Chapter 10 Twelve Years Later

It's now been twelve years since Astra and Ana have accepted me and a lot of things have happened. The most notable would be Astra and Ana have finally gotten control of their elements. It turned out that my idea to limit their mana actually worked. By limiting the mana they had they were able to control it. Then by slowly increasing the amount of mana they were able to adapt. It took just around eleven years though since they had a large amount of mana and it just kept growing as they aged.

The next thing to note is once again about Ana and Astra. They have a humanoid form with fox ears and a fox tail. The color of their hair and eyes matches their fur. It happened when they turned 15 so two years ago. On a side note both of them are just three years younger than me. Anyways on the day they turned 15 they had awoken with humanoid forms. It was really shocking to see two fox kin and not foxes. I got used to it and luckily they were able to change back. They look very beautiful in their humanoid forms. According to them all of their clan can change into humanoids, but prefer to be foxes.

As such they like to stay in their fox forms most of the time. However they will go into their humanoid forms when they feel like it. The only problem with that is they don't have any clothes so they are naked when they transform. It has honestly been tough not making a move on either of them. The only thing stopping me is that I don't want to ruin our current relationship.

The final thing worthy of note is that we figured out that we have a connection. To be more precise our mana is linked. I think it happened during the time when I drained their mana to help them. Either way it allows us to use each other's mana, yet we haven't really tried anything with it. We just figured out that it is there. If you're wondering why we haven't done anything well there is an answer. That is that we don't know what will happen. This means something bad could happens to our mana if we do something wrong, and without mana we would all be very weak in the Forest of Calamity.

That's all the notable things that have happened to Ana and Astra. For me there is nothing too outstanding. I haven't created any new spells as there has been no need for that. My mana quality and quantity has improved once again. It is getting closer to Ana and Astras mana, but there seems to be a bottleneck. It's like the surroundings can't replace my mana anymore since they have the same quality. The only big thing that really happens is I am now able to hunt in the beastmen zone. I no longer need to use my hiding spell, and while there are still some demonic beasts I can't beat the majority are winnable against.

While I say winnable that doesn't necessarily mean I will come out unscathed. I may be bedridden for weeks if I fight the wrong opponent. In fact that has happened multiple times and I had to rely on Ana and Astra during those times. They were not as strong as me and were only able to hunt in the outer edges of the human zone though. However once they got control over their elements that changed. With their elements they are also able to effectively hunt in the beast men zone. If all of us combine our strength, I think that no demonic beast in the beast men zone would be our match.

The house or cave has also been expanded once more. All of us now have our own separate section in which we can do what we want. The kitchen is still in its usual spot. The storage room was placed further underground to help keep the food cold. It had also been expanded since we now had three people. I also created a shower room. I say shower room, but it is just an area with a drain where we can go to wash ourselves. The water is still coming from the stream, but the stream has been expanded to the point where it can be called a river. There have definitely been some other things that have happened, yet none of it is really that important to say.

I have started to get bored of staying here. Life is so repetitive and nothing new really happens. It wasn't boring while I was weak, but I would have died if I made the wrong move. I have definitely thought many times of leaving the forest. The only thing really keeping me here is that I can't blend in with the other humans and Ana and Astra. Speaking of Ana and Astra they should be back by now. I'll go look for them and if they are alright then I'll leave.

"O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself."

It has really been a long time since I have used that spell. I've mainly been using my spell sword, reinforcement spell, and some wind blades. I haven't really needed to use much else when fighting. Part of it is due to my strength, while the other part is due to my experience. I've been fighting for over 15 years so I have learned some sword techniques. I would probably not win against a real SwordMaster though since I am not properly trained.

Anyways, I should really not be sidetracked and go looking. Even though I know that they should be able to escape if push comes to shove I still went and looked for them. It took some time, but I found them. They were just fighting a group of demonic beasts in their fox forms. I guess they got ambushed on their way back and that was why they took longer. I decided to watch over the fight, as I still felt uneasy for some reason.

Nothing happened though. Ana and Astra were able to win, and quite easily if I may add. They then began to store the bodies. They might have been talking, but I was too far away to hear them. If I reinforced my ears I would probably be able to hear, but I want to respect their privacy. Even though they clearly won, the nagging feeling just wouldn't go away. It was telling me that something was going to happen and I would regret not being here.

Luckily I had trusted my instincts as something did happen. From the bushes a group of foxes began to emerge. It seemed to be a group of five and all of them had a rainbow covered coat. Even though I hadn't seen them before I instantly recognized them as the rainbow fox clan. I was told a little bit about the clan from Ana and Astra so I was pretty confident. The two groups then began to talk. I reinforced myself, mainly around the ears so I could hear what they were saying.

"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself."

"I didn't expect to see you two still alive." The rainbow fox in front said. I assumed that this rainbow fox was the leader of this group.

"So we lived. What's it to you Watson?" Astra replied. It seemed like they knew each other. Wait what am I talking about? Of course they knew each other. They're kids who grew up in the same clan.

"Come on Astra, don't be so cold. You're a fire fox."

"So what is it that you want Watson."

"Oh whatever could you mean?"

"You wouldn't just talk to us for no reason."

"Wait Astra. He may just want to catch up. We have been gone for twelve years." Ana cut in.

"I highly doubt that Ana. You also should know what type of person he is so you should know too."

"Okay then. What I want is really simple. It is to kill you both."

I immediately froze when I heard those words. Kill them, why would someone who grew up together say something like that. I apparently wasn't the only one shocked. Both Ana and Astra seemed as shocked as me when they heard it. Actually not really. They seemed more like they had expected this.

"This again Watson. You should know that killing us won't make the king look upon you more favorably."

"That would normally be the case. Expect you two are not regular rainbow foxes. Well no point explaining to those who would end up dead. Guys surround them. Make sure they can't escape. I'll handle the rest."

With that being said the four other foxes surround Ana and Astra. They each take one of the cardinal directions leaving Watson and them in the middle. I wanted to rush over there and help them, but decided to watch over instead. They obviously had some history, and I wasn't about to get in the way. Unless of course Ana and Astra were on the verge of death. In that case, then I would go and help them out.

While these thoughts were going through my mind the battle had started. Watson has started the battle by firing a water spell towards Astra. No chants were needed for them since they were demonic beasts. Ana then altered the trajectory and made the spell hit the ground prematurely. While Ana was doing that Astra fired her own fire spell towards Watson. Watson uses an earth spell to block the fire spell, but the fire spell overpowers his earth spell. Watson the dodgers the incoming fire spell and fires his own fire spell toward Ana.

This time Astra altered the trajectory and made the spell hit the ground while Ana fires a water spell at Watson. Watson once again tries to block it with an earth spell, but once again gets overpowered and has to dodge. It seems very clear that both Ana and Astra are winning the fight, but my instincts still told me to stay. After Watson dodged the water spell he fired two wind spells at both of them. They can't control the wind so they opt to dodge while counter attacking with their own spells. Watson then layers multiple earth spells as protection and they block the spells sent his way.

Watson then fires multiple wind spells at both Ana and Astra, restricting their movements heavily. He also blocks all attacks sent his way with multiple earth spells. At this rate he would be the one to win this duel. Ana and Astra must also feel this way as they don't dodge and begin to prepare. Mana begins to converge on them while they are being assaulted by wind blades. Even though they are being constantly attacked, they still continue to gather mana for a big spell. I think Watson also realizes this as he gets more frantic with his spells.

"Guys help me deal with them or we will all be killed by their spells."

He even turns to his goons to help home when he said earlier that he would handle the rest. As such they are bombarded by multiple wind and earth spells. Even if they were able to get their spell off in time, I doubt they would be able to survive afterwards. They already have so many wounds from the countless spells they took. After this battle I would have to nurse them. I am not going to interfere though.

Then after a couple minutes they have finally finished their spells. Astra releases an absurd amount of fire from the sky. Ana on the other hand releases literal waves of water. Astra's rain if fire forces the foxes to flee, while Ana's waves of water force them away. Once they are down though they collapse on the ground. They most definitely collapsed from exhaustion. I stopped channeling my hiding spell and went towards them. They immediately came to alert, but relaxed when they saw me.

"Sylvi."

"Sylvain."

They both began to speak, but I cut them off.

"Whatever you want to say can wait until we are in the cave. I would like to hear a full explanation, but you first need to be healed."

"Okay Sylvi."

"Thank you Sylvain."

"Okay great that you understand. First I'll hide us all so the demonic beast won't smell your blood and think of us as easy prey. Then I'll carry you both back to the cave. O spell of wind flow around our bodies to hide ourselves."

After changing the spell to make sure that it works on multiple people I changed it. Instantly wind surrounds all three of us and hides us from view. Then I pick both of them up. While they are not light, I have gotten stronger during my stay here so it was easy to carry them back to the cave. Then I began cleaning and bandaging all of their cuts. I know that I should create a spell that can help heal. In fact I have tried many times, but it just wouldn't work. I guess healing spells aren't compatible with the wind element. I could probably try something with the water element, but again I don't know what could happen so I would rather not.

Besides they would heal very quickly as they are demonic beasts. It is seriously unfair that when they get injured it takes them only a day to get better. It takes me on the other hand anywhere from a few days to a couple of months depending on the injury. This is also taking into account that I am a mana rich environment that facilitates healing. If I wasn't in the Forest of Calamity then the time it would take for me to heal would be much longer. It's also not like this is a bad thing, but it still is really unfair.

While thinking of all these things I finished cleaning and bandaging them. I then carried each of them into their own rooms and let them rest on their beds. I then went to the entrance of the cave to stand guard. This is just in case some demonic beast smelled their blood and was able to bypass the boundary. While this is very unlikely it could happen, and I don't want them to die just because I didn't do something. Once the moon was high in the sky I went back into the cave.

I brought both of them out of their rooms and took off their blood soaked bandages. Once they were off the wounds on them had shrunk considerably. I then started to clean their wound again. Once that was done I rebandaged them and brought them back into their beds. This is something that we have all done many times as we have gotten hurt many times over these last twelve years.

With my reminiscing done I once again headed to the entrance of the cave to stand guard. The morning would come soon and when it did I would get some answers. For now though I can be happy that my new family is safe and that I trusted my instincts.