Nathan

Year 2850 | Month 2 | Day 1

I sigh as I reach my cave again to find the entire entrance collapsed, and the caved in portion covered in frozen rocks.

This is annoying. First I don’t find much on the teleportation magician outside of his affiliation, which is some sort of small city that can literally move around thanks to his teleportation magic. Meaning that I have no idea where he went or how to find him. And now I have to deal with this.

Sometimes I wish I could just go find a nice and quiet place to train my mana arcs and create new spells in peace where others won’t bother me.

Oh wait, I already did that once.

I shake my head at the thought before raising my hands and using several fireball spells on the rocks to both blast them open and melt the ice. And after spending quite a bit of mana just firing the balls of fire back to back, I finally melt them all enough that I can begin moving the remaining rocks out of the way myself.

Before I even finish clearing out the rocks though, I hear whispers from the other side, likely being from nosy children who made it past Carol or something. So I hasten my rock moving effort, only to be tackled almost the moment I move a rock out of the way, clearing the path into the cave.

“Mister Nathan!!!!” a few kids shout after having run into my legs, none of them managing to knock me over. And I find myself struggling to figure out what to do with the large rock in my hands that I’m holding over their heads.

“Now, now,” I hear Carol’s voice, bringing my attention to the tunnel to find her shaking her head with a smile, “you shouldn’t bother him while he’s busy.”

“But Carooool!!!” the triplets whine in sync, making me raise a brow at the girls, only for my mouth to part open at the sight of the rest of the kids who were all the original refugees on the other side of the cave-in practically bawling their eyes out.

I carefully put the boulder on the ground, maneuvering it around the kids in the process before I pat two of them on the head and say, “It’s fine. No one will be coming here for the foreseeable future.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I find Carol nodding with a smile on her face at that. Meanwhile more of the kids rush over to join the mass hug, making me feel incredibly awkward. Since I’m not exactly used to physical contact anymore. Especially considering my blood lust that isn’t exactly making this a pleasant experience.

Despite that though, I can’t help but feel a faint warmth in my chest at the affection that I’ve been missing for so long now.

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Eventually Carol manages to wrangle all the kids back up and have another adult bring them back inside before she goes back to talk to me. But I don’t pay much attention to that, simply staring out at the wasteland that is now the immediate surroundings of the cave.

Most of the damage of the spell was contained after the initial blast, but it still turned the forest several dozen meters around the cliff the cave entrance is in into a bit of a frozen wasteland with sliced up and frozen trees lying everywhere. Something that might make this place rather annoying to go through for the refugees.

So how am I going to deal with it…

I blink at that thought.

Since when did I begin treating those refugees like I’m their leader or something?

“Nathan, are you…” Carol suddenly asks, bringing my attention back to her. “…okay?”

“Yeah,” I answer with a brief nod before focusing on the frozen land again. “Just wondering how to deal with this mess.”

I could always just set a horizontal barrier of fire mana to cover the whole area to melt the ice. But that would be a hazard for any animals or refugees who try to go out, so I should clear the area first. It would also require me to make some hardcoded changes to the spell to make the barrier vertical and to not have it anchored on the ground anywhere.

Then there’s the barrier to the cave that I have to reinstate as well.

Overall, a massive headache.

I sigh at that thought before turning around and beginning to head into the cave with Carol hurrying behind me.

For now though, I should rest. Even if I’m technically at perfect health right now, or as perfect as a vampire can be, I… I’m still tired.

That experience isn’t something I ever want to relive.

I’ll also have to deal with anyone who saw that whole event go down, not to mention that teleportation special affinity magician who is most likely spreading the news himself. Someone I will have to deal with as soon as I can.

Teleportation affinity is rather annoying after all.

Actually, on the subject of special magicians, this situation with the cave could be a nice time where Xavier could come in handy. And I’ll bet he’s perfectly happy to help me after seeing that whole battle go down. Because I’m sure he was watching it somewhere.

Would be stupid not to keep an eye on it.

I continue walking for a little bit before pausing mid-step and looking down at my hand and then at my sheath.

It’s… I don’t know. Why am I suddenly feeling a little lost?

“Nathan? Are you sure you’re okay?” Carol asks, bringing my attention to her, only to find the elderly woman with a worried look on her face.

“Huh…” I mutter before chuckling.

Guess it is nice to have people care about me. I was kind of looking past that for so long, simply digging my head under the stone while working on spell after spell, training my mana arcs day in and day out, and experimenting on my own body.

And she and the kids aren’t the only ones either. The other refugees, my team back in the Republic, my family. They all care. Although I have to wonder what the people back in the Republic would say about my vampiric nature. That’s a problem for future me though.

I smile at Carol and answer, “I think I’m fine.”

She tilts her head in confusion for a second before smiling back and saying, “If you’re sure.”

I tighten my hand into a fist for a second before moving that hand to rest my palm on my sword’s pommel as I begin walking further into the cave again.

First I get the situation here settled, then I find the teleportation magician. And after that? I can deal with whoever comes to bother me then.

For now though, I need a nap.