The rest of the trip was uneventful, John continuing their game of catch until they arrived at their destination. Exiting the carriage Mia was greeted with a lush forest, giving her a sense a nostalgia that was over come with grief. She was interrupted in her daydreaming when the princess spoke up.

“We have arrived. “Athena said, getting out of her carriage after Rowan “This is the last known sighting of the escaped slaves.”

John approached the tree line, leaning his body in different directions in an attempt to get a better look through the dense trees “Where is this? And how are we going to find them?”

Athena frowned “We are located west of the city Elsa, a nameless forest.” She pointed past the carriages.

Mia looked, following her finger and she could just barely make out some buildings in the distance. It was quite far. She then looked around, not seeing the capitol anywhere and then up towards the sky. They had been traveling since the early morning and now the sun was at its highest point.

“And as to how you find them. “Athena continued “That is up to you and that fox to figure out.” Athena snapped her fingers, the butler who had been previously driving the carriage rushed to Athena’s side and set up a folding chair which she promptly sat in “Rowan here, since you interrupted the fox’s training, shall assist. I am here merely to offer my healing if necessary” She then outstretched her hand to the side, a drink quickly placed in her hand which she sipped from.

Well, aren’t we lucky… Mia inwardly sighed before glancing towards Rowan. She once again found herself glad he was here, which was strange considering their first interaction, but he was genuinely teaching her after she defeated the goblin.

John nodded “Thanks, but we shouldn’t need his help.” He looked at Mia, smiling “Right Mia? With your beast senses we should be able to comb the forest just fine.”

“…” Mia looked towards the forest, her ears twitching every which way. While she did grow up in the forest, she did not have the slightest idea about tracking, her dad never taught her as she was too young. Regardless, she didn’t want to find any slaves in the first place. She looked at John, who was still smiling as if he was absolutely sure he was correct, and shook her head “No, no clue how to find anything.”

“What?” John looked surprised “But what about your beast senses? Can’t you like track them down by smell or something.”

She shook her head, yes her ears might be better than his but she has zero experience in this, she’d be as good as blind. “No idea.” She then looked at Rowan, who had been silently watching with his arms crossed “Need help.’ She said, sneaking a glance at the princess who was thankfully uninterested. She had to at least show some initiative, unless she wanted the princess to force her.

Rowan chuckled “It is as she says, hero, I did not get a chance to teach her teir role as a rouge.”

John looked between the two, shocked “B-but… she… alright.” He dropped his shoulders, giving up “It is practice for us both so, we still have the whole day.”

Rowan nodded, approaching Mia and kneeling down In front of her “Just a small lesson before we go in.” He said “tere is a skill called [Presence Detection], you use it to do as it says, detect te presence of tings around you.” He nodded towards the forest “It’s an easy skill to get if you know how and scouts specialize in it. You pick out te dangers before tey reach your party, tis case te hero.”

Mia nodded, it seemed simple enough “How get?”

“Well, you practice to recognize the presence of oters using your senses. Easiest is by smell or hearing.”

“So, it should be simple for her! With her beast senses.” John piped up.

Rowan leaned to the side, glancing at him “It depends, hero, Skills take time and effort. Tat time is different from person to person. We cannot all be a hero who gets skills quickly. “

John huffed, then began pacing while grumbling to himself.

Rowan got closer to Mia “Tis is good,” he whispered, “close your eyes and focus on te hero, find his location, track his movements, and map it in your head in relation to yourself.”

Mia nodded and closed her eyes. Her ears twitching as she listened in. With his grumbling it was easy to tell where he was behind her, her ears honing in on him and following his pacing.

“Good, now bring your attention to te forest. Listen to the small movements of animals, te heavier footsteps of monsters, or te easier tings like twigs breaking, rustling leaves.”

She did so, bringing her attention away from John and towards the tree line. It was a lot more difficult, she heard everything around her but did not recognize any of it. In fact she was a bit confused at what she was supposed to be listening to.

She heard Rowan chuckle “It will take experience to tell what each sound means, but once you get te skill everyting becomes a lot clearer. You’ll be able to tell when someone gets ne- PRINCESS!”

Surprised at the sudden shout, Mia opened her eyes to see Rowan had leaped away from her. Looking towards the princess she found Rowan at her side holding a pair of daggers, shielding her while having his attention towards the forest. Mia followed his gaze seeing a thin pale women wearing a green dress with one arm resting on a nearby tree.

At this point Mia noticed John step in front of her, sword drawn and pointed towards the women “Who are you?!” He yelled “where did you come from?”

“A dryad.”

Mia turned towards the voice, seeing the princess hand her drink to her butler as she stood. A dryad? Mia didn’t know what that was, but she wasn’t human? She took a closer look at the girl, now noticing the girl’s green hair and dress were made from leaves.

“I couldn’t sense her till she was right tere.” Rowan warned.

“A dryad? She’s like a forest monster, right? Lures men into the forest to her tree and drains them of their life, that dryad?” John asked.

“Not entirely incorrect.” Athena spoke “They are more akin to a spirit of the forest than a monster, they are highly intelligent and do not usually appear before other races.”

Mia watched the dryad, besides standing there it wasn’t doing anything but stare at them. Why was she here?

The dryad’s eyes started to glow, it looked at each individually, it’s gaze lingering on Mia and John longer then the others before it opened it’s mouth to spoke “Humans… and a fox beastman slave. Princess and her pawns.” It spoke with a soft, yet steady voice. “I was right checking on the lump of magic lingering outside our forest before we left.”

“Wait, your forest?” Athena spoke, anger in her voice “This forest belongs to the Eldaha, what is a dryad doing here?”

You didn’t even give this forest a name. Mia thought, also thinking if that was really the biggest concern here. She felt, something, emitting from the dryad now. It was nothing visible but for some reason whenever she now looked at the dryad she found it a bit harder to breath.

“Hrm, yes… Your forest. “ The dryad rolled her eyes “Yes it is your forest, as I said we are leaving. I simply checked on another abnormality, but unfortunately it seems I cannot fix this one.” She said, shooting a glance towards John and Mia.

Mia noticed John getting tense, his hand shaking as he wield his sword.

“That is right, you bett-“Athena spoke, but got caught off as Rowan went in front of her.

“Forgive us dryad…You said anoter abnormality? What oter abnormality.” He asked, the sounds of protest coming from behind him.

“Hrm…” The dryad shook her head “We are sensitive to those in the forest and the area around, our roots travel far…” She pointed at Mia “Others like her, desired help, one refused… others come with as we leave.”

Rowan clicked his tongue “Where are you taking them?” he asked, raising his daggers.

“Away.” The Dryad spoke, turning its attention to Mia “I wish to make the same offer to her but…Unfortunate, a princess and hero. Unless this hero is kind enough to surrender her?”

John tensed up, looking back at Mia he gulped. He then closed his eyes, stopped shaking, and faced her “I am sorry, but she is my destined companion.”

She frowned “Is that what she desires?”

“I…” John froze, looking behind him.

Of course, she didn’t want it. She opened her mouth to speak but Athena screamed, overpowering her voice with her own.

“Don’t talk to her! Remember the demon lord’s curse! Hero! Stop her! She’s a subordinate of the Demon Lord here to take back his soldiers!”

Mia’s mouth clamped shut, letting out a disappointed groan as she watched John ready his weapon.

“Unfortunate, I am sorry.” The dryad looked down. Her body glowed faintly before she started melting into the tree.

“Stop her!” Athena yelled, John and Rowan dashing towards her but by the time they got there the dryad had completely melted into the tree.

Still, her voice could be heard. “The princess and the kingdom shall have this forest. We, and those that are willing, have left it. Hero on behalf of the plants I offer a warning, A cloud of death from the far north grows within the capitol. If it grows any larger it will suffocate all life with it’s girth…” the voice paused “I… find it unfortunate… but seeing the circumstances now I do not regret our choice to leave. may you find the chance to save those ignorant to this danger… is my wishful thinking… goodbye.”

With that the voice stopped, leaving the group alone with themselves once more