B9 - Chapter 32: Freedom

For the rest of the night, Viola barely spoke, and the group soon settled down to sleep. Despite her inner turmoil, she slept like a baby. It was the first time in a long while that she didn't wake even once.

She only learned the next morning that there had been three attacks, all silently dealt with by the person on guard.

The next day passed in much the same fashion, making her increasingly aware of just how formidable this group was. They made the journey through Grimmgar feel like a leisurely stroll. Part of that was their strength, but most of it came from sheer experience.

At one point, Viola noticed Sebastian veering off course. She almost warned him, only to spot a nearly invisible strand of silk stretched between two trees farther ahead. More followed beyond it, forming an intricate web hidden among the shadows.

Sebastian hadn't even slowed down.

Grent merely grunted when Viola glanced back at the trap. "Funnel spider territory."

"How did he notice?"

"He didn't," Grent answered. "Seramis did."

Ahead of them, the winged lion flicked one ear in their direction but otherwise showed no reaction.

Even navigation, arguably the hardest part of crossing Grimmgar, was handled without consulting their map more than a handful of times.

Then, by evening, they finally broke through the thick wall of greenery.

Viola rose higher, taking in the sight.

The forest opened up to reveal the slowly dimming sky and an endless expanse of blue. These had to be the Peaceful Waters, which meant...

Her gaze traveled toward the distant horizon. There, somewhere beyond the curve of the world, was the City of Merchants.

"Fay," a voice called from below. "Come down."

Viola took one last look at the ocean before reluctantly returning to the ground, where her companions were already waiting.

The moment she came within reach, Sebastian tossed something her way. Viola caught it on instinct, the motion accompanied by the clinking of metal.

"This is?" she asked.

"Your cut," Sebastian answered in his usual no-nonsense tone. "Three gold, seventy-two silver, and fourteen copper. Please count it."

Viola weighed the purse in her hand but made no move to confirm the amount. "So, this is goodbye?"

Sebastian nodded. "The transit town is less than an hour from here. I'd prefer it if we entered separately."

Viola tried to catch the others' eyes, but none of them quite met her gaze. Clearly, they agreed with his decision.

"I understand," she said, trying to smile.

Naturally, she knew the reason. None of them would be willing to cross her family, certainly not without even knowing who they would be up against. It was the only sensible choice.

Though she couldn't deny that it stung.

Her fingers tightened around the purse. Somehow, it felt far heavier than it had a moment ago.

"Tomorrow..." Sebastian continued when she didn't say anything else. "Our ship leaves at sunrise."

"Okay," Viola answered mechanically.

"It has large blue sails and a curved bow."

"I see."

"The captain is a friend. Tight-lipped."

"Good to know."

Sebastian stared at her in silence.

Viola looked back. Why was he telling her any of this?

After the silence stretched on for several painful seconds, Grent let out a long, suffering sigh.

"He's telling you to join us on the ship, you fucking airhead."

Viola blinked.

Was he?

She looked at Sebastian, but his expression hadn't changed even now.

Grent slapped a hand over his face and slowly dragged it down. "Meet us an hour off the coast, beyond the blockade. Follow the northern shipping lane and look for the blue sails. We'll make sure the captain turns a blind eye."

Viola looked from Grent to Sebastian, then to the rest of the group.

The knot beneath her ribs dissolved at once, replaced by a sudden warmth.

When her gaze returned to the large man, he rolled his eyes, though a wide smile had spread across his face.

"Clear enough now?"

Viola quickly nodded.

After a round of brief goodbyes, she watched the group disappear into the foliage with a light heart. It was a good feeling to know that the bond she had felt forming over the past few days hadn't only been in her head.

Left on her own again, she decided to camp outside instead of entering town. The risk wasn't worth it, not for a single night. Besides, ever since learning that the rumor of the missing Archmage was a fabrication, the ominous aura of the place had all but disappeared. Here, on the outskirts, she felt especially little danger.

And so, the night passed with little fanfare.

Viola found a reasonably comfortable perch on one of the sturdier trees from which she could see the ocean. From there, she simply stared at the endless blue until it was fully consumed by dusk. But even then, her mind continued to conjure images of the distant city and the path she might walk beyond it.

Ever since leaving her family, she had felt lost, like a ship adrift an endless ocean. Only then, when the party had told her about the Hohenheim family's efforts to reconstruct the country, she had immediately felt drawn to the idea.

She hadn't fully realized it before, but deep down, she must have always wanted to make amends for what she had done to those people.

Even if she could do no more than hunt a few monsters, anything she did to ease the people's burden would be better than nothing.

And then there was the Hohenheim family.

There was Zeke...

Ever since waking from that dream, she had wanted to see him again.

She had so many questions.

Why had he given her those visions? Had it all been real? And if so, why had he shown her so much, despite claiming that they would meet again as enemies?

Consumed by her thoughts, doubts, and plans, she barely noticed as the sky turned from black to gray, then from gray to yellow.

At the sight of the rising sun, Viola stood. Her back creaked like a rusty hinge as she straightened, but she managed to work out the kinks with a few painful stretches.

She dove from her perch straight into the waiting arms of the wind. Soon, the landscape rushed by in a blur as she continued to build momentum. She didn't fly through town but circled around it in a wide arc.

After several minutes, Viola banked sharply to the right and made directly for the open water. Her nerves were on full alert. This was the most critical moment, when she was out in the open and still close enough to shore to be caught.

Viola rushed with all her might, pushing [Windt?nzer] to its maximum effect. To the naked eye, she couldn't have been more than a blur. Even so, she didn't dare relax.

Every few moments, she imagined a disturbance in the air behind her. Once, she could have sworn she heard the distant hum of an airship's engine.

She didn't look back.

Looking would only slow her down.

She rushed and rushed and rushed until her lungs began to burn. Only then did she risk glancing over her shoulder.

There was nothing behind her.

No patrols.

No pursuing airships.

Not even the coast.

Viola stared, almost in disbelief, at the endless blue surrounding her.

She... had done it.

She had really done it.

Just like that, she had left the Empire behind, and with it, her family's clutches.

A slow smile spread across her face, and then...

"Pffffttt... Hahahaha!"

Viola began to giggle, then broke into full-blown laughter.

She could barely keep herself aloft as it spiraled out of control. She tried to stop, but couldn't. The release was simply too great, too cathartic.

It felt as if a noose, one that had been wound so tightly around her neck that she could barely breathe, had finally been removed. For the first time in her life, it had been removed.

When Viola finally managed to get her emotions under control, she felt completely wrung out.

Objectively, it was the most pitiful state she had ever been in. She stank, having not bathed in days. Her hair was so caked with dirt that its original color was almost indistinguishable. She hadn't slept, leaving dark circles beneath her tear-stained eyes.

And yet, somehow, she felt more alive, more at peace, than at any time she could remember.

Her smile still in place, Viola roughly gauged her position and headed north. She wasn't absolutely certain where the northern shipping lane was, but there couldn't be all that many ships with blue sails leaving at this time of day.

Thankfully, after around half an hour of searching and two false alarms, she finally found her quarry.

As she made for the ship, a familiar shape rose from its deck. Seramis flew straight toward her, its broad wings beating against the morning air. Its large, intelligent eyes studied her before it flicked its head toward its back.

Viola understood.

She landed between the familiar's wings, where a tarp had already been secured to its harness. As soon as she slipped beneath it, Seramis banked toward the ship, hiding her figure from anyone watching below.

Viola couldn't see anything through the covering, but she felt the moment they alighted on the deck. There was a brief silence until...

"Stay under there until we're back in the room."

At Sebastian's voice, Viola finally relaxed.

Seramis carried her across the deck. The air changed as they made their way into the ship's interior, and the noise of the ocean faded behind them. Then, all of a sudden, the warm fur beneath her disappeared, replaced by a hard wooden floor as Sebastian dismissed his familiar.

Viola looked up, still half buried beneath the tarp.

Four familiar faces grinned down at her.

"Everyone," Sebastian announced in a somewhat stilted voice, "look who I met during my stroll. Small world, isn't it?"

"Small world indeed," Irina echoed with a smile, followed by a nod from her husband, Bernard.

"Downright tiny," he agreed.

Grent only rolled his eyes but reached down to help her up.

Viola looked around and found that the group had been given a separate room. They must have truly been friends with the captain. Otherwise, such a privilege would have been unthinkable.

"Think you can last for a couple of days?" Sebastian asked.

Viola blinked. "...Last?"

"No need to put on a tough front," he said. "I know how stir-crazy you Wind people get when you're cooped up."

Viola examined the cabin. The room was indeed rather cramped. However, compared to the years she had spent underground in that tunnel, the sunlight streaming through the small window alone made it feel like a luxury vacation.

Even if the journey had lasted several weeks, she wouldn't have minded.

"No problem."

The following days passed with surprising ease. Viola remained inside their cabin whenever another passenger might have spotted her, emerging only late at night to stretch her legs and breathe the open air.

It should have been miserable.

Instead, she found herself enjoying every moment of it.

Irina finally forced her to bathe on the first evening, while Bernard convinced one of the sailors to wash her coat. Grent complained about the smell the entire time, though Viola noticed that he was also the one who found her a fresh set of clothes.

They were too large, rather plain, and unmistakably masculine.

In other words, they were perfect.

Most of the journey was spent talking, playing cards, or listening to stories from the group's previous adventures. Viola contributed little herself, but nobody pressed her. They seemed content to let Fay remain Fay.

On the second evening, Grent dealt another round of cards, and Viola immediately frowned when Bernard picked up his hand.

"You're doing it again," he accused.

Bernard glanced at her. "Do what?"

"That face."

"What face?"

"The one that tells me you're about to rob us blind."

Grent snorted. "That's just his face."

Bernard ignored them both and placed two cards on the table. "Twenty-one."

Viola stared at the cards before slowly turning toward Irina. "Your husband's cheating."

"Maybe," Irina said without looking up from the book in her lap.

Bernard stiffened.

Irina turned a page. "But until you figure out how he does it, it's all fair game."

Grent leaned closer, glaring into Bernard's eyes as if the answer might be hidden inside them. The man kept his expression perfectly still. After several more seconds, Grent leaned back with a disgusted grunt. "It really is an awful face."

Bernard gathered his winnings with a small smile. "You owe me fourteen copper."

The room fell silent.

The weather remained calm, and the ship made excellent progress. On the morning of the third day, Viola awoke to the sound of bells ringing above deck.

At first, she assumed something had gone wrong. Then she heard footsteps rushing past their door, accompanied by excited voices.

"We're here," Sebastian announced.

Viola was on her feet before he had even finished speaking.

This time, there was no need for her to hide. They had left the Empire far behind, and the harbor ahead was far too busy for anyone to pay attention to a single traveler.

Even so, Viola pulled her hood deeper before following the others onto the deck.

The moment she stepped outside, she froze.

The City of Merchants rose from the shore in countless layers, its buildings climbing higher and higher toward the enormous tower at its center. Hundreds of banners fluttered from rooftops, displaying the symbols of merchant houses, foreign nations, and organizations Viola had never even heard of.

The harbor itself was larger than some cities. Ships crowded every pier, their sails forming a patchwork of colors across the water. Beyond them, elevated roads wound between towers of stone and glass, while sleek airships drifted through the sky like lazy clouds.

Even from a distance, Viola could hear the city.

Bells rang. Workers shouted. Great cranes groaned beneath the weight of their cargo. From somewhere, music played loudly enough to carry across the water.

It was chaotic, gaudy, and almost impossibly alive.

Viola slowly approached the railing, her gaze rising from the docks to the lowest stratum, then to the far more luxurious buildings of the upper layers, and finally settling on a particular area in the third, which was almost buried among the clouds. It was where the Hohenheim family resided.

Her fingers tightened around the railing as the ship entered the harbor.

She had arrived...