Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Evin's eyes widened in surprise at the news, and immediately, he thanked the Empress for this boon of luck. These two hours of exploring the Tunnels were worth it after all!

"Alright. Let's get you to your father," Evin declared smilingly.

"T-thank you," the girl replied timidly.

"Ah, what's your name?" Evin asked as he glanced around the room, wondering if he could find something useful. The room was relatively well-furnished for a would-be prisoner, with a comfortable cotton bed, a chair and a table filled with food, and a room which he guessed was the bathroom. Well, Evin knew that this whole test was a role-playing event of some sorts, so he supposed that they couldn't put a 6-year-old girl in an actual dungeon.

"My name is Amera Faizan, conqueror. Though please just call me Amera."

"Well, Amera, you can just call me Evin," Evin replied and noticed one object that seemed out of the ordinary on the chair. It was a small device of some sorts, with a metal base holding a glowing glass orb on top of it. "What's that?"

"Ah, this… I don't know," Amera replied with difficulty. The girl obviously knew what it was, but supposedly wasn't allowed to speak of it. "But I don't think you should touch it carelessly. At least not the orb."

<Do you know anything about it?> Evin asked.

<Nope. Ask her whether we should bring it with us.>

"Amera, do you think we should bring this thing with us to your father?"

"Yes. Maybe you can ask him about it."

The answer was unexpected, but Evin was interested in the item so he gladly picked it up and put it in his back, careful not to touch its orb like Amera warned him. "Alright, let's go. Ah, but I have a few things to do before, so please bear with me."

Evin then brought Amera out of her room and walked towards Kolin's group. He found two of the girls sobbing in the corner, while Kolin was arguing with the girl and the boy about something. As far as Evin could notice, no rat fell upon the five yet.

They immediately started to beg Evin to let them go when they saw him coming in. The two girls even shamelessly begged Amera, a child, to let them go when they saw her.

"Sorry for the rough treatment, but I couldn't really let you guys free until I saw what was behind the last door," Evin explained and opened the gates for them, "Wait ten more minutes here, and then go out."

"Who's this girl?" one of the girls asked.

"None of your business," Evin replied and pulled out the five's lodestones from his bag. Since the air in the Island was filled with an apparently endless source of mana, the extra lodestones were just a waste of inventory for Evin. "Here are your lodestones."

He knew it was pointless to make excuses to appease Kolin, as these five were sure to have only bad things to say about him at the end of it all. He was mostly explaining himself to the teachers, who were surely listening to the conversation, and Amera. Evin didn't want to leave a bad impression on the Ruler's daughter.

"I'll hold your hands so I can turn you invisible," Evin said to Amera, as they walked up the stairs outside.

"You can do that?"

"Yep. But you need to keep silent, alright? I can't really tell whether any of the students would be waiting for me outside, so we need to be extra careful."

The two tip-toed outside and were both hit by the glaring light of the sun. Evin tried his best to scout out the area despite his squinting eyes, but thankfully, no one seemed to be waiting for them. He expected Kolin's group to be part of a bigger one, but unexpectedly, that didn't seem to be the case.

Thanking the Empress, he quickly brought Amera away from the Tunnels' entrance and said, "We'll stop by the infirmary and the Shelter for some food and supplies, if that's alright with you."

Amera didn't have any objections, and the two made their way to the Infirmary in an hour's time. Evin wasn't confident in his skills to make Amera fly with him, so trip naturally took some more time.

The Infirmary was a simple, large pavilion built in another open area inside the forest, and there was a sign outside that banned anyone from starting fights nearby. Thankfully, the place wasn't as crowded as Evin expected it to be and the teachers didn't look intent on dousing the approaching students in cold water.

Evin didn't want to create a scene, so he silently approached a free teacher with Amera on his side and asked to have his face checked. The teacher told him that the wound wasn't as deadly as it looked and that it would heal by itself over time. He just had to keep it closed and clean, so it didn't get infected. But he still offered Evin a choice between having it healed by magic and getting it sewn. After all, the wound had still almost penetrated his cheek.

After a brief consideration, Evin decided to tough it out and let it heal by itself over time. He might need the magic healing later on; and if he got it sewn now, it would take too much time. The teacher shrugged his head and after cleaning Evin's wound, put some salve on it and told Evin to not move the wound around too much.

After Evin was finished, bringing Amera, he walked southwards into the forest, before circling around and going north towards the Shelter. This time, the walk only took 15 minutes.

He saw Teouka and the other teacher still loitering around the place, but contrary to the morning, this time he saw a group of 6 students looking through the food as well. He circled around the place, made himself and Amela visible, and approached the Shelter from the direction of the Tunnels.

Teouka noticed him at this point and started chanting; but Evin waved the card he obtained in the air and she stopped to greet him. "Welcome to the Shelter. Can I see your card?"

"Hello, teacher," Evin smiled and showed her the food and supply related cards. Discreetly, he then handed her the cards relating to the more detailed map and the Cove.

The other six students eyed Evin with greed, but seemed unwilling to make a scene in the Shelter.

"Ooh, quite impressive!" Teouka exclaimed as she glanced through the cards. "Well, you can pick whatever you want from around here, while I bring out the other item. Also, is your face alright? You should really go see the infirmary soon, you know?"

"I'll visit it after this," Evin said loud enough for the students to hear.

Evin was thankful that the teacher didn't mention anything about the other item being a map, and also for not mentioning anything about Amera. The other six students were surely curious about it all, but Evin wasn't so generous to relay information to his enemies.

Turning to the girl, he said, "You can pick anything you want. I've access to much more food than I need."

The two ate to their heart's content and Evin put some extra food in his newly acquired backpack. When it came time for him to choose a tent, he originally wanted to pick the smaller one he bought, but ultimately decided on a larger one, wide enough for two people, but low enough to be less visible.

While they were eating, Teouka came with the new map and the info on the Cove. Evin didn't hurry to read them yet, planning to check them out on the way to the Ruler's Palace. But as he was waiting, one girl from the six-man group approached him.