I had obliterated the boss of the worms—the Elder Worm—using my newly developed fire magic, Kagutsuchi.
Afterward, I’d had a run-in with Leonardo Gascoigne, the Chairman of the Council of Sages, and suffered through a lecture filled with cryptic remarks. He had left me with a stern warning before teleporting away, and I had trekked back to camp with a massive question mark hanging over my head.
By the time I reached the campsite, everyone who should have been sound asleep was wide awake. The atmosphere was chaotic. Torches flickered everywhere, illuminating the grounds as the Margrave Lavender House soldiers who had been on watch scrambled about in a panic.
"Ah, Rest! Where the hell have you been?!"
The moment I touched down from the sky, Yuri rounded on me, her eyes narrowed and her voice raised in a shout.
"Where did you go?! I was worried sick!"
"Sorry... but more importantly, what’s going on here?"
"What do you mean, 'what's going on'? Didn't you see?! There was a massive explosion over that way!"
Yuri pointed toward the wetlands—the exact direction where I had just fought the Elder Worm.
"I woke up to the sound of something going on a rampage, and then there was this huge blast! We could see the light all the way from here! You were gone, and I didn't know what had happened!"
"Ah... my bad."
I’d been so shaken by my encounter with the Sage that it had slipped my mind, but of course the noise would carry that far after a battle like that. Not to mention the blast from Kagutsuchi—there was no way anyone could have slept through it.
"I couldn't really get to sleep... so, well, I went out for a bit of a fight."
"A fight? You don't mean...?"
"Yeah," I replied, nodding heavily.
I’d been riding a high from that worm meat, but now that I’d calmed down, I realized I had done something pretty reckless.
"I was the one who caused that explosion. I used it to finish off the boss of the worms."
"Rest... you idiot!"
Yuri grabbed my shoulders with a iron grip and started shaking me back and forth.
"Why didn't you invite me?! If you were going to a fight, I would've been right there with you!"
"Wait, that's what you're mad about?"
"Of course! What's the point of me being here if I don't get to fight by your side?!"
It was a scolding I hadn't expected. Then again, knowing Yuri’s personality, it made perfect sense. There was no way I was going to get a sensible lecture about environmental damage or public safety from her.
"Honestly! If you ever leave me out again, I won't forgive you. Absolutely not!"
"Right, right... I get it. I'm reflecting on my actions. Truly..."
Technically, Yuri’s cooking was the root cause of the whole mess, so I wasn't entirely convinced I deserved to be the only one under fire. However, I knew better than to use logic against an angry girl—that would only be counterproductive.
I decided the wisest course of action was to offer a sincere apology. While weathering Yuri’s barking—she was acting exactly like a large dog that had been denied a walk—I scanned the rest of the group.
Ostray was nowhere to be seen. He was likely busy directing the sentries and securing the perimeter.
"............"
Urula was watching me from a short distance away, her attendant Arlie standing by her side.
"Sorry for waking you both up," I said.
I offered the apology for the sake of politeness, but Urula just continued to stare. Her amethyst eyes, devoid of any discernible emotion, were fixed on me.
"Um... is something wrong?"
"Just as I thought... you are one..."
"Huh?"
"Such truly... beautiful mana..."
"............?"
What in the world was she talking about?
Urula spoke with a hollow, distant tone, as if she were still half-lost in a dream. In terms of how little she actually listened to others, she had a lot in common with that old-yet-young Sage. I could do nothing but tilt my head at her incomprehensible behavior.