Angeline wanted to go home as soon as possible, as fast as her legs could take her. She wanted nothing more right now than to dive into her father’s chest.
Angeline was jolted out of sleep by a terrible nightmare after dozing off in Maria’s cottage, as expected. She was soaked with sweat, and though her entire body felt painfully hot, she felt chilled to her core at the same time.
Even after awakening so abruptly, she didn’t have the strength to do much more than flop into a chair and wrap her arms around her shivering body. Maria immediately cast some sort of magic and gave her something warm and sweet to drink. That helped her calm down a bit.
Even so, Angeline’s body was sluggish and beset by fatigue. She even had pain in her joints like she’d come down with a terrible cold, but without a fever. She simply did not have any strength, and it was draining just to move. At this point, she couldn’t write her condition off as mere lack of sleep. Her spirit was utterly exhausted, and that was what was making her body so heavy. She would even occasionally burst into uncontrollable bouts of sobbing.
Maria refilled Angeline’s cup, her customary scowl fixed on her face. “Don’t make a sickly woman look after you. You really are a handful, girl.”
Angeline hung her head. “Sorry...” She sipped from the cup. The concoction had a peculiar aroma, something like several different kinds of herbs mixed with sugar and honey. Unsurprisingly, Maria’s brew was far better than Miriam’s; this drink was sweet, calming, and went down smoothly.
Maria flopped down into her chair, sighing. “Cough... Another bad dream?”
“The worst one so far.”
“Do you remember it?”
“No... But mom was in it. She was really sad, and I was sad too...” Her dreams were starting to become as vivid as real life, but as soon as she awoke, everything was shrouded in mist. Only the surge of emotions from the events she had witnessed remained vividly in her heart, the cause of her agony.
Angeline felt like she had been asleep for a long time, but the sun was still up, and the reddish afternoon light still beamed through the window, illuminating every particle of dust in the air. She sat there silently, head still hung, until Maria took a deep breath.
“Ange... Hurry and get back to Turnera.”
“Huh...?”
“I don’t know what’s causing your nightmares, and Schwartz’s goal is also unknown... But none of that matters if you end up falling apart first. I reckon meeting Belgrieve would be the best medicine for you.”
Angeline fidgeted. “But...” She wanted to return soon—that much was true. But to her, it felt like returning in such a terrible state would be like bringing all her problems straight to her beloved family and homeland, and she was loath to do so. If possible, she wanted to leave with nothing weighing her down but the mountain of gifts in her arms and the smile on her face.
Maria scratched her head. “I always thought it was absolute nonsense, but...have you ever heard of something called the flow of events?”
Angeline cocked her head thoughtfully. Come to think of it... When she had met Salazar in the imperial capital, she recalled him mentioning something like that. It had been too difficult to wrap her head around at the time, and Kasim had said it was completely meaningless, so she hadn’t paid it any mind until now.
“I think Mr. Salazar said something about it... But Kasim told me not to read too deeply into his nonsense.”
“I’ll bet he did. To be honest with you, of all the fields of magic, it’s the one with the least basis. But Snake-Eyes—putting aside his personality—is a top-class magician. If he’s gotten himself involved with Schwartz, then we can’t completely write off his drivel.”
“What is the flow of events? Does it have something to do with me?”
“I don’t know if it’s related to you. Essentially, it’s a natural flow separate from mana... You know how they say some things are just fated to happen? Cause and effect, karma, and all that? Well, those fated happenings come in all sorts, big and small. The bigger ones apparently have an influence on time and space. It doesn’t come from an external power like mana; instead, this flow arises from the will and actions of human souls. At least, that’s the theory. Cough, hack...”
“Um...” Angeline’s face gave away how lost she was.
Maria sighed. “Don’t look at me like that... I think it’s nonsense too. If it’s got nothing to do with mana, then we can’t observe it with any existing methods and we can’t even confirm it exists. There was a time when those folks dabbling in time-space magic made a huge fuss over it, but it didn’t get any farther than metaphysics—an abstract theory. I’ve heard that Snake-Eyes has been trying to approach it as a practical rather than philosophical matter, but...”
Angeline was completely out of her depth, and would have been even if she weren’t in such poor condition. She reached for her cup, instantly discarding any possibility of wrapping her head around the matter.
Maria picked up on Angeline’s befuddlement and shrugged. “Anyways, if they’re plotting something around that nonsensical concept, it’s going to be difficult for me to think of any way to counteract them. Dammit, they must really enjoy getting under my skin...”
“But...will I be okay returning to Turnera, then?” Angeline asked.
Maria seemed a little conflicted, but eventually, she shook her head. “I don’t know. But the Paladin is in Turnera, and there’s also Kasim and the Exalted Blade, right?”
“And dad...”
“Right, him too... I can’t imagine what Schwartz is scheming, but if these nightmares are his means of attack, then letting them destabilize you is the worst thing you can do. In that case, you’re better off somewhere where you can have peace of mind. No matter what happens, Turnera has a lineup that can deal with almost anything, and given whom we’re up against, whatever countermeasures you could prepare in Orphen wouldn’t fare much better than what you can pull off out there.”
“I guess so...” This seemed to be the best course of action to Angeline right now. All else aside, she felt that everything would work out as long as she was by her father’s side. Angeline finished off her tea and let out a long sigh. The longer she talked, the more her mind was roused awake and the more the details of her dream faded away. The sickening feeling remained, but she didn’t have the slightest clue what specifically had caused her to wake up in tears now.
“That’s what I’ll do... I’ll need to talk to the guild master, then.”
“Sounds like a plan. As things stand, the guild should be just fine even if you took extended leave.” Maria wearily slouched back in her chair. “If you’re leaving, could you close the windows on your way out?”
“Hmm...”
Angeline got up and slung her bag over her shoulder, then went around shutting any open windows she could find. She was halfway to the door when she suddenly recalled something. “Hey... Do you want to come to Turnera with me, granny?”
“I’ll consider it...”
Maria seemed to be thinking long and hard about something. She buried her mouth in her muffler and curled up in her chair. She’s like a little bird on a cold day, Angeline thought.
○
Angeline managed to catch the last stagecoach of the day, and though it made for a bumpy ride, she was back in Orphen soon enough. The sun had already set by the time she entered the city; the sky was dark and a cold wind had descended. She walked down a familiar path and realized she was feeling a lot more cheerful than she had in a long time. It was like her decision to return home had put an end to many of her worries.
Even so, that didn’t mean she could just take off immediately. She would need to talk to the guild and run it by her party members. She would probably have to handle anything urgent before she could leave, not to mention the additional procedures S-Rank adventurers had to go through before they could take a leave of absence.