She Wakes Up-

"Then, I'm sure you are aware of the person behind this...black market, shall we call it?" Robin asked, tilting her head. "Seeing that your information traps have managed to grasp such an obscured information as a parasitic soul, identifying a mastermind should be quite easy in comparison, yes?"

Fest lowered his sight. "To be honest, I am well aware, indeed. However my hands have been tied. I cannot break my own words." he admitted. "But that is not the reason I am here."

"Oh? There was a reason?" Robin asked.

"You! Burning through over a hundred of my trap cards to summon me here, aren't you the wasteful one, Hikaru!" Fest scolded.

"It was your oversight that got my owner stuck in one of your horrible traps to begin with, Fest." Hikaru answered. "You should have granted my wielder a key the moment we entered this place."

"Guh! That is certainly so, but it couldn't be helped this time!" Fest sighed. "You need to be awake to receive the key in the first place, otherwise, it won't work!"

"Then do so!" Hikaru ordered. "And be quick about it. My wielder's body has already been overburdened by this useless space trap you've put us through."

"Yes, yes, I'll do so immediately. Excuse me, hero-san? Could you please look me in the eyes for a moment?"

"Hmm?" Robin glanced at his eyes. She realized they were a light golden color. 'Wait, didn't I already realize this earlier? How-' Robin began to think before a light shone from them, causing her to blink at it.

"It's done. Now please don't go about breaking my protective tools again." Fest sighed as he walked towards a nearby stairway.

"Hmm? Did Fest always have white hair?" Robin muttered.

"Give it up. As a higher spirit, he has truly encompassed the phrase, 'mind over matter.' If he wishes to appear young, he will look young. If he wishes to look old, he will look old." Hikaru advised. "Even his eyes and hair color can be fully changed around."

"...Doesn't that sound like he'd make a great ninja?" Robin asked.

"Normal folks would have thought of a master spy or an assassin. You sure are an odd one." Hikaru chuckled.

"I'm the hero. By definition it appears we are not allowed to be normal." Robin rebutted, walking down the hallway to her open bedroom door.

"Mmn! That's true enough!" Hikaru instantly agreed.

"Besides, spy or assassin alike, he'd need a compelling reason to become one." Robin added. "He seems more like the kind of fellow that makes secret passages for fun, or just in case, rather than out of necessity."

"Well, he always did like to tinker with things." Hikaru said thoughtfully.

"Ah, finally.... I'm back..." Robin sighed, as she recognized the room she had stayed in.

But, before she got back into bed, she frowned. All that exercise had made her sweat. Moreover, to move from exercising to instant rest was not a good idea. So, painful though it was, she did a simple round of stretching to prevent cramps.

"Cleanse!" She uttered, getting rid of all evidences of her small trip, aside from her aching muscles. Satisfied, she slipped back into the bed for another well-earned rest.

But, before she fell asleep, her thoughts invariably turned towards Christian. And so she fell asleep, to a rare dream, without nightmare or shadow alike. She relived the memories of that sunny day and blue sky when she had fun running away from Christian. Unseen by anyone, a rare genuine smile graced her sleeping face.

-----

"So? When is our benefactor going to come out?" One of three figures asked, confronting Bastian Lave. His visible transition from man to horse made it obvious that He was a centaur. Of the other two, one was a beautiful woman dressed in what appeared to be a feathered cloak, and the other was an introverted cloaked child with red eyes.

"Even you couldn't defeat the Trader, right? Don't be unreasonable. Even that person needs some time to recover from the battle." Bastian replied, with a sigh. "While healing magic can fix injuries, it can't do anything about exhaustion, you know that."

"Hmmph! We know. Otherwise we'd have gone to look for that person earlier." The beautiful woman responded. "We do want to know how long we need to wait, however, since one of us is about to enter her hunger state."

"If you're hungry, then our Lave mercantiles has more than enough warehouses dedicated to food." Bastian said.

"No...human food has no life...I need live prey...." The third one said quietly.

"Ah. Livestock, huh...." Bastian winced. Lave Mercantiles did buy food, but most of it was already processed food, meat from slaughtered animals and the like. While they had an agreement with certain ranches, it was not like they would agree to sacrifice their livestock to an Arachnes, guardian or not. He would have to purchase them, himself.

"How many beasts the size of a cow would work?" He asked, trying to determine the size of the Arachnes' appetite. If he could, he would rather settle things with money.

The second figure, patted the Araches on the shoulder.

"Looks like you don't know much about Arachnes like Ruby." The woman smiled proudly, as she patted the head of the childlike figure. "Unlike we birdfolk, Arachnes live off the blood of living creatures. During their hunger period, any creature they see will become their food until they themselves are satisfied. I've known entire herds to have disppeared due to the feeding frenzy of a single Arachne."

"Any idea on what size of herd there needs to be?" Bastian asked again, trying to figure out if they needed to use a magic transport to fly Ruby out into the wilderness so that she didn't resort to preying upon the citizens.

"No idea." The Birdwoman replied. "As my kind eats three square meals a day like yours, we have never needed to slip into a feeding frenzy. And Ruby, here, has no idea of anything like numbers when she's feeding."

"Well, it was worth a try..." Bastian frowned. "How long do you think before you'd need to go look for food?" He asked Ruby.

"....Um...At most, one week. Any longer, and I won't be able to resist." Ruby replied, her voice barely audible.

"...I would prefer if our Savior were to emerge soon. Though we three were all captives, I do not enjoy being away from my clan." The Centaur wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Oya~ I'll second that one, Marcus!" The bird woman agreed. "It is somewhat nerve-wracking being separated from the flock."

"A debt of honor is a debt of honor, though." Marcus the centaur sighed. "We'll come back tomorrow. Come along Ruby...Flit."

"Roger that, Capitan! Time to go sightseeing for souvenires before we leave~." The Bird-woman's smooth voice, though pleasant, carried a somewhat jumpy tone within it.

"Hmph!" The Centaur snorted. "With what money? As I recall, just earlier today we were still slaves. If not for Bastian Lave, we would all still be under someone's thumb." He said. Then he turned his head away, disdaining to speak further with this flighty female.

"Eeeh! But, then how are we going to sample the local food!?" Flit complained.

"Weren't you going to buy souvenires?" Marcus asked pointedly.

Bastian clutched his hand to his forehead as he felt a migraine beginning to emerge.

"Here. Enough for food, lodging, AND souvenires, if spent well. Don't stuff yourselves on street stall foods." He pushed out three identical small sacks of coins.

"Now, off with you three. Come back tomorrow."

--------

The next morning, Robin woke up rather early, and stretched her arms. After resting for two whole days, she had slept long enough.

'Gurgle'

...And she was hungry.

Robin got dressed and peeked out of her room. As there was no one around, she headed downstairs, looking for the location of the kitchens. However, she did not get too far before she was discovered...

"Teacher? You're up?!" A voice exclaimed from behind her.

"SHH!!" Robin glared at the surprised Ponzu, who stood in the middle of the hallway. "Don't wake anyone up!"

"Ah! Sorry!" Ponzu lowered his voice. "But, teacher, why are you up? Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

Robin sighed. "It can't be helped if I get hungry..." Then she realized. "Wait, if you've arrived here, then you must know where the kitchens are, right?"

"Um...sure. But, even so, teacher, please allow me to make you breakfast. If Magi Jasmine knows I let you help in the kitchens, she might turn me into a frog! She gets scary when she's angry!" Ponzu begged.

Robin thought about how Jasmine might look if she got angry...

"It can't be helped. In order to protect my only student, I will back off." She conceded and then added. "But, please hurry it up. After two days of sleeping, I'm starving!"

As if to confirm her statement, Robin's stomach chose that moment to give a pronounced growl.

"At once, teacher!" Ponzu saluted, grinning cheerfully.