Jarek, pleased with Sora's progress, approached him and handed him a vial containing a green liquid.

"Here, drink this. It should heal your wound. You'll need to be in top shape. Trust me."

Sora asked no questions. He uncorked the vial and swallowed its contents in one gulp. The bitter taste made him grimace, but he said nothing. He sat for a few seconds, waiting for the effect to kick in.

Silence reigned in the clearing, broken only by the rustling of the mist slipping between the roots. Finally, he felt a warmth spread across his side, then the pain subsided until it disappeared completely. Lifting his tunic slightly, he saw that the cut had already healed, leaving only a thin pink mark.

"Hmph... effective," he whispered.

"Of course it's effective," replied Jarek, a smirk playing on his lips. "Do you really think I'd waste my time with junk? "

Elwen, who had been silent until then, looked at the empty vial Sora was still holding in his hand.

"You always seem to have what you need at the right moment... strange for someone who claims to be a simple mercenary."

Jarek burst out laughing, a short but loud laugh.

"Hehe... I never said I was simple."

Then, regaining an unusual seriousness, he sheathed his sword and slipped his hands into his pockets. His gaze hardened, shining with a glint that neither Sora nor Elwen had ever seen before.

"Enough joking around. You've played survivor in this damn forest long enough. It's time to move on to the next step."

Sora frowned slightly and nodded, knowing exactly what that meant.

Jarek nodded.

"We're going to join up with Aria and Aden."

Elwen sat up straight, curious.

"Others? I don't know them either."

Sora also stood up slowly. "Where are we going?"

Raising an eyebrow in satisfaction, Jarek looked Sora straight in the eye. "You get straight to the point, I like that. We're going back to Grimpoint to prepare for the big showdown."

"Is it far from here?" asked Elwen, eager to discover a new city she didn't know.

Jarek seemed to think for a moment before responding sarcastically. "Probably a few hours... Why? Is the princess afraid of getting sore feet?"

As Elwen was about to respond to Jarek's remark, Sora gave her a look that she understood immediately and refrained from answering, contenting herself with following Jarek, who was already starting to walk away.

...

The sun was still high in the sky when the first houses of the city came into view. The flow of inhabitants moved relentlessly from street to street: merchants with loaded carts, mercenaries in dusty armor, children running between the legs of adults. A constant hubbub filled the air, mixed with the cries of street vendors and noises of all kinds.

Elwen stopped for a moment, her eyes wide. She had never seen such an imposing city.

"I can't believe my eyes..." she whispered, fascinated. "Is this Grimpoint?"

Jarek snorted without even slowing his pace.

"What, were you expecting a golden castle with flower-filled balconies? Grimpoint isn't a postcard. It's dirty, noisy, and ugly. But... you can find anything you want here, if you know where to look."

Elwen pulled her cloak tightly around her shoulders, feeling a little unsettled by the commotion already reigning at the gates. She glanced at Sora, who, unlike her, seemed much less impressed.

"You already look like you're used to it..." she said softly.

Sora shrugged.

"The first time, I had the same reaction as you. But you get used to it quickly."

As soon as they entered the alleys of Grimpoint, Elwen was struck by the striking contrast: on one side, lively taverns and stalls overflowing with goods; on the other, beggars in rags and half-collapsed buildings. The smell of spices mingled with the more acrid smell of sewage.

"Charming, isn't it?" Jarek said ironically as he pushed through the crowd, ignoring the hostile glances they were receiving.

"It's like... two cities in one," Elwen observed, her eyes shifting from the bright shop windows to the dark gazes of starving children staring at them from the shadows of an alleyway.

"Welcome to reality," Jarek replied curtly. "And believe me, compared to some cities, Grimpoint is almost like paradise."

Elwen remained silent, but Sora noticed the way she gripped the bowstring, as if to reassure herself.

Finally, after a few detours through the crowded streets, Jarek stopped in front of a building with thick stone walls, marked by time but solid. The wooden sign hung halfway out of the air. Sora recognized it immediately; this was where he had first met Aden and Aria: The Silver Horn.

Jarek pushed open the door without ceremony, and the familiar smell of waxed wood and warm alcohol enveloped them. The hubbub of the street was replaced by the voices inside.

A few glances turned toward them suspiciously, but most quickly resumed their conversations.

"Come on," Jarek said, pointing to a table in the back. "The others should be here soon."

Elwen sat down, uncomfortable, glancing around as if every customer could be a potential enemy. Sora sat down beside her, while Jarek, unperturbed, ordered three mugs with a wave of his hand.

They barely had time to put down their things when a familiar voice rang out behind them, tinged with amusement:

"Well, it's been a long time, little Obsidian."

She approached slowly, her boots clicking softly on the wooden floor. Her gaze slid from Sora to Jarek, before settling on Elwen. Her eyes lit up with a curious, almost mischievous gleam.

"And this... is new," she said, crossing her arms. "Are you going to introduce us, or do I have to guess?"

Elwen held her gaze without flinching, but her hand tightened discreetly on her cape.

Sora spoke up, her voice neutral.

"This is Elwen. We survived together for two months in the Brumenoire Forest."

Aria raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Is that all? I see you know how to surround yourself with people now. Welcome to Grimpoint, Elwen."

The young archer bowed her head slightly in response, wary but polite.

"Still minding other people's business, Aria?" Jarek said casually, his mug already in hand.

"Always," she replied, her smile widening.

At that moment, a massive figure entered the tavern. Aden, with his grave look and features marked by fatigue, made his way to their table. His eyes landed on Sora, then on Elwen, whom he detailed for a moment before simply nodding.

"You survived," he said to Sora in a low but firm voice.

"As you can see," he replied to the man he had only met once without ever having spoken to him.

Aden sat down without waiting, crossing his powerful arms on the table. His presence naturally imposed silence around them, as if even the air were heavier.

Then, a light and familiar voice broke the tension:

"Oh! So he's come back?"

Sora raised his head just in time to see Nerris arrive, laughing softly, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"If I had known, I would have prepared a welcome worthy of the name."

Her eyes settled on Elwen, and her smile became even brighter.

"And you, who are you? A new recruit for our joyful troop?"

Elwen, a little surprised by so much heat, replied more softly than expected:

"I am Elwen... an ally."

"A friend?" Nerris repeated, amused. "Then you are welcome. But be careful..." She pointed to Sora with a mischievous wink. "This kid has a way of getting into trouble."

Sora sighed, rolling his eyes, while Jarek burst into laughter. Aden, for his part, remained impassive, but his silence was in no way hostile: he simply observed the new arrival, as if he were assessing its importance in the trials to come.

The atmosphere of the table then changed subtly. Sora knew it, it was no longer a simple meeting: it was the gathering of a group that would soon have to face enemies far more dangerous than what he had known in the Brumenal forest.

Swallowing a sip of his beer and resting his choppe on the table, Jarek took the floor to get to the heart of the matter. "Well, we all know why we are here, I don't need to explain it... So before starting anything, I would first like each of us to quickly explain the type of Ushi he has, his abilities as well as the use he can make of it."

They all nodded in unison, except Aria, who did not seem to understand the reasons for such a thing. "What is it going to do for us? Moreover, I think we all know more or less the Ushi of everyone here."

Jarek breathed slightly with his nose before resuming. "In that case, Aria, can you tell me what is Elwen's Ushi?"

No words came out of her mouth, she just shook her head, expressing that she couldn't give an answer.

"Well, I think I answered one of your questions." he continued, while taking a sip of beer. "Then I think it's useful, to create some kind of tactic, to face Hota and his team, since we know almost nothing about them, we must at least know ourselves. We must be able to know if we have any Ushis that are compatible or on the contrary if they cancel each other out."

Noticing Sora's gaze, which seemed to completely ignore what Jarek was saying, he stopped and placed a hand on his forehead. "Please kid, tell me you know what it means to have Ushi compatibility and Ushi cancellation."

Not really knowing what to answer, Sora ran a hand through his hair, looked at all the members of the table one by one, and indeed realized that he seemed to be the only one who had no idea what Jarek was saying.

"How to say..." He tried to find a lie or an explanation for it, but nothing came to his mind. He gave up all hope and opened his heart to the truth. "Nah, I haven't the faintest idea."

All the looks turned towards him filled with a mixture of pity, resignation and a little annoyance from some.

Jarek blinked slowly, before resuming. "Well, I will then try to explain it to you quickly without going into too much detail. To put it simply, the compatibility of Ushis is a phenomenon that occurs when two people use their Ushis in a complementary way. For example, I who have a fire-type Ushi, if I use it with someone who has a wind-type Ushi, in this case the power of my attacks will be much more considerable. On the contrary, the cancellation of Ushis manifests itself when two people having contrary Ushis use them. Always using me as an example, if someone ever uses a water-type Ushi against me, they will have no trouble extinguishing my flames."

"And that, the enemy could use against us, that's why we need to know what types of Ushi we have, to establish the best possible strategies." Continua Aden, who knew where Jarek was going.

A flash of genius flashed through Sora's mind. "Oh I see... It's pretty simple to understand actually."

"I never said it was complicated." Jarek looked at all the people around him, and decided that he would be wiser if he started to reveal his type of Ushi, even though they obviously all knew it now.

"So as I just said, my Ushi is fire type, it allows me to create flames and control them." he explained simply, while making a slight flame appear on the tips of his fingers.

Nerris was the second to speak. "As for me, I have a plant-type Ushi. It allows me to create plants and control them, but I mainly use them to defend myself or set traps for my enemies. I don't yet master it well enough to attack with just that."

Although he didn't show it, Jarek seemed surprised that Nerris gave so much information about his way of fighting. Certainly they were allies, but giving so much personal information to so many individuals at once could prove dangerous, but he preferred to keep it quiet, after all, what she chose to reveal or not was not really his business.

"Mine." Elwen continued, "it allows me to create threads and I mainly use them to improve the power of my bow when I fight." she says, while making move slightly, thanks to her Ushi, one of the beer chopps placed on the table.

"My Ushi allows to create ice." Quickly replied Aria, not seeming to want to spread out on the subject anymore.

The tour de table continued and it was now Aden who spoke. "Thanks to my Ushi, I can predict in advance the opposing attacks."

Without anyone, or almost, noticing him, Aden gave a slight glance at Jarek, who had already understood the reason for such a visual exchange.

Jarek didn't reveal it to anyone, but since he had known Aden for a few years, he had already seen him use his Ushi many times and therefore knew that Aden was not exactly telling the truth.

But knowing that he had not lied either, he did not see the reason to say it out loud.

Afterwards, all eyes naturally turned to Sora.

He knew that this moment would come, that's why he took the time to think before responding. Currently, he had two choices open to him: tell the truth and admit that he had no Ushi or lie and publicly announce one of the two abilities he has and hope that Jarek does not disclose the truth to everyone.

And having weighed the pros and cons, Sora knew that Jarek wouldn't do something stupid like yelling to everyone that he didn't have Ushi. Jarek could certainly seem strange, but he was not stupid.

After making his decision, Sora drank a sip of beer from the mug placed on the table in front of him and announced: "Well me..."

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