Soon enough, a week has passed. During that week, we continued to go out to hunt and gather food. The storage area was replenished, but not all the way. It had only been a week, so it couldn't have been filled up so quickly. Instead we were able to fill up ¼ of the area. We shouldn't need to go out to collect food for the next week, but should still do so. We should at least continue until we have filled up the storage area to ¾.
I am honestly surprised that Diego, or any rainbow foxes for that matter, haven't come. I was so sure that they would come and try to kill us, but so far nothing has happened. The only reason that I can think of, is that they are unprepared to fight us. After all, the last time Diego wasn't able to do anything to me. They should be preparing Diego to fight me, or preparing to send a different rainbow fox. At the very least, we will only have to put up with this until a successor is chosen. After that, I doubt they would care for us.
We quickly eat a meal cooked by Astra this time, before heading out to once again gather and hunt. This week has definitely been helpful to Ana and Astra. They have gained much needed combat experience. Although it isn't much, it is still an improvement from before. They already had good coordination with each other, but it has improved in these weeks. They have also been able to consistently tell when an enemy is using a feint or actually attacking. Simple things really, but much needed for the both of them. Maybe after another couple of months of this, I should join in allowing all of us to fight together. This way we can improve our coordination as a group.
While I am thinking of all of this, Ana and Astra are fighting a demonic beast. It is a pack of wolves that they are fighting, and their improvements can really be shown. After all the last time they fought a wolf pack, they were cornered with no way to fight back. The only thing they were able to do was retreat. However, now they are on equal grounds with the pack. In fact, if they keep at it, they should be able to exhaust the wolf pack.
As if sensing this as well, the leader of the pack howls. It seems like he is trying to get the pack to retreat. Oh, also Ana and Astra are still using the magic circles, so their true strength is much stronger. Anyways, it seems like the wolves would be able to get away. While Ana and Astra are strong, they are still only two people. They won't be able to kill all of the wolves while making sure that none of them escape.
"I guess I'll step in to help. I wouldn't want these prey to escape after all." I mumble to myself from my hiding spot. "O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself. O spell of wind, form from my hands a mighty blade that follows my movements to destroy my enemies. O spell of wind gather in my sword to drain the mana of my opponents."
I chanted my reinforcement spell, my spell sword, and my mana drain spell. I have finally been able to multitask three spells. My daily training in this has finally shown results. Now that I can do three spells, I should work towards four spells. I should also still increase my physical strength. However, all these need time.
Either way, with these spells chanted, killing the wolf pack will be a breeze. After all my reinforcement spell and spell sword both serve to increase my strength, while my mana drain spell will weaken the enemies. With all these to help me, killing the wolf pack is child's play. Also this is my first time multitasking three things in a battle scenario, so I am a little excited. Once I made my move, all the wolves were killed in one strike. They weren't even able to react in time.
However, this test has given me some interesting results. The first important thing to note, is the massive consumption of mana. This does make sense though since two of my spells will actively use mana once they are chanted. Also, the other does need a substantial amount of mana to actually use. This has actually been one of the few times my mana consumption is greater than my natural mana regeneration.
The next thing that is interesting is about my mana drain spell. It actually helps regenerate my own mana. I'm guessing it has always done this, but hasn't shown this property yet. After all, whenever I have used it, my mana would be full or close to full. As such, I have never noticed this effect before. These two notes are the only things that I have noticed. I will still need to do some experiments though to figure out how much mana I can get from my mana drain spell. While I am thinking of this, Ana and Astra have already gathered the bodies into the magic bag.
"So are we going back home now?" Astra asks in a flippant tone, seeming like she doesn't care if we leave or stay.
"We should go back home. I have thought of some new cooking ideas, and can't wait to try them out. Especially since we have so many ingredients. I'm sure I'll be able to use a lot of them." Ana says in response to Astra's question. She is very enthusiastic, and her voice is filled with joy.
"Well since we already have a lot of food, we can head back home," I say in response. "Should I cast my detection spell so we can avoid all the demonic beasts on the way back?"
"Yes definitely do that Sylvain." "It will make the return trip so much easier." Ana and Astra respond to my question at almost the exact same time.
"Okay, I'll do it," I say while chuckling to myself before chanting my detection spell. "O spell of wind spread with me as the center to detect my enemies."
With this I was accurately able to find the location of multiple demonic beasts. There were some that were close to us, but not acting at all. I guess they came from the smell of blood, and stayed to see if they could win against us. However, after seeing my performance, they realized they couldn't win. Well, as long as they don't act, then I won't act. I then began to lead the way back to the cave so that we wouldn't run into any demonic beasts. However, the demonic beast that was close to us, seemed to be following us. I wasn't entirely sure, but from what I could tell it never left the area of my detection.
"Let's take a little detour," I say to Ana and Astra in a slightly serious tone.
"Why are we taking a detour sylvi?" Ana asks curiously.
"We appear to have some demonic beasts following us," I reply to Ana's question. "However, I'm not sure if we actually are being followed. This detour will help to see if we really are being followed or not."
"That's fine by me," Astra says. "I wouldn't want our cave to be found by some demonic beasts following us. What are we going to do if we find out they are actually following us?"
"Do you really need to ask that question? We will just kill them." Ana says in response.
"Yeah," I agree with Ana. "Killing them will be the simplest of methods. Besides, we will also be getting more food from them."
"I'm just speaking hypothetically here, but what if the demonic beasts following us are from the rainbow fox clan. What would be done then?" Astra asks.
"Well then, we'll just have to shake them," I respond calmly. "Let us first confirm if we are actually being followed though."
We ended the conversation between us, before abruptly changing direction. I am keeping my detection spell active to help us avoid demonic beasts in front of us. I am able to tell from the spell that we are still being followed. I guess that confirms that we are being followed, but how are we going to lure them out.
"We are definitely being followed," I quickly tell both Ana and Astra. "They moved with us so we are their target. However, I don't know how to get them out. They are keeping a far distance from us. If I had to guess, they are probably trying to find our home and attack us when our guard is down. This also means that their frontal strength is weaker than us, so do you have any idea on how to lure them out."
"I have an idea," Ana says confidently. "We can lure them out by splitting up. They probably think their frontal strength is weaker than all of us combined, so if we split up, they should attack one of us."
"This is a good plan, but I think it needs some more modifying," Astra says. "After all, if they do attack one of us, then they would have the confidence to defeat that person. As such, when one of us does encounter the demonic beasts, we use the others' mana. This will help alert each other, and allow us to join forces. Try not to engage too long in combat, and wait for all of us to gather. Then we will join forces to kill them. Of course if they are rainbow foxes, then we immediately leave, and try to shake them."
"Okay then, we will do this. We will split up and immediately call the other using our mana links. I'll head straight ahead, Ana will go to the left, and Astra will head to the right."
With our plan decided, all that is left is to implement it. We split up from one another. To make it more believable, I send Ana and Astra in the direction of a solitary demonic beast. This way, to the followers, it will seem like we split up to hunt. I also began to gather edible plants once more. I kept track of the demonic beasts via detection, and found they were getting closer to me. It seemed like I was the target of their interest. Since they might run away, I didn't immediately use our mana link.
Soon enough I heard a familiar voice saying, "you won't be able to escape this time."
Looking back, I see Diego and 3 other familiar foxes. I remember the three other foxes as part of Watson group, but I don't seem to remember their names. I'm sure Ana and Astra have said them before, but I don't remember.
"You couldn't kill me before," I say condescendingly while using our mana links to notify Ana and Astra. "Don't tell me that now that you have friends you can defeat me."
"It doesn't matter how, but you will die today," Diego responds. "Come on guys help me kill him. You know what will happen otherwise."
The other foxes don't respond to Diego with words, but start to surround me. I can tell that they are doing it reluctantly. It seems like Diego is using something against them. Otherwise he wouldn't be threatening them. Once I am surrounded spells begin to fly at me. They are all spells of different attributes and they are flying extremely fast.
"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself."
I chanted my reinforcement spell. I would have loved to chant my spell sword, and used it to help me defend. However, that chant takes too long, and I would have already been besieged by the multiple spells flying at me. With the reinforcement spell active, I would be able to dodge most of the spells, while resisting the few that actually land on me. This is exactly what I did during this tricky situation. I also started to chant my spell sword.
"O spell of wind come forth as a mighty blade."
"Don't let him chant that spell," Diego says, interrupting me momentarily. "He'll be able to get out of our suppression with it."
"That follows my movements to destroy my enemies."
With Diego's warning, the other foxes began to use larger and more dangerous spells. I wasn't able to dodge most of them, and got hit more often. Luckily my reinforcement spell helped me, and I was able to successfully cast my spell sword. With my spell sword, I was able to intercept the spells flying at me. Now none of the spells were able to hit me, as they were all intercepted by the spell sword. I didn't go on the offensive though, as I was waiting for Ana and Astra.
Soon enough I saw them emerging from the forest. The other foxes didn't seem to notice, as they were all focused on attacking me. Once Ana and Astra saw me in the middle of a battle, they immediately joined the fray. They broke through the encirclement with some spells, and arrived at my side. With their interruption, the foxes began to stop their spells. It seems like they really had no confidence in defeating all of us.
"I didn't think the both of you would return so soon," Diego begins to say as he retreats. "We'll have to retreat for now."
With those words from Diego the four of them ran away leaving all of us alone. I canceled my spell sword, and my reinforcement spell. I then began to chant my detection spell to see if they had actually left.
"O spell of wind spread with me as the center to detect my enemies."
With my detection spell, I was able to tell that they hadn't actually left. They were still just watching us from a distance. They were probably waiting for me to be alone again, or for us to go home. They probably were thinking that we would let our guard down after that fight.
"So they are still watching over us," I say to Ana and Astra. "They are probably waiting for us to go home. I suggest we use my hiding spell and return home."
"Yeah," Ana says. "Especially since it is Diego. I really don't want him finding out where we live. That would be disastrous."
"Yes that definitely will be a major problem," Astra says. "Another problem is that he won't give up so easily. He will probably try to hunt Sylvain down again. He probably won't stop until you are dead, or he runs out of time. We should think of countermeasures for dealing with this problem."
"Let's think of these problems when we get home," I say, a little tired from the fight. "O spell it wind flow around our body to hide ourselves."
I chanted the hiding spell, effectively making us invisible. I don't know if this will work for sure, so I keep my detection spell active. This way I could see if we are still being followed. I guess my spell worked against them since we weren't followed. We soon arrived at the cave where I promptly stopped both spells.
"Okay, we should be safe now," I say to Ana and Astra. "I'm pretty sure my hiding spell was able to work against them. I wasn't able to detect them following us after I used it."
"That's great then sylvi," Ana says.
"I agree with Ana," Astra says. "This really is great. We could use your spell to go out and hide from them. We won't have to worry about running out of food to eat. After all, it's already confirmed that they can't see through your hiding spell. All we have to do is be careful and vigilant."
"So am I going to be hunting and gathering on my own from now on?" I ask.
"Definitely not," Ana immediately replies. "You'll just have to use your hiding spell on all of us. I won't let you go out alone."
"I once again agree with Ana," Astra says. "While we know your spell works, we don't know how well it works. Also you'll have to hunt. When you do so, you could get caught by them, or hurt by the demonic beast you're fighting. With us there, we can serve as lookouts, and also help you in a fight."
"Okay," I responded. "Can you think of anything else we can do?"
"I can't think of anything," Astra says. "We depend on the forest for food. Even though the storage is ¼ the way full it won't last forever. The only thing we can really do is get stronger, and become more vigilant."
"Yeah, unless you want to become the next king," Ana remarks in a tone that seems as if she is joking.
"Becoming the next king Huh," I mumble to myself, shelving this idea.
"What did you say?" Ana asks in response to my mumbling.
"Huh, oh nothing," I responded. "Just thinking how we can only do so much. Okay, let's change topics. I think we should stop hunting for today. We do have some food in storage, so we can live for a little bit without hunting. I also think that Diego and his friend would be on the lookout for us. As such, we should lay low for a little while."
"Yeah," Ana replies.
"We should stay inside for 5 days at most," Astra says. "Our food won't last longer than this."
"I can't believe we lost them," I say. "How did we lose them?"
"I'm not sure Diego, they just seemed to vanish." Dave says.
"Yeah, we looked at them, and then they were gone." Donald says.
"They must have hidden themselves, or they could have run away while we weren't looking." Dawn gives her take.
"I don't really care how we lost them. All I care about, is that the half elf dies. We aren't leaving until he dies. If he doesn't, I'll let everyone in the rainbow fox clan know about the truth of Watson's death."
"Don't worry we'll definitely help you," Donald says. "You don't have to worry about that."
"Yes, we'll help," Dave says. "Just don't tell the rainbow fox clan. We'll all get beaten up for lying."
"Although you'll get the worst of the punishment for being behind it all, we are all in the same boat," Dawn says. "Don't worry, we'll help you kill that half elf. I don't want you to keep holding this over our heads though."
"Don't worry friends," I reply to them. "As long as the half elf dies, I'll never use this against you again. So how are we going to find him."
"They literally disappeared from our vision." Dave says. "I feel like if we want to catch them, we can only wait for them to show themselves."
"Yeah, but they will definitely be more cautious," Donald says. "If I were them, I'll probably wait for a couple days, just to be on the safe side. Also since winter has just ended a week ago, they probably don't have that much food in storage. Given a best case scenario, they should only have enough food to last them a week."
"Keep in mind, they might be able to hide themselves from us," Dawn says. "We may not want to look for them specifically during these days. We should look for their tracks or any signs of their involvement."
"Yes these are all good ideas," I say. "We'll rest for 2 days before looking for their tracks. That half elf will definitely die."