"..." Aru looked on, "What is this?"
"We found a friend!" I smiled.
"What the hell do you mean you found a friend!?" She began shouting, "What part of your brains thought taking a deer from the forest to keep would be a good idea?!"
"Bamb's a doe, actually." Issei corrected.
"I know! I'm omniscient, but I think your stupidity actually managed to dupe that!" She couldn't help but facepalm, "Geez, what the hell is wrong with you three... Adam, I can sort of understand these two, but I really didn't expect this from you."
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean!?" Issei and I raised our voices as Bamb sheepishly retreated behind Adam's legs.
"Now now, I can understand your worries, but I promise that there is a good reason as to why we brought Bamb over to us." Adam moved to the side as he gave Bamb a thumbs up, "Go on, it's alright. Introduce yourself."
"U-Uhm..." Bamb anxiously stepped forward to face Aru as she restlessly tapped her foot on the ground, "M-My name is Bamb... N-Nice to... meet you."
"Ah." Issei realized, "I forgot only Ed can actually hear her."
Fuck. That's right, I'm the only Brown Iro Beholder here, so right now Aru only saw Bamb kind of awkwardly step forward and bow her head respectfully. Still an impressive feat when you take into account that she's a doe, but I hardly doubt it got the point across. I dunno, I just kind of got used to reading Bamb's thoughts as speech. Even gave her a cute higher-pitched yet delicate voice.
"Pff, nah, I can hear her." Aru tossed away the facade as a slight smile cracked through, "At ease, Bamb. It's nice to meet you too."
Oh right, I'm stupid. Aru is over there stifling her laughter because she knows what's going on. But does that mean she's reading Bamb's mind or is she just reading mine? God, there's still so much about her I find mysterious, but right now I'm just glad she's not mad at Bamb. Her omniscience is truly astounding, though...
"R-Right! So, just to make sure everyone's on the same page here..." I hurried to fulfill my role as the middleman, "Bamb is a doe who learned Entropic thanks to listening to other humans' conversations."
"Indeed." Adam continued, "Right now, she is accompanying us to help out in the investigation as someone from the opposing faction, and in return I will find the farmer boy who took care of her as a young fawn."
"We learned a whole ton of things while you were away, Aru!" Issei immediately went to talk about our findings.
"Stop. Are you forgetting we're still in the middle of the street?" Aru interrupted him, "Let's go somewhere less crowded, the west gates should do nicely."
"Right, we can get you caught up while we wait for the transport wagon headed for Bosorog." I agreed with her, "Let's go, then."
With that decision now fully having been made, the five of us, now including Bamb, began walking to the western gate. Adam was attracting a lot of stares, and no matter how much I want to think it's because of his huge stature, I would be a fool to not realize the locals are actually glaring at the animal tied to the lead he was holding. We even got told off by an old lady for not tying the lead up tightly enough, though we assured her Bamb was well-behaved.
"Well-behaved? Young man, the animals are all beasts." She met Adam's gaze as he stared back, "You folks don't look like you're from around here, so you might not have heard, but there was recently an animal attack here. I heard one guard is still recovering from a broken leg over at the clinic."
"Is that really the case?" Aru made direct Eye-contact with the old lady, "Or are you just lying to spread propaganda against the animals?"
Hearing this, we all immediately believed Aru, since she definitely used her omnipotence to check this old lady's mind. Bamb was the one most heartbroken, since she didn't yet want to doubt an old lady's words, even if they were directed at her. Seriously, why are humans like this?
"You're taking the side of the beasts instead of joining your own kind, little girl?" The old lady gave Aru a nasty glare, "The path you folks wanna go on is a dangerous one. This doe might have fooled you into thinking they're not all bad, but take it from someone who's lived through it all - it is only a matter of time before the animals eat you up, leaving nothing but bones, if even that."
"Yeah yeah, I bet your grandson is thrilled to hear your bedtime horror stories, you old hag, but I'm not interested." Aru brushed her off as she continued walking past her.
"W-What?" The old lady stammered, "How did you know I have a grandson!?"
"Humu, scared ya', didn't I?" Aru chuckled before glancing back, "And one more thing - I am NOT like you lowly humans. Best remember that before you hit the bucket, old hag."
Oof, scary... But effective, as no one stopped us in the streets from then on. Thankfully we had Aru with us on this journey, otherwise who knows how we would've dealt with the incessant onslaught of feisty locals. Well, I probably could've done something similar with Analyze, but I doubt I could've instilled the same fear into them as she did. Though one thing remains in my mind still...
"So Aru." I thought to ask as we approached the western gate, "Was there really a guard that got injured in the animal attack?"
"Nah, the humans won the "battle" by a landslide." She put the word in quotation marks, "I mean, it was more of a random case of some animals banding together to try and take a head-on offensive, but they lacked any and all training and strategy. The humans just sort of took pot shots at them from the safety of their watchtowers."
"Oh." I uttered.
"Huh?" Issei got kind of peeved at that, "So wait, this entire time I thought this city survived a horrible war with great casualties on both sides, when in reality the humans didn't even have to send anyone out!? What the hell!"
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"Thing is, while I do agree they overreacted a bit, I can't really say I don't understand them." Aru sighed, "Rowdy animals from the nearby forest stumble across the town and think to conquer it all the time, and usually unless they pose a significant threat, the locals just scare them away with warning shots aimed at the sky. The reason they took lethal action this time was because this was the first time multiple animals of different kinds banded together to fight as allies. Wolves, bears, squirrels... and even deers, among many others." She looked over at a frightened Bamb.
"Huh?" Issei and Adam were shocked.
"Bamb, you mean...?" I turned to her as well.
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"N-No!" Bamb pleaded herinnocence, "It's not...! I didn't...!"
"Yeah, she wasn't part of that group, that's not what I wanted to insinuate." Aru flagged down the first transport wagon as everyone hopped in, "I'm just offhandedly mentioning that Bamb lied to you all about it only being the wolves that were attacking the humans."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, she did kind of act weird when she said that." Issei turned to the anxious doe, "But why would you lie about such a thing, Bamb? Was it because you wanted to shift the blame away from everyone else and onto the wolves? Did you lie to paint the wolves as the bad guys?"
"No, that's..." She calmed herself down first before continuing, "When the lanky man who commanded everyone to find the guy he was looking for, he told everyone to incriminate the wolves as much as possible. I do agree that it was partially our fault for agreeing so quickly, but it was odd even to us how the wolves agreed just as easily."
"What?" Aru and I raised our eyebrows in surprise, seeing as only the two of us could see her thoughts, "The wolves... wanted to be framed? The lanky man convinced them? Just like that?"
"Whoa, what?" Issei commented, "Freaky. So what, do you guys think this big bad lanky man pulling the strings on this whole thing can somehow mind control animals?"
"Mind control..." I recalled Meil's description of king Chant's scary ability, "Command!"
"Hm?" Adam inquired, "What is it, Ed? If you know anything you think could be useful to solving this dilemma, please don't hesitate to speak up."
"Mn, it appears Edward is right on the money this time. Or rather, any other explanation would only be scarier in comparison." Aru nodded gravely, "The person we are looking for is someone who is tall and lanky, can communicate with animals freely and even control them, and such a powerful person is looking for someone currently roaming the lands of Cardina. Without a doubt, this person can Wield both a Yellow and Brown Iro Ability, at the very least."
"Do we know anyone with both Iro Abilities?" Issei glanced over at everyone as we gave a disappointing shrug.
"But then, if such a scary person is looking for someone..." Bamb couldn't help but let out a shiver, "Just how dangerous is the person he's looking for?"
Once again, Aru and I were the only ones whose hearts sunk at this revelation. We quickly told the other two what Bamb had said, and they had a similar reaction too. Certainly, you wouldn't cause such a fiasco just to find one random guy. No, the person lanky man is looking for has to be someone just as, if not more powerful than him, so we are put in a dangerous predicament.
"So what should we do?" I asked, "Do we just call the manhunt off and go home? If we catch lanky man before he catches his target, we'll no doubt save the rest of the towns from getting attacked, but..."
"But if we do that, then maybe the mysterious target will destroy Cardina even more." Adam finished my thought, "It is quite the predicament, and one we must carefully think about before taking action."
"Well, who says we need to decide right now, then?" Issei reclined in his seat.
"What do you mean?" We looked at him with question marks above our heads.
"Looking back, I spent the day running around in a forest, talking a whole heck ton, eating a damned feast of a meal Adam had whipped up for us, and now I'm in a comfy car ride to a town we'll at the very least arrive at in the morning. I say we let the decision simmer for now and decide when we get to Bosorog."
"Pff." Adam let slip a light chuckle, "Would you look at that! Our dear friend Issei actually said something incredible! Haha!"
"He's right, you know." Aru put her head on my lap to go to sleep, "It's as they say, I guess - always put off for tomorrow what can't be done today!"
"Quite." Bamb nodded in agreement as she put her head gently down on the empty seat in front of her.
"What the hell kind of saying is that!?" I squirmed about helplessly, "And get your head away from me, dammit!"
"Why should I? Oh, don't tell me..." Aru giggled as she looked up at me, "Is putting my face so close to your groin exciting you or something?"
"I can only get it up for my beloved!" I panicked and said something I shouldn't have let slip, "Ah!"
"Edward, a bit too much information..." Adam looked at me weirdly.
"Oh, you're demisexual." Issei briefly opened his Eye to say before shrugging, "Can't say I can understand where you're coming from, but it's good that you're faithful to Anna."
Hey, that's not it! You've got it all wrong, I just wanted Aru to stop teasing me! Besides, is it really so wrong to only be attracted to your beloved!? Shame on this world for having a corrupted sense of normalcy! And finally - what the hell is a demisexual!?