The boy stared at her for a few seconds, then blanked out, falling limp to the ground.
"..."
Clentine groaned and t my gaze.
"Why did we do that?"
I shrugged.
"You scared him, not ."
"Haah? I scared him? You’re the one with the scary horns, Amon."
The two of us went back and forth, teasing each other until eventually, the boy opened his eyes again.
Just this ti, instead of teasing, Clentine wore a warm smile.
"Hey. I’m sorry for scaring you. I’m not a vampire, and that man is not a demon, even though he looks like one."
The boy didn’t seem convinced.
But even so, he nodded at Clentine, so she continued speaking.
"Why are you here? Are you lost?"
After a brief pause, the boy replied cautiously:
"It’s none of your business."
Well...
At least his parents taught him to not talk to strangers.
I stepped forward and inspected the boy, imdiately noticing sothing interesting.
"You practice swordsmanship?"
His hands were rough and riddled with calluses.
They reminded of my hands back when I used to diligently practice kendo.
And judging by his surprised reaction, I was right.
"Do you also practice swordsmanship?"
"I do. I’m quite good at it too."
"Good? A good swordsman always carries their sword with them."
I pulled out my katana and showed it to the boy.
"I always carry it around. Only an idiot would showcase their sword to everybody."
"...Are you calling my big sister an idiot?"
The boy stood up and narrowed his eyes at .
"Only confident swordsn carry their swords. If you and my sister fought, you wouldn’t even stand a chance."
He talked a big ga about his sister.
Though, I didn’t really want to argue with this kid over his sister, since I couldn’t really care that much.
"Go into the city and seek help from the guards. We’ll be leaving now."
With that, I tapped Clentine’s shoulder and began walking away.
Obviously, I wasn’t soone who would leave a child in need.
But if I was any weaker, that child would’ve torn a hole through the side of my head with his dagger.
So I’m sure he’ll manage.
***
A couple of hours had passed since we left the forest, and by now, we managed to circle around the city and arrive at the base of the Pandora Mountain Range.
There was just a narrow wooden bridge over a canyon separating it from us.
Though, before crossing, Clentine and I glanced at one small boulder behind us.
"Step out already... We know you’ve been following us ever since we left the forest."
A few seconds of silence ensued.
But soon enough, the boy from before stepped out with his head lowered.
"I’m not following you. I live in the mountains."
The mountains?
Could this kid belong to one of the ancient human clans?
That would explain how he’s so strong.
I gestured at the bridge.
"Go on ahead then."
He hesitated for a mont, then dashed past us and ran across the wooden bridge.
Yet it seed like he wasn’t completely paying attention as he stomped down on one of the wooden steps, breaking it and falling through into the extrely deep canyon.
"AAAAAAAH!"
His screams faded by the second, until I could barely hear him anymore.
"Aren’t you going to help him?" Clentine asked.
"I am."
I raised my hand, then lowered it.
"I cushioned his fall just now."
"..."
Clentine facepald, then turned transparent as she sank into the ground.
A few seconds passed, until finally, I saw the boy erge from the canyon and land on the bridge.
As for Clentine, she floated above him and then gestured at to follow as she carefully escorted the child across the bridge.
Honestly... that kid wasn’t nearly as helpless as he was making her believe.
Anyhow, I walked across the bridge and t Clentine, who waved at .
"Since it looks like he’s going the sa way we are, we’ll be going together."
"Heh. I don’t mind extra escorts. I don’t live too far away from here either. I’m sure my sister is going to repay you two for helping ," the boy added.
My smile cracked slightly.
"...Sure. I just hope your sister doesn’t have the sa reaction you did upon seeing ."
He just smiled and began walking ahead.
Clentine shrugged and approached , interlocking our fingers together as she dragged along with her.
Since we crossed the canyon, there were now several hundred mountains surrounding us.
Whether it was a small mountain or a big mountain, every single one had paths leading deeper.
Most of the paths were outlined by bamboo or sticks, and while they looked innocent, my Mystic Eyes were picking up energy traces in each one.
Obviously, if this mountain range was normal, it wouldn’t be called the Pandora Mountain Range.
Each path would either loop us around or lead us into a trap, since only the people who live here know what they’re doing.
Or treasure hunters as well.
We followed the boy suspiciously, and as expected, he tried to lead us down a few shady paths.
But after clocking what he was doing, we followed him even more closely.
***
Several hours flew by in the blink of an eye, and while I wasn’t sure when, we eventually made it deeper into one of the giant mountain ranges.
Basically, we were in a wide open valley.
There were giant bones lying around, and even so traces of blood along the mountains themselves.
I also spotted a few deep sword gashes every couple hundred ters.
And the amount of energy I’m feeling in these traces is... a lot.
More importantly, each of these traces belonged to only one person, and my best guess is, the only other person living here aside from this kid is his sister.
Just who on earth is she?
Just then, the kid stopped and glanced around, a frown appearing on his face.
"Soone else was here. But who—"
Before the kid could finish speaking, Clentine dashed up to him and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him back.
In the next instant, a sharp stalactite dropped from above, striking the area where the kid had been a mont ago, embedding itself deeply as the ground slightly cracked open.
The cracks stopped just before reaching us.
Clentine checked up on the kid, and as for , I glanced up, spotting several burly faces peeking down from one of the edges of the valley.
"..."
Seems like the kid was right.
I just couldn’t spot them because they weren’t using any energy.
Oh well...
"Be right back."
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