On the way back to the dorms, Morgan told him that he, Nelson, and Norish weren’t the only group out looking for Lilty; Wendy, Leila, Wollis, and Tohrk had also gone out to find her.
“Even Tohrk?” Almark was surprised.
“Yeah. Tohrk gets real serious when it comes to this sort of thing.”
“Huh.” Almark smiled.
When one of their own was in need, everyone banded together to help them. Wendy was right. This was a good class.
Nelson probably ran ahead and told the others, because Tohrk and his two cronies were standing in front of the dorm. When he saw Almark’s face, he snorted in annoyance and went into the building.
“Wendy and Leila are back,” Nelson told Almark and the others once he’d taken a head count. “Hmm. The only one who’s not back yet is Wollis.”
“He’s still out there?” Almark asked in surprise, looking around for the class representative. “Where did he go looking for us?”
“Well, it’s Wollis, so there’s probably nothing to worry about,” Norish said with an uncomfortable smile. “But going back to our rooms without him would be pretty mean.”
“I’ll wait here, too,” Almark said. “We got all of you worked up over this, so it’s the least I can do.”
“Then I’ll stay, too,” Lilty added, but Almark held up a hand.
“You don’t have to, Lilty.”
“But—”
“You see, I still haven’t spoken to Wollis ever since I came here,” Almark said with a smile. “So this is a good chance for me to finally get to know him.”
“Well, if you say so…”
Lilty headed to the dorm with the rest of the kids in one big cheery pack.
Almark waved goodbye as he remained by the entrance, waiting for Wollis. After a while, Wollis appeared in the road leading to the schoolhouse. He wasn’t carrying a lantern, but the dorm lights still managed to illuminate his handsome features; he appeared lost in thought.
“Wollis,” Almark called. “Thanks for looking out for us. Lilty and I are both back.”
Wollis didn’t respond. He silently approached Almark and stared at him. Wollis’s golden hair wavered, and his handsome face momentarily contorted in scorn.
“The forest was crying out,” Wollis said.
“Huh?” Almark’s eyes widened in surprise.
But Wollis said nothing more. He passed Almark, who then heard the door to the dorm opening. Wollis went inside without so much as glancing back at him.
After a rigorous scolding from the dorm supervisor Maya for being late, Almark returned to his room. He meditated, as was part of his daily routine, only for it to be disturbed by a growl from his stomach. He had missed dinner, but that shouldn’t have bothered him—in the past, he’d gone entire days without a single meal.
Back in his days as a mercenary, there were times when he marched separately from their main unit and had to spend two days sipping on whatever water he could find. Then there were times on his journey south that he ran out of money and had to spend sleepless nights curled up and fighting off hunger. He thought he’d gotten used to having an empty stomach.
The human body is so lazy, he thought. It had a hard time getting used to suffering, but obediently yielded to whatever was easiest. Almark had eaten breakfast and lunch, but just skipping dinner made him so hungry his concentration wavered.
I can’t do my training like this, he realized in frustration. He knew that mages were perfectly capable of using magic even when hungry, but he wanted to get some quality practice in.
He considered buying some sweets from Morgan, who often went out to town to buy them with his saved up allowance. Almark wasn’t audacious enough to ask him to give them away for free, but surely he’d be all right with trading some candy for a little cash.
Time was of the essence. The sooner Almark got some food in him, the better. Just as he took out a few coins and got to his feet, he heard a knock at the door. He opened it, wondering if Morgan came at just the right time, but found Wendy standing there instead.
“Oh, hey, Wendy.” Almark blinked, surprised by her sudden visit.
She wasn’t in her usual uniform robe; instead, she was wearing soft, comfy-looking clothes—likely because she was getting ready to go to bed. This made Almark a bit flustered, and he wasn’t sure if looking straight at her was appropriate.
Seemingly unaware of Almark’s feelings, Wendy said, “I heard you came back late with Lilty…so I figured you might have missed dinner. It’s not much, but…”
She handed him something wrapped with cloth. Almark thanked her and accepted the bundle, opening it up to reveal a few small cookies.
“Huh? All this? No, I can’t.”
“I bought some of these the last time I went into town, but I ended up with too many. There’s no way I can eat them all, so I’d appreciate it if you could take them off my hands,” Wendy explained with a smile. She retreated a few steps, as if to show that she wasn’t going to take the cookies even if he tried giving them back.
“Well, if you insist…”
Almark accepted the cookies. He knew the part about her buying too many was probably a white lie, but he couldn’t turn them down after she made this gesture.
“Thanks, Wendy. It feels like you’re always looking out for me.”
“I should be saying that. Oh, the star-shaped cookies are really good.” Wendy peered into Almark’s hands and pointed at one cookie in particular. “Anyway, I don’t want to disturb your meditation practice. See you tomorrow.”
With that, Wendy left. Almark followed her with his eyes until she turned the corner. But before she did, she turned around and waved one last time, mouthing “good luck!”
Once he confirmed she was gone, Almark shut the door and popped a cookie into his mouth. The cookies proved surprisingly filling, so he stopped after three to ensure they wouldn’t make him too sleepy.
But then, there was another knock on the door. He opened it, wondering if this time it actually was Morgan, but he found himself face to face with someone petite and skinny—the polar opposite of Morgan.
It was Lilty.
Almark stared at her in surprise, and Lilty spoke in just barely above a whisper.
“Thanks for today. I know you skipped dinner, so have this.”
Then she shoved a bag of wrapped cookies into Almark’s hands. Before he could say anything, she hurriedly added, “The star-shaped ones are the tastiest. Bye,” and ran off.
Almark returned to his room and compared the two star-shaped cookies.
Guess I won’t need to buy any sweets off Morgan for a little while, he thought.
The strange, eerie noise that rang through the woods at night, the flute-like sound Almark and Lilty heard—Northerners called it the Forest Magic Flute. Almark didn’t know what produced that sound, but his father said it was the grim reaper. A traveling mage he’d met said it was when “darkness took tangible form.”
But in truth, no one really knew for sure.
However, any child of the North knew that this sound could sometimes be heard at night in the woods, when it got dark enough. And when it did, it served as a signal for monsters to appear. Unusual and terrible monsters, different from any creatures that usually inhabited the forest.
Prime enemies of mankind. Terror given form.
Like the volapa, a two-headed abomination covered in black fur.
And the delugan, a terrible monster with hair as sharp as knives.
Or the marmudan, a warlock covered in scales that commanded strange magic.
Their biology was unexplained, and their reason for attacking people unknown. All that was clear about them was that they were terribly hostile to humans and incredibly powerful. Even seasoned mercenaries hesitated to fight them. Almark had encountered them a few times himself, and it was a terrifying experience. Even now, hearing their terrible cry—perhaps some call in an unknown language—made his hair stand on end.
Creatures that seemed like mankind’s fear of the dark personified. They brought massacre wherever they went and disappeared with the rise of dawn. Rumors spoke of mercenary groups that were unlucky enough to run into a group of them, only to be wiped out in one night.
But those were all tales from the northern woods. Almark couldn’t recall hearing that sound in any woods ever since he crossed the Menoba Strait.
The day after the incident with Lilty, Almark told Fia about the sound they heard in the woods. If they really had appeared in the woods last night, Almark wasn’t confident he could have kept Lilty safe while unarmed.
Upon hearing his story, Fia paused for thought and said she would reinforce the prohibition on students entering the woods at night. Almark hadn’t seen any monsters himself, after all, and there was nothing to suggest it was the same as the Magic Flute from the northern regions. And so, he didn’t pursue the matter any further.
But from that day onward, Almark included something else in his daily routine. When he returned to his room to meditate, he also diligently tended to his longsword.