"Akjan!""Shaula! You are ok!"
A succubus and fox demons ended up embracing each other as soon as they saw one another, there was no question that they were best friends.
The Oni who were on guard now were at ease, putting down their weapons, recognizing that fox demon"s friends could not be enemies.
"And the others?"
"Yes, Aijasyl, Karli, Kizilkoz, Sukesir, and Sirinke are here with me."
"That"s good; I ended up running into Lowa and Gema on my way here."
"By the way, this girl, she looks familiar…Isn"t she the same Aris clan member Ren captured during the First Trial?"
Akjan referred to the demon leaning on Shaula"s shoulder, requiring her support to move.
"Yep"
"Just so you know, I am not your prisoner…If I wanted to I could wipe the floor with all of you…" Noi ended up whispering, but she was currently leaning upon Shaula"s shoulder to walk, which did not really help her case.
It was obvious Noi was in no state to walk, much less fight.
"That means everyone with the exception of Orin, Toro, and Ren are here." Akjan calmly remarked. "We did not encounter them, but I have a hunch…but we ended up in this village as a result of following the flow of water."
"Yeah, about that…Can we talk in private?"
"Of course."
After leaving Noi to be healed by one of Oni healers, Akjan and Shaula went inside of an empty tent, to talk without anyone listening in.
* * *
"You and Ren were together a short while ago? Why did you split up?"
"It wasn"t exactly "splitting up", more like him telling me "Your a.s.sistance is no longer required" and then disappearing into nowhere. And now, I have no idea where he could possibly be…"
"He is on the other side of the river."
"And how could you possibly know that?!" Shaula exclaimed in surprise, seeing how Akjan was so calm and composed was a little strange, but hearing her sound so confident about the location of their young master was unnerving to say the least.
"Before this trial started, I transferred a portion of my mana into Ren"s body. As long as he did not use up that mana, when he is in close proximity, I can sense where he is."
"And I suppose that is why you are not worried about him?"
"Yes, as soon as we entered this village, he was in close enough proximity for me to sense, and the fact that I can feel his presence means he is alive and unhurt. Knowing that much is enough to put my heart at ease."
"Wow, you really have thought this through, haven"t you?"
"It is the least I could do after what he did for me."
"If you put it that way…"
"Shaula, you seem very concerned about something, is it something you can"t tell me?"
"It is not a matter of not being able to tell you, it is just I am not sure how to tell you."
"Regardless, I will listen."
"It is about Ren. I…I used to believe that he was a complete and utter failure, a weakling who relies on luck alone, a hopeless case…I…I would never thought …I would never have imagined that he was someone…so powerful….so mighty…so deadly…."
"…It was a level of strength and ferocity I have not seen ever since his father, maybe even stronger than him, considering Ren is younger than the age his father was back then…."
"….We encountered so many enemies…and he killed so many of them alone. I am ashamed to say, I was nothing but a burden to him while Young Master fearlessly fought and defended me….He even saved my life from what would have been an easy trip to the afterlife…"
"…Akjan, I don"t know what to say. I was so wrong about him, so completely wrong! I would have never imagined that the tomfoolery he does on a regular basis was all an act! I thought I knew all I needed to know about our leader, but apparently I know next to nothing about him!"
Shaula was completely losing her composure, which was completely unlike her, who was known as the most prim and proper lady of the Tengu household.
"Well, at the very least, you know that Tengu clan is in capable hands, right? Ren is a good demon after all." Akjan tried to have her friend calm down.
"A good demon, no, he is not a good demon, he is an excellent demon, a prodigy, no less. We are lucky he is leading us… that is for sure. If it were me leading the Tengu clan, then I really wouldn"t know what to do…"
As the distant descendant of Karatengu clan"s branch family, if there were none left to lead the clan, Shaula would have been left to lead the Tengu clan, but with Ren"s coming, all the leadership duties had been put on his shoulders.
"For now, we need to focus on getting to the other side of the lake, but according to the villagers, Village of Pishak Priests is located there."
"You don"t think Young Master was captured, right? I mean, you should have seen him in action, human beings wouldn"t stand a chance against him."
"I am not going to presume anything, but right now, the only things I know are that Ren is alive and he is on the other side. However, you saw the state of this village; I am not abandoning them to die here."
Before coming to this tent, Shaula saw the sorry state the Oni village was in, so she knew perfectly well the reason for her friend"s concern.
"But there isn"t really anything we can do here, right?"
"Actually, there is…But I will need your help on that."
"Alright, as long as it is within my capacity to help, then I"m in."
"If Miss Shaula is helping, count me in as well"
A voice sounded out from the outside of the tent, after a moment, there was a head of a sun lion demon poking through the entrance of the tent.
"Noi! You should be resting! You wounds are not healed yet…"
"Miss Shaula, please, you have saved my life. If I can repay you, in any way, I shall gladly do so."
"In that case, the three of us need to work on this together, in secret. Not a single Oni must know about what I am about to tell you."