The prolonged state of spellcasting had made Margarita’s head throb slightly. She leaned against a tree trunk next to the bushes, gently rubbing her temples.
When Lovell’s “Thank you, Little Mari” drifted over, she knew she couldn’t just slip away. She might as well rest for a bit.
In the clearing ahead, the night hunt party was gathering their spoils. The stout woman skillfully gutted the boar with a dagger, the archer sat on a tree root tying a bandage, and the two swordsman brothers were discussing how to haul such a large carcass back to the city. No one noticed a person hiding behind that cluster of bushes at the edge of the forest.
Lovell didn't look this way either. She was bent over the boar’s body, searching for something. Her fingers traced a circle around the base of the bristles before she pulled out a small black crystal from the boar’s neck. She held it up to the moonlight for a moment, then tucked it into a cloth bag at her waist.
A Magic Core. Only intermediate monsters had them, and they could be traded for quite a few credits at the Magic Department’s laboratory. If one had the skills, they could even be hand-crafted into alchemy items.
Margarita made a mental note of it as Lovell’s voice drifted over again, as if she were intentionally speaking for someone’s benefit.
“I’m done. You guys haul it back first; I’m going to the stream to wash up.”
The stout woman looked up at her. “Going to the stream alone in the middle of the night? Is that safe?”
“It’s just that shallow creek a few steps from here. The blood on me looks terrifying; if I don’t wash it off, I’ll scare the kids when I enter the city tomorrow morning.” Lovell had already begun walking deeper into the woods, waving a hand with her back turned to them. “Go on ahead. I know the way.”
Margarita sighed inwardly.
Fine, fine. I’ve already closed my eyes; I can’t see anything coming.
The direction Lovell was walking in was headed straight for her cluster of bushes.
Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the canopy, striking the ground between them. Lovell’s face and head were covered in dark red blood, her red hair stuck in clumps to her cheeks, and her amber eyes glowed brightly under the moon. She looked at Margarita, who was resting with her eyes closed, her face holding a look of realization—the expression of someone whose suspicions had been confirmed.
“I knew it was you,” Lovell said, her lips curving into her standard fake smile.
“How did you know?” Margarita asked with her head tilted, eyes half-open.
“I saw Feather Fall once back in Arlan City. An old mage used it to jump off a clocktower and was perfectly fine, as if the wind had just blown him down.” Lovell pulled a dagger from her waist and crouched by a stone at the stream’s edge, beginning to wipe the clotted blood from the blade. “Pink mana, and someone catching me just as I was flung away by a boar... who else in all of Himlabacken would it be but you?”
Margarita fell silent for a moment. Pink mana wasn't particularly rare in the Magic Department, but her pale pink hue, tinged by the Star-Spun Stone, was indeed unique.
“How long have you been following me?” Lovell asked.
“Since you left the Adventurer’s Association.”
“Then you saw everything.”
“Yes.”
Lovell didn't stop wiping her dagger. The rushing water washed the blood from the blade into the stream, blooming into pale red clouds. Her movements were slow and meticulous.
“I first took a night hunt commission half a month ago,” Lovell began, her voice much softer than usual. “That day, I heard people in the cafeteria say the rewards for night hunting at the Adventurer’s Association were high. I went to check it out when I didn't have classes in the afternoon, and it just so happened a party was looking for an extra person.”
She sheathed her dagger at her back, stood up, and shook the water from her hands.
“The captain of that first party was a swordsman in his thirties. He was very experienced. We cleared three intermediate monsters that night, and I received twelve silver coins. It’s way more than what gathering missions during the day pay.”
Twelve silver coins. Margarita did the math in her head. A meal at the academy cafeteria was about nine copper coins, and one silver coin equaled a hundred copper coins. Twelve silver coins were enough for Lovell to eat at the cafeteria for a month and cover other expenses.
“Are you short on money?” Margarita asked.
“I’m not.” Lovell turned around and leaned against the tree beside Margarita, crossing her arms. “I have food, shelter, weapons, and a uniform. What do you think I’m missing?”
“Then why...”
“To save up,” Lovell interrupted, tilting her head. The blood on her red hair had already dried, making her hair stick out in stiff clumps. “Little Mari, do you know who my master was?”
Margarita shook her head. She knew, of course, but the mood dictated she shouldn't.
“An old thief in Arlan City named Grey Reed. He was the famous ‘Night Rat’ of the city, specializing in stealing from nobles. But he never stole from the poor, nor from churches or orphanages. He picked me up and raised me from a young age. ‘Rob the rich to help the poor’ was one of the few phrases I knew how to read.”
Lovell raised her hand, looking at the new red mark on the web of her thumb.
“He taught me many things. He said that in this life, I would either become a better thief than him or find reliable teammates and change careers to be an adventurer. But he never taught me how to make money to support myself.” She paused. “Because he was poor himself.”
Margarita said nothing.
“On the way to the capital, I spent my last copper. When I met you two on the road before Bilk Town, I hadn't had a proper meal for three days. I survived entirely on wild fruit I picked along the way.”
She let out a laugh—a self-deprecating one, completely different from her usual laugh.
“So, you ask why I come out to hunt at night? Because I need money. The people who look the most presentable in the academy are the noble children; the ones who train the hardest are poor devils like me. I don’t want to keep using your things, and I don't want to ask you for a loan.”
Margarita looked up at her. In the moonlight, the blood on Lovell had dried into dark brown patches, her messy red hair stuck to her face, and her amber eyes looked straight at her.
“Why didn't you tell me?” Margarita asked.
“Tell you what? ‘Little Mari, lend me some money’?” Lovell tilted her head. “You paid for all the food and lodging for you and Joshua on the road from Bilk Town to the capital, didn't you? Did you think I didn't notice? You bought herbs for him and paid the inn fees... How much do you have left?”
Margarita opened her mouth but found no words.
She really was running out of money. The savings she brought from Percy Village, plus what Renard had stuffed her with, had nearly hit bottom after the three of them traveled to the capital. After enrolling, the academy covered room and board, but daily expenses and the cost of the magic materials Margarita occasionally bought came out of her own pocket.
She had always thought Lovell didn't know these things.
“I realized it on the road,” Lovell said, as if reading her mind. “When you paid the inn fees in Bilk Town, you only had a few silver coins left in your pouch. Later, once we reached the capital, you never went to any shops to buy personal items again.”
She tilted her head and smiled, no longer faking it this time.
“So, you don’t need to think I’m just being stubborn. I simply need money, and I can earn it myself.”
Margarita remained silent for a long time.
The wind in the forest blew from the stream, carrying the scent of moisture and moss. The cries of night birds came from the distance, and the moonlight cast their shadows onto the stones by the stream.
Then Margarita smiled.
That smile made Lovell freeze for a moment. Because it wasn't the usual gentle, almost calculated smile she was used to. Her eyes curved and the corners of her mouth turned up, but her entire posture relaxed, like a string that had been pulled tight for too long finally being plucked.
“Lovell,” Margarita spoke, her voice softer than usual but her tone firm. “Take me with you from now on.”
Lovell was stunned.
“What did you say?”
“I said, from now on, when you take night hunting jobs, take me with you.” Margarita walked to the stream, crouched down, and reached out to trail her fingers through the cold water. “My mana circuit might be narrow, but I can still use auxiliary spells. There are many spells you haven’t seen yet.”
She looked up at Lovell.
“We split the reward fifty-fifty.”
Lovell stared at her for a good while, the expression on her face shifting from shock to confusion, then to something indescribable. Finally, it settled into a wide grin that revealed her canine tooth.
“Little Mari, do you know the intensity of a night hunt? You have Instructor Crow’s class tomorrow.”
“So what?”
“So you’ll be exhausted.”
“Then why take the difficult ones?”
Lovell burst into laughter and crouched down, slinging an arm over Margarita’s shoulder and smearing blood all over her.
...My gun handle is feeling a bit itchy; I have to bear it.
“Fine, deal,” Lovell said, then lowered her voice and leaned toward her ear. “But on one condition.”
“What?”
“Don’t tell Joshua.”
Margarita looked at her sideways.
“If he finds out, he’ll definitely insist on coming along. A guy like him... if he really goes into the wilderness for a night hunt, he’ll try to act tough day and night. If Professor Glion finds out, he’ll train him to death.” Lovell shrugged. “And knowing him, he wouldn't let me pay or let you pay; in the end, he’d end up shouldering everything alone.”
Margarita thought about it. Joshua would indeed do something like that.
“Fine,” she said. “I won’t tell.”
Lovell reached out her hand. Margarita looked at the hand covered in dried blood, sighed, and took it. With a sharp tug, Lovell pulled her up from the stream and gave her a casual pat on the shoulder, leaving a bloody handprint.
“Let’s go, Little Mari. The sun’s going to be up soon if we don’t head back.”
“You’re covered in blood.”
“A quick wipe with stream water is enough; I’m no noble lady.”
“You were just telling me to watch my image.”
“That was during the day. Who’s looking at night?”
The two of them headed back along the path they came. Lovell’s pace was much lighter than before, her red ponytail swaying in the moonlight, the bloodstains on her clothes becoming indistinguishable in the darkness. Margarita walked beside her, her footsteps making a slight sound against the gravel.
When they reached the city gate, Lovell suddenly paused.
“Little Mari.”
“Yes?”
“You didn't just come out tonight because you were worried about me, did you?”
Margarita didn't deny it. She indeed had another purpose. She had seen Lovell’s state, but there was another matter that concerned her more.
“You asked me in the cafeteria how Joshua was doing at the Student Council,” Margarita began. “I asked why you kept asking about him, and you said you were just asking randomly.”
Lovell said nothing.
“But in reality, you were confirming that he was at the Student Council during the day so he wouldn’t go to the training grounds to find you.”
Lovell turned her head away. The moonlight hit her profile, her amber eyes difficult to read in the shadows.
“You started taking night hunts half a month ago,” Margarita continued. “Half a month ago was the exact day Constance first went to the training grounds to find Joshua.”
Lovell remained silent for a long time. The torches at the city gate crackled in the wind, and the night watchman was leaning against the wall, dozing off. No one noticed them.
“That day, I saw you standing on the hill,” Lovell finally spoke. “The way you looked at her... you probably didn't even notice it yourself, did you?”
She turned her head and looked at Margarita.
“When you looked at her, you were calculating something. You even forgot to keep that smile on your face.”
Margarita didn't respond.
“So I thought, you might have more things to worry about than I imagined.” Lovell looked away and began walking through the city gate. “The least I could do was take care of myself so I wouldn’t add to your troubles.”
She walked a few paces, then looked back at Margarita and grinned.
“But since you’ve delivered yourself to my doorstep, I won’t be polite. Day after tomorrow, East Gate. There’s a commission for three Rock-Armored Lizards; the reward is pretty good.”
Margarita looked at her silhouette and laughed along.
“Okay.”
The two of them entered the city one after another and parted at the academy’s side gate. Lovell nimbly scaled the wall back to the dormitory area, while Margarita climbed through her window. Just as she closed the window, a soft cough came from Clara’s room next door.
Margarita froze.
“You’re back?” Clara’s voice came from the other side of the wall, sounding a bit sleepy but clearly awake.
“...Did I wake you?”
“No, I was already awake. I heard you when you left.”
Margarita fell silent.
“Don’t be late for class tomorrow afternoon,” Clara said, a hint of a smile in her voice. “Also, your clothes smell of blood. Take a bath tomorrow morning before heading to the cafeteria.”
“...Okay.”
The sound of sheets rustling came from next door as Clara turned over, followed by her final words: “That friend of yours has decent skills. But next time you go night hunting, remember to cast Invisibility on yourself. Don’t just use Feather Fall.”
Wait, you were following us?
Margarita buried her face in her pillow and gave a muffled response.
“Understood...”
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