Erlo (1)

Since Lo, his family, and Azra were still awake and about to enter their house when dawn broke, they decided to have breakfast together.

Azra didn't know if Lo's family was rich or not, but their house was a lot bigger than the rest of the houses in the village, even if it looked similar to the others. Azra only saw a couple of houses that looked even grander than Lo's family's house. One of them especially looked uniquely exquisite compared to the rest of the village. Lo told him it was the village chief's house when he noticed Azra looking at it.

However, even if it looked more luxurious, it was still made from the same thorn tree wood as the rest of the houses. The only difference was the three stories and the base made of stone.

Mirabelle's house was only one story, but it was wide enough to fit five bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a dining room. Mirabelle, Lo, and Melly all got a little down when they mentioned how two of those bedrooms stood empty since their owners and Mirabelle's husband were forcefully enlisted in the Redire Kingdom's military in order to fight in the war with the demons. None of them wanted to go into too much detail regarding their missing family members, and Azra naturally didn't pressure them on it. After giving some standard words of consolation and comfort, he changed the subject.

While they might have enjoyed reminiscing about the happy memories of their time before the war, Azra decided not to poke their fresh wounds and instead talked about how they had been surviving the drought.

Azra was quite surprised at how well they had been handling it. It wasn't so much that the village was actively stopping all their water from evaporating. The thorn trees that populated the Forest of Thorns had roots that stretched deep and far into the ground. They still experienced bad harvests in the last few years, but since the merchants tempting them with luxuries and having them trade away their surplus food had stopped coming by, the villagers managed to farm enough food to keep them alive.

After breakfast consisting of roast potatoes and bread, Azra asked Lo's family for understanding. He had been awake for some time and was feeling increasingly fatigued. He wasn't the only one. Melly, who had stayed up all night, had already fallen asleep in Mirabelle's lap.

While Mirabelle brought Melly to the room next to the master bedroom, Lo led Azra to one of the temporarily available rooms that was a little further down the hallway. It was Lo's big brother's room, and despite no one currently using it, Mirabelle still cleaned the room regularly.

Lo had picked up a set of simple beddings on the way. Azra expressed how it was a shame how he would dirty the sheets with his dusty body but caved to Lo's insistence.

Azra removed his shoes for a quick nap on the bed. He didn't disrobe since he didn't feel safe enough and because he would soon be up and about. If he slacked off, he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything.

After only an hour's rest, Azra forced himself awake again. He didn't feel as refreshed as he would like, but he had recovered enough. Becoming a mage helped improve his body's base capabilities. It wasn't by much, but Azra hoped it would be enough to last through the day.

Azra found Lo and Mirabelle arguing on the way to the fields between the village and the forest. He didn't intentionally hide his presence, but he also didn't shout or rush to catch up to them.

Since Lo was talking pretty heatedly, Azra heard what they were talking about, even from a distance.

"Mom! It's Erlo we're talking about here! I want to go and try to find him again!"

"I know that. I also know Erlo tore into your stomach last night. Who's to say that he won't do something like that to Melly if you try and bring him back before he's fine?"

"Ugh!"

Lo was stumped since he knew that Erlo, their childhood dog, was definitely not the same beast he had grown up with and that his mother was right when saying Erlo was a threat to Melly. However, Lo wasn't willing to give up just like that. While Lo was thinking about how to convince his mother or find another solution, he noticed Azra's approach.

Lo turned to Azra with a smile.

"You're awake already! How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing quite alright, thank you. It was a well-needed rest.

"I was about to look for something that I could help with when I overheard your discussion. I hope you don't mind. But what if I were to accompany your son?"

Azra directed his question to Mirabelle. She still looked hesitant, but Azra had demonstrated his willingness to help with Melly just more than an hour ago. Azra added a few more words to convince her.

"I might not be very good at combat as of right now, but I can at least make sure Lo stays healthy. And if we find Erlo, I can try to help him as well. I presume Erlo suffered from the effects of the Rage Powder?"

Mirabelle seemed to have accepted Azra's words as she allowed Lo to head into the woods as long as he promised to stay safe and make sure not to bring harm to Azra, his savior, and their guest.

Azra pulled up his hood as they walked to the forest. He saw some farmers already working the fields, either harvesting or preparing the ground for crops. If they saw Azra from a distance, they might mistakenly assume his gender. Azra wanted to wait until rumors spread about him before openly walking around without his hood.

Lo told Azra about Erlo while they walked, only occasionally stopping to wave at the farmers. Azra also waved to give off a friendly impression. He only hoped that his mysteriousness wouldn't backfire.

Azra wanted to know about Erlo, not for something as trivial as empathy toward Lo. He just wanted to be prepared for what they were looking for and what might attack them.

Lo's father had picked up Erlo during a trip to the forest. He had found Erlo abandoned by his family. If he hadn't brought Erlo back with him, Erlo would have died. And since he had been so cute as a puppy, no one objected.

By the time Erlo had grown into an appearance no longer cute, everyone had already been too attached to him. Even their neighbors appreciated Erlo since he ran around the village greeting everyone who dared to pet him. Erlo wasn't especially strong the last Lo saw of him, but he had been the village's official guard dog, and Lo's family hadn't been the only ones sad to see him go.

However, since the Rage Powder had spread throughout their plane, it was only a matter of time before Erlo went completely berserk and lost all his sense of reason. Since he posed such a danger, someone would have killed him. But it was obvious no one wanted to murder such a sweet puppy, so instead, they drove him off into the forest. They knew it might lead to a cruel death at the hands of another berserk beast, but it would at least spare Erlo from being killed by his family.

They were worried that Erlo might refuse or resent them since he had been abandoned by his family once already. But Erlo had willingly walked into the forest once he realized he wouldn't be able to stay sane.

The forest was already a complete mess due to all the beasts fighting. But the Rage Powder's effects had already mostly gone away by now. There were almost no berserk beasts left, but even those who were still without their reason were severely weakened.

For some beasts, the Powder's aftereffects were so strong they couldn't even move and died of starvation or thirst.

However, Erlo was still suffering from a loss of rationality if he was wild enough to attack Lo. But at least he was recovering. Otherwise, Erlo would have killed Lo instead of leaving after injuring him once.

Lo beamed with the hope that Erlo recognized him and escaped into the forest after he realized what he had done.

Azra wasn't as positive as Lo when they entered the forest of trees covered in thorns.