Akino cleans up the cave, removing the makeshift bed she did, the wooden table and chairs, leaving nothing inside but only the altar of their shrine. Lyka asked a favor about it, before they leave the place. Outside the cave, Alexa is helping Lyka cleaning up the mounds of her deceased tribespeople. They placed a new set of calla lilies on each of the mound, and every after placing a flower Lyka prays and hymns in an unfamiliar word. After that, the two met up with Akino inside the cave who was about to finish up cleaning.

Lyka: May I ask, where did you placed the armors and garments of the humans?

Akino: Oh, we buried it along with their bodies. Would be dangerous if somebody else finds it out. And don’t worry, even if their bodies rot, they won’t smell. We’ve dug very deep to make sure no one’s gonna find those.

Alexa: Speaking of them, why no one came here after that raid? They should’ve sent in reinforcements, right?

Akino: The nearest city construct was 543 kilometers, north-east. The terrain between this place and to that area was a dense forest-mountain system. If they hate monsters so much, they wouldn’t have to go and traverse that. They will avoid it as much as possible since monsters could be in there. If they take a detour instead, they’ll have to cover an approximate distance of 1705 kilometers… that’s roughly 284 hours or 11 days, if they walked non-stop. If they use carriage and horses, then it could be more than that since it could take time due to their preps every time they take a rest. 15 days is the least days for them to come over here. It’s also a plus if they’re not from that city.

Lyka: That’s very amazing!

Akino: What? Their travel time?

Lyka: I mean the way you concluded on how many days they’ll take to come here.

Akino: That’s just a rough estimate, no need to praise it.

Lyka: Still, I don’t know if that city was occupied by the Altruis kingdom or not.

Akino: We’ll have to find it out then.

Alexa: Heh~? Still showing off, are we?

Akino: Shut up. Oh, by the way the magic crystals… I placed it back at the altar.

Lyka: Thanks.

Akino: And these bags of gold.

Akino pulls out of her belt bag three big bags of gold.

Akino: There are a thousand gold coins in total, and I split it to three.

Alexa: Hey! That won’t be even!

Akino: I know, that’s why I’m handing it to Lyka.

Lyka: Ummm – I’m not familiar with human commerce, so you should keep it instead.

Alexa: You guys don’t buy things?

Lyka: This forest provides most of our needs, so we’re not dependent with the gold currency.

Akino: I see…

After finishing the clean-up, they left the cave. Lyka got a small bag from her burned home and place the cotton clothes Akino made for her, she also packed a fully filled water container made of animal skin. After that, they walked their way out of the tribe-village, and as they left Lyka pauses, glancing at the place she was born for the last time.

Akino: We – we can just stay here if you want to, its not that we’re dragging you off, and we’re not your responsibility.

Lyka: I’ve already done a pact with both of you… and besides, there’s nothing left for me here. All I have is you two… my new life has begun already when you saved me.

Alexa: Then, we should make this trip more entertaining and happier! Right, Aki?

Akino: Yeah, I guess…

Lyka smiles at the two. Before continuing their walk, Lyka pulls out the crystal heart of Dr’akan, she crushes it with het left hand and releases the dust in the blowing wind. The three gazes at the glowing dusts, as it dances in the air Lyka clasps her palms and chants.

Lyka: May you rest now, my old guardian.

They continued walking, leaving the burned tribe village and going deep into the forest. Akino decided they should go to the north-east settlement.

Lyka: Can I ask, why are we going to that city?

Alexa: Aki, I think she should tell her about it.

Lyka: What do you mean?

Akino: We haven’t told you yet, but you knew that we came from another world, right?

Lyka: Yes, I know.

Akino: The moment we stepped here, we received a message and we assumed its from this world. But because of the ‘mana interference’ that I couldn’t pinpoint the signal source of the message, we have to find for some other information as well, and the information pool could be in the cities, especially the one on our north-east.

Lyka: I heard stories from travelers that passed by our village, that we could use the guild there if we want commissions, but we never did. I guess we could use that guild to find what we’re looking for.

Alexa: A guild? It is really a fantasy world, huh?

Lyka: And I heard rumors that the elves and humans were summoning people from the other worlds and calls them ‘heroes’. These heroes were rumored to have special aptitude to magic, has unnatural strength, and they serve them because the humans and elves promised them with fortune.

Akino: Don’t be mistaken, we’re not summoned. We got here through a spatial anomaly, that’s all.

Alexa: And we don’t have any magic. So, you could say that you’ve got your own special other-worldly buddies, HIHIHIHI!

Alexa kept on laughing, Lyka smiles at her then she giggles. The two were having a good time chatting while walking in that forest, and all the sudden the three seems to be alerted.

Lyka: You smell that? It smells like blood.

Alexa: Yeah, I’m smelling it too… but not anything I knew, or even in my data records. Must be a new creature encounter.

Akino: I detected movement, 10 meters away on west.

They silently rushed towards the detected movement. Akino preps her right arm as a pump shotgun and Alexa’s hair turned into spear claws. Lyka casts a protection spell around them as they slowly approach the trees.

“Help!”

Lyka peeks behind the tree and saw an injured young male orc. About 1.85 to 2 meters tall, has a slim-muscular build, and wears a leather strip armor. The orc has a broken left arm with the ulna bone broken and protruding out of his skin, where the dark green blood oozes out of the laceration. The orc collapses on the floor the moment he saw the three girls. They rushed towards the young orc, and as soon as they get in touch with him, they started applying first-aid. Akino fabricates a clean cloth from her skin and covers the wound, Alexa injects him with sedatives to make him calm down and anesthetics to soothe his pain, and Lyka casts a healing spell to slowly treat the injury.

Lyka: Are you alright? What happened to you?

Young Orc: Something… attacked us…

Akino: Us?

Akino and Lyka assists the orc to sit down, leaning on the tree. They let the orc relax a bit and gave him water to drink.

Akino: Hey, I’m Akino. She’s Lyka, and that is Alexa. How about yours?

Young Orc: My name’s Olguk…

The orc gulps every water they gave to him, he hands the container back and sits up straight.

Olguk: Thank you, demi-wolf. You’ve healed my wounds fast, I owe you.

Lyka: You’re welcome.

Akino: So… what happened?

Olguk: I’m with the commissioned adventurers… we were going to collect some magic ores when we saw a smoke coming in this forest days ago and we followed it. But a strange magic barrier has sent us to a different part of the forest, making us lost in path.

Lyka: Dr’an…

Alexa: What happens next?

Olguk: We saw a cave, and we decided to take camp near it since we are going to collect ores… we didn’t expect that the cave was inhabited by goblins… and… and!

The orc breaks down, covering his head and cowers in fear.

Olguk: T-T-T-That’s madness!!! That monster!

Akino: Hey! Calm down! Alexa, I thought you injected him with sedatives?

Alexa: Do you want me to kill him? I already given him the right amount, but it seems his immune to its effects. However, if I pump him more, he might pass out or get convulsions.

The orc grabs Akino’s shoulders.

Olguk: Please! Help me! We have to save my friends! I’m begging you!

Akino: Sure, sure… but is it fine that you’re leading the way? You can just stay here and give the directions to that cave.

The orc stands up and he calms himself down.

Olguk: An orc – an orc must face his enemy! With – without fear!

Alexa: You look you are about to piss on your pants.

Lyka: Orcs have the pride of not facing down any enemy they met. But you said goblins, right? They should not posses any threat against you?

Akino: He said the cave WAS inhabited by goblins… any guesses, Lyka?

Lyka: I don’t know. The goblins are very mischievous and tends to choose only female humanoids as victims to breed, but they could fight male humanoids too and deems to be very dangerous in huge numbers… they are sometimes accompanied by an ogre, or trolls. That’s all I know.

Alexa: Breed with female humanoids?! That’s disgusting.

Akino: So, the dude attacked you, is it an ogre or a troll?

Olguk: I – I don’t know… but it’s a true monster!

Lyka: The possibility of facing a demon or lich in that cave is likely as well…

Akino: Okay, Olguk. Please lead the way.

They walked westward. After twenty minutes of walking, they reached the cave opening. The equipment of the other adventurers was organized, placed in the makeshift shelters. The orc leads the three inside the cave. Akino creates LED sticks to light up the cave and handed one each to the other three.

Olguk: Wow…

Akino: I’ll take the lead, just say the directions.

Akino takes the front, and the other three are on the rear. The orc observes Akino as she turns her left arm into a rifle, and Alexa as she covers her skin with hardened carbon and silicate scales.

Olguk: Demi-wol – I mean Miss Lyka, these humans, what are they?

Lyka: My family.

The orc looks at the smiling Lyka, with his expression full of confusion.

Olguk: Your – family?

Lyka: They saved me from the Altruis knights that attacked and burned my village… sadly i’m only the sole survivor of the attack… but I’m glad they saved me and took me as their own. They are humans who never fear humanoids.

Olguk: I’m sorry about that… That Akino – she never hesitated to help me, an orc… but normally humans couldn’t do doing that. And these two doesn’t have any mana in them, very strange…

Alexa: Because we are aliens!

Olguk: Aliens?

Akino stops, and so the others. They could see some bones and small skulls on the ground, covered in blood.

Lyka: Goblin bones…

Akino: This cave WAS really inhabited by them.

Olguk: Oliva! Thoral! Where are you?!

Akino: Hey! Don’t shout! Do you want to attract the one who attacked you?!

Alexa: Aki, I think this smell is very familiar.

Alexa leans toward the bloodied bones. She sniffs them, and she suddenly grits her teeth. Akino approaches to her.

Akino: What is it?

Alexa: This stink! I know this stink! It’s the same stink when we left that cryogenic chamber!

Akino: Hey! Don’t jump to conclusions! Are you sure about that?

Alexa: Yeah! This blood and fecal smell, and I could smell a faint stink of it on the deeper part of this cave.

Akino: Then it hasn’t come out of this cave yet. We have to finish it off before it multiplies and leave this cave.

Akino turns back to the other two.

Lyka: What did Alexa found out?

Olguk: Is it the monster?

Akino: Yeah… and on top of that, the one from our world… a mutated human…

Lyka: A mutated what?

Olguk: From your world?

Akino: Like Alexa said, we’re aliens. Both of us came from another world through a passage.

Olguk: I – I see…

Akino: Lyka, you have spells that can burn, right?

Lyka: Yes, I have. Why did you ask?

Akino: If we faced that creature, don’t stop burning it, even if it pleads for you to stop.

Lyka: What?