Igimo had saved him from the kindness of his own heart, and miraculously, he was unaware of Ethan's true identity. Igimo had assumed that Ethan was just a trainee knight of the Rakaru Household.
He was right to some degree. Ethan was a knight of the Rakaru Household... he was also the heir, but that was not important here right now.
It was a stroke of luck that he had encountered a person like Igimo... his first encounter on this continent wasn't so pleasant after all. Meeting Igimo was pure luck... but Ethan was still paranoid about his future here.
How would he get back home? There was a high chance that no rescue was coming. Vakuma had been unable to get past the Cursed Sea for a thousand years, and he wasn't certain they would have a breakthrough right now.
It still was not zero, however. Someone from his family would figure it out... hopefully. His situation was bad, but not the worst-case scenario.
But his return was a topic of discussion for later, something more important was how he got here... and what he saw and fought.
"I don't know how you ended up here, but the important thing is that what you faced in that forest is back."
Ethan grew alarmed at the mention of the Huntress and asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly like I said, what you and Ravu saw in there has been seen by other Villagers as well. A woman with a face of black metal, wearing loose clothing one wouldn't expect in these parts, and sitting on top of a beast. Everyone feels fear when they see her figure in the distance, just staring at them."
Igimo sighed and continued.
"It's gotten bad, I think it's an evil spirit, a malicious and vile being... But I can't possibly even fathom why it's here."
"... Why not?"
Igimo pointed at the Idol behind the fire, and stated with reverie evident in his voice and tone.
"These are the ancestral forests of the Beast God, a holy place, a sacred rite of passage. Beast God lies in the mountains right behind the forest, at the edge of the continent of Alapur. No evil spirit can come here, even the occasional demon would shit their pants by being near here.
A malicious spirit? No way, but it's here... Support from the city will take a while; the bastard in charge is a fat fuck interested only in wine and women."
'... Beast God...'
He had heard that the continent of Alapur believed in some deities, but Ethan honestly didn't believe in such things; however, he wasn't going to piss off Igimo, a religious zealot who saved his life by denying this 'Beast God'. He was more interested in the Huntress.
But before he could voice any opinion, or anything really, Igimo looked him dead in the eyes and made a request.
"I want you to investigate this for me. The village is already preparing some men to go and check, but honestly, not a single one of them is worth anything except for Ian. Ravu is a good choice, but the man is a pussy that couldn't touch a dead piece of rotten fucking flesh."
"... Is the vulgar language really necessary?"
"Beast God permits it."
'... What kind of God permits their priest to curse?'
"I want you to go with Ian, at least be one more useful person among the lot. Besides, you're the only person who actually fought that thing, aren't you?"
Ethan nodded. He was going to agree no matter what. He himself wanted to visit the 'clearing', where he fought the Huntress and her beast. Furthermore, he needed answers as to how he had come here, and who better than to ask the only person who had ambushed him seconds after he came to?
"Is it possible to initiate a conversation with a Malicious Spirit, and what are they capable of exactly?"
"It varies, why? Something you didn't tell me?"
"Yes, but not because I wanted to hide it... but mainly because I was unsure of it myself."
Ethan relayed his 'death' to the priest in extreme detail as well. How he had bested the Huntress, and just when he was about to question it, a spear had pierced him in the chest, and how he had woken up in the same clearing again.
Ethan explained it in such detail that Igimo seemed startled. The old priest stood up and reached into the fire. Ethan raised his eyes in alarm, but the priest signalled him to be silent.
Ethan grimaced as Igimo's hand was swallowed by the flame, but the priest nonchalantly grabbed some ash from the fireplace and turned to the disturbed Ethan.
"Stay still, it'll be hot."
"What are you trying to do?"
"I'm checking if you're still under a hex or not. A spirit that can cast illusions as vivid as that is going to be troublesome... extremely troublesome."
Having hot ash straight from the fireplace placed on your forehead wasn't exactly a pleasant thing, but Ethan persevered. It was nothing to a knight of his caliber.
"...hmm, you're not under any sort of hex or something, your mind is clear... So why would it let you go?"
Igimo shook his head a few moments later.
"Well, you're a knight of that household... makes some sense. Stay here for a while, I have to go and discuss this with the others..."
Ethan watched Igimo leave in a hurry and wiped his forehead with his arms, and continued to train.
He wanted to meet the damn spirit once again, and fight on equal terms.