Mash broke through dense foliage as he made his way back towards Jill. He let the transformation drop now too, not wanting to waste the energy if he didn’t need to. Honestly, using it during the fight had been unnecessary. He had been pretty narrowminded in his pursuit of those bird monsters, which after some thought, he realized he recognized.

They were called crows if he recalled the name correctly. It was common folklore that those black-feathered birds were the harbingers of disaster. Normally, he would dismiss that as nonsense, but the fact that he had personally seen them, made him think that a disaster was imminent. His very presence was probably a harbinger of disaster at this point, and maybe the crows were just trying to fly towards him.

He would talk to Jill about it after dealing with the situation. Another precaution he would take was telling his brother to be on the lookout for anything big and mention the monsters. His brother knew of what the World Carrier had told Mash and would probably understand.

Finally, arriving at the group, he saw four adventurers standing defensively around something. Not to mention they were glaring at Jill, obviously hostile for some reason. The hostility surprised him, considering that she had saved their lives. Whatever they were guarding must be pretty important. However, they weren’t a threat to Jill, let alone Mash. The fact that they couldn’t handle those pests was enough to show that fact.

His arrival was louder than he anticipated as the leaves and grass, that he needed to push through, acted as an alarm. He tried giving them a friendly smile and speaking in an amicable manner.

“Hello, are you guys alright?”

His words or maybe his expression, only made them get more defensive. Inspecting them, he wondered if they recognized him.

It was a group of four people, all of which looked a few years older than Mash. There were three guys and one girl in the group. All of them wore dull green leather armor and had hoods that obscured a lot of their face. He could still make out a few details, and he was a bit surprised to see how similar they all looked. They all had the same black hair and dark brown eyes. Their eyes were sunken in, and they had deep bags around them. He assumed they had been short on rest. Mash guessed that they were a family. Were all of them Siblings?

After getting a good look at them, he realized that they were probably more than just a few years older than him. It struck him as strange since he had been about to talk down to them. He changed what he was going to say next trying to be a bit more respectful.

“I’m Mash and this is Jill, we were out here looking for monsters. Do you guys need some help getting back to town?”

By the time he had finished speaking, he had shuffled beside Jill. She looked at him, and he thought he saw a smile flash across her face. It vanished a moment later. She started whispering something to him but got cut off before getting a single word out.

“What are you whispering about?”

It was the lone girl in the group who spoke. They were very paranoid about something and, he wished that they were standing within his draconic domain. Honestly, he really wanted the item that they were hiding to be in it, but they would obviously overreact if he stepped closer. It wasn’t like he planned on stealing the item or anything along those lines, he was just curious. Trying to think of the best way to deal with their paranoia, he said some words that he never imagined he would say.

“Don’t you guys recognize me?”

He made a show of his family’s emblem on his shirt. The symbol was directly on his chest, being in the same place a badge would be. They would be able to see it and should at least be able to recognize him based on his family. Some of them seemed to know it, but the girl spoke again, and they held their position.

“It could be a trick, you looked completely different at the start of the fight.”

Despite her paranoia, Mash thought that was some sound reasoning. There were plenty of skills that would let people imitate one another, and Mash and his family were a good target for that. While most people couldn’t match what his family could do, they were also a new family, and not many people knew anything other than the name. Mash didn’t really want to deal with these people either. So, rather than responding to them, he spoke to Jill.

“Let’s just leave them alone, we got better things to do.”

Then he turned and pointed behind the other group before Jill could respond.

“We need to go that way so could you move to the side or something.”

As Mash hoped, the group merely shuffled closer to the item, rather than moving it. Without giving them any other warning Mash started walking in the direction he had indicated earlier. It was out of range of a simple attack but was still well within the range of his draconic domain. Thankfully, Jill was smart enough to realize what he was doing and followed beside him.

Passing by the group, he was able to get a good grasp of their strength and the item they were trying to hide. Mash tried his best to keep his expression flat when he sensed the item, but it was a struggle. The mana around it was disgusting. It wasn’t inherently evil, but it made him want to gag. He never even knew that mana could feel gross. It felt like he was tasting it, and he had to hold back the urge to vomit.

Was it cursed? How did something even feel like that? The object was also obscured when he tried to get more details from his skill. Normally, the sense would give him a general idea of what the item could do, but he couldn’t tell much more than the shape currently. It was a circular object, though there were bumps scattered randomly across his surface. Whatever it was, it was probably a dangerous item.

Once they got out of sight of the group, Mash sighed both in relief and annoyance at the encounter.

“Well, what do you know?”

Jill’s voice was filled with eagerness, and she had an “I told you so” look splayed across her face. But she was right about running into danger, and he gave her a snide response.

“I know three things. The first is that you’re an ass, and the second is that the item is super gross. The final thing I know is that you’re going to want to follow them. I don’t disagree either, whatever that thing is it was dangerous and was something they shouldn’t have been able to get on their own. Just give me one second.”

Mash formed an imitation of Priscilla, one that was as small as a garden snake. After which, he took out a piece of paper from his storage space and wrote a quick note on it. Finally, he formed a wooden clip and placed the paper inside before attaching it to the replica so that it would look like a collar. He sent it towards the city. He had tested this at a much smaller range with his brother, but Priscilla had hinted that there wasn’t really a range limitation, so he thought it would work. Still, it would take an hour or two for the wooden creation to get there.

“Well, let’s follow them.”

Jill nodded while watching the snake scurry away, speaking as she turned to where the group was.

“Sending a message is a good idea. How are we going to follow them?”

“I can turn invisible, and I guess I will come and get you afterward.”

She seemed angry by his words, though she smiled soon after, handing him one of her rings.

“The rings are connected, and I can trace it if you hold onto it. Unless you need to be naked for the invisibility?”

Mash responded quickly, not letting her get a rise out of him.

“No, it’s a type of light magic and will work just fine.”

He snatched the ring, using a transformation he had only tested briefly. It was of the lizard thing from the forest labyrinth. Highly reflective thin scales grew over his body. He could tell that the scales were multicolored, but others would just see them as reflecting the colors of what was around him.

Mash was certain his best skill was monstrous humanity. It was what he had been relying on to overcome the need for training. The skill would quickly adapt him to any new techniques or skills he gained, and like an animal would let him take advantage of his body. That was not even mentioning that it let him instinctively know how to perform some things with his transformations. Like the flight with the cat form, he knew how to become invisible with this form.

As the light obscured his presence, he could tell that Jill could still see him. He knew it wasn’t perfect invisibility, but he hoped it wouldn’t be that easy.

“That’s pretty convenient, and with their levels, I don’t think they will be able to spot you.”

Jill seemed to think it would work though, and he moved to trail the group. He didn’t get close, instead, following from pretty far away. He was far enough away that he wouldn’t hear them if they whispered, but close enough that he could vaguely understand them if they talked normally. Not that it mattered, considering they didn’t say a single word. In fact, they didn’t even move from where the fight had been for almost an hour. Mash’s energy wouldn’t be infinite, so he tried something he really should’ve tested before.

He tried using his inhuman hibernation skill while transformed and staying invisible. As an added precaution he hid behind some trees before testing them. It wouldn’t be a huge problem if he was discovered. It would just mean that he would need to detain them and leave the ultimate decision to his brother. Technically what he was doing was beyond what was allowed by the rules, but this situation would probably be fine.

He was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn’t need to. Sitting with his back against the tree, he was able to meditate while he waited for the group to start moving. Mash felt that the imitation of Priscilla had arrived. It probably would’ve been better to send one of Priscilla’s real bodies, but he had grown too familiar with the improvements they offered. It would take a little time to adjust to missing the benefits, especially considering how much they boosted her own capabilities too.

It was only after the message had been delivered did the group started moving. The timing was so perfect, that it was like they were waiting for it. That didn’t make any sense though, and he dismissed it as a coincidence. They headed south, towards one of the exits of the forest. Trying to remember what he knew of the map, he hoped they didn’t leave the forest but couldn’t be certain. If they left, it would be much harder to hide, even with his invisibility.

The forest also made it easier to track them. A group that large needed to push or cut grass and leaves and left a very obvious trail. He thought that people as paranoid as them would go out of their way to hide their path, but maybe they were a bit too panicked to think properly. Having seen them jump at even the smallest bugs and animals, he thought the latter was probably the case.

Mash got lucky, and they didn’t leave the forest. Instead, they used the edge of the forest to hide them from the road on the other side. They scuttled nearby the road, and he assumed they were using it for directions. Once they were moving along the road, he finally heard them start talking a little. It sounded like they were getting close to wherever they needed to be. Mash could feel the imitation of Priscilla returning to him and knew that the knights were on their way. Whatever ended up happening, it was certain to be big.