When Laura landed, she did not expect sharp and tiny pebbles to litter the ground. Unsurprisingly, the pebbles ate through her innately thick skin and caused it to bleed.

Dang it. She thought as she steadied herself with the three guards on one shoulder. When one of them moaned, she froze. It was not until the moaning guard fell back to sleep that she released her breath.

Lucky me... She thought as she tightened her jaw and moved towards the nearby forest. I'll get you later dad, she thought to herself guiltily. The walk wasn't that long, and considering how she walked on flat soil with the occasional weeds sticking out, it shouldn't be too hard, only if one didn't consider the wound on Laura's feet.

As she approached a seemingly clear area in the forest, the sounds of people heading home one by one softened behind her, but she quickly picked up a unique scent in the direction she was heading. Wary, she crouched and moved slowly, attempting to use the bushes to hide herself. Once she was sure the bush in front of her was the last one between her and the clearing, she stopped behind it and spied through it. By now, she was already aware there were three people gathered around the clearing, each with a similar scent.

Unexpectedly, she saw three children, or teens to be exact. Two of them were crouching, drawing something on the soil with their backs to her while another one acted as a lookout even though he was horrible at it. At first glance, she didn't recognise any of them, but one of the crouching boy's back looked familiar. It took a few more looks before Laura was sure it was Andrew.

Knowing that, she released the breath she had subconsciously held and stood up. The lookout seemed startled when she suddenly appeared, but quickly took a stance that resembled a dual wielding swordsman. Andrew and the other crouching kid, who she now realised was a girl who was slightly younger than Andrew, sensed the disturbance and turned around, and both of them looked shocked, but for different reasons.

"Hey Andrew. Why're you three playing here? The sun's already setting."

"Huh?" Andrew didn't seem to realise it was that late into the day already. He looked around and sure enough, the trees around the clearing were casting tall, creepy shadows all around them. "Ah, mom's gonna get angry if I got home late."

The other two kids, who saw Andrew reply calmly, lowered their guards. The boy who acted as the lookout asked for confirmation. "An acquaintance of yours?"

Andrew nodded, then introduced the kid next to him. "Gina," he pointed at the girl who waved in greeting. "AKA my girlfriend." He added, causing Gina to blush. He looked at the boy standing on lookout for a second, before shrugging as if his introduction didn't matter.

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"Oh hi there. Don't mind me, I'm here to dispose... people," Laura gestured at the three unconscious guards on her shoulder with a slight frown. The kid standing on lookout looked stunned with Andrew's decision to skip over his introduction, and started sulking, complaining how Andrew always skipped his introductions.

"You mean here?" Andrew asked.

"Yea, can I not?" Laura was already dumping the three bodies on the ground even though they hadn't answer. "I'm leaving now. Do get home soon."

"""No!"""

When she heard the three kids shouting vehemently, she was startled. She didn't expect them to say 'no' so suddenly, so she looked at Andrew asking for an explanation.

"We need to keep the rune site clear." Andrew explained. He then urged Gina and the lookout to help draw the runes as well, saying the lookout wasn't useful as a lookout at all.

"Why?" Laura's confuse was understandable since runes were mostly used for utility and defense. Judging by how they were out here drawing runes, they probably weren't trying to utilise it normally. The only other option was defense, but there weren't any enemies.

"Because, they're coming. Can't you feel it?" Andrew stopped what he was doing for a moment and closed his eyes. His brows furrowed slightly as he told the other two "they're going to arrive sooner than I thought" and proceeded to curse under his breath before resuming what he was doing before Laura's arrival.

Now that Laura was told to 'feel' it, she concentrated and could barely make out the presence of a large group approaching the town. She then noticed something else: there were traces of fertility magic in the air.

Impossible! Unless it was Tenur or dad casting a fertility spell, but I would've known right away if that happened. She looked in the direction towards the deeper parts of the forests. The traces of fertility magic were overflowing from inside the forest.

Seeing Laura's bewildered face, Andrew grinned. "So you noticed?"

Since Laura was a manaborne herself, she reasoned the approaching group was manaborne too. The unique characteristics that was ever present in all manabornes was there. She could feel it. And there was something else exuding from the approaching group too.

"They're likely hostile," Andrew explained as he worked. "We're setting up a defense perimeter to slow them down. Our plan is to eliminate them before they wreck havoc."

Laura sensed the seriousness in Andrew's voice. Considering how Andrew was so focused on his work with his friends, Laura knew what she had to do. "You can't expect yourself to handle all of them. We need to alert the guards. Now." Laura was about to turn away when she caught sight of Andrew's disgusted expression.

"You're probably as dumb as every other troll," He paused what he was doing, then tried explaining. "Those are.. They're! Ok, manaborne, but parasitic. Understand?"

Laura looked at him dumbfounded. How dare he insulted her for being a normal, dumb troll. Anger welled up inside her as well as dissatisfaction. She knew it was immature of her, but she couldn't help it. Just when she wanted to argue with him and prove to him how intelligent and knowlegeable she is, Andrew spoke coldly. "Don't even think about it. I don't have time to waste explaining anymore. Go ask Denka what you don't know." The chill in his voice left her speechless.

Upset, she wanted to retort, but she knew from how Andrew was pressuring her that somehow, the kid was more mature and knowledgeable than she is, and what he was doing was essentially his own way of protecting the town that led to the city. Forcing herself to calm down, she headed back to Tenur's home, head still fuming.