“So, what do you want? You’re not coming all this way just to pay a visit, right?” Ariana asks me as she leads us inside her house.

Ariana’s house is inside one of the trees on this mountain. She’s changing its growth rate since the seed and it creates such a big house like this one. This house, or this tree, has about 40 to 50 meters diameter and height about 60 to 70 meters. That’s nearly as big as a building in the capital or in the Angel Realms.

I walk behind her, and Erfia and Reis walk behind me. They’re trying to hide in my back. Well, it’s not uncommon to get this kind of reaction. That’s because the interior of her house is kinda creepy. A lot of animal’s dead body, skull, living animals inside cage, and potions in all colors. Simply say, it’s like a witch lair. Well, she’s a great wizard, so it’s not so weird.

“I need you to fix my daughter’s mana point and cure her body to its best while at it.” I reply to her as I stepped aside to show Erfia to Ariana.

“Hoo, so this is your daughter eh?”

Ariana stops and stares at her closely. Her eyes that look so menacingly are scaring Erfia and make her hide behind me again.

“She’s half elf and half beast man. I see none of any human feature on her. Did you kidnap her?” Ariana glares menacingly at me.

I already used to her glare, so it’s not affecting me. “No, she’s my foster daughter.”

“And her?” Ariana points at Reis which is also hiding in my back. “Your woman?”

“Well, she’s my slave.”

Ariana takes another glance at us. After some time, she finally stops and walks to a room. We follow her into a room that looks like a living room. It has a pair of long chair that are separated by a table. In the table, a tea pot is already pouring tea into a few cups.

Ariana sits on one chair and we sit on the other one. It feels a bit cramped with both of them sitting with me. To make thing easier, I put Erfia in my lap and Reis sits in my side. I take a sip of the tea. Erfia and Reis hesitate at first, but after Ariana and I drink it, they drink it too.

“So, what’s with this request of yours? Restoring her mana point?”

“Yes, apparently before she became my child she had some bad time, and it’s disrupting her mana point. Several days ago, her body won’t stop shaking for two or three days after used spiking ground.”

“My,” Ariana shows a grin on her white face. “So you still remember about that magic even though you can’t use it, eh. As expected from my best pupil. Fine, I’ll recover her mana point and her body.”

Erfia and Reis that hear her words are showing a shiny expression. Both of them are looking at me.

“But, for the payment, what kind of ingredients you have for me this time? You know me well, right?”

“Yeah, of course. How about Nava wood from the treasury gate of Mestoah?”

“A Nava wood, eh. Very nice. That’s something that you can’t lay your hand unless you’re part of elf royalty in this day and age. I’ll take it. Anything else?” Ariana asks me. It’s like she can see through me.

“I’d like to use the crafting room, and I also need 20 drums of pure liquid mana.”

“What are you trying to make? Do you want to create a bomb to destroy a city or something?”

“No, it’s nothing that grand. I want to make a high quality mana ring. Or should I say, the ancient Unuan mana storage ring.”

“Hooh, that’s quite something. Okay, I’ll allow it. In exchange for 40 years of your next life.”

Finally, she brings it up. Starting from this point onward, only Ariana and I know about.

“Are you sure that’s enough? I can’t even guarantee you I’ll be back in the next life. Or that the world is still exist.”

“It’s okay. I’ll take the chance.”

“Well, then,” I put the tea cup back in the table and show her my sincerest smile. “It’s a deal.”

~~~

I stand silently in a room where Erfia is stripped naked as she enters a little pond that contains a greenish blue water in it. After the deal is made, Mada went downstairs and asked me to keep watch of Erfia. Ariana whispers something. I can’t hear nor understand any words she’s saying at all. Maybe it’s in another language? Could be. Is it a spell incantation? It looks that way. After she’s done with the incantation, the wood around the little pond closing its surface.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I panick as I ran towards Erfia that’s being swallowed by the wood.

But I’m too late. She’s already swallowed by the woods.

“Relax, she’s still alive inside it. The water is a special water that let a person hibernate and breathe underwater. Adding my potion and my magic, her mana point will be restored. Even better than before. It will take another day or two. She feels nothing as she’s asleep inside of it. It might take another day too for Mada to complete his crafting.”

I breathe calmly after hear it. But, it means I need to spend a day with this witch with no one else? Oh no! I have a bad feeling about this.

This night alone, she makes me do anything she says and help with anything. Starting from cleaning, cooking, feeding the animals and plants, and anything else. I never know a plant need to be feed. Feeding a long neck frog with some snake is something I’ve never done in my life. I can handle a dead body far better than this.

Finally, she gives me a rest. We’re in a kitchen right now. Apparently, she has two kitchens on this house. A normal kitchen to cook for a food and another kitchen for, well, brewing or doing some witch thing. Soup and some rice have been prepared on the table. I remember cooking the rice but I don’t remember about the soup. Maybe she made it. A big spoon is flying and put the rice and the soup in some plate and bowl. We’re having a dinner right away.

“You keep on silent all this time, c’mon, say something. I finally get some company in this lonely house of mine.” Ariana is ranting about me being silent all the time. She keeps on eating in the middle of those rant.

“We, well.” Uhh, it’s so hard to start some conversation with a witch. I don’t know what to say at all.

“Ahh,” Ariana sighs heavily, “Let me ask you a question then. Have you fallen for him?”

“Ugh.” I choke my food as she asks it. I quickly grab a glass of water and gulp it.

Oh, thank god I didn’t die. What kind of question is that? Does she realize how many hardships I took because of him? I remember everything since I became his slave. All of my friends have been killed, I got threatened to sleep with a gryphon or snake horse, I got my body exposed to the public, he gave me big shock of one word fugitive punishment, nearly killed me, and a lot of other things that I can’t mention. So, I can clearly say.

“Hell no!”

“Khuhuhu, not yet.” Ariana lets out a small laugh.

“There is no way I can fall for a guy like that. The only things that are keeping me are this slave bind magic and Erfia. Without these two things, I could have killed him already and left.”

“Really? Do you seriously think a mere three words fugitive like you can defeat one word fugitive? We’re talking about Mada.”

Ugh, she got me there. I nearly forget that I’m just a three words fugitive while he’s a one word fugitive. I continue my meal to take my mind away of being defeated by him.

“Really? What’s so great about him? The last time we ran away, he nearly got himself killed by a fire ball and fell into a cliff.”

“I can guess it’s because both of you are with him. Both of you dragged him down.”

“What did you say?” I stop my meal for a moment. “We dragged him down? Okay, that’s pissing me off. Without me, he would have been killed by those mountain beasts and bandits we met on the way here. Lastly, without Erfia, he couldn’t even use a single spell out there. We’re the reason he’s still alive.”

“That’s not quite right. Did you know when the last time he got himself a company like this?”

“Always?” I respond instantly to her question.

“Never!”

Huh?

“He never had a company before. Well, at least, not in this life of his. Usually, he keeps a company only for a few days and then he left or dispose them. Taking that little girl as a child and you as slave is not something he would do.”

“Then, it means we are proved to be useful for him, isn’t it?” I try to correct her way of thinking.

“No, it’s not. At one time he got himself another one word fugitive to accompany him. But, it only last few days. I think he sees something entirely different in both of you.”

“And, how do you know about all of it?” I hesitantly ask her.

“Just say I have my intel.” She’s not answering my question. “Anyway, if you think he’s still alive because of both of you, then you’re totally wrong. It’s because both of you he got himself injured.”

I stop my meal as it’s already empty. But, I also stop because the shock she’s giving me. Is it mean, without us, he will be fine?

“Do you know why his face is unknown even though his one word fugitive name has become so famous?”

“Because he was wearing a mask?” I recall he was wearing a mask when we were in pursuit few days ago. He even made me and Erfia wore the same mask.

“That’s one thing. But the other thing is, he lets no one that chased him or saw his face as Mada the Raider lived. He killed every single one of them.”

Now I remember. The rumor was spread even amongst us desert raider. That rumor was the only reason I figured my men were killed by Mada. No one of my men was alive after dealing with him. In other words, all of their death was my fault? Because I sent them to Mada and because I guessed correctly who he is?

“Let me tell you one story when he was still under me. Few years ago, when He tried to reach the ruin of Unuan, he got himself trapped in the middle of Human and Beast man war. But he didn’t run away. He fought both sides only by himself. He succeeded at making both of them as his enemies. They called a truce to the fight and attack him. But in the end of day, He slaughtered both sides, and no one lived to tell the tale. This information spread because of the amount of body that were found and the report of both sides. He got no title beforehand. But because of that, he instantly got one word fugitive title.”

I remember this rumor pretty well as it gave us six desert master, that previously known as the biggest raider, became nothing but a child play. It spread a few years ago when Human and Beast man. They called truce of their war for a few months to look for the one who slaughtered all their men. It was the moment a new title emerged, Mada the Raider. But, I always thought it was just an exaggerated rumor as there is no way a single man could do it. I never thought of it as real. But right now, I know it was real. It’s so hard to believe.

“His title, Raider, is not only for his habit of taking every treasures so nothing left. But, it was also given to him because he also took every person life that ever saw or knew his face, his true identity.”