Adrian

The portal connected them to their destination. Adrian and his party found themselves in the forests near Ayrith. He checked on his party members and Itsuki. Verified that they were in decent health and then drew out a small wooden disc to place Itsuki on. The boy was light but carrying him was annoying.

"Everything alright?" he asked, then shook his head.

What a stupid question.

Isis was gone and the Shield Hero was in another dimension. They had no idea what had happened to them. Isis could be dead or worse. The Book Hero had no use for her. He hoped that bastard was dead. But Adrian wasn't willing to bet on it, not when he had received no experience for that battle.

At least that man had some use for Naofumi.

It was a spark of positive news.

It would take five days for the earliest Wave to open. That underscored how helpless he was. There was no guarantee that the next Wave would lead to Isis. Nor could he be certain that any search party he sent would survive the unknown dimension. Anyone he sent would probably die without accomplishing anything.

"We're fine," said Raphtalia. Rifana offered him a hesitant smile. Trystan tried to look optimistic.

Adrian failed to smile back. He wanted to reassure them, but he didn't want to lie.

Fatigue smothered his mind.

He didn't even know how he was awake at this point. Raphtalia, Trystan and Rifana had gotten a chance to rest. He hadn't given that they hit an hourglass every 5-10 minutes.

Not that he would have been able to rest. Not when the battle with the Book Hero kept running through his mind. Adrian was pathetic. He had become so arrogant, so confident because he had gained enough power to challenge the Waves.

Isis and Naofumi paid the price for his folly.

He took a deep breath. Considered their worried looks and his muddled thoughts, "We need to talk about this," he said.

"This?" asked Raphtalia, and Adrian cursed himself. He needed to be clearer.

"Rescuing Isis and the Shield Hero," he said. Their expressions changed. Grim determination filled them.

"We'll save them, brother," said Trystan, his voice, his tone and his words all serious. Not a hint of his jovial nature. Adrian almost smiled.

It was a pity that Trystan's words were naive.

"If you choose to help then there are a lot of things to consider," he said. He held up a hand when the moved to jump in, "let me finish." Adrian took in a deep breath and tried to stay calm. He bought a moment by pulling out some furniture.

He wanted to have Isis back at his side. Her absence was a void. Adrian hadn't known how much of a comfort it had been to be able to feel her mana or see her using Blindsight. It was a suffocating thought to realize that he might have to ignore the earliest Wave.

Going unprepared was suicide.

"Getting to the rift is not a problem. Remember that once you are on the other side you will not know the language they speak, the food that they eat or the average level of combat ability," he said. finding his worries pouring out with no order, "The nature of their society could be dangerous. Hell, the magic that they have could be different. Plus, you won't have me there to level you up or to act as long-range support-"

"Are you saying that you don't want to save sis?!" said Trystan, genuine anger seeping into his words.

"NO!" he said, paused and said gently, "no. Never...but I don't want to lose you either. If you walk into this situation with so little information and no support then I won't only lose Isis. I'll lose everyone sent after her.'

Trystan looked stunned. Raphtalia and Rifana were surprised. He realized that this was not the time for this conversation. Not now when he couldn't think straight.

He paused for a moment. Closed his eyes and shut down all his senses, even Blindsight.

It was incredible how blind he felt.

He opened his eyes. Activated his senses again. Verified their safety then looked at the three children he was responsible for.

Trystan and Rifana's showed some fear. That hurt, but Raphtalia's understanding expression was more painful.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at the night sky, both to distract himself and gauge the time, "let's get some rest. We can talk about this later."

"Mr Adrian," said Raphtalia before he could turn away and start moving towards Ayrith. He looked at her with apprehension, "we'll be okay. Even if it is going to be very hard we will rescue Isis and the Shield Hero."

Rifana nodded. Trystan erased his fear and let out a loud cheer in support of Raphtalia. Adrian found himself smiling, but he wanted to cry.

These adorable fools didn't realize the scope of their enemy.

He could tell that Raphtalia wanted to comfort him, but it felt like mockery. For a moment he considered thanking her and letting this go. The memories of his battle with the Book Hero echoed in his mind. Adrian had no doubt that had they been present they would have died.

He moved to agree with her, but what came out was, "The man I fought was as strong as I am. If you fight him then you will die and it is likely that Isis is either dead at his hands or has been captured by him."

His own words surprised him. Adrian watched Trystan wilt. Rifana stared at him with horror but it was Raphtalia who stunned him.

"What you say might be true but that doesn't matter. Isis might still be alive and that is enough." she said, "I know that this will be difficult. We could die or fail, but we will do it anyway. Have some faith in us."

Adrian laughed. It was not a controlled laugh nor a happy one. It was a loud grating noise.

He couldn't stop.

"Thank you," he said after a long minute. He didn't know how to apologize to them. Or how he could make up for his shameful behaviour.

Trystan slammed into him and held on tight.

Adrian hugged him back.

He looked at his party, not his charges, not anymore, not after this. Not when he could hardly think of himself as something better when he was so weak. "We'll figure something out," he said, his thoughts starting to move. Grief and fury driving them forward.

Raphtalia's smile and Rifana's relieved look was humbling. It was a reminder that these two had suffered far more than he had, and very recently at that. So what if they were weaker than him in a fight? That was nothing more than one limited form of power.

He picked up Trystan and held the boy as they moved towards Ayrith at his signal. Adrian mentally apologized to them. He knew that they were in danger for as long as they were by his side. The Book Hero wouldn't be the last threat that they couldn't hope to match but he didn't want to leave them behind.

Adrian didn't think that he could.