--How awful...--
A dim, blue sphere was lodged at the center of the man's chest, with blue vein-like lines sprouting from it that reached his neckline and waist.
Naya's nose wrinkled, "Homunculous!"
One of the only decrees handed out by Aleria herself to the Elves, dating back millennia, was the law against body experimentation, specifically, producing homunculus, which were bodies artificially enhanced or created via powerful, twisted magic artifacts.
Naya understood why; it was a terrible practice that interfered with the natural core. Making a homunculus requires altering the core to situate the modified artifacts. Those alterations are said to damage the soul, which resides in the core, and prevent them from returning to Aleria's grace when they die. They simply vanish, their souls consumed by the dark artifacts.
She lashed her hand out to stab the area around the sphere.
"W-what are you doing?" The driver asked.
"Silence." Naya's tone was colder than usual.
She dug her hands around the sphere and pulled it out; it slid out like it was slotted in a puzzle, and the blue lines faded a moment after.
She held it in front of her. The ball had so many tiny runes and circles engraved on it that Naya couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. She had never seen one before, aside from depictions in books. She wasn't even sure how it was made; her teachers would never divulge that information.
--Have Rula store it; we need to have it investigated.--
[Agreed.]
Naya clasped her hands around the sphere and shut her eyes. "I will find the one responsible for this atrocity."
She put the sphere in her pocket and stared at the bandit's body for a bit longer. Aside from his physical prowess and ability to seemingly ignore pain, he could not do much. She would have to tell someone about it when she returned to Rozen and have them collect the body.
Naya moved the man's body to the side of the road and turned to the driver with a sharp glare. "This is your fault, human; your tricks did not escape my notice."
--Well, my notice.--
Naya ignored her.
"I-I... I'm sorry, Madam Naya!" He deeply bowed from his seat on the cart.
Naya stared at him a bit longer; he was shaking, and his hands gripped the reigns tightly.
--I can't say I blame him; it was too good an opportunity to pass up.--
"If there are any more tricks, you will die." Naya moved to the back of the cart.
Rula was still sound asleep on her bench, with a peaceful expression and drool running down her mouth.
It put a slight smile on Naya's face.
--She really will do wonders for you; I only hope you can offer her the same.--
Naya didn't respond and took a seat. "How long until we reach the forest?" She rested her head against the wall.
"W-we'll be there by daybreak."
"Good. Move then, and consider our debt paid."
"Yes, Madam!"
A second later, the card began to move again.
Naya had trouble falling asleep the rest of the night due to thoughts of the homunculus swarming in her mind. As much as she hated them, she knew it also provided an opportunity to fulfill a direct decree from Aleria.
[Do the other races not treat homunculus the same?]
Even though she didn't particularly care about the races as a whole, it was still another thing entirely to know that someone's soul was erased from the world due to the malevolent designs of a dark mage.
--We'll find the ones responsible... And yes, every Race on Toral has strict laws against this. Most lead to an immediate execution.--
[I will kill them myself, I vowed it.]
--Yes, I'm sure Aleria heard it. She would never cast out an Elf, regardless of what their race thinks of her.--
For some reason, that line, coming from Lia, filled her with comfort, and she was able to fall asleep shortly after.
"Hey! Naya! Hey, hey, hey, hey!" With every hey, Naya felt a poke on her cheek.
Naya lightly groaned and swatted the hand away.
"You sleep like a rock!" Rula giggled and jumped off to her side to grab her sketchbook and pen.
Lia laughed heartily.
Naya's eyebrows quirked. "You're telling me that? You?"
It was odd that she slept so peacefully; she usually would have snapped to awareness when Rula made any movements due to the noise. However, she slept well and was in a pleasant mood, a rarity for her.
Rula looked at Naya as if she was an idiot, with a mocking grin. "Of course! I am a light sleeper; a small wind would wake me!"
Naya just smiled.
Rula was stunned for a moment. "Woah! You should smile more; you're very pretty."
Naya's ears twitched; she stood and walked out of the stopped cart. The driver looked eager to leave.
The entrance to the rainforest was right before her now.
It had a single sign with the words Soran and was filled with tall, densely packed trees and lush vegetation. The path was laid with stone and was well made, which painted an opposite picture of her prior forest trip.
"It looks amazing, doesn't it?" Rula joined Naya, her sketchbook tucked to her side.
"Yeah." Naya nodded.
"I-I can go now?" The rider asked.
"Leave us." Naya didn't forgive the driver, but at least she uncovered a homunculus from it.
Not a second later, the man already had his horses moving, and the cart took off.
"He seemed scared." Rula eyed Naya suspiciously, "Wonder why?"
Naya shrugged. "Humans are like that." She reached into her pocket. "Store this in your ring, and you should store the book, too, or it will get damaged in the coming battle."
"Can't store the book; I need it!" But she reached out to the blue sphere. "Woah. I've never seen something this complicated before. What is it?"
"Something evil, just store it."
"Classified info, huh~" Rula complied without further question.
"Stay close to me."
Rula reached out and gripped Naya's hand. "Easy." Her bravado from yesterday was gone, and her vice dripped with nervousness.
Naya gripped her hand. "I will not let it harm you, but still be prepared."
"Right." Rula nodded.
They made their way to the path and entered the forest.
It wasn't nearly as quiet as the Silent Forest back in Rella. Naya heard the chirping of many different bugs and the rustling of leaves and bushes from animal movements; she could even catch glimpses of animals moving in the trees.
The only complaint Naya had was the insufferable heat and moist air.
The trip down the path was uneventful, save for the pleasant sights. It seemed the place didn't get much tourism, at least from the entrance they used. Likely because of the Flameclaw threat, it must have been a severe issue for a faraway city to issue a quest for it.
"Is this really the type of place a Flameclaw would go to, even if it were running?" Rula was swiping her head all over the place, eyeing everything she could.
"It probably likes it now; I doubt it has many predators. Or, someone has plans with it."
Though she didn't say it, Naya hoped for the latter because odd magic circumstances could be attributed to Witches. It was unlikely, but she needed to check everything until she could have the guild do it for her.
A while later, Naya saw the start of a village wall blocking the path forward, with simple houses sticking out from above it and even built into the tall trees.
"It looks fine!" Rula excitedly yelled.
"Of course; it's likely far deeper into the forest."
The gate had a single woman standing in brown leather armor with a long spear slammed into the ground before her. She had red markings on her tanned face, green eyes, and short, fiery red hair.
--If I had gold for every time you've had to deal with gatekeepers...--
"Halt!" The woman spoke with a mature, forceful tone. "State your-"
Her eyes widened at the sight of Naya, she muttered. "Elf..." but she quickly regained her composure.
Naya was about to command her to move.
However, Rula took the initiative and pulled out the folded quest paper. "We're here from the Adventurer's Guild!" She gently held the paper out.
Naya decided to let her be but pointedly watched the guard for ill movements.
The guard looked perplexed. "Halfling and Elf adventurer? That's..."
"Odd. Yes, but it's true." Naya held out her bronze card.
"And only bronze?" The guard had a new thing to be surprised about.
Naya caught a fiery red tail swing behind the woman. She snapped her eyes to the guard's head but saw no animal ears.
"Are you a halfling?"
--Blunt. --Lia spoke with a resigned tone.
"Yes." The guard answered but looked at Naya with a fierce gaze. "Is that a problem?"
Naya glared at her, and the guard flashed a trace of fear, which confirmed she wasn't totally disregarding Naya's status.
As Naya was about to retort...
"Of course not, dummy! Look who her partner is!" Rula sounded offended in Naya's place. "Plus, she's a super powerful Elf. She doesn't care about other races!"
--It must be in her blood to bootlick like this.--
"Right." The guard cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, but our kind ain't treated all that great out of the forest."
"I feel you," Rula sighed.
The guard took the paper from Rula's hand and read it.
"Flameclaw? You're here for that thing?" She folded the quest back up. "Fraid' you're too late; we already killed it yesterday."
"WHAT?!" Rula yelled.
Even Naya was surprised. "How?"
She looked offended again but this time chose her words. "We figured ain't no human gonna step up for us, so we took matters into our own hands."
"Not possible," Naya shook her head. "That thing is impossible to fight physically due to its fiery coat-" A realization struck her, and she eyed the guard. "Unless..."
"That's right! I bet you didn't think a Beastkin could be a mage!"
[Is this true?]
--I know little about Beastkin, let alone a halfling. Well, it is likely they'd be fearsome if they got the best traits of both races. Though from her tone, it sounds pretty rare.--
"A Halfling, Beastkin mage?" Rula asked. "Is that, like, super cool?"
"Of course it is; she's the first of our kind! She has the physical prowess of a Beastkin while also being able to-" She suddenly lifted and slammed her spear. "I won't tell you that! Anyway, your beast is dead, so you can go now!"
"I will not go, and you will move aside."
Naya took a job and would finish it, even if it was just confirming the death. She also wanted to investigate why it left its habitat because only a few things in her mind could make it flee rather than fight.
"Y-you can't enter the village!" The woman pointed her spear at Naya; only her hands were shaking.
"Do you really want to do this?" Naya glared at her and took a single, threatening step forward, which was usually enough to get her way in the mortal lands.
"I will not let-"
Before she finished, Naya whipped her hand forward, grabbed the spear, and pulled it from the guard's tight grip, all in one motion.
The woman was stunned, silent.
Naya flipped the spear and stabbed it into the dirt. She scoffed. "Step aside."
"Wait!" With her hands spread out, Rula jumped between Naya and the guard. "We just wanna see the body to confirm our quest!" She shouted.
"I wasn't going to kill her." Naya felt wronged. "Just move her manually."
The guard was still staring at her hands in shock; her grip on the spear was tight, and Naya had taken it easily.
She snapped her head up. "I still will not let you pass!"
"She's obstinate." Naya would rather just force her way in, but Rula's presence prevented it.
--They are both halflings.--
"Mora, what's going on?"
An old voice came from behind the gate, interrupting the stalemate, and the guard, Mora, turned around quickly.
"Elder! Adventurers are demanding access to our village!"
"One's an Elf!" Rula loudly added.
"Elf?! Mora is this true?!" The old man sounded excited.
"Yes..." Mora muttered.
"Well, quick, let them in!"
Naya smirked.
"Yes, Elder..." She didn't sound pleased but walked through a door, and a moment later, the gate raised.
The village beyond was well kept, with wooden houses on the ground and built high into the trees; a stone path led to the center where a larger, multistoried house stood.
Naya did not glance at Mora and stepped through the gate with Rula's hand back in her own.
She did not trust these people, regardless of what plight they were going through.
Hunched over them with a wooden walking stick was an old man with red hair and a red-furred tail standing eagerly before them.
He had an eyepatch on his left eye, and his remaining one was green and widened when he saw Naya.
"It really is..." He shook his head. "I've longed to see one again for so, so long."
Naya stopped. "You've seen an Elf? When?"
The Devil in Carla's tower had told Naya that another Elf killed Carla, and though she didn't believe it, her conversation with the hall master proved that there were times when Elves would leave Aleria.
"Elder, look." Mora had picked up the quest paper that had fallen when Naya ripped the spear from her hands and handed it to the man.
"Hoh~" The old man chuckled after he read it. "You needn't lie to them, Mora." He gently shook his head.
He held his arm out, and it was quickly engulfed in red flames.
Naya's eyes widened in shock. "You people..."
--This is... --Lia sounded just as surprised as Naya.
His right arm dispersed the red flames, and replacing his human palm was the red paw of a Flameclaw with black, horizontal stripes and sharp red talons.
The man interrupted, "This so-called Flameclaw threat; you're looking at them."
--...A magic beast in humanoid form--