Chapter 56: At What Price?
Airi stepped to Raiga's side, her face showing worry. She raised her hand; Raiga understood and lowered his face for Airi to stroke.
"You were only gone for a moment, why did you grow so large?"
Raiga immediately shrank, surprising everyone. Returning to his form, he was now only as big as three fingers pressed together.
Raiga crawled onto Airi's hand; she held him out in front of Aoto.
"This is Raiga, our friend. He went away not long ago, then returned."
Aoto looked bewildered and pointed at Raiga on Airi's hand.
"Can you say he's your pet?"
Airi nodded and smiled slightly.
"You could say that. But we consider each other friends."
Aoto let out a sigh of relief and sat back down on the ground.
"I thought I was going to be swallowed. You scared me."
Aoto sat on the ground and waved at Raiga on Airi's hand.
"Hello, I'm Aoto, let's be friends."
Raiga nodded.
Ayaka saw this and smiled.
Airi: "Do you see how smart he is?"
Aoto: "Understanding human speech is smart enough."
Aoto turned to look at Kazuka, who was sitting silently, staring at the ground.
Kazuka looked down at the earth with a heavy gaze, tears falling onto his hands and the dirt.
"We... couldn't save Takeshi..."
Aoto sat closer and spoke softly:
"He isn't dead yet. His body was just taken over."
Kazuka raised his head, eyes red. But instead of rejoicing, he gritted his teeth:
"...And yet I thought about giving up. I sat here, crying like a useless brat..."
His hands clenched, trembling.
"Takeshi fought alone in the darkness, while I sat here wailing."
Airi looked at him, about to say something, but Kazuka bolted upright.
A fire never seen before flickered in his eyes:
"We won't just look for Takeshi. We will seize him back at any cost."
"Whether it be God or Demon King, I will find the one who can save him!"
"I cannot lose one more time."
His thoughts had become a bit more mature after those tears.
Everyone was surprised by Kazuka's action, but also somewhat glad because he could easily accept the situation.
Kazuka plopped back down on the ground, his voice carrying seriousness.
"I know everything needs a plan, so have you guys thought of one yet?"
Everyone gathered around.
Airi shook her head.
"Of course not yet."
Kazuka spoke with a firm voice.
"In my opinion, we should rest. In short, Takeshi isn't dead and can be saved, so there is still a chance."
Airi and Ayaka were a bit surprised hearing Kazuka speak. Ayaka leaned in close to Kazuka.
Usually, when something happened, his whole body couldn't stay still. Now he was willing to sit down and speak thoughts that felt reasonable.
"Hey, are you sick? I'm feeling a bit worried."
Aoto sat there silently observing.
-"It seems he has some logic and a bit of intelligence."
Airi felt Ayaka's words matched her own thoughts.
"I know we need rest, but I find you a bit strange."
-"How is he thinking so thoroughly, when he was just crying and worrying? Is there a problem with his emotions?"
No need for a crisis, no need for an event... Sometimes humans only need a clearer awareness and perception day by day to be considered grown up. But what about Kazuka?...
Kazuka was confused by the question from both of them; he pointed at himself.
"Huh? What's wrong with me? You guys are the ones being weird. I'm perfectly fine."
Airi let out a cough.
"It's nothing, continue."
Kazuka nodded, but was still a bit puzzled seeing Airi looking at him.
"Uh... Okay."
"Basically, rest and recover to full energy. After that, we'll have Raiga find Takeshi. Is that okay?"
Airi and Ayaka opened their eyes wide in surprise. Then they realized their expressions were too obvious and returned to normal.
Airi: "Fine, I find that quite stable."
Kazuka glanced into the forest.
"I'll go into the forest and get food, you guys just rest."
Kazuka stood up abruptly. Aoto was surprised and stood up too.
"I'll go with you."
Kazuka said with a worried voice.
"You need to rest, just stay here."
Aoto ran ahead into the forest and turned back with a smile.
"I feel fine, let's go."
Kazuka ran after him.
"Fine then."
Airi and Ayaka sat there and watched Kazuka.
Ayaka: "Though we haven't interacted much, I find him suddenly too different. I keep feeling a bit worried?"
Airi nodded in agreement.
"It is indeed different, from attitude to voice, he seems more serious. It feels unfamiliar."
Ayaka clapped her hands once, then smiled.
"I think he's grown up."
Airi had a contemplative look. Her voice was so low it was hard to hear; she turned her head toward the forest where Kazuka and Aoto had just gone.
"Grown up?"
She thought about the time spent training with the Old Wolf.
The Old Wolf was sitting opposite Airi, before them was a red fire flickering in the night. The "crackle" sound could be heard clearly from the fire.
The Old Wolf let out a long sigh of helplessness.
"That brat Kazuka was the one who initiated the two of you going on an adventure, right? But I see he still doesn't have a single decent thought in his head."
Airi raised her head to look at the sky full of sparkling stars, the moonlight shining down to illuminate the world.
"He's the carefree type, right?"
The Old Wolf nodded in agreement, eyes closing for a beat then opening again.
"Right."
Airi was still gazing at the sky.
"But what could we do? Even though he almost died once, he only thought about needing to be stronger. I only saw that much, and if that's all..."
The Old Wolf picked up a piece of wood and tossed it into the fire.
"That brat needs something as a catalyst."
"That brat Takeshi, from what I see, is fine. His thinking is quite stable; he'll just develop more as he grows."
Airi slowly looked down.
"So what do you think will be the catalyst?"
The Old Wolf shrugged and shook his head.
"That depends on what you guys do. Or ask the world what it will give you when you go outside."
"During a few sparring sessions, I often saw his emotions going up and down. Even though it was just sparring."
Airi: "So we still need to see what the outside world will give?"
Old Wolf: "Remember to be careful, who knows if this world will gift you a death?"
Airi: "Everyone knows that."
The Old Wolf shrugged and shook his head, asking Airi back.
"Who knows?"
Kazuka and Aoto were now going deep into the forest, their eyes scanning around; in their sight was only trees and leaves.
Aoto let out a disappointed sigh.
"No animals or water?"
Kazuka opened his eyes wide in surprise hearing Aoto speak.
"You are an Elemental and you eat meat?"
Aoto recoiled, clutching his stomach, hand wiping away tears.
"Hahaha, there are still people asking this question? You... you make me laugh so much."
Kazuka looked at Aoto with a confused face.
Aoto slowly wiped his tears after the laughing fit, his laughter fading.
"Elementals just like trees. But as for eating meat, we still eat it, it's just once in a while."
Kazuka nodded, absorbing the info.
"So that's how it is."
Aoto turned over.
"So how long do you plan to rest?"
Kazuka shook his head.
"Not sure, but once everyone agrees to go, we go. We need to ensure everyone is ready."
Aoto was a bit surprised.
"So that's how it is."
"And why were those two earlier quite surprised when you proposed the plan?"
Kazuka's gaze dropped, looking at the ground and his walking feet.
"Probably they were surprised because for the first time I wasn't hasty and sat down to think."
Aoto raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Huh?"
Kazuka: "Because until now, even though I was the one who came up with the idea of adventuring everywhere, everything else was up to Airi."
"She calculates and comes up with the plan in every case."
Kazuka's voice dropped.
"And this event, I felt I was too useless. When Airi didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to do either."
He remembered the battle with Vermyx, she had exchanged looks with Kazuka from afar. And it led them to successfully hit Vermyx. That was when Airi unleashed her blast at Vermyx.
Aoto seemed to understand.
"Oh, so that's it."
"Basically, I just met everyone so I don't understand much yet, so I don't know what to say."
Kazuka smiled.
"That has to be done slowly, don't worry."
Aoto: "So what did you realize when you saw yourself not living up to the responsibility of the initiator?"
Kazuka stroked his chin, thinking.
"Not sure, I suddenly remembered what I've done throughout this time and realized I haven't done anything."
"I think, if I'm the one who initiated everything, then I need to have responsibility. That's all."
Aoto nodded, somewhat impressed.
Kazuka's eyes changed to a serious look. There was no longer sparkle in those eyes, but now it was maturity.
"I will save Takeshi at any cost."
That night, the group sat around the fire. Aoto with a joyful laughing face, mouth full of food, talking continuously. On his body was the outer coat Kazuka had given him to wear temporarily.
"Earlier, Kazuka and I catching this wolf was hilarious. We had to crawl into the cave and were led around like cows by it."
"It kept tricking us into tiny holes, so tiring."
Everyone had finished eating and sat listening to Aoto; only he was holding the last leg in his hand.
Ayaka sat watching Aoto tell stories and smiled. She intended to lie down on the ground to rest her fatigue; she habitually reached back to take down the quiver as usual. But she felt nothing, she turned her head and remembered she no longer had her bow and quiver.
Airi also noticed, she spoke loudly to interrupt Aoto's story.
"Now we have a problem, Ayaka has no bow; that makes it very hard for her to fight, archery is her specialty."
Kazuka said with a serious face.
"My sword is gone too. I think we should go to a citadel to buy them."
Airi nodded.
"But we don't know where there is a city."
Kazuka: "Let Raiga go find it, it will save us more time, we still need to recover."
Airi was a bit surprised, but she didn't show it too much.
"Fine, then it's decided."
Aoto: "I think in the future we should find a type of weapon for the two of you that has a connection or consciousness."
Airi: "That's a given."
That night, each of them went to a different corner and sat down to absorb energy.
Kazuka stepped toward a large rock that seemed to please his eye, his gaze flared with an engine of determination.
"I don't know how far I can go. But I know for sure, sitting still saves no one."
"Trust me, everyone."
He sat down under the boulder and closed his eyes with concentration.
"From now on, I will be the one keeping the fire for our group."
Energy coiled into Kazuka's body like a whirlwind, the grass pulled by his suction all pointed toward him as the center. The surrounding trees began to show signs of wilting. The ground showed signs of drying up.
Blue energy surrounded him, lighting up a large area. But it was still accompanied by a few sparks of black energy.
The Old Wolf's voice echoed in Kazuka's head.
"You must look at everything most objectively, and take no side. Just that."