"Onii-chan... it's really faint, but I can smell the scent of something
unfamiliar around here. Multiple different scents."
In the dark forest, night fell quickly. It was almost time for them to
search for a camping spot when Latifa informed Rio, twitching her nose as
she did so.
"...And it isn't anything you've smelled until now?"
"Yup! I remember all the scents of the beasts we met since entering the
forest. It isn't as strong as the others, so it might not be a beast? But that may
be because the scent is weak...? I wonder..." Latifa tilted her head in
confusion.
"Then the owner of the scent isn't anywhere nearby, right?"
"Probably. Yeah, I think so."
"Then we'll rest around here for today. We're almost at our destination
soon anyway."
"Really? We'll finally be out of the forest!" Latifa grinned happily,
whereas Rio smiled with a slightly troubled expression.
That night, the two of them squeezed into their narrow shelter like
always, lying down side by side.
"Onii-chan, can I hold your hand?"
"Sure," Rio replied, offering his hand in spite of the strained smile on his
face.
Once their hands were linked, Latifa was able to get a calm night's sleep.
When she didn't, she would sometimes start crying in the middle of the night.
"Ehehe. Good night, Onii-chan." Latifa said, falling asleep not long after.
After he was sure she was asleep, Rio closed his eyes too. As he slowly
slipped into the land of sleep, he stretched a part of his awareness around
them so that he could react to any abnormalities nearby.
Then, several hours later...
Rio snapped his eyes open.
He looked to his side and saw Latifa in a deep sleep. Gently prying his
hand away from her, he removed the makeshift door to their tent entrance and
went outside. There was a strange, restless feeling in his chest for some
reason, but the forest was pitch black, and there were no signs of other living
creatures around. Their surroundings were almost terrifyingly quiet.
Suddenly, a cold wind blew against his skin; today was chillier than
usual. He started a campfire near the entrance of the shelter so that Latifa
wouldn't catch a cold.
"Onii-chan...?" Latifa's nervous voice could be heard from inside the
tent.
"I'm right here. Go to sleep."
Rio stroked Latifa's head and spoke gently to her. To give her a peaceful
rest without crying during the night, he manipulated his essence to imitate
sleep magic.
With a weary sigh, Rio looked up at the sky. He couldn't see that far,
even with the campfire and his night-adjusted vision, but he could spy a sky
full of stars through the gaps of the trees.
With his sleepiness completely faded, Rio warmed himself up by the
campfire and boiled some water to drink. The flames flickered, illuminating
his face. As he prodded the dying embers with a stick, a soft wind brushed
gently against his body.
Hm? Rio turned in the direction the wind blew from.
There stood a single silver wolf; it was huge — easily several meters
from head to tail.
Just when did it get so close?!
Rio grit his teeth, then jumped to his feet, drawing his sword from its
scabbard. The silver wolf in front of him showed absolutely no signs of the
ferocity expected from a beast; its presence was incredibly weak. Despite its
wolf shape, there was something unnatural about it — almost like it didn't
exist.
Rio fixed his eyes on the silver wolf, unwilling to let it out of his sights.
It felt like the moment he let his eyes drift, the wolf would disperse into
nothing.
Suddenly, the silver wolf began to glow; a torrent of light spread
throughout its surroundings. White flooded Rio's vision, making him shut his
eyes involuntarily.
Oh, no... it's got my sight — just as that thought passed through his mind,
Rio felt multiple presences appear around him, one after another.
They were hiding! Are they demi-humans?! How did they know we were
here?
Despite his surprise, Rio calmly analyzed his current situation. But even
as he was doing that, the demi-human group continued to approach.
Time was up — he didn't have any more time to think.
Rio lightly stomped on the ground, flooding essence into the surrounding
dirt. The dirt around the shelter rose out of the ground, forming a wall where Latifa was sleeping. He could tell the attackers were slightly confused by the
way they stirred in response, but they weren't naive enough to let their guard
down just like that.
Rio's vision had yet to recover, but he could tell they had completely
surrounded him. He sensed that one of them was rapidly approaching him,
which prompted him to dodge by jumping to the side. As soon as he proved
that he could respond to the surprise attack even while blinded, the air around
the attackers intensified at once.
Rio raised his defenses even more.
He might have managed to evade the first attack, but his vision was still
blurry, and he didn't have a read on the opponent's strength — anyone could
tell that this situation was bad. His only saving grace was the fact that they
were aiming to capture him alive... probably. After all, there were countless
other ways they could have approached him if they intended on killing him.
Which meant that negotiation should be possible.
With that in mind, Rio opened his mouth — but the first presence who
had attacked him clicked their tongue impatiently and launched a second
attack.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Rio called out in a rush, but his opponent showed
no sign of stopping. Left with no other choice, Rio prepared to activate
another magic-mimicking abnormal ability, keeping the intensity of the
situation in check.
It wasn't an offensive technique: it was an imitation of Zona Revelare
magic that allowed him to pour his essence into his surroundings and detect
reacting essence, much like a sonar. His true aim was to use it as a temporary
substitute for his lost vision. He'd be able to detect the numbers and positions
of his opponents.
"Uzuma, stand back! This guy is using some kind of spirit art!"
A girl standing on the edge of the circle surrounding Rio — who
appeared to be the same age as him, with long silver-blonde hair and wolf
ears poking out of her head — shouted in a language Rio didn't understand.
In response to the first girl's voice, the girl named Uzuma — who appeared
to be in her mid-twenties and sprouted beautiful bird wings from her back —
froze in her approach.
"It's all right... it's just a spirit art that detects nearby ode!" Another girl
in the circle — also similar in age to Rio but with magnificently long,
emerald-gold hair and somewhat rounded elf ears — immediately chimed in.