“Reynaa!”

  A loud voice could be heard, shouting in the forest full of concern and desperation. The voice belonged to a boy, the same as before, who this time was searching for the person called Reyna, instead of warning her.

  As if responding to his voice, a figure slowly appeared from behind a large tree and after seeing that the boy was alone, slowly made its way towards him.

  Noticing her, the boy ran towards her with concern and relief, seeing that she was ok.

  “Reyna!”

  Rushing towards her side, the boy opened his hand and hugged her tightly while tears started falling from his eyes.

  “I am sorry.” The boy said with a voice filled with sadness and regret. His tone was apologetic and full of guilt.

  “I am fine Ralph, he didn't catch up.” Reyna tried to say but Ralf quickly interrupted her.

  “No, it's my fault. If I… if I wasn't so stupid, you wouldn't need to run in the first place. I thought, I thought that I would lose you. And it's my fault. It's my fault.”

  Hearing his monologue and non-stop apologies, Reyna didn't say anything and instead let Ralph continue actions. She was also shaked by the previous events and considering that this was the first time she felt this close to losing her life, she wasn't in the best mood to reason with him.

  As the heat of the moment and the thought of what might have happened hit her, she also began crying in Ralph's embrace, filled with fear and terrified of the helplessness she felt not so long ago.

  “Let's head back. I am sure that we won't run into him again, so let's go home.”

  The boy said after a few moments, grabbing Reyna's hand and leading the way towards the home. Reyna followed him, still terrified of what had happened but feeling a bit more safe now.

  As they walked a few wolves followed them, as if in order to protect them. Perhaps, they felt pity or it was a form of repayment for protecting their home. Or there was another reason more complicated than the previous ones.

  And just like that, they left the cave with a few wolves as company, heading deeper into the forest.

  Unbeknownst to them though, a creature was watching from the shadows that the branches of the trees provided, watching them getting further and further away. Its gaze seemed uninterested in the events that happened but more interested in the present.

  It averted its gaze towards the cave, now filled with the wolves that returned and guarded by two wolves that remained and didn't follow the pair.

  Its mouth, if it even had any, turned into a sadistic smile as it remained hidden in the shadows waiting for an opportunity. What was on its mind was uncertain to be figured out, and that's considering that it even had a mind of its own.

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  ***

  ‘Well, at least I learned something new today, even if I probably made even more enemies with the locals.’

  Thita thought as he was laying in the now more familiar bed.

  In the end, today ended up being a productive day despite the unexpected encounters since he did in fact learn a lot more stuff and did his own research on the beast type of humans.

  After returning and speaking with the residents of the town, he verified his speculations about several irregularities he noticed.

  ‘Firstly, it appears that beast people and several types of wolves have some sort of blessing as it was described that make their steps and almost all her movements extremely quiet to the point that they can't be heard at all.

  Also, their strength appears to be a lot higher compared to humans due to their anatomy and a special affinity to magic that their race seem to possess. Of course speed appears to also be affected and is another of their aspects that make them better fighters compared to humans.

  Furthermore, unlike the elves, beast humans such as the ones that I met today probably live somewhere close by according to several adventurers that I had the chance to ask. So my encounter with them wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

  Not only that but it appears that their relationship with the town's people is much more tense than I imagined so a future fight with them if I encounter any of their kind is inevitable.

  Finally, regarding the elves, it appears that encountering any of them is extremely rare and it's been years since any have been spotted nearby. So my encounter with their kind proved to be extremely unexpected making my party's lack of preparation against them somewhat expected.’

  Reconnecting the information that he had gathered throughout the day while laying down, Thita seemed somewhat satisfied.

  ‘Yes, this knowledge seems somewhat satisfying. My familiarity with this world seems to have drastically increased. I guess in the end it was worth not ending my life here. After all, here and my original world is almost completely different.

  So I am in fact starting from the very beginning. With this, I can live. After all, in a sense, I am dead in my original world, so that's enough. The purpose of my previous goal was achieved without actually dying. That's enough for me. I will try to live.’

  Pushing his previous thoughts aside, Thita decided to also focus on another matter in hand.

  ‘Demons. I haven't encountered any yet but encountering them doesn't appear to be as rare as encountering an elf according to what I have heard so far. I still haven't been able to learn a lot about them except the fact that they feed on negative emotions of any kind.

  Not only that but they also appear to be connected to human emotions in some way despite not being proven yet. So because of that, there seems to be a need for people to be kept in good moods and not feel negative emotions since that can result in the appearance of demons which also tend to attack and kill humans and any other living organism.

  They also appear to want to cause their victim to suffer before killing them and causing them to feel as many negative emotions as possible. So in a sense, the name ‘idea of evil’ seems very fitting for such creatures.

  For me so far, their existence seems theoretical but I can't ignore such creatures. If I encounter any, I was advised to use magic to attack them since physical attacks seem very ineffective against them and if I can't, I shouldn't find them if possible and flee.’

  Finishing his thinking, Thita slowly closed his eyes.

  ‘Still, all this new stuff seems very out of my ordinary. I need to make some time in the future to at least make some more sense of them. For now though, understanding how to deal with them is good enough. I would rather know how to act and survive rather than know what it is and die.’

  After that, Thita's consciousness faded and he quickly fell asleep. Tomorrow awaited him another day after all. Better face it with a clear mind than a tired one.