In the early morning, when hunters were just getting busy with their day, a large commotion was currently moving through the grassland of the Myriad Bay.
More than a hundred wolves were running through the grassland, kicking up a storm behind them.
The grassland was a popular hunting spot for low-level hunters within the Field, so many people saw the strange scene, and without exception, they all turned tail and ran. Never in their life had they seen such a bizarre scene, and they didn’t plan to stick around in case they beca wolf food.
In fact, many hunters were already running back to the stronghold to report the incident, and soon, a task force would be created to deal with it...
Lake was sitting atop the Alpha Wolf, leading the pack of wolves behind him.
They had departed from the hills a few minutes ago and were now heading straight towards the center of the grassland where the Giant Horned Bison resided.
Kate and the others had split off from Lake and were moving ahead of him, trying to cut off the bison’s escape route.
The plan is for Lake to lead the wolves from the north down to the bison while Kate and the others block off the south escape route.
The wolves would slowly encircle the herd, killing the weaker bison while the Alpha Wolf keeps the Giant Horned Bison distracted.
Lake would be moving around the battlefield during this ti, trying to collect as many fates as he could before joining up with the Alpha Wolf to deal with the Giant Horned Bison.
The hardest part of this operation would definitely have to be Kate’s group role. The three of them would have to hold off most of the herd until the wolves complete the encirclent.
If they fail, they would either be forced to retreat or be overrun by the stampeding bison.
As Lake was keeping track of the future through the Web of Fate to ensure that nothing goes wrong, he suddenly felt the pair of arms wrapped around his waist tighten as sothing soft pressed against his back.
Taking a glance behind him, he saw the breathtakingly beautiful Sylph watching the quickly changing surroundings with stars in her eyes.
Although the Alpha Wolf was an extrely fast creature, capable of moving at even supersonic speed, it was currently moving at a much slower pace so that the rest of the pack could keep up with it.
Therefore, there was no reason for Sylph to be holding on so tight.
"Sylph, you’re holding on too tight."
"I-I’m sorry, I just feel a little uneasy. I’ve never ridden on a creature this fast before."
When she realized what she was doing, she backed off slightly, holding onto the side of his waist instead.
"Then have you ever ridden on a creature before this?"
"Yep! Back in the Spirit Forest."
Hearing Sylph ntion the Spirit Forest, Lake’s interest was slightly piqued. Since he couldn’t use his Master of Fate ability to find out information about Sylph, he was going to have to learn everything through her.
"Since you ntioned it, what was your ho like?"
"It was amazing! The fairies lived in a large forest spanning more than a third of the continent! It was full of all sorts of wonderful animals and plants that lived in harmony with nature."
"Everyone was always smiling and playing in our village, and we lived in peace with the spirits. The forest was vibrant and beautiful, and we would occasionally go out every now and then to check on the animals."
"It was really fun, back then..."
Sylph’s voice trailed off towards the end.
"Then... how did you end up here?"
"We..."
Lake felt Sylph’s grip tighten on his waist as she lowered her head to his back.
"You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to."
"No, it’s not like it needs to be hidden."
Taking a deep breath, Sylph seed to calm down, but Lake could still feel her slightly trembling hands on his waist.
He had never seen Sylph like this before so he was a little surprised.
"There was a large war on the continent we lived on. More than half the continent was thrown into turmoil, and the Spirit Forest was unfortunately dragged into it."
"We fairies are usually a peaceful race and don’t interact with the other races outside the forest, but this war brought the enemy’s footsteps to our door."
"They..."
Sylph’s voice was shaky as she spoke, her body trembling ever so slightly.
Lake wasn’t sure, but he thought he could sense a hint of sothing he had only just begun to comprehend himself: rage.
"They burned everything."
For the first ti since Lake has t Sylph, he heard her speak in a chilling tone. Her voice was shaky, but it couldn’t hide the burning fury behind them.
"The trees, the plants, the animals, and our ho. Everything. Turned to ash as we watched on in despair."
"Our skills and magic couldn’t do anything against the black flas that engulfed the world."
Lake listened in silence. The surroundings also seed to calm down at this mont as the sound of the wind seed to beco faint, and the huffs of the wolves gradually softened.
Sylph didn’t continue to speak, and Lake didn’t continue to ask questions.
"...You know, Sylph, you’re really weird."
"Huh?"
Sylph raised her head in surprise at Lake’s sudden remark. Squinting her eyes, she watched him strangely.
"...Where did that co from?"
"Well, for starters, you seem way too friendly to despite barely knowing . Do you by chance like ?"
Lake turned his head to et Sylph’s eyes, which in turn looked back at him with a confused gaze.
"I’m not sure what you an..." Sylph spoke slowly, genuinely confused.
"If you an I like being around you, then yes."
"But why? I don’t see any qualities about myself that would make you feel so relaxed. In fact, I think you should be more scared of than anything, but you aren’t."
"And that’s not all. I heard from Kate that you also seed to be rather shy around others, yet strangely friendly towards ."
"One mont you’re friendly with , a stranger that has almost no interest in you, yet the next mont you’re shy with everyone who wants to be friends with you. Why?"
Sylph was a little overwheld by Lake’s question, causing her brain to temporarily short circuit.
After a while, she seed to have recovered as she started to speak slowly, eyebrows furrowed.
"It’s because I was worried..."
Lake didn’t imdiately say anything when he heard Sylph’s reply, but instead contemplated on the aning behind it.
"You know that my people are technically freeloading on your people’s world, right?"
"Our whole relationship was built on a hastily ford alliance all for the sake of our survival, and we needed to quickly learn how to integrate into your world. That was why we were sent to the academy in the first place. It was mostly a test to see how well we could interact and integrate with you humans."
Lake listened carefully to Sylph. He felt that he could already guess what Sylph ant by her previous words.
"You weren’t shy, but cautious..."
Sylph’s body seed to tremble slightly as she looked at Lake with widened eyes. Eventually, she seed to recover from her stupor as she smiled gently.
"Hehe, I didn’t expect you to get it, but yes. I was being cautious as I didn’t want to risk upsetting anyone and making a mistake that could cost us the alliance."
"Hm, I don’t think you needed to be that cautious..." Lake spoke as he recalled the people’s reaction when the fairies were first revealed.
"Everyone was already interested in the prospect of working with other races, not to ntion one that wasn’t too far off from human standards. I doubt that even if you made a mistake, it wouldn’t have cost you much."
Hearing Lake’s words, Sylph put on a wry smile.
"Maybe you’re right, but you can’t say for certain, can you? After all, we’re still guests in this situation. What if sothing I did strained our relationship, and your people requested sothing from us in return? Although we’re willing to work together, we still can’t fully trust you humans."
"But you trust , don’t you?"
"..."
Sylph returned to silence.
As ti seed to pass in this silence, the two continued to ride atop the Alpha Wolf in this strange atmosphere.
Neither of them felt out of place, nor were they willing to speak, so they didn’t. Sylph seed to be lost in thought while Lake was contemplating what he had heard.
When a few minutes passed and Lake realized that they were quickly approaching the Giant Horned Bison, he decided to end this strange silence for now.
He had already learned more than enough today and could always find out more later, so there was no point in indulging in this atmosphere any longer.
He knew that Sylph wasn’t in the best state of mind right now, which was mostly his fault, so he decided to do sothing about it.
"Sylph, we’re almost at the battlefield. We can continue this conversation later, but we don’t have to if you don’t want to. For now, I need you to focus. Can you do that?"
Sylph took a deep breath upon hearing Lake’s words. As she let go a sigh, her mind gradually cald down.
"Yes," she said as she nodded her head, but when she looked at Lake, her eyes couldn’t help but trail off to the specs of floating light around him.
It was sothing only she could see, even among all the fairies.
As she watched them dance happily around him, she couldn’t help but feel her previous depression slowly fade away.
User Comments
0 comments from readers