Luna decided that she should prove her worth, despite being a side character. She pondered for a long while in her room, thinking of scenarios and words to convey to His Majesty. Helena suggested she take a stroll for fresh air and ideas, and Luna agreed.

‘Your Majesty,’ Luna muttered to herself as she leisurely walked in the garden without any destination. ‘I humbly apologise for not being able to heal you the other day. If you could present me with an opportunity to showcase my newfound talent, I would be grateful to do so.’

She pursed her lips into a thin line. It didn’t sound convincing enough. Lucilius might even dismiss her in the middle of her blabbers. As she was muttering words of apologies, she heard some faint rustles from afar—like someone was running. Luna looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound.

‘...ry!’ It was a male voice, unclear.

Luna stopped in her tracks, listening intently.

‘Sir!’ Another male voice replied.

‘...you… shing?’ She could only hear bits of it. Luna frowned, as if it would help her listen better.

‘...mine!’ the other replied, his voice became softer. ‘...gic stones!’

Magic stones?

‘What!? Are you sure?!’ this time he was shouting. 

‘Yes!’

‘...ny… sualties?’

Casualties?

‘Out...ty…’

‘… port this… cher…’

Archer?

‘...but it’s… unsure… ry again…’

‘...port to me… situation persists...’

‘Yes, Sir!’

Then there was the sound of running footsteps, away from her. Luna stood quietly, figuring out the conclusion of the conversation she just heard. 

Did the guy say something about mine and magic stones?

‘Mine…’ She muttered, a forefinger rubbing her chin as she thought hard. ‘A mine of magic stones…’

She couldn’t recall the exact excerpt mentioning the mine of magic stones, but she swore there was an arc surrounding the discovery of the mine—obviously in the favour of Leonhardt.

Then, an idea popped in her head. Wait… Her lips curved into a sneaky smile. If I could prevent Leonhardt from obtaining the mine, it could be Sirius’. It sounds far-fetched but I can heal myself if I ever get into danger; nothing is impossible anymore. And then, Lucilius would treasure me to the moon and back! 

The Healer giggled and scrambled back to her residence (after thirty minutes trying to find her way back and having to be escorted by maids).

***

Elias entered Ophiuchus through the front door where Helena was waiting for his arrival. While he was supervising the apprentices in the tower, Helena came and said that Luna called for him and that it was “rather urgent”. He thought of what it could be. Perhaps she remembered something about the bandit attack?

He entered her room hurriedly. ‘Luna?’ he called out.

‘Ah, here Elias!’ a reply came, muffled. He frowned and walked around trying to find her. 

‘Luna, what are you doing?’ He asked in bewilderment as he saw her sprawling on the floor with a large parchment of paper and a bottle of ink. There were some thick books stacked by her side. It seemed like she was drawing a map or some sort on the paper.

She looked up at him with a grin. ‘You have to help me out,’ she said.

Elias didn’t say anything else. He just knelt next to her and examined the map. ‘Are you drawing…’ he trailed off, confused.

‘The Archibald Village,’ said Luna. ‘Right at the border of Sirius, next to the Lorcan Forest of Alshain.’

She circled at the crooked line she drew that separated Archibald Village with Lorcan Forest. ‘There’s a mine full of magic stones here,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘I know you don’t believe me now, but we have to go solve this before Lucilius gets there.’

‘No, wait, Luna,’ said Elias. ‘What are you talking about? Mine? How do you know this?’

‘I overheard someone talking,’ she replied.

‘How is that reliable information?’

‘You have to trust me in this,’ said Luna, her tone becoming desperate. ‘You won’t believe it until you see it.’

Elias still had his frown, but he nodded. ‘Okay, what is it about the mine?’ he asked.

Luna smiled. ‘The mine is located right below the border, between Archibald Village and Lorcan Forest. I’m not sure what really happened but the patrol borders of both sides are fighting, and there are casualties. For now, I am suspecting that Lucilius is still unaware of the mine.’

‘How long has this been going on?’

She shook her head. ‘I am not sure, but from what I heard, they are not going to tell Archer about this yet, so it’s going to take some time until Lucilius knows.’

‘What’s your plan?’

‘You will teleport us both there. I will find a way to distract Leonhardt from the mine. Meanwhile, you will move the magic stones to Sirius’ side. Then, when Lucilius and Leonhardt meet, we—I mean you, will blow the mine up. That way, it will look like nobody gets the magic stones.’

‘Leonhardt? You mean the Crown Prince of Alshain?’

‘Yeah.’

Elias was hesitant. ‘I have so many questions, but we need to tell Lucilius about this.’

‘No, we don’t!’ she almost yelled. ‘Just, trust me, leave Lucilius out of this and help me out.’

Elias went quiet. ‘If we mess things up, His Majesty will murder us immediately,’ he finally said.

‘I know,’ Luna replied with a smile. ‘So, are you in?’

The red-haired guy stared into her eyes as he murmured his answer, ‘Yes.’

Luna grinned. ‘Commence operation firework tonight.’ Elias just looked at her incredulously.

***

There was nothing painful or particularly exciting about teleporting. Luna merely blinked once, and suddenly she wasn’t in her room anymore. She looked around and saw a wooden fence, waist-height, forming a straight line in which on the other side were tall and large trees: the Lorcan Forest. On their side, we were standing on the bare ground, with only some grass sprouting here and there. 

A little far, they could see wooden cottages and houses, and faint lights from their oil lamps hung above the entrance of each of their shelters. Lorcan Forest, on the other hand, was very dark and unwelcoming. 

‘Where’s the mine?’ Elias asked in a whisper. Luna further scanned the area and turned to the part where there were no houses and just the wide land that stretched beyond the view.

‘They were fighting, it couldn’t be too close to the villagers’ houses,’ she replied. ‘I think they’ve set up a camp or some sort over there.’

Elias nodded and they headed opposite of the residential area. It was quite a distance until they saw several tents set up far back from the fence. There were a number of people gathered, perhaps more than twenty of them. 

‘Hey, what’s happening here?’ Elias said out loud as they neared the group.

One of the soldiers saw them and gasped, then immediately stood straight with a salute. ‘Sir Elias!’ He greeted him enthusiastically, then his gaze travelled to Luna. ‘L-Lady Seraphinus, you’re here too!’ he stuttered.

His friends stood and saluted as well. Elias nodded and they relaxed. ‘I heard something happened here,’ said Elias.

‘Y-Yes Sir, the patrol officer from Alshain held one of our villagers hostage,’ he said. ‘We tried to get him back but they attacked in the name of defence; couldn’t just stand back so we engaged with their officers.’

‘What did the villager do that he had to be taken?’ Elias asked.

‘His brother said they accidentally stumbled into a mine underground but the patrol officer caught them. One managed to run to tell us.’

Luna casted her glance at the soldier standing uniformly. It reminded her of a national parade. ‘How long has this been going?’ Elias questioned.

‘Two nights already, Sir,’ said the soldier regretfully. ‘We tried to solve this quickly but seeing how many of our friends have fallen, we had to tell Sir Archer. We sent a messenger to the palace, is that why you’ve come?’

Luna tugged at Elias’ elbow softly and he understood the signal. ‘We were passing by,’ said Elias.

‘How many got injured?’ Luna asked.

The guy glanced at the tent. ‘As of yesterday, we now have fifty-one injured. No death.’

That’s pretty serious, Luna remarked. I thought it’s a small fight. 

‘Did you guys see the mine?’ Elias asked.

The soldier shook his head. ‘We tried, but those from Alshain guarded the entrance and won’t let us pass. They threatened to charge us for trespassing.’

Trespassing? Luna wanted to laugh out loud. Bullshit. Perhaps they found the mine beforehand and won’t let anyone else in.

‘Show us where it is,’ Luna said. Elias glanced at her, and the soldier was hesitant.

‘The mine is right under the border. They can’t say it’s trespassing just yet,’ Luna added.

‘Are we going to barge in?’ Elias questioned.

‘If we have to,’ Luna replied then tiptoed to whisper in his ears, in which he bent his body a bit so she could reach him. ‘Just bust them all off with your magic or something.’

‘It’d complicate things if we attack them,’ said Elias. 

‘I have an idea,’ I replied. 

***

The soldier dropped them off far enough for them to see two patrol officers of Alshain standing before a small entrance on the small hill, like a cave. The fence had stopped around the area. The escorting soldier was dismissed and he headed back to his post. Elias and Luna advanced with caution hiding behind trees that were far from them. Despite moving at night, their silhouettes could likely be seen from far.

‘So? What’s your idea?’ Elias whispered.

‘Probably throw a rock at their head and run away,’ Luna said.

Elias frowned. ‘How is that different from attacking them?’

‘Who cares if we attack them? They kidnapped our guy.’

Elias looked like he was about to say something but decided against it. 

‘Can’t you teleport inside the mine?’ Luna asked.

‘No. I’ve never seen the inside of the mine so I can’t do that.’

‘Oh. So you can only teleport when you’ve seen the place?’

‘Yes. And also if someone I know is inside, I can teleport there because I can visualise the person.’

Luna raised her brows. ‘Wow, so teleporting is basically like imagining stuff, and it becomes real?’

Elias chuckled. ‘The key is to focus. Apprentices need to practice a lot on their concentration when they want to perform magic. Primaeval Magicians spend less time focusing because they’re used to it.’

‘Can I do magic if I focus hard enough?’ 

Elias shook his head. ‘No one in history has ever done that. We need to control our magic mana, which can’t be done without proper guidance.’

‘So there’s no such thing as a Primaeval Magician that was abandoned from a young age with no knowledge about magic growing up and finding out that they have power and perhaps hurt the people around them?’

Elias blinked. ‘That’s a very wild imagination but at least in Sirius, no.’

‘No such thing as non-magicians marrying a magician and their kid one day finding out they can do magic?’

‘No…’

Fantasies are merely fantasies, huh…

‘Hey, look,’ Elias said and pointed at the entrance where another patrol officer had come by. ‘They’re changing shifts.’

‘Huh?’ They both chorused in wonder, as they witnessed something entirely different from what they imagined. 

‘They’re not changing shifts…’ Luna said. ‘He’s entering the mine.’

The new officer who came, saluted the two guys guarding the entrance and entered the mine. A few minutes they waited, and the officer came out with a big sack over his shoulders, filled with bulky things.

‘They’re taking the stones away,’ Elias muttered.

‘I knew it! They found the mine beforehand,’ she said, turning to him. ‘That’s why they kept the villager hostage.’

They never averted their eyes off the mine as the officer disappeared into the thick forest. 

‘I don’t think he will only take that much,’ Luna added. ‘He will either come back or have a friend bring them again.’

‘Then we wait,’ Elias said.