2 First Contact

Leo wanted to observe the trio for now, as he does not know if they are friend or foe. He hid behind a particularly wide tree and began to observe them.

Then, he started to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Hey, Leah! Here at the stream is nothing either." The first boy began calling out. "Where the heck are all the monsters?"

"He is right," the other boy, around the same age of 17, with brownish black hair and a tall stature, said out loud, "not to mention monsters like dire wolves, goblins or momons. not even regular animals or bugs are around."

The girl nodded to the remarks of the boys. She turned her head from one side to another.

"I know what you mean. I can't even hear the birds singing, despite it being already the time of blossom.

And then there is this feeling...., as if-"

"As if the Magic Energy in a 5 kilometre radius is in tumult."

They then began to squat by the water, and unfastened water bottles which hang at their hips to fill them up.

The girl, which looked slightly younger than the other two, with dark blue hair and similar blue eyes, asked the boy who came first from the bushes:

" Henry, I have an unnerving feeling, as if someone is spying on us."

"Huh? Who would? We are most certainly the only people in this part of the forest.

The next village is half a day apart by horse . No one should stray to this part."

Slightly pressuring Leah then told Henry:

" Sure, but anyway, can you please use your search technique to look around us?

Just to be on the safe side?"

"Ok, just a moment."

Henry then closed his eyes and pressed his hands together. He slowly and almost silently recited some words, and then opened his hands and faced his palms outwards. A invisible force was pushed out.

Leo, still behind the tree, could only make out some words spoken by the trio, but managed to make out why they are here.

'So they want to investigate the source for the lack of animals here. And from their appearance they do not look like bad people or bandits, but better safe than sorry.

But why are they now talking so faint. Have they somehow noticed my existence?'

Just as he was about to leave his spot to get away, Leo felt a light feeling of a wave washing over him, like one would notice a hair on your skin.

'What was this feeling?' Leo asked himself. About to dismiss it as his imagination, he heard the boy calling out

"HEY, the person behind the tree! We know you are there. If you don't come out of your own, we will see this as a hostile act and will fight with you. So please, to avoid unnecessary conflict, show yourself."

Leo began to panic, unsure if he should really comply or just run as fast as he can. But he began to reason with himself.

'No, that is stupid. Despite not knowing where I am, I know nothing about anything here. And while they seem to be aware I am here, they didn't attack immediately.'

So he raised his hands and stepped out from his hiding spot.

"Please, I have no idea what is going on here." Leo said and remained standing on the same spot.

The three were startled, as they did not expect that a small child like that would be here.

They shared a quick look at each other, then began to walk towards him in a calm manner.

"Hi, we are sorry if we frightened you, but could you tell us who you are and why you are here?"

'I could, sure, but better not. It's nothing really logically. Better mix it with a bunch of lies.'

"Well, honestly I can't. I woke up around an hour ago in a plot of devastated land not far from here.

Also I were completely naked and have lost my memory. Can you... can you please help me?"

Henry took a glance at Leah, and she asked the tall boy:

"What do you think Sam? Any reason to trust his words?"

Sam then said, with his gaze fixated on the child before him:

"Why not, this guy before us is maybe 12 or 13, has no weapons and is alone. We, on the other hand, are three adults, armed and well rested.

Henry, were you able to perceive any magical fluxes in him when you scouted the area?"

Henrys gaze wandered to Sam, and answered :

"No, there was no controlled energy, or even a clear element.

So he is certainly underage and harmless."

When Henry said this, Leo thought:

'So that feeling I had was magic. How frightening that they have such ability's to search for me.

That fortified the need for information. I just have to win over their trust somehow to explain everything to me.'

"If it's okay, I can show you the place where I woke up, but... there is a lot of blood, and I do not know from where it came from."

Henry, squinting his eyes as the boy mentioned the blood, said:

"Can we trust you? This sounds suspiciously like a trap, and we do like living."

"He'd have not told us about the blood if there was an attempt to trap us. And maybe, just maybe the spot has a relation with the abnormalities which are going on here."

Leah said that with her hands on the hips, and then laid her arm on Henrys shoulder.

"You said he is harmless, and the spot cannot be far from here. And if our scaredy-cat here need to be safe, use your search spell. I doubt anyone who would be teaming up with this child would have enough power to really pose a threat for us."

"I agree to that, Henry. Child can be a innocent, and then we should help him, or not?"

Sam asked and took big steps towards Leo, stood before him and said:

"Alright, can we request that you show us that place?"

Leo nodded, but before he could answer him, Sam said:

"Before we get going, we should introduce our self first:

I am Samuel, the pretty girl there is Leah, and the guy next to her Henry.

We are a party from the nearby village. The name is Naoke. We came here to hunt for some G to H rank monsters, but weren't able to find any.

So we concluded that something is suspicious and now we are investigating."

"Thank you for the introduction, I would love to do the same, but I really forgot all, even my name. I'm surprised I can even talk to you."

Leo said so, and began to talk to them in an attempt to get more info.

"If it isn't too much, can you guys explain me some things? Like, where are we here, the location of the next village or town, what are the ranks of monsters you talked about, and... and...-"

Leah cut him there, and began to explain:

"Lots of questions, little one. We make a fast explanation: This is the Shan Forrest, near our village Naoke. To get there we need about an hour. Monsters are ranked to categorize them easier, from H to SS. Animals like Bears are Rank F, Goblins H and so one. Same with adventurers, we are a E rank party.

More questions can we answer later, we have to hurry when we don't want to camp here.

But even so.... we need to give you something to wear."

With that said, she went over to Sam, grabbed his backpack and began to dig.

"Woah, at least ask me. And please, be gentle."

Sam said with a little grin while turning his head over his shoulder.

Leah just ignored him, and took out some small rope, pants and a plain shirt.

"Here, little one, wear this. But no shoes, sorry."

"Thank you.

Can I change behind a bush or so?"

He said while blushing slightly, his hands fidgety before his groin area

With a mocking smile on their faces, Leah handed him the clothes and pointed at a nearby bush.

"Just hurry up, we want to get going."

Leo nodded, took the clothes and went to the bush. There, he changed into the plain grey shirt and brown pants, which were hold together by the rope.

He left the bush and presented himself before the trio.

When they saw his guise, they had to do their best to not laugh.

His little body in the clothes of an adult sized person was hilarious to look at. The pants were crumpled up a lot, the shirt looked like a sack, and overall he had now the appearance of a lost child in his father's clothing.

Sam managed to speak.

"Alright, better than before. Now, can you show us the place?"

"Ok, follow me, it's not far."

They then began to make their way towards the place, and shortly before their arrival Henry pointed something out:

"Hey guys, might you noticed, but the flow of magic seemed to stabilized itself."

Sam frowned, and said:

"Yes, that may be a problem. Hey, little one, how far...- "

There he stopped, as they arrived at the place Leo guided them to.

"Wow, such a concentrated point of destruction, and cleanly separated. And even I can feel that here was a strong outburst of magic. And you awoke here?"

Sam exclaimed shocked, squatting down at the edge between the dead area and the healthy green.

"Not to mention the blood here," Leah said, putting her hand on the ground, picking up some dirt and examining it, "That is too much for you to walk away afterwards. And magic to restore blood is high rank. Lucky guy, this could have been you."

Henry, after his silent chant and using his search magic, said:

"There is no life around, but the magic here is very concentrated and chaotic. This here is the source of disruption. But the time needed for the magic to calm down here will be long. Fortunately the surrounding is not as badly affected. At most a day, then everything, except here, will be back to normal."

Sam stood up, and the three made their way toward Leo.

While slightly afraid, he backed up a step and looked up to the trio.

"No need to worry, little one. We believe that you are a bystander here and a victim. How you could remain unscathed in this is a mystery, but as you seem to have lost your memory, and we can't detect anything in the surrounding, we decided to trust you for now."

Leah continued:

"While you are still somewhat fishy, we take you with us to Naoka. Would be inhuman from us to leave you here, right Henry?"

Sighting, Henry said:

"Yeah yeah, please hurry, as I said, tomorrow the surrounding will be normal, but the magical beast can come back earlier, and dawn is approaching."

Leo is taken by surprise, after all they decided to trust him and furthermore he will visit a real fantasy village.

'If it's gonna be like a medieval town in my world, the village will be dirty, poor and small.

But the appearance of the three is so clean. They don't look poor at all or smell.

I look forward to seeing how they life.'

He pondered.

'Still, just accepting the proposal is odd too.'

He thought, and to let them feel his nervousness and shyness.

"Is this really ok? After all, I am a total stranger, and Even I know nothing about me. Will that be ok for you?"

"It's already decided, or would you rather sleep in the woods?"

Sam asked, put his hand on Leos small shoulder, and together he began to lead the way, finally out from the forest into civilization. Leah and Henry following just a step behind and teasing each other on the way.