6 Determination

On the night with the moon hiding behind the clouds, it was unusually bright. The trees that were full of life were splattered across the ground.

The splash of light that comes in and out was seen from afar. From a normal human's view, it could be interpreted as a bonfire or something but from the Suckus' view who could see as well in the night as the day, it was a terrifying sight enough for them to cower not in fear but in anger.

And funny enough, there was a Suckus watching this right now under the brilliant sky of dark.

The said Suckus was, as expected, shaking with anger. She was using a lifetime's worth of patience to hold herself back.

She was trying her best to not lose herself to anger. Finally letting loose some of that rage, she shouted with all her might.

"Fire! Damn humans! They are burning the forest!"

Indeed, what she was watching was the fire burning down their land with no mercy. The storm of fire was as ferocious at it could be. The trees were catching the fire left and right with the speed unthinkable for a normal fire.

However it wasn't as if the Suckus' life was in immediate danger. The forest was huge and this particular Suckus was gifted with her eyes as she can see at long distance. It wouldn't be an exaggeration if her village were to declare her as the best eyes of the Suckus. That is the reason why only she could see it.

"We've been going in and out of the village to make sure no fire happens again but to think they started at the edge of the forest!"

Though she said at the edge of the forest, the fire is already closing in their home which was in the deeper parts of the forest. This forest was huge but it didn't have any monsters strong enough to calm the fire down. If it had a monster like that, the Suckus won't be living here. As such, the only race that could stand up to the human's fire is the Suckus but the situation has already escalated to the worst possible one.

"We won't be able to put that out! I have to report to the village head!"

Her voice was full of worry but her feet were full of life. She raced to the designated 'door' to the village as she thought of how they need to change homes now.

****

Desire awoke to the very familiar smooching sound.

As he opened his eyes, the emerald hair of Lyra came to view. She was sucking mana out of Desire's body.

Noticing Desire has awoken; Lyra stopped and looked at Desire.

She asked with a tone that couldn't be read as worried or excited.

"Desire! Are you okay now? What happened yesterday? That water you shot out was amazing!"

"I'm fine. Wait, don't ask so many questions at once."

"O-oh sorry. So what happened? Mother's worried too, you know."

Desire sighed as he sat on the bed. He was the one who wanted to know about that more than anyone. It was quite hard for him to accept that he couldn't answer her question about himself.

"I don't know either. It just happened. I was overwhelmed by it and that was the result."

"I see. Well, there are a lot of cases where beginners use a lot more mana than they intended and cause accidents."

"B-but you see, I only have 1 mana. Isn't it weird in the first place that I was able to use magic?"

Lyra touched her chin with her index finger as she thought about it.

'It's definitely weird but maybe his mana is special? That explains why it is delicious and all…'

Thinking that her conjecture was more or less on the mark, she provided an answer to the fidgeting Desire.

"Maybe that's just your mana being special as it is. I mean, there are a lot of weird things about you. I never heard of a baby that could talk and walk on his own. I did hear that babies could somewhat talk but your speech is so fluent, right?

Whether satisfied by her answer of just dejected by the fact that he was the weird one, Desire hung his head.

Desire's circumstances are so rare that it doesn't have a precedent. He doesn't know where to ask or who to ask about himself. He had no parents and even the all-knowing system couldn't provide accurate information about him.

Desire sighed and with that, the atmosphere of the room became dark all of a sudden.

Lyra was perhaps too bright or just oblivious to this as she continued talking.

"That's why I'm so excited to know more about you! You're different from the rest and that's clear as day."

Desire couldn't understand her why she was so enthusiastic with him being so different. Desire's idea on different is that it's bad. As he started alone, he wanted to have a reference for him to grow into. If possible, he wanted to have someone to rear him so that he can just grow up with no problems.

"Isn't different bad? I mean if by some chance that the usual magic that you use isn't useable for me; it would be bad won't it?"

Lyra immediately answered to his question.

"And that would mean that the magic that is useable to you is unusable to us. That's what makes you special! Being different isn't bad. You are you, Desire and it doesn't matter if you're unlike the rest of the people though in your case, that's the humans."

At that moment, Desire's eyes widened. Desire felt like the fog clouding his thoughts has cleared. It probably feels for him that some shackles have been unchained.

"R-really? Even if teaching me will prove to be troublesome due to my being different, it's not bad?"

"That's right. There's no need to rush is there? You just have to find the one that suits you as you age. You're a baby so don't worry about it so much."

As he started to question himself, he thought that it would be for the best if he wasn't so different. Unknown to the man himself, he wanted to have something to go back on when it comes to survival so he was that desperate.

Listening in to the voice that had the answers to his question, Desire couldn't help but tear up a little. To him, those words meant the world.

He looked down to avoid being seen by Lyra and then he spoke with a low voice.

"T-thanks."

An awkward guy, he is.

"What?"

It seems like Lyra didn't hear it as she urged him to say it again.

Desire wiped off his tears then he looked up at Lyra with a smile.

"Nothing. By the way, when will be the start the lesson for today?"

"Hmm…I have to attend the meeting as the village head's daughter for today so there won't be any. Just practice the water magic that you learned from yesterday."

Desire nodded his head as determination started to fill him up to the brim.

'I will definitely find the one thing that's best suited for me!'

He promised to himself.

****

In front of the place that used to be forest is Ted Tell and his adjutants that serve as the knights of his house.

Seated on a chair, Ted adjusted his fat body to seat more comfortably. The knights looking at him all had the same thoughts.

'The house has fallen so low…'

The Tell House that they serve is a military family that serves on the battlefield. The family head has always stood on the frontline and has attained a baron rank in just a single generation. But all that work of his is about to be destroyed by his son, Ted.

First generation's brilliance is the second generation's trash. His dead father will probably arise from his coffin if he learns the state of the house that he worked so hard to gain.

"Just what is happening here?! We made sure that the fire won't go out for a week and even now, not a single sighting has been reported!"

The man that yelled is the target of scorn of the knights, Ted Tell.

"They are probably hiding underground, Sir Baron!"

"I'm sure that they are in the deeper parts of the forest, sir."

"Yes we just have to be…"

Many of his men started to offer excuses based on facts and based on their imaginations. Amidst such bantering, one man's opinion stood out. He said,

"Aren't they dead from the fire?"

He stated it in a manner of fact tone. He's probably sure of it.

The surrounding men started to panic at the words of the man and they yelled at him.

"What nonsense are you spouting here?!"

"That's right! There's no way they could die from a level of that fire!"

The funny thing, this is the only moment that they agreed on something as if they were waiting for his words beforehand.

The man started to panic and tried to take back his words but…

"Mayo! Kill him."

"Yes, my lord."

A voice resounded out confirming the man's death and the light of a blade radiated. Just with that, the man's head that shouted 'nonsense' fell to the ground. And the killer couldn't be seen at all as he already went back to his lord's side.

"Good work, Mayo"

"Such is my responsibility."

The man Mayo is the captain of the knights and the strongest one in here. It wasn't bad for one to be with a strong man in the forest that is full of dangers but…He is excessively loyal to Ted. For that reason, they didn't even speak a single bad thing about Ted and his strange fantasy. If a rumor started up about Ted when a person like Mayo is around, heads are sure to fly just like that man.

"This meeting's over. Just make sure the fire is still ongoing."

"Yes sir."

The men who were shouting their lungs out sighed in relief. Relief at the fact that the man had not been them, they waited for someone to say some words that indicate the demise of the Suckus.

'I'm glad it's not me today.'

Such thoughts were prevalent in the people as they started to search for the location of the village of the Suckus.