"...Do you think the kids can handle it?" Casmere clenched his hands, his floating wheel reversing its spin as it bobbed up and down. Lah didn't feel bothered at all, revealing a much greater pressure as her teeth seemed to become sharper and more numerous behind her mask.
"You will make sure they do, won't you, Iberrfal's boy." This wasn't a question, but more of a command. The Guides in the room shrugged it off in different ways, though Bie revealed a hint of suspicion since he could sense every single change that happened. Regardless, he knew that neither of the two wanted to harm them and were instead seemingly arguing with one another over the treatment of something.
'This Hugo will show up quite soon, won't he?' With that thought in mind, he was rather curious about what would happen next. Despite his current appearance of naivete, he was aware of Casmere's comings and goings over the period they had settled in.
And since he heard of that name quite a bit, it was pretty easy to see that Casmere was reporting to his master. There wasn't anything he could do about it, though, and instead of causing a raucous he simply maintained the status quo. Such was the way the flow went, for now.
"This'll be the last open demon you'll see for a bit. Some townsfolk have come spreading word of a demon holding a flute and quick to slaughter, so we might have you investigate this later." Lah was all business as she brought down the illustration, foisting it in Casmere's hands and waving him off.
"Would you like to eat?" Wanxi asked, though Casmere shook his head as he smiled with his eyes.
"No, I'm quite full. You seem finished, so let's pick up Lulac and be on our way. You...did feed him, right?"
"Mr. High and Mighty ate first, since he's too good to parley with us mortals." Wanxi exaggerated every word as her voice became haughty, poking fun at Lulac's general moodiness. She didn't hate him, but she really found his whole entire deal ridiculous. If you're unsatisfied with yourself, try harder! That's what she learned, at least.
"Hmhmhm...Well, then. It is time to be on our way, right?" With that said, the squadron known as the Pinions of Ire quickly cleaned up and left, departing to the south of Morris Capitol.
--
The blackened, hardened ground gave way to gentler terrain in the form of moss laden stones. It grey feebly, some of the patches evidently dying, but the vitality of the plants was much higher than anything else in the region.
The skies were ever gloomy in their looming height, a pale aurora cascading and dispersing gradually on the horizon. The midday in Morris was characterized by bleak light, but that was more than enough for the five people walking underneath its moribund shine.
Casmere kept his eyes peeled for the traces of the demon known as the Foul Clothed Trestbeast. This included fur and red, cracked materials, as well as any loose cloth with traces of Gant's taint. Though he had picked up some of these vestiges prior, he was getting uneasy at the fact that there were no gashes in the ground, a telltale sign of the demon's footsteps.
Lulac joined him in looking, his eyes tracing the thickening swath of crooked trees as they moved. Although it wasn't quite evident due to the lacking vitality that pervaded the land, the place they were standing in used to be a forest. There were clearings pockmarked all over its depths, however, most likely due to large scale resistance against the demons back in the day.
From time to time the periwinkle boy glanced at Bie, pursing his lips while trying to think of a way to approach him. There seemed to be an invisible wall around the undead adjacent Guide, a sense of pressure that warded him off stronger the closer he got.
"...So, about your magic. How did you learn it in the first place?"
"You don't know it? Wouldn't you have gotten a Component from the tournament?" Wanxi's eyes enlarged in shock while Bie steered the conversation. She was quite surprised that this kid didn't know how to use something, seeing as he came off as weathered and experienced at times. Though...the outburst he had should've been more indicative of his maturity level, meaning that he was a mentally closer to his peers than she would've thought.
"No. My mentor was unable to teach me magic, and I had an assignment as soon as I was finished, haha..." Bie's eyes gleamed as he gave her an inquisitive look that teemed with curiosity. Although he wasn't capable of a lot of things others could do, he was quite interested to test whether or not he could at least cast.
"Oh! Well, maybe they were more of a martial artist? Did you want to follow their example, or did you transform your heart with an Ink Circle yet?" Wanxi quickly turned away when he scooted his face closer, before launching the series of questions. It would be weird if he wanted to learn how to use his Ink if he didn't even have the prerequisites...
'Wait, he didn't have any interactions with other Guides! Maybe he just doesn't know?' Before she could delve even deeper into her thoughts and figure out a way to refuse him without letting down his expectations, the boy in question broke her contemplation with a quick answer.
"Yeah, someone did it for me after the tournament." Bie nodded and gave an enthusiastic smile, while Wanxi reeled back in surprise!
"You didn't say your mentor could use magic?"
"I didn't say my mentor was the one who did it for me?"
"Ah..."
"So, can you teach me?"
"...They did it for you and taught you absolutely nothing??"
"Yep!"
Wanxi's jaw dropped, as cloudy wisps streamed out of her agape mouth. Bie laughed a little at this sight, arriving in front of her face and waving his hand before her eyes to get her attention.
"Hello~? Anybody there? Oh, and while you're at it, I'd really like an answer." It was taking a moment, so he poked her on the cheek a few times. The few was only because she responded after the third jab with his lithe digits, simply nodding her head before responding to his query.
"Yeah...when we get back to the capitol place. It's probably not best to try it out before you get a proper grasp on it." She subtly shivered at this, her mind harkening back to an incident involving explosions and yelling, which was the result at her first-time learning magic.
And she didn't have nearly as much energy back then as she did now, so such a thing would probably be much more fearsome when placed at an E realm's scale. Even if that E realm was basically a beginner amongst other E's, potential stats were not an absolute indicator of power. And judging by the ease in which Bie could use his Bridge abilities, Wanxi assumed that his real Ink value was either mid or nearing peak Ink value, judging from some of the older Guide peers she had seen before.
"Okay, I can wait then." Bie agreed with a simple shrug, not really in the mood to cause much fuss. He quickly directed his gaze to Casmere, who was crouching down a lot more often. Scrutinizing his surroundings for a moment, he noticed that the traces were occurring at increasingly shorter intervals.
"Guys. Look." Gyuho spoke up, his feet pointed towards the largest tree they had seen in the forest. On its trunk, there were deeply clawed ravines that invoked a sense of emptiness, as it pierced the tree's bark completely.
"Well. It seems it will be approaching us soon, so get ready." Casmere grasped his pick firmly, before a deep and guttural roar hurtled past the decaying plant life and barged into their ears.
Bie withdrew Ekulech from his Inner World, clutching it firmly in his left hand as he sidestepped hurriedly.