Sedhoust returned to the spot where Juliana had been healing Dylan’s leg. It seemed that Reiter was now the one making Dylan look at him instead of the wound while Juliana did her work.

“How is it going?” Sedhoust asked.

Mathias turned to Sedhoust and replied. “It’s going well, Lord Grasmord. He’ll be up and running again soon.”

Sedhoust’s eyes went a little wider upon hearing the reply. Dylan’s wound was quite a nasty open fracture which needed much more than simple Healing Weave spells. In fact, mere Intensification Healing Weave spells would instead make things worse without applying proper medical treatment beforehand.

Juliana was a practitioner of Water Healing Weave, so Sedhoust knew she could help. However, Sedhoust didn’t expect that her expertise had advanced this far at her young age. Now that he could take a closer look, Dylan’s wound had been cleaned and the bones had been properly straightened and repaired as if the fracture had never been there in the first place.

“Now to close up the flesh and skin...” Juliana said as her hands moved, magically controlling blobs of blood-contaminated water away from Dylan’s leg and disposing them off. She then took a new batch of clean, purified water from a nearby container and controlled them to cover Dylan’s still-open wound.

The water began shining in the color of a clear sky, and Dylan’s flesh wound began closing up. It took only half a minute until the wound closed off completely. There were faint scars, but the nasty open fracture was no more.

“Healing complete.” Juliana said with a sigh of relief as her body went limp.

“Great job, Ana!” Yuril said with delight while Reiter helped Juliana stand up.

Dylan raised his upper body and tried to look at his leg. “I-I can feel my leg again!” He said while touching it before looking at Juliana with teary eyes. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

While being supported on Reiter’s shoulder, Juliana replied. “You still lost blood, so don’t exert yourself for a while.”

“Still, we are not out of the woods yet.” Sedhoust chimed in. “Figuratively and literally.”

“I’m not sensing any beasts for now.” Reiter said as his eyes glanced around. “But I still feel uneasy.”

Mathias tilted his head and asked. “Why?”

“Matty, didn’t you notice that all the beasts were weird?” Yuril asked with her hands on her hip.

“Never thought about it.” Mathias replied. “Calamity beasts never make sense in the first place after all.”

“I mean, yeah. But the boulder gorilla that took Dylan, and the ghirdys Lord Grasmord fought, it was as if they'd already seen us before we saw them!”

“Indeed.” Reiter said. “And I’ve never heard of boulder gorillas using a human shield before today.”

Juliana looked at Reiter as she let go of his support and stood by herself. “Doesn’t that mean...?”

“Indeed, there is definitely an actual leader somewhere out there.” Sedhoust said. “A beast with enough intelligence to give information and instruction to other beasts, and also the capability to see things from afar.”

In reaction to Sedhoust’s words, everybody else tensed up and looked around them. The trees on the other side of the river had been mostly charred black, and massive puffs of black smoke were visibly emerging in the distance. The forest on this side was still safe from burning, but Sedhoust had no idea for how long. His Wind Weave spell of continual breeze would eventually wear off and give a chance for embers to cross.

“In any case, we should go back to the village.” Sedhoust said, stepping closer to Dylan, turning around, and crouching with his arms extended backward.

“W-What are you doing, Your Excellency?” Dylan asked in an audibly bewildered tone.

Sedhoust subtly rolled his eyes and sighed. “What else? Get on.”

“N-No way! I can’t let myself be-!” Dylan refused, but his words were halted because Sedhoust intervened.

“You basically have no stamina, and I am the only one around here who can fly and still fight effectively when needed while carrying someone on my back. Or perhaps... you are wishing to slow everyone down?” Sedhoust said while glancing back at Dylan with indifferent eyes. Dylan just froze up, both in words and body movement. “Heh, someone give him a push.” Sedhoust spoke again.

“You heard the lord, sir Dylan.” Mathias said while looking at Dylan with a smirk on his face. “And you better obey.”

Mathias then gave Dylan a pat on the back, pushing him closer to Sedhoust.

“I-I’m sorry for my insolence, My Lord.” Dylan said as Sedhoust gave him a piggyback ride and started floating with an audible sigh. Like Dylan, Juliana was also on a piggyback ride, courtesy of Reiter.

“This is one thing I dislike about having a nobility title.” Sedhoust said soon after the group began advancing along the river in a haste. “And I told you that I came here not to be revered, no?”

Dylan replied after a brief delay. “Y-Yes, My Lord. But I couldn’t... It doesn’t feel right.”

Sedhoust didn’t say a word in response. He had long accepted the fact that no matter how much he said otherwise, he was now a figure of authority not in the same level of commoners anymore, and thus he had given up on insisting to decline reverence for longer than a couple spoken lines. It would be just an unnecessary drag.

“By the way, Lord Grasmord.” Yuril called while walking. “May I ask something?”

“Go ahead.” Sedhoust replied.

Yuril looked closely at the half-meter space between Sedhoust and the ground below him. “You’re flying, but I don’t feel any wind around you. Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes, indeed.” Sedhoust said. “This is Gravity Weave.”

“Whoa! Awesome!” Yuril said with glimmering eyes and wide open mouth. “I’ve never seen anyone else use Gravity Weave! Do you teach it at the academy!?”

“Sadly no.” Sedhoust shook his head. “The subject involved is too difficult for the kingdom’s people of today. They are not ready for this yet.”

“Really? I’d like to give it a try anyway if I get the chance.” Yuril said, looking a little disappointed. “Can’t let the empire hog all the knowledge for too long, you see.”

“I shall consider it.” Sedhoust said. “But this flying spell is the only one I can use in the subject matter, so there is little to teach to begin with.”

“Oh, I see.” Yuril said. “I hope it will happen soon!” She continued with an enthusiastic smile on her face.

“First thing first,” Juliana chimed in while still holding on Reiter’s shoulders. The bridge of Krochi Village had come into view at a far distance ahead. “We’re almost there. We should get all the villagers to evacuate.”

Dylan turned his head to Juliana. “Evacuate? Why?”

“There are multiple calamity beasts of higher than common variety.” Juliana replied. “There’s no doubt about it. The forest is infested.”

“And on fire.” Mathias added while glancing at the mostly burning trees across the river. “This side might catch fire as well later on.”

“But where?” Dylan asked, looking worried. “Many of us have nowhere to go.”

“We can think about that later.” Sedhoust said. “For now, we should get to safety and confirm the village’s situation.”

Soon later, the group arrived back at Krochi Village. There were commotions, probably due to the fact that the forest on the north side of the river was burning. Many villagers were scrambling to save whatever they could save from the farm fields, definitely fearing that the fires would eventually get there and burn the crops down. Wild animals running away from the forest fire added more chaos into the mixture.

“Umm, Your Excellency...” Dylan said. “You can put me down. I can walk from here.”

“Alright.” Sedhoust said, gently putting Dylan down. “Don’t push yourself.”

“You have my deepest gratitude, Your Excellency.” Dylan said while bowing before he walked away and joined other villagers.

Sedhoust turned to the Enforcer team and spoke with his arms folded. “So, what are your plans?”

“We will try to hold off the fire.” Juliana immediately replied as she got off Reiter. “We need to buy time for the villagers, however little.”

Sedhoust nodded. “Be careful. Remember that there is no shame in retreating if you get overwhelmed.”

“What about you, Lord Grasmord?” Yuril asked.

“I shall fly back to the capital city and inform the guild.” Sedhoust replied. “But before that, there is something I want to check.” He continued, looking up toward the sky.

“Understood.” Juliana said with a nod. “Be careful too, Lord Grasmord.”

Sedhoust responded with a single nod, and then he used his Teleportation Weave spell to position himself higher before following up with Wind Weave flight spell to soar through the sky. He kept increasing his altitude while stretching the range of his Detection Weave as far as he could, in hopes that he would pick up something. It was merely a gut feeling to begin with, so he didn’t plan to waste time doing this for too long.

A couple minutes of ascending later, Sedhoust felt the air around him getting colder, and the air current becoming fiercer in addition to the sky becoming visibly darker. His augmented gears and magic shields protected him, but he knew that soon he would have to stop and return to a more bearable altitude. However, Sedhoust’s Detection Weave spell suddenly picked something up.

What... is that?

Sedhoust couldn’t precisely tell yet, but he knew that the presence picked up by the Detection Weave spell was nothing like any calamity beast he had ever encountered. The size was about six or seven meters long and it had wings which seemed totally stiff.

I have to take a closer look. But first...

Sedhoust coated himself with as many Fortification Weave spells as he could afford, and then he flew straight toward the strange presence he had detected. Less than a minute later, the object finally came into plain sight and Sedhoust stopped to see if it would notice him and show some kind of reaction.

Ten seconds passed and there was no visible reaction shown by the mysterious object, so Sedhoust slowly flew closer to take a better look. The object vaguely looked like a giant bird, but with an entirely mechanical-looking body. It was about six meters long as Sedhoust had previously estimated, and the wings were short in proportion, making a total of only three meters wingspan.

A mechanical bird? Who... and for what purpose?

There were so many questions popping in Sedhoust’s mind, but he was now quite certain that this was not a calamity beast. However, that didn’t eliminate the possibility that it was hostile. Moreover, Sedhoust couldn’t shake off the feeling of chills while being near the object. There was an unexplainable feeling of dread which crept up his spine the longer he looked at it.

Maybe I should destroy this thing just in case? Let’s see...

As the thought came across, sparks of lightning began jumping around between Sedhoust’s fingers. He then extended both arms forward as the lightning sparks became more intense each second.

Fwoosh.

However, the bird-like object suddenly turned away from Sedhoust and escaped at an incredible speed, disappearing from sight within a second. Sedhoust let out a sigh and the sparks on his hands died out.

Well, the bluff scared it off, at least. And I got to know that it could recognize threats.

Sedhoust then decided to return to the surface. He had seen enough for the time being, and he couldn’t endure the harsh atmosphere of high altitude for too long.

***

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

On the paved road leading north toward Krochi Village, Elana was driving the expedition buggy at a higher speed than the vehicle’s average operational speed. There were a number of guild cars following behind, but she had gained quite a distance. Riding along with her were Albert on the passenger seat, and Keith atop the roof.

“Are you fine over there, Guildmaster Keith?” Albert said while glancing up. “Sorry that our car is too small for you!”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me!” Keith said with a grin. “I’ve been on worse rides!”

While still focusing on her driving, Elana chimed in. “At this rate we shall arrive in fifteen minutes. Do you remember the plan, Albert?”

“Yes, mo- ma’am!” Albert replied. “My objective is to look for wounded people and help them as much as I can.”

“Good.” Elana said. “Things will probably be chaotic, but hang in there until Randy arrives with local healers.”

“Alright, Captain!” Albert said with audible determination in his voice.

Keith then called to Elana. “Hey, Elana! Care to give me an update?”

“A moment.” Elana said, briefly glancing at the live footage at the corner of her vision. “Don’t worry. They are safe and they just arrived back at the village.”

“Good to hear.” Keith said. “I knew he could keep them safe.”

“But he ended up burning the forest.” Elana said. “Is that going to be fine?”

“The forest is basically confirmed to be infested. If it were up to me I’d say this is actually better.” Keith said. “But it’s undeniable that he committed arson, endangering wildlife and the people in the village. It’s up to the person in charge to decide whether this should be brought to court or not.”

“Umm, Guildmaster Keith.” Albert called. “Who gets to decide on that matter, if I may know?”

“The highest rank adventurer present in the area, if at least Gold rank.” Keith replied. “Since after all, adventurers of Gold rank and above have the privilege to act as law enforcers when necessary.”

“That means, the adventurer team who has been with him.” Elana said. “And their team name is Enforcers. Heh.” She smirked at the matching name, whether it was intentional or by happenstance.

“Well, nope.” Keith said. “They’re not the highest rank around.”

Albert looked up again with bewilderment on his face. “Huh? Who else was there? You don’t say...”

“Isn’t Sedhoust retired from being an adventurer, though?” Elana asked with a bit of frown on her face.

“Did he tell you so recently?” Keith asked back. “But well, retiring is just in name only in his case for the guild. He still retains all the power and privileges that come with his rank, and he has the right to exert them whenever he wants.”

Elana sighed. “So he set a whole forest on fire, and he gets to be his own judge. I must say that how things work here is... vastly different than what I’m used to.”

“Sorry for the disheartening news, but you better get used to it while you live here.” Keith said, with no hint of joking in his tone. “Platinum and above adventurers are placed high in the hierarchy of society, just below nobility and royalty.”

Elana was silent for a few seconds before speaking. “And Sedhoust himself is a nobility on top of that... But I guess you’re right. I must not let myself be carried away by culture shock.”

“Hey, take it easy, alright?” Keith said. “It’s been just three weeks!”

“Three weeks, huh?” Elana said before she suddenly frowned. “Wait, what?”

“What’s the matter, m- ma’am?” Albert asked.

“Something is closing in on the drone.” Elana replied while trying to keep herself focused on driving the expedition buggy. “The reading says it’s human-sized.”

“Hey, Elana.” Keith called from atop the roof. “When you said drone, did you mean your sky eye tech?”

“Yes, it is.” Elana said. “Albert, use our nanom link to display the live footage.”

“Right away, Captain!” Albert replied, and then he pressed a number of buttons on his wristwatch. Soon, a projection appeared in front of him and Elana, displaying a live footage of the Probe Drone’s body camera. The view was mostly of clouds and darker blue sky with pretty much nothing else visible.

Albert then looked up before speaking. “Sorry that you can’t see it from up there, Guildmaster Keith!”

“No worries!” Keith said.

“Do you see anything?” Elana asked.

Albert shook his head. “Not yet, Captain!” He said, but he immediately leaned forward with his eyes going wide. “Oh! I see something closing in! It’s... Master Sedhoust!?”

“What?” Elana quickly glanced toward the displayed projection and quickly confirmed that it was indeed Sedhoust, floating at the stone’s throw distance from the Probe Drone. His attire was different from what Elana knew, but there was no doubt about it. “Why is he up there?”

“Beats me.” Keith chimed in. “But he’s quite a paranoid guy, so maybe he felt being watched and went to check?”

“Mo- Ma’am! He’s coming closer!” Albert called. Elana glanced at the projection again, and she noticed not only the fact that Sedhoust was approaching the drone, but also that his hands were sparking.

“Oh shit...!” Elana muttered the moment she saw Sedhoust extending his sparking hands towards the drone and the fact that those sparks got more intense every second. She immediately slammed the brake, and the momentum would have made her and Albert hit the windshield with their head if not for the seatbelts.

Keith was not secured in any way to the car’s rooftop, thus he got thrown forward by the momentum. However, he graciously repositioned his body and therefore landed on his two feet, albeit with a heavy thump thanks to his massive body. Elana paid no heed to that and frantically gave a command through her wristwatch for the drone to get away from that spot at full speed.

“Hey,” Keith called as he approached Elana and stood right outside the car on the driver's side. “That surprised me, y’know. Something bad happened?”

“Almost.” Elana replied as her posture went into a slouch with a sigh. “Sedhoust almost attacked the drone.”

“What?” Keith tilted his head.

“His hands were sparking and he pointed both at the drone.” Elana said. “What else was that other than a sign that he was going to cast a lightning spell on it?”

“A bluff.” Keith said with a straight face. Elana only squinted in response. “Definitely a bluff. You’re not at fault, though. You’re not an old friend of his, like me.”

“In that case, would you explain more?” Elana asked with her arms folded.

“You see, if Sedhoust really wanted to attack the drone he would’ve done so without approaching and showing his hands.” Keith replied. “He’s so good at Lightning Weave that he can cast just by thinking.”

Albert immediately leaned forward and looked at Keith in a bewildered expression. “Isn’t that dangerous? What if his mind wander off for a second and-”

“You can trust me that he can handle it.” Keith said. “Let’s put that aside for now. We have somewhere to go, don’t we?”

Elana nodded in response. “Alright, get on. Apologies for the sudden stop.”

“Hey, no prob!” Keith said as he climbed to the rooftop of the expedition buggy. “I told you that it wasn’t your fault, right?”

Elana didn’t say any more words. She just resumed her drive to Krochi Village. The guild cars far behind had gained on her, but she still remained at the very front even after the sudden stop.

***

Sedhoust descended back to the surface with a lingering thought about the mechanical bird he had seen. He had never seen such an object before, and therefore he thought up possibilities of what it could be.

New automaton type beast? Belmott Empire’s new tech? Or perhaps... the spacefarers?

As Sedhoust stepped on the ground in the village, he looked around and saw that the chaos had mostly subsided. The villagers were working together in salvaging crops and evacuating less able-bodied ones away from the forest. There were still occasional forest dwellers running across in panic, but they were not calamity beasts and thus they mostly avoided humans.

“Y-Your Excellency!” A familiar voice called. Sedhoust turned his head and saw that it was Dylan. He approached while hunching in respect, and several other villagers followed him behind with the same posture.

“You should be resting.” Sedhoust said with his arms folded. “But what do you need?”

“Ah! Nothing, Your Excellency! We can handle this on our own!” Dylan said. “This humble villager merely wishes to express his gratitude once more for Your Excellency’s assistance!”

Sedhoust tried to maintain a straight face, but it was hard for him to hide the fact that he didn’t like the sight of multiple people revering him excessively. His admittedly thin adventurer disguise had turned out meaningless due to the circumstances.

Nevertheless, Sedhoust replied. “Never mind me. Focus your effort on keeping yourselves safe.”

“Certainly, Your Excellency!” Dylan said.

Sedhoust suddenly remembered something, so he looked at Dylan and asked. “By the way, Dylan. I need you to tell me all you know about how you got grabbed by that beast.”

“W-Well!” Dylan said, looking startled. “I was still in the middle of salvaging crops like when we talked the first time, and then suddenly the large beast just came out from the woods! Everybody tried to run away, but I was slower than others and suddenly something struck my leg!”

“The boulder gorilla must have hurled a stone at you.” Sedhoust said. “That explains the wound you had.”

“’This is the end!’ I really thought that when the beast stood right above me.” Dylan said while shivering. “But instead it picked me up and brought me into the woods. The next thing I remember was seeing Your Excellency and the adventurers.”

Sedhoust frowned, lowered his head, and put one hand below his chin. “I seriously think this village must be evacuated. A boulder gorilla normally would have killed you right then and there instead, and I believe all of you know what that implies.”

Dylan and the villagers behind him gasped and soon began talking to each other, while Sedhoust looked at the forest on the north side of the river. He had no idea what the Enforcer team was doing there, but it seemed to be working decently. The fire coming near seemed to have died out, although there were still smokes rising from various spots and the accumulation of the haze had resulted in the sky turning red.

“For now, I shall go back to the capital and inform the guild. They will send help as soon as possible. Until then, stay on your toes.” Sedhoust said, and he was about to fly away. However...

Vrrrmm!!

A noise similar to the sound of a running engine reached Sedhoust’s ears. He looked at the direction of the source and saw a familiar-looking RV, the one belonging to the spacefarers, arriving with Keith sitting on top of it. Keith seemed to notice Sedhoust immediately and jumped off while waving his right hand.

“Hey, Sedhoust!” Keith called as he approached. Dylan and all the villagers near Sedhoust immediately gave way for Keith.

“I was about to fly back to the capital to inform you.” Sedhoust said. “How did you know?”

“Well, it was thanks to her.” Keith pointed behind with his left thumb. Sedhoust glanced and, as expected, he saw Elana coming out from the RV along with one of her men. “But man, you really freaked her out with your bluff!” Keith said while grinning and giving Sedhoust a pat on the shoulder.

“Oh...” Sedhoust said with a slight nod, catching what Keith meant with his words.

“Anyway!” Keith turned to the nearby villagers and clapped his hands once, producing a pretty loud sound which jolted the villagers and directed their attention to him. “Continue evacuating people away from the forest fire and saving as many crops as you can. Rest assured that help from the guild is on their way as we speak!”

The villagers immediately went away on Keith’s command, scattering to resume their efforts to overcome the perilous situation. At the same time, Elana and her soldier companion approached.

“I apologize for unwittingly scaring you recently.” Sedhoust said, having decided to take the initiative.

“Let’s put that aside for now.” Elana replied with a straight face. “Is there anything you need us to do?”

“None in particular.” Sedhoust replied. “Do what you need to do according to your judgment.”

Keith then added to Sedhoust’s reply. “If you’re asking me, you can assist the villagers in any way you can and tend to the injured ones.”

“Understood. We shall be off then.” Elana said before turning to her companion. “Let’s move, Albert.”

“Yes, mo- ma’am!” The soldier replied, and at this point Sedhoust remembered who Albert was. The one who had a tendency to call Elana ‘mom’.

Elana and Albert left, and Sedhoust looked at Keith. “So, what are your plans?”

“I’m gonna go into the forest and make fire lines to stop the fire from spreading further. What about you?” Keith replied.

“Now that you are already here, I think I am going to check on the Enforcer team.” Sedhoust said. “Don’t want them to encounter another ghirdys.”

“Alright. I still have to wait until the guild RVs arrive.” Keith said while giving Sedhoust a pat on the back. “Good luck!”

“You too.” Sedhoust said, and then he flew toward the forest on the north side of the river.

Sedhoust’s trek through the forest was not too smooth. The smokes reduced his vision range, thus he had to fly slower to avoid crashing onto trees. In addition, the same smokes forced him to cover his nose and mouth, and there were wild animals running away from the distant fire.

Still, it didn’t take long until Sedhoust spotted the Enforcer team. He saw Juliana using Water Weave to drench everything around her, while Mathias and Yuril worked together to cut down trees which looked dry and flammable. Reiter was on guard duty, slaying any common calamity beast the team encountered with either his bow or his sword.

“Ah, Lord Grasmord!” Yuril said upon noticing Sedhoust.

“How is it going?” Sedhoust asked as he stopped and landed near Yuril and Mathias.

“We’re doing fairly well so far, Lord Grasmord.” Yuril replied. “We managed to slow the fire by cutting down dry trees, and Ana spreading water in a line.”

“Thankfully no beasts came for us other than the quad apes Reiter took care of.” Mathias added.

“Good to hear.” Sedhoust said while nodding. “Keith has arrived, so leave the rest to him and go back. You have done enough. Especially you, Juliana.” Sedhoust looked at Juliana at the distance as he spoke the last part of his speech. She was still sprinkling conjured water around from her hands with a visibly pained look on her face.

“Ana! You’re already weavesick!” Yuril called. “Let’s go back already!”

Ana lowered her arms and her head with a sigh, and there was no more water coming out from her. Reiter quickly came to her and lent his shoulder for her to lean on. The team then regrouped and started going back toward Krochi Village.

Before leaving the place, Sedhoust cast a Wind Weave spell to produce a continuous breeze against the coming fire. A larger, fiercer wind would have been better, but Sedhoust didn’t want to skirt too close to the boundaries of weavesickness, knowing the existence of a calamity beast leader somewhere nearby.

The group’s trek back to Krochi Village thankfully went without a hitch. By the time they got there, Sedhoust noticed a number of guild RVs having been parked on the paved road alongside the RV of the spacefarers. He didn’t see Keith anywhere around, so he assumed that Keith had gone into the forest as planned in order to create a fire line starting from the south side of the river.

“What are your team going to do now?” Sedhoust asked Juliana, who was once again riding on Reiter’s back.

Juliana’s immediate response was to look at her own right hand in a pained frown while trying to move her fingers. “I want to heal more injured villagers, but it seems I can’t. The others are already exhausted as well, so I think we should find a place to rest.”

“Good answer.” Sedhoust nodded with a smile. “Knowing your limits is important. And like I said before, you have done enough.”

“Where to rest, though?” Mathias asked while looking around at the frantic atmosphere within the village.

Before anyone could respond to Mathias’ question, Dylan, who happened to be within earshot, approached quickly and spoke. “Feel free to stay at my house! My wife and kids will be so delighted to meet the ones who’ve saved my life!”

“I’d be glad to,” Yuril said before looking at Juliana. “But what do you say, Ana?”

“Yeah, we’ll accept the offer with gratitude.” Juliana said, and Dylan in response smiled ear to ear.

“Then please follow me!” Dylan gestured, but the Enforcer team looked at Sedhoust instead.

Noticing them, Sedhoust spoke. “I still have a few things to do, so go without me.”

“Alright, Lord Grasmord.” Juliana said. “And thank you for saving our lives.”

“Don’t mention it.” Sedhoust said before turning around and walking away.

Sedhoust now wanted to see Elana and ask about the mechanical bird, but he had no idea where she could be. Therefore he decided to look for any of the spacefarers nearby and ask. It was easy to find one thanks to their unique-looking military outfit, so Sedhoust immediately walked to approach them the moment he saw one, who was currently applying bandages to a villager’s ankle. It was also convenient that Sedhoust remembered who this person was.

“You got a moment, Albert?” Sedhoust asked.

Albert was startled briefly before replying. “O-Oh! Sir Sedhoust! How can I help?”

“Do you know where Elana is?”

“Captain Mayer went into the forest along with Sir Keith and other adventurers.” Albert replied. “Is there something urgent?”

Sedhoust shook his head. “No, nothing urgent. You can continue your work.”

“Oh, okay!” Albert said, and Sedhoust walked away from the spot.

Sedhoust went back to the bridge where he had briefly mused. The scenery had become vastly different from back then, now that most trees of the forest on the north side of the river was mostly burned and reddish smog enveloped the view ahead. The forest on the south side of the river still seemed to be safe for the time being, but it was hard to tell because the lingering smog hindered his vision.

Sedhoust looked at his hand and tried moving his fingers around. He didn’t feel any sort of stiff sensations, so he believed that he was still safe from getting weavesick. After the brief confirmation, Sedhoust used his lesser flight spell and once again went into the forest.

If that mechanical bird belongs to Elana, why did I feel dreadful when I stared at it? Was it merely because I didn’t know? But still...

Sedhoust had a lot of questions in his mind, and he hoped that Elana would give him some answers to the mystery.

***