Finding Landria

They hadn't seen Landria come out of the forest all day.

"Let's wait for some time, maybe he will be back soon," Viktor said with a tone of optimism.

"Big brother Landria is strong, nothing bad can happen to him," Mira kept running about the place while giggling with some of her friends.

She didn't share in their worries. And how could she, after all, she was just a little older than seven years old. The others were considered old enough to feel something bad could have happened since this wasn't Landria's usual behavior.

Lyra decided to wait, hoping Landria would return soon.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. Before they knew it, up to two hours had gone by.

It was already nightfall and Landria still hadn't returned. At this point, Laura was already back home and had been brought up to speed about the current situation.

'I told him to always be careful and not travel too deep... What if he has been slain by a magical beast?' Laura tried as much as possible to remain calm but she couldn't help but be worried.

After waiting another hour and seeing that Landria hadn't returned, Laura began to mobilize the townfolks to help in searching for him.

Many of them came out of their homes in the middle of the night carrying wooden torches lit in flames. Laura was seen as a sort of leader in town since her former partner died for them so the town folks were willing to help look for Landria, especially after recalling that Landria also saved them.

The hunters divided the town folks into different search parties, making sure each search party consisted of an experienced hunter so they could avoid the beasts in different territories while also being able to cover most of the areas in the safe zone.

They searched till daybreak before everyone returned to their homes tired. Landria was still nowhere to be found.

-"He must have been eaten by a beast,"

-"There's no way he will survive in the Velves forest all night if he went beyond the safe zone,"

-"...He's a mage he might still be alive somewhere,"

The town folks had different speculations with some thinking he might be dead already and some thinking he might still be alive since he's a mage.

Laura was worried sick as she headed back home after thanking the town folks for their help. The instant she walked into the house she spotted the kids sitting in the living room.

They had been awake all night waiting for her return.

"Did they find him?" Mira was the first to voice out the moment Laura came in.

Laura shook her head, causing the kids to react with a crestfallen expression of disbelief.

"Big brother Landria will come back, I'm sure of it," Mira still seemed optimistic as she voiced out.

"He always goes beyond the safe zone maybe that's why they didn't find him," Viktor said with a look of contemplation.

"Yes I know that but I can't ask them to go beyond the safe zone. Even the safe zone of the forest is dangerous for normal people. No one will be willing to endanger their lives that way," Laura explained to the kids.

They looked even more crestfallen as they heard that but understood what Laura had just said.

"How do we find him then?" Mira asked with a teary look.

"...I... don't know..." Even Laura was at loss on what to do.

Knowing how powerless she was, going beyond the safe zone would be suicide for her especially if she decided to go alone since no one would be willing to accompany her.

She stared at the kids wondering what would become of them if she died there but at the same time she felt she couldn't just give up on searching for Landria that way.

Laura decided she would mobilize the town folks again by nightfall so they could search for Landria once more. She held on to hope, praying Landria was safe somewhere.

Laura had to close shop early for the day and she had barely had a wink of sleep for over a day. Everyone was worried including the kids.

The town folks agreed to search for Landria again on the second night but it yielded the same result as the previous one.

Laura couldn't even bring up the idea of anyone going beyond the safe zone knowing nobody would agree to help since it would lead to their death.

At this point, people were starting to get convinced that Landria might have already gotten eaten or killed by magical beasts. He had been missing for two nights in the Velves forest. If it was any other place they might still hold onto hope but this was a dangerous place.

The kids still believed that there was no way Landria would be dead after witnessing his magical prowess multiple times.

Even Laura was finding it hard to accept after recalling Landria saying he wouldn't go beyond what he could handle and he could always escape if the situation was beyond his control.

'If he's truly one of them, there's no way he would be so easy to kill... maybe he is in some kind of trouble,' Laura was feeling immensely troubled but she still believed Landria was still alive somewhere.

However, right now she didn't know what to do and it was already the third day since Landria had been gone.

Somewhere around noon, Lyra came over to the house. Laura was about to leave when Lyra arrived.

"Aunt Laura, we have to go beyond the safe zone to find Landria," She instantly voiced out the moment she walked in.

"What?" Laura voiced out in bewilderment.

"Since he went beyond the safe zone that is where we will find him," Lyra added.

"Yes... I mean no. Lyra there is no we here, you're just a child I won't let you anywhere beyond the safe zone," Laura voiced out while shaking her head.

"If we go together we can find him," Lyra stated with a confident tone.

"No Lyra. You're a child, stop looking to get yourself killed. Do your parents even know that you're harboring such insane thoughts?" Laura asked while turning down the offer without giving it a single thought.

"I didn't tell them I was coming here," Lyra answered.

"Go home," Laura felt grateful that she was willing to put herself in harm's way for Landria but this was something she would never allow.

If anything was to happen to Lyra she had no idea what she would tell her parents.

"Aunt Laura I have magic... and Landria has been teaching me how to use it," Lyra voiced out as she raised her palm.

Fhwooomm~

Blaring yellow flames appeared above her palm in the next instant.

Laura had a look of astonishment as she witnessed this.

"I can even make it ten times bigger than this if I want to but the house will get burnt," Lyra said before closing up her palm which caused the fire to disappear.

"Do your pa..." Just as Lyra was about to speak a loud bang was heard on the door.

It sounded extremely urgent and Laura moved to open the door.

It happened to be one of the town folks.

"They're here!" The middle-aged-looking man voiced out with a look of fright.