"Is this enough, Brother?"
Pandora asked as she presented four dead wild rabbits towards Regis.
"Yes, that's enough." Regis smiled as he took two of the wild rabbits from her.
As for her addressing her as her brother, he didn't feel the need to correct her as their relationship was basically that of siblings.
Though Regis didn't know why, he felt much comfortable with Pandora.
Soon enough, they started draining the blood of the rabbits and preparing to roast them in the bonfire afterwards.
The two of them had been travelling together in the past few days.
Although Regis didn't know where the next city was, he had a rough direction of its location.
He knew that Toran City was located in the southern periphery of the human territory, therefore he decided to travel northwards.
One thing that Regis noticed was the fact that Pandora was a quick learner.
Well, it's not just quick.
It was very– extremely quick to be exact.
Regis could see in his peripheral vision how Pandora's actions were like a splitting image of what he was doing.
'It's hard to think that she didn't know any of these a few days ago…'
He thought to himself.
Everything that Pandora had learned from distinguishing what plants in the forest were edible to those that were not.
From being able to track the traces of small animals she could hunt.
And from avoiding animals that might pose some threat to her.
To now preparing the animals she hunted.
She had learned everything she knew from the limited time they were together.
All it took was for Regis to teach her once.
In fact, there was one thing that he had learned about her.
It was the fact that…
"Pandora, can you light up the fire?"
Regis asked as soon as they were done preparing the wild rabbits.
"Yes, Brother!" Pandora obediently answered as she squatted near the pile of wood.
She then pointed her finger near it.
Pop—
A small spark suddenly came from her finger as the wood suddenly started to emit smoke.
Crackle~ Crackle~
It only took a few moments before the flame started.
…she had awakened mana on her own.
'Do I have something that attracts those with talent?' Regis joked to himself.
After all, Pandora was already the second person he met that was able to awaken mana on her own.
'Speaking of awakening…'
Regis had repeatedly dreamt of himself awakening aura on his own.
'Well, if there's any truth in that dream… then I can just try it some other time.' He thought as he shook his head.
He stopped himself from thinking of useless things and focused on roasting the wild rabbits.
Though he was curious as to whether Pandora was able to awaken any gifts, he knew that it would be rude to ask.
Nevertheless, she had informed him from the get go that she didn't know any magic spells.
The meat of the wild rabbits just took a few minutes to be cooked. Its meat was also tender and had a wild flavor to it.
"Here you go." Regis said as he handed two of the skewered meat to her.
Pandora's eyes were shining as she received the food from him, as if she was looking at precious treasure.
'We've been eating wild rabbit meat in the past few days, how come she's not sick of it…?'
Regis giggled upon the sight of this, he found it funny that her reaction was always like this when she received food from him.
The two of them started to chat as they ate, talking about what they saw in their surroundings.
It was the simple moments like this that ignites Regis's hope and willingness to keep living.
***
In a dark forest dimly illuminated by the moon.
There were two demonic humans and a normal little boy.
One of them was holding the boy tightly.
The boy struggled more and more, but he wasn't able to escape the demonic human's clutch.
As the little boy saw the other demonic human leaving, he shouted something.
He continued shouting from his heart.
He poured all his strength to his shouts.
The two demonic humans had an annoyed expression on their faces.
Still, the boy didn't stop.
He shouted.
And shouted.
And shouted.
However, one of the demonic humans soon ignored him and continued walking.
Then just as he took another step, a chant that resounded with the world resounded in the vicinity.
[Heart Ignition]
…
"Hahhp!!!"
Regis suddenly opened his eyes as he sat up from the ground.
His heavy breathing echoed in the area as sweat dripped down from his back.
'It's that dream again.'
He thought as he looked around and saw Pandora sleeping just a meter away from him.
The dream of what happened during the day he and Dahlia got separated kept haunting him in the past few days.
However, the one detail that was alien to him was the fact that he awakened.
'Did I really awaken that day?'
Regis thought to himself as he covered his face with his hands.
From his memories, he only shouted and shouted until the demonic human knocked him out.
However, he couldn't remember anything about his awakening.
'This needs to stop…'
His dream had been making him uncomfortable in the past consecutive days.
Therefore, he decided to do something.
Regis slowly started to get up quietly to avoid waking Pandora up.
"Brother?"
Nevertheless, she seemed to be able to sense him as she groggily looked at him.
"O-Oh, I'm just going for a walk."
Regis stuttered in surprise.
"Mhm. Don't take too long, okay?"
"Yes don't worry, go back to sleep now."
Regis only left a few minutes after he saw her close her eyes.
'Phew, her senses sure are scary…'
He heaved a sigh inwardly as he walked some distance away from their camp.
'This should be enough distance…'
He thought after a while as he was afraid of disturbing Pandora's sleep.
"If I really awakened that day, then this should be easy…"
Regis whispered to himself.
Unbeknownst to him, he didn't know just how outrageous his plan was.