin took one last look out over the distance, and saw an animal teleport again. He frowned a touch, as he was bound to face repercussions for this waste of resources when the Warden returned.

They stepped through the portal.

Once the portal closed, all of the animals shattered into nothingness.

“It worked? It worked!” Sin yelled, excitedly.

“I told you! Not all of my plans are awful!”

“For once, you’re actually right!”

The arcane etchings on Rai’s face disappeared as he withdrew Antithesis.

“Turns out the portals weren’t even needed. With Antithesis, I just destroy a clone at the same time you make it somewhere else.”

“And because of your Flow State, you’ll never mess up the timing. Gosh, that was actually a good plan! I can’t believe it...”

“Hehe.” Rai muttered, smiling to himself.

“Well done.” Jin said. “You two executed that well.”

“Thanks, Jin.” Rai said.

“Thank you.” Sin said, at the same time.

“Now that they’re gone... you two should get some rest. Talk to your mother in the morning about all of your adventures in Aurum, Rai. She’s tired, and you’re going to need energy if you’re going to train.”

“Will we also talk about what I mentioned earlier?” Rai asked.

Sin looked at him curiously, but it wasn’t her business, so she didn’t ask.

“We will tomorrow. Now go, get some sleep.”