Rae merely sighed before shifting her focus to Oren again.

"Yes, well, curiosity is a virtue for adventurers, so you really should rethink that stance, Pretty Boy."

Fuming, Oren's scowl deepened as he started squeezing out what water he could from his clothes. He had enough spares to last the week but gods he was not getting drenched again if he could help it.

Pretty boy. It shouldn't have grated his nerves the way it did, but he was so used to hearing phrases like that in the context of Hawthorne, and maybe the paladin's uneasiness had rubbed off on him, because the more Inan and Rae said it, the more it sounded like an insult.

"Alright," he said, lifting his head to fix Rae with a sharp glare. "Fine. My lack of curiosity will be my downfall, whatever. You're a summoner yourself, and more powerful than Ilias, so what you'd want to know from him, I have no idea. And I'm a fucking changeling. I can't copy Ilias' magic the way I can other people's. Valda showing up was an accident, Ilias must have summoned her right as I transformed into him."

He spread his arms, daring Rae to—do something. He was pissed, because of course he was. It was second nature for him. "Happy? Or did you want the tragic backstory to go along with everything?"

"Well, if you were wanting to share," Rae said cheerily. Oren sneered, and Rae lowered her eyes, nodding. "That's enough. You've no need to indulge me if it upsets you that much."

That said, she surveyed the riverbanks, before glancing back at him. "Instead, shall we go find our wayward teammate?"

Truthfully Oren had written Inan off the moment the man ditched them. But now he turned in place, trying to orient himself. He'd gone west, right?

Oren shielded his eyes against the glare of the sun, scanning the western side of the field. Nothing stood out to him at first, but...

"He better be in one piece," he muttered, "Gideon won't let me live it down if someone on my team winds up dead."

"He'll be fine," Rae replied, starting in the direction Inan had disappeared to. "He's not A-Rank for nothing. Lizardmen are easy at his level."

"Good for him," Oren said, rolling his eyes. Gods help him if they ever found out he was C-Rank.

It wasn't long until a figure came into view, backlit by the setting sun. At first, Oren thought he was surrounded by misshapen rocks, but the closer the got, the more they took shape.

Lizardmen. Inan was surrounded by lizardmen. All of them sporting lethal wounds to their hearts, necks, some even with deep lacerations across their skulls.

Oren swallowed dryly at the sight of Inan's sword, dripping ichor but iridescent like an oil slick beneath the corruption.

Inan turned as if sensing their approach and offered them a wide smile. His cheeks were flecked with blood — clearly none of it his — and somehow it didn't diminish the effect of his cheer in the slightest.

"Hey guys! I take it you finished up with your section?"

"We did," Rae replied with cheer. "Pretty Boy here summoned an eagle. Corruption can barely stand one divine being, let alone two." She paused, studying the ichor-stained field before looking to Oren. "I take it I'll need to do the cleansing?"

Without waiting for the answer, she picked at a shallow scrape along her wrist, causing a thin stream of blood to slide down the length of her arm. Another summons, then, because she assumed Oren would be no help.

Oren glowered but held his tongue. He'd already told her couldn't summon Ilias' familiars on command.

Inan cleaned his sword against the untouched grass before sheathing it and picking his way across the field to reach Oren's side. He clapped a hand to Oren's shoulder, grinning when Oren slanted an irritable look in his direction.

"Summoning's your thing?"

Oren was not doing this again. "No. Ilias summons. I just copied him."

Inan's eyes lit up. "A shapeshifter! I'd ask you to copy me but I imagine that's rude."

Rude, no, not really. Annoying, though, gods yeah. Oren hated being asked to copy people for the hell of it. He wouldn't be thanking Inan for his consideration, though; he'd done nothing but prick at Oren's nerves since he was abducted from the village and he hadn't earned any of Oren's good will in the meantime.

"How long is this going to take? We're losing the light."

Inan looked to Rae for an answer. She tilted her head, considering the issue. "It shouldn't take long. Phoenix is being pissy, as per usual, so..."

Rae raised her hand, and in a swirl of white light, a new figure emerged. Instead of an animal, however, it was a pale woman with long, white hair, matching ears, and a split tail. Her blue eyes narrowed, tail flicking in annoyance.

"I was busy," she announced.

"Take care of this and you can go back to being busy," Rae countered.

The woman huffed, her eyes skimming over the body-strewn field, before in the breath of a second, she became a tiger whose shoulder could reach Rae's own. With a rumbling growl, she slammed a paw into the earth, causing wisps of flame to form in the air.

Oren had seen Yrlissa — Ilias' kitsune summons — before this, but it was still strange to watch a mostly human-looking woman be replaced with a tiger in the blink of an eye. And the fucking fire. He edged closer to Inan without thinking, the memory of the phoenix's flames vivid enough that he wanted to keep as far away from this tiger as possible.

Flame consumed the corpses, burning through the corruption with a lesser heat than before, until nothing was left but cleansed, scorched flesh. The tiger sat on her haunches with a flick of her forked tail, icy eyes studying Oren.

"I won't bite unless asked," she informed him. "So, no need for fear."

"She likes you even better if you give her alcohol," Rae added absently, crouched now in front of one of the burnt lizardmen.

"I wasn't afraid," Oren snapped, standing straighter so that his shoulder was no longer pressed to Inan's.

"The alcohol thing is true," Inan mused. "Although I wouldn't really recommend it. A drunk tiger spirit is... a lot to deal with."

Like hell Oren would be going near her, let alone to give her alcohol. Fire and liquor seemed like they'd be a terrible mix, and besides that, Oren barely tolerated Ilias' summons. He wasn't trying to make friends with every celestial beast he encountered.

The tiger chuffed at Inan's warning, her tail flicking in clear amusement. "I'll remember your opinion next time you're in need of assistance," she informed him, to which Inan only shrugged and smiled, unbothered.

Meanwhile, Rae finished her inspection of the corpses. She straightened, hands clasping behind her back.

"Should we head back towards town? There was a mention of wanting to leave before the sun falls further," she pointed out. "She can defend us if we encounter anything else."

"Yeah, let's head back," he agreed. Oren had calmed down, but he was definitely drained, and Inan didn't see a point in forcing him to take on more than he already had for the day. "How do you think Atlas made out, by the way? That Cross guy wasn't shy about his interest in him."

Oren really did not want to think about whatever stupid antics Cross undoubtedly got up to while trying to impress Atlas. The demon was a showboating ass when he really liked someone, and strong, capable adventurers like Atlas were just his type.

Rae laughed as she stepped forward. Her hand settled along the tiger's spine, fluffing her hair as they started back towards town.

"I'm sure he was absolutely thrilled the entire time," she mused. "You know much excited he was to be here."

Oren felt a kinship with Atlas in that moment, because he was damn sure the man had been dragged on this job the same way Oren had been. And then they'd gone and stuck him with Cross, of all people...

Oren hated apologies but they might've owed one to Atlas.

"Ask him yourself," Oren said, brushing off another bit of mud with a grimace. Washing these was going to be such a pain. "The others will probably beat us back to town at this rate."

"Another great idea, Oren!" Inan laughed. "C'mon, Rae, I'm sure he'll have quite the story to tell tonight."

Rae grinned agreeably, before plunging into the undergrowth to lead the way back to town.

"Probably a more interesting one than the rest of his team, at least."

Oren sighed, resigned to his fate, and followed at their heels. The sooner he could fall into bed and forget this gods-awful day had ever happened, the better.