Chapter 131

"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Prince Leo asked Daryl as they walked while pointing ahead.

In front of them was a waterfall trickling fresh water down into a clear pool among the rocks. The water was fresh and warm causing steam to rise into the air. It was being warmed by the mana crystals in the ground above. Combined with the underground greenery it had formed its own natural out door hot spring.

"Looks like we can take a break here and wash up before moving forward." Daryl said as he placed his hand in the water feeling the warmth from the water. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a nervous looking Zoe at the mention of water.

"Finally! We can clean ourselves up!" Prince Leo was ecstatic at the idea of washing himself off with the water. Not being use to the heavy amount of dirt that was on him the idea of cleaning up was something that he could consider missing about the palace back home.

Daryl turned and followed the others off to bathe out of sight. The body of water was large enough that it could almost be mistaken for a lake. There would be plenty of space for them to carefully clean up without disturbing each other as long as they were aware of their surroundings to not be attacked by wild beasts.

As Vorbuk watched the others except Zoe rush off to take care of themselves he morphed into his human form and stood beside the girl. She rid herself of the nervous expression and looked at him as if she wanted to ask what the wolf could possibly want with her.

"You're not that great with water, right?" Vorbuk bluntly asked her. He knew his question might come off as rude but he knew she was probably uncomfortable with the filth on her.

"Have you ever met a cat that liked it?!" Zoe retorted his question with an expression as if she wanted to scold him for bringing it up.

"I just thought-!" Vorbuk wasn't sure how to respond to her outburst. Guilt started to rise in him as he felt bad for some reason for even bringing it up at all. "I'm sorry that was rude of me.."

"Yes, it was." Zoe whipped her head to look away from him. Her ears twitching as she could hear the others joyously cleaning themselves off out of sight from where they were.

"If you want," Vorbuk knew as the only girl that she could not clean up around the others since they were all men. Though with her fear of water it would be difficult for her to do so alone. "I can stand guard for you."

"You-" Zoe started to say something but he spoke too quickly for her.

"You obviously want to clean up as well," He closed his eyes as he spoke calmly. "I stand away from you. I will just keep watch and if something happens you can call out. I'm just doing you a favor as a friend!"

"... Alright." Zoe hesitated to reply but in the end she accepted his offer. It was true that the filth made her uncomfortable and she felt cleaning up was more important. If it was someone else she would have refused but she did not feel like Vorbuk would betray her trust.

In the end Vorbuk found himself standing a distance away from the others with Zoe. His back facing her direction as he stood far enough away from her to keep her comfortable while avoiding her direction. His ears flicked as he could hear her using her hands to scoop and wash herself down with the warm water carefully.

"So how do you know Daryl?" Vorbuk asked her casually in attempt to make their situation less awkward. Given their situation he felt like he could make small talk with her to ease the strange tension. He was not interested in Zoe in the slightest and only saw her as a companion during their time together but that did not mean the situation was any more comfortable.

"... I met him when I was still just a child and he was a young adventurer visiting our small village." Zoe's words were calm but something about it felt heavy to Vorbuk.

"You grew up together?" Vorbuk asked.

"Not exactly," She sighed with a faint smile as she thought back on her past. "Its a bit more like he has always taken care of me. I was targeted by a nobleman at the time for my ability with light and Daryl happened to witness the situation. He saved me.."

"You guys doing alright over there?!" Daryl's voice could be heard calling out to them from the distance where the others were.

"Yea, all good!" Vorbuk shouted back over towards them before turning back to ask Zoe. "You about done."

"Yes, as you said 'all good'." Zoe smiled as she stepped up to Vorbuk from behind with a smile.

They began walking back side by side to the group. No matter how much Vorbuk thought about it he was amazed with how closed off the girl seemed to be from others. She was not one who spoke to others that often unless she was spoken to first. Though when it came to the mention of Daryl it was like she brightened up a bit more.

"There you guys are! Daryl is cooking with a fire right now." Prince Leo said while the three of them glanced over at where Daryl was taking advantage of Bredret to turn the dragon into his personal lighter with Bredret's fire to make a small pit to cook.

"What is he cooking? We lost most of our supplies because of that tiger." Vorbuk couldn't help but ask where he possibly found food down in the dungeon.

"That..." Prince Leo leaned in closer to him to answer. "He's cooking scorpion."

"What?" Vorbuk's face darkened for a moment before being shaken back awake by Daryl's shout.

"I told you it's fine! They are edible and similar to jerky!" Daryl scolded the prince for his ignorance. Having traversed the twelve kingdoms on his own over the years he was well versed in cooking beasts as a means of food. He would just avoid telling the prince ahead of time that scorpion gave off a slight fish taste.

Zoe would probably enjoy this. That simple thought crossed Daryl's mind for a moment without his own realizing it.

"At least we can eat something. After being on the run for so long we could all use the food." Vorbuk said before morphing back into his wolf form and walking towards the fire to watch Daryl cook.

"When was I complaining?" The prince protested.

"Just forget about that for now before you really cause him to get upset with you." Vorbuk said to Leo as the prince followed him from behind.

Everyone sat around the fire and watched Daryl quietly. In the silence Zoe sang to herself while the others listened. The sounds of crackling fire and the smell of warm food. It was something they had not been able to do for a while together. There might have been more of them from when they first started out traveling together but that did not matter. In the moment they were calm and enjoying the peace.