I freeze as my thinking grinds to a halt. Humans. People. This is too soon. This is all too soon! I'm not ready yet to meet people again! No no no! What do I do?! Should I hide? Should I seek them out? I don't know! "Please calm down. Panic will reduce soulwave synchronisation. Would you like to see the intruder's? Y/N?"

Zwis calm voice also calms me down. He's right, panicking won't solve this problem. Let's take a look first. "Zwi please show them to me." He used our astral perception passively to detect them and then relayed the information to me. And now he's showing me the group and their surroundings. All colorless but it has quite the range thanks to our high mana pool.

The group is three humans in fur and leather armor and one beasthuman in something between armor and a dress. Also it appears that she's being hunted. Zwi can't relay their voices to me but their expression say everything. Greed, desire and bloodlust. I can only guess why they would hunt her but when what I know from the books is still accurate then racisms against beasthumans is still a problem. Then again her clothes look really expensive so maybe they wanna kidnap her? It's hard to guess really. Also they are in a dungeon which is even stranger to me. As far as I know there is no concept of adventurers out there.

Well I can float here all day and theorize or I could go ahead and act. I turn to Anna. "Anna hide in the trees and follow me. We have intruder's and I want to find out their motives." Anna pulls the mask over her face and nods. "Yes, teacher!" Her reply came energetic and without hesitation. Then she jumped into a tree and disappeared from my visual perception. Her sneek skill is pretty good. But how did she know how to dress herself? What is that? You helped zwi? Pervert.

I turn in the direction of the intruder's and float on a intercept course. They are herding her, intentionally or not, toward the lake shore so I will come from the side and put myself between them. I'm not sure yet if I should help the woman out or not. But that's why I will ask what they are doing here. But man I sure am slow floating is not a efficient way to travel.

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My breathing is heavy and my legs are hurting from all the running. I've been running since the strange labyrinth. Since my "escorts" turned on me. But why? I don't understand! I look over my shoulder and keep running. The three mercenarys are still close behind me. They're carrying wickedly looking axes and swords. I'm scared. I've never actually fought before. I got some combat instructions as part of my Noble training but I'm still just a beginner. And they took my weapon so it's not like I can fight anyway.

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I look forward again and stop almost falling into a lake. No! I'm trapped! I turn and the men are slowly walking toward me. "Ya sure made me and me bois run, me lady." Says the big man with the ax, clearly mocking me. They stop a few meters away from me and start encircling me.

"Whot? Not gunna run again? Ya finally figured there ain't no escape?" He sneered and the others laughed wickedly. "Why?! What have I done to you?!" I just don't understand why this is happening. "Ya still don't get it? Is that pretty hed only there ta decorate? Ya ave been sold out! We will kill ya and ye councilor will take ya place! And da captain will be rich!" They laugh again. My mind goes blank. My counselor? No way... "No... you're lying...but why?" The lead guy lifts his ax on his shoulder. "Ain't it obvious? When yer dead he's gunna take yer place! Become da head of da house! Take da city! And yet gonna be our plaything!" Again that dirty laugh.

I feel like crying right now. But...I can't! Not yet! I have to get back! People depend on me! So I raise both of my hands and channel mana into my family house ring. "Flame that burns bright..." I start chanting and the mercenarys start panicking. "Oi! Stop'r! She's gunna kill erself!" The rush toward me but my spell is just about completed. "Burn my soul and leave no trace! Flamespi-" a fist makes contact with the top of my head and breaks my concentration. "Outch!" I let out a scream and hold my head. Tears collect in the corner of my eyes. That hurt!

I look towards the mercenarys and see that they haven't moved closer to me. Huh? They didn't strike me? Then who...? I look upwards and a round orange metallic face with green glowing orbs for eyes stares back at me with a furious expression. "You..." It start. I gulp. T-this is clearly some kind of monster. And it's angry! "You..." It repeats and starts trembling slightly. So I will die today after all. I close my eyes and except my fate. Grandma! I'm coming! And then my head gets hit by a fist again. "Outch!" I cry out again. Why do I keep getting hit?! I look at the monster again and now see something more in it's expression. Is that annoyance? "You!" It starts again. "You have such an incredibly sloppy spell formula!" Huh?