The sun shines high in the sky over Jubert Isnd with all the Pawns gathered in the manor’s courtyard. Glyn hears the echoes of everyone’s training as he sits in his office, looking over charts and graphs. He looks over notes as he works on mapping the archipego. He takes a deep breath as he reaches a stopping point, with Mi putting down a small cup on his table.

  “Here.” She says with a smile.

  “Thank you.” He takes the cup and drinks. “This is the fifth cup already. Don’t you have anything better to do, Mi?”

  She shakes her head. “No! I want to be useful to you and, well….”

  “Well?”

  She turns away, blushing, unable to think of the words as Glyn stares at her. “I….”

  “There you are!” Tisha yells, bursting into the room. She grabs hold of Mi and drags her off. “We’re in the middle of training. We can’t have you running off now!”

  “But I….”

  “Come on, get a move on!” Tisha yells, pushing her.

  The two girls rush out of the room, leaving Glyn alone as he leans back in his chair. “How am I going to deal with this?”

  For only the second time in his life, Glyn Mattox bastard of house Mattox’s head was swirling with ideas of romance. Ever since his mother’s visit, Mi had clung to him more than ever, as if threatened by something or someone. She found no excuse to be near him and tried her best to aid him. While always somewhat aware of Mi’s affections, the sudden dispys of her affections had thrown him off bance. Even in his attempts to keep her at a distance, he couldn’t deny enjoying her company or disliking the attention.

  “Damn it. I don’t have time for romance. I have to focus on something else,” He says, pushing the romantic thoughts aside.

  He pulls out his makeshift maps and gets to work once more. “Maybe it’s time we tested that out. It would be the perfect excuse, and maybe some air could clear my head.”

  Outside in the courtyard, Mi dodges arrows as Tisha fires at her. As the arrows fly forward, her two tails ignore and she swings them, throwing out fireballs that burn the arrows away. Tisha smirks, firing off a barrage of arrows at Mi as she tries to burn them away. Before she realizes it, Mi leaps into the wall of the manor with Tisha rushing forward, holding an arrow at her face.

  “And like that, you’re dead.” She says with a smile on her face.

  Mi pouts. “I hate this training.”

  “Well, we need to work on your battle awareness! You’re a powerhouse when it comes to magic even if you can only use Fire spells and your swordpy has improved. But you still don’t seem to pay too much attention to what’s around you.”

  She sighs. “What? I just have to beat whoever’s in front of me as fast as I can and everything will be fine.”

  “Thinking like that is going to get you in trouble. Letting your enemy dictate the flow of battle can easily get you trapped or, worse, killed.”

  Mi pouts.

  “Okay, that’s enough of that.” Miller walks up to the girls. “We’re taking a break, so why don’t you two rest for a moment?”

  “Fine. I could use the time to make up some new training pns for Mi.” Tisha says with a grin.

  Mi shakes, staring at Tisha. “Please go easy on me.”

  “We’ll see.” Tisha rushes off as everyone stares at her.

  “So tired,” Mi says, leaning against the wall.

  Miller reaches out his hand. “Come on. There are better pces to rest than a wall.”

  “Right. Thank you, Brother.”

  The siblings sit under a shady tree in the courtyard as Mi drinks some water, with Miller staring down at her in silence.

  “Bossman!” Faye yells out, rushing towards the duo. “Did you see? Did you see?”

  “See what?”

  “Rufus did magic!”

  “Really now? That’s impressive.”

  Out in the middle of the yard, Rufus holds a small ball of light between his hands, with Pepper nodding along happily. She gives him instructions as he holds the sphere up, unching it into the air as it fizzles out.

  “So, he has magical potential?”

  Faye ughs. “No wonder he’s so trash with a sword!”

  “That’s not nice to say.”

  “But it’s true though!”

  After her arrival on the isnd and introduction to the Pawns, Pepper went through the group, checking their Mana levels. To everyone’s surprise, Rufus turned out to have the highest levels and so Pepper began teaching him magic. No one, Rufus included, believed he could cast even the smallest of spells, but today, he proved everyone wrong, even if it was a simple light spell.

  “Either way, that’s good for him.” Mi smiles. “Maybe he’ll be more confident now.”

  Faye smirks staring at Mi. “Speaking of confidence!” She rushes in, poking Mi with an excited glee. “How’s Miss Flirty doing!? Always flirting with your man in broad daylight in front of all of us!”

  Mi turns away, blushing. “It’s not like that. I just….”

  “Scared?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?” Faye asks.

  “You haven’t noticed. Tisha’s been approaching Glyn a lot more tely. While it’s subtle, her attitude towards him seems to have changed to a more open one,” Miller expins.

  Faye thinks about the subject. “Oh right. She feels friendlier than before.”

  “She and Glyn talk all the time. They talk about Elf stuff and stuff on the mainnd and I can’t keep up. Worse of all, Glyn seems happy talking to her. It makes my chest hurt.”

  Faye stares at Mi and then wraps her arms around her. “Glyn’s a jerk making my poor Mi feel like this!”

  “She’s not your Mi.”

  “Come on Boss. You have to have some advice for your dear sister, don’t you?”

  Miller turns away. “As much as I don’t want to involve myself in your love life, Mi. At this rate, nothing will progress.”

  “I know.”

  “I think you should start from square one.”

  “Square one?”

  Miller stands firm and crosses his arms. “A proper decration of intent! You have to let him know how you feel and express your desires for the future together!”

  Mi blushes. “That’s….”

  “Like when Grandfather told Grandmother he wanted her to have his children. You have to be twice and bold, dear Sister!”

  The two siblings stare at each other, Miller gripping his fist firmly as Mi blushes embarrassed. Faye shakes her head, leaps up, and chops Miller in the head.

  “Boss Man, that’s dumb.”

  “What?”

  “That’s the old-school way. But I think your mind is on the right track. Mi needs to confess her love, then our little lord can’t ignore her feelings or run away.” Faye turns to Mi with a stern, serious look on her face.

  Mi looks back at her and nods. “Right! I’ll… I’ll tell him! I’ll tell him I love him and then….” She blushes as her face goes red. “Then I’ll…”

  “Let’s work on confessing your feelings for now. Anything beyond that might be too much for you at this level.”

  “She’s right.”

  “Huh?”

  As the three stand around, Glyn rushes into the courtyard. “Everyone's big news!”

  “What is it?” Miller asks.

  “We’re pnning an expedition.”

  “Huh?” Everyone asks,

  He smirks, proud of himself. “It took some doing, skilled craftsmen, and some magical know-how, but we’ve done it. The perfect patrol vehicle! A Warp Boat!”

  “A Warp Boat!?” Everyone asks at once.

  “What the hell’s a Warp Boat?” Otso asks.

  Tisha rolls her eyes. “It’s some crazy invention, isn’t it?”

  “In a way, it is. But it’s a new take on a fun old concept. Trust me, this will be incredibly useful and we have a new excuse to use our newly built docks.” He says, nodding happily.

  “Are you sure this thing will work?” Tisha asks.

  “Sounds sketchy,” Tan says.

  Sam shakes his head. “Are we sure this will even work? What tests have you done?”

  “Come on, can’t you guys be more excited? We’re making something entirely new here and working on new magical tools. You guys need more imagination.” He says, pouting.

  Everyone sighs.

  “Well, let’s at least go look at it,” Miller says.

  Glyn nods excitedly. “Come on, trust me, you guys are going to love this!”