For the first time since Ayuki ventured through the city, it was packed. You usually see parts of the walls from the central square, but now it was blocked by masses of people. Since the training got canceled, the recruits were asked to go home to await further details just like the citizens were supposed to do due to the Dark nature alert. That was at least the idea, but from the looks of it, people had other plans. "Damn, what's going on?" Ryuzo asked in disbelief. "To think that nobody is staying inside—" People either weren't scared or had a stronger curiosity to have a look. Is this happening just because it's a threat level D? Is it that unfamiliar? Ayuki wondered. Whatever the case, seeing what was happening outside wasn't possible from this position. "Shall we go more upwards?" Ayuki proposed. "I want to see at least something exciting this time." So far, from all the Dark nature alerts, Ayuki only witnessed the cyllius. The human cries it kept making, still gives her the creeps whenever she remembers them, but from a visual perspective, all she saw was a moving black mist covering the walls. There was, in fact, another alert with a threat level A that Ayuki heard of, but that one only lasted less than a minute. Nobody ever witnessed its appearance, and the only evidence the guards found were black feathers. Ryuzo pointed upwards towards the houses. "Let's try the roofs then." Other people were also sitting on the roofs, so it must've been fine to do such things. They found a small wall to climb on one of the houses and walked from rooftop to rooftop to get a better view of the west side of the city—the area where the Dark nature supposedly is present. Ayuki peered as best as possible towards the west side of the Varyion Walls. "Oh, is that it?" Dark roots covered a small part of the Walls. It didn't however move, so Ayuki doubted whether it was even part of the Dark nature or not. "I see it, yeah. That's it though?" Ryuzo sounded a bit disappointed as well. "Oh, Hyo Ravendell is there too?" "What? Where?" Besides the large roots visible, Ayuki couldn't see any specific person that resembled Ravendell or the likes. "That's just what I heard. People are gossiping all kind of things. Wait, stay quiet for a bit." Ryuzo slightly tilted his head downwards and placed his right hand behind his ear. "Yeah, Ravendell and Faye are—" Ryuzo stopped speaking. "Oh, they say its a talking tarmin." "You mean the attacker? Really? If it talks then... is it perhaps that creature that attacked you guys in the Insanity Forest?" Ryuzo stopped his listening and gave Ayuki a dumbfounded look. "Hey, you might be right— But the tarmin wasn't that big, I believe. Then again... it was capable of quickly transforming into various shapes." "Well, we still can't see much..." Ayuki rested her hands on Ryuzo's shoulders. "So, I'm counting on your ears, Ryuzo." Without any protest, he did as instructed. "Thanks, I guess." Going outside through the day creates an unnecessary commotion with the public. It's been like that ever since the day he became king. Everyone recognizes you and treat you differently. The hierarchy has always been a pain... Ravendell had to come up with a bunch of methods to prevent those troublesome situations from happening, but for today it wasn't necessary. Now, all eyes focused on the creature that appeared in front of the gates. Together with Faye, they breezed through the crowd from the moment they got noticed. He dispised such behavior, but given the situation, it was convenient. There it was, the threat level D creature. One step away from standing eye-to-eye with it, Ravendell examined it. It was smaller than he expected. The size of its main body was around two meters, there were small branches filled with leaves, and it had several roots spread out from below that appeared to be ten meters long. With the appearance of a dark-green octopus-like tree, it should belong among the tarmin class. Ravendell read the reports and was at least convinced of the creature's identity. It fits the description of the Insanity Forest attacker. What struck Ravendell as odd, was the fact, that it didn't look dangerous. If anything, it was calm, it hardly moved at all, and it was even alone. Everything about it was unusual compared to other Dark nature appearances. Ravendell almost wanted to think that it wasn't tainted at all, but if that were the case, then the alarms wouldn't have been triggered in the first place. He made eye contact with a citizen standing on his right and asked him, "Could you tell me what happened so far?" Almost gasping, the man answered, "Y-yes Hyo. It screamed multiple times upon arrival. The walls made it hard to hear... but most of us think it called for Yeon." Yeon— I can only think of Yeon Althain when I heard that name, but how does it know her? "YEEEOOOOONN!" Again? Ravendell wondered upon hearing the tarmin's scream. It does sound like it's calling out for Yeon. What would be the best approach in this situation? It's a rare opportunity, Ravendell didn't want to mess up. He steadied his breathing and cleared his throat. "My name is Ravendell Grendan. Can you understand me?" He spoke loud enough for everyone near to hear it without sounding intimidating. The creature didn't budge. Ravendell assumed the silence as a negative response, but against all the odds, it eventually replied with a clear, "Yes." The people reacted enthusiastically upon hearing the tarmin talk. They always like to be entertained, sometimes even at the cost of danger. This isn't a show where you should let your guard down. Ravendell knew that, however, he couldn't help but feel excited about as well. It talks— How is this even possible? "Where Yeon? Ravedel?" Its voice was clear, almost as if it were a human, but it spoke with a lot of time between each word. As excited as Ravendell was, he still had to take this situation seriously. It just asked a sensitive question, one that needs an honest reply. Ravendell tapped his hat down a bit. He didn't want to tell the truth but decided it was for the best. "I've never met Yeon Althain in person, but my grandfather personally knew her. However, I'm afraid she's... no longer alive." It got quiet for a while—the only sound heard was the occasionally coughs of the citizens. Almost when Ravendell thought that the tarmin wouldn't speak, it did. "Yeon dead?" There was a surprising tone of sadness in its voice now. Remorse filled Ravendell as he swallowed deeply. "Yes. She went missing a long time ago, but she can't be alive anymore." Whether the tarmin understood him or not, it stopped talking after hearing about Yeon's death. "How do you know Yeon?" Ravendell quickly attempted to have a conversation going, maybe to also help the tarmin process the situation, but it remained in silence. Was it a mistake to mention Yeon's death? Without moving a single inch, it stood still as if wasn't alive any longer. Later on, Hyo Jullian arrived, followed by a few Elites, and some Observers, but they couldn't get a single reaction out of the tarmin. Even the new Elite Aisha tried to desperately communicate with it, mentioning her research on Yeon's activity and whereabouts, but to no prevail. With no further progress going on, the crowd lessened and lessened until only members of the Order were left. The Order patrol was doing there work now, keeping an eye on the whole situation. As the sun started to set, Faye asked Ravendell multiple times whether it was better to go, but he refused to leave. He felt a bit guilty for whatever he did to the tarmin and decided to remain closeby until the tarmin would react again. Footsteps approached Ravendell. "You had to act so early didn't you?" is how Jullian greeted Ravendell. Ravendell couldn't help but force a little smile at him. "I'm afraid so." He stroked the back of his neck. "Any clues on its motives?" Jullian shook his head and pointed at the tarmin. "Some, but it's not complete without its cooperation. We do believe the changes in the environment is related to this tarmin. You've noticed it too, right?" "Changes? What changes?" Jullian covered his eyes with his hand and sighed. "It seems you really don't go much outside at all. Besides the regular Earth shift changes, most of the things occurred in our forest. New plants, new flowers, fresher air, you could say the forest became healthier but perhaps a bit too much. Fire lion seeds we planted years ago began to sprout and caused havoc during the recruit survival week." "They sprouted? Oh, that's terrible, we shouldn't have planted them, to begin with— How are the casualties?" "Some have a few minor injuries, but they're three recruits in critical condition. They've been heavily stung by dragonreds and are currently in treatment. Fortunately, it's easy to cure. Now, if you excuse me, I'll be continuing my job. I advice you to do the same." Jullian, oh, Jullian. The idea of slapping him on the head was provoking, but Ravendell restrained himself from doing so. Jullian can be a pain in the butt at times, but this kind of conversations are enjoyable. Just as he had hoped, being a hyonim hasn't changed Jullian's character at all. "Ravendell? Faye?" A familiar female voice said. Looking at the nearing couple, Ravendell smiled. "Yona Ayuki, Yano Ryuzo, good evening. I assume you came to inspect the situation?" Ayuki bowed a little by lowering her upper body. It felt more like a thank-you-for-helping-me-out bow rather than an I-have-to-bow-otherwise-it-is-rude bow, so Ravendell didn't mind it. "Yes. We came to confirm our suspicions. Ryuzo also witnessed the Insanity Forest attack after all." "Ah, that's true. And what do you think, Yano Ryuzo? Is it the same?" Ryuzo took a clear look at the tarmin. "It does look similar, but I can't say whether it's the same or a different one of its kind." Ravendell nodded. "I see, that's reassuring to hear. Yuu Austin had the same idea, and Yuu Faye wasn't sure, so that's valuable information." "Why is it not moving?" Ryuzo asked. Ravendell held up his hand high. "Ah, that would be my mistake. It did, in fact, talk and move before but I silenced it after mentioning Yeon's death. There's a chance that it met Yeon in person, but we can't confirm that if it stays like this." "It did?" As soon as Ayuki heard this, Ravendell noticed that she looked at the tarmin while using that ability of hers. What will she detect? Ravendell wanted to know. As if she was entranced, Ayuki walked closer to the tarmin until she stood right in front of it. Is she herself or is the tarmin forcing her to do it? "Woah." Ryuzo reacted in shock. Ravendell also didn't understand it at first. Tears quickly welled up in Ayuki's eyes. She was crying while she stared at the tarmin. She might be feeling what the tarmin currently feels. Ravendell assumed it wasn't doing anything, but perhaps, it's crying now? "Yeon?" The tarmin said. It finally spoke again. Shocked by its response, Ayuki's eyes returned to its original color. All attention shifted to the moving tarmin as it slightly changed its posture. The large tentacle-like sprouts shrank almost half its previous size. Two holes around its center body, appearing to be its eyes, stared deeply at Ayuki. "You not Yeon. You... similar." It said. "Huh?" With a puzzled expression on Ayuki's face, she looked around at the rest as if to say, "What does this mean?" As for Ravendell, excitement burst through his veins upon having witnessed the scene. "Ayuki!" He abruptly blurted out and grabbed Ayuki by her shoulders. "Come with me. We're going to my office. Ryuzo, you can come along." "Hyo, what're you doing?" Jullian asked from a distance, but Ravendell paid no attention to him. "What, but, the— Rave?" Unable to make an understandable sentence, Faye hurriedly tagged along. The walk to the office might've taken some time, but it didn't matter. Ravendell needed that time to set his thoughts straight. Ayuki might've asked some questions during the walk, but Ravendell didn't pay her or anyone else any attention. Once they arrived, Ravendell closed the door and finally spoke. "I did consider the possibility in the beginning, but what just happened a few minutes ago, has me convinced." "C-convinced of what?" Ayuki asked with an anxious face. "You're scaring me a bit." "And I'm a bit confused." Faye had to mention that. Ravendell was a bit tempted to respond to Faye's remark but chose to remain on the point instead. He tried to say it as calm as possible. "Ayuki, I think you're a Speaker."