The raven-haired contestant stood up confidently while everyone gasped as Hydron gritted his teeth. "Unbelievable...but you still won't win!"

The prince charged forward with his sword, but Shun blocked every attack and successfully made a cut on Hydron's uniform. He maintained offense until pushing Hydron all the back to the end of the field with the blade tip at the prince's neck. "Who has the upper hand now?"

"I still have one trick up my sleeve..." Hydron snickered and ducked while brandishing his sword at the ground, creating a dust cloud in Shun's direction. Hydron made a cut on Shun's dominant hand, making Shun drop his sword. The Vestroian prince charged forward again with his sword tip pointed straight at Shun's face. "You should've dropped out while you had the chance!"

All eyes focused on Hydron. Dan recognized what the prince was doing and gasped. "He's doing what I did with Shun the first time! Shun had better flip that sword out of Hydron's hands!"

"But Hydron cheated when he kicked dirt in Shun's face," Runo complained.

Marucho leaned forward and squinted. "Shun's hand is bleeding. I'm not sure if he can stop Hydron's sword in time."

Alice watched closely without saying a word. Shun, please be all right...

Shun glanced at his fallen sword, and then at the audience. When the time was right, he stepped to the side, but instead of pressing the opponent's blade with both palms, Shun grabbed the blade tightly with his uncut hand. The blade moved forward slightly and cut his hand, but Shun ultimately stopped Hydron and the sword single-handedly. "Nice try, but not even cheating worked on me."

"How...did...you...even...?"

Suddenly, all sensation of pain went away, and Shun used his injured dominant hand as well to grip the bare blade. While holding tightly, Shun swiftly turned 360 degrees as his feet stayed in the same place, while Hydron succumbed to the changing speed and flipped over, automatically releasing his weapon. Still holding it by the blade, Shun tossed Hydron's sword into the air and caught it by the handle, then aimed the blade at the prince, who now laid helplessly on the ground. "You were saying?"

Hydron's four closest aides rushed forward to help, but the prince waved his hand to call them off. "Fine. Shun Kazami, you win."

Met with mixed feelings from the audience, Shun added, "You shouldn't have gotten involved with someone else's business in the first place."

Some people whispered, "I can't believe he defeated Prince Hydron so easily like that..."

Others complained, "Hydron shouldn't have cheated into the first place."

Prince Hydron stood up and asked for his sword back. "You may be a worthy opponent, but what happened here won't change my mind about taking Miss Alice in as my concubine."

Shun smirked and picked up his weapon. "We'll see about that."

After Hydron left, the referee approached Shun and said, "That was an automatic victory for you, so I'll finalize the official records now."

As Shun bowed and walked away, he saw his friends running over. "You're all here. Thanks to Hydron, we all wasted too much time."

Dan gently punched the raven-haired contestant's arm. "That was even better than when we fought! Teach me how you do this, Shun!"

"Don't listen to a word that Dan says," Runo warned. "He just wants to show off to his supervising general in the future."

"I'm worried that Hydron may interfere with future exams, but let's hope this experience will teach him not to," Marucho prayed.

"Thanks for supporting me the whole time." Wait, where's Alice? He looked around and saw the redhead, her face wet with tears. "Alice, why are you crying? I won against—"

"I know you won, but at the expense of injuries on your hands."

"What are you talking about?" He showed her the front and back of his hands. "I'm perfectly fine. This cut from Hydron's sneak attack healed quickly, and I only have scratches on my palms from when I grabbed his blade."

"No way...but how?"

Shun looked around and leaned over to whisper, "I think the phoenix pendant helped me during halfway. Otherwise, I would've lost."

Alice stared at the superficial scratches and gently touched the initial cut before hugging him tightly. "You're my hero."

The raven-haired victor flustered at the sound of those words. "I wish. Hydron still insists on his original proposal. Since he found out about you from the applications, I'm scared that you'll target you from there."

"No matter what he does, I'll still take the herbalist exam. He's not in control of my life."

Shun let go of Alice and wiped her tears away. "That's the spirit."

"Thanks, Shun." Luckily, the redness on her face from crying masked the blush developed from him touching her face. However, she still couldn't stop thinking about Hydron cheating on the field earlier. If he did that to Shun to win and get rid of him, then who knows what he'll do to me during my exam?

-x-x-x-x-x-

"You're a tourist guide now?" Fabia asked, despite knowing the answer already.

"I am. It's not bad, since I grew up here, and people know me well."

Another awkward silence followed as Fabia and Ren sat in the waiting room of the travel agency check-in center. Eventually, the bluenette asked, "Can you help us with something?"

"Say it."

"Dan, Runo, Ace, Marucho, and I came here to investigate something, and one of the clues led us here to your hometown. I wanted—"

"Hold on." Ren interrupted and counted his fingers. "Runo's not studying archaeology. What's she doing you guys?"

"There was another clue that led us to her parents' hometown, so Runo came along since she didn't trust Dan doing risky things—"

"Is this real?" After being interrupted for the second time, Ren and Fabia stared at each other before the tour guide spoke again. "I have nothing against Runo, but why is she with you? What did I ever do wrong?"

"Ren, what are you talking about? What's there to compare between you and Runo?"

"I studied extremely hard for the archaeology entrance exam with all of you, yet I was the only one who didn't pass. You made it, yet didn't even come talk to me about it."

"If that's what you're still upset about, then I'll apologize right now. I'm sorry for not keeping in touch, but this is a competitive field of study, and I had to work on my other applications as well."

"Dan scored the highest but still took time out to help me with packing and all that."

"How can you compare me to Dan?! Ren, I never looked down on you for not passing, but those who passed were required to start the program. I still had a lot of work to finish up. What does this have to do with Runo?"

"Dan still keeps in touch with Runo, but I haven't heard from you ever since."

"Runo pursued a different career path to begin with. I didn't talk to you because I didn't want to remind you of archaeology."

"You could've sent me a card or even a text—"

"What is happening?!" Dan arrived in the waiting room with Runo as Ren and Fabia immediately went silent again. "You two were just talking earlier. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," they both answered.

"Well then, I'll talk instead. Runo and I drove the married couple to the hospital and just came back. Ace and Marucho are walking back here right now after wandering off too far. Hey Ren, maybe you can help us with—"

Runo dragged the brunette aside and whispered, "I think they were arguing heatedly. You're not making the situation any better."

"So what do we do?"

"Leave it to me." The pigtailed girl approached Fabia and Ren. "Care to explain what you two were talking about earlier?"

"No," they answered again.

"If that's the case, then I spill everything. I know you two are extremely passionate about archaeology, but Fabia made it while Ren didn't. Ren, you felt very upset and wondered why you were the only one. You wanted someone to talk to, but the person you wanted to talk to the most wasn't there for you. Fabia, you passed with an exam score slightly below average, which drove you to work even harder to fully utilize the opportunity ahead of you. You didn't realize that Ren didn't pass and didn't follow up. Things were tough for both of you, but avoiding each other won't solve the problem."

Dan understood what Runo doing and chimed in. "Look at me and Runo. She entered culinary school while I'm pursuing archaeology. Even though our schedules are completely different, we still take time out to talk to each other. Recently, there have been some accidents at an archaeological site. There's a mystery behind one artifacts, and part of the investigation led us to Runo's parents' hometown. We realized that we don't take enough time out to talk, so now Runo's helping us uncover this mystery. You two probably won't listen to a single word we say, but remember this—don't forget the good times."

After hearing what Dan and Runo said, Ren and Fabia glanced at each other until looking away. After a while, the bluenette intern spoke. "I'm sorry for not being there when you needed support the most, Ren."

The tour guide sighed and faced Fabia. "I know you're very passionate about archaeology, and I understand how difficult the entire process was. I shouldn't have been so narrow minded like that."

"Hey guys, what did we miss?" Ace arrived in the lobby and greeted everyone. "Why's everyone all so silent suddenly?"

Marucho came in a few seconds later. "We tried asking around about any major event in history relating to this area, but everyone turned out to be a tourist. Nobody understands the poem as well."

"Poem?" Ren asked loudly, catching everyone's attention. "You all never told me why you're here in the first place."

Dan explained everything, as usual. "We should've asked you for help first, but then Fabia was here, and there were other problems..."

"I know what poem you're talking about." The tourist guide clenched his fist and cleared his throat.

To warm a dried soul revitalizing in the shade

Coming from a tree grown where the fertile soil laid

While Ace and Fabia looked for coordinates in the medicine book, Runo borrowed Dan's car keys to retrieve the metal box. "This is the artifact that we're talking about, Ren." Then she showed the two empty rings from herself and Marucho. "There are slots on the faces where the ornaments on our rings fit. You have one, right?"

Ren pulled on his collar and removed out the necklace that he wore. "Even since my parents passed away, I memorized that poem and kept this ring close to me." He opened the clasp and let the ring out of the chain. "What do you need it for?"

As usual, Dan took a picture of the purple stone ornament and translated the symbol. "This says 'darkness' in Ancient Vestroian. You can put it into the appropriate slot now."

After matching the correct shape, the tourist guide placed the ring ornament into the appropriate slot and twisted the band off as ordered. Purple light travelled through the detailed cracks until the entire face glowed purple. Something clicked softly again. "Did I do it right?"

Marucho nodded. "We don't know what to expect until all five rings have been gathered. We also don't know what the click—"

"Are you kidding me?!" shouted the mint-haired intern while flipping pages. "There are no prescriptions with the words 'tree' or 'soil'! Ren, are you sure the poem is correct?"

"Ace, I swear. My parents said to only reveal it when the time is right. Runo and Marucho should understand. I wouldn't lie"

"Guys, please stop." Fabia begged. "Ren, I trust you. Ace, this isn't the time to blame anyone. I looked through the medicine book after Ace and also couldn't find any other prescriptions that contain other special words from the new line of poetry."

Dan nodded. "Fabia's right. Ren has work to do, so we shouldn't take up his time anymore. Let's go back and work on it tomorrow."

Before leaving, Fabia said to Ren, "I'm sorry that we met again and left under these circumstances. I'll visit next time."

"Take your time, Fabia. Go help Dan and the others solve this mystery first. Then we can talk all we want."

"Thanks, Ren. See you next time."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"This can't happening..."

Chris and Soon led Alice and Shun to a double murder of identical twin brothers. The redhead backed up at the sight. "We've never encountered two bodies at the same time and place before."

"This is why Chris and I wanted you two to come, even if there are exams and official work tomorrow," Soon admitted.

Shun approached one body and searched for wounds as the first vision appeared before his eyes. "I saw Hydron's assistants, but not the prince himself. Aside from Spectra, who always wears that mask, the others exposed their faces...maybe because they knew these victims would die soon? Also, these wounds look deeper than what we've seen, Alice."

"Not to mention, longer and wider as well." The redhead wrote everything down in her notebook. "What about the other body?"

The raven-haired youth repeated the process, but quickly pulled away after seeing the second vision. "I saw the murder weapon..."

The girls gasped. "What is it?!"

"This vision came and went quickly. From the victim's point of view, I saw a silver item reflect light before coming at me. There were also some black marks on the silver item, but they were too blurry to be read. The second body's wounds are of similar degree as the first. Surprisingly, I don't feel headaches."

"Maybe your body knows that you officially have work tomorrow," Alice suggested. "I wrote down our observations of the bodies and Shun's details of his visions. I'm surprised that two different bodies yielded two different visions that don't appear to be connected, but Hydron is definitely related to this."

"But Alice, we still don't have any motives or primary crimes scenes. Since we're done here, we should go home. You need to study, and I need to prepare paperwork."

"Fine. I ask for a miracle and end up with a double murder. Let's go."

After Chris and Soon left, Shun arrived home first under Alice's request, but didn't know where she went. He saw a stack of papers on the living room table, weighed down by a vase. "I've never seen so many forms in—"

"Grandfather wrote that many prescriptions today?!" screamed Alice as she returned with boxes and bags of stuff, which she set aside before flipping through the papers. "I'd better use the upstairs kitchen then. Shun, can you carry all my boxes and bags to the upstairs dining table?"

"Got it." Alice went upstairs first, and Shun carried everything upstairs. He resumed working on important papers before reporting to work tomorrow.

With prescription forms in one hand and study books in the other, Alice sighed and set everything down. Might as well taste the medicine I made since it's more productive than studying. A pot of medicine began boiling, so she decreased the fire and poured a small amount of yellow liquid into a bowl. After cooling, she transferred a small volume to another bowl and diluted the latter with water. She repeated the dilution a few times and drank the final yellow liquid, but ultimately flinched. "It's still too bitter..."

Shun smelled the bitter aroma while organizing papers on the balcony. "Alice, what did you even make? Your hands and utensils are all stained yellow."

"A toddler is suffering from multiple pus lesions. Grandfather cleaned them out carefully and prescribed a topical medication. Meanwhile, Ace gave me some Chinese goldthread earlier when he returned from another commute. Grandfather said that this would work as an oral medication, but it's extremely bitter. Even after ten serial dilutions, the liquid still tastes bad. I can't even rinse it out."

"I can help you with the prescriptions since you need to study."

"Shun, it's okay. I don't want to bother you." At the dining table, the redhead opened a few boxes, which Shun also looked through curiously. "Ace brought me some rare edible plants too, but I won't be able to taste them until the bitterness leaves my mouth."

"Which is why you should study first. If you won't let me assemble prescriptions, then at least let me taste these plants. Organizing papers isn't difficult for me."

"But a responsible herbalist should always personally—" Suddenly, a bubbling sound came from the stove. "I forgot to turn off the other fire!"

"See what I mean?" Shun set his stationery aside and checked out the plants on the table. Most of them were fruits that he recognized from modern day. "Ace gave you bananas, pomegranates, starfruits, cherries, peaches...actually, they might be apricots."

Alice tended to the other fire and turned to see Shun at the dining table. "I appreciate your comments, but I don't understand a single word you're saying, Shun."

"Not surprised." The only thing that he wasn't certain of was this one branch with red oval-shaped berries attached. Shun picked a berry off and observed it for seconds before taking a bite. The sweet flavor lingered in his mouth for minutes. Is this what I think it is? "Alice, you should try this. It's unbelievably sweet."

The redhead turned the second fire off and moved the pot to the counter next to her. "I want to try, but my mouth is still bitter."

"I promise that you can taste everything normally again after eating this."

"Shun, I know you want to lessen my workload, but you just don't understand how I feel right now."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Okay, give me a moment." Alice moved another pot onto to the counter before turning around. "What did you want me to—"

Before she knew what was happening, Shun walked up and kissed her on the lips by surprise. Alice dropped the cloth in her hand as the raven-haired guest wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He slipped his tongue inside her mouth, and the redhead finally understood why Shun wanted her to taste that rare plant so much. Eventually he pulled away, but their foreheads still touched with their bangs covering each of their faces as they breathed heavily. "Was that sweet enough to get rid of that bitter taste?"

"Definitely...enough." Alice licked her lips, then wiped her mouth to see sticky pink residue on her hand. Accustomed to seeing blood stain from dead bodies, this color and texture was novel to her. "Did you really not taste the bitterness from the Chinese goldthread?"

"I told you that this would make everything sweet."

"Is it really that magical?"

"In more ways than one."

"Like you?"

Shun took a moment to think, then leaned even closer to whisper into Alice's ear. "With or without it...you know everything will be sweet in the end."

The redhead gasped and retreated to pick up the fallen cloth. "I...need to clarify some directions with Grandfather. Be right back."

The raven-haired guest chuckled slightly as he watched her hurry away. You wanted a miracle, Alice. I can't grant you a huge wish, but these miracle berries will do for now.

Alice stopped running and hid in the hallway, waiting for her blushed face to cool and her heart to stop racing. What did he do? What did I do? She leaned against the wall and slid down while covering her mouth, yet smiling underneath. You have no have no idea how happy I am to have you here, Shun.