"Lucas?!"
Rosaline took another shaky step forward, her hands trembling faintly at her sides.
"You're… you're really here…"
Lucas smiled easily, completely at ease, as though he hadn't just walked into the most dangerous forest in the region.
Jemina slowly leaned toward Raisa, eyes sparkling.
"…He's funny. I like him already."
"Don't," Raisa replied flatly.
Lucas's gaze finally shifted toward them.
He gave a polite nod.
"And I assume," he said, "you're the ones who picked her up?"
"Picked her up?" Jemina repeated, offended. "Excuse you. We rescued her. There's a difference. Branding matters."
Lucas blinked once.
"…Right."
Then he looked back at Rosaline and his expression softened slightly.
"Rosa," he said quietly, "you really shouldn't be here."
Rosaline flinched.
"I-I'm safe here," she said quickly. "They're protecting me."
Jemina immediately planted both hands on her hips.
"Correct. We are very good at protecting. We even have a system."
"We do," Raisa added.
"An excellent system," Jemina nodded proudly.
Raisa glanced around.
"You brag about your so-called system when not one of your Ghastlies is visible."
There was a pause.
Jemina blinked.
"…That is a fair point."
She closed her eyes and focused.
The familiar threads connecting her to the Ghastlies spread outward through the forest. She could feel them, scattered across the area, hidden among the trees and undergrowth.
"They're around," she said.
"He passed through the Ghastlies without getting detected," Raisa said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Which means he's not ordinary. And I'm assuming… not alone."
Then her gaze sharpened fully on Lucas.
"Why are you here, boy?"
Lucas's eyes flicked briefly to the surrounding forest, the shadows, the subtle movement beneath the earth, the rabbits hidden among the trees.
Then he sighed.
"I am here to take Rosaline back home."
Jemina paused.
"…Oh?"
Her voice dropped slightly.
"Which home exactly?"
Lucas ran a hand through his hair, looking only mildly inconvenienced.
"I was hoping you'd just come with me quietly," he said to Rosaline. "Would've saved everyone a lot of trouble."
Silence.
Rosaline's face went pale.
"…Come with you?" she repeated weakly.
Jemina straightened slowly.
Her eyes narrowed.
"…I don't like where this is going," she muttered.
Lucas shrugged lightly.
"The baron is offering a very generous reward," he said. "Alive and unharmed, preferably."
A beat passed.
Then another.
Jemina blinked once.
Twice.
Then she slowly turned to Rosaline.
Then back to Lucas.
"…I'm sorry," she said calmly. "I think I misheard you."
Lucas smiled faintly.
Rosaline staggered back.
"You came to… bring me back to the baron?"
"I'm helping you," Lucas said simply. "You'll be safer if you don't resist."
Jemina felt her soul leave her body for a moment.
Then violently return.
"…No," she said.
Lucas glanced at her.
"No?"
"No," Jemina repeated, pointing dramatically at him. "You do not get to say something like that in that tone."
"…What tone?"
"That tone," she snapped. "That calm betrayal tone. I hate that tone."
Raisa crossed her arms.
"I also dislike that tone."
Rosaline's eyes began filling with tears.
"Lucas… we used to…"
"Be children," he finished easily. "Yeah. I remember."
"…We were friends."
"We were."
A pause.
"We're not anymore."
Jemina made a horrified sound and grabbed Raisa's arm.
"…Did you hear that?" she whispered loudly. "Did you hear that? He just said it like that."
"I heard it."
"That was awful," Jemina said. "Emotionally irresponsible."
She pointed at Lucas again.
"You are ruining a perfectly good childhood love story."
Lucas looked genuinely confused.
"…I don't think that's my priority."
"Well, it should be!" Jemina snapped. "Do you know how hard it is to find a handsome black-haired man with pretty eyes who isn't emotionally disappointing?!"
Raisa slowly turned toward her.
"…That sounded specific."
"It was specific," Jemina muttered bitterly.
Rosaline looked at Lucas desperately.
"Please," she whispered. "I don't want to go back."
Lucas's expression remained unchanged.
"I know."
"…Then don't make me."
For the briefest second.
Something flickered in his eyes.
Then vanished.
"I don't have a choice," he said.
Jemina went very still.
"…That's a lie."
Lucas met her gaze.
"No," he replied quietly. "It isn't."
Beneath their feet, the ground shifted.
The mudwolves were listening.
Waiting.
Jemina stepped forward.
"Let me rephrase that," she said softly. "You do have a choice. You're simply choosing money."
Lucas smiled faintly.
"Money is useful."
"So is not getting eaten alive by my ecosystem."
He exhaled slowly.
"Look," he said, almost reasonable now, "I don't want to fight you."
Jemina clasped her hands together brightly.
"Oh, wonderful! Then you'll leave."
"No."
"…That sounded like a yes-shaped sentence."
"It wasn't."
Jemina tilted her head slightly.
"Ghastlies."
Every rabbit emerged from the bushes at once.
Their mouths opened.
Rows upon rows of horrifying needle-like teeth gleamed beneath the moonlight.
Lucas finally looked around properly.
"…That's new."
"Elder," Jemina called softly.
The earth behind Lucas split open.
The massive mudwolf rose silently from below.
Lucas didn't turn immediately.
But his shoulders tensed.
"…Right," he muttered. "That too."
Jemina folded her arms.
"You had two choices," she said.
"Leave peacefully."
"Or ruin my mood."
"I am leaving with Rosa."
"That wasn't even- hah... my mood is totally and completely ruined."
Lucas sighed softly.
"…Yeah. I had a feeling you'd say that."
Jemina pointed accusingly.
"Also. I take it back."
"…About what?"
"You are no longer 'peak entertainment.'"
A dramatic pause.
"You are now a problem."
Raisa nodded.
"Accurate."
Behind them, Rosaline stood frozen.
Her heart quietly breaks between past and present.
Then...
The forest shifted.
Metal glinted between the trees.
Boots pressed against roots and fallen leaves.
One after another, armed men emerged from the shadows surrounding the clearing.
Archers above.
Swordsmen below.
Two men carrying nets.
Jemina blinked slowly.
"…Oh."
A pause.
"…You brought an entire disappointment squad."
"Mercenaries," Lucas corrected.
"That somehow sounds worse."
Raisa's eyes narrowed immediately.
Rosaline paled.
"There are too many…"
Lucas shrugged lightly.
"We surrounded the clearing before approaching. Standard procedure."
Jemina stared at him in deep offense.
"You prepared strategically for emotional betrayal."
One mercenary frowned.
"Boss… why are we still talking?"
"Because," Lucas sighed, "I'm trying to be civilized."
The Ghastlies reacted.
Every rabbit froze.
Their mouths opened wide.
Several mercenaries recoiled immediately.
"…What are those things?" one whispered.
Jemina pointed proudly.
"My children."
"They look cursed."
"Yes. They are perfect."
The ground trembled violently beneath them.
Too late, the mercenaries realized what that meant.
One stepped backward, and the earth collapsed beneath him.
A mudwolf burst upward from the ground, slamming into him hard enough to send him flying across the clearing.
Another exploded beneath the archers' tree, violently shaking the trunk.
Several screamed as they lost their balance and crashed through branches.
Chaos erupted instantly.
"MOVE!" Lucas barked.
Too late.
The Ghastlies launched themselves from the trees like tiny furry nightmares.
One attached directly to a mercenary's face.
"GET IT OFF—GET IT OFF—"
Another sprinted away proudly with a stolen dagger clutched in its mouth.
Jemina gasped.
"…Ghastly number twelve!"
The rabbit paused proudly.
"…Excellent work."
"WHY ARE THEY STEALING THINGS?!" someone screamed.
"WHY DO THEY HAVE SO MANY TEETH?!"
Raisa moved through the battlefield calmly, her tail smashing one man flat onto his back.
Another charged toward her, only for a mudwolf to erupt from underground and drag him screaming into the dirt before throwing him several feet away.
Not killing.
Just terrifying.
Jemina immediately climbed atop the elder mudwolf.
"Forward, my mighty beast!"
The elder lunged.
Jemina pointed dramatically at the net carriers.
"Those men specifically offend me!"
The mudwolf slammed directly into them.
The nets flew uselessly into the air as several Ghastlies descended upon the fallen mercenaries with horrifying delight.
Rosaline stood frozen near the rear of the clearing.
One mercenary spotted her instantly.
"There! Grab the girl!"
He rushed forward, then abruptly stopped.
A massive white wolf stepped silently into his path.
The clearing fell still for a heartbeat.
Huge.
Silent.
Majestic.
The wolf stared at him.
The mercenary slowly lowered his weapon.
"…Boss," he whispered weakly, "there's another one."
Lucas looked over and visibly froze.
"…That," he said carefully, "is significantly larger than the others."
The white wolf stepped forward once.
The mercenary dropped his sword immediately and ran.
Jemina pointed triumphantly from atop the elder mudwolf.
"HA!"
Lucas rubbed his forehead.
"Why do you have that?"
"I don't know!" Jemina shouted back. "It keeps appearing and eating my food!"
A Ghastly suddenly flew through the air beside Lucas's head like a projectile.
He ducked instinctively.
"…Of course," he muttered.
Despite the chaos, the mercenaries regrouped quickly around him.
Jemina noticed immediately.
Annoying.
Very annoying.
Lucas wasn't just some emotionally disappointing teenage boy.
He was competent.
"Formation!" Lucas ordered sharply.
The ground exploded beneath him.
He barely leapt backward in time as three mudwolves burst upward where he'd been standing seconds earlier.
"Oh, that's cheating," he complained.
"You invaded our forest!"
"…Fair."
The elder mudwolf lunged again.
Lucas met it head-on.
Steel clashed against claw.
The impact sent him skidding backward several feet.
Rosaline gasped softly.
"…Lucas…"
He straightened slowly.
Then looked around properly.
At the tunnels' opening beneath the battlefield.
At the mudwolves moving below like living shadows.
At the rabbits swarming proudly around stolen weapons.
At the lamias emerging from the trees with spears in hand.
At Jemina,
standing at the center of everything.
His expression shifted.
The humor faded.
Realization settled quietly in its place.
They are not going to win.
The earth beneath them rumbled again,
almost agreeing.
Jemina blinked.
"…Huh."
That was actually a little cool.
Lucas laughed softly under his breath.
Short.
Disbelieving.
Then he looked toward Rosaline.
"…Rosa."
She looked at him cautiously.
"What exactly did you find here?"
Rosaline slowly looked around.
At the warm lights glowing from the lodge between the trees.
At the rabbits proudly carrying stolen weapons twice their size.
At the mudwolves moving beneath the earth like guardians.
At Raisa yelling at Jemina in the background.
At Jemina herself,
standing triumphantly atop a giant mudwolf as though this were perfectly normal behavior.
Rosaline smiled.
"…Home," she answered softly.