A few days before Lith had to once again leave to resume his duty as Ranger of the Kellar region, Zinya finally mustered enough courage to tell Kamila about her final decision.
"Kami, I could never thank you and Lith enough for what you did for me. The last week has been the happiest time of my life." She said.
"This is just the beginning, Zin. There are still so many things that we have yet to do together. I"ll not be often home, but I"ll try my best to not make you feel lonely. I"ve already found a caregiver for you." Kamila replied with a smile.
The daily expenses for the caregiver and Zinya would make it even harder for her to repay her debt, but she didn"t mind at all. Kamila had planned everything and was ready to bear the consequences of her decision.
"Thank you, but I"d like to remain here." Zinya blurted it out.
"What? Why?"
"You have your personal life and your career to worry about, Kami. I"m not a child and you can"t take care of me forever. I"d rather live here as a housemaid than burden you more than I already did. I already spoke with Elina about it.
"The Verhen are nice people. They accepted to give me food and accommodation in exchange for my job while they teach me everything I need to stand up for myself. They are even willing to pay me once I"m done learning.
"I"ve also decided to file for divorce. If I stay at your house, Fallmug might look for me there. He will never come looking for me here, instead. I don"t know if I have the strength to face him yet, so this is the perfect solution."
Kamila tried to convince Zinya to reconsider, but she was adamant about it. Kamila was sad at the idea that meeting her sister without Lith"s help would take her quite some time. The closest Gate was in Derios, and to reach Lutia from there it would take her over one and a half hours.
Yet seeing her so happy and determined, filled her heart with joy.
"I did all I could to give Zin her freedom, if I force her to come with me, she would just exchange one cage for another. Here she"ll be surrounded by people who don"t take care of her because it"s their job but because they want to.
"Also, she will be safe from Fallmug, since attacking a mage"s family is plain suicide." She thought.
"Zinya and I have tried visiting her children, but Zinya"s in-law didn"t even let us in. According to the law, she is just a disabled, incompetent mother who has run away from her home.
"To be able to claim any right over her children, she first needs to get a divorce and have the means to take care of them. I don"t want to burden Lith with this matter as well." Kamila thought while preparing to say her goodbyes.
"I"m really sorry, I knew nothing about this. It wasn"t an elaborate scheme I devised from the very beginning to keep you and your home all to myself." Lith said as a joke, yet for second Kamila almost fell for it.
"When will you be back?" She asked.
"I don"t know. It could take weeks, maybe months. The silver lining is that now that you have exchanged your communication rune with Tista, she can help you reach Lutia whenever she is at home." Lith said.
"That"s not what I asked you, you silly. I miss you already." She hugged him tightly. During those twenty days they had lived together and the idea of waking up alone hurt her more than she expected.
"Will you wait for me?" He asked returning her embrace.
"I promise."
Lith took her back home, where they kissed one last time before he had to resume his duty.
***
Ever since Scarlett the Scorpicore had visited Leegaain, asking for his help to solve the issue of her inability to obtain a purple core and achieve new tribulations, she had remained within the Gorgon Empire.
Hundred of years had pa.s.sed since the last time she had left the Griffon Kingdom, back when she was still a young Emperor Beast. Taking the mantle of the Lord of the Forest had given her great powers but also a great burden.
"Travelling allows me to learn about different magical philosophies, understand what the heck Mogar wants from me with its stupid tribulations, and to check about Abominations. Many birds with one stone." She said out loud, drawing attention on herself.
"Dammit, I"m not used to be disguised as a human. I keep making stupid mistakes that force me to move from a town to another as if I"m a wanted criminal. I keep forgetting that fake mages need to chant gibberish to use magic and that they can"t break stone with their bare hands." She thought while calling a waiter to get seconds.
Another thing she had a hard time with, was the small portions of food humans consumed. Even if her appearance was that a woman, her body was still that of a Scorpicore and so was her stomach.
She looked like an adventurer in her thirties, about 1.67 meters (5"7") tall. Her shoulder length ashen gold hair had red shades and she wore a gold rimmed pince-nez on her nose.
The body Scarlett had shapes.h.i.+fted into was pretty, but not gorgeous. She preferred to go unnoticed in human settlements rather than being forced to constantly deal with flocks of admirers.
Centuries ago, when she had taken a walk with Salaark, they had been forced to knock down the entire male population of a village just to be able to order a beer without someone hitting on them.
She was currently in the city of Tyrenar, to investigate the rumors about a mysterious monster that was slaughtering men and beasts alike for no apparent reason.
"If I"m right, I might have found one of those new Eldritch Abominations. Right after the monster outbreaks ended, the Council reported the appearance of several creatures of unparalleled power.
"According to my sources, they should still be within my league. If I manage to track one of them and defeat it, I could finally learn something more about this Master. I could even find out his location." Scarlett thought as she took her communication amulet out of her pocket dimension for the first time in almost a year.
"Oh c.r.a.p!" She blurted out, this time intentionally. She had so many missed calls that it took her quite some time just to take note of who she wanted to call back and who she would just ignore.
"Call me if you need anything else." The young waiter gave Scarlett a kind smile that she returned while wondering why the heck a Treantling was working in a restaurant. Treantlings were trees that after living for centuries in a zone rich with world energy had become Awakened.
They were the plant equivalent of a magical beast. His disguise was flawless, but Scarlett"s enchanted pince-nez allowed her to not only see the mana core of her opponents, but also their life force.
The Eyes of Menadion were one of her most prized artifacts, which had allowed her to increase her knowledge about light magic by leaps and bounds ever since she had "liberated" it from the paws of a mad Griffon.
Just like for any living creature, being born from a good natured parent didn"t guarantee that they would inherit their heart or wisdom. Some of Leegaain"s children were so infamous that the Council had put a bounty on their head even though they weren"t even Awakened.