Sudden tension

Rota was still unconscious when Belialthorn returned, undisturbed and sleeping easily. "I forgot to put ward here in case monsters attacked her."

"I should wake her," Belialthorn mumbled to himself already bending to wake her when he paused. "Hummmm. Maybe I should let her sleep, she had been training hard this week."

He gently picked her up instead, made sure to use a simple spell to lift her spear as he went into the wilderness. The trees of the forest were deep greens and robust because of the concentration of mana in the environment.

It was called a wilderness because of the high amount of monsters in the large forest. It wasn't the only of its kind in the kingdom and such places always attracted high numbers of Hunters.

The sun was low in the sky now and it bearly penetrated the thick canopy of the forest, while Belialthorn searched for a place to put Rota.

He finally found a small clearing and he put her down gently on a bed of leaves, making sure to arrange her limbs well. Then he constructed a defense of [conceal] spell around her to keep her safe while he attended to other things.

"That should do it then," Belialthorn said and with the spear hanging above him, he went inside the wilderness to hunt.

And it didn't take him long. He returned with the spear dripping blood and a bundle of a small monster. It was a fat tree climber that relied on its dark brown fur for camouflaging and it had been an easy pick for Belialthorn.

He dropped the dry logs he had picked up on the way and went in search of water. Luck was on his side and he found a stream nearby.

"It is really hard to clean this monster the human way. I would have eaten it raw if not for Rota." Belialthorn hissed as the spear he was using nearly cut his finger. He looked at the weapon doubtfully. "Maybe it's the weapon that is different. But still! I would have just set it on fire and eaten it in my Demon form."

Belialthorn grumbled some more as he went back to camp, he set the logs into position and put them on fire to begin roasting the monster.

His mouth watered as the meat began cooking and soon the clearing was filled with the smell of roasting meat.

"What are you doing?" Rota asked, staring at Thorn in bewilderment, her eyes still clouded with sleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

Belialthorn nodded at her and pointed at the meat roasting above the cracking fire. "Cooking our food."

Rota started at Thorn, gathering her thoughts. Had she fallen asleep? When? She couldn't remember. She looked around, it was night and she was....in a forest? How had she gotten here?

It all came back to her slowly, the huge Vore, the fight, the explosion, Thorn saving her, and....she couldn't remember.

"I can see that you are cooking. Why?"

Belialthorn raised his brows. "Because we want to eat? Are you not hungry?"

She shook her head. "I meant why are we here? The last thing I remembered was after the explosion, we talked."

"You passed out." Belialthorn simply said, turning the meat. It was now brown and dripping with fat.

"I passed out? But why?"

Belialthorn sighed. "Probably because of the amount of mana you used. Killing the Vore must have taken a take a toll, combined with the shock of the explosion your body simply reached its limit."

Rota nodded touching her neck which was a little painful to the touch. She must have slept on it. "Why are we in the forest though? We should have returned to Havenbrook unless I'm too heavy for you to carry?"

Belialthorn scoffed. "You are just gaining some meat on your bones. Don't get too arrogant. That was not the reason we could not return tonight."

Rota grinned, it wasn't every day she got the chance to tease Thorn. He always seems so... above her, even though he behaved weirdly sometimes. "Are you sure? You are a level 1 caster after all."

Belialthorn removed the meat and tore a large piece out of it handling it to Rota."I guess you didn't know."

"Know what?" Rota collected the meat and blew it with her mouth before she bit into it.

"I'm now at level 5." Belialthorn nearly groaned as he ate the meat. It was so juicy and the fat ran down his mouth as he slowly savored the bite.

Rota had gone still, staring at Thorn. She was sure now, he was hiding something. There was no way a level 1 should have been casting those spells he had been fighting with.

She might not know much about Hunters in general but she knew enough that a level 1 caster shouldn't be that powerful. Casters are known to spend months learning spells before they became good at it.

Rota asked casually. "How did you do it?"

Belialthorn looked up at the tone of her voice and locked eyes with her. Blue against grey, while the fire burned steady between them. He knew she had started suspecting him and he thought fast.

Should he kill her here and now? It was the most logical thing to do and he knew it but his mind formed no spell and his hand didn't raise to strangle her.

Tension thickened between them and Rota started breathing slowly as her muscles clenched.

Instead, Belialthorn looked away and continued eating. "I went to hunt enough monsters to level up."

Rota didn't know why but she sagged in relief, it was as if a knife had been removed from her neck. As if a predator had just looked away from a prey. "Congratulations."

Belialthorn smiled. "Thank you."

He didn't know when but he had decided to trust her to a certain degree, if she brought him no harm he would decide to do so. He had no illusion that she won't betray him but until she did so he would continue to treat her as he always does.

Until she gave him a reason to cast those spells against her.