While surrounded by silence, Sincir peeks at the orphanage’s main gate from behind a nearby building.

  Night has fallen for four hours or so now, meaning most respectable citizens, including the Sisters and Father Anders, have already headed to bed.

  Lockpicking the gate won’t be a problem for him, but he’s worried someone might see him… However, jumping the wall carries the same sort of issue, and it is even harder. Well, relying on magic to solve all of his problems might become a bad habit when his mana pool is this small, but in this case, it might be worth it.

  Taking a small deep breath, Sincir casts a sound-suppressing wind spell near the gate area, then leaves his cover as he walks nonchantly toward it, maintaining his eyes on his surroundings all the while…

  If he’s caught now, he could pretend to have lost his way while looking for the bathroom or something, which beats looking like he was bolting for the exit, by a wide margin.

  However, nobody calls out to him, even after he purposely walks a little past his objective, and so, Sincir quickly makes a turn and beelines toward the gate, pressing his hand against its lock as he casts an earth spell to lockpick it.

  Opening the heavy piece of wood enough to allow himself to squeeze through, he hurriedly closes it again at his back.

  Outside, Sincir quickly inspects his surroundings, making sure no passerby happened to spot him, then quickly heads down the street and away from the orphanage.

  Ideally, he’d have changed clothes for this, as the orphans’ attire is easily recognizable by the people of the town, but unfortunately, he couldn’t think of a way to find new clothes other than stealing, which would require him to leave the orphanage in the first pce.

  Thankfully, the night sky is bright enough to allow Sincir to make his away easily through the streets of the fishing town of Baystorm; Though, of course, that also means others are able to spot him easily, so he makes sure to keep himself near the shadows whenever at all possible.

  As for the city itself, it is more or less what he expected from an independent city-state surviving mostly from the trade opportunities its advantageous position allows. The streets are clean, many of the houses seem open and unprotected, and he has yet to spot a single homeless person.

  From what he can tell, Baystorm has been doing very well. He wonders what the innd has the offer in terms of resources – other than the fish, of course - which would allow them to thrive this much…

  Well, since he pns on leaving soon, it doesn’t really matter.

  Despite the te hour, Sincir spots many pces that are still open, mostly taverns, as he gradually makes his way downhill, approaching the port.

  By the time he finally arrives, Sincir realizes the pce is much bigger than he gave it credit for after seeing it from his window, containing at least several dozens of different-sized ships throughout its bay, many of which easily dwarf the buildings surrounding it.

  Baystorm must be a popur stopping spot, and Sincir realizes its port is still rather active even at this time of the night, as ughter drifts in his direction, carried by the wind. Since the pce is retively well-lit due the many taverns and shops throughout it, he hesitates to approach, and instead, remains near its edge, while concealed by darkness.

  Other than being comparatively noisy to the rest of the sleeping city, the port is also cold… Sincir grimaces as he finds himself rubbing his arms while observing the pce and waiting for an opportunity to gather information without exposing himself.

  Although he could cast a spell to keep himself warm, he wouldn’t be able to sustain it for long with his current mana pool, so Sincir chooses to endure the cold, for now.

  Well, he can handle this much easily enough…

  For a port this big, boats and ships must be coming and going daily, however, the trick is to figure out which ones are about to leave, and where they’re going, if he pns on sneaking out of the isnd in one of them.

  Sincir doubts he’ll find anything useful by listening into random conversations for an hour or two, so he refrains from approaching, waiting patiently near a tavern at the back end of the port for his opportunity.

  And, his patience is rewarded when, after a while of waiting in the cold, a man finally steps away from one of the busy taverns nearby, somewhat unsteady on his feet as he approaches the water and pulls down his pants, whistling softly all the while.

  After making sure the man is not being watched by any of his friends, Sincir finally leaves his cover of darkness, approaching carefully until he’s just barely within reach of the tavern’s light.

  “E-excuse me, my good Sir? A c-coin for the n-needy?”

  The man jumps, cursing out loud as he quickly pulls up his pants and turns toward Sincir, one hand against the handle of his curved sword.

  Seeing the man’s reaction, Sincir steps back, purposefully widenning his eyes as though about to run away.

  The man freezes. “…The fuck? A kid?”

  Sincir cringes. “I-I’m s-sorry…”

  Visibly rexing as he takes a deep breath, the man releases the handle of his sword and scratches his head, ashamed-looking. “Look, kid, this ain’t the pce for beggars.”

  “P-please, Sir, just a coin or two and I’ll be able to afford food t-tomorrow…”

  Making himself as small as possible, Sincir extends his hands forward pleadingly, meeting the man’s gaze while at the same time looking as though he might run away at the first sign of trouble.

  Of course, were the man to have been a local, he’d have known Baystorm has no beggars to speak of, or he might have recognized Sincir’s clothes as belonging to one of the kids from the orphanage…

  Instead, after a moment of hesitation, the man sighs heavily, reaches into his pout, then tosses a coin in Sincir’s direction, which he catches midair.

  “Fine, ye bastard, make sure to buy something warm. And find yourself somepce to sleep, it’s freezing out here.”

  Gncing at the silver coin in his hands before meeting the man’s eyes once more, Sincir smiles warmly. “Thank you kindly, good Sir.”

  The man clicks his tongue. “…Nearly made me piss myself, and I’m paying ya for it. Damn soft, bleeding heart…”

  “Ah, Sir, wait,” Sincir calls out once the man is about to turn away.

  He stops. “Aye?”

  “Truth it, I’ve always admired sailors and the sea… I w-was wondering i-if…”

  But the man is already shaking his head. “Sorry, kid, but the answer is no. With arms like those, you’re just baggage… And life at sea isn’t something to scuff at. Men die out there more often than they come back… It’s pure shit. There’s nothing to admire about it.”

  Sincir lowers his head sadly for a moment, then meets the man’s gaze again, his tone now desperate sounding, “Still, I wish to l-leave this p-pce… I’ve grown up w-watching the ships and the harbor, and I… I y-yearn for the s-sea, to see what the world… I…”

  The man frowns, then snorts as he shakes his head, smiling bitterly. “Then ye have already lost your soul to it, kid. My condolences. Grow up strong, and maybe you’ll be lucky enough not to lose the rest.”

  “T-then, a boat f-for the c-continent…”

  The man pauses, frowning thoughtfully. “…I do suppose ya might have better opportunity up there…” He sighs. “But I’m not sure I’ll find somebody willing to take ya, not for free.”

  “I w-wish to ask them myself, my good S-Sir, please…”

  The man shrugs. “I guess I can’t stop ya, if you’re this determined. Fine.”

  Pointing toward a distant, rge vessel up the harbor which still has several lit nterns throughout its deck, he says, “That’s Gale. It’ll leave for the continent in a day or so.”

  Fuck, that’s too soon. He won’t be able to finish Ena’s training…

  However, contrary to Sincir’s expectations, the man isn’t done, pointing toward another ship, this time one retively small, nearly dwarfed by the ones surrounding it.

  “That’s Second Wind. I hear it’ll leave port in a week or so. And that,” the man says as he points toward a nearby, medium-sized boat, “Is Liberty, my captain’s treasure. We’ll also leave in a week or so. If ya are so inclined, ya can try your luck with them, my captain included. But if they all refuse ya, then I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”

  “T-thank you very much!” Sincir excims, bowing deeply.

  “Aye, aye, now scram, my bbber is about to explode…”

  Not needing to be told twice, Varzath smiles as he quickly walks away, heading up through the sleeping town once more.

  On the way back, rotating the coin in between his fingers as he whistles softly, Sincir can’t help but grin in triumph. He was prepared to have to make the trip multiple times, or, worst case scenario, to use Mind Magic to extract the information he needed, but the whole thing went much better than he anticipated.

  Although a week is a bit sooner than the month he promised Ena, knowing which boats to sneak into and where they’re headed is much better than going in blind and hoping he ends up somewhere better than here.

  Also, once he is in Adall, going from one city to another will be simply a matter of walking, so he isn’t worried about the boat nding somewhere terrible.

  Now, all that’s left is to make the final preparations for his disappearance…

  That morning, Sincir skipped his training with Ena in pro of sleeping one more hour. Since he told her what he’d do, she was supposed to train on her own for once, but he wonders if she managed.

  Two weeks have gone by since they’ve begun training together. Lately, her blows have been growing rather sharp, and she doesn’t seem about to die during their run anymore; Her mixed heritage might have something to do with her rapid growth, but since she seems to think it was a result of her effort, Sincir was hesitant to bring it up.

  Well, since her heritage was to bme for her ostracization to begin with, then it is only fair for it to also become the solution.

  With him having awakened te for once, Sister Leona throws him a surprised gnce as he joins the others obediently at her call. Still, even with the extra hour, Sincir is barely able to get through his day without falling asleep, and by the time te afternoon comes around, he is ready to fall asleep standing as he heads for the library in order to wait for dinner as usual.

  “…Sincir?”

  “Afternoon, Sister, please don’t mind me…”

  Waving weakly toward Sister Gracie as he walks by her desk, Sincir contains a yawn. Damn childish body. He can’t wait to grow up… At least, an adult human body would have no problem going a night or two without sleep… Right?

  …Huh?

  Startled, Sincir abruptly opens his eyes as something touches his face, only to find Ena quickly pulling away her hand.

  “…Ena?”

  She frowns at him. “You missed dinner. I was worried.”

  Gncing at his surroundings, Varzath realizes the back of the library has grown darker than usual. Did he fall asleep here, without realizing it?

  “…Sorry. And rex, I’m fine.”

  “Did you… Did you find out what you wanted?” she whispers after a moment of hesitation.

  Rubbing his eyes as he contains a yawn, Sincir nods, and smiles. “Sure did.”

  Once she realizes he won’t speak anymore, Ena grimaces. “And?”

  Sincir shrugs. “And, all going according to pn, I’ll leave in six days from now. Sorry, but we’ll have to cut your training a bit short... Though, since you’re progressing faster than predicted, and you can always continue training on your own from now on, you should be fine without me.”

  Ena presses her lips together, sitting over her heels as she leans against the bookshelf at her back. “I can’t believe you’re going through with this. Aren’t you afraid of what might happen once you’re living outside?”

  Sincir shrugs again. The world is a scary pce, but he was once one of the scariest things out there, at least from the perspective of a human; He’ll make do.

  “You should worry more about yourself,” he tells her, “The world is the one who should be afraid of me.”

  Ena blinks, then snorts. “How you can say something so embarrassing with a straight face?”

  “Shame serves no purpose. You should consider getting rid of it, if you pn on succeeding at life,” Sincir advises, stretching his arms as he meets her eyes and smiles.

  “No purpose…? I guess it has never helped me before.”

  “It has never helped anyone. It helps the people around them... But then again, occasionally, it keeps you from doing something stupid.”

  “I see... Hey, could like you to quit acting like you’re sixty, instead of eight, when we’re together, Sincir? Please?”

  Sincir grimaces. Does he really speak like an old man?

  Seeing his expression, Ena chuckles. “I’m joking. It’s not that bad.”

  Sincir groans, then rises. As much as he’d like to stay and talk more, they’ll both get in trouble if they’re not in their rooms by curfew.

  “Wait, Sincir, you never said where the boat is taking us.”

  Sincir pauses, cocks his head, and gives Ena a look, who meets his gaze unflinchingly.

  ...Huh, he must be still half asleep.

  “…The boat is sailing for the continent. To where, exactly, I don’t know.”

  “Sweet. And saying your pn succeeds, what are we doing once we get there? You’ve at least given some thought about that, right?”

  Sincir closes his eyes, sighing heavily as he rests his forehead against the nearest bookshelf. Damn it, he should’ve seen this coming, shouldn’t he?

  “Ena…” he groans.

  “Sincir...”

  “…Ena, there’s no us.”

  “There sure is.”

  “You’re not coming.”

  “I sure am.”

  “…And I assume you’re threatening to tell everybody about my pn if I don’t take you with me?”

  Sincir opens his eyes as he looks down and meets her leaf-green, softly gleaming eyes in the dim light of their surroundings; To his surprise, she shakes her head.

  “No, I’m not threatening to tell this time. I regret having done it before, and I regret having left you to fight against Jael on your own when you came to save me.”

  “You came back,” Sincir points out.

  “You could’ve been dead by then,” she counters.

  In spite of himself, Sincir ends up returning her half smile, only to grimace a moment ter as he realizes she’s all but successfully seducing him.

  “…Why?”

  “Because that’s not how partners act.”

  “Ena…”

  She shakes her head. “I know I’m not good enough to be your partner yet. But I… I’ve decided I want to follow you. And I am asking you to give me a chance, no threats.”

  “You have no idea where I am going-”

  “I don’t care. Nowhere would be worse than here.”

  Lords, she has no idea.

  “It’ll be dangerous. I can’t afford to look after you all the time.”

  “Then I’ll become strong enough that you don’t have to. You’ve said I have potential, right? That I could become strong with time?”

  Sincir sighs, averting his eyes from the painful glow of hope in hers... He did say that, after she started showing potential, but he meant she could become strong with a decade or two of intense training, and by human standards...

  “Sincir.”

  Sincir looks at her.

  “Yesterday, I found dead bugs under my sheets,” Ena tells him, voice carefully devoid of emotion, “I screamed, and they ughed at me. Then, Sister Beatrice told me bugs aren’t a big deal, and that I should grow up… But I couldn’t bring myself to sleep on the bed, even after getting rid of them.”

  “…I take it you slept on the ground?”

  She shrugs. “I tried. But the thought of those things crawling over my skin kept me awake; I was afraid they might put some on top of me while I was asleep.”

  Sincir smiles bitterly. You see? This is why respect is important. Without it, they’ll treat you worse than an animal.

  “…Does that mean you still haven’t slept?”

  “I’m putting up an act, but the reason I came looking for you is because I can’t bear the thought of walking back there,” Ena confesses, averting her eyes as she smiles self-deprecatingly.

  Sincir notices her hands are shaking.

  “Jael and his friends weren’t the ones who did this.”

  “…No, they weren’t,” Ena whispers.

  After all, the boys sleep in a separate wing from her; Even if they had sneaked in to mess up her bed, Ena wouldn’t have been afraid of them putting insects over her while she was asleep.

  Sincir sighs.

  “Come, show me where your room is.”

  She blinks. “You wouldn’t be allowed in… It’s in the girls’-”

  “Don’t worry about it, just show me.”

  Ena swallows as she quickly rises and wipes away silent tears Sincir didn’t realize she was shedding in the dim light of their surroundings.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you this, it’s like I’m bckmailing you again-”

  “Ena.”

  Blinking rapidly, Ena meets his gaze, then quickly averts her eyes. She swallows again, cringes, and murmurs, “Okay...”

  On their way out, Sister Gracie takes a look at Ena, and then asks them if something is wrong, with a worried look on her face.

  Sincir waves at her and smiles, saying they have a small issue to take care of, no big deal.

  Thankfully, she doesn’t pursue matters further.

  Outside, Sincir realizes night has fallen over Stormbay, covering the orphanage in its embrace. Curfew must be close, which means he’ll be definitely missing it… Won’t Sister Leona just love having a reason to punish him? Well, she’s in luck, because tonight, he’ll give her a whole bunch of them.

  “Well? Lead the way,” Sincir tells Ena once she doesn’t begin to move immediately.

  “Sincir, what… What are you going to do?”

  Sincir raises an eyebrow. “Solve the problem, of course. If I understood matters correctly, currently, you don’t have a pce to sleep. Of course, if you really don’t want me to, then I won’t interfere. The choice is yours.”

  Ena bites her lower lip.

  “You have to decide if you trust me or not,” Sincir continues, “Or I won’t be able to help you.”

  After another moment of hesitation, Ena finally nods, then moves ahead as she walks toward the orphanage’s main building.

  Of course, Sincir would have no problem finding her room on his own, but there wouldn’t be much of a point in him going there by himself.

  Ena must learn to face her fears if she is to survive in this cruel world… And he doesn’t mean the insects.

  Some of the Sisters stare toward Sincir with surprise once they enter the girls’ assigned wing, but the fact he’s a child, and that Ena is the one leading the way, is enough to dissuade them from immediately approaching. Meanwhile, Ena seems to grow increasingly nervous as they grow closer to their objective, shrinking into herself with each step given forward…

  Then, once they turn a corridor, a woman around her fifties with a severe expression, having been waiting near an open door with her arms crossed, quickly begins to approach, frowning heavily as she aims Ena with a look of reproach.

  “Ena?! Where were you?! Curfew is already past, young girl!”

  Her voice causes Ena to cringe.

  “Sister Beatrice, I presume?” Sincir says, stepping forward as he hurriedly puts himself in between the two of them.

  Stopping dead in her tracks as though only now having noticed him, the woman blinks. “I… Yes? Who are you?”

  “I’m Sincir, but I’m afraid introductions will have to wait; A matter of great urgency requires Father Anders’ immediate attention!”

  Sister Beatrice frowns, gncing from Sincir’s serious expression to Ena’s distressed, slightly shocked one.

  “…V-very well, but-”

  “We can’t come with you,” Sincir cuts her, “So we’ll wait here. Now hurry, please!”

  Having said his piece, Sincir stares into her eyes as he clenches his teeth, allowing her to reach her own conclusions.

  Well, given Father Anders, being capable of simple Holy Spells, happens to be their healer, there’s about one obvious conclusion to reach, and after one more gnce toward Ena, Sister Beatrice finally nods, her expression now serious looking as she walks by then and quickly disappears from view.

  As Ena stares at him, slightly open-mouthed, Sincir chuckles softly. “Let’s go. Father Anders is most likely praying at this time, so we have about five minutes before they get back.”

  Ena shakes her head, expression making it clear she’s thinking about how screwed they’ll be once those five minutes are up, but then points toward the open door Sister Beatrice was standing in front of.

  “That’s my room,” she says.

  This time, Sincir doesn’t wait for her to take the initiative, assuming she’ll follow as he heads toward her room.

  As he walks in unceremoniously, many of the conversations around stop, and several pairs of eyes turn to stare at him in confusion.

  With bunk beds occupying most of the room’s rge space on both sides of it, there isn’t a noticeable difference between this and his own room; If anything, it is messier, surprisingly enough, with twenty or so teenager girls occupying the pce, most of them having been talking in small groups, or having already headed to bed.

  Noticing Ena has entered as well, now standing behind him as she averts her eyes and ignores the girls’ questions about her having brought a boy in, Sincir heads toward the nearest bunk bed, conveniently unoccupied, and snaps his fingers as he activates a strength buff.

  Then, grabbing the bed’s frame, he begins to drag it toward the door…

  To say it is noisy would be a criminal understatement, and Ena stares at him with wide eyes as he slowly walks by her, smiling.

  “Close the door and help me with the other side, okay?!” he screams to her above the noise.

  Eyes now even wider, Ena hesitates only briefly before hurrying to obey, and together, they effectively lock the room from the inside by setting the bed against its door.

  The following silence is absolute, and, nodding to himself as he stares at his work, Sincir deactivates his buff as he then turns toward the girls once more, some of whom still have their hands pressed against their ears, and all of whom, without exceptions, have their eyes now fixated on him, mouths hanging slightly open.

  Sincir smiles at them. “Hello. I hope we haven’t disturbed anybody’s sleep?”