"Mercutio, High Inquisitor, Lord of Mercury—tell me, does collecting titles help you sleep at night?"

  "Just shut up and follow me."

  Above the chaotic colosseum stood a boy and a woman overlooking the scene. Acacia's vision blurred in and out, his mind drifting between states of consciousness. Only adrenaline coursing through his veins like liquid lightning kept him aware enough to witness the mayhem below. Through hazy sight, he could barely make out the execution site's growing pandemonium.

  "Your strategy worked. For a seemingly normal kid, you're quite the schemer," Pandora noted, her usual coldness tinged with something almost like respect.

  "It wasn't that complex. When you told me you could fully control mercury, I figured leaving traces on my body before the execution would be the perfect escape route." Acacia sweatdropped, absently rubbing his fingers where Arx Ignea had nearly claimed them. "Though the flames came way too close for comfort."

  “I told you that my ability works in commands. I don’t need to vocalize it. Though, you may have just helped me in more ways than you realize…” She smirked in approval.

  The implication went over Acacia’s head.

  "It was… surreal having that kind of power flow through me, even for a second. I guess I'm not used to anything resembling Thaumaturgy." He calmly reflected before thanking her once again. "Oh, and thanks for setting up that hidden passage under the stage—even if the sewers smells like hot dying rats."

  Pandora didn’t respond. The two strode down the hill, leaving chaos in their wake.

  "I'll be blunt—you can't stay in this city anymore." Once they'd reached a safer distance, the darker-skinned woman's voice turned to steel. "That manipulative cur Cagliostro and his psychotic wife will hunt you relentlessly, even if proof of your innocence appears. This spectacle has drawn too much attention. If Gambino or Jonas connect me to the name Pandora, everything unravels."

  "I wasn't going to stay here anyway, even if I had the chance to fake my identity."

  "Seriously? You've lived here for years, and you don’t even the slightest attachment to Ocarina?"

  "A hellhole that praises a crappy family like they're gods and treats people without Thaumaturgy like garbage? I'll pass." Acacia's voice turned as sharp as broken glass. "Every day was dying in slow motion. Working a worthless job, studying endless hours for some prissy academy, living off instant noodles in a crumbling tenement—and for what? To get accused of something I didn’t even do?

  For the first time since that day, something like true anger blazed behind his eyes, a fire threatening to reduce Ocarina to ash.

  "I've always hated this city. Every single day felt like wasted breath. I could barely force myself to eat, let alone study. I was nothing but a cold, empty shell playing at being human. I hated it so much that death started looking like a mercy." The words spilled from him like poison finally drawn from a wound.

  "I don’t think that’s entirely right." Pandora saw through him. "You don't just hate this city; you also hate yourself."

  His silence spoke volumes.

  "You still feel the same way, don't you?"

  "...What do you mean?"

  "You feel the same. You're just thinking about a different place. Maybe it's not Ocarina you truly hate. Maybe it's something else entirely.”

  “...You tell funny stories, Pandora.”

  “What happened to Ms. Pandora?”

  "You don't look old enough to be an Inquisitor."

  "Ah, I'll take that as a compliment." Pandora's lips quirked slightly upward, a ghost of pride crossing her features.

  “You look old enough to be my grandmother.”

  Silver liquid erupted from beneath Acacia's feet, cocooning him in a metallic embrace before he could blink.

  "Wait, wait, timeout! That was just a joke about your hair, I swear!" Acacia's nervous laughter echoed from within his mercury prison.

  "You barely escaped execution and you're already courting death again? You’re so annoying." Pandora sighed as she dispersed the mercury cage, continuing forward while Acacia scrambled to catch up.

  "So, where are we going, Pandora?"

  "Somewhere far from this place. You're an Irregular, and we want to ensure that you won’t die after I busted my ass off to save yours."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "At least give me some options…" Acacia's mind raced through possibilities. Whether to pursue academics and find respectable work, or vanish into some rural backwater to farm the land—life stretched before him like an endless sea now that his prison bars had shattered.

  "I have an option. But before I explain, there's been someone following our steps for the past few minutes." Her intangible prana expanded through the field like a smothering blanket, projecting killing intent toward every living being within range—save Acacia. "Come out now or I'm killing you."

  They stood near an abandoned well in a darkened section of the outskirts where no soul dared tread. A blond boy, shorter than Acacia but close in age, burst from the bushes and fell to his knees, terror written across his features.

  “P-Please! I mean no harm, lady! I was just on the top part of the stage, and I saw you guys walking away! I don’t want to rat you guys out!” Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes, clearly appearing as though he was about to wet himself.

  Pandora raised her hand, forming a finger gun. Water molecules condensed from the atmosphere, forming a razor-sharp dot that hummed with concentrated pressure at the tip of her finger—enough to slice cleanly through flesh and bone.

  "P-P-Please, mercy!"

  "Pandora, stop. I know him." At Acacia's words, the water dispersed into harmless vapor. "Trifa, you can't be here. If they discover you talking to a criminal and his accomplice, they'll kill you without hesitation. Especially since you're an Irregular too—they'll assume you're part of some conspiracy with inside knowledge about Ocarina."

  Trifa's terror melted into pained understanding as he wiped his eyes and straightened his shirt, gazing at his friend with raw emotion.

  "I know. I just...I had to see you one last time before you disappeared."

  The blond—Trifa—lunged forward, wrapping Acacia in a desperate embrace. The gesture felt alien to him; no one had ever shown such raw affection since that. Yet, he didn't pull away for some reason alien to him.

  "I was terrified when everyone started talking about executing an Irregular! A-And then when I s-saw you up there, I thought—" Trifa's words dissolved into sobs, dampening Acacia's garb with tears and inelegant snot.

  Pandora watched expressionlessly, though something flickered behind her golden eyes, a smile she refused to acknowledge.

  Acacia patted Trifa on the head and gently pushed him away, placing his hand on his shoulder.

  "I'll miss you, Acacia. Even if it wasn't long—"

  "I know." The words came soft but firm. "I'm sorry we couldn't have more time, but I have to go." A small, genuine smile graced his features—a rare sight in Ocarina's shadows. "You were my first friend here. I'll always carry that."

  Trifa's face fell like a stone into still water, eyes fixed on the ground between them.

  "Hey, come on! I'm heading somewhere safer. Don't look at me like that."

  The boy's gaze lifted slowly, confusion mixing with desperate hope.

  "Sa-safer?"

  "Yeah, probably.”

  "I didn’t promise that," Pandora muttered, cleaning imaginary dirt from her ear.

  "I trust her judgment though." Acacia continued, undeterred. "Besides, this doesn't have to be our final goodbye. Maybe we'll cross paths in the capital someday. My village had an old saying:

  ’ If we meet again, it will be under the sun.

  If we don't meet again, then the stars will align for us to meet again.’

  I'm not vanishing just because I'll live elsewhere. In fact..." He extended his hand toward Trifa, confidence gleaming in his eyes, "I'll be the first Irregular to attend Vanguard University. You'll see it in the headlines—your super handsome and suave upperclassman breaking history! It'll inspire you to enroll too."

  Trifa snorted wetly at that, but clasped Acacia's hand. Even through fresh tears, hope shone in his expression.

  "Then I'll be the second one. May the stars align, upperclassman."

  Pandora sighed, striding forward to drag Acacia away by his prisoner's collar. "It's getting late, kid. Your family will worry if you don't head back soon," she addressed Trifa. Acacia nodded silently in agreement. Trifa lingered a moment longer, looking like he might rush in for one final embrace, but forced himself to turn away. They watched him disappear behind a building, his final wave and shouted farewell echoing in the evening air. Acacia returned the gesture with a small smile that faded as Trifa vanished from view.

  "I'm not gonna be in Ocarina anymore, huh..." Acacia’s face turned solemn as he stared at the ground, the reality of exile finally sinking in.

  "I'm sorry? You’re already feeling nostalgic?" Pandora shot him a sharp sidelong glance.

  "Ah, nothing. Just thinking out loud. So about my options?"

  “Option.”

  “Come on… there has to be more than one option…” Acacia’s eyes narrowed.

  "Fine! Three options!” She huffed. “Option 1: Live as a farmer and start a family with someone."

  "Boring, and highly unrealistic in this day and age."

  "The only unrealistic part is finding a girl who'd ever want to start a family with a midget like you, and why are you questioning me when you wanted multiple options in the first place?!"

  “I-I’m average height for a fifteen-year-old boy, you shortphobe!”

  "I'll leave that up to your imagination." She smacked him upside the head like a petulant child before continuing.

  "Option 2: Continue your studies in a less status-focused city. You'll want somewhere that doesn't revolve around Thaumaturgy. Try the borders near the Wallachian Empire to the north, the Hausa Empire to the south, or the lawless Desperado to the east."

  “...What about the Sugoroku Empire?”

  "You'd have to cross Desperado first, and even if you manage that, the Great Cascade separates us from Sugoroku. Thank the Lord for that—we just finished a war with them," a shudder ran through her frame. "But basically, look for trading cities. Commerce doesn't care if you can cast spells, most of the time."

  “What about option 3?”

  "...Oh, those weren't real options."

  Pandora's smile held the satisfaction of a cat that had thoroughly toyed with its prey. "I just thought you'd feel better thinking you had a choice."

  "Wait, what—"

  She seized a fistful of his collar, yanking him close enough that he could see flecks of gold dancing in her eyes.

  "You're coming with me."

  "...I don't get a say in this?"

  "You lost that privilege when you made that grandmother comment. Besides, you trust my judgment, remember?"

  "That was before you started manhandling me!" But despite his protests, something in his chest lightened. Perhaps it was the way she'd stated it as fact, brooking no argument. Or maybe it was how she'd dropped her usual calculating demeanor for something almost... playful.

  "Consider this payment for all the gray hairs you've given me today." Pandora dragged him forward by his collar like a misbehaving kitten.

  "Your hair was already silver!"

  Mercury erupted from the ground, wrapping around his legs.

  "Wait, wait! I take it back!"

  "Too late. You're stuck with me now. Try not to be too annoying about it."

  And so Acacia left Ocarina—not by choice, as he'd imagined, but dragged toward an unknown future by a mercurial woman who seemed to find delight in his suffering. Yet somehow, watching the city's lights fade behind them, he felt lighter than he had in years.

  Even if he still didn't know where the hell they were going.