The echoes last for about a minute before they fade away, but then I hear another roar. It doesn't sound like a lion, and it sounds angry, it might be taking my roar as a challenge. Luckily, it sounds fairly far away, so if I stay quiet it might just leave us alone.

Brightfire says "What is that?"

"I don't know!"

Brightfire says "It sounds angry!"

"Yeah, it does."

Brightfire says "What are we going to do?"

"Hope it doesn't find us."

Brightfire says "What if it does find us?"

"Then I will fight it. If it comes to that, I want you to hide and not try to help."

Brightfire says "Okay, I understand!"

"You are not going to argue with me?"

Brightfire says "Nope! I have seen you fight, I know I am not in your league!"

"Wow! Sensible, I wasn't expecting that!"

Brightfire says "Um, should I be offended?"

"No, at least not for yourself. Maybe if you want to be offended on behalf of the other women I have to deal with."

Brightfire says "No! That sounds exhausting!"

As I am laughing I am also watching a dot flying around in the distance. Chances are, that is what roared back at me and now it is searching for me. Luckily, it is quite far away and doesn't seem to be coming in this direction.

Of course, that would change instantly if I were to roar again, but I am not looking for a fight. While I am curious about what it is, I don't want to risk Brightfire's life just for that. If I was alone it would probably be a different story, I don't mind risking my own life.

After a few minutes Brightfire goes back to following the signs deeper into the mountains. As I follow her, I keep an eye on the dot until it is no longer visible, I was hoping to see what it was. Only after it is gone do I think of using my telescope, but by then it is too late.

The fact that I didn't think of it in time makes me want to kick myself since I could have satisfied my curiosity. However, what's done is done, so I focus on keeping watch over Brightfire. We follow the signs for hours with no end in sight and then I spot a cave.

Calling for Brightfire to stop, I enter the cave to check it out, only to find it empty. Since it is a decently safe place I decide that we will camp here for the night. Once I am sure it is safe I call Bright fire in and I start setting up camp.

Stolen novel; please report.

While I can provide hot food from my pouch I still start a fire, for comfort if nothing else. After a full day trekking through the mountains, Brightfire is exhausted. So after she eats she immediately falls asleep, which makes me feel a little guilty.

After all, this has nothing to do with her, she is just here to help me find the path. She may feel like she owes me something for saving some of her people, but I don't see it that way. Her risking her life to help me out means that I owe her, not the other way around.

Even the elves I rescued don't owe me anything as far as I am concerned. After all, they didn't ask to be rescued, I did that all on my own, so they don't owe me anything. At most I would say Stillwater owes me, but not enough to risk his daughter.

I am sure if I were to state this to them they would all argue with me, especially Brightfire. She has been eager to follow me around ever since I found her in the human fort. She would argue that I saved her life in the fort, yet without me she wouldn't have even been there.

The main problem, from what I can see, is that before I showed up the elves had given up hope. As the one who gave them a reason to hope again, their emotions towards me are not normal. They give more importance to my actions than they would under normal circumstances.

It would be far too easy for me to take advantage of their feelings so I have to be careful. The last thing I want is for any of them to decide that they love me, Myria would skin me alive. Or at least try to, who knows, by the time I get back she might be able to.

Once I am done eating I sit facing the cave entrance, with the fire at my back, and meditate. This way nothing should be able to enter the cave and get past me to where Brightfire is. No matter what, I can't let anything happen to her, that would make me feel super guilty.

Luckily, nothing happens during the night and in the morning, after breakfast, we move out. Brightfire goes back to following the signs and I focus on protecting her. There are plenty of creatures living in the mountains, but most of them won't face me.

It makes me wonder how the elves who left this trail managed to survive. Because, unless they were much stronger than the elves I know, they would have lost a lot of people. Nothing I have spotted seems to have any fear at all of Brightfire, in fact they see her as prey.

Then again, I have seen Brightfire fight and while she has some skill with the sword, she isn't very strong. In fact, none of the elves I have met so far live up to my image of what they should be. Then again, that image is built from movies, anime, and D&D, so it isn't very realistic.

It really makes me wonder what the dwarf-like race is like and if they will live up to my image of them or not. Honestly, if they are good craftsmen, then nothing else really matters to me. What I really want is to meet a dwarven master blacksmith that I can learn from.

However, the way things are going right now I may not get a chance to meet them. I don't know about the mainland, but on the peninsula they seem to have completely disappeared. Either they left completely or they moved deeper underground than I want to go.

If I don't get a chance to meet them in this life, I hope I can meet them in my next life. Thinking of my next life, I really need to do what the dragon said and max out my soulscape. Then I can raise my soul level so I don't lose my memories when I die.

That is becoming more important the more memories I make in this life. In my next life in this world I don't want to have to start over from scratch. Especially since I don't think the goddesses would be very willing to tell me certain things.

At least not if I keep pissing them off the way I have been lately, which I probably will. It is just too much fun being able to tease two beautiful goddesses and get away with it. That and I didn't lie, they are both extremely cute when they are mad.

So far, that is the closest thing in this life to something from an anime and I love it. Anytime they give me those angry looks I feel like the main character in an anime. I love that feeling so I might be antagonizing them more than I should, but I can't help myself.