“Where is he?”

“Gone.”

Kihet hated it, but he couldn’t deny the fact it was reality. He was once again reminded of how grim the world had become. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but a part of him was glad to learn the news of a friend earlier than later. With this, he braced himself for the absolute worst, but the future looked very bleak. Everything was hell and it was going to get worse from here. His journey had just begun.

With nowhere else to stay for the night, they decided to take Aten’s hospitality and occupied the cabin on top of the hill. An awkward silence fell between them while they worked on separate tasks to set up for tonight’s rest. Usually Lily would say things like, “let’s go there tomorrow!” or “I want to do that later!”, something along those lines for something to look forward to. It was Kihet’s emotional outburst that put the distant between them. He hasn’t mastered controlling his emotions yet.

Tonight, neither of them initiated a conversation. Kihet quietly sat by the fireplace while Lily already crawled on the bed. Alone, he decided to keep a lookout while he also dabbled in some basic crafting. Shopkeepers never found monster blood an attractive product, so he mixed it with some herbs and bottled them in small clay bottles, letting them congeal into monster bait.

The thought of another lost friend kept him awake throughout the night. If it wasn’t for the Vivrus’ core lighting the sky he wouldn’t have knew it was morning.

“M-morning!”

“Yeah… morning.”

“What are we going to do today?”

“We’ll sell our stuff at the next village. I have to ask the locals about their leader as well.”

“Right. Hey, you look tired. I can take over if you want to get some shuteye.”

“I, uh. Sure.”

-She’s acting like nothing happened.-

Taking her offer, Kihet passed the reins and hopped into the back. Underneath Vivrus’ world tree, the wind gently brushed his hair and the light’s warmth embraced him. Under the comfort of nice weather, he eventually dozed off.

When he woke up, they were still travelling down the road. Kihet let out a yawn, picking up the map and try pinpointing their location. Using the ginormous tree in the center as landmark, he determined they were one third of the way there.

“Awake?”

“How long was I out?”

“About two hours.”

“I can take over.”

“En.”

Their small talk quickly ended as they moved parallel to a small stream, watching crayfishes move. Instead of fishes, crustaceans thrived. At an intersection, signs pointed the way to the village. They passed by various local fishermen who waved at them and at one point, stopped to watch a herd of giant arthropods being guided into the grazing fields.

By now, they were alone with no one else in sight. If it was the time to fix this awkward atmosphere between them, now’s the time to try.

“Lily, sorry about yesterday… I’m still trying to learn to control my emotions.”

It was obvious his apology wasn’t accepted immediately. It would be best to give her some space while they continued down the path. During the silence, Kihet spoke to passing travellers who kindly redirected them to the closest village. He kept his eyes hidden to avoid startling the insectoids with his unintentional glare. Another hour later Kihet felt a tap on his shoulder.

“How hard is it to learn a language?” Lily suddenly asked.

“Depends on which one.”

“How about Viviran?”

“I’d say it’s the easiest of the seven languages.”

“Do you think you can teach me? I feel like an idiot sitting here while listening.”

It would lessen his burden if Lily became multilingual. She could double their efforts to speak with leaders around the world. She could also take his place and land bargains at the market since he lacked a bit of common sense in determining market value of goods. The problem was, he could teach her the basics, but she’ll need to grow her comprehension skills from there.

“I can try, but don’t expect much from me.”

Writing was the easiest. The characters represented drawings and actions presented like stick figures. Lily was able to decipher the pattern and understand intermediate level of sentences Kihet formulated. Speaking was rather more difficult to teach. The insectoid language was at times, random but forgiving. It was random because most communication between insectoids happen telepathically using pheromones sent from their feelers.

Since neither Lily nor Kihet had feelers growing out of their heads, they used words said with distinct tones to communicate.

“Nhe-awk ah-cuk?”

“It sounds off because you’re trying to mimic my voice. Say it at your own pace and it’ll sound more natural.”

As expected, her foreign accent was heavily noticeable, but she made more progress in a day than Kihet did in his learning. First archery, now learning languages, it may be part of her family’s bloodline to pick things up quickly.

Kihet listened and corrected her as Lily repeated basic everyday sentences he gave her. When they turned the last corner into a village. His first destination was the general goods store, selling items they gathered during the trip from the border. He consulted the numbers with Lily before the accepting the transaction.

“And this receipt is our agreement for our trade.” The shopkeeper nodded. “Is there anything else?”

“Just a question. Do you know who’s in charge of Vivrus?”

“Oh, the Queen?”

“What’s she like?”

“I wouldn’t know. If you’re asking how she treats us folks out here, I wouldn’t say good, but also not bad. Her majesty doesn’t give much attention to us folks, but rumors say she’s focused on bolstering the army’s might.”

“A militant type?” Kihet muttered to himself.

“By the way, you two looked fairly well armed. Are you two adventurers?”

“Travellers.” Kihet answered curtly. “Is there a problem?”

“Actually, this village is troubled by monsters. It’s been some time and no adventurers wandered to this quiet village. If you’re interested in earning some extra cash, the job’s description is on the bulletin board beside the village gate. It would be helpful for us.”

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“You’re not suspicious of us?”

“At first I was, but then I saw the badge. It was given to you, right? It means you’re someone we can trust.”

“What if it wasn’t?”

“Well, you’d have to stronger than Knight ranked adventurers to get one. It came from Sir Aten, didn’t it-?”

“I’ll go take a look at the job you mentioned.” Kihet growled. He didn’t want to hear anything involving that Dragonfly.

He tucked the purse inside his pocket and waved down Lily to follow him.

“Kihet, aren’t we taking the cart? Where are we going?”

“That shopkeeper offered a job for us.” He replied, reading the flyer. “It pays less than the things we sold, but the materials are ours to keep. We should take it.”

Apparently, monsters migrated into the village’s hunting grounds. The monsters described were large creatures rivalling the size of their cart and described to have a sturdy shell covering its back, and a slim upper half with scythe like limbs.

Before they departed, Kihet asked the locals for information about the creatures they were about to hunt. They were called Bloating Wood Mantises. Bloating, because whenever the monsters ate, their abdomen would swell. The monster’s shell varied in color allowing them to blend into its surroundings. Their sharp forearms were told to be able to leave scars on boulders.

Kihet confirmed information related to the hunt when he spotted his prey. They were what the guards described as their abdomen bloated for each bite entering their stomach. Judging their size from afar, they stood on four legs over two meters tall. Right now, two of them were feasting on their prey.

“I have a clear shot from here.”

“Wait. Something’s not right.” Kihet stopped Lily from launching an arrow.

One of the two repeatedly looked up at the same direction as it ate. Kihet’s hunting instincts warned him something wasn’t right as most carnivorous creatures he hunted would secure food and look around frantically while eating even when they’re accompanied by friendlies.

“Don’t you think it’s acting weird?” Kihet asked.

“How so?”

“One of them keeps looking into the forest. Can you see what it’s looking at?”

“Let me see…” Lily narrowed her eyes, then her ears perked up. “Ah! There’s one more. It’s hard to see, but it’s definitely there.”

“So three. One watching from the woods. Two eating.” Kihet stated. “Let’s coordinate ourselves. You take out the one in the woods while I grab the other two’s attention. Can you shoot an arrow in its eye when I give the signal?”

“I can take out both its eyes at the same time.”

-It’s good to see she’s eagerly confident but I don’t want her to get reckless.-

They went their separate ways. Kihet hid his belongings and stalked the two that were feasting while Lily stealthily moved above the branches ready to ambush the one in the trees. As foreigners to this country, they gathered as much knowledge of these mantis before hunting them. He was told their shells were hard, harder than stone, but their eyes and joints were their weak spots. The Mantises have only an ear and could detect the faintest sound around them but in a small radius.

Kihet coiled up some vines and saw Lily concealed herself above branches. From his perspective, she looked a bit transparent. He couldn’t detect magic from the changed expression on her face. The instant her eyes landed on him, Kihet assumed she was prepared. He whistled loudly, shaking bushes and yelled to grab the mantises’ attention.

Lily’s target snapped its head to Kihet’s direction where two arrows immediately anchored into both eyes. As a result, it swung its scythe blindly and rammed itself into a tree. It became dazed long enough for Lily to jump on its back, instantly decapitating it.

As for the two mantises, they expanded their limbs outwards to increase their size. They stood stilly, leaning their upper halves back and forth waiting for Kihet to approach them. They weren’t creatures Kihet wanted to fight head on.

Holding out his personal mix of monster bait, he dangled it in the air, letting the wind waft the scent towards the creatures. As Mantis one was slowly lured in almost in a trance like state, but Mantis two bent its legs and leaped forward, unable to resist. Its wing case opened then as it went for a long stride an arrow managed to slip through and pierced its unprotected abdomen.

That was when Kihet shattered the container of monster bait on Mantis two. Its contents splashed all over its body which quickly caught Mantis one’s attention. Its sharp scythe like limbs severed its companion left arm and quickly aimed to bite into Mantis two’s neck. It was denied as Mantis two’s arm came around and swatted Mantis one’s head.

Now with the monsters turned against each other, Kihet prepared his items he crafted from the forest. When Mantis one emerged victorious, he tossed out a bola and wrapped around one of its scythes like a crab’s claw tied shut.

“I’ll keep it down!”

Kihet raised his shield and charged head on, keeping the monster’s aggro on him. When a scythe came around, he shoved his shield to that direction, guiding the monster’s weapon into the ground.

With its arms locked, he drew his sword and delivered two quick strikes with his shortsword using [Blooming Petals]. Its shell made a nasty crack each time Kihet’s blade hacked through them, dismembering both of its limbs. He then jumped up, smashing the monster’s face with the edge of his shield and pushed it backwards into Lily’s attack range.

Lily flew in to perform another decapitation to finish the job. The big creature instantly collapsed. Just to be sure battle had ended, Kihet twisted off Mantis two’s head and dragged the bodies into a pile. That was when the forest shook as a fourth one galloped towards them.

“Behind you!” Kihet roared as he dropped everything on hand and raced towards Lily.

Lily tripped as she turned around but managed to draw an arrow and pulled her bow. Her finger then slipped and released the arrow too early, causing her to miss her mark.

However, in the corner of her eye, she spotted a white orb suddenly intercepted her missed arrow and another one emerged beside the mantis. The arrow that pierced through the first orb came out from the second one, decapitating the Mantis before it swung its scythe like arms.

Confused, she remained dazed as she tried to understand what had happened until Kihet pushed the beheaded mantis away. Dumbfounded, the two looked at the defeated Mantis.

“Lily, are you alright?!”

“I-I’m fine, really! I didn’t expect there was one more hiding for so long.”

“It really shows we can’t let our guard down for one second.”

“En. By the way, how are we going to bring them back?” Lily asked.

“Let’s break them apart then decide what we’ll carry. The rest can be taken care of by scavengers.”

“Hmm…”

Lily kneeled beside one of the carcasses and carved one of the legs out. She examined at the exposed flesh intently.

“Can we take the legs with us?”

“Do you plan on doing something with it?”

“There’s something I want to ask the locals about it.”

“If you want.”

First and foremost, Kihet was interested in its forearms. The blades weren’t grown naturally, but it was built up by mucus unique only to the Mantis and sharpened overtime. It was strangely durable as a weapon.

After bundling up the arms, he worked on removing the legs as he asked Lily to carefully remove the wings and wing cases. To insectoids, wings of monsters were precious accessories representing beauty for their kind. They were able to sell the wings for a fairly high price.

In total, they were rewarded with enough to rent a room for two weeks in an inn. As they planned to continue down the path, a strong savory aroma hit their noses from the local eatery. Looking around, people gathered there for dinner.

“I’m hungry.”

“I guess its about that time.”

They grabbed a table and Lily practiced her Vivirian with the locals. Although Kihet intervened occasionally to correct her, Lily managed to start and end her conversations. She handed the mantis limbs in and ordered them to be steamed.

“I knew it! It’s crab!”

“Crab? These are mantises.”

“No, the textures are identical! It’s tender almost like a crab’s! If we had sauce back from Xu, it would be so much better! I haven’t had crab in so long and this hits the spot!”

As she cracked the shell, hot steam and a ball of white fluffy meat bloomed out. She chomped down piece after piece with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Her ears were happily bouncing up and down with a grin on her face. Mind you, each leg was the length of her arm and twice the width of her forearm. While watching Lily gorged herself, Kihet grew worried about the fate their hard earned savings. Thankfully, the meal was cheap this time around and her hunger stopped after she ate the last leg.

For all Kihet knew, mantises and crab weren’t from the same category of species. It was weird how similar they were.

The day was still bright, but for Lily’s sake, he didn’t resume their journey to the capital. You don’t want to know what happens if you bring a full bellied person on a shaky ride.

It just so happened he noticed one of his swords was worn out. He did abuse the blade a lot during their journey from Xu. He took the opportunity to sharpen it at a local blacksmith.

“Kihet. About last night… I might understand why you were mad. I’m sorry about your friend.”

“I never told you. How did you know?”

“I remembered your conversation with Aten. I just didn’t know what you two talked about since I didn’t know Vivirian until now.”

-She remembered everything that clearly? Hold on, didn’t she started speaking the language this morning?-

“What’s wrong? You’re blanking out.”

“I don’t know if I should be jealous or surprised. I can’t believe you learned a language that took me years to speak in a day. Maybe I should be scared of you.”

“But you can’t.” She laughed. “You’re stuck with me since I’m the first hero you chose. We have a long journey ahead together. From now on, I’ll also get stronger alongside you so that when you have your emotional outbreaks again, I can help you control them.”

“I guess have no choice but to count on you.”