[Chapter 9: After Battle Talk] 

•Fiona's POV• 

My connection with Austin had broken, and I panicked. He's still alive, but I need to make sure he doesn't die from backlash. Mana naturally evolves the body over time, improving several biological aspects.

His regeneration was far superior to that of any mage his age, so I didn't have to be concerned, too much. I just need to keep him stable and let his body do the rest.

I descended and landed next to him. I gathered the stone next to him and built him a bed. Mana flowed from my core and into paws, and then into his chest. 

Nope much was needed on my part. 

When I looked at the woman, I noticed she was already using Mana to stabilize her unconscious comrades. Everyone appears to know how to do this. I'm curious if they know how to properly heal people.

"I'm sorry for that." I'm not, just thought it was the best thing to say here. "I'm not sure what to say." She looked at me with wide, curious eyes. I still sensed some hostility, but unlike the brutes, she look to have a brain.

"H-How can you speak? My mentor told me that Mana Beasts must have lived for centuries in order to gain enough intelligence beyond just animalistic." According to the woman.

Oh, shit. That was completely unknown to me. I knew not all Magical Breasts had intelligence beyond that of an animal, but I had no idea it took so long to develop. That could be a problem.

I guess it's too late now. Let's just go with it.

"I'm an outlier." What a shit l excuse. I cursed myself internally, and she didn't seem to believe me either. It's time to do what Austin does when he's in a bind: change the subject! "So, what's next?"

"Shouldn't you know what's going on now?" She asked, turning to face me, as she worked on the guys.

"Nope! I'm just a little old contract beast here to keep my master alive!" And because he has a strong desire to kill you four right now, but I'd rather we gain some benefits than a river of bloody. 

Austin's current state of mind is not ideal. We didn't need to know his past to know he despised pointless fighting. He is not a pacifist, but if he gets into a fight, he wants to at least get something out of it.

We definitely gained experience from this fight, but we didn't gain anything else from killing those four–decides from painting a target on our backs.

Austin would rather kill someone to keep his abilities hidden than kill someone and gain nothing. He's very calculated and, when necessary, manipulative.

Of course, I have no objections to this. I'll be happy as long as we can live a nice and comfortable life and eat some good food.

"I'm afraid I can't take you back to our clan." Pulling me out of my thoughts, the woman said. "Even if he is unaware of his identity, others are. Someone will be looking for him because he is a young and talented mage."

We probably shouldn't tell her he'd only been able to use magic for a few days. I'm curious how she'll react, though. 

"Tensions are already high between the people of Even and the forest clans. Taking one of their offsprings will make them believe we took him forcibly, which could lead to war. And we cannot win a war against them." Her voice was a little sad, but she did a good job of masking it.

My pupils constricted. But I could tell she was telling the truth. According to what she says, Evener is some kind of city. If that's the case, we might have a lead on Austin's past.

"You'd be correct, but we've been in this forest for two weeks." Her brow furrowed. "Yes, Austin is fourteen years old and only awoke a week ago. As a result, no one will be looking for him. My guess is that he was abandoned because people thought he was useless."

Damn! I'm really good at this! I congratulated myself, praising my quick thinking. I'm guilt-tripping her and making her see Austin in a new light with this story.

A boy who awakened late and had no prior experience could keep up with those guys. Of course, she will be filled with both fear and admiration for him. Fear was the predominant emotion.

I am a firm believer that respect is the best way to gain someone's favor, but respect takes time and effort to earn. The next best thing is fear!

"You could be deceiving me." The mage fired back. "It's impossible for a child to have only awaken a week ago and be able to fight us. Despite the fact that he lost."

"Oh please! He only lost because of his inexpensive, and it was a four vs two fight. They weren't mages, but they were a pain to deal with!" I yelled, mostly trying to divert the subject a bit. I didn't like the way she was saying it, as if Austin was always going to lose.

We could have won even without my strategy. I had more than enough Mana, and if I had started using it more, we could have finished this fight a long time ago.

I was terrible at fighting. The main strength of Magical Breasts is their physique. Mine is quite frail, having been born two weeks ago. Austin can fight them from the front while I support him from the side.

Austin was able to avoid many fatal blows thanks to my assistance. This enabled him to concentrate more on fighting. Of course, I wasn't pushing myself as hard as they were because I knew he wanted to see how he would do on his own for a while.

I only needed to fight by his side a few times before I could better assist him. I could read his thoughts, but he couldn't tell me what to do every step of the way.

Unfortunately, I knew that if the woman was fighting us instead of the brutes, our chances of victory would plummet dramatically.

We might win if it's just Austin and me against her. It all depends on how many tricks we can pull out of our sleeves—I don't have sleeves, but that's irrelevant right now.

I'm not sure why I'm arguing with this woman.

"Why not just kill you, if he was from Even. It's not like I can't do it." All I did was point to the swords that were still floating high above.

I kept a dozen of them on hand in case she tried anything.

"Can you tell me your name?" I inquired, attempting to change the subject, again. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on me.

I'm not sure why she's so adamant about sharing her name. It's only a name. What am I going to do, curse her now that I know her name... actually, that's not a bad idea. I'll investigate-

"Amina."

"Pardon?" I said. I was too preoccupied with my very normal thoughts to hear her.

"Amina. My name is Amina. Did you get one from your master?" Amina sat up straight next to one of the men and stopped sending Mana into them.

"When we awoke, we gave each other names. My name is Fiona, and his name is Austin." That's correct! Kneel before my greatness! You ants are fortunate that I shared my name with you lower beings!

Damn. My superiority complex is at an all-time high right now. 

"You two look to be very close," Amina murmurs. "Do you remember anything else?"

"I was born only a few hours before Austin awoke. I can't even remember what happened before he awoke. I was going through his memories while I was sleeping. My mind appeared to have developed naturally in relation to his age."

"I-I see."

Yes~! Look at how amazing we are. This way, when you return to your clan and tell them about us, they'll realize how valuable we are. But I'm not sure what we'll do after that. Everything hinges on how well the final stage of the plan goes.

I shouldn't say anything else to her. I only told them because I don't see the point in keeping it a secret.

I'm not going to tell anyone that we can control each other's magic. If someone is skilled enough, they will notice that we have the same Mana signature. There wasn't much one could do with that.

"Can we visit your village?" I expressed my desire to be free of this river.

"All right, but you can't bring those." Amina indicated the swords.

"Yes, I am aware. I'm not that dumb." I grumbled. All of the swords shattered into small pebbles and flew back into the river.

"Perhaps we could fix up the landscape before we leave," I suggested. "It's your fault."

"Tsk." She looked at me, but got up anyway. While I smoothed out the landscape, the woman gathered all of the water back into the lake.

Was there still a fight going on? Yes, absolutely, but at the very least, I can tell Mother Natural that I tried. Hopefully, she won't imprison me for my transgressions.

Nah! I'll simply blame Austin. Oh no, if he dies, I die as well. Then I'll just blame Amina.