70 Something Stirs At The South Gate

After two hours of restoring the training ground. Tera and I looked with pleasure at our work from the outer regions of it . The ground we stood on was now green with the grass restored. In fact, most of the grass was now fresh and vibrant.

"Marvelous." Tera spoke.

"It is. I thought it would take longer."

"Well I'm already at my limit for mana right now." Tera's head turned to me. "I suppose you haven't run empty?"

"Me? Erm…" I rubbed my chin. Now that I was thinking about it, I did spam a lot of earth spells. Counting the sparring session and right now, it should've taken quite a bit out of me. But I still feel quite full in terms of mana. Duvul curse really amped up my capacity, huh?

"Ugh, why do I even bother asking?" Tera kicked a pebble in the floor before moving back to the trail back to the kingdom. "Of course you'd have plenty of mana left. You manage to cast out spells that would normally tire someone out. Using stone cannon at the rate you did? That'll tire one out in seconds."

"Uh…Thanks?"

"I'm going to find those Three and tell them that we've finished." Tera said without looking back. "Please, Tell Sarah that we've finished." And Tera walked off.

I glanced over to where Sarah sat. She had sat on a tree stump now, crossing her legs in a Elegant manner. Without her usage of magic, she could only wait and watch as we did our work. She stared off into the wilderness, looking at some birds and butterflies that roamed this area.

"Hey, erm…Liliths mom?" I wasn't really sure how to address her in a manner she liked. She never really said anything about how I called her, she always acknowledged both.

Sarah turned her head to me. "Kota. I see the two of you have finished. I suppose we are done then?"

"Yeah. What have you been up to?"

Sarah looked back into the forest, smiling. "Just observing nature. Do you know much about Animals?"

I shrugged. "Not much. I've run into a Kiesse once during the winters."

"Hmm." Sarah put a finger to her lips. After a moment, she pointed at a reddish colored bird. "Oh, that's a Redjack. They come around this time and often look for a mate." The red bird clung to a branch as it ate a worm. It was a pretty looking bird.

I guess I'm just listening to someone talk about birds now.

"Redjacks are the Birds of this region, the females come in red and the Males come in blue." And just then, a blue redjack sat along the red one. "Hm…The females are the ones who act first in their mating calls." Sarah looked at them with fascination. She placed her hand under her chin and kept on watching as the two birds jumped off their branch and flew in a circle together.

"Um…I'm guessing you have an interest in birds?" I awkwardly asked.

"I have an interest in the world and what it offers to us. It is why I began to travel with emmit. Though seeing these birds reminds me of you and Lilith." She glanced at me. "Hm…you even have blue eyes. The color of the males. Did you know that once these birds finish their mating ritual, they stay together till death?"

I took a look at the birds myself, watching as they circled each other. I guess you can say I resemble the blue one, Seems like it's chasing after the red one with a goal in mind. Hm, kinda reminds me of when I made my promise to Lilith. And the Red one just reminds me of Lilith dragon eye. Huh, maybe it is like me and her…Wait, why am I trying to connect myself with a bird?

"Hm, are you interpreting the birds as you and Lilith?" Sarah said without looking at me, her focus on the birds.

"Huh?"

"Your relationship with my daughter. It intrigues me now. Ever since yesterday, I'd assume that you took over as a sort of brother to her. But that shortly dissipated after I noticed both your interactions." She kept staring at the birds and trees for a moment before finally looking at me with her blue eyes. "What do you see in her?"

I guess the bird topic was just a way to lure me into this topic, huh? Now I've thought of this before, but never intended on telling Lilith mom about it. Actually, I didn't even think about this sort of situation happening. I guess I have to answer this with the straightest answer.

"Uh-Ahem…Lilith confessed to me first. I've liked her since we began to travel here to Prusha. And multiple times, she's saved my life. And I've been quite helpful with issues she's been dealing with." I answered.

"What issues?" Sarah tilted her head in curiosity. Had she not noticed that maybe perhaps Emmit leaving would've traumatized not only her?

"Er…she's been having issues with Her father. Like how he left…without saying anything. Lilith was always upset with it, even to this day. There were times where she'd just vent to me about it."

Sarah's eyes widened before she closed them and sighed. Her eyes veered back to the forest. " I see…that is understandable. Perhaps I assumed she'd keep her stoic emotions when it happened, apparently not."

"Yeah, she's pretty upset about it. And I was the only person she could've vented to…"

"We'll, you're the only one who's been there for her. Hmph, Actually it is not hard to see her falling for you if I put it that way…" Sarah's expression reminded me of someone who figured out a simple puzzle after struggling for some time. A dumbfounded one. Her eyes strained for some moments before she looked back at me, putting on a stoic face.

"You alright?" I asked, but I didn't get the answer or response I wanted.

"You have my consent to be with her." Sarah said with no hesitation.

Hm? What?

I must've given her a confused look as she stood up from the log she was on and slowly walked to me. Her movement seemed confident and sure.

"Do you understand?" She calmly said, now in front of me. She looked down at me with seriousness. "My time here is short. And once I'm gone, Lilith will have no one else other than you and your family."

"I-I…" I couldn't really say anything, but with the words not coming out of my mouth, I instead nodde to show my understanding.

She smiled at my nod, taking that for what it was and looked off towards the birds again. I too focused on the birds and noticed that they were now perched on a new branch, huddling close to each other.

"I do hope the two of you stay together for some time. Even better if you wed."

I gave her a very serious face when she said that. If the parent of the person you're absolutely sure you'd stay with says marriage is a go, I might as well go with them.

"If that's what you want…I'll do that." I said firmly. Sarah looked at me and noticed my seriousness and smiled.

"Mmm, just like those Birds. Intertwined now and lovers." She then frowned, her eyes squinting as she looked deep into the forest. "Unless something happens."

"What do you mean?"

Just then, a Cat jumped from the bushes underneath the two birds. It was not one of the Cat people I've seen before, this was like an actual cat. It climbed the tree before its head looked at the two birds, and within seconds the cat jumped once more and snatched the Red bird before falling to the ground. The blue bird panicked and flew down, flying around the cat as it busied itself with tearing into the bird. It pecked at the cat, but it proved inevitable as the cat munched on the red bird. It was an unholy sight that made my heart sink.

"Unless the world decides that two things shouldn't be together." Sarah said in a deathly tone. "Fate is twisted. Don't you think so?"

"It's…something I'm familiar with." Having to deal with an otherworldly god who wants you to be the most powerful in this world seems like a sick fate to me. Actually I'm pretty sure I was forced into that fate without knowing at first.

"Hmph, that's the same answer Emmit would give me when I asked that question."

Hm, well Emmit probably does have a twisted fate. After knowing what he did, he'll probably live the rest of his life going down a bad path.

"Where is Tera? Our conversation has gone on for too long." Sarah looked around for her, concern rising from her eyes as she looked down the trail.

"She went to look for everyone else, she wanted me to get you. I assume they are at the gate then?" I had no real idea where she was, but that was my assumption. Tera probably assumed we got caught up in something and decided to go on ahead.

"Then what are we waiting for? We'll continue our chat once we are back. Perhaps I'll ask for Liliths opinion on you." Sarah then proceeded to brush past me and onto the trail. Which left me looking back at the forest.

Is it weird that my gut feelings were telling me something about those birds that were alluding to something? Nah, cats love birds…I think? Perhaps it was just a coincidence.

***

As we walked down the path that we used to get here, me and Sarah didn't particularly talk much. It was an awkward walk onto the main trail as most of the time, Sarah would look around the forest and call out names of things she saw and give me facts about them. Not that I minded about learning about this world, it's something that I was curious about too. Sometimes she'd just think and ponder, occasionally looking at me for a brief moment and murmuring to herself.

But as we got further down the Main trail to the South Gate, we noticed a large amount of people crowding up near the gate. It took me a moment to realize that most of these people were armored up in armor and some were on horses. Who were these people?

I took another glance at the crowd and noticed a familiar blonde haired man along with a black haired mage that loomed on the side of the crowd. Kale and Tera.

"Over there!" I pointed out, Sarah looked over to where I pointed and hastily walked to them.

Once we got closer, I kept notice of the armored men. Particularly one that was different from the rest, a bald man with a black mustache. He stood next to an older man that reminded me of King Lucian, perhaps a noble? The older man had a scar on the left side of his face, his hair was a purple color and he had green eyes. The bald man stood quite tall against the older man, I'd say he was about six feet and seven inches? His armor reminded me of a knight, though I found it particularly that he donned a huge sword on his back. It was a rare sight to see someone using a larger sword, most people I've seen used a revalue sized sword or a dagger. Here this man had a solid black steel greatsword on his back.

The guards who were on duty at the gate were looking through some paperwork that was given to them by a man in a mage's robe. I didn't get a good look at them, but their teal color robe made them stand out. In fact, most of the armor worn by these people donned a Teal color. Most wore an armband of sorts to show the color, while others had headbands that did. I'd say this was most likely their color just like Prusha has white and Blue as theirs.

"Well, well…Took you long enough." I heard tera say, I looked at her with a hint of annoyance. Me and Sarah had expected her to come back and get us, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Where is Lilith?" Sarah immediately asked, looking around for her.

Tera nonchalantly pointed at the camp outside of the gate, the camp where most adventurers or those without access stay. "She's buying some Pastels since Kale gave her rubees as a reward."

And with that, Sarah made her way to the camp, pushing past a bunch of people as she did. Tera watched with intrigue.

"What's with her?" Tera asked, finally speaking to me.

I feel I knew why Sarah was looking for Lilith, with our conversation and topic we had talked of. So I just gave tera a straight answer.

"Pretty sure she's looking for Lilith to have her opinion on me."

"Why would she need to do that? Did you say something that made Sarah reconsider you?"

"Haha…It's more like reaffirming her ideas that I'm good enough for Lilith."

"Ah…I'd say you are. By the way, have a look at this crowd we have here now." Tera looked at the head of the crowd where the bald man was. "It's the army of Ithryll, or at least some of it."

"Ithryll? That's a distance for them." If I recall, they were more down south from us. That's like a month or so of traveling, I think.

"Yes. And if they came here for the festival, they are most likely looking for an agreement or to talk with King Lucian."

"What makes you think that?" Suddenly, I realized what this meant again. Arael said that King Lucian wanted the assistance of the king of Ithryll for a battle against the Demon continent. But what's the point of talking to this man if I have no idea of what I'm supposed to say to him? If anything, I'm just hindering what is supposed to happen.

"The king of Ithryll, his name is Isaac. He's a long time friend of sorts to Lucian's father. Besides that, Ithryll is the second biggest kingdom Here. I would guess that Issac is making a proposition to Lucian for something." Tera explained. She didn't seem the most knowledgeable about this sort of thing with her vagueness.

That's when Kale swooped in to explain his thoughts and ideas. He must've overheard us as he peered behind Tera and spoke. Spooking her. "With things brewing at the North gate entrance, it's most likely that king Lucian will use this chance to say something about it to Isaac. Remember that Prusha is a gateway to the Demon continent. If this place goes down, all hell breaks loose."

Bingo. Here's my confirmation of Arael's future. Still, I have no idea what role I play in making this actually happen.

"Aah! Kale, what the hell?!" Tera jumped and stared at him angrily. "Why'd you sneak up on us?!"

Kale only smiled at her reaction, smoothly walking towards me. "I overheard you guys and decided that I'd input my own thoughts into it."

"That doesn't answer my question!"

"Blah blah blah, I snuck up on you. I think what's more important is that no one heard our little sparring match." Kale leaned in next to my ear and whispered. "Just kidding, I knocked out an adventurer who was nearby."

"Why are you whispering to me about this?" I asked, confused.

"Because Everyone would get mad if I told them! You just question it and go along with it!"

Ok, true. Most things people do here I question it and just follow along with it. But i feel like he's leaving out very valuable information to everyone!

"What are you bickering about with him?" Tera grabbed Kale by his collar.

"Yeow! Nothing! Just telling him what I should get him for the day of drinking!" Kale grabbed at her arm, pleadingly.

"He's too young for that!"

"He's almost fifteen, a little bit of liquor in him won't do n-Ahh!"

As the two bickered, I saw two figures popping out of a tent in the camp. Sarah and Lilith walked out with a basket of sweets and bread. It seems like Sarah offered her own money as well to give Lilith more food. Lilith was already munching on a pastel when she noticed me and skipped her way to me.

"Kota!" She yelled as she threw a pastel right at me. I was quickly able to grab it with one of my hands. Once she got in front of me, she began to bounce in one spot. "I got pastels!" All that violent and tactical vibe she was giving when we spared was gone, replaced with a more childish and naive attitude that I was used to.

I took a look at the pastel she gave me, it was a bluish colored bread that had white swirls in them that was shaped into a heart. Its smell reminded me of vanilla and blueberries. Once I took a cautious bite of it (Because Anything made within that camp was either poison or some bizzare flavor), I chewed on it for a moment and registered it as harmless. It did have the taste of blueberries…It probably was blueberries. Perhaps I'm overthinking about this world's difference in food, I'm like seventy percent sure that most of the food from my world exists here in a lower quality.

"How is it?!" Lilith asked, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "I got it for you! Er-well Sarah did, but she told me to say it was me who thought of it! She wants to know what you think of it!"

I took another bite, eyeing Lilith as I did. Then another. And another until I finished the pastel. She kept eye contact with me as I gulped the last bit of it and sighed. It was a very weird feeling to have someone intensely look at you when you eat.

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Thanks." I smiled back at her. Lilith shook her hands in excitement before grabbing mine and swinging us around.

"See, he ate it!" Lilith called her mom. Sarah watched us with interest. Her hand rubbing her chin as if she was judging us. Finally, Sarah let out a small smile. What was she planning?

Lilith stopped spinning me, letting go of my hand as I stumbled a bit from the swings. She grabbed another piece of pastel that looked exactly like mine and ate it. Munching into it quickly and hastily before finishing it in near seconds.

"Very nice, you two." Sarah finally spoke, she now held a stoic expression once again as she eyed the two of us. Something about her though told me something else, it was like a weird six sense that something was amiss.

But I shook my head, brushing that sense off and looked at Her. I wouldn't want to spoil the mood with questions. "Thanks Sarah for the pastels."

"It's no big deal. Just a…recommendation of mine. It's a pastel I remembered from my younger days."

"You never told me what it was called! What is it?" Lilith asked. "It's so good and Sweet!"

"You'll learn soon enough. Right now, we should focus on the crowd ahead of us. The King of Ithryll is here and awaiting their entrance." Sarah calmly said before winking at me.

Hmm…Now I'm suspicious. What the hell did we eat?

"All clear!" One of the Prusha guards roared loudly. "All paperwork is in check and good to go! You all may proceed! May the light of Nebus grant you protection in our kingdom!"

"Let's get wasted!" Just then, I noticed the bald man with the Moustache yell with delight. He turned around and held an arm up to the group of armored men. "Enjoy this time of festivity while we can, lads! Today is the Day of Drinking!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Basically everyone in the group roared, I even noticed Kale roaring with them. Albeit under the arm of Tera who had him pin under it. Hell, Lilith was cheering too. And she doesn't even Drink.

As everyone paid attention to the crowd roaring and cheering, I felt a hand creep onto my shoulder. I turned my gaze to see Sarah, leaning close to me.

"The pastel given to you was named lovers bread, those who eat from the same piece of bread will be together if it tastes sweet to both. And since you both said it was sweet…I don't need Lilith's opinion."

"Eh? Huh?!" I continued to make confused noises as Sarah casually removed her hand from my shoulder and began to cheer as well. Leaving me to process what the hell she said.

A/N: Back from my break! I'm still somewhat sick, but I'll try to make another upload this week to keep up with my upload schedule! Hope you enjoy this Chapter!