The summoner's weakness is that no matter how strong they are naturally, once they have to maintain the beast they have summoned, it will open a big opening for other people to attack them. When they rip the time and dimension, opening The Remnants, their concentration has to be so focused on it they can not really defend themselves.

Cain was actually aware of this weakness and always trained his ability to multitask. In his combat training, he usually did a good job. Being as powerful and talented as he is, even his mentors said that he’s gonna surpass them in just two or three more years.

What he lacked were real experiences facing the enemy. And that’s what Rigel had in his hands. 

Rigel did not really know when he started to jump or how he managed to do it so quickly. He just realized he had used his body to shield Cain from the ghoul’s attack. The ghoul was trying to stab Cain with its bare hands. And his effort would definitely be fruitful if Rigel had not appeared on time.

Cain was surprised to see how the ghoul hurt Rigel’s shoulder. Rigel’s blood was splattered on Cain's face. The metallic odor spread in the air.  

Rigel successfully avoided the fatal wound to his artery by millimeters. He held Ian’s wrist and shook it real hard, he pulled and did some maneuver to throw the ghoul in the air. He lost so much blood but he still managed to shout at Cain. 

“Don’t stop!”

Lumi also stepped between Ian and Rigel. She erected a wind defensive barrier. Cain continued reciting the spell in a frantic manner after Rigel snapped at him. This time he put in his all to pull the ghoul out. 

Ian’s body then fell to the snowy ground. But not even Lumi spared it a glance for Rigel’s situation was an emergency.  

“You can not die on us!” Lumi pressed Rigel’s wound with her small hands, trying to stop the bleeding. 

“Hey… Don’t exaggerate. I won’t die just because of this…” Rigel could feel his head spinning. He indeed had lost much blood and probably that sight was what terrified Lumi. But he also knew that his condition was not life threatening. He might have moved too fast, almost impulsively. But because his body had memorized the effective way to move on the battlefield, he instinctively still could avoid fatal wounds.

Rigel really had to thank his own self for being so damn great.

Lumi slapped his head while crying. 

“YOU DUMBASS! WHY USING YOUR BODY AS SHIELD?! AREN’T YOU STRONG? WHY ARE YOU SO DUMB!”

“Well…” Rigel was speechless. He did consider burning the ghoul, or  at least cut the arm that was directed at Cain. But that way, he would have broken Ian’s body again. He had cut Ian’s wrist and stabbed his head. He guessed Lumi would get angry if he was not careful at handling Ian. 

But maybe he underestimated his own worth from Lumi’s point of view?

Cain was silent but from his face, Rigel could tell that he was as worried as Lumi about him. Cain ripped his own cape and used it to bandage Rigel’s wound.

“Tighter…” Rigel gave an instruction while winced in pain. “We had to stop the bleeding.”

“... Okay…” 

Cain tied the bandage as tight as he could and then he placed his palm near Rigel’s wound, he transferred his energy to help Rigel maintain his consciousness. He was not skilled in this field, but he knew for sure Rigel’s energy flow was still quite stable. He sighed in relief.

“Thanks…” He said. He knew that it was Rigel’s duty to protect him and being a human shield was normal. He did expect and even would ask for it from Rigel at first. But seeing by his own eyes how Rigel hurt in the process made him uncomfortable. 

“We better move.” Rigel tried to stand up, but the pain he felt made him staggered that Cain and Lumi had to support him. “We do not know when the enemy will attack again.” 

Lumi and Cain nodded.

“Wait!” As if remembering something, Lumi used her magic to keep Ian’s and the coachman's body. It was like she absorbed them into her palm. Interesting. Her ability made Rigel remember Alan who used to pull a book and pen from the air.

“We had to give the coachman's body to his family.” Lumi said. She wiped her tears and put back her strong demeanor. She seemed not to want to say anything about Ian’s, so Rigel and Cain just let her be. 

“Can you teach me how to keep my belongings in some space like that?”Rigel asked, trying to change the topic effortlessly. “Being like this, I think it would be beneficial if I could bring an emergency medical kit anywhere next time.”

Of course they had brought a medical kit and emergency drugs, but all were destroyed together with the carriage. 

“You can’t.” Cain answered. “Strong elementalist like you would have difficulties transforming their energy to do anything else outside their element. Better training what’s already your specialty instead of trying to master anything else.”

  “Well, Should I just let Missy keep it for me then? I can ask for that much right?”

Rigel tried to lighten the mood since Cain and Lumi both looked gloomy. To his surprise Lumi didn’t reject him like he predicted. Instead, she nodded. Seeing her hands trembling because of the cold and anxiety, Rigel realized she was still in shock after what happened. 

“I’m really all right…” Rigel sighed. But he appreciated their attention.

Nara once again transformed into its original form. A big orange feline with golden eyes. Cain helped Rigel ride on Nara’s back.

“Let’s go.”

***

“He even mastered reversing spells at such a young age.” Rowan Draco chuckled. He had watched the battle before from a tree branch that was quite far away. The distance he kept made his watching experience not satisfying but it was needed so those three couldn’t detect his whereabouts nor sensing his energy trace. 

And he still found Cain to be so interesting. The prince usually looked aloof and a bit arrogant. He seemed not to care about anyone else and acted like he wanted to be proven unfit as a king successor. But after this, Rowan knew for sure that Cain was not as ignorant as he showed on the surface. On the contrary, he cared so much. 

Cain’s original intention of using the felon named Rigel Winters was so he wouldn’t feel any burden if the said guard died protecting him. But the prince was indeed too softhearted to be able to do that. If he was shaken that much seeing someone injured protecting him, he’d definitely would be depressed if Rigel really sacrificed his life for him. 

“No wonder my late father used to praise him so much. He’s a genius.” 

From another branch, Alan Phoenix stared at Rowan with displeasure in his eyes. Calmy, he commented, “I just knew that you have a hobby of stealing corpses.”

“Tsk. It’s not a hobby, Mister Phoenix. It's a necessity.” Rowan rolled his eyes playfully. His lip corner turned upwards. “Or should I call you… Your majesty?”

“Shut it.”

The contrast between the usual Alan and this man next to him, humor Rowan so much that he laughed hard. “You should act like this in the palace too. Bet the princess would leave you in an instant.”

Alan retorted, “You should show this kind of ability in public, so that Ruben could step down from being the family head.”

Who expected that the unregistered summoner in the Draco family was not the first son; Ruben? Nobody. Even Alan didn’t expect it at first. But this prankster beside him said it was his father who decided not to register him and show him off as the proud heir. The late head of Draco hid his card so well till his death. Rowan let his foolish older brother take the spotlight for so many years, in his opinion it was just fair to let Ruben be punished in his place for summoning Jormund. 

But now the time to step up in the game had come.

Ah, how funny. Rowan could get addicted to this satisfying feeling.   

The younger Draco shrugged in response to Alan’s words. He played with his beast companion, a magical eagle perched on his shoulder. 

“Geez. Of course I have to make him fall in the grandest way possible. He already made a fool of himself by choosing to side with Lacerta.  I have to beat some sense into him so he uses his brain better next time.”

The Lacerta family seemed to have a lot of haters. Excluding himself and Corvus, Alan knew that Lynx and Danica all disrespect the way Andromeda climbed the social ladder by marrying the king. 

“That bitch has to be stopped before she really rewrite Alrauna history, you know.” Rowan sighed. “She was trash personified. Who would want to be under the governance of trash? Of course it’s not me.”

Alan couldn’t agree more. After all, if there’s a main victim of Andromeda’s political strategy, it would be him.

“Should we go back together to the palace?” With a slight movement of his shoulder, the eagle flew and transformed to a bigger form in the air. Rowan stood on its back. He smiled widely and said,  “I’ve seen enough to see what kind of puppet king you have raised.”

“So? Your opinion?” 

“It’s still better to see you on the throne…” Rowan chuckled. “It is originally yours after all…”

Rowan’s eyes gleaming with mischief seeing Alan summoned another flying beast to ride back. “Right, Altair?”

***

“We are lucky that the inn had one room available.” Lumi said. She covered herself with a thick blanket and sat on the only bed in the room. “And also a proper medical kit.”

“We are.” Rigel said as he stitched his wound slowly. Cain and Lumi both had no medical knowledge except the very basics so they could only watch him tending himself diligently. 

In awe, Lumi mumbled. “I better learn medicine once I go back to the wizard tower.”

“Let’s stay in our field of expertise, Missy. You as a wizard, and I as the best, multitalent guard.” Rigel put the suture needle to the small stainless plate on the table. He then splashed the antiseptic directly to his skin. It felt like it was burning his skin, he hissed.

“I want to learn it. Why couldn’t I?”

“You might learn how to stitch some people’s mouths first, considering your temprament.”

 Lumi wanted to hit Rigel with the pillow, but she held back since he’s in the middle of treating his wound. She just pouted. But yeah, what Rigel said was true. She also thought it would be a good idea to shut some people that way.

When it's time for Rigel to bandage the suture, Cain–without a word–took the gauze pad and bandage ribbon. He took a deep breath and started to help Rigel cover it.

Rigel let him do as he pleased. Afterall, for Rigel, it was a cute sight to have both Lumi and Cain worry about him. Seemed like he was successful in taming those two ‘wild cats like’ youngsters. Let’s hope this achievement would make babysitting them easier for Rigel.

“I’ve sent the messenger bird to the palace, the answer should have come tomorrow.” Cain said. “I want to complete my social studies but…”

He clenched his fist. 

“Just take it easy.” Rigel said. “You don’t have to be perfect all the time. We got into an accident on our departure day. It’s normal to get back and have some things delayed. It’s not like you instantly become a total failure after this.”