I woke up the next morning. Remembering that yesterday, I wasn't able to do my training, I started it with that. While I was training my multitasking spell and use of one element through the mana links, I also did my exercises. I did less than usual, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to finish everything in time. Also, losing mana does cause one to feel fatigued, so I tired out quicker than usual. However, I did make an effort to conserve half of my mana, in case I needed it.
Once I was done with my exercises, I went to the kitchen. After all, it is my turn to cook food. I didn't really know what I wanted to cook, so I went to the dismantling/storage room to see if I could find any inspiration. I didn't get any new ideas, so I just went with meat and a side of salad. Picking the ingredients, I went to the kitchen to start preparing them.
I poured mana through the heating magic circle to heat up the pan. My other hand was washing the vegetables that would be used for the salad. Soon enough, the pan heated up, so I placed a fatty piece of meat. The fat melted from the heat, greasing up the pan. Once the pan was greased up, I began to cook the meat. I wanted it salty, so I sprinkled some salt while I was cooking. After the meat finished cooking, I started cutting up the vegetables. They had already dried off in the time it took to cook the meat. While I was at it, I also cut up the meat, before splitting them into 3 equal portions on 3 different plates.
I took the food I had prepared over to the dining room table, where Astra and Ana were already sitted. They seemed to be angry at me, as they would avoid eye contact with me, and whenever I saw their face, it was filled with an annoyed frown. I didn't know what I had done to make them mad, but once I figured it out, I would apologize. However, before I try to figure that out, I'm going to eat first.
When they see me digging into my food, I can hear a sigh of dissatisfaction leave their mouths. However, once they finished sighing, they went to eat the food. While eating, I would try to make eye contact, but they wouldn't hold my gaze, or just stare at me in anger. For some reason, I think a simple apology will not be enough to appease them.
After we finished eating, I gathered all the dishes and went to wash them in the underground river. My mind wasn't really on this task though, as I was still trying to figure out what I did to displease them. I'm sure it is something I did yesterday, as I didn't have the time to anger them today, but I can't think of anything. I'll just ask them, as it will be the fastest way. I decided that at the same time I finished washing the dishes, so I went back to the dining room table. Astra and Ana were still there.
"Why are you guys angry?" I asked, going straight to the center of the problem.
"You said you would do something for us."
"But you never did it."
Astra talks before Ana finishes up her sentence. They want me to realize my mistake, but don't want to explicitly tell me. So, yesterday I said I would do something but never did it. From the way they are talking, I promised the both of them, together. As such, it should have been during the time we were expanding the tunnel. Once I think of the tunnel, I immediately remember what it is they are talking about. I said that I would brush them after the hunt, but was too tired so I ended up forgetting. This is also what I felt I missed when I slept.
"I'm sorry for not brushing you guys," I say. "I was tired and completely forgot about it. If you will, I'll do it right now to make up for yesterday."
"That's acceptable." "Sure."
They try to say their acceptance nonchalantly, but their facial expressions and the movements of their tails belay their true emotions. They are extremely happy that I am going to be brushing them. Not wanting to let down their expectations, I go to my room to get out my comb and brush. My plan is to use the brush, to let them feel the bristles, before actually brushing their fur with the comb.
Soon, I came back with the comb and brush. I sit down on the ground, and motion for Astra and Ana to join me. They trot over to me in their fox forms. Astra lays down on my left, while Ana lays down on my right. Since I am right handed, I start brushing Ana's fur first. I guide my bristles over her fur, and feel practically no resistance. Looking at her face, it seems like she is really enjoying it. I do the same thing for Astra, and she gives off a similar reaction.
"So what did you think of the bristles?" I asked.
"Great." "Amazing."
"Okay, I'll switch them out next time, so tell me which one you like better."
"Yes." "Sure."
The both of them reply as they get up. It appears they are still enjoying the feel of my brush going through their fur.
"Wait, I'm not done yet," I say to them as they get up. This causes them to pause in their movements, before they lay back down besides me.
"I'll use my comb now," I say. "This should untangle all the fur that is tangled, but it may hurt."
Ana starts struggling once she hears that it might hurt. However, I am able to subdue her with my left hand. Then, I take the comb and begin to comb through her hair. As her hair hasn't been combed before, I can feel a ton of resistance caused by the tangled fur. All of her fur isn't tangled though, since I'm assuming they do do some grooming. Whenever I feel resistance, I would slow down my movements, and try to untangle it as gently as possible. I would even use my hands to relieve the amount of pain she felt. Even though I did my best, I would mess up, causing her to yell out in pain. Luckily I didn't mess up often, so she didn't yell in pain often.
Once I had finished combing Ana, her fur seemed to shine in the light. I'm not sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but she seemed to look extremely healthy and dazzling. I stared at her for a bit of time, before Astra nudged me, indicating that she wanted to be brushed and combed. I happily obliged her, and did everything the same as Ana. I seemed to have gotten better, because her fur had a better shine to it. I was also momentarily dazzled by it, but soon got my bearings, since I had already experienced it once.
"Are we going to be hunting today?" I asked, trying to distract myself from them.
"We have 7 weeks worth of food right now," Astra replies. "We need to dismantle yesterday's harvest, but we should be able to explore the other part of the cave."
"But is that the thing we want to do?" I ask. "We don't know what the other part of the cave is. Winter is also coming soon, so I feel like it is better to save the food for winter."
"I think we should save for the winter," Ana adds in her opinion. "The other cave isn't going anywhere, so we can explore it later. However, we can only explore the areas if we are alive."
"Okay, 7 weeks worth of food is enough to last 2 months." I say. "We'll just need to gather 5 more weeks worth of food. However, we have been hunting too much recently. I think we should take this time to continue digging the tunnel, and also spy on Diego and his crew."
"We need to dismantle the bodies we have first," Ana points out. "But other than that, I'm on board."
"We should know how well they are doing," Astra says. "We'll be able to think of our future plans better that way."
"Sure sure, but let's first work on the tunnel and bodies." I reply stoping their building enthusiasm. They said yes in reply as I walked towards the dismantling/storage room.
"O spell of wind spread with me as the center to detect my enemies."
Once I was down there, I chanted my detection spell. I couldn't see any hits on it, so they must all be hunting to prepare for the winter. I can't think of another reason why they would have to leave.
"I can't hit them with my detection spell," I say, "so they are probably out hunting."
Once I said that, Astra immediately began to break the tunnel wall. Ana was right behind her, moving all the debris that flew off the wall.
"Okay, I'll go dismantle the bodies we hunted yesterday." I say as I let them dig.
I quickly moved the bodies of the demonic beasts next to the dismantling desk. While I was moving them, I noticed that the floor was getting stained by the demonic beast's blood. While it doesn't bother me too much, I don't want crimson floors. I'll have to clean that later, another thing for the to-do list. However, I can do that later. Right now, I need to dismantle bodies.
"O spell of wind, form from my hands a sharp dagger that follows my movements to dismember my enemies."
To do so, I chanted my dismantling dagger. I also took off my weights, so I could get this done quicker. Also, they would have affected my dismantling work, as I am still not used to their new weight. Even if I want to get stronger, I don't want to waste any of the meat that we had hunted. As such, for better precision, I took off the weights. Since I was using 2 spells simeoultaneously, my mana was slowly being drained from my body. However, I should be able to finish before I lose all of my mana. Even if I do, I can always use our mana links to regain some mana.
Since I was being slowly drained of my mana, I quickly got into my dismantling work. I did it like I would normally do, and separated the materials into different piles. I had to dismantle 50 bodies, and while I have gotten faster with experience, it would still take a while. I could make my work quicker by chanting my reinforcement spell, but my mana would drain at a faster rate. I wouldn't be able to finish before my mana pool ran dry, so I didn't do that. Instead, I just systematically dismantled the bodies. It took a while, but I did finish, and went to join the digging of the tunnel.
When I came to join, Astra was taking a break while Ana was moving the debris. I immediately got into work, and began moving the larger pieces of debris. Since we weren't digging, I stopped channeling my detection spell, so my mana could regenerate naturally. While I was dismantling the bodies, my detection spell got 4 hits, meaning Diego and his crew came back. However, they just stayed in their clearing, so I didn't have anything to worry about. They were still there, right until the moment I stopped channeling my detection spell. With my help, we were able to quickly move the debris. Astra hadn't recovered yet, so we all just rested.
"When do you guys want to stop digging?" I asked, since I had nothing better to do.
"I'd say at lunch again," Astra replies. "We can then abate our hunger before doing our reconnaissance on Diego."
"We can stop at lunch," Ana also says, agreeing with Astra.
"Okay, we'll stop at lunch then," I replied. "Anything else we need to talk about?"
"Nothing else comes to mind," Astra replies.
Ana hesitates for a moment before asking, "how long will we have to defend for?"
"We just have to defend until the time of the succession ceremony comes around," I reply. "4 and a half years may seem like a while, but it'll go by in the blink of an eye."
"But what if it doesn't end after the succession ceremony?" Ana asks. "What if we are still hunted?"
"We can always run," Astra says, before I can put in my own thoughts. "While this is our home, anywhere can be turned into our home as long as all of us are there."
"Yeah, our home is where we are," I reply, since I totally agree with what Astra has said.
"Even though I said that, it would be highly inconvenient if we have to move our base," Astra says. "I've gotten used to this place, but if we have to, then it doesn't matter."
"Yeah, and if need be, we can just win the succession ceremony," I say in a joking tone. This has been an idea that I have had for a while. We would be fine as long as we become the next king and queens of the Forest of Calamity. However, I want to see their reactions first before deciding how to proceed.
"That'll have to be our last resort," Ana says jokingly. It seems her worries have been successfully resolved. However, she doesn't seem to take my joke seriously.
"We'll truly be in dire straits if we need to resort to that," Astra replies, mimicking Ana's tone. It seems like she too doesn't think my idea is viable. However, I'd still like to try it, if we truly are going to be chased out of the Forest of Calamity. Let's hope that that doesn't happen.
"Okay, if you can joke then you can get back to work," I say, steering our conversation away from the previous topic. No matter how small the chance, I don't want them to realize I wasn't actually joking. Besides, it is more of an idea, and not a fully fleshed out plan. Luckily, they didn't dwell on it too much, and instead we went straight back to working on the tunnel. Since I was moving the piles of debris, Astra and Ana began to work on expanding the tunnel in shifts. Whenever one got tired, they would rest while the other would take their place.
The problem with this was that it didn't give me a chance to rest. While my stamina is better than theirs thanks to my training, my mana pool is the problem. I can't naturally regenerate my mana, since that is being offset by the use of the detection spell. I am also losing mana because I am using my breeze spell to help move the dust and dirt. Since I can't regenerate my mana, this is slowly draining my mana.
My mana was on the verge of being gone when my stomach rumbled signaling it was time for lunch. I stopped channeling my detection spell, and went to the underground river to wash my hands. After I finished, I grabbed some simple ingredients from the storage area and brought them to the kitchen. I didn't want to make anything complicated, so I decided to just make soup.
"O spell of water flow from my hands as a jet to fill my container."
More than half of my mana was gone, so I wasn't affected when I tried to cast this spell. After it had filed up the pot, I stopped channeling the spell. I then placed the pot over the heating magic circle. I didn't channel any mana through it, but instead went to chop up the ingredients for the soup. Once they were chopped up, I added them to the pot. Then did I start channeling mana through the heating magic circle. The only thing left for me to do was wait for the pot to boil. After some time, the pot boiled meaning my food had finished cooking.
I brought the pot over to the dining room table, and placed it in the center. I then went to get some bowls and spoons so all of us could eat. Astra and Ana weren't at the table. I first served a bowl of soup for each of them.
"Lunch is ready," I yelled after serving them. They came over from their rooms, and sat at the table. Then we began to eat in silence. I didn't really care when I made this soup, so it honestly wasn't that good. If I was gonna be honest, it felt like I was drinking hot water rather than soup. However, while it wasn't tasty, it was still edible. We all finished eating the soup. I quickly take the bowls and go wash them in the underground river. Since it was just soup, I didn't need to scrub really hard, so I quickly finished this task.
"Okay, it is time to spy on Diego and his crew," I say once I rejoin Astra and Ana at the dining room table. "Before that, let's discuss how we will do that. I feel like we should use the hiding spells, but I want to know what you guys think."
"The hiding spells will be our only way to get close to them," Astra says. "However, the more we use them, the higher the risk of their exposure. Yet, we have no other way."
"We don't have to get in close, do we?" Ana asks. "Can't we just spy on them from a distance? If it's from a distance, they won't be able to see us, and even if they do, we'll have enough time to run away."
"Sure, but we won't get a lot of information from it," I say, shutting down her plan.
"Wait, Sylvain, can't you enhance the spell?" Astra suddenly asks.
"Huh," I say in confusion, as I have no idea what she is talking about.
"We'll, you said that you were able to improve your reinforcement spell," Astra says. "That's the whole reason why we decided you will travel to the other cave area."
"Oh, yeah," I say, realizing what she is talking about. "Unfortunately, that won't work for the hiding spell. In fact, the only reason it works for the reinforcement spell, is because for that spell to work, mana needs to flow through my body. As such, I am able to better control its flow within my body, adjusting it to make the reinforcement spell stronger in certain areas. However, I am not able to do that with the hiding spell, as the mana flows around my body."
"We'll, that's that idea scrapped," Astra says.
"I feel like we should check up on them with the hiding spell," Ana says. "While there is a risk of exposure, it isn't that big of a deal. After all, we have the tunnel. Also, we'll still be able to escape the Forest of Calamity entirely if we need to. Comparatively, learning their plans would be more beneficial than a chance of exposure."
"Okay, then let's do this," I say, psyching myself up as Astra and Ana transform into their human forms. We then head to the cave entrance.
"O spell of wind flow around our bodies to hide ourselves." Once outside the cave, I chant my hiding spell as I grab them by the hand. With that the spell encompasses all of us.
"Aren't you going to chant the detection spell?" Ana asks after she realizes I'm pulling them along.
"My mana pool was on the verge of emptiness before lunch," I honestly say. "While some time has passed since then, it still isn't very large, but don't worry, I'll still be able to fight. I will only be able to use one spell, though. While it is a detriment, I'll be fine with you guys at my back."
After I finished talking, I once again began to lead them. Even though I didn't have my detection spell to guide us, it wasn't that big of an issue. The warding barrier would make sure that no other demonic beasts would come within this area. Also, I have sensed Diego and his crew's position almost daily from our base, so I know where they are. The only problem would be if we accidentally run into one of them on our way over, but this isn't too much of a concern. After all, they would be visible to us, so we would be able to actively avoid them. Of course, while we were moving, our tracks were still being covered. I'm not sure who is doing it, but it is very much appreciated.
Soon enough, we came to the clearing where Diego and his crew decided to make their base. Their base didn't really change much from when I last saw it. The only thing I could note is that the storage hut they had built had grown bigger, and there was more food inside it. By food, I mean corpses of demonic beasts. Looking around, I can see that the clearing has expanded, probably because they needed the wood to expand the hut. The last thing I noticed was what I assumed was a bed of leaves. Well, I can't really judge that. Our beds are just wooden frames with lots of fur. At least it is better than sleeping on the ground with leaves.
"Should we get closer?" I asked as quietly as possible.
"We can't hear them from this distance, so yes." I barely heard Astra speak. However, she seems to be in agreement with me.
"If we are going closer, we should probably split up, so we don't interrupt each other's movements," I said quietly. "Also, did anyone bring the magic bag?"
"No." "Why would we?" I heard the both of them speak at the same time. They once again spoke in a low voice that was barely audible.
"Okay, never mind that then," I said, while thinking that we can always bring it next time. "Let's just split up, and spy on them for now. I'll take Diego, and when we head to the cave, use our mana links to inform everyone else."
With that said, I let go of their hands, and began to get close to Diego. From my mana links, I come to vaguely tell that Astra and Ana were moving away from me. I didn't focus on them for too long, as I was close to Diego. I tried to make sure that I was as silent as possible when I approached him. My sneak attacks were really helping me here. Diego was laying by the hut housing the pile of bodies. It seems like he was protecting it, or watching over it.
I then waited in earshot of him, but he didn't talk. I was really hoping to hear some important information from him, like the time of their attack, but he just stayed there, not moving. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought he was dead. Either way, I kept my patience and waited there. The sun that was originally high in the sky started to go down. I'd say we have another hour before sunset. While I was still waiting, I felt my mana being used up. Obviously, one of them had gone back to the cave. I felt like I should join them, as I was getting no useful information, and it was my turn to cook dinner. However, I decided to stick it out until I felt my mana be used once again. That way I would be the last one to leave. I am glad that I made this decision, as another rainbow fox came up to Diego. It seems like it had just come from a recent hunt, and wanted to store its food.
"How long are we going to be staying here Diego?" The fox said. "We already know their location, so why don't we just attack them and get it done with."
"Winter is coming soon, Donald," Diego says. "It won't matter if we kill them, only to die in the snow. We should first survive this winter. Then, we'll be able to attack them without repercussions."
"Okay," Donald says, seemingly accepting that answer. With that, I got the information that I wanted to know. However, leaving now wouldn't be a good thing, since the both of them were there. As such, I waited until Donald had finished talking, and storing the body. Once he had left, I also left. I then went to the cave, as the sun began to set. Once I was at the entrance, the sun was gone, and night had taken its place. I used our mana links to inform them that I had returned to the cave. As I didn't know who used my mana previously, I just used both of their mana's.
Once I was in the cave, I stopped channeling my hiding spell. I didn't see anyone inside the cave, so I assumed that they had gone to their room, whoever it was. Since it was nighttime, I needed to make dinner, so I didn't really care about the identity of the person who had returned first. Instead, I went to the dismantling/storage room, and brought out some food. While I was cooking, I saw Ana had come into the cave, meaning Astra was the one who had returned first. I quickly finished cooking, and served it on plates. I was tired, so I don't think I did a good job, but food is food.
"Dinner is ready," I yelled once everything was on the dining room table. After I said that, Astra and Ana came in. They themselves seemed to be very sluggish and tired. We didn't say anything the entire meal, but that was normal. Once they had finished, they went back to their rooms, without even discussing what they had found out. I guess we'll just discuss it tomorrow. I quickly washed the dishes that we had used, before going to sleep myself.