Their encounters with monsters and beasts weren't limited to one or two. The deeper one walked, the more dangerous it got. After a few days of adventuring, it was hard to even get a short break.
When the group barely managed to reach a nicely hidden river, they decided to camp out around it. Everyone needed a relaxing bath after so many days of restless traveling.
As soon as it was decided on where to camp, Eleen forced Raven to do laundry, saying that she couldn't take the disgusting stench of blood anymore. Everyone agreed with her. The man's piled-up bloody clothes were a hassle to carry. Grumbling in defeat, Raven was sent to the river, carrying a huge pile of clothes.
Seeing how everyone was busy taking care of their chores, Doris and Alaric decided to also put studying magic to another time. In the past few days, Alaric was busy teaching this girl the basics of ancient languages and simple calculations necessary for casting spells, and Doris was learning everything quite fast. Although she couldn't cast many spells yet, the fire magic she used was way more powerful compared to when Alaric cast the same spell. Seeing her superiority in this aspect boosted the girl's confidence and motivation, driving her to study even more than Alaric.
It was a pity Claus didn't allow her to launch any flames inside the forest.
Alaric picked up his laundry, like the others, and headed to the river. Before deciding on where to station himself, he took a look at the surroundings. He soon spotted a cloaked individual not too far away, hiding behind a tree truck and washing his clothes.
Even when everyone was away doing their chores, Ian kept the hood of the cloak on his head for some reason. Alaric couldn't help but wonder about the cause of this behavior. He was fine before when they were traveling to The Empire, yet since returning from there, he kept hiding his face and hair. Did something cause him to feel insecure? Whatever the reason was, dressing like that all the time didn't seem comfortable.
Measuring the distance between himself and Ian, Alaric made sure he was at least five meters away from him.
A couple of nights ago, the little Lior came running to him, asking him to do an experiment. They repeated the process multiple times until they found the estimated distance at which Lior's voice could be heard by him. Since then, Alaric kept a distance of at least five meters from him and that child, not wanting to accidentally cause the other discomfort.
'It's kind of boring...'
Sure, adventuring was nice, but things were more fun when he was traveling to The Empire, he thought. Their group seemed to keep getting larger and larger the more they traveled. Alaric couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not.
He'd already set his goal, to prevent one specific person from taking the wrong path of the villain. Yet, the more he followed that person, the less he seemed to be a villain! He did indeed seem strange and suspicious. Ian knew a lot of things, seemed to have some hidden plans, and appeared somewhat capable of predicting things to come. Take the example of the other day when he was so randomly talking about seeing someone's death. Despite Alaric trying a lot to figure out its meaning, there was nothing he could find out. He finally decided to give up on that. Still, Ian was far distant from the person Alaric feared him to be. His goals were unknown, but even if he indeed had malicious intentions, Ian seemed too tired to execute any of them...
This left Alaric truly embarrassed. How come he knew nearly nothing about this world? About these people, about the incoming events? How much time had he spent on this story? Definitely more than just a few years. Yet, he was clueless about the slightest details. Was it because the plot focused mostly on the main character and ignored anything outside of the scope of his daily life? Still, it wasn't alright, being this clueless about this story. He should've at least cared a bit more about the villain!
Shaking the unnecessary thoughts off his head, Alaric processed to wash up his body. The flowing river was cold and the surroundings were kind of eerie. It was at times like this that he really missed his old life.
-Alaaaricccc~ Alaric Alaric weird Alariiiicccc!!
A child's screams rang out in his ears just when he was done dressing up. The tiny wolf jumped atop his lap, wiggling its tail.
-Alaric, I wanna try out something else. Hurry up and follow me~
Without even waiting for his response, Lior turned around and ran back to the thick tree in the distance.
Seemed like he had no other choice.
Alaric picked up his stuff and followed behind. As they approached the tree, Lior began to explain.
-Don't worry, weird Alaric. You don't need to do anything. Just sit there and tell me if you can hear my voice.
"Did you find a way to fix the issue?"
Tap Tap Tap. Lior jumped on Ian's shoulder and then sprawled atop his head as if it was natural.
-Mmm... Master, can I explain?
"...."
There came no response. The wolf's ears twitched up. He leaned closer and peeked at Ian's face, only to find his eyes closed shut.
-Oh!
"...Is he asleep?"
-No no. He's meditating. Training! Wait a minute, I'll wake him up!
Hopping down, Lior raised his body on his hind legs and put his front paws on Ian's face. Alaric could only cry in his heart, being unable to capture such an adorable scene in a picture. Before his admiration could die down, a flash of golden light forced him to squint his eyes. Bright specks of dust puffed out of the tiny body before quickly seeping into Ian's chest. The next instant, the man's arms shot forward and grabbed Lior, pulling him away from his body.
"What are you doing-" he then flinched upon sensing another presence beside him. "Wha-"
For an instant there, Alaric could see a golden light glowing within Ian's eyes. It faded as soon as the specks of dust scattered around.
-Hehehehe~
Giggling, Lior freed himself from Ian's grasp and rubbed his head against the man's chest.
-I wanted to try out if Alaric could still hear our voice if we conversed through our link. Weird Alaric, could you hear my words just before?
The nobleman rubbed the tip of his chin. "You said you'd wake him up."
-After that, after that.
"Uh... You giggled?"
Nothing else was spoken in between.
-Hehehe hehe! Master master, he can't hear it! He can't~ I solved the problemm~
The child jumped around, hopping up and down in excitement. Ian looked between him and Alaric, also similarly confused. As if enjoying their dumbfounded expressions, Lior giggled even harder, rolling around.
"You can use the link to speak?"
Astonishment dawning on his face, Ian looked at Alaric and then at Lior. The two's eyes widened upon seeing Alaric not reacting at all.
Were they talking among each other? Alaric couldn't hear a thing.
"It could be so easily solved..."
-It wasn't easy, master, I'm just way too smart. Say, Lior is the smartest!
As if still in disbelief, Ian stared for a few seconds at the child and then at Alaric, but the nobleman could hear no voices. Was the problem solved? Was everything over?
"I... I can't quite understand what's happening..."
As he wiggled and giggled, Lior poked his head at him, patting his hand.
-Lior and Master have a veryy strong bond. I can use it to gift master some Aether, although he always refuses... I dunno what it is, but it lets us know the approximate location of each other aaaaannnnd a lot of other cool stuff~
"Lior."
-Uuhhh master don't look at me like that I didn't say anything baaad!!
"Sigh."
Shaking his head, Alaric gestured at the kid not to continue the topic. It wasn't too important anyway and Ian didn't seem comfortable enough talking about it. Noticing his intention, Lior changed the topic.
-Master master, do you think I can use the same method to talk to other people separately? Maybe one day, everyone can hear Lior's voice!!
"...."
The bluehead froze for a second, a complicated look dawning on his face. The child didn't seem to notice how the glint in the man's eyes changed, as he kept squirming around in joy.
-I cracked the code master. I'm a genius. Praise me, praise me!
Washing away the instant ashen expression, a smile plastered to his face. Ian reached forward and ruthlessly rubbed the child's belly. Instantly surrendering in defeat, Lior fell down to the ground, laughing.
"Say, aren't you the smartest?"
-I, ehehe, I amm!"
"Hmm, if you keep being this smart and adorable..." Ian leaned closer to the wolf pup. "I might one day eat you up!"
-Kiyah! What?
Without himself noticing, the hood slipped down from his head, revealing Ian's navy blue hair and thin face. The always-hidden face looked more exhausted than before, yet it strangely felt lively at the moment. The difference hid in those sapphire-like eyes. The usually fatigued eyes now twinkled like diamonds; looking like a piece of night sky with all its stars hidden within.
"....."
T witness such a scene was... Peculiar. Alaric opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words were spoken. He watched his always grumpy friend shower a little wolf with what seemed to be affection. It was only after a short while that Ian finally took notice of him.
"Eh, you!"
You're still here? His face screamed, disgruntled. Alaric was gradually getting used to such reactions, though he couldn't say he liked them.
"Mm, hey..."
But what was causing this friend to treat him that way? Alaric couldn't help but wonder.
"Uh, your hair has grown a lot..."
Compared to himself and the others, Ian's hair seemed to have grown longer at the same period of time. Looking closer, even the shade of the hair seemed somewhat different, appearing a bit darker than before. Alaric wondered if it was because it was night or if the hair really got darker in color.
"Hmm?" Ian touched the tips of his hair, mumbling. "My hair grows fast."
"That's cool!"
"Not really."
Alaric's body shrank; his pupils darted around.
"But... It's nice since your previous haircut will get fixed soon. Really, who cut your hair last time? It was such a mess."
The whole hair was in a mess. It looked like a failed attempt to cut it to a bob or something like that, as each batch of hair was trimmed in different lengths and uneven sizes, creating chaos.
"I did." Ian's reply was short and indifferent. "It grows fast. Interrupted my work. Ranger ordered me to cut it. With a kitchen knife. It was blunt so couldn't cut all at once. Slaves don't have barbers."
"..."
Alaric blinked multiple times in a row, his head drooping.
"I-It's alright, we'll visit a proper barber once we leave this forest."
"No need."
Ahem. The nobleman let out a fake cough. Everything felt so wrong he didn't know what to say anymore.
The life of a slave seemed hard. Ian always talked about it so casually as if it wasn't a big deal, but that couldn't be the case. Thinking about it now, didn't Ian have every right to hate Alaric? He was his master and the cause of a huge portion of his suffering.
"...."
The boy's posture gradually hurled up. He rested his chin on his knees, fingers intertwined in a clasp.
"...I'm sorry..."
And here he hoped he could be friends with this dude. Forget about such a relationship, he would be overjoyed if the bluehead simply didn't hate him.
"Huh? For what?"
"...Everything, I guess."
Even if the previous Alaric didn't hurt him too much as his master, all this man's misery was still Alaric's fault.
"Seems like I've done so much cruelty without even knowing..."
As the author, it was all his responsibility and fault, after all.