"I’ll be fine," Mark said, looking at all his subordinates. "Wait for me here."

And without saying anything more, he began walking behind Zilu in the direction of Sarah’s house.

Yuki, for her part, vanished immediately the moment her Master turned around.

Mark walked the short distance alongside Zilu until both of them stopped in front of the door to the fox-eared woman’s house.

It was a simple construction, made of the same dark wood as the other houses in the village, with a thatched roof and a plain wooden door with no special adornments.

Mark put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door, but after stepping inside he noticed Zilu wasn’t following him.

"Aren’t you coming in?" Mark asked, confused.

Zilu shook her head.

"When Sarah said she wanted to speak with you alone..." Zilu said, lowering her gaze slightly, "that included me too."

"Oh, I see."

"She’ll be waiting for you behind the first door you see straight ahead," Zilu said, pointing toward the interior of the house. "And please try not to take too long... because I want to tell you my answer to your proposal."

"Really?" Mark asked, a little surprised.

"Ye-yeah."

"Alright then, I’ll try not to be too long," Mark said as he closed the door.

"I’ll be waiting with the others... Master."

Mark had already closed the door when he noticed how Zilu had addressed him.

’...I suppose I already know her answer,’ Mark thought with amusement.

Inside the house, the first thing he noticed was that it was spacious, much more so than it appeared from outside.

But for some reason it was practically empty inside.

There was almost no furniture in the entryway aside from a couple of coat hooks on the wall, a small shelf with some shoes, and a table with a single chair.

"Cozy..." he muttered to himself, looking around.

Mark walked down the short hallway to the door Zilu had pointed out, and opened it.

The room on the other side of the door was only slightly larger than the entryway, with a couple of old armchairs on either side, a low wooden table in the center, and a large open trunk against the far wall.

And in front of the trunk, crouching down and searching through its contents, was Sarah.

The fox-eared woman had her back to the door while rummaging inside the trunk.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Sarah turned her head over her shoulder and her gaze landed on Mark.

"Well, if it isn’t you, Mr. Hero," she said in a light tone.

"Huh?" he said, pointing to himself. "Are you talking about me?"

Sarah laughed.

It was a short, soft laugh that made her fox ears move slightly.

"Oh sweetheart, no need to be so modest," she said, turning her head back into the trunk. "Zilu told me everything you did for her."

Mark said nothing to that.

"So please, have a seat," Sarah said, still searching. "I’m almost done finding what I need."

Mark looked at the two armchairs, chose the one closest to the door, and when he sat down he rested his back against the cushion.

While the armchair looked old it was surprisingly comfortable.

The fabric was worn at the edges and the cushions had lost some of their firmness, but it still felt incredibly good.

Mark listened to Sarah continuing to move things around inside the trunk for a few more seconds until her voice finally sounded with satisfaction.

"There it is," Sarah said as she straightened up and turned around.

In her hands she carried a rolled-up scroll, long and thick, tied with a red fabric ribbon.

She walked toward the armchair across from Mark’s and sat down, crossing one leg over the other.

Then she placed the scroll on the low table separating the two armchairs.

"First of all," Sarah said, looking him directly in the eyes, "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my little Zilu."

Her tone had changed.

The light, playful tone from a moment ago was gone, now it was more serious.

"And being honest, I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened to her if you hadn’t saved her... so, thank you," Sarah said, her gaze on the floor.

Mark looked at her for a moment.

"There’s nothing to thank me for," he replied, shaking his head. "And I’m truly sorry we weren’t able to save her sister too."

Hearing that, Sarah let out a heavy sigh.

Her fox ears dropped slightly and her visible eye closed for a second.

"Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do for her anymore..." Sarah said in a quieter voice. "Zilu told me what happened."

There was a brief silence.

"I’m glad that at least little Zilu survived," Sarah said, opening her eye again. "That’s already more than I dared to hope for after so many days without hearing anything from either of them."

Mark nodded without saying anything.

Sarah sighed heavily, as if closing that topic inside her head, and then her expression shifted back to a more relaxed one.

"Getting back to your reward," she said, looking at the rolled scroll on the table. "Zilu told me that you and your group needed some guidance about what’s out in these lands."

She paused before continuing.

"What you have in front of you is a map of the Great Forest and the plains beyond it," Sarah said, looking him directly in the eyes.

Then Sarah put a hand on the scroll and partially unrolled it.

Mark managed to see hand-drawn lines, ink marks that appeared to indicate paths, and several points labeled with names written in a language he didn’t recognize.

But before he could read anything more, she rolled the map back up.

That made Mark raise his eyes toward her.

"There’s just one small condition for you to be able to take it," Sarah said.

"And what is that?"

"..."

Mark looked at her, waiting.

And then Sarah’s expression changed completely.

The warm and relaxed tone Sarah had maintained throughout almost the entire conversation vanished as if it had never existed.

What remained was a serious expression, with that single eye fixed on Mark with an intensity that made him straighten up in the armchair by instinct. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"The condition is that you don’t take Zilu with you"