Chapter 3: Encounter

It had been a month since the first bandit incident. In that time, they had sent two other teams to scout the area. For the second team, after finding the bodies, they readied themselves and began to hunt the magical beasts around here. It seemed they would not give up that easily, so Yuu proceeded to slaughter them again and make it look like beasts did it. He made sure their limbs were all scattered about, and this time he left some of their possessions behind, making them all torn as if in a battle against beasts.

Yuu thought that maybe this would be enough, but only a week or two later, and a third group was sent. It was getting on Yuu's nerve, so this time, when night fell, he antagonized a large back of beasts from deeper in the forest, and led them all the way to the bandits. If they thought a pack of fifty or so wolves was normal around here, led by a Star Wolf, surely they would stay away this time. However, they defended reasonably well, so Yuu secretly used magic without any of them figuring it out. The bandits must have been pretty strong, but eventually, after several of them died, Yuu made sure the last one got away so he could tell his allies that the area was too heavily infested with beasts.

He did consider the possibility they were from different groups, but ultimately, he just wanted people to stay away, and not know he lived there.

Consequently, he was exploring more of the magic power. He figured out how to clad himself in magic power, so that helped somewhat, but he was still trash with any weapon side from daggers. Maybe it was his small physique, or that magic required more imagination and intelligence that he had fostered in his previous world while having learned no martial arts (since his dad didn't want him to know how to fight back, he never gave Yuuki the chance to).

Either way, he had decided to go down the path of magic. The only issue he had was that then, he lacked an ability to protect himself from close quarters enemies, aside from his Shadow. Mana Clad seemed to work well in that area, but it seemed like he would need to practice more.

Incidentally, he was at least becoming a better hunter, and he was starting to figuring out cooking using raw materials and not store bought stuff. He was also learning that monsters had things known as magic cores, or something like that, which he could use to make magic tools. That said, he is entirely self taught, so his skill isn't overwhelmingly great. But it reminded him of computing coding, which he had practiced quite a bit in his previous world, so that helped him out.

At the moment, he focused on a perimeter sensor system that would alert him if anyone got close to his home. He had laid it out across the canyons around him, as well as the cliffs nearby. Thanks to the jagged nature of this world's terrain, the amount of paths that could be taken to his home were not so numerous, so creating a perimeter was plausible.

He had also made a wooden flute, to give him some music, and was designing a machine to automatically play songs he would figure out using that flute. The flute was not done though, as he wanted to iron out how it sounded before he made any official songs. He missed his beloved music player, which he used to help him drown out the sounds of his parent's...activities...in the next room, or when they got high on drugs and made a racket.

Maybe he would even make some headphones or such. But he would need to somehow get them to work right.

He wondered if there was something like a slave or obedience collar he could get and use on monsters to make them eternally loyal and obey his every command. Maybe he could even make use of the bandits if they came around again.

As he was thinking about that, one of his magical stones began to glow as they made a specific noise, that sounded like the wind almost, but was made distinct enough for Yuu to identify. It was letting him know the perimeter alarm had been activated, and several creatures were heading his way. He had yet to get it to tell him what they were exactly, so they could be bandits, although the movements seemed strange and fast for humans. Not unless they were running, but nothing was behind them.

Either way, Yuu decided to investigate. He took a staff that he carved from a branch of a magic tree, and hopped out. Since he had so much free time, he had carved it well using a knife gotten from a bandit, and it was still small enough for him to use. It was only two feet tall, including the head of the staff.

Using wind magic for acceleration and direction control, he lept and jumped through the trees and small cliffs as he headed towards the area. Soon however, he saw something he didn't expect. It was a small, green haired boy, maybe around his age, wearing what appared to be tattered traveler's clothes that had seen some use and fights, as well as a bow that looked a bit too big for him as well as a quiver of arrows. The boy turned around while running, and shot an arrow into one of the wolf's heads, before turning forward again and running some more.

However, Yuu did not jump in to save him. He just watched as the boy ran around a bit. It was the first time he had seen someone the same age as him in this world, but he was not about to jump in and help a stranger and put his own life at risk. When he moved, he noticed his Shadow had delayed reaction and attack ability, so he didn't want to endanger himself to help some stranger who would stab him in the back. The boy turned around and looked all over. For a moment, their eyes met, and then he waved his hands.

"Behind you!"

Yuu had been so distracted, he didn't notice, but as he turned a large monster bird came from behind and tried to attack him. Of course, his shadow shot out and pierced it several times, stopping its momentum and killing it. However...

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Did that idiot stop while wolves were chasing him to warn me...wait, the way he reacted so fast...did he know I was here the whole time, watching and doing nothing, but took time out of his own situation to warn me anyways?

Yuu wasn't sure what he was thinking. Did he maybe set this up? A trap to make him drop his guard?

Yuu was not paranoid, but...there was an odd thing about a six year old being alone in a forest full of dangerous beasts. Granted, that made himself weird, but for it to happen twice in one area?

Well, the only way I will learn is if I interrogate him...

Thinking that, Yuu dropped down while releasing several large magical ice spears. Each one pierced a wolve's head, and then one froze entirely. There was one more wolf, but the boy with green hair shot it in the head, instantly killing it.

That is not a skill a normal boy should have. This is a trap. He is trying to take something from me...I should be on guard...

Once all the enemies were dead, the boy turned towards him and immediately ran. Yuu put himself on guard, as the boy jumped forward...and gave him a big hug while crying.

"Thwank wuuu!" he said while sobbing. "Thwank wuu for swaving mwe!"

His words were garbled with tears, but Yuu was roughly able to understand what he was saying. That said...he felt weird.

"G-get off of me!" Yuu said with a red face as he tried to beat him back. But the boy seemed to be physically stronger, and more importantly...

My Shadow...isn't attacking him?

This got him flustered most of all. His shadow would automatically attack those that aimed for his life, or to take things that belonged to him. It attacked a wolf that tried to steal his meat, and also attacked one of the bandits from the second group when he tried to hold the boy down with a dirty face. The Shadow didn't seem all too specific on the definition of "take", but yet...the boy who was hugging Yuu right now was not being attacked at all. Which could only mean, he had no intention of taking Yuu's life, his wallet, his belongings, or assaulting him in any way.

Could Shadow...be failing or something? Like, is he masking his intentions with magic? Maybe he is brainwashed or something?

Yuu doubted he was here for good intentions. So eventually, after Yuu got free of the boy's hug, he raised his guard.

"Hold it, hold it! Who are you?! Where did you come from? What are you doing here?"

"Ah! My name is Lyo! I am a wood elf!" he said, brushing the sides of his hair back to show his pointed ears. "As for why I am here, I escaped some bad people a week ago and ran here looking for people, especially friendly people!"

Yuu could almost tell immediately, what this person probably was. He seemed like one of those ridiculously over positive types that was super social and friendly. In other words, bothersome.

"Well, this is my land and your not invited" Yuu said, walking away. However, the boy followed him.

Yuu tried walking faster to lose him, but he just walked faster. So Yuu hopped into some trees, but Lyo hopped up into the trees after him and climbed even faster then Yuu could. He was starting to get annoyed.

"Didn't I tell you, this is my land".

"Yeah...but I thought maybe you were just being shy and might be lonely!" he declared. "By the way, did you make all of these magic tools scattered around this part of the forest? They are really cool!"

Yuu's face turned bright red when he was called shy and lonely. He was getting annoyed and irritated to no end by this moron.

But before he could even comment, he then went and talked about the magic tools. They were well hidden, and Yuu made sure they could not be sensed easily even by himself. So how did this moron notice?

"I am not lonely! And how do you even know they are there?"

"Haha! My parents always said I had a great eye for detail!"

...apparently not for reading the mood though...

It seemed like Lyo was not going to go away, but Yuu was getting more and more tense. Even so, his Shadow was not reacting. This boy's babbling didn't seem to be false. He was just a moron.

"Listen moron, I have a lot of things to do! You cant tell anyone I live here got it? And get out of my land!"

"Well...the thing is, I am kinda lost!" he said. "But okay! I get it, this is like a secret base right? Understood, I wont tell anyone!"

Yuu made him say that to think about things, however...the Shadow did not react.

"And dont tell anyone about me either!"

"I get it, because then they might figure out where you live and your secret base right? Okay!"

Again, Shadow did not attack. It appeared this boy honestly did not have any ulterior motives.

"Whatever...just, dont bother me...I need to take a bath" he said, his mental energy having been spent dealing with that person.

After finally getting Lyo to go do something else (get firewood), Yuu was finally able to go to his bath. Located in a nice little alcove, it was connected to a sulfer spring and so was a hot springs bath. There was a small waterfall nearby that acted as a pre-bath shower, afterwards he could take a bucket, some cloth he gathered, and wash his body before going through a special entrance he made and enter the bath itself. The waterfall sometimes had some irregular movement every so often, bt it was still fairly rhythmic and nice. Finally some peace and quiet, to let him think how to handle that moron and get him to leave.

"Ah!" Lyo said as he suddenly barged in, naked, and soaking wet. "So you did build a hot springs bath here!"

Yuu went to cover himself with his hands, but Lyo quickly came into the bath and gave him a hug, prompting Yuu to move his hands to try and push Lyo away. The sun had already started to set, revealing a lovely star filled sky, but the peacefulness was interrupted by the one who he wanted some alone time to try and figure out how to get rid of.

And yet, here they were now, naked and sharing a bath. Yuu complained.

"Lyo...Lyo! Get out!"

"Haha! Dont be shy, you have a very good looking body, and we are both guys and friends anyways!"

"I dont recall ever accepting your friendship!"

"Ahh! Yuu's skin is so soft! Is this because you bathe here regularly?"

"Shut up! This is my alone time!"

"Ah, but baths are much better taken together! Like meals! And sleep!"

"Sh-shut up!"

Yuu tried pushing him away again, but Lyo was still stronger then him. He probably did not grow up malnourished in this world. However, what might be more embarrassing was that despite the fact Lyo was a guy, he hugged like a girl. When guys hug, they only use their upper body, while girls used their whole body. That was because of a different of...body structure. But Lyo disregarded that completely.

Of course, maybe that was just what boys also did in this world, but for Yuu, it was embarrassing.

"This is way too much!" Yuu complained, but Lyo would not let go as he just kept talking. He had totally deluded himself into thinking they were friends already.

By the time Lyo had finally let go, it was time to get out of the bath anyways. What was supposed to be his personal time to rest had became so exhausting, he quickly went right to bed.