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Ryu's POV
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"... And that's how we got to you." (Astrid)

"I see. I guess I saved us there Ryu." (Airi)

"Mm." (Ryu)

It's been a few hours since we got back to the Inn from that alley; 2 hours at most.

Knight woke up on the way back while the Captain was carrying her, but wasn't allowed to walk back, since she had gotten a head wound.

Currently, we're in the room Knight, Archer and Healer rented out, with Knight laying on the bed, recovering.

As for the other 3, they're trying to get information out of R as quickly as possible, considering the time limit we have of less than 2 days.

But right now, my mind is focused on something else.

My left eye.

The burning sensation I felt when cutting the arrows is now gone, but the fatigue I felt is still weighing down on me.

The only rational conclusion I could come up with is that my eye caused my body to undergo huge amounts of strain for that amount of stress to build up, especially for having only fought for under 2 minutes.

Something about the whole experience felt somewhat similar to something I had felt before, though I can't place where.

Currently, however, I'm also being forced to rest after Vice-Captain noticed me slowing down behind the squad when walking back.

Our plans for what to do next, though, entirely depend on how loose-lipped R is. I don't think my taunts got to him when talking about his place while cornered, but I can only hope.

Thoughts cloud my mind as to what R was going to say, before getting cut off by the room's door being swung open by Captain and Vice-Captain.

"We got something." (Captain)

"What was it?" (Airi)

"Tomorrow at the pier, all the members of The Cardinal are going to be gathered." (Etsu)

"Tomorrow? What about the other mana crystals?" (Astrid)

"It seems we stopped their plans by mere inconvenience. But we definitely need to be at the pier tomorrow." (Captain)

"I see... Say, this has been bothering me, but how did they stop the transportation of goods from Alzibria? They couldn't have done it with this brainwashing." (Astrid)

"Ah, I was curious about that too. It seems that the excessive mana gathered in the stones caused the monsters in the forest to get riled up, which made them venture out, stopping merchants from riding out of town with the goods." (Kana)

"Is that something we're going to have to deal with?" (Airi)

"Not likely. It should be around a week from now, but because we stopped the mana harvesting, the monsters'll go back to their usual nature." (Etsu)

"Alright. Now, what are we going to do for tomorrow?" (Airi)

"I thought this through while getting information, but..." (Etsu)

Vice-Captain goes on to tell us the plan for tomorrow.

To begin, we are supposed to spread out across the pier, as we don't know where it'll take place.

We'll slowly move closer towards the meeting point as time goes on.

When ready to attack, the Captain will throw a stone at the group to signal.

At that signal, we will all jump out and capture them, since killing them would be a waste.

After capturing them, we will stay on full alert, as Astrid will need time to prepare a full dispel magic on the town to remove the brain washing spell.

In the case of extra members appearing late, they would be left to me and Captain.

As for Lynx, Panther and Albrio, the priority is to capture them, but if we deem it necessary, we have permission to kill them.

And with that explained, we now need to start our preparations, which also means getting Knight properly healed, and so, for Healer, most of the day was spent using healing magic on Knight until she was in near perfect shape.

As for me, I refused healing magic, stating that I was fine and that Healer should rest, since she needs to do a big spell tomorrow.

However, my body was bordering on the edge. My fatigue was at an all time high, and the wounds from the arrows still burned.

Right now, I doubt I'd even be able to take a single hit from Lynx and be able to block it.

For the wounds, I could just put some healing ointment over them, since I had 13 batches made.

My body needed rest, I understood that, but right now, my mind is too jumbled with random thoughts to be able to rest.

My eye. The No-Names. The Cardinal.

It was all spiralling around my head, all this information, and yet, I couldn't find a link to it all.

There's nothing between any of them that could join them together.

For now though, I tried my best at resting and laid on the bed in the room we had rented for me and Captain.

It took a while for sleep to take me, but once it did, I felt weightless.

As if I was laying on nothing, my head started swimming in freedom, free of the thoughts that chained it down.

Except for one.

One still remained, holding me back.

My eye.

What was it?

What was it doing to place such a burden on my body?

Why did it hurt so much?

The thoughts spiralled out of control, more and more kept intruding into my mind.

Until, finally, it let go, and I was finally able to rest, trying to recover from the fatigue that plagued my body.

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Author Notes
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Wooo, we are nearing the end of the Alzibria arc!

By nearing, I mean that we are there. Next chapter should be the last of the main events in this arc.

Looking back over this, it feels like a lot happened, in very few words.

Sure, 20,000 words is a significant amount, but compared to other books, it's practically nothing.

All it took was the 20,000 words to end an arc, and yet, I managed to get everything I wanted into it.

Anyway, the next chapter should be the last chapter of the Alzibria arc, and I'm hoping it will be a longer one.

Maybe I should push for 1500 words for it.