-Chapter 12- New Journey. So it continues

Loud explosions were heard.

People were panicking.

They didn’t understand what was happening, nor did they really want to find out. They just prayed for it to not hit their home.

Most people searched the safety of their homes, even though these small wood houses wouldn’t be much of a hindrance for an explosion of such magnitude.

The people understood the sound came out of the forest. Nothing good came out of that forest. That was common sense in this border village. No one would want to check what went wrong, but there was one person in this village, who didn’t try to hide somewhere.

He just froze on the spot with a pale complexion.

It was Konrad von Tarria, who stayed in this village for the time he acted as a teacher.

He understood right away from where these explosion sounds originated and it made his face lose its colour.

“It can’t be, right?....I told them they shouldn’t accept these types of monsters into the temple! Now I will lose face in front my brothers again….”, Konrad assumed beastmen were responsible for this or at least the demon he located.

He was torn between just running away and simply reporting it or confirming the situation at the temple.

There was still the possibility of the explosion not originating from there.

While he was still contemplating the people who remained outside started talking among themselves. They didn’t even bother to lower the volume of their voices.

“Hey, did you hear that explosion?”

“Of course I did, you idiot!”

“What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know if I really want to know… better stay ignorant rather than courting death.”

“Oh, you see that guy there? Didn’t he come out of the forest?”

“Oh yeah I heard he was some kind of teacher at the temple in there.”

“Yeah but I heard he was actually some kind of noble.”

“Oh really? Shouldn’t he do something then?”

At that point Konrad started to listen more attentively.

“You know how nobles are. He won’t bother.”

“Haah… You’re right. Cowardly, not willing to take some risks for the citizens.”

“Would be great if there were some nobles taking the side of the commoners.”

“I’d support such a person, too. Definitely. Seems like we are out of luck though-“

At that point Konrad von Tarria decided on his following actions rather quick. He turned to face the people talking, came closer and tried to look reassuring with no traces of his shocked expression left.

“I shall look into this matter. Tell the remaining people of this village to not try anything risky. As soon as I have a grasp on the situation I shall return and report the circumstances.”

With that he turned around again and left to enter the forest. He didn’t even thinking about using is teleportation device even though this was his usual transportation method. Only wealthy people came to know the pleasure of those devices as they were insanely expensive.

The stationary devices were open to the public, but the use required one to pay a certain fee. It was still payable by the broad public.

As soon as he realised how foolish his actions were, caused by some casual talk of some villagers, he realised he didn’t know where he was or how exactly he found his way to this point.

Retracing his steps or using his mobile transportation device to return to the village would have been an option to resolve this problem, but if he would have returned to the village just like that after talking big would have taken toll on his pride.

In this situation his pride was more important than a more thought through plan.

Teleporting from this spot to the temple was the better option.

Reaching into his bag to pull out the equipment, he heard noises.

Rustling.

It could have been either be the wind or steps of someone or something.

His figure froze once again.

After a few more seconds he pulled out his hand and hid behind a nearby tree and repeated that process.

If it was one of the monsters living in this forest it would have been in his best interest to not be seen by it or at least be able to initiate the first strike.

As a magician he was proficient in analysing his opponent and adapting to the situation. At least he thought of himself as such.

Truth be told, Konrad von Tarria never fought against stronger monsters than the ones in the woods and fields surrounding Tarria.

The strongest opponent he fought was a mutated wind wolf and even that feat was just a coincidental win.

Soon he was close to the rustling noise.

It was indeed the steps of something, but he did not expect it to be a demon.

His eyes widened for a second and his mouth opened without knowing how or the courage to make a sound.

It was a demon dressed in a light amour fit for speedy combat. Judging by this he figured this demon would not be a warrior type but rather something like a subject used for covert missions. Nothing which asked of them to fight head on.

It is not sure if it was the adrenalin or the fear which made him foolish but he decided to capture this demon as he deemed them to be culprit behind the explosion.

He prepared his strongest spell he could use

“Was ich wünsche ist vollkommene Zerstörung, Ein Flammenmeer, Asche, was ich suche ist Feuer. >“

The mana near the demon started to give of a red light and before one could even say “Explosion” the red coloured mana particles started to expand and cause a giant explosion.

Konrad let out a relived sigh after seeing his magic hit its mark. He didn’t even turn around again to check if everything was going according to plan.

The swirling dust cleared up to show an empty, burned clearing. The demon nowhere to be seen.

“Enemy.”

The demon practically whispered into his ear. The relived expression on his face turned into shock. Even though he saw the knife closing in on his throat he couldn’t move.

If it was a kind of spell or just his fear paralyzing him was unknown to him, but he knew this forest would be his grave if he didn’t do something.

The hand still near his bag he tried to reach for the teleporting device, but before he could even reach it he heard a shout.

“Cheya! Don’t go around killing random people! “

After hearing this high pitched, childish voice the demon stopped her hand. Shortly before Konrad’s neck that is.

She was still very capable of killing him. If that voice would have just ordered her to she could do it with ease.

It took all of the nobles’ willpower to not humiliate himself any further in front of his opponent.

Steps were closing in to their current position. Konrad did not have a good feeling about the people traveling together with such a dangerous, bloodthirsty thing.

It was most definitely this group which caused this explosion. There was no other option for Konrad. Well, they were a suspicious people traveling through a forest deemed to be too dangerous for normal people. Of course, one would come to such a conclusion.

“H-huh? I-Isn’t that…? “

A timid, quiet voice uttered such words. It seemed familiar to him. He couldn’t put a name to this voice. There was a vague memory of a face and a place, but he was not really in the mood of searching his memory for the face fitting this voice. The knife was a little more distracting.

He could have used magic to flee, he could have used the teleportation device then and there, he could have shouted. As he was not used to such situations in the least, this inexperienced noble didn’t consider any of them and just stared at that knife, wearing an awkward smile while sweating profusely.

“Hmm~ it’s one of the boring supporting characters, huh?”

A more mature voice made its way to his ears. He definitely heard that voice before. It was one of the teachers at the temple. That former mercenary.

“H-huh? W-w-what are you d--- “, He was able to shift his gaze from the knife, which was still placed near his throat, and look past that demon. It was just a moment though before he remembered the danger he was in.

That teacher could be in cahoots with that demon.

“Ah~ He’s alive, alive~ A useless person is alive”, this voice cut deeper than the knife could have.

He was sure it was their plan to break his spirit and then take him to their hideout, knowing his status

“Oh, for once you’re telling the truth. Though it’s 3 people right now, right?”

The last voice which appeared was the one which commanded the demon.

It was probably the leader.

He might have sounded young, he thought, but he could be a lot older than he was. After all he could be a demon, right?

“Haaah~, who is number three, Zekki?”

“Moving on, Cheya…. Eeehm… could you… you know… move that knife? You look like a dog waiting for their masters’ command to dig in……”

Maybe he was wrong, maybe it was an angel, he thought while not trying to shed tears of joy. It seemed like it would not be time for him yet to be send to the afterlife.

That demon moved away from him as fast as she reached him. Standing was not possible even though the danger was not immediate anymore. Relief was the reason.

“Ehm… Mister von Tarria, right?”

The voice now was directed at him. Now he had a face to that voice, too.

“H-Hah… You… that…. Why are you…. Why is that…….. ehem…Yeah. I-I am indeed Konrad von Tarria and … “

His confused mind slowly tried to make sense out of the appearance of this weird group of people. The black haired brat with the void affinity, that blue haired, lazy looking kid who joined the class later than the others, that mercenary teacher, as he guessed, carrying that blond haired, popular boy and some girl. He couldn’t remind much of that girl. He was certain she was part of the class too, but he didn’t connect her with any situation or trait.

And then there was that demon…

After the knife was nowhere close him he gained his former false courage again.

“You are the perpetrators who caused the explosion! It seems to have been a well thought out plan. Long planned as well. As a noble of Tarria it is my duty to send filth, such as you, who would create such explosions near a temple harbouring children, into captivity. Your actions at this point may affect your punishment, so cooperate. Two demons, a former mercenary and some brainwashed kids causing trouble and even kidnap a celestian child on their rampage. You can use every good will you can get with such charges.”

With no trace left of the noble who nearly soiled himself because of a knife, he stood proudly before the group containing two people who could kill him instantly. He still planned to capture them.

It may just have been the adrenaline which was still present in his blood or the temporary loss of his short time memory, but he did not step down or lower his pose. He stood as proud as he did before. A if talking to inferior people.

“Hoooh~ Really? I must say your observational skills must be at least decent to be able to discern those things~ but it seems your brain is just useless, huh~? Not completely useless~. That’s good, that’s good.”

Adora was as relaxed as ever, not caring about the threats Konrad spat out. The compliments confused him even further. Why would one say such things in this kind of situation?

“What are yo---“

Before he could even continue his sentence he felt a sword hilt on the back of his head and the slow fading of his consciousness.

“Teacher… d-did you have to do this?”

“Oh? I was kind though.”

These were the last words he heard before his world turned black.

Zeki and Adora were discussing that matter further but they didn’t have much of a choice but to drag him with them.

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Hey.

I know, it’s been a while, but look you were taken care of just fine, right?

You had food and you could sleep and eat and ,ehm, wait…

Hey don’t look at me like that.

I’m the wanted person here not you… I have matters to attend to, too.

Anyway, before you will get any more curious… you already are, huh?

You know what. You have to wait until I get there. You were the one wanting to hear it from the beginning and I sure won’t go out of my way just to tell you a different story to which you don’t even know the context of.

You’re the type of person to read the last pages of books first, huh? Or do you like reading the sequel first and then ask your friend every minute to explain the context of the situations?

Haaa…

Let’s get back into the story shall we or I’ll probably go out of here in a bad mood. We don’t want that, riiiiight?

We stopped at me nearly killing Kyle, but not getting to actually do it, because Lycus was stopping me and made me put on some kind of seal choker on him, right?

Of course I remember such events in detail. It was kind of important after all. You don’t forget such things easily or at all. Who do you take me for?

Anyway, after the choker was placed onto Cealius Teacher S scooped him up and placed him on her shoulder.

It looked kind of ridiculous, but these seemed to be the most efficient way of transporting that bastard without letting him out of our sight.

Who knows what he would have done otherwise though.

If we go by how this world works, he would probably have been found by some Celestials who, of course, would take of the choker, because these Celestials would, again, of course, be the most powerful of the Celestials. They would have just picked him up and taken him to their magical sky country thing, probably called Laputa, and treated him like their own child. Later he would be, I don’t know, King of the Celestials and start to conquer the whole world and brainwash every single living being.

All Hail the all mighty Cealius.

That or he could just have died by some monster attack, while he was unconscious and powerless.

Well, what happened, happened. We can’t change the past so moving on.

The ultimate goal was it to find Cheya, who I was supposed to meet in that forest, explain the situation and that was actually all I planned at that point.

My mind was still messed up. I saw people die. It was not the same feeling as the death of the guard, who send me of to that cursed temple. People I actually kind of knew died. They died in front of me. Sure, they weren’t really people I led a decent conversation with, but the thought alone of these kids getting killed so easily with no reason at all.

There were news reports, sure, but that didn’t concern me. I would say “Oh, that’s horrible” or something along the lines, but as soon as the programme changed I wouldn’t waste another thought on that subject.

That’s the modern human for you.

I couldn’t just treat that situation the same. It wasn’t something I ever experienced before. I didn’t think about the settings of this world a lot either.

I did not think about how easy it is for people to die in this world. I may have been lucky to have been able to grow to the age of 10 without experiencing such scenes.

I was lucky to have lived in a temple surrounded by a forest in which few people dared to step a foot in. Lucky for having Lilika and Adella and everyone else who was able to smile at me.

It may sound weird after I told you what a horrible place the temple was, but, at that point, I missed it.

Even if I had to deal with a lot of trouble there, but at least I could graduate from it. I could have taken Lilika with me and maybe Alycia and Lycus, too, living out a normal, but maybe happy life.

Well, it’s not something to ponder over at this point anyway, right? It still turned out decent, didn’t it? Hah. Let’s say it could have been worse.

Teacher S wore her usual smile again after some time of jogging through the forest. Lycus had a similar recovery. They seemed to have experienced these types of situations a lot.

Maybe they just covered up their worries.

Alycia still had trouble walking and she kept shakenly mumbling words with no meaning behind them.

Except this mumbling it was silent.

Maybe it was for the best. Letting oneself deal with the situation until one is calm enough to talk about it.

It took an hour of aimless wandering to find the place where Cheya was supposed to pick me up.

A bunch of crystal like objects were piled up at the tree where I fell down the other day and Cheya seemed ready to kill again.

I wondered if that was her surprised reaction. If it were things would get very complicated.

“Young Master, please move away from those people. This Cheya will take care of the nuisances.”

She seemed to just another troublesome person to add to this group, right?

None of them seemed to be in any way normal, right?

Just my luck, huh? A normal person surrounded by such people.

Hah?

I’m as normal as can be? I’m just unlucky.

“E-ehm Cheya, that knife, could you, put that away maybe?”

I was still not sure how to handle this person.

“As you wish. This Cheya does not understand your judgment, but young masters wish shall be followed. May this Cheya ask a question?”

Her answers seems to get longer and longer when she talks to me.

Behind me I felt a certain murderous aura emitting from Teacher S. Seems like Cheya made someone really excited. I don’t know why S did not simply jump forward and engage in battle but I was thankful for it. I didn’t want more trouble.

“Well go ahead. You don’t really have to ask.”

“This Cheya thanks young master. This Cheya was wondering about the origins of these wounds on young masters’ body. They seemed to be inflicted by something quiet big. The girl with you seems to carry wounds, too. Even that woman emitting killing intent for some time now seemed to be affected in a way.”

I did not expect her to talk about this. I was pretty sure neither me nor teacher S suffered any type of wound. Alycia hurt her legs a little but physically she was fine.

“W-what do you mean? No one is hurt.”

I was a little confused even though I should have understood what she meant.

“That girl s pretty good to see such things, huh~ Some Celestials decided to turn the nearby

Temple into a graveyard. As you may or may not understand these cute kids are not unaffected by the death of people they knew for a long time. Even I am not a heartless person who likes to see people be killed right in front of me~”

Teacher S, who was a little calmer than the rest of the group, explained the situation in my stead.

“I see.”

Her answer was shorter than these long and overly polite answers directed at me. Makes one jealous of how fast a conversation can proceed.

“This Cheya may sound rude, but young master acted logically. Your life is important after all. It seems like the Celestials lessened their attack intensity, too. The possibility of the survivors existing is high. If you feel like it is not enough, think about the people having left their lives behind. Living strongly for the ones who fell and surviving until the very end seems to be the best course of action, doesn’t young master agree? The people around you don’t seem too much of menace to young master. Taking them out of the forest is something this Cheya can agree to.”

Cheya bowed her head through all her answer to a not asked question. She made some sense, though it may still a little hard for normal ten year olds to understand this concept.

It cleared my head a bit.

I nodded to the bowing Cheya.

“Teleporting out of this forest is not possible as this Cheya did not prepare enough short distance teleportation devices for such a group of individuals. Because of such reasons we have to walk a certain distance until the short distance teleportation devices suffice.”

After she stated as such she packed up the crystal like objects and started walking.

“Eh-Cheya, wait.”

I was of the opinion that we would at least plan our future actions as to not make any more mistakes. Cheya didn’t seem like the type of person who would just charge ahead without a plan. Maybe she thought a plan was not needed for such a task.

That was just her though. I don’t know about Lycus, but Alycia and I were not used to such terrain.

“This Cheya shall look out for any dangers ahead so young master will not run into any problems.”

After I called out to her she told me her intentions. It was not a bad idea. Cheya would scout and if there are still dangers around us Teacher S would protect us. I still had a bad feeling though.

What if there was an innocent stranger who just happened to enter the forest trying to investigate the origins of the explosions. If I evaluated her right she would slaughter that person for the crime of being in the forest at this time.

Well, we had quite the walk before us. The forest was moderately big, but the thing with the Gift forest was the hallucinogens monsters gave off caused one to get lost. The poison those monsters spewed around wasn’t really helping the progress of our escape.

It seemed like the crystals used for the teleportation devices could be procured here as well. They grew like mushrooms on trees. The problem with those crystals was they could activate and teleport you to a random location within the forest.

Yes, it sounds like those teleportation traps out of RPGs. If we go by those standards you could say the Gift forest was a type of dungeon.

After a while of walking I heard the distant sound of an explosion. Cheya didn’t seem to disappoint my expectations.

How I was so sure it had something to do with her? Why else would there be a random explosion. I don’t think someone would just randomly practice their explosion spells in the forest at that point of time in such a situation.

I started running in the direction. I know awfully characteristic for me, but stopping Cheya from killing someone is easier than an army of brainwashed children zombies controlled by Cealius.

“Cheya! Don’t go around killing random people! “

I shouted in an attempt to stop the predicted tragedy from happening. I seriously needed more training, because I was the last to arrive at the scene with Alycia being dragged along by Teacher S.

The scene I witnessed was Cheya holding a knife dangerously close to the neck of a person.

The closer I got the more I could make out from that person. Ordinary brown hair a bit dishevelled, but one could see parts of the former form of the hairstyle.

He wore expensive clothes which seemed to have gotten dirty as he fell on the floor.

Without doubt it was the magic instructor of the temple. I did hear he stayed in the village close to the forest.

“H-huh? I-Isn’t that…? “

Alycia still held onto Teacher S and quietly spoke words of surprise and maybe relief? The nobles’ intense staring duel with the knife was interrupted for a bit after he seemed to notice it again.

He was completely frozen by that small knife. Well in the hands of Cheya they were indeed a weapon to be afraid of.

“Hmm~ it’s one of the boring supporting characters, huh?”

Teacher S was as cruel as ever. She couldn’t even use the name of the deadly afraid noble.

Of course I remember his name. Don’t look at me like that.

“H-huh? W-w-what are you d--- “

He stuttered, but cut of his sentence after he saw Cheya come closer again. It was really a pathetic display.

Well, I was of course better, right? I faced Cheya bravely when she nearly stabbed me. Hahaha….

“Ah~ He’s alive, alive~ A useless person is alive~”

It seemed like Lycus and his mother followed the goal of killing him with words. It seemed effective, too. Well, I can’t deny that he wasn’t the most useful asset as he looked like he nearly pissed himself.

“Oh, for once you’re telling the truth. Though it’s 3 people right now, right?”

I couldn’t just let this statement stay like that. I would lose my position of the only sane person in that group if I didn’t say at least one sensible sentence.

I will ignore these looks, thanks.

“Haaah~, who is number three, Zekki?”

Lycus looked kind of disappointed. What did he expect? This guy doesn’t even notice the pit in his head apparently. Not like he changed any bit. Haa~ he still worries me.

I had to do something about the knife in Cheya’s hand to get him to talk. Knowing what the outside world or in this case the village near the forest knew about this incident was important and the safest method would be to ask a lone person, who witnessed the reactions of the villagers.

“Moving on, Cheya…. Eeehm… could you… you know… move that knife? You look like a dog waiting for their masters’ command to dig in……”

She looked a little too ready to use her knife again. I hoped she would calm down as soon as we left the vicinity of this forest.

I had the urge to say ‘Cheya sit’. I suppressed it though. I still wasn’t really that comfortable with her. It was too perfect though. The sentence I finally said stemmed from that.

After Cheya jumped away one could see his relief on his face.

He slowly stood up again and looked at me a little weird. Let’s hope Miss Door doesn’t get any more competition….

“Ehm… Mister von Tarria, right?”

See, I remembered his name. Konrad von Tarria.

I know, it was clear it was him. I just wanted to start this conversation in some way. He was proud of his identity so asking about it should calm him down even more.

“H-Hah… You… that…. Why are you…. Why is that…….. ehem…Yeah. I-I am indeed Konrad von Tarria and … “

Confused as he first seemed I thought this would take a while, but he straightened rather quickly and gave his answer. Though his recovery may or may not have been a bad thing. I forgot about his usual self for a while and regretted it instantly.

“You are the perpetrators who caused the explosion! It seems to have been a well thought out plan. Long planned as well. As a noble of Tarria it is my duty to send filth, such as you, who would create such explosions near a temple harbouring children, into captivity. Your actions at this point may affect your punishment, so cooperate. Two demons, a former mercenary and some brainwashed kids causing trouble and even kidnap a celestian child on their rampage. You can use every good will you can get with such charges.”

I knew he was more of an observational person than the other people of the temple but to be this stupid. Cheya was holding herself back, because of the order I gave, which felt weird, and then there was Teacher S ready to jump him.

I couldn’t hold her back even if I wanted. I didn’t have a death wish. I felt like even if we were supposed on the same side she would ruthlessly beat me up if I stepped between her and her opportunity to punish someone.

That’s an S for you, huh?

“Hoooh~ Really? I must say your observational skills must be at least decent to be able to discern those things~ but it seems your brain is just useless, huh~? Not completely useless~. That’s good, that’s good.”

Meaning ‘Be glade you have some worth for me to keep you alive, you boring side character’. I got rather good at interpreting Teacher S’ threats, didn’t I?

Konrad looked just as confused as Alycia who held Teacher S’ robe up until now.

“What are yo---“

He wasn’t even able to finish his sentence before Teacher S knocked him out.

“Teacher… Did you have to do this…”, I asked timidly

“Oh? But I was kind though.”

Our definitions of kind were two different things as it seemed.

“W-well… let’s … wait for him to wake up…. I guess.”

I wasn’t really able to think about anything else at that point. We weren’t sure at which part of the forest we were at and I didn’t want to have any of those two, Cheya or Teacher S, carry this man around.

I felt his health would have been in danger otherwise.

“This Cheya shall bind him, as this Cheya feels this cretin will cause young master trouble. I can’t let my mission be compromised by such a useless person.”

It looked like Cheya would get along with Teacher S, didn’t it? It wasn’t such a bad idea so I just ignored it. Cheya didn’t show any sign of emotional change so I didn’t really care.

She warped up Cealius while she was at it.

There we were and waited.

What a perfect place to stop, right?

Yeah, I know there wasn’t much happening this time around and I apologize for that, but, you see, that matter waiting outside of here is worrying me. To a great extent, too.

So… If you excuse me for a bit.

See you later.

Try to, I don’t know, not die of boredom?

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Authors note:

Hey there….. I’m dead right now….. well nearly dead….

There was so much shit happening. I didn’t come to write…. I didn’t come to calm down…. I didn’t come to read even one page of that new novel I found…..

It had to do with a death in the family the following debts left behind and then the normal routine beginning again .__.

For anyone interested, my exams went well .__.)9

Well… I try to post more frequently again (.__.)>

For the people still sticking with this story. You got some endurance, man. If I were you I would have just gone and left XDD

That’s why I’m thankful!

If you see some writing errors please do tell me! Suggestions are a well seen thing too~

Especially right now when I try to get back into writing. If you liked this chapter just tell me too~ Motivation is something which keeps me writing after all hahaha.

And

Thank you a bunch for reading this story of mine!

Until the next chapter, which will come out in the near future I hope >v>