Markus's plight

"Don't you feel like if there is something wrong in the air?" Walking beside the silent girl, Markus's lips twitched yet again when the girl didn't change her ways and ignored his inquiry again.

"Eh, women…" Shaking his head with a slight annoyance at the situation, Markus decided to give up on the topic. For like seventh time today.

This lack of something was bugging him beyond any reason. As if the air he was breathing in had one less element in it that didn't affect one's ability to breathe, but just made it… a different kind of experience to what the saint was used to.

At this point, Markus could only regret the choices he made in the past. As rational and necessary as they were in the time of making them, the saint often came to regret them later on.

Being a jack of all trades that he was, he couldn't really use much of high-end spells or tricks. His magic, when compared to geniuses like Layn or others of his scale, was worth nothing. His innate regeneration was nothing when compared to Otto, the former tank of the hero party. His deadliness far worse than that of a hero herself.

No matter how many times Markus attempted to change the way he thought about himself, he would only end up in even greater despair, once again convincing himself that there was no turning back from his shitty situation anymore.

And now, another reason appeared for the saint to hate his situation. Unable to pinpoint the reason behind this strange feeling, he could only blame his diverse yet not specialised abilities, once again putting another dent on not only his pride as a man but his trust in his own capabilities as well.

"Stop thinking about it. It will help." From the length of Yelna's sentences, Markus could tell that she was actually genuinely worried about him. With all the flaws that this woman of his had to her name when it came to the relationship between the two of them, she would suddenly turn observant and attentive, as if she was aware of her flaws and was doing her best to compensate for them.

"I can't. Trust me, I tried." As much as he hated the drawbacks of his set of abilities, Markus wasn't as set on self-pity as to not notice their upsides. Given how the two of them continued to walk for over two days and nights straight, it was only thanks to how he had to practice his physical body as well that he didn't collapse due to Yelna's deadly marching pace.

But even with this, the apparent lack of something still continued to linger atop Markus's thoughts, no matter how hard he attempted to get rid of it.

Maybe it was the exhaustion from the extensive journey.

Maybe it was the stress from appearing in what looked like a completely foreign world, with no soul to consult about it outside of the girl who was just as clueless as was he.

Maybe it was the amalgamation of all the small reasons that were a pain in the ass for a few years already but now turned into this huge clog on the saint's soul, preventing him from thinking straight.

It was hard to tell what was the true reason behind Markus's current plight. But once a certain sound reached his ears, all his worries vanished, replaced by diligence.

"Someone is up ahead." Closing his eyes, Markus focused on just the sounds. WIth Yelna obediently stopping her steps as to not make any noise and turn Markus's task even harder, it only took a moment for the saint to regain his senses.

"It seems like there are about a hundred people there…?" Initially unsure about his answer, Markus continued to listen for a few moments more, before his face suddenly twitched in shock. "Wait, what?"

As little as Markus knew about magic, he was still pretty sensible towards the changes in its currents. And a wave of magic so powerful that it almost managed to force the consciousness out of his brain washed over his body, it was only thanks to his weak magical sense that Markus managed to keep his sanity up and going.

"What?" If anyone else were to repeat the same question, it would sound more like "what happened" or "what's wrong." The fact that Yelna started to shorten her sentences so much meant that she also felt that something was wrong.

Even despite not having any sense for magic at all.

'That's a hero for you.' Not daring to utter this comment out loud, Markus limited its reach to his own thoughts, before focusing on the sounds once again.

"Wait, that's strange… It's as if…" Rapidly rising his head, Markus looked towards the distant source of the sound. His eyes widened as the man prickled his earlobes, unwilling to believe what his hearing was telling him. "It's as if the number of people out there… Just increased!"