บท 6: Greenery of Lunin

Justice was still blushing. Even though the scene with Kaname was over, and a new scene where they were standing in the rubble of the cave had just started. He still remained blushing.

"Justice, what's wrong? You look a little flustered."

"N–Nothing! We still need to focus current situation."

"Wooowww! I can't believe that you guys were able to block against my attack! I'm impressed! How about another one?"

Agiel's sword becomes shrouded with her Demonic energy again.

"Nope——! Perfect Unro!"

Agiel lowers her sword and the black Aura dissipates into thin air. She gets confused as she didn't know what happened. She was about to fire her beam, but then, all of a sudden, they disappear, which was why she was confused. Sakaki used a ninjutsu spell which rendered everyone on his side invisible to others.

"Sakaki what did you do?"

"I used one of my Ninja spells to turn us invisible. We need to leave this place now. We become visible again once I run out of Mana to use."

"Right!"

They take their leave, without Agiel even knowing about it. Everyone starts following Sakaki, as he found a new base to hide in. Hours after their initial departure, they come across a forest. Surprisingly, this forest was very lively. It had a clear water lake, both old and young trees basking in the bright sunlight, and animals living everywhere. This was one of the only places that were not affected by Yaldabaoth's attack.

Yaldabaoth had attacked the entire world, but by comparison, Lunin — the country where his attack started, had the most damage done. The forest that they're at, is definitely in Lunin. Yet, it didn't look like it had sustained any damage when compared to the Capital. Sakaki starts looking around the place like he was confused.

"Is this the place, Sakaki?"

"No . . . But I think this might be a good place to rest."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Clearly, this place hasn't been affected, which means that Yaldabaoth's army hasn't been able to reach this area."

"Isn't that a little suspicious? There's no way Yaldabaoth's army missed a single spot in Lunin."

"Maybe you're right. It sort of is a little suspicious."

"But, I kind of agree with Sakaki, Justice. During the battle with Agiel and the Demons, we all sustained a lot of injuries. I say that we stay here for a bit, heal up, and then resume our journey."

"I guess you're not wrong, Kaname."

"Everybody!!! Look!!!"

The usually silent Tenma speaks.

She starts pointing at some trees, which everyone ignored at first but soon came to realize that she was pointing at something beyond the trees, and wasn't playing around. For them, it was a little hard to see, but they saw a woman crouched, not on purpose, though. She was weakened. Various different animals, such as birds, rabbits, butterflies, and deers were surrounding her. They weren't harming her, however. But, it looked like they were doing something with her right arm.

Then they saw it.

Her right arm was covered by blood — her own. Her vein was cut, causing blood to gush out, and cover her. The animals weren't harming her, but the complete opposite, they were attempting to tend to her wound, albeit, very badly. They were animals, after all. It wasn't their fault that they were failing at healing her.

——!!

Justice and Kaname run towards her, which scares all of the animals off. Justice grabs onto the woman's arm, while Kaname started saying an incantation to heal it.

"What are you two do—"

"Please, just stay still, we're trying to help you—!"

Since they were close enough to her, it was easy to tell that she was a Demi-Human. A Demi-Human is a humanoid that's half-human and half-animal. Though it was hard to tell which animal she was, she had cat ears and a cat tail. Which went very well with her Yellowish-Greenish hair, and rosy complexion. All of her features had traces of either an Animal, or Nature. It was as if she was someone created by Mother Nature herself.

The woman pulls herself away and summons a bow in her hands after the two were finished healing her wound. She also summons an arrow and aims the bow at them.

"Who are you two—— and why did you suddenly help me?!"

"We—— decided to help because you were injured."

"No Humans would go out of their way to heal an injured Demi-Human! You clearly want something from me!"

"We don't need anything from you, though."

"Then why would you help me?"

"Because . . . it's our job to help people in need."

She lowers her bow and mutters "Really . . ?" to herself.

"We finally found you guys!"

Kaname and Justice hear a familiar voice behind them. It was Sakaki, he was smiling because he managed to find them. In his arms was Tenma, who, like Sakaki, was also smiling because they found them.

"She thought you guys ditched us, so she started to cry."

The woman raises her bow and prepares to shoot arrows at all of them.

"So you're trying to outnumber me now?"

"Hm? Justice, Kaname, who's she?"

"She's the person we ran over to heal after Tenma told us to look."

"Really? Then why is she planning to deliver arrows to our heads? I personally think she should be at least a little loyal."

"Tch."

She looked a little guilty and lowered her bow. And, then she started to blush because of embarrassment. She was embarrassed due to what Sakaki said.

"So . . ?"

"So, what?"

"So . . . what do I need to do to repay you? . ."

She was hiding her face. The others just remained dumbfounded and didn't say anything.

"There really isn't anything we need from you . . . well except your name. I want us to become allies in the future."

"My name? Ah! My name is Kaori and yours?"

"Mine would be Justice. Beside me is Kaname, and beside her is Sakaki. The child in his arms is Tenma."

"You all have nice names. If I may ask, why are you guys here?"

"We're leading a rebellion against Yaldabaoth— but we don't really have a lot of members, as you can see. Our original base was attacked and destroyed by a subordinate of his. We were heading to our new base until we stopped here to rest."

"A rebellion against Yaldabaoth's army?"

She mutters to herself.

"I know this might be subtle, but can I join your team . . ? He has caused me and everyone I love enough pain——!"

Kaori clenches the bow in her hand, she was very angry. But, in contrast to her, everyone was either smiling or was relieved that she wasn't a part of his army.

"Of course! We're always open for new members!"

Kaori stops clenching the bow and gives everyone a bright and beautiful smile. With that, they continue their journey to their new base — with a new member too. So far, everything looked good for them. A base, a new member, and more happiness. Though, this was a world with Demons running around everywhere, so, surely, their happiness would come to an end soon. But for now, all they can do is to enjoy all the happy things they have now.