That morning, after Kanon woke up, Kuon—who had stayed awake through the night—began laying out his plans for what was ahead.
Now that they had arrived at this small settlement, he intended to stay temporarily while processing all the new information he had gathered. There were plenty of stolen books and scrolls here, so he planned to study everything before moving on.
But after watching how Kanon walked so slowly—occasionally stumbling despite bracing her hand against the nearest wall—Kuon changed his mind.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of material for him to work with here. Kuon gathered the used weapons the bandits had left behind and began melting them down into several portable iron ingots.
With one of the ingots in hand, Kuon crafted a small set of bar chimes and fastened them to his belt. He gave them a light swing, producing a sharp, clear ring that easily reached Kanon's ears where she stood not far ahead of him.
"Can you follow the sound?" he asked casually, and Kanon answered with a small nod.
And so Kanon carefully stepped her way toward the sound Kuon was making.
'She's capable enough to act on her own.'
Exactly as he had thought. Kuon gave a single nod of satisfaction.
Now that Kanon was standing before him, Kuon looked her over once more.
Overall, her build was slender and tall, but several parts of her body showed signs of malnutrition that had likely been going on for a long time. On top of that, her pure white hair was left to hang so long that its ends were literally touching the ground.
Kuon inevitably sized her up as 'someone well-kept but neglected'—especially given that she had even included her own parents on the list of people she wanted to kill.
'Her height … 163 … no, 165, maybe?'
Kuon ran a quick assessment of Kanon and began working on something he had been thinking about for a while.
He took one of the prepared metal rods and melted it down into a long tubular staff, solid at both ends and hollow along its length.
Having honed his metal manipulation skills relentlessly over the past weeks, Kuon could now control the structural density of whatever he wanted to shape—meaning he could produce something reasonably complex as long as he had the material and the design.
What made the process slow was his own method. To melt metal and reshape it into something new, Kuon had to break down its original structure all the way to its atomic sequence in his own mind, then rebuild it in accordance with the specifications he required.
That in itself wasn't difficult, since he already had a deep understanding of inorganic materials like natural minerals. The hard part was synchronizing the simulation in his head with the Aether used to realize it. Because unlike ordinary thinking, Kuon had to manually calculate and compound the Aether required for each step. A single misstep and the structure he was trying to control would collapse and revert to its original form.
Kuon called this complex sequence of steps the 'input process'.
One minute passed, and the result appeared in Kuon's hands: a metallic white cane 130 centimeters long, collapsible into four sections, with one end fitted with a small ball that could rotate smoothly against any surface.
Kuon handed the staff to Kanon and let her judge it for herself.
"This is … a white cane?"
Kanon's eyes widened as she ran her hands along every inch of the staff. The cold metal surface surprised her for a moment, but then the sensation of the whole thing inevitably left her puzzled.
"Did you make this for me?"
Kuon raised an eyebrow. "Who else would it be for? You're the only one who needs it. Well? Does the length and weight feel right?"
Kanon didn't answer right away, but tried out the staff first. She tapped it once against the ground and swept it around as though scanning the terrain around her.
The small ball acting as a roller did its job very well—the staff could be moved aggressively without any issue.
" … This is good."
Kanon's comment came as a single brief sentence, and Kuon gave a satisfied grunt on hearing it. He finally stood and walked toward one of the small towers the bandits had used as a watchtower, then gave a light swing to the bar chimes hanging at his belt.
The sharp sound of the chimes rang out deliberately, and Kanon instinctively followed as though she already understood what Kuon intended.
The two of them arrived at the tower, and from there Kuon could finally see the full layout of the place more clearly.
He had explored the place the previous night, but it had been too dark to find anything hidden.
"This place may hold unpleasant memories for you, but we'll be staying here for two weeks. During that time, try to train your magic—it seems you have a real talent for it."
"…."
Kanon said nothing, only standing in silence as she looked at the faint silhouette of Kuon reflected in her eyes. Her thoughts were perfectly still, and without realizing it, she tightened her grip on the white cane that had helped her walk smoothly here.
"By the way, your hair is far too long. Doesn't it get in your way?"
The sudden question snapped Kanon back to her senses at once.
" … I trip on it often."
Kanon recalled many moments where she had fallen after accidentally stepping on the ends of her own hair. It had happened often back on Earth too, but became even more frequent after she arrived in Lios, where she hadn't even had her white cane.
"Why not cut it?"
" … No one was willing to do it."
"Cut it yourself?"
"I want it to look nice, so I can't just cut it carelessly."
"…."
Kuon fell silent as Kanon returned his question in her own way with perfect effect. But the answer made him sigh with tired resignation. If Kanon kept tripping over her own hair, it would significantly slow their movement going forward.
" … Sit down. I'll cut it for you."
Having no other choice, Kuon patted a wooden crate beside him and gestured for Kanon to sit there.
"You know how to cut hair?"
Seeing Kanon not move from her spot at all, Kuon sighed again.
"I used to cut children's hair all the time, so stay quiet and sit here while I tidy yours up."
Kanon said nothing more and quietly did as Kuon said, sitting there while Kuon calmly trimmed the long hair with scissors he had crafted earlier.
"Done."
After several minutes of silence broken only by the sound of scissors cutting through strands of hair, Kuon let out a breath. He looked over the finished result once more.
The result wasn't far from what Kanon's hair had naturally been. It was still long, but now only reached her waist, with certain sections neatly gathered into delicate braids. He had also trimmed her fringe slightly, so that Kanon's eyes were now more visible than before.
Of course, Kanon had no way of knowing what her hair looked like now. What she felt was that her movement had become lighter and more free, no longer weighted and dragged by the length and mass of her hair.
Kanon quietly ran her fingers over the braids in her own hair while Kuon gathered the strands on the ground—the cut-off portions of Kanon's hair.
"Can you use fire magic?"
Kanon shook her head briefly before answering. "My magic only just awakened yesterday, so I don't know how to use anything else yet."
That statement surprised Kuon for a moment, but he quickly understood. All the ice magic Kanon had used yesterday had appeared spontaneous and without any real structure behind it—it had looked more like she was creating those ice spears entirely on instinct.
Still, Kuon was mildly disappointed. His lighter only had a little fuel left and would run out sooner or later. But then something seemed to jolt him as a question crossed his mind.
"By the way, how have you managed to survive on your own until now? Can I assume you were also dropped in a forested area?"
Even if humans were a rare presence in the forest, monsters were scattered everywhere. Even the place Kuon had used as his temporary base was still an area fairly frequented by monsters.
If Kanon had truly been dropped in the middle of a forest like him, there must have been plenty of monsters and wild creatures there too. On top of that, help from her stream viewers wouldn't have been very useful, given that the way Kanon perceived things could be entirely different.
" … I can see the flow of Aether, so I walked following it?"
"The flow of Aether?"
An ability he hadn't known about. Kuon knew and could sense the flow of Aether in the air, but he couldn't see it.
Kanon gave a brief nod and rose from where she was sitting. She raised both hands to her chest and began gathering her own Aether there. But since it was directly manifested Aether, Kuon could see it well enough—it looked like beautiful blue-white cold mist.
"Schesile told me about it. It seems like an innate ability I already had from the start, which awakened once I finally arrived in Lios. The ability to see the form of Aether—whether directly manifested, or even what exists in the air."
The Aether in her hands then began moving erratically. Though she had been trying since yesterday, she still couldn't control it fully. Being able to see the flow of Aether in the air didn't help her control the energy itself.
"I didn't quite understand it at first, but after arriving in Lios, I found I really could see everything. I can see how Aether—not only moves by flowing from one place to another—but also gathers in one place like pools of water in the air."
Kuon adjusted his monocle and turned the explanation over carefully in his mind. "Does it help you with navigation?"
"This forest is full of Aether, and it grows denser the further in you go. So I walked following the thinner currents. That managed to get me out of the deeper forest area, but they found me."
The 'they' Kanon meant were surely the bandits who had captured her a few days prior. Kanon's account revealed that she had been unconscious for several days after being captured, and had woken on the exact same day Kuon arrived at this place.
'That's impressive.'
"So for almost an entire month, you were just walking by following the Aether? Impressive. But how did you eat? And did you never run into a single monster?"
Kanon bowed her head briefly, gripping the white cane Kuon had given her, and gave a short nod.
"This world is strange. In that forest, I found apples growing almost everywhere. But the apples were salty."
Kanon reached for the small pouch clipped to her waist and took out an apple. It was a vivid, gleaming red and perfectly shaped—far more impressive than any apple Kuon had ever seen.
Before him, Kanon held it toward Kuon with a face that seemed to say 'try it'.
"…."
This was a delicate matter. Kuon wasn't sure how to tell Kanon, so he decided to just take the apple and bite into it. The result was exactly as he had expected—nothing.
Not that the apple was truly flavorless—the real problem was with Kuon's own tongue.
His sense of taste had been dead for a long time, so he couldn't feel anything when eating.
" … I can't taste it. But … this apple seems to help with my body and Aether recovery."
Kanon looked briefly puzzled, then quickly took the apple back from Kuon and bit into it.
It was salty, exactly as she always found it. Which meant Kuon really couldn't taste it.
"But … a salty apple, huh? That's clearly not normal. Could its development be influenced by the Aether density around it? This is quite interesting."
Nearly every biological element Kuon had encountered on his way here looked more or less the same as what existed on Earth. Even the fish he had caught were of the same type commonly found in rivers on Earth—though he didn't know what species.
But if prolonged exposure to Aether could alter biological elements themselves, this would make for fascinating research material.
While Kuon was sinking into his own thoughts, Kanon continued. "As for monsters, I'm not sure why, but I never encountered a single one. I only learned about their existence when my viewers mentioned them, and only became certain after you asked about it just now. Maybe … they don't want to approach areas with high Aether density?"
It was only a random guess, but Kuon didn't dismiss the possibility outright. Either way, there was no way to know the answer right now, so he could only file the question away for later.
Kuon sighed and used his lighter to burn all the hair from Kanon he had gathered. He wasn't certain whether something like curses actually existed in this world, but it was better to be safe and destroy all traces containing genetic information—there was a chance they could be used as a catalyst.
He glanced once more at Kanon, who had tilted her face up toward the sky, and began wondering why this girl had been chosen to become a Drifter.
The one who had helped her before she was sent to Lios was Schesile—the same figure who had overseen Kuon. What's more, Kanon had been dropped in a deeper area of the same forest Kuon had been sent to. Kuon couldn't help but think this was one of Schesile's games.
But regardless of whatever reason lay behind their meeting, abandoning Kanon was something Kuon would never do—it went against the principles he had held all along.
***
"Are you ready?"
After closing up his suitcase, Kuon turned to look at Kanon. She stood in silence, right hand holding her white cane, left hand resting on the handle of her own suitcase.
Two full weeks had passed, and now the time had come to leave this place.
Kuon had read through every book, scroll, and parchment to be found here, so he truly had no further reason to stay. But just in case, he took several books that might prove useful and loaded them into a suitcase he had found.
Kanon's suitcase, on the other hand, held only the combined personal belongings of the two of them.
During those two weeks, beyond processing information, both of them had also trained their own abilities to a certain degree. Compared to before, Kanon could now control her Aether well and construct stronger magical structures, making her magic use far more varied than when she had still been relying entirely on instinct.
Kuon, too, had not abandoned his training routine. Although there were still limits in the form of insufficient information to push further, Kuon had more or less managed to overcome his deficiencies in optimizing his magic use.
'But this still isn't enough.'
Kuon watched Kanon approach, dragging her suitcase along—making a quick assessment of her current state.
Compared to when they first met, Kanon now looked visibly healthier. Largely thanks to Kuon regularly bringing in good catches, which had successfully improved Kanon's previously poor nutrition.
'I still can't believe she survived three weeks on nothing but those salty apples.'
Thanks to that, color had returned to Kanon's skin, which had always looked so pale.
Kuon rubbed his temple briefly while adjusting his monocle, then turned back in the direction they were headed.
He had already studied the map, and if the scale was accurate, they would reach the nearest city in three or four days of walking. Two days if they walked without rest—but Kanon needed breaks, so that wasn't an option.
"…."
Kanon lowered the hood of her cloak and let the sunlight reach her eyes. Beneath the cloak was the simple clothing she had been wearing all along—a plain white dress with thin straps, leaving her shoulders bare.
Kuon had given her the cloak after seeing her shiver at night.
Kanon heard the sound of Kuon's bar chimes begin to ring as he took his first step, which she naturally followed.
Two weeks had passed since their meeting, and Kanon felt as though nothing of substance had changed between herself and Kuon. The distance between them remained the same, with Kuon always actively respecting and keeping that distance from Kanon. Though the situation felt strange, she was relieved by it all the same.
Even as they walked side by side like this, neither said anything. Despite the closeness of the distance between them and the rhythm of their movement—as if each were waiting for or chasing the other—they simply walked on in silence.
A gust of wind brushed against her face, and Kanon closed her eyes briefly as she savored it. Beside her, Kuon's bar chimes clinked against each other as the strong wind swept through them.
' … This is alright.'
Kanon tried to convince herself. She replayed the scene of her first meeting with Kuon over and over in her own head. As long as the 'contract' between herself and Kuon remained in effect, she didn't mind what would come next.
'Because I have decided to follow him.'
Shaking her head, Kanon refocused herself on walking and following Kuon. The white cane in her hand helped enormously with navigation, and the sound of the chimes—as well as the Aether form—that Kuon occasionally released kept her on track without losing her way.
And so, four days passed.
The sky had shifted to late afternoon when the two of them stood in silence, looking up at the gate that loomed over their path.
But what Kanon's eyes held was not the same sight Kuon saw.
Though everything was still the same—faint silhouettes amid the orange light—what filled her eyes now was something entirely different from the forest: flows of Aether, wildly varied, coming from all manner of people and places.
If she were honest, it was a sight that made her nauseous.
For individual Aether, she was certain she could only see what was actively being used—those who weren't using it showed nothing at all. To confirm it, Kanon looked toward Kuon, who was not putting out any Aether right now, and sure enough, there was no white light she was used to seeing whenever Kuon released his own Aether.
"Kuon…."
Kuon glanced at Kanon, who was gently pinching at his cloak, and sighed after seeing her state.
Her face was pale and cold sweat was soaking her forehead, showing that Kanon had not yet adapted to this level of Aether intensity.
'I can't see it myself, so I'm not sure, but….'
In a city this large, there must be many people using their magic simultaneously, right? If so, this was nothing less than a nightmare for Kanon's condition.
"This is the city of Narc't, located in the northeastern region of the country Czes'na. If I'm remembering correctly, the population is around 900,000. I'd say it's natural for your eyes to be overwhelmed. But … can you hold on?"
Kanon had been trying to keep her eyes shut to reduce the intensity of the Aether that was straining not only her eyes but her mind as well. But after those words came from Kuon, she tried to slowly open them.
The sheer variation in color and intensity left her dizzy and made her eyes feel as though they were burning for a moment, but she pushed herself to adapt to it.
After a few difficult moments, the pain finally eased.
" … I still can't look at it for too long, but I'm alright now. Thank you."
Color returned to her face and Kuon let out a breath of relief.
"Good work, but don't push yourself too hard. Just close your eyes if it gets too painful—I'll find a way to dampen the effect later."
Going forward, it wouldn't do for Kanon to be made to suffer by her own unique ability. It would hinder their movement, and Kuon himself didn't want anything bad to happen to Kanon—the first follower who had placed their trust in him.
'I suppose I'll have to think about that for now.'