On the edge of a large balcony, Stephanie stood coldly, caught between hesitation and fear. Behind her, her friends were in shock, begging her to stop. In front of her, one step would mean the end— the long fall below could only result in certain death. She didn't look back. All she focused on with her green eyes was the distant ground, while contemplating the decision to end her life.
"Stephanie, please, no!" Linda cried out as she slowly approached.
Stephanie turned her head to see her friends staring at her. In truth, she had no real desire to jump. What she wanted was simply to end her life. And it seemed that with Linda drawing closer, that desire began to fade. She gave Linda a terrifying look through her tears and whispered, trembling: "Don't come any closer."
"If any of you take one more step, I swear I'll jump. Stay away from me," Stephanie threatened.
"Are you serious?! If you die, there's no going back. What kind of shit is this?" Kevin shouted.
"Stephanie, please stop. Things will only get worse if you go through with this," Susan added.
A heavy silence fell over the group. Most of them had no words—just watching this unfold was hard enough. Stephanie kept staring at the distant ground, her thoughts seemingly frozen. She did nothing, just stood in silence, filled with fear and resistance. After a while, she stepped forward with her right foot toward the void, and everyone flinched in terror.
"I won't let this happen!" Linda screamed before disappearing from the room.
Suddenly, she reappeared behind Stephanie, grabbed her in a tight hug, and pulled her away from the edge, both of them collapsing onto the ground. Stephanie started thrashing and crying: "Let go of me! This has nothing to do with you!!"
Still, Linda held on tightly to her friend, so tightly that Stephanie found it hard to resist—or maybe didn't even want to resist anymore in her friend's arms. Linda then pulled Stephanie's head to her chest and gently whispered: "I told you, everything's going to be alright."
Something calmed inside Stephanie in that moment. A long silence followed, broken only by her sudden loud sobs. One by one, everyone else quietly left, realizing the only person who could help Stephanie right now was Linda. They left the two of them alone on the balcony. Later, they stood up, and Linda started wiping the tears from Stephanie's face.
"Promise me you won't try something like that again," Linda said seriously.
"Suicide? Are you serious? How could you even consider something like that?!"
"…"
"I don't want to talk about it… sorry," Stephanie murmured.
"I'll ask the king to give you a break," Linda said.
"Really?"
"But I'm not sure about leaving you alone… I'm scared you might try again," the blonde girl said.
"Well… to be honest, I don't want to stay here alone either."
"So, what, you want to go back to the battlefield? Isn't that a bit contradictory?"
"No… but I want to stay with you. Always…"
In that moment, Linda felt something strange touch her heart—a feeling that gave her a surge of courage, a strong will to protect her friend no matter what. Even though that had been her goal since day one in this world, it now felt like it had reached a new level. Linda, the girl who loved to help others, had her desire evolve in that instant.
◆ ◆ ◆
Along a long road, two luxurious carriages moved forward. The first was going faster, with the sounds of voices and conversation coming from inside. Half the heroes were seated there—John, Kevin, Malin, and Susan. They wore their armor, with weapons laid out before them. It seemed they were headed to Pascal.
"I can't believe she's coming with us!" Kevin said.
"It's so weird. The girl nearly killed herself and still wants to head into battle," Malin muttered.
While they were talking about Stephanie, the second carriage trailed behind. In it were Kaily, Linda, Stephanie, Tom, Sebastian, and Runari. Unlike the first, this carriage was quiet—no one spoke. But after a while, Kaily finally broke the silence.
"You're the priestess?"
"Yes…" Stephanie answered shyly.
"Oh, I've heard about you. You did really well in the Myria battle. I heard you healed a lot of soldiers—some even came back from the brink of death. Do you know how many people talk about you as a great hero?" Kaily said.
"Really?"
"Yes. Your healing wasn't just for wounds or bruises. It saved people from death. You treated fatal injuries—that elevated your status as a hero."
After that, the carriage returned to its former quiet state. A long silence followed as the horses kept running, carrying the group forward. Eventually, night fell and covered the pale blue sky, and the drivers decided to stop to let the horses rest.
"Ugh… why didn't we use wyverns?" Malin groaned as he stretched after stepping out of the carriage.
"You seem to really like traveling by wyvern," Kaily said gently.
"Who wouldn't? We could've made it without stopping for horse breaks," Malin added.
"Well actually, riding a wyvern makes me dizzy. That's why I refused," Kaily replied.
"But you're a priestess. You could've healed yourself," John said.
"What if I fell off before healing myself?" Kaily replied sarcastically.
Soon after, the drivers lit a fire and set up camp around it. They brought out food and started cooking. Meanwhile, the others sat on the grass under the moonlight, chatting and enjoying the night. Some went off for personal needs, and one of them clung tightly to his maid and didn't let go once—Sebastian. He seemed like a completely different person now, no longer speaking to the others, only staying close to Runari.
"Yo, Sebas! Still fighting with Kevin?" Tom asked.
"That fucker—if he talks to me again, I'll kill him," Sebastian replied angrily.
"What if he talks about you?" Tom asked.
"What do you mean?"
"He said you'd be nothing but a burden in this battle. That you're just a weakling clinging to a bitch. That you'd be useless to us," Tom said.
"You're not lying?"
"No, I swear he really said it."
Sebastian stood up and left Runari behind. She tried to stop him, but he kept walking, a terrifying expression on his face as he gripped his staff. He clearly had bad intentions—his goal was to start a fight with Kevin no matter what. Tom stepped in his way and said: "Don't tell him I was the one who told you."
"Just move," Sebastian muttered as he shoved Tom out of his way.
Farther away, Kevin was sitting by the fire with John and Malin. Some of them were waiting for dinner, others were chatting about different topics—like TV shows and things from their previous world. That's when Sebastian finally reached their seating area. With a swift motion, he launched a dark violet magic ball at Kevin, but Kevin vanished instantly, leaving the ball to strike the ground and explode.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" John suddenly yelled.
"None of your business," Sebastian muttered as he ignored John and advanced toward Kevin.
"You won't rest until we fight, huh?" Kevin mumbled as he reappeared, now holding his twin swords.
"I'm useless, huh, you schmuck?!"
"..."
"Yeah, useless. All you do is hang out with that bitch. You didn't even go see Stephanie," Kevin replied.
"Shut your bitch ass up," Sebastian snapped as he fired another magic ball.
Kevin deflected it with his swords and disappeared again, reappearing behind Sebastian. But before he could strike, he was the one who got hit. Runari had reacted quickly, kicking him hard and sending him flying away from Sebastian. All Kevin could see now was the image of a giant fox guarding the young mage. Still, he stood up quickly, gripping his short swords and muttered: "Two v one, huh?"
Suddenly, John and Malin intervened, stepping between them. From the first glance, this was clearly an unwanted—and unfair—fight. It was only natural for someone to step in. Still, Sebastian continued launching his attacks. Then he released a wave of dark crows that flew toward all three of them, not just Kevin.
Suddenly, a shield of light formed, dissolving Sebastian's attack as if it were nothing. A shield of pure, radiant light—bright green and glowing—lit up the area and protected the three from the strike that now seemed completely harmless. Then a tall woman in a long black cloak, with mature and beautiful eyes, stepped forward.
"What are you doing in the name of the moon goddess?! You're the heroes—how can you be fighting each other?" Kaily exclaimed.
"We were just training," Malin mumbled.
"Training with the intent to kill? By the goddess... how am I supposed to supervise heroes who fight among themselves..."
After that, they all seemed a bit embarrassed. Sebastian and Runari withdrew. As they walked away, Sebastian suddenly stopped, glared at Kevin, and said: "They always save your ass, you fucking cat. But no matter how many times you survive, one day you'll die."
"Goddess, what's wrong with you all?" Kaily muttered in disbelief after hearing the teenage mage's words.
◆ ◆ ◆
The sun shone brightly, but this time in a place far from the long road. At a gate crowded with people, wagons, carts, and guards. Behind the gate was a massive town, bustling with people and knights moving in orderly lines. It was the first town in the Duchy of Pascal, as engraved atop the gate: Ovon Town.
It was a prosperous and large town. Most of its residents were dwarves with long beards. Of course, there were many humans and other races too, but the town was heavily populated by dwarves—some armored and armed, some in simple civilian clothes, and some even naked shouting: "Try hitting me! If you can make me feel pain, I'll pay you!" This was one of the towns of Pascal Duchy—the duchy of mountains and intensity.
"Finally," Malin muttered, gazing at the crowded place.
They wandered around the town by carriage. The streets were packed, and the crowd got even bigger once people realized the carriage held the heroes. Cheers and applause erupted as people shouted and welcomed them. The carriages continued until they reached a large castle. At the entrance, two guards stood at attention.
The heroes and Kaily dismounted, and the knights bowed respectfully before opening the castle gates to let them in. The castle was huge—more like a palace—built of stone and adorned with the large emblem of the Kingdom of Yarum. They proceeded inside, greeted by a number of demi-human servants.
They were then led to a room in the castle. It was a large, stunning, and luxurious chamber—decorated with statues, elegant vases, and most noticeably, a mountain of papers piled atop a desk. Inside the room was a man with brown hair and a coat trimmed with fur. He wore fine white gloves, and his blue eyes gave off a noble aura.
"Lady Kaily! And the heroes! Welcome, welcome—you arrived quickly," the man said.
"Heroes, let me introduce you to the Duke of Pascal Duchy—Duke Allen," Kaily announced.
"An honor to meet you," Linda said with grace.
"The honor is mine."
Everyone took a seat. Allen's expression shifted to serious as he sat at his desk and picked up a map of the port. It was a mess—scribbled with lines, arrows, and markings. Clearly, Allen had been strategizing around this battle.
"Alright. It seems Diablos made a quick move after its loss. They've started sending large numbers of troops to the port, and my soldiers are struggling there. The issue is their numbers—they haven't sent any high-ranking demon like they did at Myria, so it won't be a difficult fight. As I said, the problem is just how many of them there are."
"If you can, please head to the port today. Rest a bit here, but I beg you—go today. the soldiers are suffering there, and we don't have any high-level priests," Allen finished.
"Of course, we'll head out today. Got any extra info?" Kaily asked.
"The demons there are mostly Nardiss, so again, it shouldn't be too hard. But I heard they have enchanted weapons—wounds inflicted don't heal. I think it's an exaggeration due to our low-level priests, though," Allen replied.
"Enchanted weapons and unhealable wounds… that would be a disaster if true," Kaily muttered.
The conversation between Kaily and Allen continued, while the heroes withdrew to rest before heading to the port. The upcoming battle was closer than ever, and the heroes were filled with mixed emotions each time they heard about it. But would they emerge as hardened warriors used to blood and corpses? Or would they return trembling in fear, like in battles before?