While being a hunter was the most known thing for those who went to hunting schools, it wasn't the only kind. There were smaller professions. Researchers who study explore who went into the uncharted to make sure things were fine, mostly in the places near settlements and civilizations. There were a few more But they were people Aero had such a low chance of running into. So he didn't try to memorize it.
Hearing Galia say she wanted to be an explorer was a surprise. But it wasn't something that he felt was a problem. Honestly, it might be a good thing. As a stereotype, people who wanted to be explorers were kind of nuts and wanderlust freaks. Aero wouldn't and couldn't say anything about the nuts thing.
He al most got killed because of his pride, the same thing that got a cosmic being attention.
"is that why you're sticking around," Aero said after a moment," wanting to explore space?" Galia smiled a bit; her leader was sharp." but another everything," she spoke, taking a seat a reasonable distance from him." I like you guys, and if I get to see incredible sights and untold wonders, then I would like it to be by your sides."
"you know, that's kind of beautiful." Inna said, "I wouldn't mind that either. but what does that have to do with the creatures that just attacked us?" Galia smiled," One of the most common jobs an explores gets is if a new type of creature makes an appearance. "
"you might be able to figure out where these bugs came from?" Lior said, putting the rest together." at that, Galia nodded," The first question is to figure out the direction they came from. Which cardinal direction? From there, we send out letters with a description, see if anyone has seen anything like that."
"that a good place to start, but we're likely to be attacked by more than that?"
"Then we should ask around about that as well, get scrolls about uncommon or even rare creatures that people have encountered. It probably helped to contact Ballia," at that, Aero asked just how much work it would take to get the information that she was talking about. because he didn't want to do more favors than he needed to. Galia pointed out this information would help her defend the country she was in charge of.
"still don't like the idea of owning someone," he grumbled but didn't protest anymore. So they talked about the possible letters to send or scrolls to look into.
Eventually, the town guard determined it was safe enough for people to go back into town, which was good because it meant Aero could get back into the bed he rented. Also, get something to eat because they missed a meal fighting.
The town guard wanted to have a few words with them, but it didn't take too long, only asking a few questions, which they answered as believably as possible. Why some news had been put out about confirmation about life outside their planet. which has sparked debate Aero wasn't listening to, his mother did and brought it up once or twice.
"the guards are gossip," Lior stated less than ten petals later as people stared at them. Whispering, looking between wary and amazed. Aero had already headed into the forest to avoid the people. Lior was considering doing it herself. But she needed some oil for his blade.
Completing that purchase, she headed back to the inner to do some maintenance. The carapace of the bugs had been partially hard. dulling the edge of her sword a bit, so she was going to shape it while she had the chance. Thanks to years of practice, it didn't take more than half a flower before she headed out to the forest.
She arrived just in time to see Aero knock over a tree." what? Why?" getting closer, lior watched as Aero observed the tree before using a short melody in turn with a dance. She could tell the power focused on his feet from the way the grass quivered before he brought his foot down in an axe kick.
It broke right through the bark and halfway through the inner wood. Pulling his legs out, Aero flexed them before stepping back and repeating the melody and dance. There were a few chances; this time, Aero's axe kicked the fallen tree, only breaking the bark.
'what is he doing?" she wondered as he seemed to be pleased with the results, spurring she decided to focus on her own training. Image training, really, relies on her imagination and memory of her enemies to practice against.
Recently, she has been trying to get more flexible with her attacks. Her imagination might have run a bit wild, and she definitely has some strange thoughts, but who cares? They were for a good laugh sometimes. She tried to come up with several methods of attack. Her blade sang a bit as he sliced the air around her, moving fluidly, then sharp or strong.
Lior got absorbed in her training so much that she almost missed the person approaching her. But the moment she noticed, she shot around, pointing her blade right at them when it was smacked towards the ground by Aero's staff. "I came to ask if you are willing to spar." lior didn't need to think about it too much.
*******
"found you!" Inna jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, and turning around, she found Tzila." hey!" she greeted her teammate, a quick trade of words, and she learned tzilla had just arrived in town. She had seen Inna walk down the road and arced to catch up with her.
"Seriously, that happened," on her way towards the village, she had run into a few people. Mostly merchants who were leaving and carrying a story with them. She half believed it, because despite how rare mass creature attacks happened. a good hunter prevented them, sometimes you just got unlucky. She knew she had a few times.
"zaltess, we're sure they were after Aero?" Inna nodded, and tzilla groaned, an entire swarm after him. That was crazy. Did she need more armor? She usually wasn't one for it beyond what her body naturally provided and maybe some cloth armor. But she also didn't like the idea of getting poisoned. Plus, whatever else might happen to them?
'it's not a bad idea to get some to just have on hand,' it felt like a solid course of action. Of course, she might just be low-key panicking. But she wasn't going to think about that. Instead, she was going to think about what she could snack on because that was a much better train of thought.
Seeing the expressions her teammate went through in the last few moments, Inna decided to lead Tzillia to the inn the rest of them were staying at. "remind me to think aero for renting us rooms."
They talked about some less-than-serious topics until the rest of their team returned to the inn and saw them, allowing Tzillia to let out a breath of relief. It was one thing to hear they were safe, but it was even better to see it with her own eyes. "been a while, right?" she greeted them with a smile, pushing down more of her heavy emotions.
If they picked up anything, they didn't say anything to her face," hello." Aero gave her a frankly awkward greeting before sitting down. Followed it with a stiff question about how her break was. It was clear to see the teen was trying, but he was, without doubt, unused to it.
'I wonder how safe it would be to try and give him advice?' it probably was, and she was being a bit too cautious, but she decided to keep her words to herself for the time being. Instead of returning Aero's question about his break, he didn't have much to say, unlike tzilla, who had spent a lot of time with people she knew.
She told them all a few stories about her new team, and it was definitely interesting for them. Her team was interested as she explained the reactions that she got, except Aero, who was unimpressed with how many people were surprised by how a male did what he did.
A reaction he got too much for his taste. But he kept it down for the moment to let Tzillia continue her stories. They kept coming until it was late and they put in their orders for the third meal of the day, which was quick. But at that point, aero had to turn in for the day, mostly because he had some business as the lord of pride to take care of the privacy he got with the helper in his head.
Checking on the scientist, checking on the debt he owed to the lord of greed. How well his things had sold. Followed by forming chains and blades to send at the beast of pride. 'I need to send something out for sale," the female lord hadn't made any attempt to push him.
But Tova mentioned something about the lord of greed and those who tried to cheat her; yeah, that wasn't something he was even going to let her believe he was doing. so he had to find something to sell. Thankfully, he had a bit of thing saved. Going back and forth with the helper, he settled on raw materials to sell.
Which meant that he needed to make a few letters to get those things, "I'll do that in the morning?"
*********
"Okay, so that's a problem," the past few days, the team did a bit of training and made sure everyone was on the same page. After Idit's arrival, of course, she was very surprised to hear the news but decided to stick around.
The problem was, " I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do about it." the manager commented, trying to soothe the injured giant bird-like creature. It sprained its wing in the panic of the insect attacks. The rest of them were fine, but it left the team with two choices.
One, stay and wait for the creature to heal. Two, they split into and take two trips to bring everyone over. There were good and bad to both choices, so they talked. "honestly," Inna stated," it would be best if someone went ahead. To start on whatever we need to get our work done."
She hesitated for a moment before continuing," Also, I think Aero should stay behind." she stepped back, knowing that Aero wouldn't take that well. She was right as his eyes narrowed and fist clinched, "give me a moment!" he spoke through his locked jaw.
Aero walked a few meters away from them to take some deep breaths, calming down. Reminding himself his teammates have shown intelligence and wisdom, not a lot in the relatively short time he's known them. But enough that he knew he should at least try hearing them out. Try having faith.
"why... do you think I should take the second trip?"
"We know the people across the ocean are probably going to react the worst people do here; with your temper, that doesn't seem like a good mix," Aero's face twitched because she was right. By the zalts, Aero knew how likely an outburst from himself was and chose instead to prepare medicine and funds for jail.
"you think that we should try and count out the area first, maybe smooth things over?" tzilla asked. Idit' nodded, and the rest of the girls made sounds of agreement. While Aero glared, read pouted, he didn't have an argue against what she was saying. It wasn't like he wanted to get arrested; he just accepted that it would be a consequence of his own actions.
Something unavoidable," So we're going on two trips?" everyone nodded in agreement," Okay, who is going with idit on the first trip?"
"What?"
"I think I'll go," Lior said, ignoring Idit's exclamation. " I'm really curious about the forest ocean I've never been this close to it." Gallia nodded in agreement," though I think that's true for all of us."
"Seriously, wait!"
They talked it out, jokingly ignoring Idit's weak protest. idit, Lior, and Tzillia were going for the first trip, and the group headed back to the inn to pack up their things. The bird would be leaving the next day, so it wouldn't hurt to start getting ready now.
"so what should we do while waiting for the bird to come around?" Aero looked up from the letter he was writing." I don't see any reason that we should do anything different than we already have."
"yeah, but we should take the chance to get to know each other better," Inna said, not wanting to speak about two weeks with just training. Because from what she understood, that was Aero's largest comfort zone.
Though he looked like he'd rather not, Aero asked what she had in mind for the time. She gave him a bright smile before listing off some of the things she saw around the town. Most of which didn't sound that bad. But Aero hadn't really tried anything like them. There were simply too many people who stared at his weapon.
'yeah, I need to get out more;' sadly, he needed better social skills. or find someone to take care of him; sadly, the helper had to interrupt that train of thought.' Unforintly, my lord, when you enter the galactic stage, there will be a number of matters that you can only attend to in person. But beyond that, you can interact with people however you like.'
The helper also reminded him of the lord of sloth, who could sleep through months or years if left unchecked, but they still worked. Just as effectively as possible. So Aero felt better about his social ability.
Right up to the day after the next, he stood in front of Palor that Inna had picked out. It could smell the scents coming from the building, but it didn't smell bad. But it was edging on overpowering. "All alright, let's see what this place has."
Aero didn't have high hopes, and they didn't get higher when they pushed aside the door curtain and were hit by a wall of scent and colors, lots of bright and attractive colors. A worker looked from where they were painting a picture. That probably wasn't related to their job. "oh, welcome."