The bloody and the not

Savine sighed and pulled out a magic tool. It had a speaker and a button. Savine turned it on and it started playing a recording.

' "What do you want?" '

' "…" '

' "Don't tell me you're wasting our time just to act violently?" '

' "Tell me about your family situation." '

' "I've told you, but you refused to believe me." '

' "There's no point lying at this point. Tell the truth. If you don't know, we can only wring it out of you through other means." '

It played the entire exchange between Savine and the boss's gang. It stopped after the first explosion.

"I've warned them not to touch us and I've also revealed our identities to deter them," Savine said, "I even described what would happen if they didn't comply."

"…"

"If they didn't seek death, they wouldn't have died."

Savine loved that saying.

But the listeners weren't focused on Savine's excuses. Their eyes were on the new device she procured.

"What is that?"

"It's a sound recorder."

Savine opened the recorder's lid. Two wheels with a line of magnetic tape appeared. But Savine did not bother explaining those. She spun one of the wheels and said proudly.

"Look, the mana motor. It can even record sound. How cool is that?"

The others stared at her flatly. Savine put the lid back on and sighed.

"We can prove our innocence if there's a need," Savine said. "Also. Zuri, come over here."

She followed behind, but slowed down when she realized where Savine was walking towards.

"Young lady…"

Savine held Zuri's hand and pulled her closer towards the corpse. It wasn't rotting, but the stench of blood was thick. Zuri clogged her nose and closed her eyes. Her whole body was stuck, unable to even shiver. Eventually, she opened her eyes and stared at the corpse. The blood spilling across the ground, brain leaking out of the shattered head, the disfigured and distorted face of the man, and his wide-open eyes, wondering how he ended up on the floor with half his brain missing.

Savine squatted down and put her hand inside the man's head. Her expression changed not a single time as she dug through the man's brains, got up again and raised her bloody hand towards Zuri. She was having enough trouble seeing Savine do something like that to a dead person, so when she held the hand to her, Zuri immediately reeled back.

"This isn't all who I am… but it's definitely an inseparable part of me," Savine said quietly. "This won't be the last time you'll see something like this. In fact, things will get worse."

Zuri nodded weakly.

"If you want to leave, I understand. You can take your time thinking about it. Go back to the inn and you can tell me your answer when I come back. You have my word that I won't make things difficult for you. But. You must tell me your choice personally. I won't forgive you running off without a word."

Savine waved her Vasa and the blood was wrung off Savine's hand. She then patted Zuri on the shoulder a couple times and walked off.

It didn't take long for the group to get ready for the jump. Unsurprisingly, Zuri decided to stay. She bowed respectfully and thanked Savine for the choice.

A second later, the group found themselves in a completely different place. The buildings were grander and the Circle's staff were haughtier. Raindrops fell from the sky. The duke's valet quickly produced an umbrella and offered a spare to Savine.

She refused the offer and focused on the thick mana surging past her.

She looked at the mana's direction and quickly found the giant grey tree towering above the sky like some sort of Lovecraftian tentacled monster. It had no leaves and its thousand branches all had holes at its ends to better absorb the mana in the air.

The Tree's stump was not visible, protected by a giant wall.

Savine decided to worry about the Tree tomorrow.

"Anywhere we can sleep? Preferably a place where we can wash up."

"The high end inns all work deep into the night," he explained. "Everyone knows that the richer patrons travel after midnight."

Boss was still somewhat confused. Occasionally, his eyes would dart around, searching for something. Savine was too lazy to care.

The group made their way towards an inn, and sure enough, there was an open one nearby. Eliseline and the duke got their respective rooms, and Savine shared a double bedroom with Boss.

The man was clearly unhappy with the idea, but there was nothing he could do. Savine didn't want to expend her focus throughout the night making sure he was still around. But if he's in the room, naturally, Savine would learn immediately if he were to move about.

The night was uneventful. Boss seemed to have a hard time sleeping, rolling around and unconsciously talking to himself, but at the same time trying his best to not make a sound so he wouldn't disturb Savine.

Savine found the Boss's two completely opposite personalities interesting. In the office, his presence was confident and unshakeable, but pulled into an unexpected situation, he was as meek as a lamb.

After breakfast, Eliseline went to the Head Temple to declare their arrival. Afterwards, the temple would send someone theirs to pick the rest of the group up. It was a meaningless, ceremonious act that would somehow take up a whole day.

Though it did give Savine a chance to talk to Boss. Even after morning came, he continued to walk on eggshells, making himself as invisible as possible.