As Hai left the sea, she watched Mac grab the Komyu stone from the sand. She instinctively shut her mouth tight as she feared Luterio could hear her.
"There is no need to worry," Mac said. He casually handed Hai the stone so she could observe it better. "You see that weird mark on it? That is a rune. That is what allowed me to communicate with that Luterio guy. But to use it, you need to pour a particular type of energy into it to work. So, for now, they can not hear us."
Hai hesitantly took the stone.
"I see..." Hai did not see it at all. As a village girl, her knowledge about everything, rune related or not, was severely limited. Even the information she got from a weird friend of hers was not enough. "But wait! Is there a chance that I can accidentally activate it?"
"Usually, that would be unlikely," Mac said. "But I have had my share of experiences with you Chosen ones, and I know that you guys can have some weird traits. I think it would be best if you stayed away from it." Mac realized the danger and took the Komyu stone back.
"But what about you?" Hai was happy that she wasn't holding the stone anymore, but she was still apprehensive. "How can you be so sure that you won't activate it?"
"Oh, It is because of this." Mac inched for his pocket and pulled out another stone with a weird mark on it. "This is a courtesy of one of my friends. It allows me to activate runes quite easily."
Hai looked at the stone closer. It was like any other rock that she could have found in her many adventures around the Sun Grow Tribe, except that it was shining. The stone emanated a faint cyan light that would somehow attach to wherever the stone touched it. Hai could barely see a different rune from the Komyu stone engraved there.
"Your friend made that?" She asked.
"Yes, he did!" Mac answered promptly and proudly. "He is a Chosen one just like you, and I guess you could say that his weird gimmick is related to runes."
For a second, Hai marveled. She started to wonder how many strange things were out there, beyond her tribe. With the things Mac had shown her, Hai realized how ignorant she was of the world. Hai would like to explore them one day.
But then Hai realized that it was no time for dreaming. Mac and she still had a severe problem in their hands. It was just that Mac would sometimes distract her from her worries.
"No, this is no time for that!" Hai said as much to herself as to Mac. "We need to start planning what we are gonna do now."
"Yeah, It is a shame that I was not able to solve our problem with the invaders with my kidnapper act." Mac tried to ignore his bad experiences with his previous plan. "But hey, it could have been worse."
Hai was not so sure of that. She would probably have nightmares about the scene of Mac terrorizing a child in the future.
With that idea in mind, Hai felt that she should contribute to their next plan as she feared that Mac would have another terrible plan that she could not refuse. Hai somehow could only imagine Mac coming up with a plan that makes him a criminal and her, his accomplice.
"Before anything else, we need to identify our problem, so then we can fix it." Hai tried to stall for time for her to think of a plan. "Now, if you mind, could you explain what situation we are in?"
Mac was weirded out by Hai's unusual request. But he did think that she had a point in establishing the problem clearly. That was the first step in the scientific method, after all, he thought.
"I guess that would be a good idea," Mac said. "But there is not much to say. We are in this mess because of that crazy, senile stalker of mine. For some reason, he thought he needed to fight the invaders here to show me that he had the power or whatever."
"He did that because you told him that he was lying about being able to cure your Small Orbis." Hai intervened. She still partially blames Mac for all of this happening.
"Fair enough," Mac admitted his fault as he chose to ignore the matter with his Small Orbis. "Also, I am the one that brought him here in the first place. Perhaps I am more to blame than him."
Hai did not comment. She agreed with him in her mind only.
"Anyway, moving on." Mac continued with his report. "For some reason, the old man fell hard on the floor as we arrived here. His age probably caught up with him."
"No, I think it was something else that knocked him down. Look!" Hai pointed to the old man layed on the sand far away. "He keeps convulsing from time to time."
Mac also looked at the old man, and a trace of pity washed in his eyes. He could imagine that the old man would have his story and his reasons for what he did. But Mac refused to waste more energy thinking about that as he knew he had his own issues to solve.
"And to heavily summarize the rest of the story," Mac refused to comment on the old man, so he continued. "I took down the last invader standing, stole the Komyu stone from Olito, and to conclude, I used the kid as a bargain to stop Luterio and his gang from coming here."
"You sure do like to summarize things, huh?" Hai said.
"Oh well." Mac shrugged. "We are running out of time, so it's better if I do not dwell too long on the details."
"But wait," Hai believed she had found a crack in Mac's argument. "Are we really running out of time now? As you said, Luterio and his group will not be coming here. That means we have at least time to think of a good plan, right?"
Since Mac had finished telling what happened, Hai was afraid that he would suddenly create a dangerous plan now that he was free. She was trying to at least make him spend a little more time thinking.
"I do not think we have that much time, though," Mac said. "That Luterio guy didn't sound like someone that would follow orders that easily, especially from someone threatening his little brother. He is very likely to send one or more of his men to stealthily gather information about his enemy."
"Wait, really!?" Hai had not thought of that. If she knew that, she would not have asked Mac to retell the events that led them here. Hai really wanted to hit him for not telling her that earlier. "We need to get out of the beach then. We are too exposed here. If they look over the wall just like we did, they would need to be blind to not see that we don't pose a real threat."
Hai had finally formulated a plan herself. Well, if you could call running and hiding a plan.
"Yeah, they would think that wouldn't they?" Mac said. "But if we want to leave the beach now, we will have to take Olito and the old man with us."
Hai understood what Mac meant. They would naturally have to bring Olito with them as he was their hostage (Hai quivered thinking that) and... wait! "Why the old man too?" She asked
It is significant to note that Hai only tolerated Mac because he tried to solve this mess with her. As someone involved in the cause of this, Hai did not have a high opinion of Mac. So one can imagine how she felt about the old man, who passed out after dooming her village. Perhaps killing him herself would be too far for her, but she wasn't against leaving him to his own destiny.
"Well, Hai," Mac said. "You saw how powerful he was back then at your father's tent. He could prove to be of some help to us if we have to fight those invaders."
Hai did not enjoy remembering what happened to her father's tent or the idea of having to face the invaders in combat. "But she still thought that there was not much reason to bother with the old man.
"Didn't you take a look at him, Mac?" Hai said, pointing at the old man one more time. "Do you really think he can fight?"
Hai did have a point. Olito seemed more likely to contribute to a fight than the old man who was still convulsing in the sand. But Mac looked at Hai as if she had just asked a stupid question.
"Well, Hai," He said with a smile. "I don't know if you noticed, but there is a giant red sea behind you, and (I also don't blame you if you did not know about this) that red sea has healing effects."
Not even for a moment had Hai considered this obvious alternative. "Why?" She wondered. "That was so evident. Why did I not think of it!?"
Was Hai so adamant about leaving the old man to his death that she did not even bother thinking about a way to help him? Hai's whole body shook with the thought. When did she become such a person?
Mac noticed Hai's trembling and seemed to somehow understand what was going through her mind.
"You know, that is a common thing to happen." He leisurely patted her head. "Sometimes, we lose our way through a storm of emotions and end up making a decision that we will regret later. That is why it is always important to have a friend beside you to make you remember who you are, as they have the true you inside of them."
As if in shock, Hai jumped back in fright. She was extremely reserved about her own hair, and to have someone unfamiliar to her touch it bothered her.
"Why did you do that for!?" She said, shielding her hair with her hands. "Besides, what did you say about the true me?" Hai was unable to comprehend what Mac said as he touched her hair.
"It was nothing really, just something stupid that I thought on the spot." He laughed it off. "Anyway, I just noticed that we two are really good at losing time with our internal monologues. So let's find somewhere else to do that as we are in danger here. Can you carry Olito here on the ground? I will check up on the old man."
Mac walked off, leaving a stunted Hai. She only reacted again when Mac called her off.
Hai decided to put her worries aside and do as Mac said. She carefully picked Olito from the ground and followed Mac. She saw him picking up his warhammer on the way to the old man.
Mac quickly reached the old man and examined him. He was still as disgusting to look at as before, with all kinds of dirt on his body. But for some reason, he was jolting a lot. Mac tried to look for the cause but gave up quickly.
Mac was experienced, not knowledgeable. He (Ironically) knew that very well. He was no doctor to understand what the old man was going through. Mac only hoped that the mysterious Crimson Coast could somehow help the old man.
Very awkwardly, as the old man was moving a lot and was repulsive to touch, Mac managed to throw him into the sea.
Hai arrived and stood side by side with Mac waiting for the old man to emerge. She felt bad for her so loved sea for polluting it with such a filthy person.
"Do you think it will work?" She asked.
"I am not much of a thinking guy." He said with a smile. "I am more of the hoping type."
Hai did not understand Mac's joke, and she silently waited for something to happen.
"Ok, this is not working!" Mac finally said after a good few seconds. "Quick, go save him!"
"Uh? Me? Why don't you go?" Hai was more confused than offended. "Your hands are free, different from mine."
"I can't go!"
"And why not?"
It is because... Eh..." Mac had trouble thinking of an excuse. "Because the salty water will mess up my hair...?"
Hai wanted to ask what in the world Mac was talking about. But she was stopped by something coming out of the water. The old man had woken up!