Chapter 159: Zoo Keepers

"You ready to move?" Kayda asked me, looking at me squatting on the ground, busy making some tools.

"Almost just making the last few bullets," I said, nodding.

"Now that I think of it. How long can you hold your invisible mana." Kayda asked, looking back at the forest.

"Depends on what I make with it if I have a sword, 30 seconds tops. Small dagger long enough to throw and kill something 5 meters away. Wires 4 minutes also depend on how many wires and the length of the wire. But that is just a few seconds difference." I explained thoughtfully.

"Hmm, not bad, but you can do better than that, kitsu," Kayda said sternly.

"I know I can. I just run out of mana really quickly." I muttered, a bit annoyed at her tone.

"We need to work on your mana recovery," Kayda repeated soundly like a tape recorder.

"I know we do. I don't know how, though." 

"meditate for starters."

"not going to work. You know how my brain works." I said, narrowing my eyes at her.

"... sigh, you at least need to try and figure something out," Kayda said, trying to sound sincere.

"Kayda, I have been thinking about how to do that for ages. Nothing will work except getting better at mana control and having more of it." I explained, getting up and dusting my hands off.

"So you kind of forcing it," Kayda said, nodding thoughtfully.

"yeah, if you want to look at it like that," I said, shrugging.

"sigh, kitsu, do you remember the reason why we are on this trip? Well, the main reason." Kayda asked, crossing her arms and looking up at me.

"for me to learn more things," I said, annoyed.

"yes, it's for you to learn and grow. That includes your mind." Kayda said sternly.

"There is nothing wrong with my mind," I muttered, glaring at her.

"Right," Kayda said, throwing something white in front of me.

"See, you didn't even look at what it was and lit it to blaze because it's white," Kayda said, pointing at the ash on the ground.

"no, I didn't do that," I said, looking away from the ash.

"Kitsu, don't try and ignore this," Kayda said worriedly.

'I already know that, kayda. Meditation is just something I can't do. Too many demons.' I thought, grunting in annoyance.

"Hey, say something, fox," Kayda said, annoyed at me, ignoring her.

"oh, our first meal is here," I said, flipping some throwing knives into the bush.

Ugh!

Gra!

Urk!

"The poor goblins didn't even want to fight," Kayda said, seeing three bodies fall out of the bush.

"And the orcs heading this way?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"ah, that's true," Kayda said, humming.

"first layer of the dead forest mostly consists of goblins, orcs, kobolds and lizardmen. Although they are different races, they like it a lot to work together, or so I have been told." I explained, holding my chin and humming.

"that's correct, though. There are way more races. They also have their own towns in the forest, but as the nature of monsters is to kill, many wars happen inside the forest between towns." Kayda explained, making me more confused than enlightened.

"This forest gets more and more fascinating the more I hear about it," I said, laughing.

"Yes, and very annoying."

"right, so is there a war going on, seeing as the forest is more unstable," I said, looking at her for confirmation.

"yes, but this one is way bigger than usual. We also don't know why it's on a bigger scale than normally." Kayda said, sighing in annoyance.

"so we need to investigate that," I said, nodding.

"yes, but we already have assumptions about what is happening here." 

"that the more powerful monster came down the mountain? Do they come down to the weaker part of the forest, though?" I said, narrowing my eyes at the mountains in the distance. Something even I could barely see.

"Usually they won't, but we suspect something else chose to come to the forest somewhere, so everything is riled up and scared," I explained, sighing dishearted.

"so the scary cats are the ones coming down?" I said, amused.

"pretty much, yeah." 

"but then why is the main focus in the lower section of the forest?" 

"Huh, kitsu, why should we do something to a powerful monster that will cost military lives when the civilians are our main priority?" Kayda asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, I don't know. Because it might become a danger in the future." I said, looking at kayda like she was dumb with an orc head in hand.

"that is true, but that's only in the future. The immediate threat must always be handled first." Kayda said, pointing out the logical answer.

"And that is the towns?"

"yes and no, it's more the powerful monsters that came down from the mountain. Those with enough intelligence to coordinate multiple towns to work together." Kayda explained.

"ah, the intelligent ones, yes, they are a pain," I said, nodding like I understood what she meant.

"kitsu to your right."

"I know," I said, looking at the dark wolf jumping out of the woods just to get sliced up into thousands of pieces.

"Ugh, we are not going to spar anymore, Kitsu," Kaydfa said, flabbergasted.

"huh!? Why? Did I do something?"

"Yes, your invisible mana is annoying, and I will need my carpet to feel them," Kayda said, pointing at the bloody wires in the air.

"but I can't use mana when your carpet is active."

"I know, so we are learning that today," Kayda said with a tone with little to argue.

"but it's a date, though."

"No, it's an investigation, not a date."

"No, this is a time just for the two of us, no teaching, just walking around," I said, determent.

"and killing everything we see. Fine, I will drop it then." Kayda said, sighing again.

"When you are open again, we can do that, okay," I said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Okay," Kayda said with a small smile.

"Oh, look at these two different symbols," I said, noticing some cloth on the orc's shoulders with some weird symbols on it.

"ah, seems we found the town that is working together," Kayda said, ripping the cloth of the corpses.

"Sometimes I really hate my lick," I muttered, dissatisfied.

"why?"

"I always get into something we need to fix. It's never something we can just leave. So annoying." I said, frustratedly stomping the ground.

"hmm, I guess that's true. It seems the blood bear town and blood wolf are working together." Kayda said, looking at the two symbols on the cloth.

"Who named them that?" I said, annoyed at the naming sense.

"Don't have a clue who thought out these names," Kayda said, shrugging.

"Ugh, whatever, so what now. Seeing as you know the towns, will we go and destroy it?"

"no, no, of course not. These towns might be a hassle, but destroying them makes more problems."

"why?"

"If we destroy them, who takes their lands? Not us, but a neighbour town does and with more land, the stronger they get." Kayda explained with some vocal hand gestures.

"oh, so the more towns there are, the easier it is to keep them in check. I see, I see. Then what are we going to do."

"Well, as much as I said, we will need to get into the towns to find the commander and kill it," Kayda said, not looking at me.

"so we are still attacking the town but not destroying it? that sounds fun." I said, nodding with a grin pointing at the symbols kayda was holding.

"Well, not entirely you can go as crazy as you want, but no hunting down them. Okay, if they run, leave them," Kayda explained sternly, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Hmm, okay, so what direction are we going in? Where is the nearest town?" I asked happily and pumped for a fight.

"I don't know. We need to get information first." Kayda said, sounding as if I should have known.

"what do you mean you don't know?" I asked, confused, raising an eyebrow at her.

"kitsu, I don't think you realize how many towns there are in this dumb forest. Why the hell will I know where all the towns are." Kayda said, sighing.

"Well, it's not like they are new towns," I said, tilting my head at her.

"That is true. They are some of the oldest towns, but towns do tend to move around every year at least twice."

"ah, that makes sense, so do we need to get the supervisor for this?"

"yes, give me a sec. I will call him here," Kayda said, spreading her mana.

Supervisors of the Dead Forest are like zoo keepers, just looking after monsters. They have a serpent area they must look after and ensure everything moves like usual. If needed, they will have to clean some bodies. But most of the time, they need to kill hordes of monsters which is why they primarily consist of special-grade soldiers.