They made haste to leave the battlefield and get out of the forest as a whole, and thankfully, they weren't stopped by any other troublesome issues along the way.

The forest had finally begun to thin, the walls of tangled branches and endless mist giving way to open skies and faint sunlight. The air was cleaner now, lighter, almost as if the moment they passed that invisible line separating the Kingdom from the Empire, even the atmosphere itself felt different.

They had finally crossed the border.

The soldiers noticed it first; their tired faces softened, and the tension in their shoulders seemed to melt away. Even Adolf, who rarely allowed himself to relax, breathed a little easier as the scent of wildflowers replaced the rot and blood of the forest.

For Morena, however, the relief was faint.

Her eyes shifted toward the man walking a few paces ahead, the Wizard.

He hadn't spoken since they left the battle.

Not a single word, not to her, not even to his own soldiers, not to anyone. He carried himself upright despite his wounds, his robes torn and dried with blood, his staff resting lightly against his shoulder.

The faint aura around him hadn't faded, but it had dimmed, not because he was weakened, but rather it seemed he was restricting it, using it for a different focus.

Morena could only assume it was something similar to what the Warriors did to heal their wounds; he was perhaps using his mana to increase the rate of his wound healing.

Whenever she tried to approach, he would respond with only curt nods or short phrases that killed any chance of conversation.

She tried a few times anyway.

"How's your injury?"

"It's fine."

"Do you need supplies? I can..."

"I have enough."

After a while, she stopped trying; it was clear the man had his restraints when it came to speaking. Perhaps he was like this because they were strangers and the situation was uncertain.

Or perhaps this was just how the man was; Morena couldn't tell, and she didn't care much. Honestly, she only wanted to benefit from this as much as possible; getting to learn about the man personally was a side project.

For days, they traveled through the quiet plains that led into the Empire's lands. The terrain stretched endlessly, scattered with patches of grass and broken ruins from wars long forgotten; all towns and cities near the border had been either abandoned or fallen.

This was why they had to travel deeper into the domain if they wanted to find anything. From what she knew, the closest city was roughly a week from the border, and even then, it was only an outpost city.

Travelling through the Empire's land made Morena realize the sheer size of the Empire; it was massive. It wasn't a mere two or three times the size of the Kingdom, no, all thoughts about the size Morena had before paled in contrast to its true scale.

It was dozens of times larger than the entire Kingdom's landmass combined. If the entire population of the Empire were to gather and face the Kingdom with its full might, it would fall in days.

However, that wasn't possible. While the Empire had the royal family and the Emperor ruling it, it wasn't completely unified. Morena didn't know the specifics, but she would look into it eventually.

The Wizard's remaining soldiers, no more than a dozen, marched behind him in silence. Their discipline was different from her men. Where hers obeyed from loyalty, his moved like extensions of his will, trained to react without hesitation.

Morena couldn't help but study him as they walked. He seemed completely disconnected from those around him, as if the world beyond his mind didn't exist.

It was strange. Fascinating, even.

They made camp near the hills on the third night after crossing the border. The sky above them was clear, the stars sharp and bright, stars she hadn't seen before from the Kingdom.

A small fire flickered between their groups, her soldiers resting at one end, his at the other.

Morena sat quietly beside the fire, writing in her journal, when his voice cut through the silence.

"You're not from the Empire."

She looked up, surprised he had spoken at all.

"No, we came from the Kingdom."

His gaze turned toward her fully for the first time since they met. His eyes were sharp, piercing through her being like they were observing her everything, the kind that seemed to peel a person apart just by looking at them.

"Why?"

His tone wasn't curious. It was blunt, direct, as if he was demanding the truth, not asking for it.

Morena hesitated for a moment before answering. She decided not to reveal everything in one go, but told him bits and pieces, and the last thing she mentioned was the Church.

"The main reason would be the Church," she said simply. "Due to one thing and another, we got in their way, and they didn't really like that. They attempted to kill my entire family, so we had to leave."

He chuckled, low and bitter.

"The Church never likes it when anyone gets in their way. Hypocritical bastards, the lot of them."

He leaned back against a rock, staring up at the sky.

"Always screaming about purity and salvation while their blessed hands drip with the blood of innocents. Their false gods and hollow faith. It's a rotting system of fools worshiping liars."

His tone grew colder as he spoke, and Morena could tell the hatred there wasn't casual; it seemed to be a mixture of personal and systematic.

She stayed quiet, letting him speak, although she wanted to know more about the Church so she could eventually face them. She wanted to learn more about what he meant by 'false gods and hollow faith,' but she didn't press the issue.

After a moment, he glanced back at her.

"You came to the right place then. The Empire hates the Church more than anyone. You'll find no priests or missionaries here. This is a land where knowledge and truth are put above anything like faith."

She tilted her head slightly.

"Why does the Empire hate the Church?"

He gave a small, humorless smile.

"It's a long story."

The tone ended that line of questioning.

Instead, he shifted the conversation.

"What are you planning to do now that you're here?"

Morena didn't hesitate.

"My family needs to settle down first. The attack on our estate took a large toll on us, and leaving basically meant abandoning everything we had built. We need to rebuild and return to our former power, and beyond."

He nodded slowly.

"A sensible goal. Though you..."

He studied her again.

"You're not the kind to settle down. I know that look in one's eye. You've got the look of someone who's seen too much to stay still. Tell me, have you ever practiced magic?"

Morena blinked.

"Somewhat."

His brow arched slightly, as if he didn't believe her.

"I can tell you've been touched by mana, some weirdly twisted form of it, but it's mana regardless."

He paused before explaining what he meant in a bored tone.

"It clings to people who have the aptitude. Most don't notice it, but Wizards can notice it in others, and I'm specifically good at sensing mana."

She thought for a moment, then decided to twist the true story into something else. She didn't want to mention buying the book or the man who found the Wizard ruins.

She didn't want him to misunderstand and think she had something valuable on her; greed was always the cause of violence, and she didn't believe she could win against him.

"I met a wandering Wizard once," she said, lying smoothly. "He showed me some things, symbols mostly. Said I had potential, but I never saw him again."

The man gave a faint hum, clearly not surprised.

"I figured as much. Old fools like that tend to hand out scraps of knowledge before they die. Still, if he saw potential, he wasn't wrong."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I have an offer."

Morena straightened slightly.

"What kind of offer?"

He looked at her calmly, though his tone carried quiet authority.

"You'll come with me to Marshmill's Tower. It's where I belong, and where people with your aptitude can learn what they are truly capable of."

Morena hesitated.

Her first instinct was to accept right away, but she also couldn't abandon her family. Her family hadn't even settled yet; she couldn't just abandon them now, not after everything.

But the thought of turning down an offer from a real Wizard, an offer most people would kill for, was something she couldn't bring herself to do easily.

Who knows when she would get another chance like it? She would be foolish to just reject it.

"I can't just leave them right now. They need me to help them rebuild."

He nodded as if he expected that.

"I know a Count near these lands that owes me a favor," he said. "He's an okay man, for a noble at least. I'll write to him, have him assist your family. Consider it repayment."

"Repayment?"

He looked at her again, his expression unreadable.

"I don't like owing debts. You saved my life, whether I needed it or not. That's reason enough."

His words carried pride, but also a rigid sense of honor, the kind that refused to bend for anyone, even when wounded.

Morena gave a faint smile.

"Then I'll accept your offer."

He nodded once, curtly.

"Good. We leave for the Tower tomorrow morning; settle your affairs tonight. The Tower is in the other direction."

He stood and walked away toward his tent, the conversation clearly over.

Morena watched him go, her expression thoughtful. She didn't expect to have to leave so soon, she hadn't even told anything to her family yet. She already knew they were going to be a mixture of emotions, but it was a conversation she needed to have.

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