First Beast

"I see."

Twells nodded after finally understanding the gravity of the possible situation Azra had foreseen. Mahenny was a little slower, but he also eventually grasped the situation and gaped as he stared at Azra's grave face.

Seeing that Twells was watching up, Azra leaned back in the sofa, but he kept a serious expression as he waited for Twells to speak.

"I think I need to consider this matter carefully before making any decisions. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, both of you."

Twells only looked up at Azra and Mahenny for a few moments before sinking back into deep thought after speaking. He didn't explicitly tell them to leave, but Azra didn't mind as he stood up and pulled Mahenny along with him as he left the village chief's house.

After Azra and Mahenny were outside the office, Twells spoke to the empty room,

"What do you think?"

Twells' words met with a click as a section of the wall opposite the door opened and turned around, revealing an apron-clad chestnut-haired lady. The lady stepped forward, letting the wall turn back into its rightful position.

"About the boy or his conjectures?"

"Both, I guess."

Twells stoic and thoughtful expression disappeared as he turned to his wife, Ida. He looked concernedly at her as he continued.

"I don't know what to think, but Azra seems like a bright and trustworthy young man."

"Yeah, unless he's pulling that stuff out of his ass, I'll at least agree with you that he seems pretty smart. He had, like, what? A night to realize the possible consequences of the plane's supposed recovery."

"Isn't that a good thing? He warned us about it, after all?"

"Might be. But it seems a little suspicious. We'll have to keep an eye out, but for now, let's assume 'Azra's' guesses will come true and prepare for that."

Ida stood behind Twells and placed her hands on his bald head as she leaned down and kissed him.

"Don't worry, Bunbun. I'll protect you if he turns out to be dangerous."

Twells looked at his wife with loving eyes.

"Thank you, honey."

After leaving the village chief's house and regrouping with Tissa, Azra and Mahenny went back to Mahenny's farm to continue what they had started the day before, preparing the place for the beasts Lo would bring back.

Mahenny was still in a little shock and was processing what Azra had said during their meeting with the village chief, so he spent most of the walk in silence.

When they arrived at the farm again, Mahenny patted Azra's shoulder.

"You're pretty bright, huh? Well, just continue cleaning and inspecting for now. There shouldn't be much left to do until we can begin keeping beasts here."

Mahenny still looked to be deep in thought as he and Tissa went off to continue replacing rusted or rotten equipment and begin preparing the stables for the first beasts.

Azra's words had rattled Mahenny's brain, but it didn't change what he had to do. If anything, it only made Mahenny want to complete it faster and begin reinforcing his barn and stables, despite not being entirely sure Azra's words would come true. But since Azra had spoken with such zeal and concern, Mahenny didn't want to dismiss what he had said.

Mahenny went to check on the fodder he had remaining in storage to see if it was still fit for consumption, while Azra began a second check on the stables to make sure he hadn't missed anything yesterday.

However, before either of them could get to it and begin doing what they had to, they were interrupted by a string of several loud barks that echoed from the path to the village.

Azra and Mahenny naturally reacted and looked for the source of the sound, which was Erlo, unsurprisingly.

Azra and Mahenny looked at each other before Azra quickly realized what was going on and took off in a sprint to meet up with Erlo and follow him to the entrance of the village.

Erlo didn't wait for Azra, and there was no way Azra could keep up with Erlo, who was two levels above him and a wild beast specialized in physical prowess. Erlo only occasionally stopped to make sure Azra was still following him.

Thankfully, Mahenny's farm wasn't located too far from the village, and the village was pretty small, so despite his lacking physical abilities, Azra managed to run all the way to where Lo was waiting for them.

Azra had guessed correctly, and Lo and Erlo had somehow already managed to bring back their target. However, their target wasn't very compliant, and despite Lo trying to shove the remaining sedatives down its throat, the horse was on the verge of waking up.

The tremors and power of the enraged horse spread through the earth as it floundered on the ground, trying to get up from the stretcher Lo and Erlo had dragged it on.

The horse was quickly coming to and waking up. And based on the froth dripping from its mouth, the twitching eyes, and the jerking head that had already tried to bite Lo three times in the time Azra was close enough to observe, he had to act quickly.

Despite being winded, Azra dashed the remaining distance to help Lo with the horse. However, he wasn't quite fast enough, and neither was Lo since he couldn't avoid the horse's next attempt to bite the sedative-carrying hand.

The horse's jaws snapped shut on Lo's arm, quickly drawing blood. The taste of blood only seemed to enrage the horse further as it struggled more fiercely than before and tried to free itself of the restraints without letting go of Lo.

Azra was about to rush and help Lo get free, but Erlo was quicker and swiped at the horse's armor-clad snout. The blow worsened Lo's injury, but it at least made the horse let go of him.

Lo clutched his arm and backed away, signaling for Azra to prioritize the horse. Despite being severely injured, Lo managed to keep a relatively calm mind as he knew that the horse getting free was a lot worse than the injury on his arm.

Azra once again thought that despite being younger than Kyle, Lo was a lot better. But he quickly refocused on the horse as he began sending a stream of divine power toward it while concentrating on keeping an image to purge the remnant Rage Powder from its body.

Since Azra had to stand outside the floundering horse's range, his divine power wasn't as effective as he would have liked, and it took a lot of mana and time until his magic showed some effect.

However, it was at that time the villagers began gathering, so they didn't see Azra's magic being useless. They saw him struggling to get closer to the enraged and furiously rampaging but half-tied-down horse.

And his magic, the golden and soft radiance, quickly showed an effect.

The horse calmed down.

Azra's magic began moving the Rage Powder reducing its effect on the horse, and the horse's blood stopped surging, finally allowing the heap of sedatives to take effect.

However, Azra couldn't be sure that the horse would stay sedated when it was about to experience the purification of the Rage Powder in its body.