“Is Ivela hurt anywhere?”

  Aira turned her head as she asked.

  “Just a small cut on the back of my hand.”

  Ivela answered shortly. For someone talking about an injury, her tone was too indifferent.

  “Wait. I’ll fix it quick. Even a small cut is annoying if it gets worse.”

  Aira was already walking up to her.

  “No. It’ll close on its own.”

  Ivela cut her off, but a spell circle had already risen at Aira’s fingertips.

  A pale green current brushed quietly over Ivela’s skin, and before she could argue again, the cut was gone.

  “···Stubborn.”

  Ivela muttered low.

  “Thanks for the compliment~”

  Aira grinned shamelessly.

  After that, Aira quietly wrapped an arm around Ivela’s.

  The pale green flow traced along the wound line, stopping the blood and slowly knitting the tissue back together.

  Ivela accepted the touch without a word.

  Then—

  “Rynel.”

  Without turning her eyes, Ivela spoke low.

  Rynel lifted his head.

  “Hm?”

  Ivela pulled a small leather pouch from her belt and held it out.

  “Goblin ears. Cut them off and put them in here.”

  “···Ears?”

  Rynel echoed, bewildered.

  “Yeah. It’s not part of the main job, but—”

  Ivela let out a short breath and continued.

  “If you bring proof of the kill, the guild might pay extra.”

  Rynel took the pouch with a doubtful look.

  “Is that a thing?”

  “It is. Not an official contract clause, but the guild and the office do take it into account.”

  Ivela glanced briefly at the fallen goblins.

  “Especially when monsters show up outside a dungeon. Sometimes they add rewards depending on how many you cleared—so long as the paperwork’s done properly.”

  Aira, finished with the treatment, turned to look at Rynel.

  “But, Rynel··· that’s surprising. You can’t use defensive magic?”

  She tilted her head, genuine curiosity in her tone.

  “Defensive magic?”

  Rynel shook his head slightly.

  “I··· I’ve never learned magic at all.”

  “Eh—?”

  Aira’s eyes went wide.

  “Really? I just assumed you had···”

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  “Then how are you using magic?”

  Aira tilted her head again.

  “Just··· focusing, and sending the force out?”

  Rynel answered shortly.

  “Moving things with just thought. Like that.”

  “···I see. That’s not like the magic I know.”

  Aira muttered almost to herself, stealing a glance at him.

  A brief silence.

  Rynel asked quietly.

  “Aira, you learned magic··· from who?”

  Aira blinked, a little surprised, then smiled.

  “When I was little, there was a magic teacher in my hometown.

  I learned the basics from them.

  Even the spirit magic I use now—I picked it up back then.”

  “Spirit magic···”

  Rynel murmured.

  “But I can’t actually summon a spirit yet. I can only borrow the flow.”

  She spoke lightly, then added:

  “My level is probably around mid 2-circle? About that.”

  “···2-circle?”

  Rynel frowned.

  “What’s that?”

  Aira stared at him with her mouth half open for a moment, then let out a helpless laugh.

  “Rynel, what do you even know?”

  She scratched her head, muttering.

  “This is insane. You throw around power like that, and you don’t even know the basics?”

  “I just··· did what came to mind.”

  Rynel said seriously.

  “That’s what makes it weirder.”

  Aira shook her head with a dry chuckle.

  “Some people read ten theory books and still can’t get past 1-circle···.”

  Rynel shrugged.

  “I just··· felt something like a flow in my head. And when I reach out, it follows.”

  “No way···”

  Aira mumbled, shaking her head.

  “To sense mana flow perfectly takes at least one or two years. Even with talent—”

  That was when—

  “At minimum, 3-circle.”

  A quiet voice.

  It was Ivela.

  Still sorting the cargo, she finally stepped into their conversation.

  Without lifting her head, she spoke like she was stating a fact.

  “···What?”

  Rynel looked at her, confused.

  Ivela held his gaze for a moment, then narrowed her eyes slightly.

  “That telekinesis. Another name for it is psychokinesis—telekinesis magic.”

  She exhaled.

  “It’s not how most mages handle mana. Usually it’s elemental magic like fire or wind, or borrowing a spirit’s power.

  But for you—pure telekinesis acting directly on objects, and producing that kind of force—

  That’s at least 3-circle. You need that level to do it.”

  “3-circle··· is that high?”

  Rynel asked again, still not really getting it.

  “Yeah, it’s high.”

  Aira answered immediately.

  “By the Mage Association’s standard, 3-circle is upper-mid tier. Even among academy seniors, that’s the top bracket.

  And plenty of field mages never make it past 2-circle.”

  “No one ever told me, so I didn’t know.”

  Rynel murmured evenly.

  Ivela let out a faint breath.

  “Whatever you don’t know, Rynel—your power is real.”

  Hearing that, Aira quietly refined the flow at her fingertips.

  As always, she simply did what she had to.

  Her magic wasn’t flashy, but it had filled every gap throughout the fight.

  Attack, defense, healing—always in the right shape, at the right moment.

  Even now.

  Aira carefully laid her hand along Ivela’s arm.

  The pale green current flowed gently along the wound, stopping blood and sealing tissue.

  Healing given without complaint, without hesitation.

  In the middle of chaos, it was the steadiest thing there was.

  Rynel watched in silence, and thought—

  Right now, Aira was, without question, the most reliable “teammate” among them.

  When the treatment ended, Aira drew her hand back and let out a short breath.

  “Done. It wasn’t deep. You’ll be able to move fine.”

  Ivela nodded once, wordless.

  A quiet pause passed.

  As if by unspoken agreement, the three started walking again.

  Then Rynel spoke.

  “···But still.”

  He looked around carefully as he continued.

  “This mission—no matter how I think about it, isn’t it way too dangerous for apprentice adventurers?”

  Aira frowned slightly.

  “···Now that you say it, yeah. Usually you don’t properly run into monsters until D-rank missions.

  Our party has Ivela, who’s C-rank, but—

  You and me, we’re both E-rank.”

  Rynel nodded slowly.

  “It looks like the mission was misrated. Or··· they’re hiding something.”

  When he finished, silence returned.

  The forest had quieted, and the wind slid softly between leaves.

  But tension still lingered inside that quiet.

  Then—

  Aira stopped.

  With a faint sensation pressing at her back, her eyes shifted without thinking.

  The box strapped behind them tugged at her mind again.

  She stepped closer to it, slowly, and carefully set her hand on the metal lid.

  The surface was still cold, and the magic seal remained faint.

  It looked fine.

  But something about it didn’t sit right.

  “Still··· what is this even carrying?”

  Aira murmured, tilting her head.

  “For something that’s supposedly just magic materials, it’s strange.”

  Rynel couldn’t see the box directly with it on his back, but the odd presence pressing in from behind still irritated his nerves.

  On the outside, the box was intact.

  The metal lid was sturdy, and the mana seal still lingered faintly.

  There were no signs of anything shaking loose, or trying to escape.

  But—

  Rynel could feel it.

  Inside the box.

  There was—something.

  It might not have consciousness. It might not have emotion.

  But it was moving.

  And it was reacting.

  Then—

  Tap.

  A vibration.

  Like something inside had lightly “knocked” on the wall.

  Rynel’s eyes trembled thinly.

  “···Again.”

  He whispered.

  “Hm?”

  Aira turned her head.

  “It’s nothing.”

  Rynel shook his head at once.

  It had happened right after the fight, too.

  Every time silence settled, the box reacted again.

  That reaction wasn’t coincidence.

  It felt like something inside was asking for a “connection.”

  ◇

  Toward late afternoon.

  The three of them arrived safely back in the city, and Ivela headed straight for their destination—Bobre Charity Temple.

  From the outside it looked like nothing more than a small place of prayer,

  but the requests handled inside moved more quietly, and more carefully, than you’d expect.

  “We brought the cargo sent from the Lakna shrine.”

  Ivela set the box down calmly.

  “Welcome. We’ve been waiting.”

  The priest who answered was a middle-aged man in a neatly draped gray robe.

  His attitude was polite and his voice was gentle—

  but his eyes still held a guarded edge.

  With a gloved hand, he pressed lightly against the box’s surface.

  His fingertips traced along the magic seal engraved into the metal plate.

  “Hm···”

  A sound like a short breath.

  Rynel narrowed his eyes.

  The priest’s hand paused briefly on the box.

  Then, very carefully, he rested his palm on it.

  In that instant—

  Ssshh···

  A subtle flow of mana.

  Rynel felt it clearly.

  As if something inside had “started breathing.”

  ‘Just now… the inside of that box—moved.’

  Even the priest lifted his eyebrows slightly.

  “······This reaction?”

  He muttered to himself, eyes fixed on the box.

  Then he carefully raised his head to look at the three of them.

  “While transporting this cargo··· was there any mana interference, or any contact?”

  Rynel’s heart thumped hard.

  “Nothing··· unusual happened.”

  Ivela answered evenly.

  “Is that so?”

  The priest regained his smile at once.

  But the warmth of it had dropped—just a little.

  “Either way, you’ve done well. That’s faster than expected··· a good sign.”

  He lowered his eyes, speaking as if to himself.

  “It means we’ve come one step closer to the method we seek.”

  “···What did you say?”

  Aira tilted her head.

  “Ah, nothing. Just thinking out loud.”

  The priest gave a light smile and bowed.

  Head still lowered, he whispered softly.

  “It reacted for certain··· it matches the flow of the prophecy.”

  With his fingertips, he rubbed a small bible at his waist.

  Between its pages, a blue seal responded faintly.

  His eyes flicked—briefly—between Aira and Rynel.

  Polite on the surface, but sharp and calculating underneath.

  Quietly, he bowed again.

  As if nothing had happened at all, wearing a gentle smile···