“Huh?” Ketal’s puzzled tone broke the tense silence as he looked at Arkemis with a slight frown. She sounded so frantic that he couldn’t help wondering what was wrong.0

“You haven’t actually done anything to upset me,” he said gently, “so why are you acting like this?”0

Arkemis’s face was pale with anxiety. She stammered, “T-then why are you leaving all of a sudden? It must be because I made some mistake or said something wrong. Isn’t that it?”0

Ketal spoke again, trying to soothe her. “Calm down. None of this is your fault. Something urgent has come up. That’s all.”0

He then explained that he had once been acquainted with a certain priestess and that her holy land was under attack by evil forces. He was going to leave the capital of the Denian Kingdom to help defend it.0

At last, Arkemis began to relax. She stepped back with an awkward expression, realizing her misunderstanding. “Oh, so that’s why… I honestly thought I’d messed up and made you want to leave.”0

“You’ve done nothing wrong,” Ketal reassured her. “In fact, you have...0