“I mean the processed applications,” she snapped, waving it at me like an offended atant prepared to duel over fiscal iy. She practically radiated indignation at my ck of faith. “More than that is still in the queue!”

  I raised my hands in surreaking a step back as if fending off an oning audit. “Okay, okay! I don’t doubt you!”

  Lo’s eyes narrowed further. But then she seemed to realize that she had just s me. Her fastantly turned red, her rigid stance softening into something more flustered than furious. “Y-Yes, Lady, I know… Uhmm…” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Let’s go back to our office? I’ll get you the full list!”

  I grinned. “Sure, let’s go. I’ll help!”

  Without waiting, I grabbed half of the stack of papers from her overburdeable, ign the way she visibly hesitated. Clearly torween allowio help and insisting I would mess her system, whatever it was. So I wi her.

  We walked side by side, heading back toward the fortress offices, the sounds of the camp’s preparations buzzing around us. “So,” I asked, shifting the papers under my arm, “aeresting sign up?”

  Lo kept half a step behind me, as she always did, and for a brief sed, I thought about enting on it. But… she looked like she was enjoying it. There was a quiet sort of te in her posture, an ease in the way she naturally deferred to my pace.

  So I let it be.

  Instead, I g her thoughtful expression as she ran through her mental notes. “From those you asked me to che?” She paused, sidering. “Luminaria agreed to e.”

  My brows lifted slightly. “That’s promising.”

  “And… I think I saplication from NightSwallow.”

  That explorer! If she es, I’ll tell her h she was!

  “The others haven’t responded yet,” she added, her voice tinged with mild disappoi.

  “What about Neko Arci or Stha?” I pressed. “We could really use the help of their guilds.” She shook her head. “Fty? Techi Lma? Argel Luci?"

  Lo shook her head. “No respo.” I clicked my tongue, shifting my weight slightly as we ehe quieter streets in the improvised town.

  That was… inve. But we still had time. Not much, but enough to push for more reinforts. The problem was that most of them didn’t know me. And maybe they weren’t famous or stro.

  But Luminaria’s guild? That one had always been a powerhouse. At least we had that. Before I could spiral deeper into battle strategies, a voice ripped me back to the present. “Charlie!” A bright, familiar male voice. I gnced up, blinking away my thoughts just in time to see… Ryan. He was tending to a stall in front of a fairly rge tent, a broad, tagious grin stretg across his face.

  Lo said a quiet hello, while hiding behind me and before I could process anything further… He reached out, arms open for a hug. “So o see you, and thank you!” …I helped him? I blinked, momentarily lost. Had I done something? What had I done?

  No clue.

  But I pyed along. “Ryan!” I matched his enthusiasm, stepping forward and pulling him into a firm, friendly hug. And it was here was warmth in the way our bodies pressed together, the unspoken camaraderie of shared experiences, even if I couldn’t remember what exactly those were. A week before, I didn’t like hugs. They had always felt awkward, suffog—something I tolerated more than enjoyed.

  But now? There was something f in the closeness, in the ease of physical e, like a silent aowledgment that I existed, that I was here, in this moment, with people who mattered. It was… different.

  Good different.

  I pulled back, grinning up at him. “How’s business?” I asked, letting my hands settle on my hips, curiosity slipping into my tone.

  “Since you gave me that permit, it’s been smooth sailing,” Ryan said, his voice brimming with satisfa.

  Behind me, I heard a yelped gasp—Lo. Oh. So she had been the oo hahat. I smirked, making a mental o thank her properly ter, but before I could, Ryan’s gaze sharpened—his eyes flig over my clothes, keen, calg.

  Then, with a mert’s instinct hoo perfe, he poi my outfit. “Your clothes are amazing,” he said, intrigued. “Where did you get them? Marvel?”

  I blinked and then giggled. “You’re actually the first to ask,” I said, shaking my head. “Despite them being…” I let my words trail off, my lips curling into a mischievous grin, and with a fliy fingers, I sent him the item description fcial Tread Heels].

  His eyes flicked over the details, sing and then they widened. “Legendary?!” His rea was instant, intuitive—his whole body jerking like I had just spped him with a sack of gold. His hands twitched on reflex, like he hysically restraining himself from reag for my heels right there.

  And then, like a true mert, he asked, “Do you want to au your heels?”

  I ughed. “It’s a legendary set, Ryan.”

  He didn’t miss a beat. “How much?”

  I giggled again, enjoying this way too much. “Ryan,” I said, mogly sweet, drawing out his h exaggerated sugar-coated amusement, “not for sale.”

  Ryan grinned, clearly unfazed, but before he could make another offer that I would definitely refuse, a pyer wandered past his stall. The guy was clearly just passing through, but then his eyes flicked downward, log onto something oable and strode straight toward Ryan’s wares with the undivided attention of a man who had just found the deal of the tury.

  “You also have a paying er, Ryan,” I ilting my head toward the eager pyer.

  Ryan shot me a quiod, still smiling easily. “Sure,” he said, then his grin twitched wider, something pyful sparking in his expression. “And I’m gd you’re out of your shell, Charlie. A cute girl like you should be charming boys, not hiding.”

  “Huh?”

  Both me and Lo made the exact same noise, pletely synized in surprised e. “I’m still the same—” I pined out loud, my hands flying up instinctively as if to emphasize h he was.

  Ryan chuckled knowingly, like a man who had already won the argument. “Oho?” he mused, already stepping back behind his stall, smoothly motioning for the pyer to e closer. “These are cheap because I have a friend bcksmith—you want them?”

  And just like that, he moved on. The absolute audacity of this man. That was my cue to leave before he dropped another ent that made me rethink my entire existence. I gave him a quick wave and turned, making my way back toward the fortress gates, Lo falling into step beside me.

  But the words stuck.

  “Ryan said I was… out of my shell?” I muttered, still rolling it over in my head. “Did he mean I didn’t freeze talking to people?”

  Lo’s ugh was light, but definitely amused. “You don’t, Lady,” she said with absolute fidehat wouldn’t be you.”

  That made me stop mid-step. I turned, staring at her as if she had just casually decred me a god. Was she—was she serious? I struggled with a response, not because I aralyzed by the versation, but because…

  I wasn’t.

  And that was crazy. “I…” I hesitated, blinking as the realizatioled in. Then, slowly, I started walking again, processing out loud. “I was socially awkward since I was a young boy,” I finally admitted, gng at Lo, almost as if I o hear myself say it to believe it.

  A… Here I was. Not freezing; not panig; not hiding. Just talking as if it was easy.

  “Truly? I hardly believe that,” Lo said, her gaze sweeping over me like I was some rock star stepping offstage, like she had witnessed something legendary and couldn’t recile it with the person casually walking beside her. “Yhts—especially the final one…” Her voice softened, almost reverent. “The gra how you held yourself… it was so—”

  She hesitated. Then, color bloomed across her cheeks like she had just realized how much she meant what she was saying. “…One day, I will join you there.”

  I giggled, the sound light, effortless, bubbling up from somewhere fortable and warm. “Oh, Lo,” I said, my voice full of delight. “I had the same thoughts just a few days ago…” I trailed off, gng down at my own hands as we stepped ihe fortress walls.

  The air shifted instantly.

  Outside, the camp had been alive—buzzing with voices, movement, the stant background hum of everyone preparing for war. But iillness and order.

  The stone corridors carried only the soft echo of our footsteps, and the few soldiers we passed stood disciplined and alert, saluting respectfully as we walked by. Their gazes held curiosity, maybe even awe, but none of them questioned me.

  They knew who I was. I felt it in the way they straightened. In the way, their eyes lingered just a sed too long.

  That’s new.

  “Lady,” Lo said, snappi of my thoughts as we climbed the stairs. “We still have a few matters to sort through.” Her tone had shifted, slipping into serious efficy, the kind of voice that meant she was already mentally s the problems before I could even respond. “First,” she tinued, flipping through the stack of dots in her arms, “there is a man who you apparently owe…”

  She paused, her voice turning intense as she shot me a look. “…A thousand gold.”

  I blinked. “…What?”

  Lo’s eyes narrowed slightly, suspi creeping into her normally posed expression. “He cims you gave him your word, or some kind of tract,” she said slowly, as if expeg me to deny it. “And,” her tone dipped even lower, disbelief leaking into it, “he said he gave you… his body?”

  I stared at her and said again, “…What?”

  Before I could even begin to process that insanity, we reached my office. “Lady!” Alma so attention, standing impeccably straight beside the doorway, her crisp salute sharp as a bde. “No one has disrupted the fort while you were gone,” she decred, pride evident in her voice. I nodded, half present, half somewhere else entirely as my mind reeled over the cim Lo had just dropped on me.

  Someohinks I owe them… a thousand gold?

  And, more importantly…

  What the hell did they mean by giviheir body?!

  “Thank you,” I said, nodding at Alma as I stepped inside. “Good work.”

  I moved on autopilot, barely notig the familiar st of part and ink in the office, the way the golden afternoon light from the window stretched across the room in long, angled beams.

  I strode toward Lo’s desk, barely aware of dumping the stack of papers onto her already overloaded workspace before leaning oable with both hands, eyes narrowed in thought. “What’s his name?” I asked, my voiing out ftter than intended.

  Lo bli me, caught off guard. “Sorry?”

  “The man who cims I owe him something?” I crified, still trying to my head around it.

  “Oh! Yes, wait—” Lo furiously hen practically unched herself toward her desk. She rummaged through the mess of papers, her usual ly aaow pletely disrupted, pages haphazardly spread across the table. “I… o find it,” she muttered, frustration creeping into her voice.

  Something bitter edged into it, not at me, but at the disarray. I instinctively jerked back, realizing I had just added to the chaos. A lone part g to my salm, stuck there from the sheer heat of my grip.

  I grimaced. “Oh, I’m sorry.” I carefully peeled the paper away, guilt creeping into my voice. “Here I am, barging in and disrupting your work…”

  I gently pced the dot ba the desk, hesitated for half a sed, then exhaled and strode over to my seat. Lo didn’t say anything at first. But the brief pause in her movements told me she noticed. “His name is Ch4rli33.”

  That redheaded menace forced me into buying my own damn name from that man. Because apparently, I somehow broke the game, and I had to iate for the privilege.

  But the payment wasn’t eve. And now this guy was already knog on my door? Impatient. Lo was still frantically shuffling through papers, her brows furrowed in frustration, but I had already pieced it together.

  With a slow exhale, I leaned ba my chair, arms crossing over my chest as my lips curled into somethiween resignation and mild irritation. “Oh,” I muttered, tilting my head toward the ceiling as if questioning the gods themselves. “Yeah, he’s right.” Then, with absolutely zero enthusiasm, I added, “I owe him a thousand gold.”

  The room went dead silent. Lo froze mid-page flip, her hands h in the air as if I had just fessed to murder.

  I gnced up.

  Lo’s wide-eyed expression erfect mix of disbelief and dismay. “…Excuse me?!” she finally demanded.