They both arrive at once.

I laid back and relaxed in the booth while I waited, getting in some rest after my somewhat long night. I may not have needed to sleep, but I could still get somewhat fatigued, something I should remember later. I could not overexert myself, doing things like that leaves me far too **** to be acceptable. I let out an annoyed sigh, remembering my past life, how exhausted I had become before what had been made my final battle. 'It was shameful, I could barely put up a proper fight.'

Interrupting me from my reminiscing was the sound of two people talking in the direction of the rooms. I opened my eyes and looked over, recognizing their voices. I looked over to be greeted by Grutrod and Oliver exiting the hallway, seemingly in some form of discussion.

I began to understand what they were saying as they approached the table without looking, "Nah, I'm tell'n yah lad, the elves 're far teeh prideful to get involved 'round 'ere. Ain't that right-" The dwarf stopped mid-sentence when he looked over and saw only me at the table. He looked at me quizically, "Well, 'at's strange. Never once 'ave I got up before 'er." He chuckled to himself, "I'm look'n forward teh bein' able teh call 'er the lazy one fer once!" He had a smug, prideful expression.

I chuckled as I laid back again, "If you are speaking of Silvia, she dragged Natalia off to the woods a few moments ago, not too long before you two showed up."

Grutrod's face fell and he began mumbling angrily, but Oliver spoke to me next. "Off to the woods? Why would she drag Natalia to the woods?"

I shrugged, "She took off with her the moment I said I though the forest looked strange." I gave Oliver a hard yet subtle stare, trying to portray my wish to keep what I previously disclosed private.

He seemed to get the memo, as he let out a slightly annoyed sigh. "I suppose we ought to investigate as well, shouldn't we?" He turned to Grutrod at the end of his sentence.

Grutrod seemed to be in contemplation, muttering to himself. He grunted before speaking, "Eh, tis usually best teh 'ait fer an actual request teh be made." He let out a large sigh, "But since the lass 'as already run off, I suppose we should be after 'er." He shook his head as he began stomping towards the door, mumbling under his breath. "I didn't even get teh 'ave me mornin' pint."

I looked to Oliver, who nodded, and then got up. I gave a friendly nod to the barkeep on the way out, who nodded back despite never looking up to see the fact I had nodded in the first place. 'Perhaps I should move up the priority of the barkeep investigation on my to do list... Perhaps...' I pondered this for a few moments as we left the tavern.

We walked along the way, having some small talk between the three of us when every now and then the two of them would talk about some event they had been through together. It almost made me feel bad that I planned to steal him from them, but the other voice in my head was saying 'Two for one, two for one,' So I wasn't afraid I had spontaneously grown a conscience. That would be detrimental to me, after all. All good powerful people know that "right" and "wrong" are at best tools to be used to make people more loyal to your message.

With that inner rant out of the way, we passed through the fields. I waved to a few people as we walked through, including the farmer I had blessed the crop of before. He seemed much happier now. It helped counteract the guilty feeling, but that was just a welcome side effect of my efforts to experiment with abilities as well as make some money.

At last, we reached the edge of the forest. I began to ask, "So how do we plan on finding-"

At that moment, Silvia's voice pierced the otherwise calm ambiance. "DO IT AGAIN! THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!"

Grutrod leaned towards me, looking up at me with an eyebrow raised. "That'd be yer answer, laddy."

With that, we walked towards the shouting, not taking long for us to find them. When we arrived in the clearing they had chosen to be in, Natalia looked exhausted with an angry yet almost fearful Silvia standing over her.

Natalia spoke between pants, "Look... I'm telling you... I've already cast the spell three times... Any more would be pointless, especially since they were unanimous."

Oliver rushed into the clearing, Silvia turning around and reaching for her bow before relaxing somewhat on sight of him. Natalia, on the other hand, collapsed out of exhaustion now that Silvia was no longer forcing her to cast spells until she had no mana left. I wordlessly looked to Grutrod before walking around the two still conscious individuals in order to heal Natalia.

Oliver put his hand on Silvia's shoulder, seemingly also noticing something was off. "What's wrong? Matthew said he had spoken to you, and that you rushed off to the forest, what's going on?"

Silvia seemed at a loss for words. She fell to her knees and started sobbing. I took the opportunity that they were all distracted to implant some corrupted mana in Natalia, not knowing how subtle of an action that was. After I sent the equivalent of about 5 mana to Natalia, she started to wake back up so I stopped before she could notice.

As Natalia sat herself up against me for support, leaning her side into me like a couple might. She answered Oliver's question, whether she was aware that she was doing so or not. "The entire forest, or at least the parts around here." She took a breath before continuing, "Is infused with some kind of mana, that is twisting it chaotically." She let out a large breath, laying her head upon my shoulder.