Before me stood a youth.

A boy around my age—11, maybe 12 or 13. He was taller than I, but I'm a bit short for my age.

He wore a vigilant expression—as though he were ready to fight here and now—and behind him were children of varying ages.

Their attire would scream rich kids, were it not for how shredded and torn their clothes was, and they looked hardly dignified, showing signs of stress and lack of sleep. Their clothes were dirty, and many had what barely amounted to rags.

I knew neither of these children, but I continued to smile at the boy who took center stage, and got into a stance, as if to protect the dozen or two children behind him. The oldest of the group stood further back with his hand at the sword on his hip, ready to draw if something went wrong. Even he was only about 17 or so, but it looked like his intention was only to protect a young girl at his side.

Putting two and two together, I can only assume that they've been running from something. For several days even. They were still being chased. Even now, it looks like they expect someone to be chasing them. It didn't seem like they were use to hiking through forest. But what direction are they going? Where did they come from?

Judging by the wind, and how their scent was carried... they came from... north?

So they've only been in the forest for a short period of time—I doubt they'd make it out on the other side alive.

But then, that would mean...

My day started as usual. After "training" a bit by running, I continued to play with my unique ability. I've yet to really tell anyone about it, but I think Yenna has an understanding of what it is.

After a few hours, I dried myself off, and went to read some books.

At some point, Yenna came by, grabbed my tail, and pull me towards the group of children I often spend time with. It's a small village, so these nearly two dozen kids are the only people in my age group, and because of that most people in the village knows everyone else.

Often times we play games that could be described as a sport, but occasionally I bring up an idea to play a game from my past life.

Today I told them about "hide and seek".

However, only a few of the kids could actually count any further than 20 or even 10, so I decided to count for them, and not actually take part in the games. Basically, I decided to supervise the game. I would count for whoever is "it", and when they left to look for the others I would check up on them to make sure they're safe.

There were no monsters in this area of the forest. This is because many of them have been hunted down, and the rest are smart enough to stay back. Unlike monsters though, normal wild animals don't quite have the intelligence to stay away from human villages, so I decided to protect the kids in that event.

However, as the second round of the game was ending, I checked on the boy who was it, only to see him and one other boy being held down by a strange group of children.

From what I could deduce, Rojji—the boy who was it—found Ken's hiding spot, but as he did, the third party ended up discovered as they were trying to hike through.

Using that information, it's reasonable to guess that this group didn't want to be found.

"Let the two boys go, you lot," I announced my presence as I closed in on the group. However, it didn't seem this group was open to just talk.

A scorching hot trail of white blocked my path as I approached the group. It took me a moment to realize that what blocked me was fire. A flame so hot that it burned white.

I took a step back at the sight of this, and the flame vanished as I did. Looking over the group, I saw one boy ready to fight me. His stance resembled a martial artist sort of stance, but it didn't quite look well trained. He was certainly use to the stance, but it had many openings that even I could see. Was he the one who summoned that flame?

"Run away Toya!" Rojji shouted, as he got his mouth free from the grasp of one of the people holding him down. Honestly, this looked like a gang of kids bullying two weaker kids. But it wasn't so simple, was it?

"Rojji, there's no need to worry about me," I said calmly as I smiled at the boy.

"So, you're a magician I take it?" I asked the boy confronting me, as my tail flowed freely behind me.

The boy seemed to momentarily flinch at my question, before replying with "How do you know I'm not just a Fay or Spirit?"

"You smell like a human?" I said, tilting my head. He certainly smelled like a human. However, there were two non-humans in their group. Two girls hidden behind some of the kids. They probably didn't think I saw them, but I at least caught a glimpse of them. And their stench is obvious, considering none of these kids have taken a bath in quite some time.

"I said let the two boys go," I decided to repeat myself.

"We can't do that. They saw us. You saw us! You'll tell them we were here!" He said frantically.

"Do you truly believe you can take me on?" I said with a grin, trying to bluff my way out of this fight. I had confidence I could kill him—but I didn't quite want to do that. I wanted to restrain him, and talk things out.

"You—" Just as the boy was about to blurt something out, he was interrupted from behind.

"Aniel, stop!" A girl stepped forward—the one with a bodyguard to her side. "That's a Fox Spirit; you can't kill her or bad things might happen!" She said.

The girl who stopped him—a dignified girl who I would probably call a Princess, were it not for the splotches of dirt that littered her body. Actually, going by what I'm seeing, she just might actually be a Princess.

Still, even royalty holds such superstitions about Spirits, huh? The nobles in back also seem anxious by my sudden appearance. However the boy up front—does he not know or not care about such superstitions?

"We can't risk being tailed, dammit," He said with shaking fists, as a trail of blue flame sparked into existence and floated around his wrist. "I'll get rid of them, and then we'll move on," He said in a shaky voice, as if to convince himself.

"Boy, you understand that even an amateur could track your group through these woods," I finally spoke up. "Killing me will earn you nothing," I said as my smile broadened.

They were scared. The boy, Aniel, had no idea what to do. He didn't want to kill me—I could tell. But his situation called for it. To remove witnesses, which knew he and his friends passed through here.

That meant, that whoever was chasing them was not a monster, but a person. A group of people maybe. Is he afraid of them? Maybe, but I wonder if he's already killed?

What interested me most about him was his magic, though.

Magicians took advantage of naturally existing magic to adapt to their purposes.

However there was a limit on what can be converted into a "magic item". Because of a Dragon's physiology, it was possible to kill one, remove its tongue, process it, and still be able to utilize the magical ability of the dragon, to convert mana into fire.

But a Dragon's fire only spews forth flame like a flamethrower. Something like pyrokinesis shouldn't be possible through that method. It's not like it's possible to do this method with just any creature though. Human sorcerers have tried and failed to reproduce various magics, using the body parts of fallen monsters and even fay.

This boy, he's controlling the flames with such accurate movements, bending it and—!?

—"I suggest you cease your magic," I declared with a frown.

This boy—he was also controlling the air? I can't tell what he's doing—I can only make guesses based on the shift in the winds and the whirl of smells—but if I had to guess, he's trying to isolate my breathing air, so he can snatch it away in an instant, if he has to.

But he didn't listen to me. He's not in the mood to talk to me. But it seems he understands—the more he talks to me—the more I become more human to him—the less willing he is to kill me.

It can't be helped. I'll switch conversation partners.

"Princess, lets negotiate," I called out, ignoring the boy, and looking towards the girl. I stepped forward, ignoring the glare Aniel threw me. As I did, he conjured forth a torrent of blazing white fire which encompassed me in an instant.

—but it was far too slow.

A moment later, he fell to the ground, and I was already at his side.

It's obvious that he couldn't react to that sort of crazy speed.

Or rather, it's impossible to react, when the enemy has the ability to stop time.

Author Notes:

Look, it's Toya's first ability!

Also the plot~!?

But yeah, maybe expect a sudden drop in quality? I dunno. At least, the tone will probably shift kinda dramatically. I'll try to keep a lot of cheery and fluffy parts though. Toya isn't really a combat oriented individual.

Just consider this segment a more serious arc.

That said, I'm wondering whether or not to have Toya join this group.

On the one hand, it'll push the story along towards adventure and exploring the world with a cast. More world building sooner rather than later.

On the other hand, the tone will change, and may not suit what most readers are reading this story for.

I'll make a poll, though people can still post their thoughts in the comments.