7 Saved a Lost Child (Aurora)

When I woke up, I felt like a weight was on my stomach, so I tried to reach for it with my hand. Instead of the covers, I felt something fluffy and warm. When a purring shook my body, I snapped fully awake.

As I sat up in bed, the creature who was leaning against me was a big cat with intriguing ears. Spread in a fan-form, four small black bones divided its ears into sections connected by a membrane.

The bones were covered by black velvet-like skin, while the membrane was white. On its forehead, it had a small gemstone, and its emerald eyes contrasted with its black-striped fluffy and silky white fur.

"Meow..."

"Who are you?" I asked the creature.

I did not expect an answer, but images came suddenly to my mind. This creature was using telepathy to tell me Miwa-sama summoned it to keep me warm. I looked by the window near my bed. It was late morning already, and snow had begun to fall.

"Do you have a name?"

This time I had the image of runes in my mind: Fu-wa-ma. "Your name is Fuwama?" I asked. The creature purred as it made an affirmative nod. Somewhere inside me, I couldn't resist.

"Can I pet you?" I asked. The creature stood, sprawled, and came closer before cuddling against me, showing me behind its ears. Barely a few tickles and the creature was purring and showing me its belly. I had always wished to have a cute animal like this with me, but my deity didn't provide new followers with any.

I expected to find Miwa-sama still sleeping soundly in his bed, but instead, I only found a second cat-like creature resting there. I smiled and waved at the creature, but it only winked a sleepy eye in response before laying its head back down and returning to sleep.

I kept petting Fuwama as I stretched and gazed out the window at the snow. After another minute or so, the door opened, and Miwa-sama appeared. He was still dressed in his pajamas and carrying a small tray with coffee and some scones on it. He set the tray on the dresser.

"Fuwama let me know you were awake. I thought you might be hungry."

Before I could respond, my stomach growled so loudly it startled Fuwama. He darted to the edge of the bed and meowed at me from afar. I chuckled and held out a hand for him to come back, but he laid down on the edge of the bed instead.

"I guess that means, yes, it's time for breakfast," I said.

Miwa-sama and I ate while he filled me in on what had happened since I'd fallen asleep. It seemed that the night watch had been largely uneventful, except for that group of adventurers getting rowdy past midnight, after Miwa-sama's shift. Apparently, Ino-sama had been quite blunt in telling them to quiet down or else he would put them out in the street for the night.

After breakfast, Miwa-sama and I left the room and went downstairs to check in with everyone else. Everything was eerily calm, and no one was around. Miwa-sama said the innkeeper had been here when he was getting breakfast together earlier, but now the place was silent except for the noise of the snowstorm outside.

After we looked around the lobby and dining room for a few minute, the innkeeper soon arrived through the front door. He was entirely covered up with an anti-ethereal coat.

"There's ethereal wind?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes... and a child is still outside. We're hoping he found shelter."

If humans were touched by ethereal wind, their life energy would be drained, and they would age quickly. Some would even die of old age if the wind was strong enough.

"I'm going to search for the kid," I said.

"But won't you be..." the innkeeper trailed off.

"I'm a god-touched. I'll be fine," I answered.

I rushed back into the room. Fuwama was still on my bed, his tail flopping about. I asked him if he could come with me, in case I had a problem. The creature turned his head sideways and looked at me for a moment, so I told him I wouldn't make him fight and even swore on my life to protect him.

Miwa-sama entered the room after me and told Fuwama that we needed to get going. In response, Fuwama jumped down from my bed and transformed into a large tiger. He padded over to Miwa-sama's bed and roared at the other sleeping familiar, who hardly raised his head to look at Fuwama. Fuwama roared again.

The other cat-like creature jumped to the floor and suddenly turned into a tiger, too. "About time you got up, Kintama," Miwa-sama said. Kintama purred, as if he had no regrets about sleeping in.

"Just let me get bathed and dressed, and we'll be right out the door," I said.

"Do you have time for that?" Miwa-sama asked.

Before he could finish his sentence, I had drawn a rune in the air with my finger and summons a curtain of ice to surround me. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have time for a full bath, but I drew another rune, and my clothes teleported away to the bed. With another rune, I materialized a quick warm shower, and one more rune summoned a heat spell to dry me off and teleport my full clothing and armor onto me. I was done in under a minute. I turned the heat spell toward the ice and evaporated it all.

"Uh… That was...something," Miwa-sama said. "You'll just have to give me a minute."

He rushed to a nearby chair where his clothes were draped. His sword and bow were leaning against the chair.

Without another word, Miwa-sama quickly undressed, threw his pajamas on the bed, and started grabbing his clothes.

As soon as his pants came off, I felt immediately embarrassed. "Miwa-sama!" I shouted. "Why don't you summon an ice curtain or a curtain of leaves and branches, if you prefer? But something!"

"Most of us normal people don't use magic for every little thing, you know? Hell, I don't think I could use magic that often."

After a slight stop, as I was reminded of how I used magic in an unusual way, I shuffled in place and turned my back to him. As he dressed, I looked out the window over my bed and began reviewing what I knew of our current situation.

We needed to save a child who was trapped outside. We had to talk to the innkeeper to figure out where he had been. That would get us started.

While saving the child was important, I was having trouble staying focused. My mind drifted to our overall mission instead. I couldn't quite figure out why the entire Saint Guard had been dispatched on this mission. So far, we had only found out about one heretical peddler who had left town before we even arrived.

No one could have known about the giant ambush in the forest, so why were we all here? Why had Master Kayuki-sama sent the whole contingent of upper officers? Even more confusing, why had I been sent here?

Of course, I realized my previous mission hadn't been too glamorous either… Maybe Master Kayuki-sama was trying to assess me? But he wouldn't send the whole guard, right? Back to that problem.

And if the king of this country, who must have issued the mission to our city-state, needed an army, well, he commanded the Sacred Order. He could just send them. Why did he need our help?

I was missing something.

"Aurora-san? Aurora-san..."

A wet small tingle on my hand stopped me in my thoughts as Miwa-sama's voice reached out to me. Fuwama let out a small roar. I looked at my hand. Oh, he licked it. His telepathic images were full of worry, so I patted his head and told him it was frequent that I'd get lost in thought.

"Followers of the God of Mysteries are just like that, don't worry."

"I was worried too," said Miwa-sama. "Your aura had activated."

"I was trying to make sense of our mission," I answered.

"To make sense of our mission?" asked a hushed low voice behind me. It was only in that instant I realized that the bedroom door had been open the whole time. Now I was really embarrassed. Chiki-sama was leaning against the door jamb.

"Hello, Chiki-sama. Well, yes, things just don't add up to me," I sighed. "But we must go immediately. The child might have found cover and may still be alive."

"There's a child outside?" he asked.

"Seems like one hasn't gone home. I proposed to look for him."

"I'm joining," said Chiki-sama.

We hadn't even reached the door, when Enkha-sama and Ino-sama intercepted and joined us, too. The innkeeper was inspecting his ethereal cloak.

"Damn things are so expensive, you know," he said. "Just making sure it isn't damaged." He paused and looked at our group. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be worried about money right now."

"I understand," I said. "I'm glad you were able to afford one."

"Well, I'm the mayor, so if anyone has the responsibility to spend the money on it, I'm at the top of the list."

"How long were you out there?" Enkha-sama asked.

"Only ten minutes or so. The winds came on fast."

"We need to quickly track the child," I said. "Any information you can give us is helpful. Where did you search already?"

"The eastern side of town was all I could manage. I found the bench he was last seen at. His mother left him there for a moment because he didn't want to go with her into a shop. Then the winds started up, and when she rushed to find him, he was gone."

I nodded along, trying to follow the narrative. I was having difficulty figuring it all out, though. Normally, Miwa-sama would have been able to track the child, but with the ethereal wind, his senses were not so helpful, and the same went for his familiars, too.

"Where is the mother now?" I asked.

"Damned if I know. Hopefully back home where I told her to go."

"We can't waste time looking for her," Enkha-sama said.

"Fine. It's the bench by the jewelry shop, right?" I asked.

The innkeeper pointed to the back of the inn. "Yes, just a couple blocks that way."

We left in a rush. Once outside, I went directly for where the child had last been seen. The snow was falling faster now, so there were no reliable footprints to track. Still, I would need to find some clue to follow, some mystery to unravel, to activate my aura and find this child. I scanned the bench and the ground around it.

There was a partial footprint, the muddy trace of a small hand on the bench, some paper wrappers poking out from the snow on the ground. One by one, slowly thinking solely of where the child had been and what he must have been doing, I found the hints I needed.

"The snow isn't piled quite as high here on the bench," I noted.

"The boy was sitting there, then?" Miwa-sama said.

"No." I shook my head. "The boy was sitting on this side of the bench. See?" I noted a second, smaller impression on the snow-covered bench. "This other impression was someone else. An adult."

"Man or woman?" Enkha-sama asked.

"I can't tell that. Maybe… Chiki-sama! Don't move!" He had been pacing around the area and stopped in his tracks. He threw his hands in the air as I approached.

"The snow is disturbed here. Children were playing. There's mud. The boy must have been playing with friends when he was lured back over to the bench by an adult. See the muddy handprint?"

"Can I move now?" Chiki-sama asked as I hurried back to the bench.

"Yes, of course. Sorry!" I said. I inspected the wrappers on the ground and realized they must have contained candies. There were no candy stores on this street. In fact, I couldn't recall seeing a single candy store in town.

"The adult gave him candies," I said. I looked more closely at the partial footprint in front of the bench. It was wide. Likely a man's shoe.

As I looked at the traces of the scene, I was beginning to deduce the approximate size and position of the adult. The scent of candy wafted from the small papers on the ground. Fuwama sniffed the air, but shook his head in frustration as he was unable to follow the scent at all. He sent me a telepathic image of miasma, though.

"It's the heretic," Miwa-sama said, apparently having received the same telepathic image.

"The peddler who left town? He's still here?" Ino-sama asked.

"Maybe. In disguise, perhaps? Or else we have more heretics," I said. "The heretic gave miasma-filled candies to the child. Look, there are traces of it on the paper wrappers."

"Heavens..." whispered Ino-sama.

I circled around the scene more, looking for any trace of footsteps to follow. Our group's tracks were obvious. I needed to find older tracks.

"We need to find tracks of one man and one child walking together," I said aloud. My guildmates began looking around the ground at their feet, all of them too afraid to move for fear of muddling the investigation.

Nothing jumped out at me, but I had looked into facts, seeking the truth behind them, and discovered a few truths ruled by the Truth of Fact, which activated my aura, and I had a revelation.

The heretic's entire body was seething with miasma, and there would be traces of it not only on the candy wrappers, but even in his footsteps. I ran a few steps away from the bench, heading a little deeper into town.

"Fuwama! Come here! Can you smell the miasma over here." The familiar didn't move. He turned his head sideways at me, then looked to Miwa-sama for confirmation. Miwa-sama ordered him to follow me, and he immediately rushed to my side and began sniffing around.

Fuwama walked in circles and seemed confused. He retraced his steps back to the bench, then back to me. Kintama, meanwhile, had run off in the other direction.

After a moment, Kintama began roaring, and Fuwama joined him. I followed after them, expecting to find a spot in the snow where they had detected miasma. Instead, Kintama was directing us toward a snowy partial bootprint on the ground under an awning. Beside it were two children's snowy footprints.

I smiled and petted Kintama behind the ears. He didn't seem very interested in my petting, though, and sauntered away. Fuwama was happy to take his place, instead.

"Good job," Miwa-sama told Kintama, and his familiar took a seat by his side, seeming satisfied with his owner's slight recognition.

Our group walked in the direction the tracks had been facing. There were tiny traces of both the heretic and the kid around. The kid had been playing in the streets as the snow fell, right before the ethereal winds started, so he was covered in dirt.

I could find traces of him here and there. I also found a couple of stray candy wrappers once I knew what to look for. At some point, as we neared the edge of the forest, the heretic's trace separated from the child's.

As we paused, Miwa-sama looked at me with a puzzled face. "I really don't get your power," he muttered. Enkha-sama and others nodded in agreement.

"The God of Mysteries is the guardian of the Truths of the Universe. Those are the principles that hold together the universe as we know it."

"Like physical truths of reality?" Ino-sama asked.

"Yes, that, too," I replied. "The Truth of Physics is about how the physics of our world were created: what strengths, what processes makes us plummet to the ground when we fall, for example."

"But other truths, too?" Enkha-sama said. He started walking into the forest. "It's this way, right?"

"Yes, I think this is the right way," I said, and our group followed him. Once we were into the forest, the ethereal wind was dispersed by the trees. Fuwama was happy to take the lead and show us where to go from there. He kept sending out telepathic signals to both Miwa-sama and me.

The child should have been shielded from the damage of the winds in the forest, too. "And, yes," I answered Enkha-sama, "my God even guards the truths that define the nature and abilities of the gods."

"Is that the Truth of Metaphysics, then?" Chiki-sama asked. He was carefully stepping over a gnarled bundle of roots that Fuwama had bounded over carefree. Kintama had followed his companion more cautiously.

"It's called the Truth of Celestiality," I corrected Chiki-sama. He nodded and screwed his eyes up and to the left as if he were contemplating this information. "Focusing on a single thing, I can realize the truth behind it, often through a revelation from my God. Once I fully understand a Truth of something, it can no longer take hold of me."

"Like you said with that follower of the God of Death, when he tried that soul-summon?" Enkha-sama said.

"Yes, like that."

"I see. So that's also why you weren't affected by the enchantment in the forest either."

"Not, exactly. I was partially immune, because I knew there was an enchantment, but I don't know the Ruling Truth of that enchantment. It's like a game of sorts, if you don't know the rules, you can't beat them."

Fuwama ran ahead and sniffed the base of a tree. Kintama joined him and stayed on the far side of the tree as Fuwama ran circles around it and then rushed back to us. He transmitted images of the child up ahead.

"This way!" Miwa-sama said, running after Fuwama as he returned to the tree where he had left Kintama.

The child had huddled in a hole at the base of a tree. His body was cold, but Chiki-sama said that he wasn't dead.

I glanced at Ino-sama who said, "I'm ready anytime," and he prepared himself. I did the same expulsion spell we had used the day before with the baby, but this time, I was sufficiently rested and my body had completely recovered. So while I was tired, it wasn't anything dangerous. Ino-sama purified the life energy and returned it to the child immediately.

"Go ahead," Ino-sama said, stepping back.

I used a spell that mixed the effects of the Sanctuary of the God of Sanctity, and of the Life Shield of the God of Life, as well as the Soul Shield of the God of Death, then I threw in the skin-shield of the God of Wisdom. Mixing all of those spells, I created an incantation.

The kid shone lightly, and his breathing became difficult. Humans were weak against magic, and even positive magic had side-effects on them, child and babies even more. He was weakened, but he was saved, as this shield would prevent the ethereal wind from aging him further. I found myself mulling over our situation again.

"Could it be because I have unraveled the Mystery of Separation?" I asked myself. "But nobody knows I have this power, and the expulsion yesterday was the first time I've ever used it in a spell... There's no way Master would know about it..." I said, unaware I was thinking aloud.

"Aurora," Chiki-sama said. "What's on your mind?"

"Oh," I sighed, getting up. "Still trying to figure out why our guild's Saint Guard was sent on this mission, rather than the Holy Guard or even the king's own Sacred Order."

"Miasma," Chiki-sama said. "The king doesn't like to expose his own men if he can avoid it. As for the Holy Guard, well, they're more suited for tactical strikes, rather than open combat."

"Yes, but they probably would have preemptively ambushed our ambushers in the forest."

"Perhaps, but no one knew that would happen. Plus, we managed. How do you think the Holy Guard would fare if the whole town had turned into heretics?"

"I see," I said, nodding. The boy was under tremendous strain from all my spells, and his breathing was labored.

"Fuwama, please," I said, "do you think you can carry him on your back? Our auras would hurt him."

Fuwama purred, but otherwise ignored me. He was so cute! I wished I could have my own familiar who would actually respond when I asked him to do things, though. Miwa-sama issued the same order, and the familiar moved into place.

Fuwama leaned near the child, and I put the boy on his back and used a binding spell so he wouldn't fall off. We rushed back toward the inn. As we exited the forest, we felt that the ethereal winds were finally dying down.

"Kintama," Miwa-sama said. "Remember where the boy's tracks separated from the heretic's?" Kintama growled in response. "Good. I need you to follow that heretic's tracks."

"Be prudent," I said, scratching Kintama behind the ears, which he begrudgingly accepted. After a moment, he pulled his head away, sniffed the ground, and scampered away along the edge of town.

We rushed back to the inn, where I removed all of my spells from the child. He was alive. He had lost something like one year of life though. His mother rushed in the inn soon after, covered in the protective cloak.

"He was given miasma candies by the heretic," I said. "One of our own is tracking the heretic as we speak. Your child must stay in bed for a few days. My magic, which protected him from the ethereal wind, has also greatly tired him."

"Blessed be your god for sending you here, Miss."

"I did nothing much. Without Sir Ino-sama, I wouldn't have been able to do a thing, I assure you."

"Trust me, you really are a blessing. The god-touched of the Church of Life can't purify miasma in humans easily. Your powers are what makes it possible. So thank you."

"Eh... well..." I said, looking away. "It's part of my job. I must go now. I'm going to join Kintama. I'm worried about him."

"Is he another member of your guild?" asked the innkeeper.

"Of course," I answered.

"So others have arrived?"

"The situation calls for us to summon our familiars and have them help," I said.

"Oh, it's a familiar..."

"Familiars are extremely powerful creatures of great intelligence. I think that the only reason they don't bother speaking our language is they're afraid our stupidity must be contagious."

"I had no idea they weren't simple animals..." the innkeeper said.

"Have you ever seen a rat cast an ice spell on your broom as you chase it, Sir?" I asked.

"Indeed... not," he said.

"Anyways, forgive me, I'm going."

I dashed outside and Miwa-sama followed me. He insisted he wasn't about to let me go after his familiar while he waited at the inn. I focused on where I had last seen Kintama separate from us, but Fuwama pushed me, and then roared, as he had us follow him.

We found Kintama at the outskirts of the town. He was sitting behind a pile of hay and looking at a door. He sent an image of the heretic disappearing while touching the door.

"I sense a strong aura of the Abyssal of Deceit," I noted. Miwa-sama nodded. I'm sure he could sense it, too.

I had never tried it before, but I used my secondary vision of True Sight to see through illusions, and what I saw was alarming. A second town was attached to the first. And the hay behind which we were hiding didn't actually exist. The sentinels guarding the place were looking directly at us, ready to attack if we came near their illusory house, which was the outpost of their part of the village.

"We can't face this on our own," I told Miwa-sama and both the familiars. "Let's retreat for now."

Miwa-sama seemed confused by my hesitancy. Kintama and Fuwama, following their master's lead, refused to move. I grabbed them and tried to withdraw, but they twisted about until they were free of my grasp.

"Trust me, Miwa-sama, we must leave," I said.

"Okay, if you say so," he replied. "Kintama, Fuwama, let's go." Immediately, the familiars reacted and followed us back to the inn.

For at least the first part of our walk, I could feel one of the cloaked heretics following us. I didn't dare look back or say anything aloud. If I had telepathy, I could have warned the two familiars, at least, but I had none. I kept quiet for fear of the heretic overhearing us.

Back at the inn, Miwa-sama's eyes peered into mine, and my body felt cold. Without realizing what I was doing, I stepped forward and hugged him. He held me close for a moment before I withdrew and took a step back. I brushed my hair aside. Shivers ran down my spine, making me roll my shoulders and shudder.

"Calm down," Miwa-sama said as he suddenly pulled me against him again. "Whatever you saw, it's over, you're safe."

"Miwa-san?" asked Enkha-sama as he looked at us.

"Miss-chan's aura is filled with terror," said Tenshi-sama.

I had forgotten about this, but saints of sanctity also had a secondary vision like mine. It allowed them to see people's aura clearly, and decipher their emotions from it.

"What happened?"

"I used my secondary vision..." I said, pulling away from Miwa-sama's arms. "They are living behind an illusion. In fact, Esperia is twice its actual size."

"What?" they asked as one.

"Aurora-san!" Enkha-sama said suddenly. "Straighten up and deliver a proper report. How did you see this and what are we facing?" The innkeeper seemed surprised by Enkha-sama's sudden harsh tone.

"My secondary vision is True Sight," I said, hands at my side as I stood at attention. "It allows me to see through illusions. The heretics have an exalted of the Abyssal of Deceit. Kintama followed the heretic, and when we found him, he was hidden behind some haystacks; however, they were an illusion. The guards could see him just fine."

"So they know that we have discovered the truth?" asked Enkha-sama.

"No," I answered, "I also acted as if I was fooled by the hay, and looked at the house where the heretic entered instead of the guards. I don't think they know about me having True Sight, too. So they should still believe we are fooled."

"Then we have a bit of time. We'll evacuate the town and then proceed with the heretics' extermination."

The innkeeper had a number of questions, but Enkha-sama explained to him that the situation had now clearly changed. Previously, we thought we were dealing with a single heretic. Now, we knew there were far more, and the townspeople might be in danger.

After the initial surprise, the innkeeper said that, as mayor, he would evacuate the town immediately. Enkha-sama told him to wait until later. It had been an eventful day, and I was thankful when Enkha-sama declared that we would take the night to plan and rest. In the morning, we would continue with our mission and cleanse the town.

Enkha-sama left the inn to call for reinforcements from the Holy Guard. He traveled just to the edge of the forest so he could contact Master Kayuki without alerting the heretics. The rest of us, meanwhile, retired to our rooms, knowing that reinforcements would come through the teleporter located about six miles from town. They would arrive just around sunset, and most would camp outside of town.

We all needed to prepare to host the leader of the Holy Guard. Before that, though, I intended to take a well-deserved nap. Around nightfall, the action would begin again.