Vincent, Ester, and Lupa almost cried tears of joy at the setting sun and the creeping night. It was the first time in their life to wish for night to come quickly. They normally liked the day to last longer as it meant more ground to cover and arrive in Laurel Town faster.
Vincent, Ester, and Lupa decided to stop early with the excuse of feeling a bit tired, an excuse which the three said without planning beforehand.
Tula stopped singing when helping Ester and Lupa make and light a campfire, but the smile remained carved on her face.
[I'm back. So... how was your day? Haha. The three of you look like you haven't slept for a few days. Was her singing that bad?]
[It's a bit sad I couldn't hear the busty angel sing in a melodious tune.]
Vincent didn't respond and shrugged his shoulder as he didn't want to hear any sarcastic remarks that night. Only the frown on his face could show what kind of annoyed response he wanted to say.
*Day 26*
The morning sun dawned, blessing with warm sunlight. After the usual breakfast routine, the four continued their journey for the hunt of the possible river.
The further they traveled, the more noticeable the smoke trail became in the far distance. Vincent warned to keep their eyes peeled for anything.
The river might be possibly close, but the cause of the fire as well. The smoke could probably be the signal of a stationed army, but the forest could probably be burning instead; Many probabilities seemed more risky than helpful.
A large soldier camp wouldn't stay in one place for this many days with a large campfire lit all the time. Vincent and Kazumi discussed whenever they planed on what to do.
The twenty-sixth night in this magical world soon crept. Vincent decided to set camp and rest for the day.
An hour passed after they ate a few Ani Bananas. Suddenly the pair of white wolf ears on Lupa twitched and moved sideways along with the sound the pair abruptly picked up.
"I hear many footsteps!" Lupa warned. She swiftly shapeshifted her arms, and her claws extended one after the other, ready to cut the approaching unknown beings.
[1x Steel Sword (Common Quality) gained.]
"Ester, take this sword. You and Tula stay behind me. Lupa and I will fight to protect you." Vincent summoned the steel sword Tula had and gave it to Ester. However, it seemed unnecessary as both Ester and Lupa knew what they had to do from the experiences gained in Aero Forest.
[I rested enough today thanks to a singing demon. I will use Soul Extract and scout the area. I can feel my limited travel range has increased.]
Kazumi left, heading in the direction Lupa glared with her fangs ready to rip the approaching life forms apart. Every second felt like a minute until the invisible wisp informed Vincent of what she found.
[Five humans are approaching. I can see four of them are wearing armor and are holding their weapon out. The last one is trailing behind with a large bag on her back.]
[These people might have tracked our campfire and decided to approach us. But I don't know if they are friendly or not, since that's all I can see with the darkness.]
"Five human soldiers are approaching. Stay on your guard. We need to be careful." Vincent announced. The word Overheat was at the tip of his tongue to be uttered at a moment's notice.
Kazumi hastily returned back so she could conserve her mana and help if needed. The Soul Visit ability proved its full worth against the Demonic Beast.
After a long minute of waiting passed with their heart racing from anticipation, the soldiers appeared from behind a tree with their weapons drawn for combat one after the other until only four appeared.
The first soldier to appear had a cape on his back. As he approached closer, illuminated by the campfire's light, the cape's color appeared to be red. He wielded a sword and a shield with a lion's head emblem similar to the shield Kass used. On his chest armor also was a golden lion's head engraved.
"Halt!" Said the soldier raising his hand and signaling with a clenched fist. The three soldiers behind quickly stopped. The fifth person that Kazumi said was carrying a large bag remained hidden.
The red-caped soldier assertively inspected Vincent, Lupa, Ester, and Tula hiding behind Ester in fright. He deemed the four weren't bandits by their clean clothing and a woman cowering in fright so much that she hid her face. Yet the four appeared to be safe in Aero Forest as if they weren't afraid of danger. Adventurers was his conclusion.
"Adventurers, sorry for appearing out of nowhere and scaring you. I'm the temporary vice-captain of the twenty-first platoon."
"We are tracking a temporary vice-captain and his group of soldiers. They ran after a deserter a few days before I received the news. Information exchange is currently hard, and only those in high command use Gemstones to communicate."
"We were trying to follow our latest information about the direction they took and noticed smoke rising nearby. We thought we finally met with our group, but we met with your group instead."
The temporary vice-captain explained, then made a quick signal with his hand. He and the three soldiers sheathed their blades in their scabbard.
The temporary vice-captain removed his helmet to lighten the anxious mood. He could see Vincent, Ester, and Lupa's actions on how they kept their guard up and acted if provoked.
The three other soldiers followed suit, revealing a peculiar, troubled expression on their young faces.
[How about we lighted our guard for a few seconds to see their reaction?]
Vincent had the same thought, yet he didn't wish to act on it. However, he decided to follow her suggestion and temporary trust the temporary vice-captain's words.
Vincent tapped on Lupa's shoulder to stop. She glanced at Vincent as she thought was a sign to attack. But she saw him withdraw his fighting stance and stand straight instead.
Lupa lowered her arms but kept her claws extended just in case. She wanted to be safe because she never had good experiences with soldiers in her days under the Great Gray Wolf's orders.
The vice-captain noticed they were ready to stop any kind of hostility and talk. Shortly, he took out a small wooden tablet from his pocket.
It had two metallic decals on it, a few words engraved on it, and an elegant yellow rope stitch hanging below.
One of the metallic decals was a golden colored lion's head, and the other metallic decal was a circle with two silver-colored stars engraved on it.
"Mind my manners, young man. My name is Koss, and behind me are three new recruits from a small, quickly formed platoon my twin brother Kass and I were tasked to lead. They are Tame, Hara, and Culo." After Koss said this, he raised his hand, waving at someone at the back.
A young woman in her teens walked out from behind the tree. She wasn't wearing soldier clothes nor armor. Instead, she wore commoner clothes similar to the ones found in the Gender-Bound Bag Of Holding.
Not only she didn't seem to be a soldier, but her clothes were dirty and a bit damaged. Her skirt was a little torn around the edges, her shirt stained with yellow droplets, and a large bag fastened on her back.
Her presence seemed a bit strange to Vincent. She appeared to be a supply carrier, yet not at the same time. The soldiers weren't holding anything other than a sword and a shield, causing him to stay alert as something smelled fishy with their appearance.
'Is he Kass twin brother and Tula's father?... no, that's impossible. This Koss must be someone else since their age is far apart to be twin brothers.' Vincent quickly thought.
"I'm Vincent, this Lupa, behind me is Ester and..." While Vincent was cautiously introducing his party with the keyword Overheat on the tip of his tongue, Koss abruptly interrupted him.
Koss was trying to get a glimpse of the woman hiding behind Ester. Tula raised her head to take a peek when she caught the familiar name, Koss. She wanted to take a look at the person with the same name as her father.
"Tula!" Koss exclaimed after he recognized his daughter in commoner clothing instead of her usual soldier armor.
Tula took a good look at the man saying her name. She soon raised a bright smile and ran from hiding. She lept on Koss and held him with a tight embrace while saying, "Daddy, I missed you!"
Vincent, Ester, Lupa, and Kazumi stared at the scene in front of them. They thought how lucky it was to meet with a relative of Tula. The chances of trouble drastically reduced by this lucky coincidence.
"Vincent, correct? What happened to my daughter?" Koss asked with a puzzled frown.
His daughter acted differently than the last time he saw her. Tula probably didn't hug her father or call him daddy in front of others in the past few years as he immediately noticed something was amiss with his daughter.
"It's a long story, but Tula is healthy and uninjured." Vincent sat on a rock and retold a modified version of the story. He painted Kass as the person that defeated the Demonic Beast while secretly winking at Tula to say nothing.
A few days ago, Vincent and Kazumi concluded that everyone should be on the same page about the Demonic Beast's death. So he told them what story to agree on while eating dinner.
Ester and Lupa accepted to say Kass killed the Demonic Beast. Surprisingly, Tula also accepted without wanting to know why. It seemed she placed great trust in Vincent.
"So you're saying my Tula only remembers up to the age of ten?" Koss asked in disbelief.
Koss wouldn't believe such an extraordinary scenario if he didn't witness his daughter acting like this. The story of Tula losing her memories and getting injured was a bit too hard to digest. He was further surprised after noticing no scratch appeared on her skin.
"Yes. Your daughter is suffering from a condition called High Amnesia. We had an Inspection Gemstone with the last use and used it on Tula to confirm." Vincent said to reduce the suspicion of possessing a Bloodline Mage ability.
"Don't worry, daddy. Big brother said my body will change back when my memories return." Tula said. She sat on her father's lap as it was a thing she liked to do. However, awkward silence followed as it looked like a young woman trying to seduce an older man.