Chapter 4: Encounter
Two weeks passed since the day they were attacked by the demi-dragons.
“Onii-chan, what’s for breakfast today?” Latifa inquired about the menu one morning, playing by herself in the compact space of the shelter as Rio lay next to her.
“What do you want to eat, Latifa?” Rio asked with a small, uneasy smile.
“I want to eat risotto! The kind with cheese!” she informed him cheerfully. As the name implied, it was the exact same food as the Italian risotto that existed on Earth.
“Risotto... that’s made with wheat in a broth, right?”
“Yup, that’s right!”
Rio was aware of what the word risotto meant, but he reacted like it was a term he wasn’t too familiar with. This was because he had yet to tell Latifa that he had memories of his previous life on Earth. Latifa was in the same situation as him, but she would yell out the name of the food whenever she recognized something familiar from Earth. Her attachment to Rio had probably lowered her guard enough to do that.
Rio already suspected that Latifa was a Japanese person in her previous life, but he didn’t push the topic, as he didn’t want to cause unnecessary drama for himself.
“All right. Then I’ll make it as soon as possible. You can sleep for a little longer, Latifa,” Rio said, sitting up.
“No, I want to watch you cook, Onii-chan.” Latifa turned her mouth up in a carefree smile and shook her head.
“There’s nothing fun about watching, though.”
“I have fun just being together with Onii-chan, you know?”
“Really, now? Then let’s go.” With a strained smile, Rio left the shelter.
At present, Rio and Latifa were in a hilly area near the center of the Wilderness. They had set up their tent on the top of a small hill last night, giving them a wonderful view of the area. If they looked to the east, grasslands stretching all the way to the horizon filled their vision.
As Rio went about cooking the risotto, he stared just beyond that horizon.
“Hey, Latifa. Are you sure you can’t see that huge tree over there?” he asked Latifa, who was sitting right next to him.
“Hm? The one you mentioned yesterday? I only see the grasslands... why?” Latifa had been watching Rio cook cheerfully, all while keeping aware of their surroundings. At Rio’s prompt, she tilted her head curiously.
“If you can’t see it, that’s fine. Don’t worry.” Rio shook his head with an evasive smile. He glanced once more towards the east, where a humongous tree stood along the horizon, clear as day.
He had first sighted the tree yesterday.
They were making their way eastwards when he saw something fluctuating in the air far away. Feeling suspicious, he had strained his eyes to visualize essence and the air cleared up, revealing a giant tree that pierced the skies.
So it must have some kind of obstruction that only allows it to be perceived through sorcery. It’s detectable if you can visualize essence, but seems to be invisible to anyone else.
Rio figured that was why he could see the tree, while Latifa couldn’t.
The problem is... who cast that sorcery? It’s more than possible that demi-humans did it. According to the literature I read in the Academy library, they’re very compassionate towards their own kind...
Rio recalled the literature he had read during his days at the Academy. Somewhere in the Wilderness, demi-humans — elves, dwarves, and werebeasts — lived together. They had a strong sense of kinship for their own kind. On the other hand, they held deep hatred towards humans that oppressed demi-humans, and chose to live deep within the Wilderness by themselves.
Rio glanced over at Latifa. She noticed his gaze and spoke up.
“Hm? What is it, Onii-chan?”
“...Nothing. It’ll be ready soon. Do you want mushrooms in it?”
“Yes! But no wild grasses, please.”
“I know.” Rio nodded with a smile.
It wasn’t that Latifa couldn’t eat wild grasses, it was just that they were bitter enough to ruin the flavor if they were added to the risotto. Just like that, he kept a track of her preferences in tastes and spoiled her.
At any rate, we’ll have to head to that forest first and see what happens.
Perhaps, in the near future, the time would come where he would have to part ways with Latifa. Ultimately, that would be best for Latifa’s future, as she would be happier living with her own kind — at least, that was what Rio told himself. While he held some reservations about it deep in his chest, that was what he had decided in the end.
“All right, it’s done. We’ll be on the move a lot today, too, so make sure you eat up.”
That day, they left the hilly area and reached the great forest beyond it.
That tree is deep within these woods. I’m not sure how we can possibly find it, but we can only give it a go. Standing at the entrance — although they could have entered from any point, really — Rio looked over the trees in their vicinity and decided to move forward. Next to him, Latifa was watching on nervously.
“Onii-chan, are we really going in here? Won’t we get lost?”
“It’s all right — I know the way. We’ll camp here and enter the forest tomorrow morning,” Rio answered with a faint shadow to his smile.
That seemed to be enough reassurance for Latifa, though, who nodded earnestly. “Okay!”
The next morning, the two stepped into the great forest. The entry of the forest was far behind them after a few minutes of walking.
The densely overgrown flora made everything dark even in the middle of the day, as the sun’s rays were filtered by the canopy of trees above. The ground was uneven, making it hard to walk on, and it was hard to progress in a straight line. Rio and Latifa used their natural physical abilities to continue along the pathless route easily.
There were trees and plants as far as the eye could see — similar scenery could be seen no matter which way they turned. Normally, one would immediately lose their sense of direction and struggle to find their way out, but Rio didn’t hesitate in his footsteps at all. Occasionally, he would climb to the top of a tall tree and double-check their direction, adjusting it as they went. Seeing Rio’s reliable figure like that made all of Latifa’s anxieties fade away.
Still, they did encountered several wild beasts on the road.
For example, a pack of intelligent and persistent wolves and a four-meter-long tiger-like animal with fangs as sharp as blades made an appearance, but the two travelers were able to drive them away with Rio’s power. After progressing for the whole day, their first day of forest exploration ended without occurrence.
The incident occurred on the second day of their forest stay.
“Onii-chan... it’s really faint, but I can smell the scent of something unfamiliar around here. Multiple different scents.”
In the dark forest, night fell quickly. It was almost time for them to search for a camping spot when Latifa informed Rio, twitching her nose as she did so.
“...And it isn’t anything you’ve smelled until now?”
“Yup! I remember all the scents of the beasts we met since entering the forest. It isn’t as strong as the others, so it might not be a beast? But that may be because the scent is weak...? I wonder...” Latifa tilted her head in confusion.
“Then the owner of the scent isn’t anywhere nearby, right?”
“Probably. Yeah, I think so.”
“Then we’ll rest around here for today. We’re almost at our destination soon anyway.”
“Really? We’ll finally be out of the forest!” Latifa grinned happily, whereas Rio smiled with a slightly troubled expression.
That night, the two of them squeezed into their narrow shelter like always, lying down side by side.
“Onii-chan, can I hold your hand?”
“Sure,” Rio replied, offering his hand in spite of the strained smile on his face.
Once their hands were linked, Latifa was able to get a calm night’s sleep. When she didn’t, she would sometimes start crying in the middle of the night.
“Ehehe. Good night, Onii-chan.” Latifa said, falling asleep not long after.
After he was sure she was asleep, Rio closed his eyes too. As he slowly slipped into the land of sleep, he stretched a part of his awareness around them so that he could react to any abnormalities nearby.
Then, several hours later...
Rio snapped his eyes open.
He looked to his side and saw Latifa in a deep sleep. Gently prying his hand away from her, he removed the makeshift door to their tent entrance and went outside. There was a strange, restless feeling in his chest for some reason, but the forest was pitch black, and there were no signs of other living creatures around. Their surroundings were almost terrifyingly quiet.
Suddenly, a cold wind blew against his skin; today was chillier than usual. He started a campfire near the entrance of the shelter so that Latifa wouldn’t catch a cold.
“Onii-chan...?” Latifa’s nervous voice could be heard from inside the tent.
“I’m right here. Go to sleep.”
Rio stroked Latifa’s head and spoke gently to her. To give her a peaceful rest without crying during the night, he manipulated his essence to imitate sleep magic.
With a weary sigh, Rio looked up at the sky. He couldn’t see that far, even with the campfire and his night-adjusted vision, but he could spy a sky full of stars through the gaps of the trees.
With his sleepiness completely faded, Rio warmed himself up by the campfire and boiled some water to drink. The flames flickered, illuminating his face. As he prodded the dying embers with a stick, a soft wind brushed gently against his body.
Hm? Rio turned in the direction the wind blew from.
There stood a single silver wolf; it was huge — easily several meters from head to tail.
Just when did it get so close?!
Rio grit his teeth, then jumped to his feet, drawing his sword from its scabbard. The silver wolf in front of him showed absolutely no signs of the ferocity expected from a beast; its presence was incredibly weak. Despite its wolf shape, there was something unnatural about it — almost like it didn’t exist.
Rio fixed his eyes on the silver wolf, unwilling to let it out of his sights. It felt like the moment he let his eyes drift, the wolf would disperse into nothing.
Suddenly, the silver wolf began to glow; a torrent of light spread throughout its surroundings. White flooded Rio’s vision, making him shut his eyes involuntarily.
Oh, no... it’s got my sight — just as that thought passed through his mind, Rio felt multiple presences appear around him, one after another.
They were hiding! Are they demi-humans?! How did they know we were here?
Despite his surprise, Rio calmly analyzed his current situation. But even as he was doing that, the demi-human group continued to approach.
Time was up — he didn’t have any more time to think.
Rio lightly stomped on the ground, flooding essence into the surrounding dirt. The dirt around the shelter rose out of the ground, forming a wall where Latifa was sleeping. He could tell the attackers were slightly confused by the way they stirred in response, but they weren’t naive enough to let their guard down just like that.
Rio’s vision had yet to recover, but he could tell they had completely surrounded him. He sensed that one of them was rapidly approaching him, which prompted him to dodge by jumping to the side. As soon as he proved that he could respond to the surprise attack even while blinded, the air around the attackers intensified at once.
Rio raised his defenses even more.
He might have managed to evade the first attack, but his vision was still blurry, and he didn’t have a read on the opponent’s strength — anyone could tell that this situation was bad. His only saving grace was the fact that they were aiming to capture him alive... probably. After all, there were countless other ways they could have approached him if they intended on killing him.
Which meant that negotiation should be possible.
With that in mind, Rio opened his mouth — but the first presence who had attacked him clicked their tongue impatiently and launched a second attack.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Rio called out in a rush, but his opponent showed no sign of stopping. Left with no other choice, Rio prepared to activate another magic-mimicking abnormal ability, keeping the intensity of the situation in check.
It wasn’t an offensive technique: it was an imitation of Zona Revelare magic that allowed him to pour his essence into his surroundings and detect reacting essence, much like a sonar. His true aim was to use it as a temporary substitute for his lost vision. He’d be able to detect the numbers and positions of his opponents.
“Uzuma, stand back! This guy is using some kind of spirit art!”
A girl standing on the edge of the circle surrounding Rio — who appeared to be the same age as him, with long silver-blonde hair and wolf ears poking out of her head — shouted in a language Rio didn’t understand. In response to the first girl’s voice, the girl named Uzuma — who appeared to be in her mid-twenties and sprouted beautiful bird wings from her back — froze in her approach.
“It’s all right... it’s just a spirit art that detects nearby ode!” Another girl in the circle — also similar in age to Rio but with magnificently long, emerald-gold hair and somewhat rounded elf ears — immediately chimed in.
“He shouldn’t be able to see yet, but it would be wise to assume he knows our numbers and positions now. Good grief...” a short girl standing next to the elf murmured with a sigh. She looked to be a bit younger than Rio, with fiery, short, red hair, and dwarf ears similar in shape to those of the other girl’s.
I don’t know what they’re saying, but the atmosphere’s changed slightly. This is my chance.
Having made that judgment, Rio took the opportunity to start a conversation with the intention of buying time.
“Wait, please! Are you people demi-humans? If so, I wish to speak with you.”
Everyone present frowned in reaction to the word “demi-humans.”
“Lady Sara, humans are vile plunderers. He may look like a child, but he had the skill to make it this deep into this territory. He must certainly be up to no good,” Uzuma advised in a strict tone, looking towards the silver werewolf girl named Sara.
“...I know. However, we need to know what his goal is,” Sara said, furrowing her brow uneasily.
“In that case, we should assume the worst and immediately restrain him. He can explain his story after that. We already have reason to believe he has kidnapped one of our own, after all,” Uzuma stubbornly insisted.
“...Orphia, are there any essence reactions other than us in the area?” After considering Uzuma’s words, Sara looked at the elf girl named Orphia.
“Yes, one within that dirt wall. It’s not moving, so it could be a magic artifact.”
“But if it’s one of our own, there’s the possibility he may use them as a hostage,” Uzuma said coldly in response to Orphia’s words. Sara and the others grimaced faintly, increasing the tension of the situation.
Meanwhile...
I don’t know what they’re saying, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to communicate. Should I tell them about Latifa immediately? No... it’d be a problem if there was speciesism between demi-humans. At worse, they could turn this place into a battlefield. I should just wait for my vision to recover...
Completely left out of their conversation, Rio passively observed them without interrupting. If he proactively disclosed information to them, there was the possibility they’d accept her into their protection immediately — but that was just his wishful thinking.
Latifa was born between a human and werebeast, so there was the possibility she would be discriminated against, and she could be treated as an enemy by other demi-humans for being a werefox, too.
With Rio not in the best of conditions, he had no choice but to go with the safer plan. Because of that, his vision was gradually recovering, and he could see much clearer than before.
During that time, Sara and the others finished their conversation.
“Then as our representative, I shall approach and distract him with conversation. Orphia, could you ask Ariel to search inside the dirt wall? Alma will support you. If one of our own is within, we must save them no matter what.”
“You got it, Sara!”
“Understood, Miss Sara.”
The elf girl named Orphia and dwarf girl named Alma each nodded in response to Sara’s orders.
“Uzuma, you make the necessary preparations to restrain that boy at a moment’s notice.”
“Understood,” Uzuma acknowledged Sara’s order eagerly.
After they laid out the simple plan of action, Sara carefully approached Rio.
“...I shall accept your request to speak. However, I ask that you do not refer to us by the slur ‘demi-humans,’” Sara said in a slightly accented tone, using the common language of the Strahl region.
“Thank you very much for accepting my request. With regard to using that name, I sincerely apologize for my unintended rudeness. However, there is no word in the language of Strahl that can be used in the stead of the generic term for your people... I would have to refer to you separately as elf, dwarf, and werebeast. Thus, if it’s not too much trouble, could you please inform me of the individual species of everyone here?”
Rio offered words of gratitude and apology in a respectful tone, including a question to gather more information, too.
“...I am a silver wolf werebeast, and our group here consists of many species including, elves and dwarves. When referring to us as a group, please call us spirit folk,” Sara explained.
“I see. Thank you for clarifying that for me.”
Hearing they consisted of many species made Rio chuckle to himself. That lowered the possibility of speciesism amongst demi-humans considerably. All he had left to worry about was the human blood that flowed through Latifa.
“Sara, there’s a werebeast child in here! She was made to sleep through spirit arts!” The elf named Orphia yelled loudly, once again using the language Rio didn’t understand.
Uzuma, who had been next to Rio and ready to jump and restrain him at a moment’s notice, swelled with anger immediately. She leaped at Rio from the side, and drove her fist into his abdomen without holding back. Since he didn’t expect their conversation to be interrupted by an attack, Rio’s reaction was delayed. He absorbed the punch by jumping back, but he wasn’t able to completely defend against it. He hovered there after being blown several meters into the air, then landed on the ground and rolled away.
“Uzuma, I didn’t order anything yet! You’ve gone too far! My command was to restrain him. Were you trying to kill him?!” Sara scolded Uzuma for acting brashly.
“His true strength was unknown, and he had enhanced his physical body with spirit arts. That’s why I merely took the safest route. I may have knocked him out, but there’s no danger to his l—”
“Watch out, he’s using some kind of spirit art!” Alma — who was the dwarf of the group — yelled in the middle of Uzuma’s explanation.
“What?!” Uzuma reacted swiftly, looking in Rio’s direction. Rio was stumbling to his feet with a hand pressed against his stomach. A nasty sheen of sweat had broken out on his forehead.
“It’s a healing spirit art.”
“Tch, I’ll knock him out!”
Once Orphia accurately guessed the spirit art Rio was using, Uzuma rushed at Rio once more. In her hand, she grasped a short spear.
“Hey, wait a minute! What’s the meaning of this?! Kuh!” Rio yelled as he drew his sword and stopped Uzuma’s attack. A sharp pain shot through his stomach, making his face twist.
“I apologize for attacking out of the blue. However, we have confirmed that one of our kind is within that dirt wall. Because we suspect you of kidnapping one of our own, I will now proceed to restrain you for interrogation purposes. Please refrain from resisting!” Sara explained with a bitter expression, almost as though this wasn’t her true intention.
“This is a misunderstanding! That child is under my care—”
“No one would believe the words of a human, much less those of a kidnapper. Give it up!”
Even as Sara and Rio conversed, Uzuma didn’t let up on her attacks. She continued to swing her spear, overwhelming him. On the other hand, having suffered a lot of damage to his abdomen, and having yet to completely recover his vision, Rio’s movements were becoming rather sluggish. It was the worst possible situation.
“I didn’t kidnap that girl... Just listen to what I have to say! ...W-What?!”
After narrowly dealing with Uzuma’s attack, Rio’s feet were caught by something that had him come to a complete standstill. When he looked down, he could see the vague shape of dirt sticking out of the ground, unnaturally restraining his feet.
“Tch, your help was unnecessary.”
Uzuma muttered something, glancing at one of the spirit folk in the circle behind her unhappily. The older dwarf woman was kneeling with her hands pressed against the ground. Uzuma spun the spear in her hands before launching a single blow at Rio with all her might. Rio received the attack straight on.
What ridiculous strength! The impact was stronger than anything he had ever felt until now, sending the sword clutched in his hands flying away.
“Gah...!” Rio felt a sharp, agonizing pain run through his entire body like lightning. Uzuma had placed her hand against his body and released a high voltage current of electricity. With his body paralyzed, Rio’s vision soon darkened as he collapsed onto the ground. The last thing he saw was Orphia’s panicked figure running towards him, and the stern glares of the spirit folk looking down on him.
