“Anyone care to fill me in?” I am pretty lost.

“Ah, when I first became a hunter, I apprenticed under Yorgar here. What I want explained is… How are you still looking the same? And you have an even older brother?” Derby is stroking his mustache. Seeing this action gives of a feeling that I myself want one, but I am not growing any hear on my face at all.

“Huh?” Something is wrong here. “Isn’t it obvious he’s a dryad?”

“Ah” Yorgar who was having trouble responding looks panicked as I suggest it. Did I do something wrong?

“What’s a dryad?” Derby inquires. Oh. Wait, what? I look at Yorgar, which he takes as a queue to continue the conversation. Thank god, I was constantly fucking things up.

“We are a race thought to be extinct among humans” He says. “We leave virtually forever and are made of wood, and are often the most skillful magic users in any given room” I see Derby’s eyes widening.

“Why keep such a thing secret? Is that the reason you disappeared all of a sudden?” Derby sounds a little emotional.

“Well, the reason we went extinct is…” I know this, so I take over as he trails off.

“If a gift user kills a dryad, they receive part of their mana vessel. Meaning you can hunt them to get stronger. There was a whole nation in the past, but it was massacred to bolster human strength”

Yorgar nods to affirm my explanation. He probably heard it from the dryad that taught them.

“And how old are the two of you?”

“I animated 300 years ago” Yorgar explains.

“And I don’t know how old I am… At least 800 years old”

“I see. I thought you were abnormal from the start, hunter Yos, but to think you were a dryad.” Ah, well, I guess it is better to let him believe that rather than knowing the actual reason. Yorgar doesn’t correct it either.

“So please, keep our secret” Yorgar says. “We don’t want people to hunt us again.”

“On one condition” The middle-aged man says. So, he’s aiming to get something out of this. I start wondering if I should just end him for safety’s sake, if his demands are too brazen.

“You two are going somewhere right? Let me join you!”

“Huh?” Both Yorgar and I express in unison.

“Can you do that? Aren’t you the branch leader?” I ask, but he puts on a smile as he answers.

“Sure, but that was just a few years of corporate climbing and I am already sick of being stuck in a small town like this, unable to achieve more. I wish to go out, having an adventure again, and I sure feel like I will find it with my old master, that turns out to be an immortal, magic man!” He laughs heavily thereafter.

Yorgar is perplexed, but he already brought me along, so isn’t it fine? After a bit of chatting and discussing, we decide to pick him up tomorrow morning.

We spent a few hours after that to pick up supplies. Fruits and vegetables treated for long-term storage, alongside dried, salted meat. I once again run home, this time with Yorgard riding my shoulders like a kid.

The next day, we put all our supplies, our clothes and our keg of water into the cart. I suddenly feel reluctance in leaving. I pretty much built this place, and slowly made it what it was today. It might not have been much, but it was entirely the fruit of my own effort.

With Amina, Yorgar and our stuff loaded in the cart, I drag it at a reasonable pace. I really wanted to go all out, but this thing isn’t really made for such speeds. I would be afraid that I couldn’t break or turn in time for something important. It is still much faster than other carriage or cart travel I have seen though.

We pull up to Honecker, where Derby is waiting outside, already with a massive backpack. When we first told Amina we would have another participant, she became somewhat scared, but as I pull the cart from Yorgar’s directions, it seems all three in the back are having a splendid time. I am somewhat jealous, but it can’t be helped. We would be moving way to slow if we had to depend on the physical strength of the others, especially Amina.

Yorgar finds himself explaining dryads in the back of the cart. That they’re living trees, formed by wood, weight little, have low physical prowess and excellent magic.

Derby quickly spots the contradiction. “Wasn’t Yos a dryad too? How come he is so strong?”

“Ah” I quickly conjure something up. “I am actually not strong, but I am really good at bestowal magic. I am constantly applying it to my whole body!” I say. “It gives off the illusion of being really strong!” I hope he is buying it. I am fine spilling my secret to Yorgar, and it seems he trusts Derby, but if I trust him simply by that, I could also trust those Derby trust and just spill my secret to the whole world. Doesn’t feel safe.

“But still” Yorgar says. “This is really fast. We may make the trip that took me months in a week or too?” Huh, guess I am something really fast. Should I start a taxi service?