Chapter 86 - Forest Trails (2)

"I think we all need to calm down. Things don't have to go down this route," said Arya trying to downplay the current situation. He realized that if they fought now, his group would sustain higher casualties, something he had to avoid if he wanted to survive the forest.

"We got off on the wrong foot. The only reason I was acting hostile towards you guys was because I saw you spying on us and was afraid that you were trying to kill us. And besides, I'm sure you guys agree that fighting among ourselves when there are magical beasts out here is rather unwise." said Arya as he got to his feet and lowered his dagger in a sign of peace.

"I don't trust the kid one bit." said the fire mage as he jumped back a few spaces from where he and Calder had clashed. "Just tell me when Ronan and I'll burn them to ashes." said the fire mage from where he stood.

However, the green hooded figure stood still in contemplation. "He's right. Even if we have the advantage, there's no way that we will come out of this unscathed. It's already hard enough as is, injuring ourselves senselessly would just result in our deaths later on." thought the green hooded man.

"Then what do you propose?" asked the green hooded man called Ronan, while looking at Arya.

"He took the bait." thought Arya as a smile appeared on his face.

"I say we team up. That way our chances of surviving are increased and we will be able to gather resources faster," said Arya, hoping that Ronan would take up his proposition.

"I see, so that's what he's going at," thought Ronan before saying, "Well our food supplies are currently low. Do you mind helping us out?". Ronan wanted to test the extent that this so-called alliance would have.

"Of course. Calder give them what's left of our food supplies," said Arya as he turned to look at Calder.

Calder was hesitant to yield the food supplies so easily, but he realized that they had no choice. Calder was strong, but against a mage he would just be a liability.

As Calder walked back to their camp to grab the food supplies, the boy in the mage robes spoke. "D-does this mean we don't have to kill anyone?"

"That's right, we won't have to kill anyone, master Cairo," replied Ronan. 

"Hmm, it seems the boy is a noble and these two are his 'helpers'," thought Arya as he listened in on their conversation.

"Ronan, are you sure we should trust them? Haven't you noticed that there's something off about the boy? He was aiming to kill you without any hesitation." said the fire mage from where he was still standing, never once letting his guard down.

"It's okay Axel. It would be best if we didn't take any risks with the young master's life. It's better to agree to a cease-fire than to fight them recklessly." replied Ronan.

"You can't honestly be considering teaming up with them?" asked Axel.

"We're right here you know," whispered Arya, as the two spoke as if he and Marya weren't there as well.

"We will cooperate with them for mutual benefit. However, we will still act as separate groups," said Ronan while looking at Arya.

"So that's how you want to play it? You're right to be cautious." thought Arya as he understood what Ronan was trying to say.

"Here's the last of our food supplies. Enjoy," said Calder as he threw the bag with food at Ronan.

"Forgive my rudeness, but do you mind having a bite of this first," said Ronan as he pulled out a piece of bread and threw it at Arya.

Arya grabbed it and quickly put it in his mouth, chewing and swallowing without a second thought.

"T-thank you." said Ronan as he held Cairo's shoulder and began backing away. "We will meet here tomorrow morning. I look forward to working with you guys," said Ronan as he and his group disappeared into the forest.

"That was a close one Ronan," said Cairo as he, Ronan, and Axel ran silently through the forest. 

"When you get to Belgard make sure to stay away from that boy young master. People like him are extremely dangerous," said Ronan, as he got chills on his back just thinking about what someone so young had to have gone through to be so cold-blooded.

"He wasn't that tough. Didn't you sense it? At best he was a 0-star mage." said Axel as he ran on the other side of Cairo.

"No, that might not be the case. The girl was a 2-star mage but he didn't think to come with her when he first approached us. Meaning he felt that he was strong enough to take on any enemies without her. He might be a mage capable of cloaking his mana signature." said Ronan as he tried analyzing what just happened. However, he would never have thought that Arya was indeed just a 0-star mage.

"And didn't you find it odd? A girl so young being a 2-star mage and only traveling with a normal human and a boy. And not once during our skirmish did the boy use a spell," said Ronan, now making Axel rethink his previous analysis.

"I hope you know how to hunt because that was the last of our food supplies," said Calder as the group packed up and decided to move to a new camp.

"And you can't honestly be planning for us to team up with people who had just tried to kill us," said Calder as the group set up a new camp on another tree.

"Why not? Marya do you have a problem with it?" asked Arya turning to Marya.

"No, none whatsoever. The more the merrier," said Marya flatly as if she couldn't care less, and instantly went to sleep as soon as her head touched her sleeping bag.

"There you have it. I guess we will have new teammates tomorrow," said Arya as he got in his sleeping bag to sleep as well.

"This is unlike you Arya. What are you planning?" asked the dark figure in Arya's head.

"Of course I'm going to take advantage of them.. The more teammates I have, the more meat shields to protect me against impossible enemies," replied Arya with a wicked smile on his face.