Two of our number had died.

  We were on our way back from a mission, stepping out of a portal, when a group of camouflaged monsters decapitated the first two people in the formation. The only reason the others in line were still alive was due to some quick acting on the part of our training officers, now our sergeants. They had erected barriers before more lives could be lost and quickly dispatched the ambushers before barking orders, the rest of us following through and raising our shields both physical and magical.

  After reaping two lives, the monsters seemed to withdraw as no more attacks came, but we were all eager to quickly move on from that area, me and the other space mages being urged to quickly create a portal.

  The bodies of the fallen were kept in a spatial storage and we pressed forward. I wasn't as affected by the deaths as some others were, as a few were clearly holding back tears, but the ones most emotional about the incident where the others who had been standing beside the ones who died. Flecks of blood were still on their cheeks, and they would have gone catatonic if not for the commander barking orders at them and giving them something to take their minds off what just happened.

  I went about my business as usual. The only effect that those deaths had on me was perhaps reminding me not to take life for granted and hurry up with a possible exit strategy.

  "Make camp!" the commander shouted, after which he gathered the other officers for some kind of meeting, leaving us regular troops to make camp as ordered. In a small circle, ditches were dug out and stakes were planted into the ground facing outwards, pre-grown by nature mages before we left the base. A fire was lit for those who chose to cook their food, and tents and bedrolls were brought out to rest in, the majority of the unit removing their spears and shields but keeping their swords on hand, just in case. We had all seen how useful swords had been in the last emergency, but having them close by likely provided some measure of assurance and comfort.

  As a space mage, I was relieved from night watch, leaving me free to ponder on my plans for the future as I munched on some rations while staring into the fire.

  With the benefit of hindsight, I could see now that my showing up at the Aschel estate solved a number of problems for its Lord. As a noble, he must have had obligations to send a member of his family and perhaps some troops to the battlefield. My arrival not only saved one of his children from the possible danger of the battlefield, but also gave him an excuse to force me into that one-sided contract. And while it may have cost him something to unlock my spatial affinity, the cost couldn't have been too high, or he would have refused point blank. And even then, if the contract worked as intended, which he had no reason to believe it wouldn't, the house of Aschel would have simply gained a slave, I mean servant, with a spatial affinity. No doubt said servant would be used most appropriately to ensure his gifts did not go to waste. Sending messages, perhaps, or acting as a living storage item.

  "Do you mind turning the fire up?" someone sitting beside me asked, to which a different somebody gently increased the heat coming off the flames and cooking the skewered meat held above it faster. I threw more rations into my mouth and chewed mindlessly while trying to focus once more. The camp was subdued, and besides the crackling of the flames and the subtle sounds of the officers conversing, the night was silent. The sun had just gone down and we were only resting for a few hours before we were expected to keep moving.

  Once it was discovered that I hadn't returned from the battlefield, Lord Aschel and any other nobility aware of my contract with them would be on the lookout for me. I would essentially be a fugitive. That meant finding some place to hide in the elven continent and eke out a living were unlikely, even if I did mesmerize everyone who posed a threat to me. All it took was one moment of bad luck and the situation could backfire on me.

  I could see a similar scenario playing out in the beastfolk continent. While I couldn't recall the exact words used, I remember enough to know that I didn't want to risk the wrath of the dragons if I was discovered living on their land after they explicitly told me not to.

  Which left the human continent.

  Now, it was possible that I could hide away somewhere in the south or on some remote island in the kingdom. The king had sent me away but I wasn't forbidden from returning. I could conceivably find somewhere to live and just...wile away the time. Maybe pursue that old dream of owning a small plot of land with a white picket fence, a wife and kids by my side with a tiny puppy in the background. I could be a fisherman or a farmer while my wife taught at the nearby school and my kids got into trouble with the local guards for their usual antics. It would be a peaceful, idyllic life.

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  Until it wasn't.

  Until the king found out where I was, or someone from my academy days recognized me and word of my presence reached the monarchs.

  Until some monster invaded my home and killed my family, leaving me with nothing but blood and hate while I cried myself to sleep.

  Until my ambition reared its head once more and I decided to abandon my new family in search of finding out the limits of my potential.

  ....None of those sounded like the happy ending I envisioned for myself.

  I valued my freedom and my autonomy, but until I had the power to protect it, I would be subject to the whims of those with more strength. And to acquire said power, I couldn't stay here, on this planet. They were limited by the fact that they had no access to mana, and I had somehow run out of people who would willingly teach me how to get stronger. So I needed to somehow leave this world, preferably without bringing its powerful forces down upon myself as I did so. I frowned as I reached the inevitable conclusion.

  This world had proven that it was susceptible to outside forces. And wherever those outside forces were entering from would be where the barrier that covered the world was at its weakest...and where I would have the best chance of leaving this world. If I practiced with my spatial magic, and looked up some spells in the Trove, I'm sure I could leave this world via teleporting. And therein lay the rub. There was only one place that I knew of that was undoubtedly where new arrivals landed:

  The northern continent, home to the voranders, and more recently, the alien parasites that infected them and had reportedly pulled back all their forces, leaving it unlikely they would simply allow me to examine their lands and search for the spot I was looking for.

  Hence, my frown.

  A light nudge on my shoulder made me turn to the side, only to see that my neighbor had fallen asleep on my arm, only to jerk awake a moment later, though his eyes continued to flutter as he made a futile attempt to evade sleep. I drank some water before heading to bed myself, my conscious mind drifting into my space to work on my abilities.

  Once I woke up, I could clearly feel the mental fatigue of staying awake all night, even if my body was refreshed. It was a discomforting feeling, and a reminder that I had limits. I could get away with doing it one or two nights in a row, but my mind needed rest just as much as my body did, perhaps more so.

  We reached the barracks without further incident and the commander was lenient enough to give us the rest of today and tomorrow off, an unexpected show of compassion from the older man, but one that the others appreciated as most of them began to relax and unwind in their own way. I went to the quartermaster and put in a custom order of five sets of clothes with the most common enchantments on them, self-repair, self-cleaning, and size adjustment, as well as a few 'backup' weapons.

  Why not take advantage of those elves before I leave?

  It wouldn't do to simply leave without causing at least some pain to my would-be captors. I would put in more orders before I left, but gradually, to reduce suspicion. After all, who in their right mind would request thirty sets of boots or a hundred gloves?

  With that out of the way, I returned the items in my spatial storage that didn't belong to me to their respective owners before practicing my spatial magic in the middle of the field. I was alone, but I preferred it that way. No distractions.

  I was in the middle of optimizing the time my portal needed to manifest before I saw, or rather felt, two people in my spatial sense. Two familiar people holding their own custom weapons.

  "Can I help you?" I asked without turning towards them, still trying to work on my portal. I hoped that my brusque attitude was enough to drive them off, but it seemed I was mistaken.

  "I would like to spar with you," a cold and polite voice requested. The ice princess, or Lady Elf as I called her, was the undisputed strongest person in our unit. Her long snow-white hair lent itself to the moniker, and she accepted it with grace, as one did in her station. Her father was one of the council members that ruled the elves.

  "As would I," a raspy voice agreed. Lizard Guy, the violet-scaled snakekin was the strongest beastkin present, and he too had an impressive lineage, as his uncle was the chief of some tribe that claimed to share blood with dragons, something I saw hints of but could not verify.

  I wanted to just say no and have that be the end of things, but if I knew anything about nobles, it was that they had too much pride. And given that I knew what their personalities were like after spending months with them, I was likely to end up in the infirmary if I rebuffed them. And they likely wouldn't be punished for it, either, given their backgrounds and mine.

  I caught the sigh before it left my lips, but I closed the portal I was working on and turned to face them. "How would you like to proceed?"

  "Weapons only in the first round, magic only the second, both in the third," Lizard Guy said.

  "Is that agreeable with you?" I asked Lady Elf, who simply nodded.

  "Very well, then. Let's begin." I said, taking out a shield and sword from my space before walking a few paces away from Lizard Guy, who stood with an axe in one hand and a warhammer in the other. Lady Elf stood in the middle between us before calling a start to the match, at which point I stood my ground and waited for him to approach, which he did. With gusto.

  The match ended predictably, but I did manage to get in a few good hits while defending against the barrage of attacks that left my arms numb from the impact. Even enhanced, my strength was lower than the beastman's. After a few quickly applied healing spells, I refereed the spar between the elf and the beastfolk. Once again, the victor was no surprise, though I caught signs of hesitation in his eyes at the start of the battle before it changed to resolve. An oddity, but nothing to worry about.

  The rest of the matches were about what I expected. The physically oriented beastfolk won the weapons rounds, lost the magic rounds, and lost the combined rounds. The magically inclined elf won the magic and combined rounds and lost the weapons rounds, while I won using magic against the beastman and weapons against the elf. The results left us all battered enough that a trip to the healers was required, and before I could begin to protest, the two of them arranged for future sparring sessions the next time we had a break.

  We lay on the soft beds as the healers did their work patching us up before the other two left without saying goodbye as soon as they were able to, despite the protests of the healers. I, however, was content to take advantage of the beds here, as I considered how to pull off my reckless plan of moving from the battlefront to the heart of enemy territory without letting anyone notice.