{-Casrane-}
They defeated the monsters as the stranger simply watched, either amazed or confused at how they did it. When they finished, they walked up to her together, and Casrane prompted, “I’m Casrane, and these two are Llewel and Myr. Who are you?”
She looked between the three of them more like someone who really didn’t want to be here, rather than someone who was grateful for the help. Cautiously, she replied, “Esaphi…” The kind smiles of the others must’ve gotten her to consider her situation and, after a moment, she asked a question as well. “Did you… really defeat all those monsters..?”
“All the ones surrounding you, anyway,” Llewel answered, giving a quick look around to make sure. “I wouldn’t doubt there being more in nearby caves, though. This seems like a pretty good place for them to be hiding…”
“Are you alright?” Myr asked. “None of them had attacked you, right?”
Esaphi shook her head. “No, none of them even touched me. But… they could’ve hurt you and you still ended up helping me. You didn’t even seem to care how strong they might’ve been. You just went in to defeat them…”
“Of course.” Casrane had a soft smile, hopefully conveying her readiness to help if she could. “We heard a couple of others mentioning seeing you and the monsters. We wanted to make sure that you were alright, so we found you here and helped you.”
Esaphi seemed to debate it for a moment, then went on to explain the question. “Would… you be willing to help me with something else? You looked capable, so maybe nothing will happen to you…”
Llewel clearly didn’t like the sound of the mumble and Myr just looked curious. Casrane, however, revealed her slight bit of understanding by nodding. “We definitely have the time, as long as we’re capable of doing something. What do you need help with?”
“There’s more monsters nearby,” Esaphi said slowly. “They’re close to where I saw a couple of adventurers and I’m afraid they’re going to cause trouble. I don’t want people to get hurt, but I can’t do anything about them on my own…”
“We’ll do what we can to help, I promise.” Casrane gave a knowing glance to Llewel, too, when he got ready to voice his opinions; he was able to recognize her silent it’s okay and held back whatever he was going to say.
She decided to be grateful for it, though, because she was sure he was supposed to go along with it without any true hesitation—or even the one to suggest it. The fact that he didn’t, that he had to think about it, once again reassured her that she was fulfilling her job here.
Esaphi finally managed a small smile. “Thank you. I don’t think they’re that far away from here, but I didn’t really pay attention to how far I’d gone… I’m not sure how far it is anymore. I should know the way, though. Just follow me—a couple of the paths can get a bit complicated if you’re not sure of things.”
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Even while she was leading the way, she lacked a true kind of confidence. Myr tried asking Esaphi about what had happened before they came, but she didn’t want to answer—she gave an excuse before they all took the hint that it wasn’t something she was going to budge on. She helped them fight off the monsters, though no adventurers could be seen.
“I thought they were here…” she mumbled. “I saw them and there’s too many monsters for them to have not been here…”
“It’s possible that they were able to get out or trick the monsters somehow,” Casrane offered. “They’re the smaller kind so, even with the strength boost, it may not have been too hard to escape.”
Esaphi didn’t seem to take the half-assurances, though there wasn’t much time before the topic changed.
“The monsters’ strength is because of the runes, right?” Llewel asked.
Esaphi nodded. “For some reason, there’s a lot of them in Ilataesi—I’m sure there’s probably hundreds in the caves around us. I think they’re growing, too, or at least it… feels like they are. If… you’re worried, you don’t really have to be. Most people stay away from them and those that don’t leave before something serious can happen.”
“There’s more to runes than just making sure you stay away from them. They’re a dangerous force, whether or not anyone’s nearby—they’ll react to anything. Giving strength and vitality to creatures that otherwise wouldn’t stand a chance on their own… and making them do things they wouldn’t have otherwise.” Llewel considered it, then, “Do you know where any of them are, specifically?”
“Why do you want to get closer to them?” Myr questioned. “Everything else Duuzlo told us was about staying as far away from them as possible…”
Casrane caught on, though. “There’s a chance this isn’t completely natural. Maybe, if we can figure out how, we can know if there’s someone else behind all of it. We never know what the Rune Reactivation Project could be planning.”
“And we might be able to guess their progress if I can see the runes for myself,” he agreed.
The longer Esaphi thought about it, the less willing she seemed to do it. “N-no, I don’t think I can do that. As strong as you are, you’re just normal people, right..? You’re not going to be any better at refusing its influence than anything else. I can’t just let you get hurt like that…”
“I’m a bit more capable than what you might think I am,” he pointed out in a half-reassurance.
But she looked quite resolved in the fact that she wasn’t going to let them talk about it anymore. “The three of you helped me a lot to clear out all these monsters. It… might be a little safer for everyone else passing by now, too. We should probably check the area one more time, just to make sure there’s no one else here, but… after that, I wouldn’t mind treating you to something at my place. It’s the least I can do in return for your help, even if I don’t have a lot…”
Casrane answered on behalf of all of them. “That sounds fine with me.” The twins gave signs of their mutual agreement.
“Is it somewhere around here?” Myr prompted curiously.
“It’s… probably a lot closer than you think it is. But it isn’t too far, either.” Esaphi gestured around them. “Let’s look around here again, just to make sure that we’ve got all of the monsters. We don’t want anyone to run into them or to miss anyone that might’ve been hiding before. Then I can show you where I’m living.”