Skimming through the trees were two shadows, barely distinguishable, one with a somewhat blue glint and another Which was pure black.

"John, where is this place? You haven't told me anything yet." The dark shadow asked.

The bluer shadow, while continuing to travel through the blue crystalline trees at high speed, replied

"Oh Boss! You really don't know a thing... where are you from anyway?!"

The branches were creaking, their footsteps were audible as both of them wore some form of boots. John, wore heavy leather boots tied up with some laces arranged in a pretty hasty and primitive way whereas jean, the darker shadow, was wearing a pair of boots. they had plastic soles, nylon laces and the heel, shaft and upper were made of something like hardened or simili-leather. They also didn't need to conceal themselves as they travelled through a wild area. Additionally, jean hadn't sensed anything unusual nearby.

John continued on by filling jean on the details.

"Here we are in the forest of Bleuest, inside the Imperium. Well not exactly inside, more like in their area of influence. That Nation is extremely human purist and doesn't want anything to do with any other races, they even have racial distinctions between themselves and they practice slavery on their own people. They are an extreme Nation of a few elites and many peasants, no, livestock."

To Alvarez, this description seemed weirdly similar to a certain country of a certain era of earth history. He jokingly asked:

"Do they lifts their right hands in a weird angle and say 'SALUTE!' like degenerates?"

And as a result, John was genuinely surprised.

"They do, it's their military salute! How did you know?"

Jean's face went pale

You can't be fucking serious....?! How?! That's sketchy as fuck!

Then while grinning, he thought:

they seem like fun people to get involved with hehehe...

Some plans for later were blooming in Alvarez's mind, but John cut him short. The former thief knew of the dangers of the Imperium.

"Boss, even if it's you, you can't take them on right now... Not if it's a general. Those are monsters who can destroy countries by themselves and each and every single one of them is a hopeless psycho... Those guys can probably Kill both of us only by exuding their presence."

Then he followed, seeming somewhat afraid:

"Let's now focus on that woman's carriage."

Jean agreed, although he had an objection about one thing:

"You call that girl a woman? She's most likely not even 16... And she looks a bit stuck up."

John felt perplexed by this argument, their view on things were extremely different. He also was surprised by how Alvarez could pick up such a thing while only observing for a bit. Although, he was capable of that much himself.

They continued to travel through the herbs, the bushes and other unknown flora.

Eventually John broke the silence once more.

"You become an adult at 15 here sir..."

John whispered as Jean pondered about something.

"where is she even from?"

jean asked, somewhat disinterested.

"She's not from the Imperium, her equipment is archaic, she fought using a sword and elemental sorcery. To be precise, wind magic. It seems she comes from a traditionalist nation in the west."

Alvarez had an inkling about why his ally appeared to be knowledgeable, however he decided not to pry since there was no known way for his subordinate to betray him.

thus he declared:

"I see"

Visibly offended by his boss' lack of recognition for his skill, John subtly frowned.

During his encounters, jean had thought of multiple ways to efficiently apply his mana. John had already taught him how to conceal one's existence and he had experienced fighting against a 'sorcerer', the term defining a western mana user. He was now more or less able to understand how mana flowed outside one's body, in other words, the wavelength of their existence. The earthling came to realize that his own presence seemed somewhat unusual as it was overwhelming. Questioning why that was, he asked John.

"compared to my own existence, everyone I've met until now was underwhelming."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

John was aware of Jean's strange cultivation technique but he inferred that it might be related to the ominousness of his presence. He also inferred that Jean was an unprecedented genius when it came to the control of unrefined mana. He thought that being able to control about any form of fundamental energy was likely to naturally increase ones inner mana as it would theoretically always draw wild mana and assimilate it within their mana circuit. What he was unaware of is that jean had somehow, in an obscure manner, accelerated that process.

"Boss, did you know that you're quite unusual?"

"In what way?"

"Usually people have to change mana into a phenomenon and define it using set techniques like standard elemental magic or martial arts. However, you somehow don't need any of those."

Jean was perplexed, he wasn't aware of how he differed from the norm thus he concluded.

"I was born in a world without mana or anything remotely similar. A possible explanation to my strangeness may be that I never was conditioned to unconsciously feel it. Maybe you people are just used to it or something."

To which John followed up with:

"I'm not sure, maybe you just have talent..."

***

That night, a small white carriage stood out from the emptiness of the surrounding mountains, it was currently located in a valley. A short distance away, around 2 kilometers from the outskirts of a certain Forest. In the opposite direction appeared to be some kind of road continuing inside the valley in which, all sorts of multicolored berries grew. The vegetation of that area was mostly composed of lengthy grass colored in a color palette going from yellow to green reaching turquoise and pink. The surrounding mountain range was quite high, thus quite abrupt and rough. Starting from a certain point, a dense fog made it impossible to see any higher than around 1200 meters of altitude making it impossible to discern the summits. The fog was most likely caused by the forest's humidity forming clouds. The wind direction ensured that the valley was covered by the fog at all times, thus it was named the Valley of Fog.

The carriage crew had decided to camp out due to their exhaustion and because they thought that there weren't any pursuers. The camp was arranged with a couple of tents and a campfire. There, a certain blond girl and three others were taking turns guarding every few hours.

"Sigh... I never thought I would escape from that. What the hell's in that forest anyway!"

The blonde curly haired white metal armored woman stared away in contemplation. She was thinking about her home, her parents and servants, who were waiting for her to come back from that diplomatic visit. Diplomacy wasn't her forte, being a knight, she was more used to solving things through dueling. She herself though that she was the worst one to send into that country. She still remembered the military parade that happened during her time at the imperial capital Weiß, those grey uniforms encased in white Walls near white houses near some white cobblestone paths. Sitting on the white bricks of a white fountain, mounted by a white Angel sculpture, made her sick to the bone. And to add More to it, every single person in the city shouted "SALUTE" like degenerates.

During her stay there, she had experienced the presence of the infamous imperial generals, however, she had never felt something as ominous as in that forest. It was as if an unstoppable being had descended. She considered the possibility that that thing recently acquired it's power and hadn't learned to suppress it, but this scenario was unlikely as that thing seemed to convey pure killing intent through its energy, an advanced technique that only the most seasoned fighters could replicate. It was extremely difficult to exude that amount of killing intent which further supported her reasoning.

"seriously, I'm the pride of the duchy!! How can I be scared like this?! I'm the best, I became a knight at 15 as a woman! yep. I'm amazing."

she frantically blurted that out of nowhere and continued.

"But why am I so scared...? I'm supposed to be amazing."

A tear fell down one of her eye, it dripped on her pristine white chestplate when suddenly she heard a cracking noise from behind her.

"kyaaaa!!"

She rapidly unsheathed her rapier and swung it towards an old man's neck before abruptly stopping a mere centimeter away from it.

"calm down, it's me, Bernard."

when Aria heard those words, a wave of relief came to her. The somewhat old and scrawny merchant could be called nothing more than derelict, however, he had that mysterious strength that seemed impossible for a man of his physique.

"Oh it's you. I don't know why they sent me with you. you're pretty strong so I don't think you need me on this mission."

Aria's talent at being out of context was nothing new to Bernard. He had known her for years, being one of the sole advisor of her father the Duke of Lumina while simultaneously running a business was not an achievement to scoff at.

"I'm not at all strong, only old. I need your help young lady. This is a matter of the upmost importance and your father wasn't present to aid me. The only other one I could lean on for this job was you, the heiress. I hope you understand."

She frowned, visibly annoyed by the mention of the word 'heiress'.

"Yes, Sir Bernard, I am aware."

yeah, fuck you! If only I could not be the heiress...

She retuned to the carriage a bit later that night and went to sleep.

***

"Boss, you feel her presence yet?"

The blue haired man was grilling something on a campfire.

"No not yet. By the way what is that ?"

Jean stared at the reptilian creature impaled on a metal rod. It was very colorful, and looked really inedible.

That thing screams 'poisonous' !! There's no way you're making me eat that shit John.

"that's a valley lizard. A delicacy only found in this kind of place. Also don't stare like that Boss it's creepy."

"I can't help but stare, that thing looks really deadly."

John was discouraged by his Boss' aloof personality. He resolved himself to make Jean eat the lizard. He was pretty curious to see the battle maniac's disgusted face.

"Hey Boss, I thought you were more manly. Pffft ahaha!!! I never thought it would be this priceless!"

For the record, John had just shoved the lizard in jean's mouth

"yeah, you dying from a rock was also priceless."

Jean barked.

John made a sour expression at that remark which made jean smile for some reason he didn't understand.

***

Bernard was erring outside the carriage, he was looking rather pale, as always.

Once he found an area somewhere far but not too far from the carriage, he bent his aching back and started drawing a pattern using some kind of black elicit substance. The elaborate details of the pattern were meticulously drawn as to create the right phenomenon when the mana will pass trough it. He took out some candles, presumably used as a catalyst for mana to be refined in an appropriate manner. he checked everything meticulously before laying corpses of what appeared to be Beastmen slaves of various shape or form. Some were so decomposed that they were barely recognizable and other had animal features like scales or animal ears.

Then Bernard prostrated himself.

"I offer these sacrifice to the lich king, I humbly ask for them to rise anew."

The pattern glowed and disappeared, the candles magically lit themselves and a growling noise was heard.

the corpses were walking again...