Zach felt that these people had reached too far in their imagination regarding his power and intentions. It was to the point that Zach had already lost his opportunity to clarify all the misunderstandings.
"It's like trying to break a brick wall with my head. Only my head will hurt in the end but the wall will remain steadfast." Zach sighed deeply as he gave in to his fate and accepted his new identity.
Thus, the stigma of being a dark mage became on his persona.
Luna didn't say anything either since even she wasn't sure whether her master was a dark magic practitioner or not.
Luna only knew that Zach had powerful abilities which could boost women to achieve their full potential and at the same time strengthened his prowess. Whether it was a branch of black magic or not she had yet to figure out.
"Let me properly show my gratitude to you both for saving me and my followers. I want to host you at my family home if you allow me. A warm bath and a soft comfortable bed are waiting for you if you agree to leave this forest with me." Diana offered sincerely.
"Does she want to use me to leave this forest safely? Was that her true purpose for acting so grateful towards me? If that's true, she is far too cunning for her age." thought Zach as he stood up with the help of Luna who pulled on her hood nervously.
The thought of a comfortable bed and a chance to clean herself brought sparkle in Luna's eyes. She stared at him with her puppy eyes that shined with hope and glittered with excitement at Diana's proposal.
Even though a voice at the back of his head told Zach that he was being used by Diana as a bodyguard for hire, Zach didn't believe it because her eyes had been too sincere.
In his opinion, there wasn't much difference whether he left with them or on his own since he had been looking for a way out of the forest himself.
Going in the company of the hunters would at least provide him with a chance to learn more about this new world along the way. Only a fool would reject such an offer after hearing the mention of a soft bed and a comfortable bath after having crossed the entire forest on foot.
"Then don't mind if we take you up on that offer. We have stayed here for far too long anyway." Zach readily showed his agreement to her offer and bowed slightly as thanks for her gesture of hospitality.
Diana was overjoyed after she was accepted. She rushed her followers to prepare a meal using the tender flesh of the Dark Wood Hedgehog obtained after removing its steel like wooden skin.
After finishing their dinner with relish, Diana looked towards Zach as if asking his opinion regarding departure.
Upon receiving a positive look from Zach, the procession of hunters led by Diana, Zach and Luna marched towards the exit of the giant forest.
Any man would have felt blissful walking between a pair of beauties, Zach was no different. His mind wandered from time to time but Zach didn't stray too far away and didn't give it too much thought. He had more important things to focus on than the girls.
"Can I ask where you live?" asked Zach as if he was making small talk with apparent lack of interest.
"I am from Elizabeth." Diana didn't find it odd at all that Zach had questioned her about their destination. On the contrary she had been anticipating this question. All dark mages would normally make several dozen enemies wherever they went. So there were bound to be places that were a no-go for them because of the concentration of those enemies and their reputation that might have preceded their arrival.
Zach, no matter how benevolent, was still a dark mage. And Diana was worried that she might cause him harm by bringing him into a city full of enemies waiting to pounce on him.
Oblivious to her mental calculations, Zach tried to guess what Elizabeth could be but he was unfamiliar with the ways of this world. Elizabeth could be the name of the town, city or the state where she lived but he couldn't be sure since he was not a native of this world and was unfamiliar with even the norm.
When Diana saw the blank look on his face as she mentioned the name of the city she lived in, her heavy heart settled down.
"He doesn't know where it is."
She could be sure that Zach had never been to her city which reduced the chances of him running into trouble while he stayed at her house.
"Elizabeth is a city in the state of Mesore. The state isn't very far from here but Elizabeth is still some distance away from the periphery of Mesore. If we take some time for rest every night, it should take us about a day and a half to enter into the boundary of the state of Mesore and another 2 days till we reach Elizabeth."
Diana turned her head to look at Zach who was thinking about his long sojourn through the forest after his arrival in this world. He wondered why he never managed to reach the edge of the forest despite walking for so long when the end lay so close. He had wasted more than two weeks when the edge of the forest could have been in his sight on the very first day.
"Either my sense of direction is distorted or I had the misfortune of landing at the other end of the forest and on top of that the basic 'follow the sun' rule of the wilderness survival misfired. Instead of taking me to the exit, it took me further into the depth of the forest." Zach lamented as he made a mental chart of his current location, all the places he had been to before and their current destination.
"Maybe he hasn't heard of Elizabeth city before?" thought Diana as she witnessed him straining his mind.
"You might not have heard about Elizabeth city before because it isn't a major city; just one of the small ones in the Mesore state."
Zach dipped his head at different intervals to indicate his understanding as she began explaining the geography of her hometown.
Luna was a silent companion throughout the journey. She listened intently to the conversation between Zach and Diana but didn't comment on anything. She needed knowledge of the human settlements as well so she could be of more use to her master.
Zach on the other hand was always conversing with Diana or her followers whenever there was an opportunity to do so. He prodded the servants for information when they came to serve him and Luna their meals every single time.
Although the servants had been trained well and were usually tight lipped about the situation of their master, they slipped up sometimes as well.
Thanks to such slip ups on the part of the hunters and the servants, Zach found out some basic information regarding Diana and her family.
It turned out that the Mesore state which held Elizabeth city was in fact one of the many states of the Hina Empire. And Diana was the eldest daughter of the Luther family which was one of the numerous families based in Elizabeth city. From her graceful demeanor, Zach deduced that the family must at least be well off if not filthy rich and powerful because only the elite class families from his previous world were brought up to be like Diana; strong, independent, graceful and intelligent.
Another piece of notable information was that it was normal for the kids who came of age in such families to set out into the world for adventures. This was supposed to be Diana's first adventure which should have been smooth sailing but it had gone horribly wrong when they encountered the Dark Wood Hedgehog.
Originally the group had set out to hunt an E rank or F rank monster but the E rank Silver Crescent Monkey that they had been chasing, successfully fled their pursuit but not before it succeeded in luring them into the territory of the hedgehog.
During the journey, Zach continued to stay cautious. The only person he truly trusted in the whole group was Luna.
After her racial status was revealed to the group, the goodwill the group previously held towards her became tainted with not-so-well hidden anger and resentment.