What Caelen did wasn't conquer his instinctive fear.
He had simply tapped into the passive ability of barbarians—or rather, the Crest of War—called Barbarian Spirit, which dulled the fear of injury, just this once.
It worked for now. But he had no idea how long it would last.
He didn't even know whether it would help against the crushing pressure he'd felt when Favia activated her crest.
All he knew was that when Barbarian Spirit was active, his barbarian instincts overpowered his magus instincts.
He ran back the way he'd come. It had taken him two minutes to flee—but he made it back in one.
Three minutes total—and what he saw stunned him.
Four barbarians were already down in the three minutes he was away. The last one was rushing straight toward Favia with steam rising from his body.
Caelen no longer felt the suffocating pressure.
But he wasn't sure if that was because Favia was too exhausted to project it, or because Barbarian Spirit was still shielding him.
It didn't matter.
He threw the old sword he was already holding.
He knew the barbarian couldn't dodge it from this distance. Caelen didn't lack strength.
But the man leapt aside anyway, instinctively, without even knowing Caelen was behind him.
Caelen's mind flashed back to something Idel once said as fear filled him: if a magus lost a limb, they would also lose part of their power.
And just like that, Barbarian Spirit seemed to deflate as he thought the idea and the fear came rushing back.
The barbarian in front of him could kill him. That much was obvious from how easily he dodged.
Another memory surfaced. Another conversation with Idel.
He had asked Idel why he didn't get a Lucen, the members of the nation of healers blessed with the Crest of Light, to heal his leg fully, to the point of regeneration.
Idel had looked at him like he was speaking nonsense.
"Regeneration isn't even a high-level Crest of Light ability," he said. "Only a few Lucens get it.
No matter how advanced their crest is, if they don't have that specific power, they can't use it."
But Caelen remembered something else—Taek, his master, had once told him it was possible to regrow limbs.
Now he wondered if Taek had simply enslaved healers, like some barbarians did, and kept them hidden for when they were needed or if he just lied to him.
Maybe neither. Maybe he would just use the already enslaved ones, which was also not acceptable to Caelen.
But what did he know? He wasn't a full barbarian. Barbarians, including his family, were like this.
Also, that was a problem for another time.
Right now, he was about to be slaughtered.
Fortunately, between the time the barbarian dodged, turned to see who had attacked him, looked back in shock, then turned toward Favia again—two seconds had passed.
Just enough time for her to finish her cast.
As the barbarian lunged again, startled and desperate, he took a Fireball straight to the head.
His hair lit up in flames and vanished. He collapsed, unconscious.
***
"Why did you come back?" Favia scolded Caelen. This place was too dangerous for someone that weak.
Of course, her words didn't match what she was really thinking. If he hadn't come, she'd be dead.
"I came to help, what else?"
"What kind of help was that? You clearly missed. Can't you even land a sneak attack?"
"I'm sorry," Caelen said, looking downcast. He knew he'd missed, and after that, fear had taken over.
No matter how he looked at it, his attempt to save her had failed. Especially since Favia didn't acknowledge it.
"Sigh... Never mind. We're okay now. What's your name?"
"I-I'm Caelen. What's yours?" he asked, a little bashful. There were beautiful girls among the barbarians too.
Even his mother had been called beautiful, though he didn't like hearing that. But since he'd always thought of himself as inferior, he'd never talked to girls much.
Now, just speaking to one as beautiful as Favia was enough to make him nervous.
"I'm Favia. What were you doing out here, anyway? This is outside the barbarian cities. There's nothing past this forest."
"Ah, umm... I-I'm going that way for a reason. I have something to do."
"As I said, there's nothing there. You must be going the wrong way," Favia replied with a flat expression.
Caelen didn't want to explain he was on a quest, even to a magus. It would mean revealing too much about himself.
But she seemed like a good person. She'd risked herself to save him. She could've just taken her bike and escaped.
So he decided to tell her a little.
"I'm looking for someone named Oras..."
Favia frowned. "Where did you hear that name?" Her voice turned sharp, and she started walking toward him.
Caelen held his hands up quickly. "Ah, someone sent me. I don't mean any harm. I just need to meet him and show him something."
"Then show it to me first. Or I'll make sure you don't take another step." Even exhausted, Favia could cast a basic spell in under a second and knock him out.
"I-I can't! It's part of the mission. I'm not supposed to show it to anyone else."
"Hah! You think I'm going to believe that? A barbarian, delivering something to a magus? How stupid do you think I am?"
"Ms. Favia, please. What could a weak barbarian like me possibly do?"
Favia stopped. Not because he made a good point—she already knew how weak he was—but because something didn't add up.
No barbarian ever called themselves weak to get out of trouble.
And no barbarian made plans. Especially not ones that involved pretending to be weak to infiltrate anything.
"You... What are you? Are you really a barbarian?"
Caelen froze. His eyes widened. How did she figure it out?
He was sure he hadn't given anything away.
He quickly raised his left hand, revealing his Crest of War. "I'm a barbarian. Really."
Favia stepped closer and grabbed his wrist, making Caelen blush even more. She examined the crest. It was real.
Then her gaze shifted to the cloth wrapped around his right hand. Without asking, she reached out and grabbed it too.
Caelen flinched, but it was too late. Before he could react, the cloth was off—and the Crest of Knowledge was exposed.
"What the..." Now it was Favia's turn to be shocked.
Caelen hadn't taken any other precautions. He'd rushed things.
No one usually checked a barbarian's injuries, and even though magi were smarter, unwrapping a bandage seemed like a stretch.
But the situation had pushed Favia to a conclusion, and she'd acted on it.
"But... how?" she whispered. No matter how brilliant she was, Favia was still young. She hadn't read every record magi kept. There were other factors too.
"Uhh... it's not that strange, I promise. Apparently it's happened before," Caelen said, grasping for any excuse. Favia frowned.
She didn't seem to buy it, but she didn't press. Instead, she said, "Come with me."
She straightened her hoverbike and checked for damage. It looked fine, probably thanks to the Veilguard she'd cast before the crash.
"What are you staring at? Hop on!" she snapped.