Levin watched as Asaren took off down the same path everyone had just stormed in on. Rimir had waited back with the group, having honored the request to keep some distance for this operation. He hated the idea, but Asa had convinced him by arguing that her intelligence skills were part of the reason the fey nobles were keeping their eyes on her in the first place. So, he should ‘just let her work and prove her skills.’

He understood the reason she was going back. Rimir, as well as all these Hidan guys, tended to treat her like some kind of treasure they had to jealously guard. It would be a complete mess if she tried to go close to these ‘outsiders’ they had just rescued. So, of course that meant they had to split up for this. It made him a bit uncomfortable to have her just up and leave them in the middle of this unfamiliar situation, but he did understand why she couldn’t be part of it.

“Uhh… so…” Levin said, looking over toward Rolwen.

“Come on, you head the old man.” Rolwen said, gesturing over his shoulder. “Heh, escorting civilians rescued from hostiles. Acting as liaison to keep them calm. I feel like somehow I’ve wound up back in the middle eastern territories negotiating with the local warlords. Well, we’re not dealing with anything too overly scummy this time. Rules of engagement are simple this time. I think we got this. Just stick with me and follow my lead.”

“Uhh… yeah.” Levin said and started walking along with his close friend from Earth. He really hadn’t understood much of what he had just said, but at least it sounded like he knew what he was doing. That was certainly reassuring.

[Hey! What are you still doing here?] One of the Hidan kids jumped in front of them as they were trying to make their way back to the recently liberated slaves. [Aren’t you two supposed to be with Asaren?]

Levin froze in fright as the older kid was looming over them. The Hidan all knew them for their attachment to Asaren. Even though the Hidan were human, they wound up being treated here exactly the same as they were treated in the elven village, with the expectation that they should be faithfully following behind Asaren at all times.

Sometimes they could get demanding about it. Although he was only doing what Asaren had told them to do, if this kid decided to start taking issue with it, there wasn’t much they could do. This kid could very easily start making life difficult for them.

However, Rolwen didn’t even seem phased. He met the kid with a smile.

{Ey, it’s fine.} He said, switching to the language of the plains where the Hidan kid had been talking in Elven. {Asaren is meeting up with master Rimir. She will go back with him. We are supposed to find the way back with all of you.}

{Aww… that right?} The kid said, and then smiled. {She leave you behind? Well, that’s fine then. What you doing?}

{She said for us to help out with the outsiders since we are here. She wants us to find out if they have any interesting stories for her. Do you think you can help us?}

{Ah-haha! Of course! Let’s find out what those outsiders have to say!}

Levin blinked. How had he just done that? He was sure that if he tried the same thing, they’d wind up yelling at him and telling him he was wrong without even allowing him to speak a word in his own defense.

Rolwen nudged him in the side as they were following the Hidan kid. “That’s how you do it.” he whispered. “If they come on like that, they have an idea in their head. Do not directly challenge their idea. Start off saying something that agrees with it but also leads them along with whatever your goal is. Then you can move on to say other things after that. It’s called matching and leading, just like with the physical hypnosis techniques Asa taught us. It’s good for more than just physical fighting.”

Levin felt an almost instant sense of humiliation when he heard this. It was really just that simple to talk to people the way Rolwen does?

He had been seeing this more and more. When they started off in their training with Asa, he had been ahead. But, more and more lately, Rolwen seemed to be pulling ahead of him in every area.

He had talked to Asaren about it. The problem was that, starting off, his mind had been more open and wasn’t prejudiced by any kind of prior training. However, as soon as Rolwen managed to get the idea of Asaren’s style, Rolwen’s real world practical experience started to help him to grasp a lot of ideas a lot faster than Levin ever could.

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There was no real way for him to keep up. He’d been proud at first, but now it seemed like Rolwen was just better at everything.

“Hey, don’t fall behind. Let’s go catch up!” Rolwen yelled as he took off running after the Hidan kid who’d already run off ahead of them.

Levin shook his head. Don’t fall behind, huh? Couldn’t have possibly been a worse choice of words.

And so, he ran off sulking after the other two.

***

After meeting up with Rimir, I had him carry me back to the Hidan camp ahead of everyone.

The flight was fast. What had taken the war party hours of riding took less than a minute in the air on fairy’s wings. This was sped up even more by the fact that we were flying alone. There was no organization time slowing us down, and no physical obstructions to get in our way. Not to mention, fairies seemed like they were able to completely ignore the concept of wind resistance and flew at speeds near or beyond the speed of sound without even being subject to the effects of inertia.

This just went to show how powerful magic could be in this world. Even the power of a single element held by an elemental mage made a huge difference in power.

The fairies put the Hidan to shame in terms of power. The Hidan, with their animal taming magic, were a war force that turned common men like those bandits into the equivalent of bowling pins to be knocked over.

At this point, she was still unsure of where elves ranked in the hierarchy of the magic using factions in this world. For the best she could tell, they were similar in strength but higher in social rank than the Hidan with the wood magic natural to them. She, of course, was an entirely different existence from the typical elves. Her demonic blood gave her dark vision. Supposedly, she was also supposed to get weak access to all elemental magic. However, it seemed that had been completely over-written by the equivalent 4 elements of her combat meditation.

It was the incredible power she had over plants that really set her apart though. Some interaction between her meditation and her natural elven connection to plants placed her more at a level that was to the fairies what the Hidan were to the elves.

It really was ridiculous just how unbalanced the power scale was in this world. On Earth, at least people had physical abilities that were roughly similar to one another. Granted, with the martial training she’d had, there would be few people able to take her past self in an un-armed physical fight. But, that’s what force multipliers were for. Any person could get ahold of any weapon, and that would level the field. She really wouldn’t have liked her chances even against some untrained drunk if he happened to have a knife. Or, worse, a gun.

Here, Tia had already demonstrated a while ago that even projectile weapons are nothing to fear if you have enough physical power.

The disparity was truly ridiculous. And now, against those bandits, they had just taken advantage of that disparity in military ability to completely slaughter human beings. Granted, these people were doing the same to innocent civilians. Attacking, killing, kidnaping, enslaving, and several other unspeakable things. But, they had still mercilessly slaughtered these people like livestock.

I shook my head as the camp started to come into view, processing all of these heavy thoughts in my mind. [Rimir. Can you please set me down a ways outside of the camp?] I asked.

[Of course.] He said without question, floating down toward the outskirts of the camp.

[A little farther out.] I said.

This caused him to hesitate. [Asaren? Is something the matter?] He asked.

[Please. I will explain when we are there.] I said.

He nodded and moved back away from the camp, setting me down where we were still in view but a good distance away.

[Yes. This is far enough.] I said.

Rimir looked down at me with a heavy gaze as I walked over to sit on a nearby rock and stare toward the camp.

[So.] He said. [Why is it you wanted to be out this far?]

I remained silent for several seconds as I merely stared toward the camp. Then, finally, I spoke. [It is an old ritual, from back on the world I come from.] I said. [It is an ancient ritual, one so old I have my doubts anyone else from my world may even know of it. I only know of it from ancient texts. This is how long it has been out of practice.]

Rimir did not say anything, merely staring at me, giving me time to continue on.

[It is a cleansing ritual.] I continued. [One for anyone who has taken a life while out in a venture of war, such as the one we were just on. In the original form, it was to be two sets of seven days for anyone who has spilled blood even once. For this time, those who have spilled blood are to journey to a distance where we can see the settlement in which we dwell, but not enter. We are to wait on the outskirts, not to enter until the time has passed.]

I could sense Rimir’s demeanor suddenly shift from passive listening to heavy skepticism and disapproval.

[You intend to remain here for 14 days for a cleansing ritual?] He asked.

I shook my head.

[I feel the circumstances of this world demand that I make a change to the ritual.] I said. [I took 4 lives out there today. So, I will wait out here for 4 days.]

Rimir arched an eyebrow.

[One day for one life?] He asked. [I am unsure if you are aware, but if you are to fight normal humans with the power you have, there is every chance you can wind up taking dozens of lives in a single combat. Even hundreds.]

I turned to him and smiled. [Yes, I am very much aware of that possibility. That is exactly why I have made this modification to the cleansing ritual.]

This ritual is absolutely necessary for me. With how easy it is to take life in this world, this ritual should keep me accountable for every life I take. If I place this penance upon myself for every life I take, it should serve as a form of discouragement from going on any kind of large rampage in the future.

I do not like what this world is turning me into. Now, while I still have ahold of my old morality, I need to start imposing restrictions on myself to keep me in check.