Breakfast was lively for the group, but Alice and Damon both seemed still a bit off. The events from before did still affect them. Though they seemed to have mostly cheered up. Alice would smile beautifully and acted energetic, which relieved Kazius. He hoped she would take it easy for the day and fully recover.

“And then I carried the whole beast down the mountain to show Caleb! You should have seen his face! He didn’t think someone that young could climb Mount Ulf! Buahaha!” Damon would finish with a laugh, telling all sorts of stories about great hunts he had done. Most amazing of all was the fact that he was self-taught. He really did love battle and hunts… Going so far alone… Though he seemed no more vicious than a pup in front of his sister Luna…

“That sounds so fun!” Eve chirped eagerly. “I wonder if I could ever take down something like that… I am very bad at magic, even with Azanor’s help.”

“To be fair, it isn’t like you have low magic aptitude. You actually have quite the extraordinary mana reserve… It is just you insist on doing holy magic when you have zero aptitude for it… I would even describe it as negative affinity for it. Which is why those hags were so harsh on you… I would love to go back and snap their little necks… If only you had been able to summon me earlier…” Azanor trailed off with gritted teeth.

“They did treat her quite badly.” Alice agreed, remembering Eve’s stories.

“She does?” Kazius would question, surprised at such a fact. Maybe Eve could learn advanced magic… If she could comprehend the spells… Though there were all type of magic, she didn’t have to imitate anyone.

“If you ask me, they were jealous.” Azanor scoffed out, acting quite prideful when he spoke of Eve.

“Of what? I am not very smart and can’t do holy magic…” Eve trailed off in dismay.

“…” Azanor would look at Eve, his eyes momentarily trailing off to her well-endowed chest and rear. She had a good amount of both. “Don’t worry about it… Anyway… Something I will never understand is your obsession with holy magic… You have no idea how difficult it even was to allow you to have the ability to heal…” He would state, skillfully changing the subject.

“But I am a Holy maiden.” Eve protested, getting quite pouty. She gave the Demon a grumpy look.

“You aren’t… Remember? You thought I was god.” Azanor reminded her.

“…So…So…. I…?”

“Can use any type of magic you like, yes… You don’t have to follow the laws of a church you are no longer part of.” Azanor explained. It seems Eve was shocked, clearly having been slow to catch on.

“Oh!” She exclaimed finally in realization, her face brightening. She was a little slow, but she did her best.

“But then… Wait… What kind of magic am I good at then?” Eve questioned eagerly, her expression brightening… It seems Kazius and Alice were not the only ones to gain the resolve to get stronger.

“I will help you with it.” Azanor stated…

‘So if it is for Eve, he doesn’t ask about payment…’

“Magic… Why not ask Caleb about it? He is good at that stuff… He has all sorts of things in his room. Books too.” Damon suggested.

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“How good are Werewolves at magic? I know you call yourselves Wind Werewolves… What is that about?” Kazius decided to ask.

“We don’t have magic. Werewolves don’t have magic normally. We do have wind elemental abilities though. You saw me fight. We feel the air rather than use anything fancy…. It is hard to explain… I just sort of… Make the wind move because I want it to and then it listens, and it does. Sometimes it just does what it thinks you want and reacts to you.” Damon explained.

‘So that was what all that wind was about…’

“We don’t use mana, Elves are good at it though… Caleb is a Half-Elf, so he has the ability to use it though, so does Luna…” Damon stated, his goofy smile turning a little awkward when he said his sister’s name.

“So, you are half siblings?” Alice asked curiously.

“…” Damon was quiet, something quite surprising. He would then get a bigger smile, “Yeah, basically! Hahaha! Anyway… How about we go hunt… from how you talk… It seems you all want to get stronger… I could help! How about you and Alice join me in a hunt?”

Indeed, he seemed touchy on the subject… Half sibling or not… The way Luna treated him… Kazius didn’t understand at all.

“I appreciate the offer… But Alice still needs to reco-“ Kazius began.

“I will go too” Alice stated in a determined manner.

“Huh? But Alice, you are still hurt. You should rest more.” Kazius stated in concern as he gazed at her.

“No! I will go!” Alice exclaimed, “I… I know you said you would protect me, but if you do that, who will protect you?” She questioned only to grow flustered, “I-I mean… We all have to protect each other, you know?”

Kazius would stare at her only to smile a bit, indeed he had gotten lucky when he met them all… Even if back then he had felt like he was the most unfortunate man in the world with all that had occurred. “Alright, but if you feel faint… Let me know. I will carry you.”

“I will” Alice responded with a small smile, looking conflicted about something. The two staring at each other for a second before looking back at Damon.

“Hahaha! So you two are all set? You better be ready then! I won’t go easy on you! Come on!” Damon beamed, the jolly male leading the way for them both. They would wave at Eve an Azanor on their way out.

Alice had not been awake when they had arrived, but on the way out she could hear the townsfolk say all sorts of things… Though of course, it wasn’t like she could understand them.

“What are they saying? Do they not like outsiders?” Alice would whisper in concern.

“Don’t worry about it… I will explain later.” Kazius would answer.

Despite the whispers though, Damon seemed genuinely happy. It seems the happiness of going hunting and training with new friends far outweighed any sadness he felt. Kazius did worry about him.

‘He is friendly and well meaning enough… Even if he is the child of infidelity or anything like that, it wouldn’t be his fault… I suppose this sort of treatment is something Eve has in common with him. I wonder if it is cocky of me… But I want to do something about it.’

As they walked, Kazius would look around, Damon’s eagerness showing. The view in the mountains was quite something… Though something did catch Kazius’ attention… While the fish were bigger when they left Ratier… The ones in the water here… They were… Enormous! Not just them… But a boar could be seen that was the size of an elephant! Off in the distance there were several mountains that were bigger than the rest.

“That one in the center, the biggest, is Mount Ulf.” Damon stated… They couldn’t even see the top thanks to the clouds…

‘He climbed THAT as a child?!’

Alice was in awe too. She seemed to be looking at a flying Pegasus herd that could be seen flying around one of the mountains. “Wow” She stated as she stared at the sight. The mountains were intimidating, but indeed the sight was beautiful… Like something out of legend.

“I won’t start you with Mount Ulf though. I will say it, you two are scrawny. Your legs will break before you reach the top. I don’t want my new friends dying from exhaustion… So… I want you two to be able to run up that small mountain in an hour.” Damon stated, being surprisingly adept at teaching, though also blunt. He wasn’t pulling punches.

Kazius would look at the mountain Damon called small… To say the least, the mountain was still massive even at the distance they were… Just how tall was Mount Ulf?

‘An hour!? We’d be lucky to get up there in a day!’

“You need to get good at dodging before we move to the next mountains... Your speed needs to be good too…. Or the rock throwing giants will squash you.” Damon stated with a laugh.

“The WHAT?” Alice asked in concern.

This would be an interesting training it seems…