Stranger to the light

Sougo kept going with his walk, leaving Mika behind while Mika was trying to catch up with Sougo. Sougo's eyes left no expression as he ventured to the unknown. 

"You're pretty strong even though you're in bad shape. Those wounds were supposed to be acting up right until now and warn your limits."

"Waitttt!" The sound of a girl asking them to wait.

The girl appeared from the bushes and it was her that they rescued recently. She followed them and had nowhere to go.

"Huh? What're you doing here?"

Please, forgive me if I'm uninvited to your party. I'm Lusina. Can I... c-can I join you?" In her wizard robe, Lusina made her introduction.

She was wearing the robe when they saved her, which gave her an intriguing aspect, thus neither her face nor her true features were revealed.

"Uhm, okay... I'm just here to guide him. HEY! DON'T KEEP WALKING ON YOUR OWN!" Sougo continued to move without pausing while Mika spoke with Lusina.

Without knowing more about what had been going through Sougo's mind, Mika, Lusina, and Sougo continued deeper into the forest.

"What gives with the wizard robes? Are you cold?" Having no idea what it was for, Mika remarked on Lusina's wizard robe.

"No... I-I... If I showed you my face, will you freak out?" She was fidgeting and scared that they freaked out after knowing about her.

"Hmm? What's wrong? Birth problems?" Mika asked.

"It's not about my physiques and face. I just, umm, worried that my real identity might frighten you..." Lusina was only concerned about her real identity which might frighten Mika and Sougo.

"Oh, is that so? If it frightens you that much, then you don't need to show your face." Mika disallowed Lusina to show her real identity if she didn't want to.

Lusina's face turned away out of flustering.

"By the way, what made the Atreun rhino went wild anyway? They're friendly creatures. Did you make them mad or something?" Mika questioned with a confused tone about how the creature known as the Atreun rhino went wild.

The rhinos of Atreun lived in harmony and tranquility with the natural world. When disturbed, they have unpleasant character and skin as unyielding as granite. They have a jet behind their backs that they used to attack their opponents with the ferocity of a cannon. Although they could easily shred a human person to pieces with their horns, their enormous size and weight made them appear helpless when it came to shifting directions.

"Hmm, I was picking a flower, but when the mysterious gas came out as I pulled it out, they started to attack me. Here is the flower that I just pulled." Lusina told that her actions were to blame for the disaster. She explained that when she was pulling a flower from the ground, a gas burst out.

"I see, it makes sense now why the Atreun Rhino attacked you. You see, the roots of this blossom contained a toxin in their sac. They will discharge a gas that is commonly called friendly fire gas when pulled out. The victim will attack a nearby subject seemingly out of the blue. It only affects beings with lower levels of intelligence. The Acletus rose is what it is called." Mika knew what the flower was and warned Lusina about the danger when picking it.

"Thank you! You're so smart!"

"Nah, it's nothing. I read many books, that's all. My goal is to travel the world, so I studied everything I knew about the world. I sure am envious, living my life within the limits of my travels. So far, this is my farthest travel yet, taking me deep into the woods.

"So, who is he? Is he your father?" Lusina pointed at Sougo, assuming that he was Mika's father.

"No, he's not. He's actually lost and doesn't know this place. A stranger to the light, and so, it's my job to look after him." Mika corrected that he was in charge of keeping Sougo safe.

While Mika was gathering clams, he was perplexed as to how he got stranded on the beach. He saved his life as he was dying by dragging him to a cave close by. He took care of him for almost two days, but he was very irritated with how stubborn Sougo was. Despite being badly injured and still in the recovery process, he moved so much without rest. One thing Mika knew, was the pain would've acted up already and telling his limits.

"Umm, may I join your party guild?" Lusina, in a nervous tone, asked if she could join Mika's guild.

"Excuse me?" Apparently, Mika was confused about what she said about the party guild.

"I'm not much of a fight, but I know healing magic and plant magic. Though, I don't have good control over it, so please, will you let me?"

"Lusina, I'm not in a party guild. But my instinct tells me, how about we become partners instead? Until we're in the city, let's make a guild, although it might be pricey." Mika agreed to become partners, but creating a guild would have to wait.

Mika suddenly stopped right after Sougo stopped moving. Sougo discovered a giant stone in front of him. Carved with mysterious words and letters.

"Oh? Someone must've been here." Mika went past Sougo to see what was going on. He saw a note left on the stone, carved roughly.

"Let's see... based on the language... it's Jemuguarian."

"Unabī always hungry, eat, drink, and sleep. Must not disturb."

The Mysterious note that was left behind on the stone, left Mika clueless about what it meant. The character named Unabī was written on the stone. After Mika translated it, he was trying to arrange the words.

"One who is always hungry, drinks, eats, sleeps, and doesn't work? If I read between the lines, the word "Must not disturb" it's a warning. Seems likely it's a beast. Mister, let's leave before anything happens, alright?" Mika tried to give a warning about the danger that might happen, Sougo listened and turned in the opposite direction.

"Whew, now we need to... huh?"

HOOMMMM!

The sound of a loud trumpet got the three's attention.

Then, a group of people, scattered above the tree branches appeared and surrounded them.

"Oh no! IT'S THE TRIBESPEOPLE! RUN!" Mika shouted, telling Sougo and Lusina to run.

However, along their way, one of the tribe's people was blocking their way. He was a giant brute, holding a spiky axe and trying to clobber them. 

Sougo carried both Lusina and Mika into his arms and avoided the axe from landing a hit by jumping. Sougo ran fast for all to see. Even their faces were in shock at how he jumped that high and managed to run away fast.

"Watch out for traps!" Mika saw through the traps from the ground, a giant bear traps were in their way.

Sougo avoided every single one of them elegantly and swiftly without them slowing him down. As he was running, an arrow landed right on his right arm, and because of shock, he dropped Lusina.

"LUSINA!" Mika shouted.

After being dropped, Lusina was seized by the tribe, who shot her feet to prevent her from escaping.

"HANDS OF HER!" In a panic, Mika pulled out his bow and threatened to kill the tribesmen. However, Sougo pulled Mika away from them before he did anything stupid and left Lusina behind.

"Hey! She needs our help. We can't just leave her there!" Mika attempted to save her but was unsuccessful, and the tribes captured her.

Sougo's arm was shot in the middle of his recovery and he was overly exhausted from moving so much.

Finally emerging from the thick forest, they came upon a precipice and a dead end. Sougo dropped Mika down to the ground and pulled his blade, ready to fight.

Despite being outnumbered by the tribesmen, holding their bows and their weapons at them, Sougo remained fearless and kept his composure. Albeit he didn't have a chance with that many and his injuries were acting up badly, he stayed strong. 

Then, Mika suddenly pushed Sougo off the cliff and coated him with magic so he would land safely.

Sougo's eyes were in disbelief, seeing Mika selfishly sacrifice himself, even though he saw his face covered with fear. With that, he made a foolish decision by risking his life.

Still a child, yet brave enough to risk his life for the sake of others. Even if they don't know each other...

Sougo fell into the river and had his body carried by the stream.