As this dark voice resounded in his mind his left eye was unknowingly turning dark.
'Yes, they must all pay!' Landria began to agree with this voice that sounded a bit like his but was contrary to his plan.
His left eye turned completely dark as an ashy fog began to gather around him.
"Wow, what's happening?" The kids shrank back as they saw Landria's dark look.
"Landria!" Laura screamed out.
"Huh?" His eyelids twitched as he regained clarity.
He blinked repeatedly as the darkness in his left eye dissipated and it returned to normal white color.
"He just used magic," One of the children voiced out with an excited tone.
'That didn't seem like normal magic,' Laura thought before asking, "Didn't you say your mana was depleted?"
"Yes, I currently do not have any mana," Landria answered.
"Then how did you do that without mana?" She asked.
"I don't know..." Landria responded truthfully.
Laura was befuddled by this occurrence knowing the basic concepts of how magic worked but at the same time, she felt it wasn't that big of a deal since nothing really happened.
"So are you going back to Razledania?" One of the kids asked again.
"...I have to replenish my mana first before deciding on my next move," Landria answered.
"You can stay here for as long as you want to," Laura said with a smile.
"Thank you... I want to get some air," He voiced out before turning around to leave the house.
Landria still felt a bit uncomfortable being in the presence of strangers. Although he really connected with Laura, it hadn't even been a day since he knew her unlike her who had been seeing his face for over a month now.
The kids stared at each other before running after Landria. Laura stood in place and sighed before moving out as well to join the other adults waiting outside.
"He seems like a fine lad," The bald man seating outside the house voiced out as he stared at Landria's figure, getting further and further away from the house.
"Hmm, he is more than just fine Arthril... I have a feeling he's beyond extraordinary," Laura voiced out.
"Are you sure you won't regret taking a total stranger in? What if he's dangerous?" Arthril asked.
"I am not a bad judge of character Arthril. I don't care about what happens, I will take care of the kid until he's ready to leave," She responded with a tone of certainty and a warm smile.
"As expected of you, Laura,"
--
Landria sat in front of a tree with his back against it.
'What was that?' He wondered as he recalled what happened in the house a few minutes ago.
He could remember his thoughts getting taken over by negativity and an unknown lust for slaughter.
At that moment he felt like destroying the entire Razledania kingdom.
However, Landria was rational enough to understand that the whole kingdom was not to blame for his family's persecution.
Was he filled with hatred and an intense desire for vengeance? yes. However, he didn't have thoughts of involving people who didn't have anything to do with it...
Until he heard the voice in his head.
'Maybe it was just a hallucination, I need to replenish mana first,' Landria decided to forget about all that now and focus on what mattered.
Although he still couldn't feel any mana in the air.
The kids who followed him from the house were running around him right now, trying to get him to play with them but Landria ignored them.
The youngest girl sat beside him with a smile on her
Landria just wanted to be left alone right now, remembering how his family was wiped off the face of the planet but the face of this young girl reminded him of his little sister, Sara.
This triggered more memories for him as tears threatened to spill out of his eyes again.
"Don't cry Big brother Landria, everything will be alright," She said while rubbing his cheeks affectionately.
"Hnm," Landria nodded and forced a smile.
As the others noticed this, they stopped playing since they could sense Landria was not in a good mood.
They sat around him and everyone raised their heads to stare at the setting sun.
These four kids went by the names, Viktor, Mara, Orion, and Mira.
The oldest was Viktor who was twelve years old with a lean and tall build. He had chestnut-colored hair and was already taller than even Laura at this age.
Mara was eleven years of age with pale white skin and ash-colored hair. She was a head shorter than Viktor.
While the other two, Orion and Mira were both nine and eight years old respectively. Orion had a buzz cut and always had snot up his nose while Mira was short and very cute with her long black hair.
The girls looked were always looking innocent but the boys on the other hand always had looks of mischievousness.
It turned out that all four of them were orphans and Laura took up the responsibility to cater for them.
As the skies darkened, the chirping sounds of crickets, fireflies, and other glowing insects could be heard in the surroundings.
Laura later arrived on the scene to call them in for dinner.
Landria decided that he would walk around town the next day to find a spot where he could absorb and replenish his mana since this area greatly lacked mana.
The night went by quickly and the next day arrived. Landria couldn't sleep the entire night since he was in deep thoughts all through.
He also wasn't feeling sleepy since he found out he had been sleeping for over a month already.
By the time he came out of the room, there was already breakfast waiting for him.
The kids and Laura greeted him as they saw him.
"Did you have a good night's rest?" Laura asked.
"Yes," Landria answered with a lie as he took his breakfast.
Laura later left home with Mara and Mira, with some merchandise placed in a type of basket.
It turned out she was a trader who sold wares at the town square.
This had Landria wondering why there would be animal skin and heads in the living room if Laura was a trader and not a hunter.
The boys went out to play with the other children in the neighborhood while Landria decided to walk around the town.
This side of town was close to the Velves forest which was why there weren't a lot of houses around here but as Landria moved forward he could see more houses in this settlement.
Every house was constructed with wood, many standards lower than Razledania which had big castles and well-constructed buildings all around.
People were going about their businesses. Some carts moved across the place carrying food items and some group of men dressed in animal skin wear held weapons as they moved towards the direction of the Velves forest.
It was a bit busy and Landria only came into contact with people in his age group a few times. Some of them joined the traders and the males joined the group of men moving towards the forest area to hunt.
His appearance had people turning heads. The town wasn't overly populated so it was easy for people to tell when a person was new here. However, no one approached him, since everyone was minding their business.
'Still can't feel any mana in the air,' Landria thought as he passed by a part of town where shops could be seen on both sides.
In his head he marked everywhere he passed by and every turning made so he wouldn't miss his way when he was heading back.
'Hmm? I can feel mana in the atmosphere up ahead,' Landria said Internally as he looked up ahead.
This path led to the outskirts of the town and twenty-five feet tall bell tower could be seen up ahead.
The bell tower was constructed to alert the town in cases of emergency.
The further Landria walked, the more he could sense the concentration of mana and they slowly began to get pulled towards him.
Landria felt like he was breathing fresh air for the first time in a long time.
But there was only a little of it. It was barely enough to refresh his body.
Landria stared at the tower up ahead and walked towards it.
The moment he arrived in front of it, the people in the vicinity all had looks of awe as they watched him climb it.
"What is he doing?" They collectively wondered.