บท 14: Suspicion

Lance and Zarra reached a small clearing, where Zarra gestured for Lance to sit. She climbed a nearby tree with astonishing speed, disappearing into the branches before he could blink. Zarra's speed alone was far superior to Rynne's. Her movement at times almost appeared animated to Lance, it was fascinating.

Moments later after she had climbed the tree, Zarra dropped back down, landing lightly on her feet with a bundle of dried leaves in her hands.

"This is signal moss," she said, holding it up. "You light it, and the smoke carries far without giving off much of a scent. Perfect for sending messages without drawing attention."

Lance examined the bundle, impressed. "You use this to communicate with other scouts?"

Zarra nodded. "We had afew lookouts around, not much, but after you made us set up more, now we have lookouts posted all around the forest. Well, just around the camp and some distance away. If danger's coming, we'll know about it before it reaches the camp."

"Efficient," Lance said, handing the moss back to her.

Zarra led Lance through the forest, pointing out subtle signs of movement that he would have otherwise missed, like broken twigs, faint footprints, the way leaves shifted unnaturally in the breeze.

"Every mark holds information," she said, crouching beside a patch of disturbed dirt. "See this? It's fresh. A deer passed through here not long ago."

Lance squinted at the ground, trying to see what she saw. "How can you tell?"

Zarra's smirk returned. "Practice. And maybe a bit of natural talent. Don't worry, you'll catch on eventually."

"Do I have to, though?" Lance thought out loud. If anything, he was more fascinated about being able to fight like Rynne than improving hunting skills. From the view of a young man from earth, gaining superhuman abilities was always going to sound more attractive than learning something even people back on earth could do.

As the day wore on, Zarra's teasing grew more frequent—and more pointed.

"You know," she said at one point, balancing effortlessly on a fallen tree trunk, "for someone who's supposed to be our leader, you're surprisingly bad at sneaking around."

"Leadership and sneaking aren't exactly the same skill set," Lance shot back.

"Maybe not," Zarra said, hopping down from the log and landing a little closer to him than necessary. Her sharp gaze flickered over his face, lingering for a moment before she turned away.

'They wouldn't happen to be nearing mating season, right?' Lance asked himself again. It was too weird to bring up, so he never asked.

The fact that goblins that wanted his head rolling off his body a few days ago were now showing such closeness was a bit hard to decipher for him. The only explanation was that they were nearing some kind of mating season, after all, they lacked males. Going off game and fantasy knowledge, goblins have a track record of being rather cozy with humans. Though, his case would be reversed.

By the time they returned to the camp, the sun was dipping low in the sky. Lance collapsed onto a nearby log, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"You weren't kidding when you said this was hard work," he said, his breath coming in short gasps.

Zarra leaned casually against a tree, her arms crossed and her smirk firmly in place. "Hard work builds character, human. And judging by the way you tripped over that root earlier, you've got a lot of building to do."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Lance said dryly.

Her laughter rang out, light and genuine. "You're not hopeless, you know. Just… clumsy."

"High praise," Lance muttered, though his smile betrayed him. He was yet to see ground breaking feats from the creatures of this world so far, namely, these goblins, but the idea that he could grow powerful and wield a great sword with a single hand gave him hope. He didn't seek to be anything like a hero, but power was good, it is every man's dream after all.

As they had reached the camp, Zarra had to check on somethings related to her duty as the ehad scout.

As she turned to leave, Lance called after her. "Hey, Zarra?"

She paused, glancing over her shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for showing me the ropes today. I've got a long way to go, but… I appreciate it."

Her grin widened, and for a brief moment, Lance thought he saw a flicker of something more in her gaze, something warm and playful, yet deeper than her usual teasing.

"Don't mention it, human," she said, her voice light but sincere. "Just try not to fall on your face next time."

With that, she disappeared into the shadows, leaving Lance to wonder if her sharp wit and teasing smirks were her way of hiding something more.

'I hope I survive, if it comes to that.'