The next few days passed by quickly in almost a blur. They packed their belongings and gathered supplies for the long journey. Soon, the day to depart arrived.

“I can’t believe that you’re really leaving,” said a tall, skinny villager with sleepy eyes.

“I know, Branson. Thanks for everything you’ve done for us so far,” Osmond said as he shook Branson’s hand.

“Are you sure that you’re not leaving the village too? It’s not like you’ll have to leave forever. Stay a few days in Asger. Lay low. After 10 days from now, you can come back. The hunters should have left by then,” Osmond pleaded.

Branson scratched his face and sighed.

“You see, it’s not that easy. I have my family. We’re not as strong as the both of you to travel in this weather. There are also the animals. Who will take care of our supplies for the winter when we leave? If the hunters should come here as you said, our supplies will be looted by them. There will be none left for us when we get back.”

Osmond sighed. He looked as if he wanted to say something but relented in the end.

Ellie watched from the side with Ralf. She felt heavy hearted. The villagers will be slaughtered by the hunters. As much as she wanted to help them, there was nothing else that she could do. Who will listen to the words of a child, logically speaking? It was considered a miracle that Osmond and Astrid believed her.

“Hey kiddo, take care out there in the cold, okay? You almost froze to death once,” Branson ruffled Ellie’s hair.

Ellie flinched. She did not like others touching her head.

“Heh, you probably don’t remember me, don’t ya?” He grinned.

“Mister, I think you should really leave the village,” Ellie said as she looked straight into Branson’s eyes.

“Aw, thanks for caring. But I’ve got to take care of my family.”

“You’ll die…” Ellie whispered.

“Now, you don’t know that,” Branson frowned.

“I—” Ellie started but stopped herself. She decided to let them decide their own fate. Who knows if the hunters will pass here since Ralf and family decided to leave the village. Perhaps it was for the best.

“Osmond, why don’t I cast a protection charm over their family, if you’re worried?” Astrid suggested.

“Hmm, that's a good idea. What do you think, Branson?”

“I can live with that.”

“Then let’s go,” Osmond motioned. “Ralf and Ellie, wait for us, okay? It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“Okay!” the children answered in unison.

Ellie plopped back down onto the tree stump as she watched the adults saunter off. Their figures were soon swallowed by the wintry landscape.

There was only silence between the children as they were both deep in their thoughts. Both excitement and uneasiness were in Ellie’s heart. It was about to be the start of a new adventure. Many things could go wrong.

Ellie clenched her fists as she thought about the uncertain future. Could they safely get to the capital?

It was only after a few moments when this silence was broken by the sound of a snowball hitting Ralf.

“What the—” Ellie turned over and saw two older kids.

“Hey!” she shouted.

Another snowball flew towards them and hit Ellie.

“Stop that!”

Laughter followed suit.

“Go away! We don’t want you here! You children of misfortune!” the taller kid shouted and spat into the snow.

“What?” Ellie was dumbfounded.

“Yeah, you’ll only bring bad luck to us if you stay here!”

Ellie grimaced. Children were usually the reflection of the adults and the environment that they grew in. Them having these thoughts must mean that the villagers think so too. No wonder Astrid and Osmond had darkened expressions when they got back from the meeting.

She shook her head. Dealing with these people was annoying.

“Hey, you kids,” Ellie frowned and stood with her hands on her hips. “Where we go is none of your business. Now stop throwing those snowballs at us.”

“K-kids? You’re a kid too!” the taller kid fumed. He threw another snowball at Ellie. She dodged it with ease.

“I’m warning you… if you don’t stop…” Ellie threatened.

“Ah!” Ralf shouted in pain.

Ellie turned to him and saw blood dripping from his head. The shorter kid had thrown a rock instead of a snowball.

“You!” Anger filled Ellie’s heart and she rushed towards the kid who threw the rock. She grabbed his shirt and tackled him to the ground. A sharp slap landed on the boy's cheek.

“You dare hurt him!” Ellie slapped him again.

“My—”

Slap.

“Cute—”

Slap.

“Protagonist!”

Slap.

Ellie fumed. How could they have the heart to hurt such a beautiful and adorable child?

Before she could continue, she felt her hair pulled from behind. She staggered backwards.

“Get off him!” the taller kid shouted.

The short kid stood up with a red face and pushed her backwards. Ellie lunged at him but was stopped short since the other kid grabbed her hair.

They sneered.

“Let go of me!” Ellie grunted and elbowed the tall kid in his stomach. When that did nothing, she stomped on his foot.

Alas, that did nothing to faze him. They were much bigger than Ellie and her struggles were just flailings. She had managed to push the boy in the first place because she caught them by surprise.

Ellie did not anticipate this difference in strength as she had forgotten that she was in the body of a child.

The taller kid pushed her to the ground and pinned her back into the snow.

“Ack! Let me go!” Ellie pushed with all her might but could not budge.

She saw the kids’ eyes. There was anger and ridicule in them.

“You started this,” he spat. “You shouldn’t have come here. You bring misfortune!”

“That’s stupid!” Ellie retaliated.

“After you came, the pigs died!”

“What?” Ellie was stupefied. That was not even her fault.

“Hey Andor, they say blood-letting cures misfortune.” The shorter kid said.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think if we let her blood out, it will undo the misfortune? Will the pigs stop dying?”

Ellie felt dread. “Hey, don’t even think about it. That’s nonsense.”

Andor, the taller kid, gulped.

“Yeah, let’s try it.”

“Wait, don’t! It won’t work!” Ellie started struggling.

The shorter kid started looking around.

“Frode, use that rock over there. That should do it.”

Frode picked the rock up with two hands. It was larger than his two palms combined.

“You kids are crazy!” Ellie yelled.

How are these kids so vicious? She would be badly hurt if she did nothing. She put more strength into her legs. The adrenaline rush from imminent danger gave her a strength boost and managed to free her legs. With the added power, she kneed Andor right at his crotch.

“Ahhh!” Andor screamed and crumpled onto Ellie.

He was heavy. Ellie struggled to push him off her when Frode grabbed her left hand and pinned it down with his knee.

He brought the rock down swiftly onto Ellie’s hand.

She screamed. Pain burst through her crushed fingers. Her eyes began to water.

Frode picked the rock up once more and readied himself. Just as he was about to smash Ellie’s hand again, the atmosphere around them changed.

The temperature dropped dramatically. Their breaths turned into white puffs of air as they exhaled. The air became so frigid that ice shards started to form mid-air.

Ellie sucked in a breath—or rather, tried to. The sudden frigid air shocked her system.

“Let… her… go…” Ralf growled. His eyes were glowing in an eerily white color.

Everyone in the vicinity was frozen in place. It was not due to the frigid air, however, it was due to the sense of dread and trepidation.

‘Ralf…’ Ellie thought as she fought through the cold.

She was the only person in the area that understood what was going on. Ralf Askell, her protagonist, is the rarest of the rare group of people who have access to natural mana. These people were called Natural Mages. They can harness the power of nature and manipulate them to their wills. This ability comes naturally to them, akin to a person manipulating their muscles.

Just like how the physical strength of a person depended on their muscle power and stamina, the degree of nature manipulation by Natural Mages depended on their strength and stamina too. Hence, their powers are dependent on their age and training.

The power shown by Ralf currently exceeds his supposed capability. Just like all humans, the power of their muscles are limited by their brains to avoid damaging themselves. Ralf, however, does not have this subconscious limit. If left like this, he will hurt himself badly from the backlash. The worst case would be death.

Ellie struggled to breathe. She struggled to even think clearly. Only her heart knew that Ralf will be terribly hurt if this continued. How could she stop him? She could not let her protagonist die.

“Ralf…” she mouthed, but no sound came out.

Ellie willed herself to try again. She put all her effort into her voice.

“Ralf!” she screamed.

Her shrill and desperate voice reached Ralf. Like a flip of a switch, the frozen atmosphere snapped back into humanly bearable conditions.

The boys gasped and stumbled onto the ground, trembling in fear.

“W-what…”

The intensity of the atmosphere had reduced somewhat, but Ralf’s eyes were still white. His hair was raised as if attracted by static electricity. This combination of his looks would easily strike fear to mere children.

“Monster!” Frode screamed as he scooted backwards. Andor gave one last frightful look towards Ralf and tumbled after Frode in panic. They ran away as fast as their panicked selves would bring them.

The intensity of the magic in the air had lessened, but the danger was far from over. Ellie ignored the pain in her crushed fingers and steadied herself back to her feet.

“Ralf,” she called.

“E-Ellie…” The boy stared at her with white eyes. “I don’t—”

A sudden wave of frigid air blasted towards Ellie. She stumbled backwards and gritted her teeth.

The boy was in shock. The magical fluctuations in the air were tied to his emotional state. Ellie had to calm Ralf down in order to resolve the fluctuations. If left be, there could be a severe backlash to the caster.

“Ralf!” she shouted as she braved through the frigid winds. “It’s okay! I’m coming to you!”

Each step took a large effort. However, Ellie shut her mind out from the environment and focused solely on her feet. Step after step, she kept her head down and finally reached Ralf.

Ellie looked up and met the boy’s gaze. His face was frozen in a grimace. He seemed to be fighting against an unseen force. However, Ellie knew that Ralf was fighting to control his magic.

Ralf frequently had uncontrolled bursts of magic whenever his emotions were heightened. Whenever he was overly sad, angry, or happy, he would accidentally use his powers. This was why his parents had kept Ralf mostly away from the others to avoid accidents.

Ellie knew that she had to calm Ralf down. She brought her arms around him in a gentle embrace.

“It’s okay, Ralf. I’m here. It’s all okay now. We’re all okay. Don’t worry about it anymore,” she whispered.

Ellie remembered a scene in one of the future chapters when something similar happened. The female lead of the novel had calmed Ralf down when he had lost control. Ellie was about to hijack the female lead’s words. Though, since Ellie was the author, those words were hers originally anyways.

“Just focus on my voice,” Ellie said with a level and calm voice. “Take deep breaths. Follow me. Ready?” she squeezed Ralf’s shoulder.

The boy grunted in reply.

“Alright, just breathe in… and out… Yes, that’s it. Keep going.”

Ralf gradually calmed down. The howling wind subsided. The temperature returned to normal.

Ellie did it. She had successfully averted a disaster. Feelings of belated elation were about to blossom in her chest when the world spun around her. A sharp pain in her chest followed. She gasped. Before she could comprehend what had happened, her consciousness scattered.