Irregularities in the forest

Not long after they arrived at their hideout, the three grabbed tools that were created using the resources found in the forest before heading downstream to a more peaceful and quiet place further away from the waterfall in order to partake in the test of patience. Aka, they were going fishing.

As they had done quite a few times before, the three sat down on the riverside, each with their own fishing rods, as they waited, with only the shade of the trees and the cool breeze to keep them company. Below them, the only things they were able to see were the reflection of the clear river and the sound of the calm river flowing downhill.

Not long after they began fishing, Jude felt as if something was missing, and so to liven up the atmosphere, he decided to add his own talents that would put classical talents such as Luciano Pavarotti and Pablo Picasso to shame.

"Baby Fish, doo doo doo Baby Fish, doo doo doo Baby Fish, doo doo doo Come to me!"

5 minutes later,

"Mommy Fish, doo doo doo Mommy Fish, doo doo doo Mommy Fish, doo doo doo Come to me!"

10 minutes later,

"Daddy Fish, doo doo doo Daddy Fish, doo doo doo Daddy Fish, doo doo doo Come to me!"

30 minutes later,

"Baby Fish, doo doo doo Mommy Fish, doo doo doo Daddy Fish, doo doo doo Come to me!"

In times of need, when facing the unknown, to cope humans know only one thing, and that is to prey. Unfortunately, preying didn't work here.

30 minutes later, with no fish in sight, Julius, for the first time since they started fishing, broke his silence,

"You know, perhaps the reason we aren't catching any fish is because of your singing."

"Un, Sera who was fishing while sitting next to Julius instinctively nodded her as if it was the right thing to do.

"Eh? Are you guys saying that my singing is bad?"

"Yes, but that wasn't my point. What's the point of fishing at a quiet place like this if you're just going to ruin it?"

"Fine, I'll stop; it's your guy's loss anyways."

...

With only the sounds of the river flowing and the birds chirping, peace had finally returned to the three of them. Surely this would solve their problem.

5 minutes later,

"..."

10 minutes later,

"..."

30 minutes later,

"..."

30 minutes passed by in the blink of an eye and still no fish in sight.

"See, I told you my singing wasn't the problem."

"If you thought your singing was helping, then you're delusional."

While the two young men were bickering with each other, Sera, who was seated to the right, was deep in thought about another matter.

"Uh big brother"

"Un, what's wrong? If it's about how weird the forest is, then you don't need to say anything, I already noticed."

Similar to his instinct ever since entering the forest, Jude's intuition, which originally started out as a slight discomfort, was now starting to make his head itch.

Jude and Sera weren't the only ones who noticed something was wrong either.

"I felt something was wrong on our way here when we didn't run to find any animals or monsters despite walking with caution."

Jude agreed by nodding his head before adding on,

"The horned rabbit that attacked us was acting odd as well. They are usually always in groups, and while fighting it, the rabbit felt as if it was both enraged and wary of us."

Although at first Jude wasn't too bothered with the odd state of the forest, now with everything that happened, along with the lack of fish swimming down the river, minute by minute, Jude's wariness and discomfort were slowly rising.

"I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this place. Let's head back."

*******

With the three of them coming to an agreement, they quickly went back to the hideout to return their tools such as their fishing rod before heading back to town.

The three of them followed the same route, over the same rough terrain, while listening to the same birds chirping. Unfortunately for the three of them, the trip back wasn't quite as easy as when they had originally left town earlier in the day.

as if fate was against them.

"Jude, do you hear it?"

"Yeah, it's fast."

What they heard was the sound of running, but unfortunately for them, it was not the sound of a human running, as not long after, behind the bush that they were facing, a four-legged monster with red eyes appeared.

KAAAAGH-!!

"A Grey wolf?"

"Serara get behind me"

"Un"

Jude and Julius quickly drew their weapons as Sera positioned herself behind them for protection. Not long after, the wolf, impatient, decided to bounce at them with its teeth protruding, to which Julius responded by taking a step forward with his short sword held in front of him.

With Julius having the aggro over the monster, right before the wolf was about to jump on Julius, Jude from the side threw his dagger, hitting the monster directly in the neck, completely killing its momentum.

GAAAGH!!

Unlike last time with the horned rabbit, one direct hit with a dagger wasn't enough to finish it off, but fortunately, with the wolf on the ground writhing in pain, it wasn't hard for Julius to use his sword to give it the finishing blow.

"Not bad, sir knight."

"It's the same as with the rabbit; it seemed agitated and also enraged."

"Yeah, let's get back and report to the adults before another one appears."

In spite of the fact that they would probably get in trouble for sneaking out of town, with how odd the forest was, it wouldn't be right for them to keep their mouth shut and remain quiet.

Better safe than sorry, especially considering this could be quite a serious matter.

The trio nodded their heads in agreement before continuing on their path home, and fortunately, not long after, they were able to return to the town of Shura without running into any problems.

"Ai, what are you kids doing out here?"

This time instead of sneaking back into town they allowed themselves to be caught by the adults before being set free after they explained the situation.

"I'll explain what happened to my father, and we could leave the rest to the adults."

"K, I leave the rest to you."

Julius smiled before waving his hand as he parted ways with both the orphaned siblings.

Ba-thump, Ba-thump, Ba-thump,

Although they had agreed to leave the rest to the adults, so why,

(Why do I feel so uneasy?)