A casual stroll from the south gate to the temple would take about twenty to thirty minutes. Running at top speed the whole way, we could make it in ten. But on our way back from the fight against the beasts, it took us an hour. The reason for that was twofold.

On one hand, there were the citizens, who eventually swarmed us, curious about what had happened and about the animal that was accompanying us. We had evidently misjudged the reaction people might have, since most of them didn’t even see Hati as a beast. After further reflection, this actually made sense. They were terrified of those monsters they heard about on a regular basis, but most people had never actually seen a beast in real life, and without that eerie black fur, the red eyes, and the menacing aura, he was just a wolf. An animal nobody had seen before, and a talking one at that. It was an absolute curiosity to these sheltered people, most of whom had never set a single foot outside the walls.

At first, they only watched us in wonder, but when the first people started to greet and approach us, the dam broke, and more and more of them appeared, some being there by chance, but more actually coming after hearing about us. It was kind of amazing how quickly word traveled around here. As a result, I had to give more impromptu speeches about animals and wolves, though I didn’t explicitly explain that Hati was one of the beasts who had just attacked us yet, even if one could put two and two together. With the promise that an actual announcement would follow soon, I mostly just let them be curious for the moment.

The other reason it took us this long, was that even when we weren’t swarmed, Hati got distracted by every little thing he didn’t know yet. Houses, fences, buckets, tools, he wanted to examine it all, similar to how Riala had reacted when we first entered the market in Cerus, and she was overwhelmed with things she had never seen before. Unlike back then though, we didn’t take him by the paw and pull him along, and instead let him run wild, while explaining the things that caught his attention. It was cute at first, but after a while it adminitedly got a little tyring, on top of me being tired out from this morning already. Rarely had I been so happy to reach the main square and see the temple.

“That’s where we live at the moment,” I told him, as I pointed at the large, white building that was impossible to miss.

“Whoa! That big one is a house too!?” he exclaimed.

“Heh... Kind of, yea. It has multiple purposes, but people also live there.”

“Will I live there as well!?”

“That’s the idea. Rule number three, you’ll have to stay close to us for now.”

Regardless of any optimistic feelings I might have had, or the positive reception so far, we obviously needed to keep an eye on him, and we would have to make sure he behaved. For this purpose, there wasn’t really any other option but to have him stay with us. And the idea of, in a way, having a pet wolf was most definitely not a part of it. No, sir.

We hurried across the main square, before people could approach us again, and entered the safety of the temple.

“Slowly...” I heard Riala direct Hati behind me, still riding on his back. The front door of the temple was by no means small, but she could’ve hit her head if the two hadn’t been careful.

Standing in the reception area, another sigh of relief escaped my lips, thinking myself safe, but when I turned left, I saw the wide eyes of four priests, staring at Hati.

Ugh! No. I’m done, I thought, gave Lilana a signal, and dropped control over her body.

“Seriously...!?” she said under her breath.

‘I really need a break... And talking to the priests is your area, right? You can do it! I believe in you!’

She sighed, but then called for the priests to gather in the garden once more, to announce that Hati would live here for a little while. Unlike my own explanations, she sprinkled in references to the gods, their creations, and the divine miracle of a talking animal, which we had a duty to to learn more about. She also revealed that Celeth, the god of beasts, was alive, and explained that the temple had made up this story, of him sacrificing himself, to teach people lessons about devotion and the dangers of the world, in a time when every day was still a battle for survival. Just like Lilana and Aelene, some priests seemed disappointed by this tale supposedly being a lie, but coming from the divine messenger, who had just personally defended the town against a major threat, they believed her.

A full hour behind schedule, Berla and I finally sank into the couch in the former High Priest’s office, which had been replaced with a less bloody, but no less comfy one.

Behind us, Hati carefully walked through the door, with Riala refusing to get off of him. To fit through, she had to really press against him, though that did not seem to bother her in the slightest, as she rubbed her face against his fur. The second he was inside, he started walking around the room, sniffing every single item that caught his eyes. Reurig was about to enter as well, when he said he had somehow gotten a message from his men, and left to check on the situation. All I wanted was to sit down though.

“Finally...” I sighed as I leaned back.

‘Don’t complain, that was your decision,’ Lilana admonished.

“Was it?” I whispered. “I feel like it was Riala’s and Tomar’s.”

Granted, I had agreed, but it was really those two who decided that Hati should stay. With that, every one of our original group had kind of brought someone new on board. Tomar had taken Berla along, Reurig had wanted to follow us after hearing me rant about the world, and Riala had suggested that we take Hati in.

“What are those?” he asked, looking at a bookshelf, and Riala did her best to explain to him what books were, while proudly boasting about how she was able to read a little bit. He seemed interested in the concept of stories being kept within these objects, so Tomar might get another student before long. Or maybe we could ask Aelene? Lilana mentioned she’s a teacher, didn’t she? Hm...

After a little while, Hati finally settled down and sat on the floor, at which point Riala climbed off of him, walking around on slightly unsteady legs, before plopping down right next to him.

“Lilly,” Hati said, as he pried his eyes away from the room around him, “can I ask you something else?”

“Of course.”

“Why did your mana change?”

“Oh, we used to hide our mana, but when we went outside, we needed to show strength, so—”

“No, no, I mean just now!”

“Huh? Just now?” I asked him, not sure what he was talking about.

“It changed when we went inside, and again on our way here.”

I was perplexed for a moment, until I realized that he had presumably noticed Lilana and me swapping control somehow.

“You saw a difference there...? What was it?”

“It was like waaaaaah, but then it changed to wiahwaaah, and now it’s back to waaaaaah.”

“... What...?” I asked once more in confusion.

“Yes! That’s what it’s like!” Riala said with a happy smile, as if someone had been able to communicate something she had struggled with. “And Tomar is like wuawaaah!”

“Yes, he is,” Hati said, nodding.

“You don’t get this either, do you?” I asked, turning towards Berla.

“No... But whatever it is, is that how she tells you, Lilana, and Tomar apart...?”

Ever since Riala first met me, she had always been able to tell whether me or my host was in control. However, nobody understood how she was able to differentiate us. It had been a mystery, and not once did I consider that, somehow, our mana might have been different when I was in control. After all, I had never noticed a visible difference, and I didn’t think there would be one, given that it was the same body emitting the mana.

“Probably,” I said to Berla, before turning towards the other two again. “I don’t get it, is that a feeling? A smell? Is it visible? What is it?”

“You don’t get it?” Hati said, tilting his head. “It’s your mana scent! You must know about that!”

“No idea,” I said. “Can you explain it to me?”

“Hm... it’s like... smelling with your mana! Or maybe hearing...?”

It seemed like he couldn’t quite put it into words, but apparently this was some kind of sense that we either didn’t have or couldn’t control. If it was mana based, it was probably natural for Berla and Reurig not to have it, but Tomar hadn’t been able to tell Lilana and me apart either. The only one of us who had been able to do it so far was Riala.

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “Hear-Smelling!”

“Right...” I said with a chuckle. “And what does it tell you exactly?”

“It’s kind of like a smell... but different,” Hati said. “Everything has its own mana scent.”

“You mean... you can differentiate everything that has mana this way? Even plants?”

“Yes!” he said.

It did sound very much like an alternative sense of smell, but since the two described these “scents” as sounds, there was probably more to it. In any case, they were apparently able to perceive something we couldn’t.

“Ria, can you do that as well? Do trees and plants of the same kind ‘smell’ differently to you?”

“Of course! ... Isn’t that normal?”

“No, Ria. No, it isn’t,” I said with another chuckle.

“Oh... Hehe... Does that mean I can do another thing you can’t?” she said with a smug face.

“Maybe learn to read and write first, before you try to show off,” I teased.

“I will!” she said with a pout.

She was driven by a desire to one-up us, and in terms of utilizing mana, she did seem ahead of Tomar and me a little. As she grew up and learned more, she would surely become even stronger and smarter, and given how headstrong she was already, keeping her under control might become a bit of a challenge. This girl is going to become one difficult teenager...