King Of Limbo

Meanwhile back near the boarder Aron had used his sight to see the furthest he could which at this stage of his evolution was around five kilometers. This in itself was a very large distance but when considering the airships were on the other half of Aethel it was far from enough.

He could only click his tongue in irritation as he couldn't spot a single airship or Aethelian no matter the direction he looked in. "I don't see any in sight either, not sure if that's a good thing or not." Aron muttered as he reduced the range of his vision and turned to face the others with his findings,

"Maybe they're just all focusing on the war, if the big families have joined in then Aethel will be in trouble right?" Lucas suggested but Aron doubted it was that simple, in the end anything was possible so he didn't downright reject Lucas's point. "Maybe, let's focus on finding others for now. Stay close to one another just in case."

Aron chose to put the situation to the back of his mind for now and focus solely on grouping up with a few more people before they could begin exploring the ruins in the underground.

And so without complaint Aron began to lead the way while the others followed closely. This approach on things made Sharla's plans to escape more complicated now.

Like most elves a mana rich forest like the one they were in was quite ideal for her. Provided the distance was enough between her and Aron she was confident in using her wind arts to escape. The problem was Mirai, Sharla who had an abnormally physically gifted body for an elf could manage to use her wind arts to the extreme whereas Mirai's arts wouldn't help at all with movement.

Her lack of sight only made it harder as she would find it hard to sense her surroundings while moving too fast. This really was quite problematic for Sharla and she couldn't stop racking her brain for a solution.

As for Lucas, despite the kindness he showed them she wasn't willing to risk Mirai's life for him. At the end of the day he was still a human not worth risking her life for. She could only curse her luck and wait for an opportunity to show itself.

…

The group continued to travel until it got dark and they decided to take a break at a clearing near a riverbank under the moonlight.

"Finally, we can have something aside from fruits. I'll catch us some fish." As the group settled Lucas looked towards the river with a bright smile and began approaching it after taking off his boots and folding his trousers.

"Thank, but don't over exert yourself in doing so." Mirai added as her and Sharla settled down near a tree.

"Evanora and I will check to see if the area per usual is alright for resting in and take turns looking out." Aron on the other hand didn't even settle before turning to leave with Evanora in toll to check out the surrounding areas.

"Thank you, we must feel like a burden to you." Mirai thanked while facing Aron's direction to which he just shrugged his shoulders. "It's a matter of perspective." He replied before walking back into the forest with Evanora.

After Sharla heard their steps had gotten far enough she leaned in closer to Mirai to whisper her what had been on her mind. "M'lady I think it's best we leave now, it's too dangerous to be around those two. They're too unpredictable and if they were to turn on us…" Sharla furrowed her brows as she whispered her intentions to Mirai who maintained her calm outer expression.

"I understand the need for caution Sharla but there's no need to overthink. Even if what you say is true it's not like Aethel is any safer for us, do you think the two of us will be welcomed back?" She asked in a tone that carried anger.

"We could remain in hiding like we had done for so many years, I doubt they even care about our existence anymore." Sharla suggested but Mirai to look unmoved.

"It's far too risk to settle anywhere when the winner of the war is yet to be decided. I chose to follow Aron's group because he held no interest in it and would be exploring instead, in this way we could be away from both sides of the war and settle down when it ends." Mirai explained as the tone of her voice began to recede from the one of anger she had just a moment ago.

"I caught one you guys!" Lucas soon brought their conversation to a halt when he yelled out excitedly.

…

Meanwhile Aron who was seated beside a tree several hundred kilometers away from the others in the direction he came from with a small smile. "So she worries we will kill them, not what I expected but reasonable I suppose." muttered Aron as he let out a sigh, he had thought she was scheming something bigger against of him.

"Will we?" Evanora who was seated next to Aron while hugging her leg asked this in a low tone without turning her gaze.

The reason Aron would always separate from the group after a day or two was so Evanora could sleep with her mana demon in check. Although it could be restricted by barriers it could still be seen and now wasn't the time to have people be aware of its existence.

"Hard to say for sure, it all depends on how things move. Get some sleep for now." He replied casually and Evanora listened before tugging on his cloak and using it to cover herself as well. Soon after she drifted off to sleep and her mana demon soon emerged.

"You who doesn't fear us again." It muttered as it had been seeing more of Aron in the past few days. Just like Evanora it wasn't very outspoken and seemed only to know how to construct and understand simple sentences so it made any attempts at conversation meaningless.

With this in mind Aron didn't even bother replying to it and just sat in silence. Some time later it was instead it that spoke first. "Near, the others, near." It muttered while looking in the western direction.

It's sentence only left Aron perplexed, did it mean the other members of the group were near?

To verify he expanded the range he could sense but even then he found nothing, until suddenly heard some rustling not too far away.

Without wasting time he shook Evanora to wake up which she did but looked even more lost than when she was awake. "Hmm? It's still dark…" She muttered in clear confusion just as her mana demon vanished.

Aron didn't immediately reply and stood up before taking a stance ready for battle. When the demon had spoken in looked in the eastern direction however the noise he was hearing came from the west.

In such a dense forest he couldn't rely on his sight to look far so he could only use his hearing and sense of smell to try and understand what it was that was coming.

However neither of these two senses gave him a clear answer, the rustling of vegetation just seemed to be getting closer whilst no particular scent could be detected aside from those already common to the area.

The answer would soon present itself as it burst forth from the eastern side. Upon seeing it Aron's alertness reduced and he only sighed.

The cause for the rustling turned out to be Lady Rose's scouter which also came to an abrupt stop upon reaching the area they were in. Soon after her mature sweet voice resounded from it. "Finally, it's been quite troublesome trying to locate the two of you."

"Some circumstances arose, I'll explain when we meet. How far are you?" He replied while expanding his senses to see if she were close but alas he still got nothing.

,m "I'm still a few kilometers away but I'll be there before sunrise." Her voice resounded from it once again. "Alright, be sure to check for the other groups as well, we'll be needing them." He added before it turned back and left in the direction it came from.

As she left Aron couldn't help but narrow his eyes at a certain realization. 'No scent, no primal sound, no footprints and incredible speed. It's different being on the receiving end of one of her scouters.'

If the trees weren't so dense causing it to hit some leaves and produce rustling sounds then Aron couldn't even have known it was approaching. Before he could ponder anymore he felt a tug on his shirt from the sleepy Evanora who had only now stood up. "Can Evanora sleep now?" She asked almost like a child.

Upon a receiving a nod from him she didn't waste time sitting back down falling asleep in nearly no time at all.