[coment and give me power stones!!]
I took Philemon by the hand and we started walking through the teleportation ruins, nothing had changed so I relaxed.
"This place is terrifying..." He muttered as he squeezed my hand.
"I know! But it's also funny, have you ever been interested in investigating a haunted house or something?"
Philemon frowned at my question and shook his head.
"No, they say ghosts are dangerous, right? Why would I want to?" He asked, and I stroked his head.
"you're right"
He's right...what am I thinking? Ah, I'm tense.
I must stop doing that, after all it is only the second day with my brother, I will not let our relationship become awkward.
We went through the same six rooms as before, all of them were empty rooms full of vines, cobwebs and cracks from the passage of time.
But the only place that interested me was the seventh room and the one down the stairs.
"Okay...walk behind me for now, okay?" I said and he nodded.
There was no need for precautions, there were no traps and I had confirmed it myself, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
But as expected, we arrived without incident to the enormous magic circle on the ground.
"This is it?" Philemon asked in amazement.
"Yes, we'll go in at the same time and hold hands, okay?" I said as I extended my hand towards him.
"Understood" he replied taking mine tightly.
"Okay, we'll jump into the portal on the count of three...one, two, three!" I said and we both jumped into the portal and the moment we hit the ground I felt like something sucked me in and I lost consciousness.
"Ha!!" When I opened my eyes I was in the middle of some rocky mountains and around me there were remains of Black Drakes scattered all over the place.
True...even when that happened yesterday I forgot about them because of Philemon.
"W-where are we?" Philemon suddenly asked, bringing me out of my thoughts as he looked around uncertainly.
"Right now we are in the north of the demon continent, but don't worry, there is another teleportation circle nearby and we will use it to get to Ars...believe me, it's faster that way" I said seriously.
Philemon looked at me in surprise for a few seconds but then he nodded.
Fortunately I had already killed all the Black Drakes here before teleporting away So there was no need to worry about Philemon's safety at this time.
"Okay, right now....we'll be traveling for a long time, this time even traveling at high speed it will take us a few hours" I muttered realizing that maybe I wasn't even in the north of the Demon Continent considering I moved for hours and faster than the speed of sound.
"haaa..." I sighed deeply as I shook my head.
"What's up Paul?"
"Nothing, hold on to me, it's going to be a long flight," I murmured.
"How many?" He asked
"About 6 or 7 hours, but we could rest after a few if you get too bored," I mumbled.
Philemon pressed his lips together but after a few seconds he shook his head.
"No problem, let's go," he said as he extended his arms towards me and I immediately picked him up.
It lifts us up between the mountains until we are about three hundred meters high.
My destination was Rikarisu City, and now that I thought about it Atofe was still there...ughh, I don't want to take her on if necessary.
But if it does happen I guess I'll have to turn it into a purple meatball again.
"Okay, hold on tight," I said to my little brother as my barrier aura surrounded us both and...
(Krooom!!)
A sonic boom exploded behind us and we began to fly at high speeds.
I realized that with my battle aura there is no air resistance whatsoever, so I decided to maintain it without the need to use wind magic.
"Everything down here is yellow and dry," Philemon muttered as he looked down at the ground beneath us.
"Yes, most of this continent is desert but I've heard that it also has forests but those are full of monsters" I told him while he continued with his gaze fixed on the ground.
I knew that for a child traveling for hours could be tremendously boring but it couldn't be avoided.
Even I got bored after half an hour of traveling, the other times my concern for Philemon's condition was enough of a distraction to not notice these points.
But now, with my little brother safe, I can afford to relax and get bored.
"Haaa...how much longer?" Philemon muttered, I could hear in his voice how impatient he was getting.
"We've only been here an hour...we're not even halfway there" I said and I could hear a loud "aaaaw..." From Philemon.
I smiled empathetically and stroked his head, it was all I could do for him.
...
"Paul...stop, I want to go to the bathroom" Philemon spoke for the first time in hours and I looked at him surprised.
It had been about five hours of flight and I was already losing patience so without hesitation I decelerated and began to lose altitude.
We luckily landed in an area with tall rocks that gave us shade, but all around us was dry, rocky desert, not like the iconic sandy Sahara.
"Ha! My legs feel weird!" Philemon said as he walked a little awkwardly towards one of the large rocks and quickly hid there.
There was no need to ask what he was doing, and I even went about making some water balls and earth cups.
Because of the speed at which we were flying the heat was not as intense, but it was still hot air and the sun was shining directly on my back, even more so now that it had barely been half a day.
The sun was at its peak as was my discomfort.
"Fuuuu...it's so hot" Philemon muttered as he came walking towards me
Without saying anything I gave him the glass of water which he accepted without saying anything and we both sat in the shade of the rock.
"There are only about two or three hours left until we reach our destination, but there's no rush, let's rest for half an hour," I said as I leaned against the rock, which was surprisingly cold.
"It's okay," he murmured as he leaned back on the rock in the same way.
The desert heat had put us in a bit of a bad mood so with a little wind magic I cooled the air around us by at least ten degrees.
I didn't know what the wind chill was, but even ten degrees cooler isn't bad at all.
"Phil...I didn't get a chance to ask you, but...how have you been this past year?" I asked him while staring at him.
He looked at me in disbelief for a few moments but then came closer to me, specifically to my hands which were generating the cool air.
"W-well...I remember mom, I don't know what happened one day but a light hurt my eyes and we both appeared in a huge wheat field" Philemon said while looking at me unsure.
He must be talking about the disaster in Mana...
"I don't remember much of what happened, only that my mother and I walked for a long time and she looked tired all the time until one day we arrived at a village" Philemon continued While I clenched my fists in anger, my mother's body was always weak, and to think that she walked endlessly to seek help...
"Is something wrong?" He asked uncertainly, noticing my condition.
"It's nothing, little brother, please continue," I said while caressing and ruffling his hair at the same time.
"Some adventurers helped us return to Ars but I think they were wrong because we arrived at a desolate land...but in the middle of that dry place there was a house with guards around it, Mom and I went into that place but one of the guards sent me to a room while my mom talked to Darius and I never saw her again..." He whispered as tears gathered in his eyes.
I clenched my fists unconsciously at this, after everything my mother suffered and leaving in such a horrible way.
I don't know how she was killed, but I don't want to know either.
"Now, now Philemon...those bad men will never hurt us again..." I murmured as I pulled him into my hug, Philemon hugged me tightly and began to cry.
"huuuu...i-i miss mommy Paul!" He said between sobs but I couldn't do anything about it
"Me too...you don't know how much...but she's not coming back, so we have to protect each other, okay?" I said while holding his cheeks and looking into his eyes.
"p-protect each other?..." He mumbled through tears and I nodded.
"Yes, mom and dad are no longer here so we have to fend for ourselves in this, but don't worry, I'll always be with you okay?" I said while giving him a kiss on the forehead and he smiled.
We stayed hugging for several minutes, now that I had remembered Mom I also wanted to cry but I couldn't do it in front of Philemon.
If I wanted to make him feel safe then I would have to show him that there was nothing to fear.
After about half an hour I decided it was time to continue traveling.
Needless to say, Philemon pouted in response to this but I ignored it by lifting him upside down into the sky.
"Paul, don't be!...uugh!!" He shouted back as he spun him around in the air.
When I brought him closer to me, he gave me a well-deserved kick in the knee, but I didn't react, which made him even angrier.
Fortunately, as we traveled quickly again, he calmed down and so we continued traveling.
...
After another three hours of travel I could see the city of Rikarisu in the distance.
"Look Phil, this is the city I told you about!" I said.
"Hmm...it looks like it's surrounded by mountains" he replied.
"It looks like that, why is it, do you want to stop by and get something to eat while traveling?" I asked him and he nodded.
It must have been around four in the afternoon so the sun was not so intense but it was still hot.
I descended behind the mountains, my plan was to walk a little out of range of the guards so I could pass.
"Phil, these guys speak a different language, so stay close to me at all times, okay?" I said, and he nodded, so I took his hand.
We walked for ten minutes through the sand until we reached the entrance of the city where there were two guards watching over it like the last time, but they were not the same guards as before.
[Hey! Stop right there! Identify yourself!] One of the guards shouted and Philemon made a confused face.
I squeezed his hand lightly as a sign for him to calm down and spoke to the guard.
[I'm a C-rank adventurer, I came here to do quests and rank up] I said as I took out my adventurer card and passed it to the guard.
He took it reluctantly as he looked it over, then snorted in disdain and handed it back to me.
[You may pass, good luck HUMAN!] The guard said with a somewhat subtle tone of disdain, but I ignored it and went through the city gates.
The first thing that greeted us was the sight of Kishirika Castle rising in the center of the city
I shuddered slightly when I remembered that Atofe was still there, so I decided to keep a low profile.
"Let's go to a restaurant there, we'll buy food, but I warn you it's not the best food in the world" I told Philemon and he nodded with concern.
Fortunately, I still had the 18 coins I exchanged at the adventurer's guild with me, so buying food wasn't a big problem.
And needless to say, I searched for a long time for a minimally decent restaurant, the roast wild boar meat is infinitely better than anything they sell here so it was necessary to search throughout the city.
So after half an hour of searching I found a minimally decent restaurant where they sold sandy lizard meat in vegetable broth.
Complete shit.
Philemon was the first to express his displeasure and I even applied intermediate level detox magic to him just in case.
I barely ate the vegetables, just like Philemon, we both agreed that the meat was completely unhealthy and so we left the restaurant.
But as I walked down the street I could feel that someone was watching us.
I looked behind me repeatedly but couldn't see anyone, so I avoided alleys and stayed close to busy streets.
But still, the feeling that someone was watching us persisted in me even after leaving the city.
Needless to say, I avoid any road that will take us at least ten blocks near Kishirika Castle.
Thank goodness Philemon remained completely ignorant of my paranoia and just looked at the streets and people with complete curiosity.
It got to the point where I had to carry him in my arms all the way out of the city under the unwavering gaze of the guards.
I walked through the desert towards the protective mountains, it was already around six in the evening so the sun had already set and it was a little cold but not too cold.
When I considered that I was no longer in sight of the guards, I used gravity magic to lift myself up the hills.
The next circle was very hidden and there was only a hatch in the middle of the sand that would indicate to me that it was there.
But luckily I had my mana eye so I activated it while looking at my surroundings.
"There it is!" I said with joy as I spotted a blue dot in the middle of a mountain.
"What thing?" Philemon asked.
"The other teleportation circle, this one will take us directly to the north of Ars," I said as I rose into the air again, but...
Just above the blue dot that was the teleportation circle...there were hundreds of mana signatures.
All purple, are they demons or monsters?
I pressed my lips together tightly in uncertainty as I held Philemon tightly.
"Paul? Is something wrong?" He asked, quickly noticing my change in mood.
"Yes...it seems we will have company and not the good kind" I murmured as I descended slightly towards the ground but not too much, I was about twenty meters in the air.
There were several purple mana traces, but none stood out significantly for that except for two, one which was a dark purple and the other a lighter purple.
This meant a strong Touki and a good mana capacity.
Yes, I had tried it on myself in a mirror in case you were wondering.
But why are all those mana signatures near the teleportation circle?...
The answer came to my head instantly.
"Atofe..." I muttered as I clenched my fists.
"Tofe?.. what is that?" Philemon asked.
"...he's a bad person I had to fight to get your location."
"My location? But how did that Tofe know?" He asked anxiously.
"No, no, Atofe didn't know that, just that...ughh! It's a long story, you should just know that I'll probably have to fight, okay?" I told him and I could see the obvious fear in his eyes.
I wasn't completely scared, well yes, but not out of cowardice.
I've already proven that I can defeat Atofe without any problem, but I don't know if I can fight her while protecting Philemon...
I started flying slowly until I got close to the hatch hill.
"We've been waiting for hours! Are you sure she came this way?!" Atofe's voice echoed in my ears even when I was fifty meters away from her.
Philemon instinctively tensed at the noise but I hugged him tightly.
"Of course, Lady Atofe! And many of our guards said that he had been in the city until a few moments ago and even started eating at a restaurant!" Moore's desperate voice only made me even more cautious as I slowly moved forward.
"until a few moments ago?!, he has that strange magic that makes him fly!!, "Who guarantees me that he hasn't already left?!" Atofe screamed and I could hear the sound of a fist hitting metal and then the sound of several bones breaking.
"L-lady Atofe! D-don't worry, the hatch to this teleportation circle is open, so he must still be wandering around the city!" Moore groaned in pain, and Atofe said nothing.
"...fine, anyway we'll be waiting for him here, he won't escape from me this time!" Atofe declared after being silent for 30 seconds.
"P-Paul!...w-what do we do now?!" Philemon squealed in fear as I stroked his head.
With one hand on her waist and another hand on the hilt of my sword, I covered us both with my barrier magic and began walking towards the teleportation circle hatch.
"Don't be afraid, I won't let anything happen to you" I told him and continued walking.
The more I continued walking upwards The image of Atofe, his personal guard, Moore and many more guards were visible to me
I instinctively tensed but didn't let panic get the better of me.
Atofe was the first to notice my presence and when she saw me she smiled terrifyingly and I could see what she was blushing?...
Immediately the other people next to him got into fighting positions and I unsheathed Sakka.
"Hahaha!! You were right Moore! He hadn't left yet! That's good, that's very good!" She said as she unsheathed her huge sword which fell to the ground with a thud.
"For a moment I thought you had escaped from me, but I finally managed to find you!" She said and surprisingly her expression softened? To a certain extent.
"...Atofe, what do you want now? Didn't our fight at Kishirika Castle make clear the difference in our skills?!" I said as I got into a fighting stance.
Atofe's smile only grew wider as he got into a fighting stance as well.
"Of course! You're stronger than me! I don't see any way I can defeat you, my husband!" She declared, and my mind short-circuited.
"Eh?..."
"Eh?!..."
Philemon and I let out sounds of confusion but the entire Atofe guard remained unfazed.
I instinctively looked at Moore who sighed heavily as he shook his head.
Something's going on here...
"Husband? What the hell do you mean by husband?" I said as I stood on guard.
"Isn't it obvious? You almost killed me in our fight! The last time I felt something similar was when Kall defeated me and I didn't even get as desperate as I did with you!!" She screamed and the blush on her face became more visible.
"So the only natural thing is for you to marry me! I've already made my decision!" She said as she raised her sword above her head.
"I refuse! Our deal was that if I defeated you, you would let me talk to Kishirika!" I protested.
"And I did! But you did more than that! You took her and I didn't stop you because you're my husband!" She said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"And if you refuse...well, that's why I brought my entire force with me. When we defeat you, I'll let you touch me, and together we'll rule Biegoya!" She declared, hugging herself.
"Sorry, but I'll pass!" I muttered.
"Heh! I love that attitude of yours my husband! Attack!" She screamed and all her guards rushed towards me immediately.
Motherfucker...