"There was a gunslinger hero from the Metallin Tribe in the city for a visit," Duchess Sonika told them after an hour of looking over the countless maps of SIlvana City in her possession and trying to figure out where the two of them – and Ia – were supposed to go. So far, they had gone over all the temples dedicated to Lady Mew and nothing had struck out as special to Mizki.

Of course, they'd go and visit the Auren Database soon, but Duchess Sonika had already warned them that the security had been tripled in fear of a physical attack. As both Yuma and Mizki hated snobby guards who liked to abuse power – and gods knew there were far too many of those being used in the building – they were hoping to find any alternative places to drop by.

"She's a nice girl. I believe she's travelling with your cousin, Mizki."

The pink-haired woman's face froze in the middle of a yawn and she hastily snapped her gaping jaws shut. Yuma blinked. "Dell's here?"

Duchess Sonika nodded as she rolled up one of the maps spread on the table. "His group of heroes have grown to be quite responsible and skilled adults," she commented. "They've made quite the name for themselves as capable heroes. Perhaps you were meant to go to them?"

Mizki's cousin, Dell, had come from the healer branch of the dysfunctional family of mages that Mizki had sprung from, but he was far from a healer. Despite his natural born abilities as a healer Dell was known for being a rather ill-tempered battle mage with a short patience span who liked to smash heads with his staff just as much as he liked casting spells.

After he had left his direct healer family in order to pursue his dreams, Mizki had somewhat taken him under her wing, helping the younger boy learn how to cast spells that would harm rather than heal. How to channel his magic as a lightning bolt, a fireball, or a force that could be manipulated to fight. How to shape barriers that could hold against attacks, both magical and physical, under extreme circumstances. Dell had spent half a year or so with the two of them, learning how to be a hero. He was a good kid, trying to make a difference in the way he considered more effective. He wasn't in it for the glory everyone else had heard about from some wrong source.

Half a year of training later Mizki had declared him a perfectly capable battle mage who could also play the part of the healer if necessary, and Dell had gone to seek his own fortune. From his last message for them they had learnt that the boy had managed to balance his preference towards the more various magic arts and his natural affinity for healing and was travelling with a pair of archer twins. Yuma hadn't heard about a girl from the Metallin Tribe being a part of his group, and neither had his partner.

They were going to have to have a word with Dell later.

Mizki shook her head. "I don't think that's it, either," she said slowly, obviously not wanting to shoot down her beloved mentor's suggestion and yet burdened with the responsibility of doing so as a respectable scholar. "I mean, there are more concentrated areas of the Metallin around the borders between Adamas and Emerlem. I feel like there was a reason I had to come to Meredin, and Silvana especially. Other," she added, looking at Yuma pointedly just as he opened his mouth to speak. "than to find out more about Ia's home."

Ia yawned and leaned her head against Mizki. The mage shifted, trying to make her body a more comfortable thing to lean against. "Ia, are you tired?"

The blonde nodded, eyes obviously heavy with sleep. Yuma glanced outside the window and was quite surprised to find the skies darkening already. To him it had felt like they had accomplished nothing, and yet time had flown so quickly.

The duchess rose, graceful as ever. "Momo has prepared three separate bedrooms for your use," she said. "Ia, would you like to go to sleep?"

Their ward pointedly looked at him and Mizki. "No," he answered the question he guessed she was thinking. "We're not going to sleep yet."

Ia shook her head and stifled a yawn before straightening her back and shuffling in an attempt to sit properly.

"She's a very mature girl," Duchess Sonika remarked, retaking her seat. "Perhaps she, too, has been touched by a god. I'm sure you've all heard of the god-touched girl seer in Emerlem."

Yuma nodded – everyone liked to talk about the blind girl who could see – when Mizki stood up, a scroll rolling off her lap. She didn't notice, which was a miracle on a similar scale to the blind seer. Mizki normally despised people who didn't take proper care of documents. "The fountain!" she clapped her hands together.

That word could have meant anything – the Meredin Palace Garden was second only to Amerys in the number of water fountains that decorated the scenery – yet Yuma understood what his partner was thinking of. "The Fountain of Knowledge," he said, recalling the name of the large fountain in the square at the database. Visiting students and heroes often liked to toss bits and coins into the waters, a small sacrifice asking for wisdom or useful knowledge. It was an urban myth, of course, and had never been proven, but since his god-touched partner had found it apparently related – or at least significant – it was a safe bet.

Unfortunately . . . . "It's still in the Auren District," he pointed out. "Even with Duchess Sonika verifying for us it'll still take some time."

"But now there are two likely locations in the Auren District. After being verified and allowed in you will be able to check upon both of them within a short period of time," the duchess said. "I shall go and alert the mages at the Database immediately. This should save the three of you some time tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Mizki repeated.

The green-haired woman stopped and grinned wryly at her former student. "Did you really think that I'd let you go off tonight? Not with those bags under your eyes, Mizki."

Mizki blushed and mumbled a few words.

"Go take a bath and get some sleep," she told the mage softly. "You need some rest."

Ia yawned again when the lady had stepped out of the room. "C'mon, Ia," Mizki extended a hand towards the girl. "Let's go take a bath, okay?"

Their ward looked towards Yuma with a questioning look. "No, Ia, he doesn't get to join us."

"He doesn't want to join you," Yuma replied, picking up his sword and strapping it to his belt again. The servants had taken their bags to their rooms – which he was grateful for, his shoulders were slightly aching – but he hadn't given up his sword. Duchess Sonika had assured the nervous servants that he wouldn't kill her, but it had still taken some convincing.

Yuma didn't particularly care. He'd seen too many things out there to have a strong belief in true safety.

"Good night," he nodded as Ia waved and allowed Mizki to pick her up. The two of them went down one end of the corridor and he went the other way. A warm bath did sound quite good to him, especially after the chilly water from frozen rivers he hadn't grown used to.

No one was at the palace's public bath – most likely already done with their washings, or not bother at all. Even with the water being heated with the magical efforts of hedgewitches and physical labours of wood-piling servants, a damp body was a cold body in winter.

Yuma soon found another reason for the absence of people washing themselves. The water was only lukewarm, and felt somewhat cold to his skin.

Unlike mages and healers he couldn't see the trace of every magical spell except the strong ones like the hexes and spells Mizki used, but he was willing to bet that the magical input for the bath's warmth had been taken away. Most likely diverted to more necessary places – that is to say, the current Database crisis.

The lukewarm water was still better than any icy water from rivers and streams. While Mizki had the ability to warm them up, the two of them had agreed that it was better to save her magical stamina for more important things, such as an emergency quest or a sudden herd of demons. Their adventurous-if-not-dangerous lifestyles had led to their choice being the correct one many, many times.

He splashed water at his face and rinsed out his hair before relaxing. Soon his body temperature would drop and the lukewarm water would feel too much like the ice cold water he disliked, but it was currently soothing.

What would it be like, he thought, to be a knight?

Knights did the same thing as warrior heroes in Auren – rid the land of demons, fought, trained – except that the knights stayed loyal and useful to only one country. Even within their country they mostly guarded the Royal Families or jousted for entertainment. Not all knights were like this – there were exceptions, such as the Commanders who oversaw the army and the country's state and the Fair Folk knight belonging to the Order of Auren, called the Rogue Knight by most – but many were.

Essentially knights did less work and had more benefits than average Auren warrior heroes, such as warm baths and more time spent at home. Only members of noble families could become knights, which was why he – a farmer's son – could never even consider it as a realistic path to follow. Yuma wondered sometimes though. He wasn't the most imaginative person, but even he occasionally daydreamed about a different life.

Personally, he thought it to be Mizki's influence.

Yuma dunked his head into the water one last time and then climbed out, feeling clean for the first time in far too long. Before the chill could get to him and make him feel numb, he grabbed a towel and wiped the water off his body and pulled on his clothes. Sword in hand, he left the bathing rooms.

No one was in the hallway, but that was to be expected – this was a relatively quiet corridor within the castle, and Mizki was helping Ia wash herself. Yuma let memory take over and walked to the bedroom usually assigned to him.

His bags were inside. Good.

Opening them, Yuma took out the five spelled figurines of guardians. Normally, when they were out travelling and Mizki was casting her usual barrier spells he didn't have to bother with them, but he respected her privacy when they were in areas of civilization. Mizki had felt guilt for some odd reason he didn't pretend to understand and had spelled the charms to make sure he was protected while he slept. He appreciated it.

Yuma set the guardians up as close to the walls as he could to cover the largest possible area, having the first four figurines face their respective directions – North, East, West and South – before placing the last one under his pillow along with a dagger. If someone breached the barriers he wanted to be able to reach a quick weapon. While he preferred his sword, he knew it was hard to pull it out of its scabbard without tangling it in sheets.

Those who stumbled upon his habits without prior knowledge would question his need for all this. He would just shrug in reply. Sometimes, drunk fools in tavern inns would get it into their heads that killing a somewhat well-known hero would give them the hero's powers and try their luck at slitting a sleeping man's throat. Sometimes, a servant would try their luck at stealing a travelling warrior's belongings, because their pay wasn't enough in their eyes (it probably wasn't enough for real, but Yuma didn't appreciate thieves in his room). People could call him paranoid, but this set up had saved his life more than one time.

Protection spells set up, Yuma climbed into his bed – a nice change from hard grounds and sleeping packs – and fell asleep.