The morning after the festival carried a heavy air of consequences. Seneschal Valerius handed us a formal invoice for the mess, and King Fenrir's look of disapproval was almost tangible. The need to make progress on the mission had become more urgent than ever.
It was Elara, with her strategic mind, who proposed the plan. "The forest is too vast. If we split into pairs, we can cover more ground and locate the corruption cores more efficiently."
Liriel, still annoyed by the "mortal farce" of the festival, agreed reluctantly. "A logically sound solution. As long as I don't have to bear the burden of one of you."
Thus, the pairs were formed. To my surprise — and Vespera's evident displeasure — I was assigned to accompany Princess Lyra.
"My knowledge of the forest surpasses that of anyone else," she explained, donning practical leather gear. "And my tracking skills may prove useful."
Vespera and Elara formed the second pair, a tense air of resignation hanging between them. Liriel, of course, chose to work alone. "My divine perception is best exercised without mortal distractions," she declared, floating away before anyone could argue.
My first venture with Lyra was a different kind of experience. We moved through the forest with a silence that was both efficient and, I must admit, a little awkward. The memory of our dance and Vespera's public kiss lingered between us like an unspoken ghost.
Lyra, however, was a professional. Her sharp demi-human senses were impressive. She could detect trails of corrupted beasts I would have walked right past, and her knowledge of the local flora helped us avoid areas of particularly dense corruption.
We encountered and dealt with a few minor corrupted wolves. Our combat synchronization was remarkable. I kept the beasts' attention with my sword while Lyra used a sling to throw small blinding-powder bombs — a mix of local herbs — before delivering the finishing blow with her curved daggers. It was clean, efficient, and, compared to the usual chaotic battles of my group, almost antiseptic.
"You fight well," I commented after dispatching a pair of wolves.
She smiled — a quick, professional expression. "I grew up in these forests. It's my duty to protect them." Her gaze swept the surroundings, always alert. There were no more insinuations, no flirting. Just the work to be done. And somehow, that lack of tension was a relief.
Meanwhile, Elara and Vespera's pairing was... different.
As I learned later, their first half-hour was spent in total silence, broken only by the sounds of the forest. It was Vespera who broke the ice after shooting down a corrupted crow with a remarkably precise shot.
"Look at that," she said with a crooked smile. "Still got it."
Elara, examining the fallen creature, couldn't help but agree. "It was a good shot." She paused. "Your form, however, could be improved. You tilt the bow too far to the left."
Vespera raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And Miss 'my magic lasts five seconds' is going to teach me how to shoot?"
Instead of being offended, Elara surprised her. "I'm merely pointing out an observable fact. If you want to waste energy on bad form, that's your problem."
It was the beginning of a strangely productive rivalry. They started competing — who could take down more creatures, who found more corruption crystals, who located the next core first. The competition kept them focused, turning romantic tension into fuel for the mission.
In a clearing, they came upon a group of corrupted boars — larger and more aggressive than the wolves. The competition vanished, replaced by the need for survival.
"Barrier!" Vespera shouted, retreating as the boars charged.
Elara, panting, raised her staff. "Protego!" A shimmering but functional shield of light appeared before them, lasting just long enough for Vespera to fire a flurry of arrows that distracted the beasts.
"To your right!" Elara warned, as one of the boars circled around the barrier.
Vespera spun, her arrow already nocked. "I know!" The shot was clean, hitting the beast's leg and making it stumble.
It was a coordinated effort — not perfectly harmonious, but effective. When the last boar fell, both were panting, dirty, but unharmed.
"Your... shield... lasted six seconds," Vespera gasped, resting on her knee.
Elara, pale but with a glint of triumph in her eyes, nodded. "Six... and a half, actually."
For a moment, understanding passed between them. They were different, they irritated each other, but in battle, they could count on one another.
Meanwhile, Liriel, alone, floated through the most deeply corrupted areas of the forest. Without the distraction of others, her divine perception could focus entirely on the web of sickened energy. She didn't bother with lesser beasts; her mere presence made them retreat with frightened whimpers.
She found what she was looking for near a once-crystalline stream, now black and viscous. One of the "knots" in the web of corruption. A larger crystal, about the size of her fist, pulsed with dark energy, buried among the roots of an ancient, dying oak.
"Finally," she murmured. "The heart of one of the wounds."
Instead of destroying it immediately, she studied it. The energy wasn't chaotic; it flowed in specific patterns, almost like runes. It was corruption magic, yes, but applied magic. Intelligent. This confirmed her suspicions. A conscious agent — not a mere leak of demonic energy — was behind this.
She wrapped the crystal in a golden force field, containing its influence but not destroying it. This was a discovery that needed to be reported. The Seventh General wasn't a brute; he was a sorcerer — an architect. And that changed everything.
By the end of the day, the pairs reunited at the designated meeting point. Lyra and I had cleared several smaller clusters and mapped a new area of infestation. Elara and Vespera were filthy, with a few scratches, but had wiped out an entire colony of corrupted boars. And Liriel, her air of superiority intact, presented her discovery about the intelligent nature of the corruption.
The success was undeniable. We had made more progress in one day than in the entire previous week. But looking at the group — at the silent rivalry between Elara and Vespera, the professional distance of Lyra, and Liriel's unsettling discovery — it was clear that, though effective, the division into pairs had solved nothing. It had merely created new kinds of tension, all simmering beneath the surface, waiting for the next spark.