~ K-66-66, East Edge of the Main Continent

The three party members looked a little confused. Maybe it was because of his strange name, or his strangely polite attitude, his strange white clothing, or maybe it was his beautiful hair that reflected the sunlight that shone through the clearing in the forest like diamonds. Nonetheless, everything about him was a mystery to them.

“Yes I know it’s a rather strange name, but that’s not the problem here right? Looks like you have wasted a trap on me and have nothing to eat… Hmm I think I remembered there was a herd of rabbits from where I came from…”

“Wait... did you say clawed rabbits?”

“Where is it boy?”

“That’s our ticket to home! We searched for one whole week, and couldn’t find anything!”

Earth snickered a little, one could tell from a glance that he is already formulating plans in his head.

He then followed the party to where the lousy pit trap was, and then led the way back where he came from, partly thanks to his tracks from the ground and his photographic memory. He sang a happy tune while walking through the forest, contrary to the party members who were more wary and cautious.

He reached the place where he first stepped on, a little clearing near the cliff with a flag standing proud, fluttering in the breeze. The party members were a little confused about the flag, it was made up of some shiny white metal and had a design they had never seen before.

“Ahh there they are!”, Earth exclaimed, pointing at the herd of dangerously clawed rabid rabbits. It was a good chance for him to see their fighting capabilities. The party members turned away from examining and probing the flag, and focused themselves on the herd of rabbits.

“Let’s get the job done fast.”

The three members, slowly and carefully moved towards the herd, suppressing their aura. Their presence could hardly be felt at all.

Mare whispered. “There are four of them, one seems to be somewhere else.”

She stopped at a distance from the herd, and kneeled on the ground, concentrating. Jax also stopped to apply buffs on Ceris, whose armour and sword seems to glow a little. She took on a striking position, ready to launch into the enemy, with her swords faced forward, pointing towards the herd of rabbits.

Mare suddenly plunged her staff on the ground, and the roots and vines on the ground immediately wrapped itself around the four rabbits and at the same time, Ceris also launched into battle with an unnatural speed that does not fit one wearing a full set of iron armour. The first swing with her swords cleanly severed the first rabbit’s head, then swung her body around to the one on her left, both swords cutting off the second rabbit’s head.

The other two rabbits then tried to run, but was unable to due to the roots and vines trapping them. They couldn’t even claw out their way out. Their eyes started to glow even redder and their bodies struggle even harder. Looks like the both of them were going berserk, but Ceris quickly ended their lives with a swing of her swords in both directions.

Earth nodded, noting their fighting capabilities and teamwork, but the party did not let down their guard, but instead became even more cautious. Mare closed her eyes while concentrating on her staff that is plunged on the ground, as if searching for enemies.

Mare, as if shocked, pointed at Earth, or rather behind him, shouting, “THERE! IT’S BEHIND THE BOY!”

She quickly shot a fireball at the ominous figure with bright red glowing eyes behind Earth, who was just turning around. The figure pounced towards Earth. He was shocked a little, but quickly ducked as if everything was in slow motion. The berserk rabbit missed clawing his head by a centimetre, and its body was met by the boy’s fist. Earth did an uppercut while ducking, as crazy an idea it may be.

Well, he immediately regretted it when the fireball hit his back instead.

…

I woke up again, though this time my head hurts a little bit more and the right side of my chest felt weird… as if there was something there. Actually, my whole body feels weird, like the breeze is gathering in my chest… wait. I am gathering MANA! Woaah! It seems that the fireball was the catalyst to developing my own organ. Looks like it wasn’t the fireball that knocked me unconscious, but the process of my brain, brainstorming (quite literally) and creating my very own mana-gathering organ. I yet again nod at my wondrous creation.

Then I realized. I am tied up again on a skewer. Though this time we are on some kind of carriage? The Ceris, Jax and Mare are sitting on the bench of the open-aired carriage opposite me, with a small bag beside their feet, along with the iron armour and weapons. Looks like they really have something against skewers or are just very hungry. The occasional shaking from the carriage on the rough countryside road just makes it all the more uncomfortable. This road seems to border between the forest and the plains, which for as far as I can see from my position, stretches all the way to the horizon. The grass flutters peacefully in the wind, like fluffy fur. What peaceful plains.

“Oh, you woke up. It was quite the move you did there, ducking and uppercutting that rabbit. Though that was pretty stupid since you got hit by that fireball. Jax patched you up, but he said something about your wound healing faster than normal… though he couldn’t fix the large hole in your erm… white coat? And also why are you not wearing anything inside the coat?”

“I er… escaped from bad people and they took away my clothes. And then I found this coat somewhere. Yeah somewhere…”, I hastily replied, dodging the question and thinking of some background for myself on the spot. I silently prayed for them not to question about my lab coat.

“What a poor kid. Must be the slavers from the Zekiel Empire. Lucky how he escaped from them and managed to survive…”, Ceris whispered to the other two. Though they are whispering, I can hear them quite clearly.

“What are we going to do with him once we reached the capital?”, Jax whispered back.

“Yeah just drop me in the capital, I’ll manage somehow. Maybe some money for helping to find the herd too…”, I cut in on their ‘little’ conversation. Thinking about it, I also have no idea about the currency in this world.

“Oh erm I’m sorry about the slaves… but are you sure you can survive on your own?”

“Yeah it’s fine. I’ll make a living by myself... I don’t want to be a burden after all…”

“No, it’s not fine. It’s not good for a young boy like you to wander around the capital by yourself. It’s dangerous out there. Come live with me, I’ve got nothing to do now anyway. My granddaughters are far away from here, so it’s not like you’ll be a trouble.”, Mare replied with a slightly sad tone.

I nodded, since I needed a base of operations for my magic ‘experiments’. I did my calculations and this seems like the best choice for now...

“Ahh there it is in the distance. That’s the capital Marth, of Magire Kingdom. Don’t worry, the people there are good and I am good friends with the king too.”, Mare convinced me, really thinking that I escaped from slaves. But hey, I’m not really lying, I did escape from ‘bad guys’ called boredom.

I stretched my head out from the skewer, trying to get a view of the capital. The capital slowly reveals itself as the carriage went over a small hill. The magnificent capital has high brick walls, covering everything behind it except for the higher areas, as if built on a hill. In the middle is a rather strange looking pyramid, which I assume to be the palace. The capital is quite huge, really, spanning approximately 6 kilometres in diameter, all enclosed in a circular wall. Littered outside of the walls in the plains are what it seems to be farmland, and several farm houses. The right side of the road still extends the forest, where it eventually turns left and around the capital walls. Now that I’m closer, I could see a moat extending around the castle wall. I nod, acknowledging the efforts went into constructing this beautiful capital.

Not long after, we reached the capital gate, a large wooden door like those castles in fantasy rpgs. As expected, one of the guards approached us to check our goods and identities. It was all fine until he saw me. Mare immediately got down the carriage and whispered to the guard.

“Ahh yes elder. I understand, the carriage is allowed to enter the capital.”, the guard replied, although his face does look a bit confused. Hmm. So Mare is an elder. An interesting point to note.

Nonetheless, we were given passage into the capital, and the doors opened to let us in with a loud creak.

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