Chapter 10: Stranger(Part-1)

"Who's there"

Leo's body moved almost instinctively, he quickly hid behind the bush he was peeking from, but then a frown appeared on his face.

'How did she noticed me?'

He clearly didn't make any sound and neither did he saw her look in his direction. he also noticed that the lady was speaking in the Empire's language which was expected after seeing her purple hair.

'Is it a bluff?', Leo thought as he decided to wait it out.

"Stop hiding behind that bush and come out!"

Leo's eyes turned sharp, he was doubtful at first but after hearing her shout he knew that his position has been compromised.

Using his hand he lifted up the [Shaman's Cloak] and covered the lower part of his face only leaving his eye part.

"This is my------"

Before she could finish her sentence, Leo suddenly stood up from his spot, the cloak on his body and the several different weapons on his back will make anyone who looks at him feel uncomfortable.

Though the Lady's reaction was different, although she tried to maintain her calm face, Leo was able to notice the small signs of relief on her face.

Relieved that it wasn't a monster perhaps?

"And who are you?", The lady with purple hair said as she crossed her arms across her chest.

It was clear that the woman was not embarrassed by being in the presence of another man with only her bra and underwear on.

She waited for Leo to reply but all that greeted her was silence.

A visible frown appears on her face as she said in a slightly forceful voice.

"Have your elders not taught you any manners kid?"

Although Leo was covering his lower face, the lady was able to deduce that he wasn't someone too old.

Still, there was no reply coming from Leo's side, he just stood in place like a log having no intention of saying anything.

This time the lady's facial expression contracted she suddenly started moving towards Lep with large strides.

"Listen here yo----AAAAH!"

Leo tilted his head as he looked at the purple hair woman who suddenly stepped on something sharp and fell down on her butt, he could even see small drops of tears at the corners of her eyes.

He released a small sigh when he saw her trembling hands trying to take out the small stone from her feet while trying her best to control her tears from falling out.

Before she could say anything, Leo went down on one knee and grabbed a hold of her injured feet.

Blood was already flowing out from the place where the sharp rock pierced, Luckily the size of the rock wasn't that big, he could also see cut marks all over both her feet which seemed to have been formed recently due to walking in the forest with her bare feet.

Raising his head Leo looked straight at the purple hair Lady's face.

A pair of blue and slightly shaking purple eyes looked at each other.

*Pluck*

The lady bites down on her lip and endures the pain as Leo tears a small part of his loungewear and wraps it around the bleeding area.

After he was done making a knot, Leo slowly put down her feet on the grass.

Once again Leo looked at the woman's face, it looked like she had just wiped her tears using her hands, but because her hands were covered in mud her face was also affected.

Moving her hand she placed it between her legs trying to make her current position look a bit less embarrassing.

"My name is Kaira....can you tell me your name now?", Kaira said in a small voice her dignified demeanor was long gone replaced by a somewhat meek one.

The gears of Leo's mind started moving as he suddenly came up with an idea.

A trail of sweat slid down the side of Lara's face when she saw that Leo was still not saying anything.

Suddenly waking up in this strange forest have already put her on edge plus the hours of walking barefoot drained her spirit to the limit, she was a strong and successful woman living a comfortable life as a citizen of the empire but unlike the ones who were born with a golden spoon she had worked hard to reach where she was today.

But suddenly being stranded in an unknown forest with only her underwear to cover herself with was really too much for her.

That is why she was actually delighted when she saw another human, but the cloak and weapons on the stranger's back made her worry thinking that she might have come across a nomad.

'Although they are covered in dirt, his clothing is definitely from the modern world.'

Seeing the clothes and shoes he was wearing made her relax a little.

Embarrassment? Yes, she was without a doubt feeling it but she knew that she couldn't appear weak in such a situation thus she put up a brave front.

But perhaps God wanted to play a prank on her, the sudden pain from her foot being pierced instantly threw her confidence down the drain, if it was a normal situation then she would have tried to quickly compose herself but the past few hours have worn her down both mentally and physically.

She almost ended up crying but held it in and tried to take out the stone from her feet while enduring the pain.

When she saw the boy suddenly started helping her, she couldn't help but feel a bit moved. then right after she was hit by a sense of awkwardness as she remembered how she acted before.

After the bandage around her feet was done, Kaira composed herself and decided to speak in a more humble tone.

The person has just helped her out so it would be rude of her to speak in the same way she did before.

So she first gave her name and then asked for his.

But the other party still did not say anything making her wonder whether she has met a mute or something.

As she was about to say something more.

"I am Leo Brown"(Federation Language)

Kaira's tilted her head as she heard the somewhat familiar words.

"Wait that's the language of the Federation!"

She suddenly moved forward and saw Leo's black hair as the questions which she had were finally answered.

'It's because he can't understand what I am saying....'

Although her doubts were solved they were now faced with a new problem.

Language barrier.

Kaira didn't know whether to laugh or cry as the first person she met turned out to be a Federation's citizen.

Still having someone was better than being alone in this forest.

Plus....

'He hadn't once tried to steal a glance at my body....'

Being a businesswoman she was very sensitive to human emotions, so she could without a doubt say that the boy didn't have any second thoughts about her.

Suddenly her attention was focused on the boy who was pointing at himself as he said.

"Leo Brown"

Seeing his action she understood what he was trying to say.

"Leo Brown is that your name?", Kaira said in a hurry as she repeated the name which she just heard.

The boy nodded after she repeated the name 'Leo Brown' some more times whole pointing at him with her finger.

Then she pointed at herself and said in a slow speed 'Kaira Cloud' she made sure to spell every syllable carefully.

Leo repeated her name right after in a slightly awkward tone, perhaps because it was his first time pronouncing a name from a different language.

Hearing her name being said in a weird manner made Kaira burst out laughing as she wiped the teardrop from the corner of her left eye.

In a time of distress, small things like these can bring people a great amount of comfort.

After Kaira stopped laughing she raised her hand and pointed towards the jacket Leo was wearing underneath his cloak.

Maybe thinking that he might not have understood her she pointed at herself and then once again pointed at Leo's jacket.

"Leo lend me your jacket ARGH! why am I speaking it's not like he can understand it anyway."

Kaira suddenly held her forehead as she experienced how hard it is for two people to communicate with each other when there is a language barrier in place.

'This is a problem....', Leo thought as he purposely ignored what Kaira said before.

Leo acted like he couldn't understand her because of two reasons first, it looked like she was going to start asking him various questions in case he did talk to her secondly he still doesn't trust her enough and making her believe that he can't understand her would be in his advantage as it will make her drop her guard around him and speak more freely perhaps even exposing some important information between her words.

A hand suddenly reached out to grab Leo's jacket which he cleanly avoided by jumping back.

"Hey, what's the big deal? actually, why do I even need to explain to you that I need your jacket? isn't it normal for a man to offer their jacket in case they see a woman in her underwear!"

Maybe it's because she knows that Leo couldn't understand her as she started speaking in a more comfortable tone.

But this time a sudden realization hit Kaira as she stopped making weird signs to make Leo understand that she wanted his jacket.

'Maybe he doesn't want to give his jacket?'

A frown appeared on Kaira's face as she covered her chest with her hand slightly putting up her guard thinking that she might have misjudged Leo before.

In fact, Leo really didn't want to lend his jacket to her.

There was a reason behind it as well.

'The pistol and baton are in my jacket....'

Leo did not want to reveal his trump cards to her, that was the reason he avoided her just now.

A stalemate appeared between them as neither side said anything.

Then suddenly Leo turned around and started heading back towards the forest.

'She will be a burden even if I was to take her with me anyway....'

Leo isn't some kind of a saint or anything, he wouldn't mind helping people if he could but carrying a person who couldn't even walk properly with him was just asking for trouble.

"L-Leo", Kaira hurriedly called out as she saw him walking back into the forest.

"H-hey where are you going", A bad premonition hit her as she gritted her teeth and stood up on one leg.

"Wait up!", She shouted at the top of her lungs when she saw his figure disappear behind the trees.

"Leo!"

Unfortunately, all that replied to her was silence.

"You can't leave me here!"

Taking a step forward she raised her hand.

*Kuehk*

Unfortunately, the pain from her feet made her lose her balance as she fell face down.

"Dammit don't leave me in this place.....", Kaira muttered in a small voice as the feeling of having mud all over her body made her feel even worse.

*Crunch*

"Leo", Kaira suddenly said as she raised her head after hearing the sound of someone stepping on dry leaves.

"You shouldn't scare me lik-------", Kaira's tone became smaller and smaller as the silhouette became clearer to her.

*Grieuk*

It was a group of green-skinned monsters looking at her with a lascivious gaze and saliva dripping from their mouths.