Chương 19: The Ignorable and the Beautiful Face

Norman and Jett remained locked with each other, but the position wasn't equal. Norman was a little lower while Jett was a little higher. Then someone moved closer behind Jett. A woman, wearing an enormous black pointy hat. The human brain informed me it was called a witch hat, popular among female mages for fashion. I asked if covering one's eyes could really justify the fashion. The human brain didn't answer. Apparently even it had limits on what it could explain about humans.

The woman struck the ground with the end of her staff and stopped. She looked at Norman with a smile.

"Are you sure he's your brother?" She looked at Jett's sparkling face. Then back at Norman's.

"He's too… flat?" I agreed, silently. Norman's face had never once helped me find him in a crowd. Jett pulled his sword back.

"Shut up, Flare."

"Ara? A bit protective, are we?" Flare covered her mouth, but her shoulders were shaking. Jett brushed his hair back and smiled, showing white, sparkling teeth.

"Can't be helped. I am beautiful, after all." Her shaking shoulders stopped.

"Teasing this idiot is a waste of time." She turned to Norman instead. Norman averted his gaze.

"Hmm?" She moved in front of him and leaned forward.

"You look fun to tease." She grinned. An arrow passed straight through the conversation and found a fleeing bandit at a distance. I looked around where it came from.

"Enough with the chit-chat. We have a quest to finish." There. From a tree, a man with a bow was already loading the next arrow.

"Shut up, Kardan. Don't tell me what to do." Jett bent his knees, then straightened them like a spring. He caught up with three bandits, spun once, and the three dropped on the ground. An arrow passed close enough to graze his cheek. He stopped. He turned to look at the archer.

"Watch it, Kardan. Do you know how important this beautiful face is? I'll kill you." Kardan nocked another arrow. His expression didn't change.

"Shut up, narcissist." Flare looked at the two of them and sighed. She adjusted her hat and glanced at Norman.

"Later, Jett's little brother." She waved a hand.

"I'll tease you properly later." Norman didn't answer. She took a few steps toward the bandits, then extended the hand not holding her staff.

"Fire—" Something grabbed her foot. She looked down. The bandit leader was still on the ground, one hand wrapped around her ankle. He looked up at her.

"Leave him be… He's just a child…" Flare tapped her cheek with a finger a few times.

"Hmm…" She looked at the small bandit still running.

"Why should I? You're all just bandits." He gritted his teeth.

"We're bandits, true. But we've never killed anyone." Then someone shouted from a distance.

"What are you doing?!" I turned toward the road leading back to the village. There was a carriage, four horses, and a pig — no. A human, with only the body of a pig, wearing a coat with gold at the edges. There were dark shadows below his eyes. He staggered the last few steps toward us, one hand braced against the carriage door as if the ground wasn't trustworthy. His coat, fine as it was, had gone rumpled and dusty at the hem, like it had spent more time dragging through dirt than it was built for.

He panted, catching his breath.

"These savages dared to attack my carriage."

"Looks like our client finally decided to show himself." Flare turned toward him. He drew another breath, this one shakier than the last.

"And because of it, my wife and I were forced to walk."

"We let you live," the boss said weakly.

"My wife was sick!" The client's hands curled into fists.

"She didn't make it." The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The clearing went quiet as the boss's eyes widened. He couldn't say anything. Flare extended her hand toward the small bandit.

"So there you have it."

"No, wait—" She smiled.

"Fire Ball." A red circle of light bloomed at the tip of her finger. Then the fire came. It started no bigger than a tomato, then swelled: grapefruit, melon, then larger still, the heat visible in the way the air bent around it. It moved forward, swallowing the kid whole. I had seen fire before. This was worse. Fire, in my experience, simply existed and waited for something to wander close enough. This one was hunting. The bandit leader watched, hand slipping from her ankle.

"I told you to stay at the base…" He and the boy fell within moments of each other. Flare lowered her hand and surveyed the results, still smiling.

"One." Kardan jumped down from the tree. Upon landing, he pointed at her.

"Your share will be lower, Flare." Her smile became a pout. It took less than a second to produce, and another to convert into tears. She turned at their client.

"Our payment will still be equal, right?" He didn't answer. He was staring at the distance, where the bandits lay.

"Suit yourself." He reached into his coat and produced a pouch. He set it on the ground, turned, and entered the carriage parked behind him. Flare clicked her tongue. The coachman snapped the reins. The horses neighed. The carriage moved. We watched the four horses pull the carriage away in silence, dust rising in a thin trail behind the wheels.

"Wait." Flare took a few steps forward, hand extended toward it, fingers grasping at nothing but road dust.

"Did that bastard just leave us behind? Me?" Jett laughed, already turning to walk in the opposite direction.

"Looks like we'll be walking back to Leveron."

"That's a whole day on foot!" Flare's hand dropped. She spun toward him, hat tilting dangerously to one side.

"Maybe he wouldn't have left if you hadn't said anything, Flare," Kardan added, not looking up from his bow.

"So it's my fault now?!" Flare glared at the both of them.

"Yeah. Who else?" Kardan said.

"I'm too beautiful to be blamed." Jett covered half of his face with one hand, the other propped below his elbow, striking a pose that seemed entirely unnecessary given no one had asked him to. Flare's mouth opened, closed, then opened again, apparently unable to decide which of them deserved the first insult.

"I seriously hate you two." She sighed, then turned to Norman. Her smile returned like the earlier indignation didn't happen. I was starting to think it was her natural talent.

"Now then. I'll just tease Jett's little brother instead."

"Stop calling him my little brother." Jett pointed at Norman.

"Go home. A mask suits you better." Norman looked at the ground. I stepped between them.

"Don't bully Norman." I was still trembling despite all that happened, but my voice came out steadier than my hands.

"How cute. A mage protecting him." Flare moved closer. I shook harder.

"Ara? I'm not that scary, you know?" She was. My hands refused to stop shaking. But my feet didn't move either.

"By the way, you look kind of familiar…" Flare tilted her head, staring at my face.

"Hmm… Where have I…" She snapped her fingers, then hit her palm.

"Ah. You're the new mage without talent." Something about the flatness in her voice made it feel like an insult. Then her eyes drifted past my face, and landed on the bow slung across my back.

"Wait, is that a bow?" She circled, getting a better angle on it.

"Looks like the real deal." I remained silent. I wasn't sure what the correct answer was.

"Hmm…" She put her hand under her chin, tapping one finger against her jaw. Then she turned toward the tree line.

"Hey, Kardan, do you remember her at the Archer Guild?"

"Not interested." Kardan didn't look up.

"Come on, don't be like that. Were you there when she registered?"

"Just because she has a bow doesn't mean we registered at the same time. Hurry up and get this over with. We still have to walk." He sat on a rock and started wiping his bow.

"Ugh. Why do you need to make me remember that when I'm having my fun right now?" Flare complained.

"Forget about that killjoy." Jett made another pose, one hand on his hip, chin tilted upward.

"Observe my beauty instead." She ignored him and turned back to me.

"Anyway. Small world, isn't it?" She smiled.

"I always wondered what happened to you. And seriously, why archery? You know the Mage Guild is not on good terms with the Archer Guild."

"It's because you mages are obsessed with the word arch." Kardan finally joined.

"Is that the reason? How stupid." She laughed.

"Both of your guilds are stupid," Jett added. While the three continued to bicker, the human brain, which had been quiet for the past minutes, surfaced. Are you alright? I shook my head. Then, let me handle this body for a while, the human brain said. She used fire, I argued. I know. And she was a better mage than this body, back then. Then why— That was before. Before this body also became an archer. We're not just a mage anymore. We're an archer-mage. Flare returned her attention to me.

"And what is that stupid rock?" Her hand moved toward it. I swatted it. Or rather, something in me swatted it. Faster and sharper than I meant to. She blinked. Leave it to me, the human brain said. Avenge our rock. I nodded internally. Of course it's for the rock. Definitely not for our dignity or anything like that. The human brain sighed. Then it fully took over. The trembling stopped.

"Watch it, second-rate mage." My tongue had fully recovered.