"This place really sucks..."
Rhamn lay on the bench, her paler-than-usual face aimed at the ceiling with a weak expression.
Morpho sat near her, twitching her antennae as if trying to cheer her up.
"It's too late for me~"
"What's wrong, Cyril? Do you have travel sickness?" Myra looked at him with confusion.
His body shaking with the train, he nodded.
Not really. There is just so little mana here...
In his recent memory Cyril has never been this far away from the Tower.
The further from it he departed, the less mana was there in the air.
It feels harder to breathe.
"I'll get used to it soon."
He touched the vials with blue liquid hidden in his jacket, fighting the urge to drink one.
"We should be able to adapt to this. No need to waste them..."
Myra nodded, her eyes shining as if seeing some rare animal.
"Does she find the sight of you suffering entertaining, huh? Quite the friend."
"I can understand! The first time I traveled in this heap of scrap, I puked a few times."
Tony laughed with nostalgia.
Cyril only looked out the window, ignoring him.
Through it endless green fields were seen, softly illuminated by the moon.
The sprawling city and the Tower were slowly fading on the horizon.
"We still have a lot of distance to cover." Tony sighed and pointed above him.
"When you get tired, just unfold the berth, we'll leave into another compartment then."
"I understand young people need privacy. Especially in your situation." A smirk appeared on his face.
"Can he shut up already? So annoying..."
During their talks, Tony and Tom revealed that they were going for a business meeting at a mining station, though not much else from that.
Not having found anything related to Ambrosia from them, Cyril and Rhamn quickly lost interest in this talk.
However, Tony was relentless, asking all sorts of details.
"So you are from Ailanthus, right? That's a prestigious place..."
"Is it as good as they say?"
"I've heard commoners can also enroll. How are they treated?"
"Sorry, you said your name is Cyril, but what is your family name?"
Just as the frown on Cyril's face was becoming deeper, the broad-shouldered Tom motioned for his friend to stop.
"Let's go sleep already."
Tony disappointingly shrugged his shoulder but got up in the end.
"See you tomorrow!"
If I see him again, I'll just punch him...
The two swiftly left, leaving the two students alone.
"Finally!"
...
Cyril looked out of the window, finding himself attracted to it for some reason. The endlessly scrolling grass with an occasional tree and lake appeared beautifully different from the city.
Myra was unfolding the berths and arranging her baggage while humming, having changed into a pajama already some time earlier.
At one point she suddenly froze, her gaze glued to their table.
"...Cyril? Did you take my crackers?"
"Crackers?"
"You know, the snack attendant brought. I can't find mine, did you eat it?"
He stared at her without saying anything for a few seconds. Myra's face remained completely serious.
"I didn't."
"...Morpho ate them."
Oh.
"Maybe it was those guys from the Rennock Trading Company? I knew businessmen couldn't be trusted, they are no different from thieves!"
For some reason Cyril felt a deep sense of guilt when looking into her black eyes full of despair.
He reached into the bag in front of his feet, pulling out a bag of dried meat.
"Take this instead."
Immediately the butterfly hiding in the corner flew out, circling his hand with her antennae twitching in protest.
"That's her snack..."
Cyril only sent her a glare, and the butterfly weakly landed on the table, staring unflinchingly at the bag.
"Really? Thank you, this is not bad either."
Myra accepted the reparations, her face brightening while Morpho's wings drooped lower.
Cyril observed her for a second, nothing on his mind, then switched his gaze to the window again.
It's a nice trip.
...
Cyril lay on the berth and stared at the ceiling.
Morpho slept on his chest, her insect body raising up and down according to his breathing.
I am finally used to the lack of mana somewhat...
"Now we can finally focus on the fact that we left the city!"
"Even with the mana issue, the idea of exploring lands beyond the Empire's reach seems more and more enticing. Why don't we just elope from this place?"
Elope is the wrong word, or are you suggesting I do that with Myra?
He made a rare joke as he listened to the train's wheels hitting the rails.
Myra lightly snored on the opposite bunk, her auburn hair swaying with her breath.
"Tsk, don't joke like that out loud. I feel Myra would only too readily agree."
Her face did appear brighter outside the city. I guess it is somewhat oppressive for her.
…She knew there was a demon attack, and now she wants to have an important talk with me at the ruins.
Does she know?
...Would she behave differently if she knew?
As he was thinking about random things, a noise from not too far away attracted his attention.
Wood moving on the metal surface, followed by two footsteps, one louder than the other.
The footsteps came closer to their compartment and stopped right in front of it. Their noise was so quiet even Cyril struggled to pick them up.
What is this?
Alarmed, Cyril slowly got up from the bed, staring at the door unflinchingly.
Soon it began opening up by someone from behind.
Just as Cyril put strength into his legs, the doors were suddenly flung completely open, and a bright flash blinded him.
Following it was the sound of a spell, as someone dashed close and hit Cyril on the chest.
Caught unprepared Cyril was flung backward, hitting the table. An unknown spell entered into his body through the impact.
Is it poison!?
He focused on his surroundings as the vision slowly returned to him.
But he only managed to catch the sight of a broad-shouldered man in a suit quickly escaping behind a door.
"Should've been sleeping, oh noble knights!" A familiar voice mocked from ahead.
Cyril looked around only to discover their bags were now missing.
These clowns...
He irritably clenched his fists.
"What happened!?" Myra cautiously jumped to the floor, a bit of drool still on her face.
"Those two are thieves. They were after our baggage."
Myra quickly wiped her face, it soon becoming sharper.
"What should we do now? Ask for help from the staff?"
Expectation was in her voice.
"No." Cyril muttered with a frown, to which Myra nodded up and down excitedly.
"The spell from before was paralyzing poison. I have neutralized it, don't worry."
"Those guys are dead now!"
"Morpho, can you catch their trace?"
The butterfly fluttering in the air twitched her antennae with determination.
"Let's go after those two idiots ourselves."
"What gave them the courage to rob people on an enclosed train?"
Cyril stormed out of his compartment and quickly followed after the red butterfly.
Myra ran after him with a nostalgic spark in her eyes.