Karuwa arrives first at the scene, he stops in his tracks and stands there, in shock, eyes widened, gazing at whatever he sees right now. His teammates then arrive, panting and out of breath, needing to breathe before Aria hits Karuwa on the back.
“Stop acting on your own like that! Don’t you know how many times you’ve-…” Aria said, about to be angry at Karuwa, but she sees what Karuwa is seeing too, it is a scene that is unthinkable to happen in such a short amount of time.
They see a burnt area, trees as burnt as charcoal, ashes spread everywhere, water absorbing into the ground and making some puddles. They all saw a forest fire earlier, but to think it is already put out in such a manner does not seem real. Karuwa, Abel, Aria, and Delila with her water sprite are stunned, not knowing what kind of monster or monsters would cause this. Delila, especially, is still shuddering in fear and overwhelmed, feeling a very powerful existence from a certain direction using her Mana-sensing.
“What… happened here…? Wasn’t there a forest fire just minutes ago?” The demi-human broke the silence, looking around to find any source of the root cause, his words snapping the others from their shock.
“W- w- what the hell?! You guys, please, please, please tell me we’ll move from this area right away?! We’ve got to report this to the guild!” Aria said, looking around left and right, looking paranoid and shaking Karuwa’s sleeve.
Karuwa looked over at the others behind him instead of listening to Aria. Abel is shaking like a leaf being blown by the wind, Aria is clinging onto his sleeve and pulling him the hardest that she can without avail, and out of them all, Delila is still feeling overwhelmed and it shows on her face. Her water sprite gets to the middle of the party.
“T- There! Master Delila senses a powerful source of Mana behind that tree! Master doesn’t sense any hostility from the source of mana.” The water sprite familiar said, pointing to a particular tree in the distance.
Karuwa knows that the Mana-sensing that Delila has is a rare ability that is uncommon for even the best sorcerers and magicians to have around the world, of course, except the Grand Magus himself. The ability enables them to read and detect Mana from living beings, whether monsters or ordinary folks, making Delila a valuable party member. Although they had encountered some strong monsters before with the ability to use magic, Delila had never shown a face so overwhelmed like that before, as if she is facing a power she could not comprehend. Karuwa knows he can trust her familiar because Delila and her water sprite are linked together, sharing minds. His senses as a half-rakya are also telling him that no malice or bad intent is lurking around here.
“We’ll check what’s behind that tree. I trust Delila’s familiar and my senses too. Keep your guard up.” Karuwa said, unsheathing his iron claymore, raising his guard, and gesturing them all to do the same, Aria and Abel responded with an even more shocked face.
“What?!” They both said in unison, Aria wanting to punch Karuwa for being this reckless and Abel shaking even more, clenching his wooden staff closer.
...
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Back to the “monster” who caused this, Lento is hiding behind a burnt tree and his heartbeat is beating fast; he managed to hide after gathering his rings from the ground. Surprisingly, he can feel someone reading his Mana from the group that just arrived. Lento cannot believe his bad luck right now since this will expose who he truly is and he quickly puts all the rings into his fingers, not a time spent to check who the group of people are, but he can tell that they’re young adventurers.
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“Come on… come on… just 3 more…” Lento said while putting all of the rings in his fingers, he could feel the Mana in his body gradually decreasing and the Mana flow is slowing down with each ring.
Lento noticed that there were some arguments in the group, but they eventually quieted down and Lento heard some footsteps walking closer to his location, which put his brainstorming in overdrive. He has to think of a way to either escape from here or convince all of them that he was the one who got attacked, but who would believe the words from a suspicious teenage-looking boy who is wearing a torn-up mage’s robe and hiding behind a tree? So, Lento tried to sneak off quietly and efficiently.
“Uhm… hello? Who are you…?” A voice reached out to Lento from behind when he was trying to crawl away, startling Lento, making him briefly freeze and his heart stops a beat.
Turning his head around, he sees a demi-human, his dominant hand holding tightly onto his claymore’s handle, fully on guard and his eyes as sharp as a knife. From the peculiar pair of spotted, foxlike ears peeking from his gray hood, dark skin, sharp claws, noticeable fangs protruding from his mouth, and his tall yet slender build, Lento could tell that this young man is a half-human half-rakya.
Two human teenagers appeared after the demi-human, a boy and a girl, peeking from the demi-human’s arms, looking rather tense, the boy, in particular, seems like he is about to pass out. They both look like relatives because of how similar their hair and eye color are. Both of them have brownish-yellow colored hair and turquoise-colored eyes. The boy seems to be the little brother judging by the short height compared to his big sister, him shuddering in terror while clenching his cheap-looking magical staff closely to his chest and his sister right in front of him, ready to shield her little brother from potential ambush by pointing her sword. The sister was wary and nervous before, but for some reason unknown to Lento, she suddenly looks at him differently, and then a small blush forms on her face.
“Er…” Lento froze again, not expecting the whole group to catch him crawling away. The demi-human and the others continue to stare at Lento, an awkward silence fills the air.
The sister snapped out of her staring at Lento, finding herself embarrassed to have stared at Lento like that, never quite seen a guy around her age who looked like a noble with eyes and hair like that, so she was quite shaken, especially with how he has exposed stomach and chest. She remembered why they checked behind this tree again and turned to her other party members.
“The huge mana source came from a human boy???” She said, then looked back at Lento and added, “What happened here? Can you tell us what happened at least??” the girl closed in and shook Lento’s body, truly concerned for him as soon as she realized the guy might be hurt judging by the huge hole on his robe.
“... Aria, just calm down and apologize to him.” The demi-human muttered, lowering his guard and plunging his claymore into the ground.
“I- I am sorry! I was just worried if this guy was hurt... I mean, just look at that torn-up robe!” the human girl said, pointing at the many holes the robe has and the crystal-clear gaping hole that is exposing Lento’s bare stomach area.
Another one of their members popped up behind them too. At the very back, a rather mysterious hooded person stands. The person seems to have a familiar sitting on their right shoulder, Lento seeing that from its shape, it seems to be that of a water pixie. Might be one of the more uncommon species of familiars looking at how it has multiple colors on its core despite its small size. The water pixie gets off her shoulder and inspects Lento all over, then the pixie goes to the group again.
“Master Delila does not sense the absurd amount of Mana anymore; Master Delila thinks it has gone away somehow…? Maybe whatever has that amount of Mana is no longer nearby? I think we truly are safe for now!” The water elemental said optimistically, somehow calming the already tense atmosphere of the entire group.
They all look back to Lento now, expecting an explanation for what truly happened here. The party leader sheathed his claymore and came closer to Lento, and Lento quickly sat cross-legged.
“So, uhh… what happened here, can you tell us, friend?” He said while crouching, on his knee to meet eye-to-eye with Lento. In Lento’s mind, he already came up with an explanation, or rather, the most believable fabrication of a story he could come up with.
“S- so…”