I woke up and immediately felt a wave of bloodlust emanate towards me. I tried to get up, but a stinging pain in my stomach forced me back down. I looked towards where the bloodlust was coming from and saw Ana and Astra fighting off a pack of wolves. The wolves couldn't enter the cave which allowed Ana and Astra to fight without much damage.
"Why isn't the barrier working? More importantly why am I injured? Ah that doesn't matter right now. I need to get the barrier back up and running. Astra and Ana won't be able to last much longer."
"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself." The pain in my stomach slightly receded thanks to my spell. I then got up from my bed and headed to the place where I put the magic circle that created the barrier. When I got there I saw that the core of the magic circle was removed from the ground. It also seemed like it was put back hastily in the wrong way. There were also some claw marks on it that messed it up. Luckily the claw marks didn't really damage it. It would only make the magic circle less efficient. If I put the core back then the barrier should activate and I should be given more time to create a new core.
I instantly put the core back in the proper spot. Once I did the magic circle activated and created the barrier. The wolf pack that had been fighting so vigorously, visibly became scared, and ran away. I was relieved that the magic circles core was working properly. Probably because if that I stopped channeling my mana into the reinforcement spell. As such I was racked with pain from my stomach causing me to groan and lie down on the flow. I could even tell that blood was flowing from wounds on my stomach.
The fox twins probably heard my groans and rushed over to me. They first made sure that I was okay. Astra rolled me onto my back while Ana controlled water to wash my wounds. I wanted to tell her to not use her element, but she immediately stopped once my wounds were clean. She didn't use her element long enough for her to lose control. Once my wounds were cleaned up Astra rebandaged them. They had already been bandaged before which was probably done by them. Then they dragged me back onto the bed. I wasn't sure how I balanced on their bodies, but I didn't care.
"Thank you," I said once I was safely on the bed.
"It should be us who thank you Sylvain." Astra said.
"What's this now? Astra using my name. Did I actually die?"
"You didn't die Sylvi. Astra has just decided to trust you now. Who wouldn't after you got injured just to protect us from that strong demonic beast."
"I honestly thought that you both were killed by the demonic beast. So how did you live and how did this whole thing even start?"
"Well Astra didn't trust Sylvi when you said you were leaving to get food. So she decided to steal the block of wood that keeps the demonic beast away. That way we could keep the demonic beasts away and live without you. However once she removed it the demonic beast showed up. She tried to put it back, but the demonic beast would not go away. It's mouth and claws were already bloody when it came."
"Of course the barrier would fail when you removed the core component. And did you really think that, that tiny piece of wood was keeping away all the demonic beasts. No, that is only one part of a system and it has to be placed in the same spot to keep the system intact."
"I'm sorry okay. I just didn't trust you yet. Now however I fully trust you Sylvain."
"Thank you Astra, but from now on don't move things that I say shouldn't be moved. I can also see some claw marks on the wood. You're lucky that those claw marks didn't majorly affect the magic circle. However I'm still going to need to make a new core since this one won't work as well. It's fine for now, but it needs to be fixed."
"No Sylvi. You shouldn't work on it since you are injured."
"Ana if I don't fix it then it could fail. If it fails while I'm like this then we all would die. I need to fix it. After I'm done fixing it I'll rest till I'm better."
"Fine, but you can't do anything too excessive, okay. Promise me Sylvi."
"Yes, yes. However you both will need to hunt for our food then."
"Sylvain, you can't expect us to be able to hunt. We have no experience and if we use our elements with you like this then we won't be able to control it."
"Astra, I get that, yet we still need to get food. Winter is coming soon and if we are not prepared we won't survive. Even though I said hunt, what I meant was forage. Just head to the human zone and look for plants similar to the ones I've gathered before. If we're lucky I will be able to heal before winter and hunt some animals for us."
"Well that seems acceptable."
"Wait Astra. How will we take care of Sylvi then? Both of us just can't leave him here alone."
"No Ana it's fine. Food is a higher priority for us right now. I'll be fine even if you leave me for a couple of hours a day. Besides I will need to work on the core of the magic circle and it would be best if I were to have peace and quiet for that."
"Okay Sylvi, but remember our promise. Don't do anything too excessive."
"Yeah I won't. Just hurry and go gather some edible plants already. Make sure to watch out for each other. I suggest that one of you gathers while the other stands lookout so you can run away at any time."
"Okay then we'll be leaving Sylvain."
"Wait. Do you know how to get back here if you get lost?"
"Um."
"Ah."
"Yeah that figures. Give me a second I'll carve a map into this piece of wood."
I then carve a very simple map of our surroundings. The map I made is definitely not drawn to scale and is probably very inaccurate. However it should be able to give a general direction. I based the map around the water sources I found while I was exploring. I also made an arrow pointing north so they could arrange the map appropriately. Once I finished carving it I gave it to them along with the leather bag.
"Alright here the map. It should be able to give you a general direction, but it also isn't perfect. So basically just use it for reference. Also here's a bag so you store stuff inside. I don't know how you are going to carry it though."
"It's okay Sylvain we have this." Astra says as she shows me a bag tied to her neck.
"Can that really fit enough?" I ask because the bag is small. So small that I hadn't even noticed it until she showed it to me. It was small enough to hide within her fur.
"It's okay Sylvi. Despite its size it can fit a large amount of items." Ana reassures me.
"Okay. I guess I'll just trust you guys on that one. Well do your best to get some food and stay away from danger."
"Yeah see you in a bit Sylvain."
"See you later Sylvi."
I waited until I was sure that they were gone before I started my work. I grabbed the last piece of wood I had. The wood that I was planning on using to restrict their amount of mana. I then started to carve it and referenced the original many times. While I was carving I was also constantly pouring mana through the areas I carved. This was to make sure that the mana would flow smoothly through the carved out sections. I started with the bigger lines that needed to be carved and then slowly worked on the smaller ones. I began to lose track of the time as I carved. Lots of wood shaving began to fall off and I removed them with some wind magic.
"O spell of wind come forth as a breeze to blow away my opponents."
The hardest part of carving this wasn't the fact that I was constantly channeling mana. No instead it was the need to have everything perfect. Every single line had to be straight. Every curve needed to curve in the right way. Every carving had to be connected in some way. Every connection needed to be connected perfectly. It was honestly a large amount of work with just one mistake ruining the whole thing. This is the major reason why I wanted Ana and Astra to leave. I would have probably failed and wasted time and resources. I didn't know how long they would be gone, but I hoped to be able to finish it before they were back.
Luckily I was more experienced in making magic circles than I was in the past. Also I wasn't making a full magic circle. I was only making the core of a magic circle. Another lucky thing was that I had already made this magic circle meaning I didn't really have to think too much. All I had to do was copy from the model I already had. If I didn't already make it I would have to think of what I wanted the magic circle to do and how to make connections to make the magic circle actually work. Because of this the time it took to finish the core of the magic circle was relatively fast. Judging from my internal clock, only about 3 hours had past. I wondered how Ana and Astra were doing.
"Astra, run faster, it's gaining on us."
"Why didn't you give me a warning earlier. Then we would have already left long before it found us."
"I'm sorry Astra. I didn't notice it until it was that close. We should be able to outrun it though."
"Ana if all we do is run we won't be able to gather some edible plants. While we were able to get some it's not anything significant."
"Then what do you want us to do Astra. There isn't a lot of plants growing and we are too weak to fight these demonic beasts.
"Ana I think we should fight."
"Astra are you crazy. We will die."
"Ana just hear me out on this."
"Fine I'll listen."
"We need to gather food, but we are being attacked before we can get anything significant."
"Yes that is the major problem."
"So what if one of us fights off the demonic beast that comes at us. The other one will then be able to gather edible plants. This will also help us gain combat experience and if lucky get us some meat. Besides it's better than running and not gathering as much."
"I don't like it Astra. It may help us get food faster, but there are too many risks. What if multiple opponents come? What if we can't escape quick enough?"
"It may be risky Ana, but we are in the human zone. The demonic beasts here should be easier to deal with than the ones in the beastmen zone. We should also be able to run away if push comes to shove. Besides this is better than what we are currently doing."
"Fine, but we must escape at the first sign of danger. I don't want to lose you."
"And I don't want to lose you too."
With that decided the two foxes went to put their plan into action. They found some edible plants growing under a tree. Astra immediately went to collect while Ana stood on guard. Soon a deer entered their area. Once it saw Ana and Astra it began to charge at both of them with its antlers. Ana went to intercept it relying on the knowledge her mother drilled into her. Even though it was only theoretical knowledge it was much better than the deer who relied purely on instincts.
Ana bit the deer by its antlers and using her weight brough the deer down. Ana then got on top of the downed deer biting into its neck. She also used her claws to scratch at it while holding it down. The deer struggled and kicked, yet it was no match for Ana. Eventually it stopped struggling as it died. Meanwhile Ana didn't let her guard down until she confirmed that it was dead. After she confirmed it was dead she looked over at her sister who was still gathering.
"Astra. I'm sorry for being against your idea."
Astra turned around and seemed shocked at the dead deer.
"You don't need to apologize Ana. I also thought that my idea was bad. It turns out that it was a good idea though."
"It really was. I can't believe how easy it was to fight this demonic beast. I almost can't believe we are in the same forest of calamity."
"So do you want to start collecting now while I guard."
"Sure thing, Astra."
That was how the foxes spent four hours. After one of them defeated a demonic beast they would then switch and allow the other to be the guard. They weren't able to fill up the entirety of the bag, but they filled up a good portion of it in their four hours. As such they decide to head back to the cave. The main reason though was because they couldn't find any areas to gather more edible plants. They used the map given to them as a reference and were able to safely make it back after about 15 minutes. Once they were inside the cave they saw Sylvain in the bed as if he had never moved.
"We are back, Sylvain."
"Yeah we were able to get lots of food, Sylvi. We even fought some demonic beasts so we brought back some meat."
"Oh that's good. I finished remaking the core of the magic circle. If you want you can put the edible plants in the storage. Wait, did you just say you hunted some demonic beasts?"
"Yeah Sylvi. They were so much easier than the demonic beasts in the beast men zone."
"Are you okay. Did you get hurt?" I said as I rushed over to them. I think I might have reopened my wounds due to my sudden movements, but I didn't care. I began to check them for any cuts or bruises. They did have some cuts, but the bruising was worse.
"Sylvain, didn't you promise not to do anything excessive?"
"Yeah I did."
"Then why are you reopening your wounds checking to see if we are hurt. Take care of yourself more. Now we have to change your wounds again."
"No, let's first take care of both of your cuts."
"Sylvi. You have helped us so much already, so let us help you now. Let us repay you the favors we owe. Just rest up while we take care of you. Don't worry we will also take care of ourselves as well."
"But you got her because I wasn't able to go watch."
"And you got hurt because we messed up."
"But what about dismantling. You guys don't know how to dismantle. You also wouldn't know how to cook or preserve food."
"And we will just learn it, Sylvi. You should just focus on rest and recovery."
"Well I guess I can. Fine I will let you care for me then. Please help me well in the future."
"That is what we should say isn't that right, Astra."
"Yeah let's all help each other in the future."