Haruo slowly raised his eyelids, waking up with a towel pressed on his forehead. Thin layers of ice covered where he slept—Breaking into tiny shards as he pressed his finger on them before turning into glistening dust.
He pressed his palm on the ground to support himself as he stood. And as he tried he instantly fell on his own shoulder.
He took a deep breath and pressed his palm on the floor once again and steadily stood up this time. Once he did, he felt unbalanced and made the cloth that stuck in his head fell on his feet.
It was surprising it stuck even when he already fell earlier, but he paid no mind whatsoever. After regaining some balance he began to walk out of the tent.
There he saw Ena and Leo arguing near the fire place, while Leo was stirring a pot. While he saw Isaac was collecting sticks again, near the crowded trees.
"Who puts Chili in Rejon soup!?" Ena exclaimed.
"Rejon is good with chili! It balances the creaminess!"
"The creaminess is the best part! ..."
While Ena and Leo argued, his gaze darted around the camp finding the last two members. But the only thing he saw was an expanding area filled with snow and trees everywhere.
It was surprisingly lively without the constant snowfall and dim light. Birds even chirped in the background. For the first time, he'd had both a proper sleep and a pleasant morning.
Isaac then spotted him as he was placing sticks on the ground. He took a short break after and made his way toward Haruo.
"Morning, Haru, how are you feeling?"
Both Ena and Leo stopped arguing for a moment after hearing Isaac say Haru. Both of them glanced at the tent's direction and saw Haruo standing while he was talking to Isaac.
Both took a glance at the pot then glared at each other before rushing toward Haruo.
"Haru! Tell Ena that rejon soup is tasty with chili!"
"Oh please, your taste buds are just messed up!"
Haruo scratched the back of his hair before looking down at his foot, just realizing he was barefoot the entire time. He then realized he was also missing his coat. Isaac tried to stop them from fighting, trying to calm them down.
They continued to argue about that same topic whilst he tried to find his shoes and coat. He suddenly felt a sharp pain on his head, he held his temple and directed his gaze to them.
"Where's my coat?"
After he said that, all three of them momentarily paused and saw his pained expression. He gritted his teeth fighting off the pain while keeping focus.
Ena handed him his coat while Isaac went to grab his shoes from the laundry area. The moment he saw his coat, he didn't hesitate to put it on. As he did, the pain slowly eased, helping him regain his composure.
Isaac then returned with his shoes on his hand, it's leather reflecting the light of the sun while it was given to him.
"Where's the siblings"
"They're scouting the area, last night when Ena tried to heal you, it sent a large pulse of energy on the surrounding area. Which gave our position last night to monsters." Isaac replied.
"Not a lot of monsters came, but it definitely got us on guard the whole night. So they went and made sure there weren't anymore who could invade the camp"
Haruo raised a brow and looked toward Ena.
"Pulse of energy? What exactly happened last night?"
"When I tried to heal you, your ability rejected it. And then I tried harder but it ended up creating a surge of energy."
Haruo remembered back when they first met. Flash backs of when they were still in the manor. He sighed and wore his shoes before asking:
"Anything else that happened?"
Leo only smiled and said. "No not really, that's everything I could remember"
Haruo rolled his eyes and turned his back on them and walking away.
Isaac was about to speak before Leo grabbed his shoulder and shook his head slowly.
"I'm hungry, I don't care about the chili anymore—Anything is better than Skavilen, just hurry up."
"Finally, you've accepted the fact that rejon tastes better..."
All three of them continued the tasked their were doing earlier. Scattering and minding their business. Ena, turned her gazed slightly back, taking a quick gaze of Haruo before he faded into the woods.
After disappearing from their presence, Haruo glared back from the woods and continued forward. He held onto the side of his placket and delved deeper into the forest.
***
Hours had passed since Haruo's sudden disappearance, morning became night quick. Even the Andreev siblings arrived first before he did, none of them panicked at first, but as time went on, worry became inevitable.
Their leader disappeared without notice and hadn't returned in hours. He was the core of their mission, the only one who knew what and when to start the mission.
Leo was especially concerned, Leo knew that Haruo was the only one who knew the true purpose of this mission, without him they'd just blindly be heading a road without knowing the risks and true purpose.
"Where could he have possibly went!?"
But despite that, Ena remained calm throughout the whole thing. Not an ounce of worry or concern etched into her expression or body language.
"Can you guys calm down, his coming back"
Theodor, who was the second least concerned looked at her while he ate some skewers.
"And how would you know?"
"Do you honestly think his the type to just run off without a reason, besides.."
Ena then showed the side of her neck and bared a mark that connected her from a contract.
"Him and I are on a contract—As long as he has this he wont run away. Just wait for him, even if it takes days, he'll come back eventually."
"But what if he doesn't? Then what do we do?" Isaac said.
"He will, but if you want more poof he'll come back—then let me ask you.. What was the goal of this entire mission?"
Everyone looked at themselves and forced themselves to calm down. Everything she said had a point that no one can refute. The whole mission revolved around getting an ingredient that could cure manifestation failure.
Not even a second later, and Haruo returned from the forest. All of them set their gaze on him before he sat down with the rest of the division. His clothes were covered in snow.
His hands didn't match the rest of his skin tone, as if they had gotten paler all of a sudden. Which was already unusual in itself, he was already albino and wasn't supposed to get any more than that, and yet he did.
His skin slowly transitioned from purple to blue before returning to its natural tone. Ena's eyes widened. Despite being someone who could check someone's vitality and anatomy, she couldn't figure out what was happening to his body.
It wasn't aching nor freezing and it definitely wasn't burning, his blood was fine even before it changed back. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary no matter how much she looked at it.
"What exactly did you do"
Haruo remained silent for a short while before saying: "I paid someone a visit, but I turned back before I could meet them."
"Who—"
"We'll continue the mission tomorrow, right now we need to prepare as much as we could"
Suddenly their faces tensed up, though this mission had been active for almost 3 months it was only now that it started. They traveled in the farthest region just to complete this one mission.
"Give me your IDs" Haruo said raising his hand forward.
Leo didn't hesitate to give his to Haruo, his face calmer than it was earlier. There Haruo checked his Id.
Name: Leonid Mikhail Novikov
Age: 21
Citizenship: Marion Kingdom
Division: Artifacts Restoration
Ability rank: Sealed record
Mana Magnitude: —
Martial arts rank: Sealed record
"Your real name isn't Leo?"
"I prefer Leo to be honest rather than something so extra." He replied
Haruo saw many things that confused him, many badges on the back of the ID, the citizenship and there was so many things that differentiated his ID and his. Even the design looked more professional in every way.
Even the base color was platinum like, and had an undeniable shine to it. Anyone who saw an ID like this is someone from a high and respected family. He took another second to inspect the ID looking at it.
"This is going to be hard."
Haruo muttered to himself but almost all of them heard what he said. Everyone was skeptical of what he meant by that, trying to understand what Haruo was trying to do or make of with the ID.
"What do you mean?"
Leo wasn't nervous at first, but he came to realize that Haruo has always been the most impulsive one—Only second to Ena—when it came to risks that benefited him.
He had forgotten that trait about him due to his sudden appearance, and handed his ID without thinking what'd he'd do first.
"If you weren't a noble what would be the name you wanted? Your keeping Leo as your first name though"
"I guess it would be.. I never really thought of being an average joe till now."
Haruo opened his mana storage taking an item from, there laid six blank cards that had the same dimensions as an ID. The base was almost plain but had shine that resembled a real ID.
Haruo looked at the cards and gave one to each of them.
"Make your own Identity, don't even think of making it too unique or too plain. And maybe don't make it too average. Give yourselves weaknesses and strengths new names and new age"
After each one of them received a card of their own, they held it firmly before they realized what they were going to do.
"You want us to forge new identities!?"
Tatiana was the first to speak, flabbergasted as if she saw a ghost. A noble stooping so low as to create a new identity and discarding her own name was nothing short of shameless.
One of the most dignified and honored families out there, a political family—made to decide what's best for her country as a whole. She was okay with anything, but she treasured her family's pride above everything.
"Why are you so surprised about? Your brother seems like he doesn't have a problem with it."
She stared at her brother in disbelief. She watched as her brother adjust his ID easily and effortlessly.
As the eldest son of the Andreev manor, he was next in line to succeed their father, yet he showed no pride in it and simply went on doing whatever he pleased.
She has never thought to much about it until now. Though he was mostly stupid, he was capable and somewhat responsible enough to carry the family's name.
But it was still a disgrace no matter!
"Relax Tia, it's only temporary. We're doing this for the family anyway"
Leo said while he adjusted his ID.
'She was mad because of that?' Ena thought to herself.
***
They had spent the night the entire night adjusting and perfecting their cards. Though they barely slept they weren't even slightly tired.
"What was the point in making new identities anyway."
Ena said before studying and reviewing her ID one last time before placing it in one of her pockets.
"Their currently in a feud with multiple kingdoms, there's a possibility that they might see Marion as an enemy."
"Yeah but which ones."
Haruo only stared at her for a good minute before saying:
"Does it look like I'm a politician? Kilian only told me about the current status about Fiond kingdom and their hostility towards foreign kingdoms"
"He must of—"
"That isn't even our mission, were here to get that flower. Understand?"
There they stood in front of the towering gates of the Fiond kingdom, it's walls taller than the one Marion has—At least ten feet taller. There a guard revealed himself stood beside the gate.
Before they came, they had brought a cart a long with them and inside were the other parts of the Skavilen they butchered. Bottles of black goo, piles of leather, and even it's teeth.
"Were here to sell this corpse to the pharmacy. There wasn't one in any nearby towns so we decided to go to the city instead."
One side of the cart were hidden by a blanket, the guard excused himself and removed the cloth, revealing Theodor sleeping peacefully. Theodor was fast to take the blanket back despite his unconscious state, before tilting to the side.
"Yeah don't mind him, his had a rough morning."
Leo assuring the guard while tapping the cart on the side. The guard nodded and check the cart if there was anymore contents to be seen or any hazard that posed a threat to the kingdom.
after reviewing it clearly he took a step back. "Your IDs?"
All of them didn't hesitate to give them their fake IDs—cause why wouldn't day. They skipped most of their sleep just create them. If anything they were thankful he asked.
If he hadn't, their work would've been wasted all for nothing. All that time spent just gone in an instant, Ena would've killed the guard on the spot if he hadn't.
He took a look at them carefully, swiping each card to the bottom after reading each one until he saw the last one. He coughed a couple times before giving them their IDs back.
The guards opened the gates before revealing a large city filled with houses and shops that was highlighted by snow. crowded areas filled to the brim with people. Not only that but it was excessively noisy.
After the guards closed the gate behind them as they entered the city. Haruo redirected his gaze toward his members and gave them a dirty look.
"Who did it."
They knew exactly what he meant, Haruo first set his gaze upon Ena, as if he expected it to be here already.
"DON'T LOOK AT ME, I KEPT MY NAME ENA AND JUST REPLACED MY LAST NAME!"
Each one kept denying it was them—except for Theodor, he was still asleep—Until they got to Leo. Their gazes burned through his temple not daring to look at any of them.
Leo only fidgeted a bit before handing them his ID slowly. Tatiana hurried to take it from him.
"Give me that" She said with a scoff. "What could you have possibly named yourself!?"
Her face went dry, she looked visibly disappointed with not only him but herself as well.
"What?" Haruo said.
"He named himself.. 'Lou Natick'"
Everyone went silent, staring at each other.