Seran and Brenda walked to the edge of the encampment as Brenda cast a small flame in her hand to provide some light as she lit a torch for Seran. Seran, unsheathing his blade with his right hand and torch in the left, lead the way into small underbrush as the two disappeared from the vision of the disappointed gazes of the Harenharts. After the two have made a short way into the forest, Brenda tapped on Seran's shoulder, which caused him to jump slightly, and brought Brenda to giggle.
"I—Uh…Sorry!" Seran said with his face beat red, "I shouldn't be startled like that."
"No, I should have said your name." Brenda said with a smile, "I am happy that I get to hunt with you, Seran."
"I am happy to be of ser—" Seran went to say, but Brenda held up a finger.
"Now, now." Brenda said with a raised eyebrow, "None of that, okay? Everyone makes mistakes, so please let me take the blame on this one."
"Yes, Miss Brenda." Seran said with a defeated sigh, "so, why did you tap my shoulder?"
Brenda raised her right hand towards the night sky and whispered, "Discover." Instantly, a thin beam of light shot out from her hand and enveloped her entire hand in a green aura. The light began to trickle from Brenda's hand as it began moving hastily through the air in front of her, until the light left a large visible transparent map of the area around them, clearly drawing the forest in every direction. The light from the hand then trailed off into the drawn map as a thick line of the line continued to trickle from Brenda's forefinger.
"So, that is search magic." Seran said in amazement, "I've never used it like that before."
"Well, it's a tier two version of search magic called Discover. Instead of a cone, it draws a full map of the surroundings." Brenda said with focus on the map, "My mother taught it to me a while back. She said it's something they use at the royal academy for scouting."
"That's impressive that you can already use tier two magic, Miss Brenda." Seran said with a smile, "As you know, elves cannot access tier two unless we wish for death."
"And I think that is very sad." Brenda said with a frown as a bead of sweat ran down her face, "I apologize, but I cannot keep this up for long. My magic control isn't that great yet, so this map is a lot bigger than I wanted to make it."
"You are still amazing to me, Miss Brenda," Seran said as he turned away from her to march forward further into the forest. "And I am supposed to be protecting you. Honestly, it's as if you can see everything coming already."
Brenda turned slightly red as she smiled to herself and followed Seran. Suddenly, a part of the map that was drawn began to light up red slightly to the right of her. Clearing her throat, Brenda said softly, "Seran, something is to the right of us. "
Seran readied his blade as a small rustle came from the large thicket of bushes to the right. A loud snort filled the air as a round silhouette flung itself towards the two, clashing with Seran's blade, thrusting him a few feet back. Standing in front of them was something they both had never seen up close.
In front of them stood a three-foot-tall creature that was very plump, and its muscles seemed to be bulging from its legs. The creature bore a large snout and large silver sheening tusks that extruded from its face, while the creature's four legs seemed to give off a similar sheen. With two beady eyes, it glared towards Seran and the lit torch with the intent to kill as it began to stamp the ground with its front leg.
"Stay back, Miss Brenda!" Seran said as he regained his composure and dove in with his blade to thrust the beast in the face, however, as Seran's blade met the beast, it simply bounced off the target. Seran gave off a grunt as he dove to the side as the beast lunged towards where he was, colliding into a tree. The collision with the tree left a resounding snap that filled the air as the tree began crashing to the ground.
"Ahh!" Brenda screamed out as she also dove away from the falling tree, landing softly into a patch of grass nearby and focusing hard to keep her map up around her.
"Miss Brenda!" Seran yelled out as he jumped forward and attempted to slash down on the beast's back, but instead he bounced off it again with a metal clang. The beast let out a roar as Seran jumped back and shouted, "What is this thing?!"
"I think it's a silverback boar!" Brenda exclaimed, "It's said to be hard everywhere except on its stomach!"
"That's not good!" Seran shouted back as the boar continued to stare down the fire that was in Seran's left hand. Glancing over towards the fallen tree, a smirk ran across his face as he began waving the fire around in the air. "Over here!"
The boar began stamping its foot again as Seran began taunting it. As the boar began to its charge, Seran jumped over the tree and waited for the boar to jump over it as well. As the boar was directly above him, Seran thrust his blade upwards and impaled through the boar's stomach, drenching him in blood as the boar, snorting loudly and whimpering, was slung to the ground with a heavy thud, and after a few short moments, it breathed its last.
After a few moments of silence, Seran stood up dripping blood from his hair and face as he stared back at Brenda and gave a nod. Brenda, covering her mouth with disgust, couldn't help but quickly rush over to his side. Seran quickly wiped the blood away from his eyes and mouth on his sleeve and smiled towards Brenda.
"Well, that was exciting." Brenda said with a laugh, "It seems like trouble wants to keep happening to you."
"Well, I wish it would stop for your sake, Miss Brenda." Seran sheathed his sword and took a step forward towards the boar, "I guess mine too. This blood tastes awful."
"Hold on for a second," Brenda said as she observed her map with intense focus as an area lit up blue to the southeast. "A river is just a little way from here. Let's stop there."
"As you wish, Miss Brenda," Seran said as he spits out some of the flowing blood to the ground. He knelt to the ground and slammed his hand against the boar to make sure it was dead. Satisfied that it didn't move, he gripped tightly around one of the tusks and began pulling it behind him.
"Isn't that thing heavy?" Brenda asked as Seran began trudging along slowly. She noticed that she was easily twenty paces ahead of him before doubling back to him. "If it is, I can walk slower with you."
"Thank you." Seran said with a grunt in his voice, "The boar is heavier than I thought, but I can—" He placed the boar down with a large thud, "Sorry, Miss Brenda. I cannot pull it like this."
Brenda laughed, "Well, I cannot have an exhausted guard now, can I?"
Seran smiled with a small laugh but looking away and clearing his voice. "Yes, I must do my best to protect you."
Brenda, frowning, put her hands on her hips and puffed out some air, "Seran, please! You can drop the formal speech for the rest of this hunt, okay?"
Seran was taken aback by this. He didn't expect his master to be pouting over him being polite, and he certainly didn't know what to say next. Instead, he looked at her with utmost confusion and didn't say a word as she continued to get closer.
"Seran. Right now, I would like to talk to someone close to my age. I have been surrounded by so much formal speech that…" Brenda bit her lip, "That I am not sure if people's feelings are real to me."
"I assure you, Miss Brenda, you will most certainly find other humans in the capital to converse with," Seran said promptly, not sure if he overstepped his boundaries a bit; however, Brenda's expression didn't change.
"No. I mean the elves." Brenda said calmly, "I am unsure if Reau, Mariah, or even you are being real with me."
"Elves aren't people, miss." Seran said with a sigh, "We are just slaves, and—"
"No!" Brenda snapped towards Seran, which made him step back, "Elves are people too! They have thoughts and feelings, they can smile and cry, and they can even make the most amazing things out of nothing. Calling them 'slaves' is just--" Brenda took a deep breath and reached her hand out to Seran, who looked on her bewildered, before finishing her thought, "wrong to me."
Seran looked down at the ground with widened eyes and he began shaking. He found someone who genuinely thought of him as a being rather than an object. While in his heart, he wished to give her a large grin and a message of gratitude, but his head spoke for him instead. "We are objects though. Nothing more than tools to serve a purpose. We die as we live—used."
A few moments of silence passed between the two of them as Seran picked up the boar tusk again and began pulling towards the direction they originally were headed. Brenda, with sobered expression, followed behind without saying a word. Slowly, but surely the two of them ended up at the river.
As they exited into a clearing, beams of the crystal-like light shown down from the duo full-sized moons onto the transparent and flowing stream of water, making it shimmer like a freshly cut aquamarine. The splashes of water echoed through the small and peaceful clearing as if this place was a secluded pool for the goddess herself, and this forest, once dangerous in travel and exploration, now sat as calm as night air sent a small chill down the spines of Brenda and Seran. To their naked eyes, it seems too beautiful to disturb while their feet became covered by the surrounding flowers that gave a rainbow sheen as the moonlight hit their petals.
To Seran, it seemed like a crime to bring the boar through this small field of flowers, but with a silent apology, he moved slowly through the field as the boar left a small trail of crushed flowers. To Brenda, the field was breathtaking as the beauty flowed into her eyes like the stream of water in front of them, and with each breath, she took in, it was almost as if she could feel the mana flowing off the flowers into her lungs and soul. Each moment of silence here felt like the air was speaking so lowly that both visitors could only hear the wordless murmurs as short breezes shook the leaves of the trees behind, filling the air with sounds of nature's wind chimes.
Slowly and surely, the two made their way to the riverbank, where Seran sat the boar down, and then looked towards Brenda, who was still gazing at the flowers around her. He waited patiently for a few minutes as Brenda became lost in thought, and after that, he grew more and more restless. Finally, he leaned against the lone tree that stood next to the water, leaned the boar's body against the trunk, and cleared his throat, which brought Brenda back to attention.
"Sorry!" Brenda said with a giggle, "I've never seen so many Nigh-lilies. They are so beautiful."
"Nigh-lilies?" Seran said, looking around again as well, "So, that's what these are called."
"My father once brought me back one of these flowers after I had waited up all night for his return when I was younger." Brenda said as she knelt and picked a flower, "you see, they can only bloom at night, so it died in the morning after."
"A short life for a flower." Seran said with saddened eyes, "What use do these flowers have?"
"It's an old story, almost a rumor." Brenda said with a smile "A long time ago, the prophet was said to have used these flowers to restore her health from the deadly disease of mana poisoning."
"Mana poisoning?" Seran asked with widened eyes, "You can get poisoned from mana?"
"Apparently so, but father said that was because mana used to be denser when the prophet was alive."
"So, everyone used to die from using magic," Seran said softly while looking at the ground.
"According to my father, the disease has been long gone for hundreds of years. No one knows why." Brenda said as she moved closer to the tree, causing Seran to watch carefully as she continued, "But these flowers are supposed to be rare across the continent, so it's a wonder that there are so many here!"
"It's very pretty," Seran said slowly as he followed close behind her, as his eyes purely fell on Brenda as she walked her gentle gait towards him. When she had finally gotten to him, her smile seemed to pierce the coldness behind his skin that shimmered against the moonlight breaking through the leaves above him and her. To him, her skin was just as pale as his, and he felt unity for the first time.
Brenda walked next to him and reached up to touch one of the lower branches. After making sure she could reach it, she turned to Seran with her face red with an embarrassed blush. She looked as if she was trying to struggle to say the next words, but after a few more moments of awkward silence, she finally said what was on her mind.
"S—Seran." Brenda said with a slight stutter, "Please walk into the water."
"Yes, Miss," Seran said as he walked up to the side of the riverbank, letting his feet enter the water first. As he entered, his face tensed slightly as the water brushed against his legs then his thighs, and the water slowly began to wash away the blood that was starting to dry, turning the water a slightly red hue behind him. He looked over towards Brenda, and instantly his eyes widened, and jaw dropped.
Coming towards him, Brenda had removed her dress, leaving herself in an ivory undershirt and short pants of the same color that reached the length of her inner thighs. Her face, redder than before, slowly made her way over towards him, as she rested her right hand over her chest while gripping her left arm above her elbow. When she reached Seran, she tensed like he did when the water rushed against her legs and thighs, but as she looked upon Seran, he seemed bewildered beyond belief.
"B-B--Brenda!" Seran, unknowingly forgetting his formalities, stuttered as he attempted to look away and shielding his eyes, "Please cover yourself up. This is—"
"Seran." Brenda said sternly as she stared down at the water, swallowing hard as she reached her hand towards him, "I am going to wash you."
"You need not trouble yourself," Seran said as he tore a piece of his shirt off and began to rinse it in the water. He tried then to move away, but Brenda reached out and grabbed his arm, taking the cloth away from him.
"This hunt was my idea, so please let me take responsibility," Brenda said with a gentle smile.
Seran, giving a heavy sigh, slowly nodded as he lowered himself into the water, removing his helmet and tossing it onto the ground a short distance away. He felt her soft hands slowly move throughout his hair and down his body for minutes that seemed to feel like hours. He couldn't help but look away from Brenda as she did this, but he knew in his heart that she felt the same level of discomfort about all of this.
Seran felt Brenda gently scrub the blood away from his face, but when her hands reached his ears, she moved even slower and more cautious than before. It was as if she felt sorry for the fact that his ears were cut, or she had never felt the touch of elven ears. The amount of care that went into every moment of her scrubbing was a level of tenderness that Seran believed that he would never experience.
Before Seran could speak up, Brenda spoke first. "It seems like a dream, Seran."
"What do you mean?" Seran said as raised his head towards her while the reddish water drained from his hair.
"I've never been outside the manor's gates." Brenda said with a sigh as she began to scrub his face with the cloth and rinsing it occasionally, "Now, within a day, I've seen wondrous sights and horrifying images. I'm feeling like I am seeing the world for the first time., and yet, I've lived in this world for seventeen years."
"There are better and worse things than you have seen." Seran said as he brought his hands up to his face to brush away the water from his eyes, "Some places look even better than this forest while others are worse than the town of Oakal. Even then, Ranbais is not as ruthless as—"
Seran cut himself off instantly, as he realized what he did. He looked down to the water again, shaking as he didn't know how Brenda would react to this. Instead of a quick punishment, moments of silence followed instead, causing Seran to look up at Brenda with a cautious look.
It's okay, Seran," Brenda, taking his hands in hers, looked up at him with welcoming eyes before motioning him to the grass alongside the riverbank. As they walked over there, she led him to the ground and looked into his eyes with a smile, "I can keep a secret. Please tell me more about Ranbais."
Seran gulped loudly and took a large breath. "Not a soul, right? I could be killed."
"Not a soul." Brenda reaffirmed as she leaned in closer to him.
----------A little distance away inside the clearing tree-line --------
"Well, would you look at that, Rasul?" A deep voice with a tone of malice mutedly said, "It seems the daughter and her elf are rather close."
"That's quite unusual, sir," Rasul said as he took out his eyeglass and looked upon the two. They were less than a meter apart, and the male elf was speaking to the girl with a cheerful look on his face. He saw that the girl was in her undergarments and the boy was soaking wet, "I've never seen this before."
"I have. The poor soul." The deeper voice with a somewhat insincere sorrowful tone, "That boy doesn't realize that he has been led into a trap."
"Sir?" Rasul put the eyeglass down, "What do you mean?"
"Rasul, as a strategist, you shouldn't be this stupid." The deeper voice scoffed, "It's obvious that the poor boy will be dead in the morning. We better do our best to save him and the others. The Harenhart's trickery and power end tonight." The deeper voice slammed Rasul against his back, "Now, what do you think we should do with this lot. Do we save him now or later?"
"Let's let them leave." Rasul said in a staggered tone, "If the daughter never returns to the camp, we may have a hard time catching Duke Harenhart off guard."
"Right, you are!" The deeper voice laughed as the moonlight shone down on his face. Rasul looked upon the man with curiosity as the scar that ran across his boss's face looked somewhat different, but he shook his head.
"I think the nervousness is rushing to my head, sir." Rasul said as he got his eyeglass back out to stare at the two in the clearing, "I think I'll keep watch here while you all set up."
"Leave before they do." The scarred man said darkly as he disappeared behind the tree-line.
Moments after there were no sounds behind him, Rasul sighed. "I am starting to get a bad feeling about all of this."
A low rustle moved near Rasul, who looked towards the noise to see another hooded man with a large bow. In a low voice, the man spoke only one sentence, "I'll go to them, so wait here."