I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable being stared at by two people, and then glowered at by one. Even the usually uninterested Krael doesn't flinch as he bores holes at me with all his staring.
They're really staring…A few minutes and my face might have four gaping holes…
Somewhat annoyed, Obrecht covers my face with the mask, and says, "What? Why do both of you act like you haven't seen Videre before?"
Like a snap, they both come out of a trance.
Krael gives a logical answer, "Well, this is first time we see Videre."
As if she hasn't heard anything, Vera keeps staring at me until she blurts out, "You're married?!". Vera's exclamation successfully gains all our stumped expression.
Obrecht beats me in speaking first, saying "He is mature enough to choose his own partner", to which he neither confirms, nor denies Vera's question.
"When?" Vera shifts her eyes away from me for the first time, feeling astonished herself. How and why did she not know when two of her close friends got married? Easy. Because it hasn't happened yet. I pause for a second and then decide to ignore myself.
I look to Obrecht. Is it fun deceiving children? Is it fun bullying younger people?
If I rank us all by age, Obrecht is indeed the oldest, older than me by a few days, with Vera as the youngest. But! It does not mean that he is allowed to conveniently twist the truth.
"…He's joking." I shoot a glare at Obrecht's direction, to which he responds by smacking his lips and looking away, a completely obvious sign that he is unhappy despite his smiling façade.
Urging them to sit down, I take my place in front of the small fire that Obrecht had made, throwing a few dried branches in and stoking the orange flames that dance in the cold air. It's colder outside of the city's barrier.
"…Care to explain why you're out here?" I take the initiative in asking, seeing as Obrecht is maintaining his childish expression, his art of acting innocent and gullible. As if I don't know that he has no intention of letting me remove my mask again for the whole journey. Inwardly, I sigh, preparing my heart to scold the three of them, like the responsible adult I am—compared to a certain older someone, that is.
"…Do you know how dangerous it is outside of Lumea's borders? Don't tell me you didn't feel the change in the atmosphere when you exited the barrier? Even an uneducated child would sense that level of danger and head back, and yet here you both are. I hope you both better have a valid explanation for this", I say all this in a soft voice, not at all in any high intonation, but the faces of the other two go pale.
I patiently wait for a response that I never received. Faced with only silence, I continue to stare at the two of them, covertly using my shadow vine to nudge the entity beside me. The entity stands as he grabs his sword, "Right, I'm sending you both back to the city." His imposing stance effectively scares the younger two.
"That's not fair! You're also outside of the city barrier!"
"We just followed you out! You can't send us back unless you come back with us!"
"It's more logical to have more hands to help when travelling, right? Isn't it much safer with more people watching out for danger?"
"Just take us with you! We'll definitely behave!"
"And besides, if you send us back, the guards will notice and you might not get to go at all. Don't you think so?"
"This is perfect—you can treat this like some training camp for us. We definitely promise not to be a burden."
Promptly, the two of the retort, their backs straight as a ruler—the perfect example of fake discipline, and unyielding stubbornness. One look at their faces tell how much they believe the rationality of their words. Sure, they sound reasonable, but to be honest, it doesn't to me.
Ah, youth…, I sarcastically thought.
Aren't the both of them just as mischievous as the person next to me? Even Krael, who I thought would give sneaking out of Lumea a second thought, could land himself into such a situation. Did they think we're here for a picnic? I feel an incoming migraine coming. I have to say, if all Lumean children are like this, then Odeti was right. It must be tiring being a Lumean mother. And here I thought she was exasperated half the time because it was Obrecht who her son was, and not somebody else.
My mistake.
"What are your eyes scolding me for?" Obrecht clutches his chest, dramatically taking one backward to express his shock.
Taking my gaze away, I expressionlessly answer, "…Nothing."
"It was them that followed us, not me", Obrecht continues to defend himself.
I had Vera and Krael explain themselves from the start. Turns out that Vera was curious about the reason why Krael was always previously busy and missing their private training. Krael had brought Vera along to the treehouse to look, until they suddenly saw two figures dashing out of the door at full speed. Upon thinking that they were competing, the two of them wanted to join in on the fun and followed. Following and following, until they lost us when I had released my shadow domain to hide our presence.
In the end, I wanted a strong urge to slap myself and another person to death. I send another sharp glance at Obrecht who looks away immediately, not wanting to start a spark of war between us. I suppose running at full speed not only did not help shake off anyone presumably following us, it even made us stand out so much more that bystanders had the urge to run after us!
"Did you guys ever think it odd that we would secretly sneak out of Lumea just to train", I question indignantly.
"Not really?"
"Isn't it just like the normal hunting that we do?"
Their clueless expressions make my conscience tremble. It's almost like I've led two children astray!
Obrecht come here, I promise not to slap so hard!
Obrecht laughs awkwardly. I breathe out one more time. Staying angry isn't going to help right now. I shift towards Obrecht, tugging his sleeve so we can move away to talk. For the duration of the afternoon, we had revise our plans, dutifully including the two additional people in our team. It's not like we can ignore them, and their inexperience. Obrecht and I would have to break out in teams of two; me and Vera, Obrecht and Krael.
I had already made a fast decision to take them along. For one, it would waste half to a whole day to return them. Another is that it would alarm the guards at the border and expose us much earlier. Even if it was childish, Krael's earlier statement did hold some weight. I might not be able to scourge for answers. Getting punished as a consequence is now already a set thing once we return, I'm simply delaying it so I can prioritize finding answers; else all my preparations would have been for naught.
Rushing to follow us in a bout of mischief and competitiveness, both Vera and Krael did not bring a single bag nor any necessities for traveling out for five days. As the older ones, Obrecht and I discuss the division of the supplies, the additional hunting for food supplies, and the traveling routes that four people can take with less dangers. There is also a need to educate Vera and Krael about the new checkpoints or meetup points, and the dangers of the route so they can adjust their mindset. In this aspect, I am very much in awe of Lumeans.
By nightfall, Vera and Krael already had a deep understanding of the situation, and as expected, neither wants to head back. I think they're just itching to hunt outside the city's barrier, which not even the prey hunters could do. Everyone just hunts in the forest nearest to Lumea—never outside the barrier.
Everyone is itching for an adventure, meanwhile, I'm itching for answers.
I sigh, standing up to take the first shift of night guard duty.