“So? What do you think?”

“What do you mean?” Scell asked.

I giggled a little, seeing his cute, confused face.

“I mean, the youngsters!”

“Hmm? Them?” Scell replied and pondered for a moment. “I guess they’re okay, decent. If the lich loses control, however…”

How cute!

“You’re worried about them?” I playfully asked.

Scell had a troubled look. He let out a sigh and looked backwards.

“Not really.”

“Is that so? They’re quite similar to you, aren’t they?”

“…..”

“I mean, the mana I sensed, they’re otherwolders too!”

Praise me! Praise me!

“I figured,” he said.

“Their mana is a bit different from yours, though, and it’s not native; I don’t think you’re from the same world. Or…do you think they are?” I said while puffing my cheeks.

“Hah? Mana in my world is the same, and… If they were from my world, then there’s no way they’d be that weak.”

This is awkward…most people don’t even get as strong as them around here. At least ordinary people…

“U-Umm… Scell, you realise I’m weaker than them, right?”

“No problem, you won’t get injured with me around,” he declared.

“G-Geez, you!”

I couldn’t hold back and gave him a small peck on the cheek. Hehe! Now, feel shy, Mister Scell, The Stoic!

“Lady Elara, I’ve told you many times I won’t make a move on you while I’m in work mode.”

Oh? What’s this? He’s not calling me Lara? Aww, he’s shy!

“Yeah, yeah! For the hundredth time!” 

Scell sighed.

“But don’t you feel anything? Aren’t they the first otherworlders you’ve met in a while?”

Scell scoffed. “What? Meeting other wanderers is just a bad omen.”

“You said that last time, too, but what do you mean?” I hesitantly asked.

“How isn’t it a bad omen? Every time, whenever a spatial quake occurs and brings a wanderer into this world, Alester becomes ever more watchful.”

“Alester…? Is he real, though?” I inquired.

If I remember correctly, a book in Father’s library mentioned a being called Alester. If I recall… Alester is a powerful being who supposedly caused the downfall of an ancient empire called Elsels 100 years ago. It’s not known exactly why he did it. He is supposed to be an impartial entity, after all. But to cause the downfall of an empire that ruled the whole southern continent…

—It‘s scary.

How come Scell knows about him?

However, when I asked if Alester really was real, Scell had a bewildered look, one that he rarely showed.

“What? Don’t the inhabitants of this world know their own sustainer?”

“…sustainer?” I asked.

What does he mean by sustainer?

“…I see, that’s how it is. I suppose even Lord Ash did not want people to know of him.”

“Huh? Really, what are you talking about?”

Scell shook his head.

“It’s nothing. It’s just that, in each world, the inhabitants are supposed to know their sustainer by instinct. So the fact that you don’t… Well, I can only say that they wish you not know exactly who they are.”

“Are you sure?” I hesitantly inquired.

“…I can’t be for certain, but this is the second world I’ve fallen into; the first one was covered in ash, harsh and brutal ash. Even in my original world, I knew who the sustainer was, and that applies to the previous world and this. But…”

Scell peered deep into my eyes.

“This world is the most stable of the bunch…I’d assume we won’t be separated that easily.”

Scell…

“What happened with not making a move on me while working?” I teased.

“…..”

 

— :::: —

 

We were met with a dilemma after parting from the two strange individuals. That is…

“Are you okay, Freja?” Hilda asked.

Her voice was calm and reassuring. Julia was by her and comforted her while Isak held onto her. Freja, who’d calmed down a little, gently nudged Isak away, telling him she was feeling better.

“I’m fine,” she hushed.

I, on the other hand, was on the lookout. We’re doing okay so far. Some beasts have come close, but most don’t attack unless one’s a certain distance or in their vision. It also depends on whether they’re out hunting or casually walking around to scout.

I pity Freja. I do. She didn’t have to become what she is now if I could’ve just saved her at the time. These feelings of guilt still linger, even though she said she was grateful for my trying.

It didn’t excuse the fact that I couldn’t…

“…should we head back? It’s safe now, and they’ve gotten out of sight,” I said.

I mean, it would be better to return, after all. With her state, I doubt we’d have a good time having encounters. We did well thus far, avoiding confrontation because of my skill. However…

“Something’s approaching fast,” I calmly told the others.

With a serious look, the others got into position, even Freja.

“It’s an orc, or, well, a lookalike?”

“That say’s a lot…” Julia remarked.

“Just saying! It looks like a crocodile!”

“A reptile? Isn’t it more like a dinosaur? You know what it is?” Isak asked.

“Huh? Aren’t chickens supposed to be closer to dinosaurs than reptiles?”

“What’s with that half-ass info!?” Isak exclaimed. “I mean, all birds are dinosaurs, but all dinosaurs aren’t birds!”

Oh… I sometimes forget this guy was smart…also, isn’t that info kinda useless somehow?

“What are you two even arguing about?!” Julia complained with a baffled look.

Hilda and Freja giggled a little at our exchange as if easing up.

“It’s coming, west!” I exclaimed.

The next instant, a somewhat—why is it kinda good looking? Became clear.

“Got it!”

Julia readied her bow and shot a few arrows infused with wind. A cry could be heard as the arrows seeped through the air and burst into a loud boom.

Julia shot a few more arrows and followed up with Hilda’s elemental spells. But somehow, the enemy seemed unfazed as it kept charging at us. It seemed like it was surrounded by some sort of armour made out of mana. I mean, c’mon, its skin already looked like armour… 

Freja got ready and strengthened herself; she held her shield firmly. Isak got ready and materialised his weapon; its dark appearance inbound with red flames sure suited him.

As for me, I watched over the battlefield as usual.

“It’s here!” I cried.

The beast tore through the trees between it and us. Now, in an open area, we saw how much bigger it was than us. It was around 3 meters tall and looked pretty damn buff.

As if smiling, the beast stopped to presumable assess the situation. It took a second to look at Freja and Isak, who were charging at it, then at me, Julia and Hilda in the backline.

*Ooooaaaaaaaar*

It roared and stomped the ground, which tore and altered the terrain. Shaken and disoriented, Freja almost stumbled while Isak looked pained from the roar itself.

Isak halted his charge and waited for Freja to get her footing back. The beast, however, wasn’t so kind and leapt at them.

Reacting to the aggression, Freja dashed back, along with the pull from my water strings, and could dodge it perfectly. On the other hand, Isak was more agile than Freja, thus sidestepping it by a little. He used the opening to run his blade along its limb.

Its skin was thick and armour-like; it looked like he was running his blade on an iron surface. Pissed by Isak’s action, the beast tried kicking Isak, but Hilda had prepared a wall of earth that emerged from the ground; not only that, she altered the ground to shift its movement slightly.

Isak avoided the attack, and using its momentum against itself, I tried pulling it the other way so that it would fall on its back. However, it was so heavy that the tree the string attached to was torn up and snapped.

That was good enough. Julia had moved position and was a little behind Isak. She fired her arrow and knocked the beast down with a wind bomb.

Freja re-positioned and stood in front of Isak while he charged up a more potent spell on his blade. By then, Hilda had generated enough water, and a huge water ball descended from the sky.

Freja generated a barrier so they wouldn’t be splashed, and Julia prepared a charged blade-like arrow.

As if realising it was in trouble, the beast manipulated the earth to cover it from the massive water ball on its way down. Unfortunately for it, Julia’s arrows managed to penetrate through its mana armour and dug into its scales.

It cried and lost concentration; the earth stopped moving, and as water splashed all over the place, I instantly froze my threads that froze the water in an instant.

Instantly frozen, the beast tore through all the heavy ice, sending shards everywhere.

I looked at Hilda, and she nodded.

Isak had fully infused his blade. It was glowing intense red, and he was ready to engage. But before that, we needed to get through its mana armour and scales.

So, after the beast broke through, it tried to run away. But Julia kept aiming at its limbs and neck. Even though it didn’t penetrate deep, it cried out in pain.

Freja used the available ice to make a smooth surface and applied some water to make it super slippery. The beast that tried to run fell with the combination of Freja’s spontaneous tactic and Julia's arrows whaling as it dug its claws into the ice to crawl up.

As if skiing on the ice, Freja jumped in the air and used her shield to smash the beast to keep it down even longer. With all that prepared, the many Ice threads from underground broke through the ice and snared the beast in place.

And with a final blow from Isak, it was decapitated without much resistance.

I sighed in relief and made my way toward the beast alongside Hilda.

“Well, that’s taken care of, good job everyone.”

“Well, a bit tougher than I’d like…” Isak said.

Freja seemed unbothered and not very tired and began to work on the dead beast. She showed proficiency in removing the skin and flesh. The skin looked like scales when it was alive, but when it died, it looked more like leather and had become more flat. As for the meat, we could probably use it to cook something.

—It might taste like a different kind of chicken after all...

Julia approached, panted a little while saying, “Good job, you guys,” and began to help us disable the beast.

Isak wasn’t very good with this dissecting stuff. Thus, he stood guard.

“I could make a couch out of this guy…” I mused to myself.

““……””

The others looked at me like I was some sort of psycho. I mean…why now? I did say I wanted to hunt a giant bird for its feathers…

—Or was it the impulsivity of the thought?