Mud squelched cold and sharp against Raka's spine.
His breathing ragged, eyes darting frantically from the glinting arrowhead to the emerald-eyed archer.
He saw something move to his left and right—two lithe figures moving almost silently. He realized that it was twin beastmen with cat ears.
Their golden eyes watched him intently, ears flicking back and forth, daggers in hand, ready to strike.
He just ran away from psychos, and now he comes across whatever this group of people is. He really hated his luck.
"Who are you?" The elf demanded, pointing her bow closer to him.
"Whoah, calm down!" Raka raised his arms in surrender. He needed to de-escalate the situation somehow. But it was hard to do when his heart was beating a million miles an hour!
Thinking hard, he looked at the group of people that stood behind the elf. None of them looked like fighters, and they were backing away from the fight.
These three must be protecting them!
"Look, I don't want any trouble." He said slowly. "I don't know who you are. And I don't have nor want any trouble with you. Just put down your weapons, and I'll be gone."
She didn't look convinced.
If anything, his answer just made her angrier somehow. Nova's brows knitted tighter, her expression darkening, and her hand tightened around her bow.
"You just happen to stumble right into our path? While we are running away from slavers? Do you think we're stupid? You could easily be one of them and attack us when we least expect it."
Fucking hell.
Raka was tired of this—running, dodging, and constantly facing strangers who pointed weapons at him.
For goodness sake, he just wanted to discover what happened to Freya and Recca! How did things spiral out of control so horribly?!
"Listen," he pleaded. "I was just blown up by some orange crystal, chased by some lunatics who were trying to enslave me, and escaped. I was just running when I came across your group. That's it."
…
He took her silence as a sign to continue, "I'm not your enemy. I swear. Let me reach a city, and I'll be out of your hair."
She was silent.
Wearing an unreadable expression. Raka didn't know if that was a good sign or not. Her bow arm remained steady, but she saw that she looked more… shocked?
Her eyes somehow became even more intense, this time glaring at him like he personally killed someone she knew.
He heard someone move; turning to his right, he saw the lynx woman flinch, and her ears were bent backward now.
Is her hand shaking?
But instead of more questions or hostility, they just stayed in a tense silence. Nova's eyes, previously sharp with suspicion, were wider now, dilating her pupils.
Oh, come on, what did I do wrong now?!
/ - /
Nova had expected that the slavers had hired a mercenary to catch them or they had just had a member who could run hundreds of miles in just a few hours.
The man in front of her didn't look threatening in the slightest. She might have thought that he was just some passerby if it wasn't for the fact that he was running at insane speeds.
He also claims to have survived the Emperor's Gem explosion.
When those words left his mouth, Nova felt her blood go cold. Not many could withstand the sheer power of an Emperor's Gem.
Hell, even if she was confident that she could survive the blast. She would still be heavily injured.
Then this man just casually says that he survived that explosion with nothing more than scorched clothes!
It was insane!
At least, that was her first thought. But after she finally got a good sense of his mana… She didn't know anymore.
The amount of mana He has is ludicrous!
How did she not sense him? He must have been concealing his mana; there wasn't any other explanation.
He also said that he was able to escape from the slavers. Slavers who had warriors by the hundreds, slavers who had even given her a lot of trouble.
And he was able to escape from them unscathed?
She had no idea what to do, even if he wasn't working with them. He said he wanted to find the nearest city, but what if he lied?
She had to protect the others; fighting against someone at her level would risk casualties. So she kept her bow pointed at him as her mind went into chaos.
Dammit, what do I do?!
Looking at the twins, they also weren't doing any better. Should she just take the risk and let him walk away? But that would risk getting stabbed in the back; she couldn't afford to
"Nova, please lower your bow.".
"Huh?"
Turning her head around, her eyes widened when she realized who had spoken.
"Elder Cora?"
Of all the ways Nova expected this confrontation to end, having Elder Cora come and tell them to stand down was not one of them.
"Elder, why?" She whisper screamed at Cora, who responded with a gentle shake of her head.
Nova's eyes widened before she turned to face Raka again. Then slowly and reluctantly, start to lower her bow.
She turned to Mina and Korin, who were still tense and motioned to them. They got the signal and also started to stand down.
Turning to look at Cora again, she raised her brow at her and received a nod.
She cursed under her breath.
Elder Cora wanted to talk to the strange man alone. Nova knew that she must have a good reason to tell her to stand down.
But she wasn't going to lower her guard even a little. This boy is too suspicious.
Alas, she couldn't just ignore the will of an Elder. So she, along with Mina and Korin, started to slowly back away.
But not before leaving a few nice words to Raka.
"Try anything and I will gut you."
/ - /
She seems friendly, Raka told himself, though the thought dripped with sarcasm as his three attackers lowered their weapons. The greater problem was the figure who had made them stand down.
Her name was Cora, if he had heard correctly. Cora—the archer had called her "Elder" a moment ago.
The title felt at odds with the petite elf that stood before him, but he knew elves aged differently than humans.
Then she started to walk towards him. He hated how he flinched from such a small person walking. Even if she looks weak, something about her makes him scared.
Seemingly able to sense his fear, she stopped walking.
"Do not fret; I will not harm you."
Her voice is so soothing! Raka thought, surprised. It excluded a protective aura that (against his better judgment) started to lower his guard.
Seeing him not respond and his body language relaxed, she continued to walk closer until she was right in front of him.
Though she was quite small, his being on the ground made her figure a little more intimidating.
She extended her hand with a soft smile. Raka stared at it for too long but eventually took her hand.
Cora tried to pull him up to his feet, but he realized she had difficulty doing so. So even after he took her hand, he still had to get up mostly by himself.
But the gesture was appreciated.
Now that he was standing, he had to look down to face her. She still had a gentle smile, but there was something in her eyes that he couldn't quite place.
"I believe we got off on the wrong foot. I believe that phrase goes." She started, then she put a hand on her chest.
"My name is Cora; it's a pleasure to meet you."
…
"O-oh! Sorry, you can call me R—" he stopped himself. Would giving them his real name be an issue?
He remembered Freya saying something about never giving someone with a strong mana signature or a mage his actual name.
There are spells out there that only work if they know the identity of the person they're being used on.
He didn't really remember anything about magic rules and technicalities. But the one thing he remembered was that giving his name was a huge risk.
"Just call me E.X."
"?"
Cora looked confused. Yeah, maybe he could have come up with a better-sounding name. Something like Steve would have done the trick.
But the letters EX were the first thing that popped into his mind. It was an acronym for his experiment title.
Project Excidium Ordinis: The End of Divine Order.
Professor Recca was really one for the super chuuni titles. But it stuck with him and his goals.
Excidium Ordinis wasn't just a title. It was his identity now, something he chose to become. To be something that could break the rules of the world.
"It's kind of weird, I know."
"A-ah! I apologize; you simply caught me off guard," Cora responded. Suddenly, she lowered her head.
"What are you doing?"
"I would like to apologize for the actions of my companions." He turned to look at the three, focusing on the archer, who was staring daggers at him.
What a scary lady.
Cora raised her head and looked him straight in the eyes. "I, along with many others here, were captured by slavers but were saved by these three." She gestured behind her.
"We escaped, but the slavers weren't slow to pursue us. I apologize for our scrutiny, but we aren't in a good situation, and you did appear out of nowhere."
"Y-yeah, sorry about that."
He hated how she was guiding the conversation so well. She carefully chose her words to make it hard for him to be mad, along with her voice that showed no hostile intent.
Also, it was hard to be angry at someone half his height.
"Let's leave that in the past, no hard feelings." He finally said, raising his hand towards her.
She gladly took it and gave him a firm handshake with her much smaller hand.
Turning towards her companions, she looked at them and their surroundings before returning to him.
"We were about to rest before going through the Swamplands. Would you like to join us?"
"Elder-!" A voice protested; it was the archer.
It was evident that she was against Raka joining the group, but Cora didn't look even slightly shocked.
The two locked eyes and that was enough to make the archer stand down.
She must really trust Cora to react like that.
"It's alright, I can find my own way, and I wouldn't want to impose-"
"Please, I insist." She placed her hands over his.
He cursed.
On the one hand, he was really lonely after walking alone for so long. On the other hand, he would be in a group with three terrifying people who might slit his throat when he's not looking.
Ok, "might" is putting it lightly; I'd give it a 60% chance they try and kill me.
But looking at Cora and her expectant gaze. He found it hard to refuse until he finally relented.
"A-alright, maybe just for a while."
"Excellent!" She clapped her hands together with a smile.
He really hoped he didn't make a mistake.
/ - /
"T-thank you for the help." Lira shakily thanked Raka as he placed a few of her bags down. She was still obviously wary and scared of him.
She wasn't the only one. Glancing at the other group members, some still snuck glances at him when they thought he wasn't looking.
And they mostly stood clear from him, which kind of hurt his feelings. But he understood why they were wary.
At Least Lira and Harun are nice to me.
He didn't know if it was because he was one of the very few humans in the group, but it was nice to have someone to talk to.
A sudden chill spread throughout his spine.
Turning at the corner of the "camp," he saw that archer again, staring at him very intensely. He learned her name was Nova from Lira and her husband.
While he understood them being wary, did Nova really have to show so much hostility to him? Like damn, he just wanted some people to talk to!
His eyes searched for Cora; she was also someone he found easy to talk to. Finding her leaning on a tree trunk.
Sensing his stare, she looked at him and offered another smile.
That was nice and all, but could she tell her friend to not look like she wanted to murder him in cold blood for a few minutes?
He heard shuffling above him and looked up just in time to see a figure moving through the trees. If he remembered correctly, it was the two lynx beastmen, Korin and Mina.
They must be keeping an eye on him, too.
He sighed.
He really hoped that his bad luck had run out already.