A few meters away in the grass, Tina made the brown grass beneath her into a makeshift bed. She snored away, having little care for the two ladies'' ideas and thoughts. The only reason she was out here was because Elizabeth insisted on it. And if she was seen napping away without keeping a single eye on Tibaut, she''d likely have to start digging her own grave.


    (“I guess removing a bunch of dead rabbits would tire anyone. Tch, she could have at least left a few before burying them. I hear electricity tenderizes the meat.”)


    Meanwhile, Tibaut was lightly jogging in a circle, with a horde of rabbits behind him. They were aggressive but they didn''t seem to be in any rush to crunch away at him.


    “You two done!?” He shouted.


    All the ladies there had asked him to keep quite the distance so they could do their job.


    “No!” Bailey shouted.


    Both women were examining the barrel the elf threw and the rabbit he transformed.


    “Hoh, I guess he was right. Want to keep it Merrill?”


    Merrill sighed and placed the corpse in a bag she carried.


    “there were signs of magic but for some reason, it can''t be traced with the standard or the…”


    Within the nation of Anglia, there were several means of tracking down a user of magic. One of these was a ritual so synonymous with organisations of authority within the country that it was simply called the "the standard”. The ritual wasn''t anything special which was why it made it convenient to use for tracking out in the middle of nowhere.


    All it required was inscribing a phrase from an ancient language into the object affected by magic and an area with passable mana density. It creates a trail based on how much mana is present in the area and leads to the magic’s user. But it wasn''t infallible. For such a widespread method, if you were, in the know so to speak, you knew of methods to get around it.


    “Can we go home Merrill? This is pointless, the barrel was a bust so I''m guessing the rabbit was too.”


    Bailey tried a similar ritual that involved DNA but the barrel had been touched by far too many parties to be useful. Meanwhile, Merrill had given up on the standard and tried other reliable rituals used for tracking but they all turned up rather disappointing results or none at all.


    “...or the remy reagent or the tsar’s bloodhound or the-”


    “Merrill, I get it, none of them worked. It seems Elizabeth’s gonna have to save up and” she put up some air quotes, “Leave it to the professionals.” She rolled her eyes and said it with abject loathing.


    Merrill looked quite stumped as well and began pouting as she looked at the bag she placed the rabbit in.


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    “Hmm.” With nothing else to lose she called over Tibaut.


    “c-could you release some mana? we''re running dry.” She asked.


    “Oh sure thing, Merrill.” He did as he was asked and released his mana into the surrounding area.


    She took the rabbit back out of her bag and carved some unfamiliar-looking words into the stomach of the rabbit.


    “What the? What method is that?” Bailey asked.


    “i, uh, deciphered it from elizabeth’s library recently.” She answered.


    “Oh, right, that has all sorts of stuff from the royal library. I thought you said most of it was useless?”


    “Royal Library?” Tibaut asked. “That doesn''t sound cheap. Don''t tell me she shelled out a fortune on that too. How much has she spent on stuff like this?” He mused to himself.


    Merrill looked up to her eyes and placed a finger before her lips while shaking her head, with incredible vigour, like Bailey was trying to summon an ancient curse with that sentence.


    “(Shit, I forgot that me and her are the only ones that know who she is.) Damn right, she did, I don''t have any idea how she gets the money for this sort of stuff.”


    “She said her master right?”


    “Right, that thing. I-I guess it makes sense.”


    They were both caught off by a squeal that wasn''t from a rabbit.


    Merrill wore a smirk on her face and presented the dead rabbit to Bailey.


    “i-it worked!”


    Above the rabbit was an arrow made of the mana Tibaut released. He quickly set off after the rabbits came close.


    “What does it do!?” He shouted.


    “I''m curious as well Merrill, what''s the overreaction about?” Bailey asked.


    She turned it around and the arrow moved. She then walked in a circle and the arrow continued pointing to and from.


    “Is it… pointing to a set location somewhere?”


    Merrill nodded.


    “So it''s pointing to where he is!?” She continued.


    And Merrill nodded with a smile on her face.


    “Hehehe, is that so? Why don''t we pay that smart ass a visit?” Both women wore equally cruel grins on their faces as they imagined what they''d do to this bastard who dared challenge their intelligence.


    <hr>


    “It was a good try Merrill…” Both women were crouched on the floor. In the same field. A few feet away. In the same patch of grass even. Right next to Tina.


    Bailey patted her on the back and Merrill was in disbelief.


    “but that''s impossible! he should be here.”


    “It''s an elf, Merrill. I can already imagine the bastard dedicating his 600+ year life to making a ritual that can make him undetectable. No wonder he''d come to a backwater like this if privacy was his concern.”


    “ah” Merrill stepped a few paces forward to match the arrow but still nothing. Weirdly, the space the arrow occasionally pointed to would change.


    “why does it move?”


    “Maybe it required calibration, I bet the bastard who wrote it down forgot to include how. Bastards always forget important stuff like that.”


    Tina looked up at the two and chimed in.


    “What if he''s underground?”