“I’ve thought this for a while now, but the two of you really don’t smell normal.” Klaus spoke up a while after they left their temporary camp.
“Oh? Do we smell nice at least?” Ignis teased, only half joking. He was a bit of a clean freak, so he hated smelling bad.
Klaus rolled his eyes, and took the hint to drop the subject. It was good that Stella hadn’t heard his comment, as she wouldn’t have let it go as easily. She seemed to have a vendetta against Nihil for some reason. Then again, none of the rest of the group ever tried to stop her – except Ignis, of course. For his part, Nihil just ignored it as he seemed to know something about it that the others didn’t.
“So where are you guys from? You can’t have always been thieves, surely?” Lunam inquired after dropping back from the front of the group.
“That’s what we’d like to know.” Ignis muttered under his breath, a tinge of frustration coming through.
“That is to say that we were constantly on the move as children, and so we’ve never had a fixed location to call our home.” Nihil quickly covered for his friend, shooting him a warning look.
Ignis hurried to agree, instantly regretting his slip of the toungue. He was glad that Nihil was a quick thinker.
“Oh? Your parents must have had an interesting job, then. Are you two brothers?” The last question was asked somewhat dubiously, as the two really didn’t look anything alike.
“Haha, no we’re not.” Ignis laughed. “Our parents were business partners, so we naturally became close. They were merchants, you see.”
“Ah, that makes sense then.” Lunam smiled in understanding. “By the way, ever since I heard about it, I’ve been curious … what did you guys steal from the Royal Guard?”
At this, the duo suddenly felt as if the entire group had shifted all their focus onto their answer. It seemed that the two wouldn’t be able to dodge the question.
“That’s something we won’t say.” Nihil refused point blank. They weren’t going to be travelling together for long, and he didn’t see any need to tell them.
“Well that’s rude.” Stella muttered loud enough for the entire party to hear.
“There’s no reason to tell you, so it’s none of your business.” Nihil replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
“No matter what you say, we are currently travelling together. Does that not mean we have a right to know?” Klaus asked, naturally taking his leader’s side.
“Afraid that’s not enough of a reason.” Ignis replied lightly. “Knowing just might put you in even more danger.”
Giving his friend a strange look, Nihil quickly let it slide. It never ceased to amaze him just how innocently the guy could lie through his teeth. Then again, he wasn’t any better himself.
“Hmm … ? Is that so?” Lunam responded slowly. “And if we were to say that we didn’t care?”
“It wouldn’t make any difference.” Nihil put it simply.
“Fair enough then.”
“Lunam! Why are you letting him be so rude?” Stella angrily confronted her sister. “I don’t trust them! They’re probably just lying to us!”
“Enough! They’re correct, it really isn’t any of our business. We can’t force them to give up their secrets. Can you honestly say that we’ve fully disclosed everything about ourselves too?” Lunam pointed out to her sister in an effort to mediate the argument. After she spoke as such, the conversation quickly turned to other topics.
Slowing down, Nihil and Ignis put some distance between them and the adventurers.
“What should we do now? I’m starting to think that this wasn’t a good plan after all …” Ignis asked his friend worriedly. “The vibe you give others has never been good, but that Stella acts as if we murdered her father or something. It almost seems personal.”
“I’m used to it by now. Honestly, it’s not their fault – I am an unnatural existence after all …” Nihil replied indifferently.
“No you’re not! If anything you’re the most natural existence of all of us!” Ignis angrily refuted his friend. He really hated that Nihil genuinely believed that of himself.
Nihil just smiled gently at his friend. He knew that this man was probably the only one who would ever feel that way about him, despite knowing the truth. Honestly he’d long since given up on even trying, but ever since Ignis had accepted him, a small part of his heart had slowly started to get his hopes up once again.
“Since we’re headed the same direction, we might as well stick with them. I’ll try to get along with the group better to make this easier on you.” Nihil replied, dodging the subject of his origin.
Choosing not to say anything, Ignis indicated his agreement and the two swiftly returned to the main group.
* * *
Along the way to the ruins, the adventurers hunted magical beasts and stole their gems. These gems were the coalescence of unrefined magical energy in the beasts’ bodies. It sustained their lives, but it was also a very valuable resource for other species. They were often used to create similar storage gems to the ones used in the inn, and the amount of space they could support was directly proportional to the strength of the magical beast that nurtured it. As such they were very valuable. However, the danger posed in collecting them (especially the higher quality ones) was not to be looked down upon.
Magical beasts were different from Mysterious beasts. Mysterious beasts had intelligence at least equivalent to a human, and they could speak the human tongue so communication was possible. They could also train in magic or cultivation. In contrast, magical beasts were dumb, wild animals that actively sought out the other species to fight. They were instinctually attracted to the refined magical energy contained in a person’s body, knowing that it would be highly beneficial to their strength. However, they couldn’t train to independently increase their strength, so stealing it from the other species was their only option.
Villages were all surrounded by walls precisely due to the existence of magical beasts. Without their protection, the people inside would be massacred every night, by wild hordes attracted to the large congregation of refined energy.
For the most part Nihil and Ignis stayed out of the way of the seasoned adventurer’s group as they fought, but sometimes they acted as bait to lure the prey into a trap or ambush. It was interesting for the two men to watch how such a large group of people worked together in perfect sync. It was clear that they had worked together for a long time, and that they all respected and trusted each other with their lives.
Merry, Alexis and Lucas were all long range type fighters. Alexis used a bow, while Merry used a rifle. Just like the two girls, Lucas was an elf. His weapon of choice was a crossbow. As such, they stayed at the back of the group and covered the rest of the party with supportive fire. They would pay close attention to the opponent and strike devastating blows at just the right time.
Klaus, Lunam and Stella were, of course, close quarters experts. Lunam wielded dual blades, while Klaus simply transformed into his wolf form and fought with his fangs and claws. Stella fought with steel gauntlets that gave her punches more strength and power. These guys could all fight without worry because they trusted Merry, Alexis and Lucas to cover their backs when they needed it. Their role was to draw the opponent’s attacks to them in order to allow the rest of the party to fight freely.
Claude, Linley and Archer were demons that specialised in mid-range and restraint techniques. Claude had mastered the whip, while Linley and Archer both used throwing daggers and other hidden weapons. Their job was to restrict the enemy’s movements from a distance, assisting both the close-range and the long-range fighters. Linley and Archer had a pair of jet black eyes, wings and a tail. However, Claude‘s wings and tail were blood red, and he also had a pair of matching horns. This difference in colour indicated that Claude had a weaker bloodline than the other two, however his horns indicated that one of his parents had an especially strong bloodline. This was a possible indication of him being only half-demon.
Finally, Paul, Clark and Carl were sensory type support cultivators. They were all humans who had heightened each of their senses so they could hear, smell and see things in greater detail than specialists in other fields. They also focused their cultivation on healing so that they could better support the fighters. However if they were forced to fight, they were rather adept at using poisons.
Their job was to keep an eye on their surroundings while everyone else fought, so that the party wouldn’t get ambushed while they were distracted. After the battle was over, they and Stella would tend to any wounds that had appeared during the fight.
In this manner, the group could split into 3 smaller teams and take on multiple enemies. Both Nihil and Ignis were impressed by their teamwork.
Ignis was especially surprised when he learned that Stella was a skilled healer. Mage healers could use spells to heal wounds, so it was somewhat easier as long as they had the knowledge and imagination necessary in order to perform said spells. However, cultivators had it harder. They had to use their own internal energy stimulate the patient’s cells to heal themselves, so the amount of concentration necessary was a lot higher.
A mage could naturally manipulate energy outside of their body, as such using the patient’s energy to control the healing process was simple for them. However, there was a danger when using an energy source other than the patient’s as their body could end up rejecting the foreign power and instead make the wound worse. It was only possible if the healer’s internal energy had a neutral attribute, which was very rare.
Attributes for mages were much clearer than for cultivators. For mages, while they could master any kind of magic as long as they could imagine it, the spells that matched their own attribute would be much easier to imagine and would also require far less power. There were many types of attributes. The basic ones being water, wind, fire, earth, light, dark, and lightning. However there were also rarer ones, such as: space, time, speed, and different combinations of the various basic elements.
However, attributes for cultivators were slightly more subtle. Unlike mages, a cultivator’s attribute wouldn’t necessarily affect their fighting capabilities too much. However, only those without an attribute or a matching one would be able to heal a patient. That being said, if a person had an attribute, they wouldn’t normally bother to learn the healing technique at all since the uses for that knowledge would be severely limited. Instead, they’d focus on learning to fight.
A cultivator’s attribute was still important for them to be aware of, though. If utilised properly, they could find a corresponding weapon that would feel a lot more comfortable and easier to wield. For example, a fire attributed cultivator would normally feel more comfortable with a close range weapon, while water and wind type cultivators would normally be more at home with mid or long range weapons respectively. Earth types would also normally have very good defence, so close range weapons would probably be a good fit for them as well.
Attributes were similar to blood types in many ways, one of which being that there were many who believed that specific attributes would affect the person’s personality. However, just as with blood types, there was no evidence to prove that theory, and there were also many outliers that didn’t follow the trend. Take Stella for example, she had a pretty hot-blooded temperament, and just going by her personality she would normally fall under the ‘fire’ attribute. However, she could heal others of different types, so she must have a neutral attribute which would normally mean an indifferent attitude to most things and an unruffled demeanour.
After each battle, Nihil and Ignis were in charge of dismantling the magical beasts’ bodies and removing their core from the centre of their chests. They volunteered to do so because the beasts’ meat just so happened to be super delicious. If stored and cooked properly, the unrefined magic in their bodies would remain and help with a person’s cultivation. It wasn’t nearly as useful to mages, but the exceptional flavour more than made up for it. The hides and bones were also useful in crafting various armours and weapons, so none of the remains would be wasted and they could net a tidy profit at the same time.
While they got to work with the dismantling, Nihil and Ignis took the opportunity to talk privately.
“It’s a good thing that these guys are headed to the same place we are.” Ignis commented cheerfully. “They should be good camouflage for us.”
“I wonder why they’re headed to those ruins, though …” Nihil muttered pensively. “More than that … Ignis, it’s been several weeks since you last ate that. We need to find the next available opportunity to slip away otherwise you won’t last much longer.”
“I told you yesterday that I’ll be fine for a while yet. It’s not worth the risk of the group seeing us.” Ignis replied with a gentle smile.
“Stop that. Even if they did happen see us, it wouldn’t be the end of the world as we would just leave the group. This is only a temporary arrangement anyway.” Nihil responded testily. “Besides, I’ll need your help if something happens, so you have to be in top form.”
Giving up with a small sigh, Ignis smiled and relented. So later that night, Nihil woke his friend while it was his turn on watch.
“Now seems like it’ll be the best opportunity that we’ll get, so make sure you eat your fill, ok?” Nihil insisted, worried about his friend.
“Sure, I won’t hold back though so I hope you have enough mental energy.” Ignis replied only half jokingly as he got out from under his blanket.
Walking a short distance away from the camp, Nihil turned to face his friend. “Here should be fine. We still need to keep an eye on the group’s surroundings after all.”
Subsequently, he held his palm out facing the dense canopy overhead. A strange flickering appeared in the centre that gradually strengthened into a roaring green flame. As he did this, a long, midnight blue fox’s tail suddenly appeared at the base of Nihil’s spine. Since neither of the two guys seemed surprised by this, it was clear they’d both known about it for a long time.
Another strange sight then appeared as the flames got brighter and turned into a stream that rushed towards Ignis’ open mouth. He was somehow managing to suck in and swallow all of the burning hot flames, without damaging his throat.
It seemed clear that neither of the two were the ordinary humans that the Star and Moon adventurer’s group had assumed them to be.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Nihil concentrated all his power into his palm. He ended up gripping his wrist with his left hand as he forced as much power as he possibly could into the fire ball. This wasn’t a normal mage’s flame. The concentration of power had to be much denser for Ignis otherwise it would lose it’s purpose. On top of that, Ignis hadn’t eaten in a long time so he would need a lot more fire than usual. This was going to drain most of Nihil’s mental energy.
For a mage, the amount of external energy they could use was entirely dependant on their mental energy. The more they had, the stronger the spells they could use. Also, they could only manipulate the world’s energy for as long as their concentration and mental energy lasted.
As a result of this, Nihil’s physical energy wouldn’t drain, but his mental power would take a severe toll. He also wouldn’t be able to focus on his surroundings, so he left that job up to Ignis. His friend was much better at sensing danger than he was anyway.
After a good 15 minutes of Ignis rapidly absorbing the green flames, he had finally eaten his fill. Opening his mouth to thank Nihil, Ignis’ eyes widened and the words caught in his throat. Catching his friend just in time, Ignis prevented the boy from collapsing hard onto the ground. Ignis had promised not to hold back, so he had taken up almost all of Nihil’s mental energy.
Since it was Ignis’ turn to be on watch after Nihil, he calmly picked his friend up and laid him down on his camp bed, covering the tail with his blanket. Smiling sadly, he whispered a small thank you to his sleeping friend.
After that, he returned to their original spot and covered the rest of Nihil’s shift as well as his own. His watch would only last until dawn so he worried whether his friend would be able to get enough rest before having to wake up and move on with the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, a pair of unnoticed eyes had been watching them while Ignis ate.
Aerone Grey 