Lie walked over to Rion, panting heavily. Rion opened his eyes and looked up at her.
"That was an insane amount of magic energy. I'm impressed," Lie said, catching her breath.
Rion shook his head. "Nah, you're the impressive one. Couldn't have pulled it off without you."
Lie smiled and extended her hand. "Let's get outta here."
Rion nodded. "Let's."
He took her hand and pulled himself to his feet. Together, they started making their way back toward the entrance of the cave.
"Is it okay that we just… killed that thing?" Rion asked. "That wasn't part of the job."
Lie gave a small smile. "It should be. The rest of those eggs will start hatching soon, and when they do, they'll have plenty of food. Between that giant fish and, well… their mother."
Rion cringed. "Yikes."
Lie nodded. "Yikes indeed."
Soon enough, they saw light in the distance and hurried toward it, injuries and exhaustion ignored. Eventually, they reached the cave's mouth and climbed up the rocks that led back to the beach.
What met them was a breathtaking sunset over the ocean. The sky was painted in brilliant hues of orange and pink—. After the horror they had just faced, it was a nice sight. They stood there for a while, admiring the view, leaning gently against each other.
Once done, they started back toward Wanier. As they approached, Rion caught sight of the lighthouse peeking over the city walls and smiled.
Once back in town, Rion instinctively turned toward the Adventurers' Guild but Lie stopped him.
"Where are you going?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
Rion turned to her, slightly confused. "Don't I need to go confirm I finished the quest?"
Lie smiled. "You don't have to do that."
"I don't?"
"Nope. Come on—let's eat. I'll explain."
Rion looked back toward the Guild, then shrugged and followed her. They ducked into a nearby fish restaurant. Lie ordered cod with mashed potatoes; Rion went with fish and chips.
"So," Rion said between a bite of his fries, "why don't I have to check in at the Guild?"
Lie grinned, clearly excited. "I'll show you on my map later, but here in Accia, there are four kingdoms: Toren, Cara, Vinclain, and Aivenfall. Each has its own group of Guilds. And all of those Guilds are watched over by what are called Watchers."
"And what do Watchers do?" Rion asked.
"Well," Lie said, eyes lighting up, "using their unique magics, they monitor everything related to the guild—every quest, every acceptance, every failure. All of it."
Rion blinked. "That's… insane. How do they even do that?"
Lie nodded. "Right? Now, to be fair, most kingdoms have multiple Watchers for their Guilds. Three out of the four do. All except the one we're in right now—Toren which has only one."
Rion sat back, stunned. "So you're telling me one guy has been watching me this whole time and I didn't even know!?"
"Yup. his name is Austclain, the strongest mage in the world… or the second strongest. Depends who you ask."
Rion frowned. "So how does he do it? How can one guy monitor everything alone?"
Lie took a bite of her fish, then shrugged. "No one knows. It's a secret. They keep it that way so people don't find loopholes around the system."
"Ah. Makes sense," Rion said thinking back to Cain from Clair's story.
Bit by bit, he was learning more about this world.
It felt good.
It felt right.
"Wait—earlier, you said it was a toss-up. Who's the other strongest guy? Another Watcher?"
Lie shook her head. "Nope. He's an adventurer."
"Really? What's his name?"
Lie leaned her cheek into her fist, her smile growing soft.
"His name is Noir... the mage of impossibility."
(And thus, Rion's adventure continues…)