"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Aurelia flipped out, her anger rising to a new extreme.

At this point, even she didn't know why she was being so angry. Zephyr was just someone she had met a few days ago. Their interaction was minimal to say the least. But for some reason, boundless anger was consuming her as she saw him risk his life for nothing.

"I SAID I AM A BAD MAGE!" Zephyr shouted back at her.

The throbbing pain returned as he shouted. He spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm to the side.

"YOU HAVE THE GALL…"

"Of course I have," Zephyr spoke loudly. "It's not like anyone taught me how to be a mage," he added.

He knew Aurelia was just concerned. Despite raising her hand to knock on his head, she didn't do it. In fact, she took out her precious potion to feed him. So, Zephyr was also not angry at her for shouting at him.

Quite the contrary; he liked it. Never in his life had he seen someone so concerned about his well-being.

"What do you mean, no one taught you?"

Aurelia deflated like a balloon.

Seeing that, Elenor, who was holding her back, released her grip.

Zephyr smiled.

"I meant what I said. It's not like anyone has taught me how to use magic. All the spells I learned, I learned alone. Unlike you, I had no teachers in the past guiding me every step of the way. I might be a bad mage, but I am not stupid," Zephyr said with the same energy. It was his true feelings. It resonated with both the original Zephyr's life and his own.

"You learned it all alone!" Aurelia paused.

"Yes."

"How?" Aurelia was shocked. "Why? Weren't you the mage of the Storm Tower?"

"Yes, I was," Zephyr smirked. "I was a genius, wasn't I? But you know what happened later, right? They threw me away like trash the moment they learned my mana core was defective. They abandoned me. So, why did you assume they taught me anything?"

Zephyr paused.

"No… they taught me quite a few things. For example, you can't wait around for someone to help you."

Zephyr remembered the memories of the original Zephyr.

"Waiting around is a waste of time. Also, giving up was not an option for me. So, they also taught me how to live while the whole world belittles you."

Zephyr raised his eyes and looked directly at Aurelia.

"Princess, you don't know everything about me… just like how I don't know anything about you," Zephyr said, lying on the ground. For some reason, he had said more than he should.

He had always considered himself a calm and collected person. Someone of few words. He liked observing the world from a distance, interacting with it minimally.

However, now, this new world he found himself in was forcing him to take action. It was making him say some things he would have never said in his original world. It was messing up the equilibrium he thought he had.

Aurelia stayed quiet for a few seconds. What Zephyr said made her think about his situation from his perspective.

She was indeed overreacting a little.

She sighed.

"Sorry about that," she said slowly. "I was just… I didn't want you to die. I didn't want you to take unnecessary risks…"

Zephyr watched her abandon her pride and apologize to him. Taking a moment to breathe, he said, "Thank you for saving me. The potion was tasty."

Now that he thought about it, the potion tasted like MSG. It was quite good for medicine.

Aurelia smiled, hearing his response.

"And…" She wanted to clarify something. Aurelia searched her mind for the right combination of words.

"...You have a teacher," she said directly. "You also have us, your seniors, to guide you. Next time, if you have any questions, you can ask us. Don't kill yourself with unfamiliar spells."

"Okay," Zephyr said, sitting up.

The potion worked miraculously well, healing the damage he had done to his facial tissue—perhaps even his brain.

How much would it cost?

He looked at the princess.

She didn't seem like the person who would add it to the debt. Still, he had to be sure.

"How much was the potion?" he asked.

This made Aurelia frown.

"You still don't treat me like a senior, do you?" she asked.

"I do."

"Then why are you asking about its price?"

"To pay you back."

"You don't have to pay back. I am your senior. I am taking care of you."

'What kind of BS is that?' Zephyr wondered.

"Hm? Are you going to take care of me forever?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"Do you want me to?" Aurelia rolled her eyes, too.

"No," Zephyr replied promptly.

Elenor stood by, watching their banter with a smile. There were only a few people around the princess she could interact freely. Zephyr was slowly closing the gap, climbing into her inner circle. It was a good thing for the princess who had no true friends.

"Anyway, let's return to the original topic," Zephyr said after a while. "I think I know what Tom was doing, walking around the village."

"You know?"

Aurelia and Elenor raised their brows.

"Not entirely. But I have a guess."

Zephyr looked at the dog, the greyhound standing next to Moss. While traveling through the village, there were other smells the dog had picked up. One of the smells matched perfectly with Tom's movement.

While he couldn't be entirely sure if Tom was following the scent like them, he was pretty sure it was the case.

"I detected another interesting smell. It smelled like a combination of herbs, earth, and sweat. Most likely, it originated from an animal. Tom was most likely following the creature as it moved through the village."

"From the freshness of the smell, it feels like the scent existed at the same time as Tom's, further reinforcing the idea."

His words made Aurelia and Elenor frown.

"An animal?"

"What type of animal?"

"I don't know for sure. But it must be a small, stealthy animal, like a rodent or something."

"A rat?" Aurelia placed her hand on her chin, thinking deeply.

"Could be… a rat." He turned to Moss. "Do you know of any small critters seen around the village?"

Moss had heard everything they were speaking about—especially the word "princess" Zephyr had mentioned. His body shivered, realizing that he was flirting with a princess.

In this land, those who are called princesses are a dime a dozen. Most are directly related to the royal family. They usually marry into dukedoms in the form of political marriages.

Was he flirting with a married woman?

Moss quickly shook his head. That might not be the case. From the way Aurelia was behaving, she didn't look like a married woman. So, no young dukes were going to come kill him.

Moss was relieved. He wiped the sweat rolling down his forehead with a wry smile. Then he silently decided to pull back his plan of climbing onto her bed. He didn't have any chance of success. Even if he succeeded, he knew he would die shortly after.

A princess was not someone he could mess with. Making matters worse, the princess herself was an intermediate mage.

'Still, what if there is a chance…' His eyes unknowingly moved towards Aurelia.

The lady was wearing beautiful robes engraved with runic symbols. She had golden hair that flowed down her shoulders. The smile she displayed was enchanting and seductive. Any normal person would fall in love with her at first sight. Moss, too, was enamored by her beauty.

But she was forbidden fruit.

'I can only look, but can never…' His eyes slowly moved towards Elenor. 'She on the other hand...'

"Hey, Moss," Zephyr called out again.

This snapped Moss out of his thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"Do you know of any small critters seen near the village?"

"Ah! That!" Moss mumbled a few words in confusion. Then his mind focused on the issue. Suddenly, he remembered something. "I have seen rabbits nearby a few times."

"Not rats, but rabbits?" Zephyr raised a brow.

"Now that I think about it, both," Moss quickly corrected himself.

"Wait a moment. What made you think of rabbits first?" Zephyr was intrigued.

"Oh! That. It must be because it's unusual. I have heard others talk about seeing them, too."

"What's unusual?"

"They used to never come close to the village. But we are seeing them more and more," Moss gave a straight answer.

"Is that so?"

Zephyr thought back to the movement trail of Tom and the creature. They were moving together. When he formed a mental image and compared it with the map of the village, he could see them moving specifically in the direction of Tom's hut.

"It leads straight to his home," Zephyr muttered, tracing an invisible line on the ground.

"Why would a creature lead him back to his own hut?" Elenor asked, her brow furrowing.

"Maybe it wasn't leading him," Zephyr countered.

"Maybe Tom was chasing it. Either way, that hut is where one end of the trail ends. The other goes in the direction of the forest. Tom could have followed it out of the village."

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