The result of mistakes (and less thought-of actions)

-15th day of AC, 15.04.1052-

-About 6:00-

Travis' bed, while it was last made a month ago, provided enough comfort to let him sleep rather soundly (despite what transpired in his dreams). However, as the time approached early morning hours, he opened his eyes, almost as if he reacted to the slight increase in brightness. Of course, that wasn't it: for over half a year, he's been waking up rather early, and even during his travels he rarely ever slept past 7 in the morning. Old habits die hard.

'...so that's what happens when you leave everything for a month.' was his first thought as he looked at a few dark stains in the corners between the walls and ceiling. Comparing them to the ones he remembered, they seemed to have slightly increased in size. This was a clear sign of fungus spreading its tendrils on his home. Their scent was hanging in the air a little, just barely perceptible.

But that didn't matter. Travis's heart beat harder as he realized where he was.

Today was the day. Time to finish his quest and finally, officially join the Apostle's Competition by setting off to grow stronger.

Travis got up and took care of everything around the house quickly (especially his nightly incident). After that, he set off toward the public baths to finally clean himself properly. Coming back and checking the time with RALS, he let out a small sigh. Sitting in a chair by the table, he looked at the contents placed on it. His gaze alternated between different items until he spotted the communication sphere he had received from Aria.

[Small communication sphere

Rating: Rare

Durability: 33/33

Current/maximum mana: 2523/2523

Effective distance: 96 km

Uses mana to create a link of communication between two spheres attuned one to another. Mana drain depends on distance.

Weight: 70 g]

The item did fit loosely in his hand, being only about 5 cm in diameter. Taking it between his knuckle and index finger, he pondered for a moment.

'Should I call now?' he looked at the item, and then through the window, a little unsure. 'I mean, being an Inspector in the making, getting up at an hour like this should probably be normal, but... ah, who am I kidding? If I don't call her now, I'll probably not do it at all.' he frowned slightly, prompting the thing to activate.

Immediately, the blue whirl inside of it began moving, and a notification sprung up.

[The communication sphere is dialing...]

A few seconds passed in absolute silence. Travis watched as the miniature clouds circled some kind of a center point, slowly but surely making their rounds around. And then, they abruptly stopped.

[Link established.]

"...who is it?" he heard Aria's voice, delicate as he remembered it, but with a hearable glint of sleep remaining.

"It's Travis," he replied. "You gave me a communication sphere last month, remember?"

"...oh! Right! I remember, sorry," he heard her answer his words after a few seconds. "I'm just having a little headache, is all."

"Are you alright?"

"Mostly... I'll live. Well, but I suppose you have something to ask of me since you're calling?"

"I kind of wanted to check in on you. You know, seeing how you were last time I saw you. I just came back to Silvana."

"Oh... I see," Travis couldn't help but notice how her tone seemed a tad bit uplifted after she heard his words. Was it really what happened? Or was it some kind of distortion from the device? "T-Thank you, I'm feeling fine. Did something happen on your side?"

"...no. What about you?"

"Thankfully, nothing. But, umm... can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I have something I'd like to share with you, but... it's not something I can say over a call. Is it possible for you to... come around?"

"...Uh..."

"Y-You can come even now... you may find this important."

"Um... well, I can come around if you want," 'She sounds weirdly adamant about me going to her place. "Even now," 'Only now, really.' "I can be there in 10 minutes."

"Oh, t-that's great! 10 minutes? A-Are you serious?"

"Well... I do remember where it is. It's just a rock throw away from the marketplace, right? It happens to be rather close to my home."

"I see... well, umm... 15 minutes, then?"

"Uh, alright. I'll be there in 15 minutes."

"G-Great! See you then!" and then, the communication was severed.

'Hmm, this is going smoothly. I kind of expected her to make me wait until she finished her shift or something. Oh well, I guess that's all the better for me. Pry for some information, get out of the city, and the rest is smooth sailing, as they say.'

-15 minutes later, at Aria's place-

Travis knocked on the door that he remembered was leading to Aria's place. Taking in the construction of the door, he quickly affirmed that this was indeed the same one that she had seen him out through a month before. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself as he heard some hurried steps come from inside. Immediately, as the lock was unlocked, the door opened, exposing the small woman to the man.

She was wearing a large, blue shirt with long sleeves, fitting nicely with her gray, wide pants that were tied with a cord on her wide hips. Aria's emerald eyes were looking at him with curiosity, but also tiredness, which only seemed to be magnified by the large bags under her eyes. It seemed that she was in an even worse state than when he last saw her.

However, what picked his attention the most, was her hair, now cut to a roughly even level at her shoulders.

"Hello," Aria nodded to him and stepped to the side. A gentle smile graced her face. "Come on in."

"Yes, thank you," he said, quickly taking his steps inside.

As he stopped and watched over the room, he immediately noticed how the previously clean and tidy space was now a little dusty and covered in multiple pages of some documents, a few books, and other things that he didn't bother to investigate with his eyes further. Hearing the door click behind him, he turned to Aria. The woman was looking at him, seemingly awaiting him to say something. Deciding to break the silence, he said, "You, uh, cut your hair, I see."

"Oh... uh, yes," Aria answered, taking a strand of the white hair in hand. "It just... *Yawn* got in the way, and... weighed me down."

"It suits you," he said, unsure of how he should respond. 'This must be an effect of Penalty Zone on her. Wet hair must've been a burden.'

"Oh, t-thank you..." her eyes darted to the side, visibly sheepish to meet his gaze.

"So, uh... what did you want to tell me?"

"Right, right... uh, follow me, please," she replied, quickly rushing past him and into her bedroom.

With hastened steps, Travis followed the woman, and almost took a step back at the sight: her bedroom looked even worse. There were books in multiple piles around the room, topped off with some documents. One of those piles was even on the bed, seemingly acting as a kind of nightly lecture.

"May I ask what are all of those? They definitely weren't here last month, were they?" he asked, seeing how Aria walked to one of her dressers.

"Oh... that's research. I'll get to it..." she answered, her voice suddenly trailing off as her eyes seemed to close for a few seconds before she opened them abruptly, taking a deep breath. "Right, right...*Yawn* w-where do I even begin... gods, I was not prepared for this..." she rubbed her temples, her expression twisting into a slightly uncomfortable one.

"Um, Aria... how about... the beginning?"

"I... r-right... uh, after... after that i-incident, I reported... *Yawn* reported everything to my higher-ups. They... didn't believe me," Aria's green eyes appeared to water a little as she looked at her trembling hands. Travis could not help but feel sorry for the woman. "Chris took my side, but... they... didn't want to hear a word... t-they said we're just... making fun of them..."

Her mouth closed for a moment as Aria swiped her cheeks with a sleeve of her shirt. Letting out a sigh, she appeared to try and think of what she was going to say. Was it not for her state, the yawn that proceeded could be called cute.

"I... they shrugged the case off... B-But I know what I saw. So I, uh... I started doing some research... o-on my own," she swiped her hand lazily. "All of this is...*Yawn* what I gathered..."

"Research... about what exactly?"

"I... what happened to us... sudden teleport to... weird places, stuff like that," Aria answered, her eyes almost closed again. After a long yawn escaped her mouth, she continued, "I went to the library and searched the topic of...*Yawn* teleportation magic," she took a wobbly step toward one of the books. Its title read 'A list of known teleporting skills and their usability'.

"...did you find anything?" Travis inquired, his golden eyes scanning over the items.

"N-No... *Yawn* I kept on looking, but there was... nothing. I asked for... documents from other... cities, but... I don't know when they'll arrive."

"So... why did you ask me to come around?"

"W-Well... I also started an investigation... about your MID being fake."

"...I see," Travis responded, feeling his heartbeat accelerate with nervousness. "Did you find out anything?"

"N-Not much... I... checked the office that... made your MID... *Yawn* But they were clear. I... tried to reach your... teachers... but it was all in vain, too."

"But why did you do this?"

"...Don't you want to know... what happened? Who... could be responsible for that?"

"...not really. It's already happened. Thank you for being so considerate of me, but don't worry about that. If someone wants to mess with me, I'll handle it on my own. Alright?" he formed a tiny smile, trying to reassure the woman.

"...right..." she said before yawning again. Her small nose appeared to slightly stir as she brushed her cheeks with a shirt sleeve again.

"Still, I think you could've told me this over a call. Why did you ask me to come here, then? Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, I'm just curious, is all."

"I... well," Aria said, sitting on the bed. "I just wanted to make sure you're... alright."

"I'm fine. But you do seem... how do I say it... sleepy? Really sleepy, even."

"Oh... yeah, everyone's *Yawn* been telling me that. But... I just... I-I can't," her voice shook slightly.

"Can't sleep?"

Aria nodded a little. Immediately, the man noticed how her eyes glistened again. "I can't put in words how tired I am. I feel like I'm... going to faint all the time. B-But... I just can't sleep," she said, her voice beginning to shake a little. "Every time I close my eyes, I see... that place," she curled up a little bit. "And I can't escape it. This... nightmare. Every day, it just... doesn't want to go away."

'So her state was caused by the Penalty Zone... I shouldn't be surprised. If I were in her shoes, I'd probably behave the same.' Travis thought, feeling some weight on his heart. He parted his lips, "I'm sorry, Aria. It must be tough for you."

"...I'll live," she replied, though her eyelids seemed to be closed already. "I have to..."

'I can't just leave her like this. It's my fault she's like this in the first place. There must be something that I can do.' "...Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"...how did you accomplish this?" she asked quietly. "How did you... overcome it? Aren't you... afraid that you may... return there?"

"...I am," 'Even if I am prepared for Penalty Zone, I can never be sure that I'll live through it.' "But, I suppose, I just made peace with that."

"...but how?" Aria asked, focusing her eyes on Travis's. For just a moment, it seemed that she was overcoming her sleepiness if only to listen to his answer. "That... was just unnatural. That place... if something happened... nobody would ever know where you went... How can you make peace with that?"

Travis looked away for a moment. '...should I tell her at least a part of the truth?' the thought stung him. It felt wrong to keep it from her, but maybe... a part was fine. "I... I suppose I've just been through a lot."

"..."

"But... maybe I can help you."

"Help? H-How?" her voice held a hopeful edge to it.

"Can I, uh, sit next to you?"

"...y-yeah," she moved to the side slightly, giving him space to sit on.

"Alright," Travis quickly got next to her. 'I really hope this works.' "Can you give me your hand?"

She looked at him for a moment, visibly hesitant. However, after a few seconds, she did as he told her.

Travis closed both his hands on Aria's one and immediately felt just how unnaturally cold it was. Come to think of it, her entire apartment seemed to have a somewhat chillier atmosphere than he remembered, as well. But he didn't ponder on those things for too long. Instead, he rubbed his hands, spreading some heat on Aria's. The woman immediately gained a bit of blush on her cheeks, but her eyes didn't wander off from what he was doing.

'Good, she's hooked. That'll make it easier.'

"Alright, are you relaxed?"

"...yeah," she nodded lightly.

"Now, deep breath. Focus on your hand. Track its movement. It'll be alright, Aria," 'I just hope this works. <Hypnosis>'

The white-headed woman didn't reply, but she did obediently keep track of their hands, following them rather lazily, yet without breaking contact.

"Whatever happens, you will be strong enough, I'm sure of it," he spoke, continuing the motion smoothly. "You are a brave person."

"...I'm... a brave person..."

"...?" Travis blinked once, then twice, suddenly stopping the motion.

Moving himself a little, he noticed how Aria's eyes were unmoving from their position, and her breathing also seemed to deepen a little. Her mouth was closed, and the woman didn't react at all to him waving his hand right in front of her face. She was, without question, under the influence of the spell already.

'Didn't expect this to work. 'Some kind of foci' apparently means any foci. I will need to get myself something shiny though. That'll make it easier altogether. But that's an issue for later.'

"Aria, listen close. You are a brave person. That place where you've been, that nightmare, it won't haunt you anymore. Repeat it."

"I'm a brave... person."

"That nightmare won't haunt you anymore."

"That nightmare won't... haunt me... anymore," she repeated, but there were hearable pauses between some words.

"Repeat it."

"That nightmare... won't haunt me anymore."

"Again."

"That nightmare won't... haunt me anymore."

'It seems the pauses are from how tired she is.' Travis judged, taking a closer look at her. "Alright. You will be able to sleep peacefully," 'I hope it works like this. Implanting a trigger is a different thing from a command this vague. That'll also have to be repeated a few times.'

-Roughly 2 minutes later-

Travis looked at Aria's expressionless face as he placed her hand on her thigh and retreated to his previous position. A sigh escaped his mouth.

He did try to help the woman, but whether or not it did work was... under a question mark. But he didn't have the time to stick around and find out.

"Aria, do you hear me?"

"...yes," she asnwered. Her voice was emotionless, but at the same time, it appeared to be... glad to hear him.

"Tell me, have you been honest with me?"

"...yes..." she answered, albeit with a slight hesitation.

"Then, you will continue to be honest with me. Do you understand?"

"...yes... I'll be... be... honest..."

"You will be honest with me."

"I will be... honest with you..."

"Repeat it."

"I will be honest... with you..."

"Good," he nodded a little, getting up from the bed. 'With this, the preparations should be complete. I really hope that I managed to break through her fear as well... I'm sorry this happened to you, Aria.' he apologized in his thoughts, turning to a pile of books in the corner. 'Though, without you, surviving the Penalty Zone would've been impossible, probably. Now then, while I have time before <Hypnosis> runs out, let's see what's in here...'

"*Snore*," a sound came from behind him.

"???" Travis turned quickly around and saw how Aria was lying on her side, mouth half agape and drolling on her sheets, asleep.

'...I suppose she must've been truly tired. I best just ask her what I need and leave.'

Slowly, he took a step toward the woman. Slowly sitting down back in his position, he looked at her, and a small smile crept onto his face. She was just... cute. Slowly, he placed his hand on her shoulder, and instantly felt her tense up, if only a little. However, as a second or so passed, Aria's muscles seemed to relax.

"Aria, wake up," Travis said calmly, caressing her shoulder for a short moment. "Hey."

"..."

"Wake up," he repeated, shaking her arm gently.

"...mm?" Aria moved a little, slowly opening her eyes. "...did I doze off?"

"Yeah. Sorry to wake you up, but I have to go."

"...mmph," she blinked before forcing herself to a sitting position slowly. "Yeah, I'll... see you out," Aria got on her legs, looking over Travis with her emerald eyes.

As the two of them walked out of the woman's room, the man asked, "Is it alright if I ask you a question before I go?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Aria nodded, taking a stand by the door, hand on the handle as she looked toward him.

"Well, I've been traveling near Poiri, and I've noticed quite a ruckus around the city. A line with food deliveries to the city, from the nearby villages, I think. Do you know anything about that?"

"...huh... I haven't heard anything... about that," she replied, although with a glint of hesitation. "M-Maybe if I ask, I'll know, but... sorry."

"No, don't worry about it. It was just a hunch of mine."

"I-I see... but if you come around in a few days... I think I'll know something by then."

"Oh... thanks for the offer, but... I won't be around for some time."

"Oh..." Aria let out a small sigh. 'You just came back, and you're leaving again...?' the thought stung her in her heart. "...where are you off to?"

"For now, Quear mountain range. Then, I guess I'll see."

"So... you won't be coming back soon?"

"I don't know when I'll come back," he answered. "It might only take me a few days, but it may take far longer."

"...why are you going there?"

"To level up."

"I-I see..." Aria let her head down a bit, looking at the floor. 'He tries not to show it, but that place did actually have an effect on him...' "Please, stay safe."

"I'll do my best. You too. Do go and sleep, please. You can't keep going on like this. I'm sure that those nightmares will stop soon."

"...alright," she nodded a little. "I'll try."

He nodded in response and took a step closer, waiting for her to open the door. Aria's hand shook a little as she pressed the handle, letting the man out of her apartment. Finally stepping out through the door, Travis turned around, facing the white-haired woman. Her gaze was once again aimed at him, and this time, it seemed that her tiredness had dissipated, at least partially, her eyes focused on his. He smiled warmly.

"One last thing. I have a gift for you," his hand went into a pocket, and then came out, holding a runestone. "This is a runestone. If you input mana into it, it will change magic spells near you into smoke. But it does require substantial mana to use, and doesn't last forever."

"...i-is this really something you'd want to... just give me?" she asked, hesitantly accepting the item.

"You'll get more use out of it than I will, I'm sure," 'Besides, I got 2 extra of just those.'

"...t-thank you..." Aria looked to her side for a split second. "...are you sure... you don't want anything in return?"

"I'm positive," Travis nodded a little. "Stay safe," and then, he turned around, getting a hold of the balustrade and taking a step down.

"...wait," Aria said.

"???"

He turned around, immediately noticing how the woman came closer to him. For a long moment, her face continued to blush profusely before she suddenly lunged at him, giving him a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Immediately after that, she seemed to jump back all the way to the door. A short second of consternation was beset upon the two of them, which Aria abruptly ended, "I-It's... a thank you."

"...I see," he said, shaking himself out of his surprised state. "Then, I'll be going."

"Stay safe..." she said, but the way her voice died off made it seem like she wanted to say something more.

"You too," he answered, and a small smile entered his lips.

As he turned around, he heard the sound of the door clicking.

'...huh.' Travis thought. 'That's... something.' he took his steps downward, soon getting out of the building and walking down the road. He rubbed his cheek momentarily. 'I wasn't expecting <Hypnosis> to do something like this... or was it the spell's doing, even?'

-Meanwhile-

Aria locked the door behind herself and leaned on the wooden surface. Slowly, she slid down until her bottom touched the floor. Her face was hidden in her hands, beetroot red as her heart pounded with the power of a blacksmith's hammer. For the first time in at least two weeks, she was completely awake, if only for a few minutes.

Why did she act like that? She didn't understand it. She was turning 23 this year, why was she acting like she was 13?

Slowly, she got up and began piecing things together whilst going to her bedroom. 'I... I don't understand this feeling...' she thought to herself. She knew what a feeling of having a crush on someone felt like. This feeling that she felt toward the man... it was very similar, and yet... strangely different. Kind of like a feeling of attachment, but also safety that couldn't be explained in words.

She got a hand to her heart level, still clutching the runestone she received from the man. It felt cold in her hand, but at the same time... weirdly warm. As if she felt close to him through this item. 'I just... feel safe near him. Like... like those nightmares will finally go away...'

She dropped into the bed unceremonially, not even caring to take off her shoes. Hugging the stone to her chest still, Aria covered herself with the sheets and formed a small smile. Within seconds, she was sound asleep, naught a nightmare haunting her spirit anymore.

Aria's long episode of insomnia has finally ended, and she proceeded to sleep it off for the proceeding 2 days.

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