Chapter 4: No Answer

He inclined the ladder against the tree near a river and proceeded to install the equipment inside a cavity he made. The equipment he had requested was made in Kalibloom and arrived less than a month ago. The devices were specially made to be positioned in trees, therefore it was a perfect camouflage against Sura and other unsuspecting forest visitors. To top it off, only he knew where they were installed and taking them out of the trees would require a special code which only he could know. Installation took roughly an hour and within that time period Sura would stare at him and sniff whether he smelled tasty. Or they would just attack him, period. That was the reason he took over two weeks to do everything. He was fatigued from working so hard and rather upset his schedule got messed up. Not to mention Lin and Madoka would probably scold him once they got back. They would never have allowed this if they knew what he was doing.

When the last equipment had been installed, he stepped down from the ladder and saw her, the first person he had seen in two weeks.

A short girl with cropped brown hair, wearing a green shirt, a skirt and a string bag.

(o)~(o)

"Madoka-sunbae, the guild has informed us he is awake."

"Ah, just a minute Lin. I'm coming."

Lin waited outside the door of her office as she prepared to leave.

Just this afternoon they had heard from the Sura Intelligence Department that their unit finally found Noll Enma, otherwise also known as Naru in familiar context. Naru had disappeared from their eyes more than a half month ago and told them in a letter he would be back in a week, not mentioning what he intended to do or where he had gone. He did not return in the specified time frame. Although they trusted Naru's capability to stay alive, Madoka became worried enough to get some outside help. After all, Madoka was swamped with work of her own and Lin had a demanding fiancée to take care of and a rather time consuming job as a teacher. So they told the more than capable SID unit to keep an eye on him - if possible, actively search for him.

Naru was found in a dire condition in the forest, but thankfully alive. He was found stabbed and some vital parts were hit. The leader of the SID unit, Sophia, cast a healing spell on him so that he would at least survive a trip to back the city - ironically known as the City of Death. Then he was brought to the healing magic guild.

When they visited, the boy was sitting up in his bed and looked as if nothing happened. Paperwork was strewn all over and his camping gear was tucked into a corner of his room. Madoka ran over to the boy and gave him hug like only she could do. Naru looked rather awkward in that position.

"Sunbae, he might still be in pain," Lin said.

"Oh!"

After Madoka released him, Naru shook his head.

"I'm tired, but I have healed perfectly."

"Oh then you must thank Ayako," Madoka said, "Have you done that already?"

Ayako was the head of the healing magic guild. They knew her from the Tea Bar as an irregular visitor.

"Yes," Naru replied with his eyebrow twitching. He wished Madoka would stop mothering him.

"It looks like you're fine, so explain to us what happened," Lin said, sitting in a chair next to him.

Naru sighed.

In short he recounted his story from the start of his disappearance. He went on a trip to the forest and intended to stay there for a week at most. Mostly he examined the Mara-level Sura and Upani-level Sura. He kept a logbook on what types occurred more than the other and which clans were present. A week had passed and he had found himself in the deep of the forest. Lin knew what had happened from then on. Naru was notorious for taking his sweet time on researching. He was very thorough and meticulous about dissecting Sura and the like, but still, two weeks were exceptionally long. Naru had been hoping to find at least one Sura from the Chaos clan, but he was out of luck. There was nothing of that sort. The majority had been Mara-level Sura and the rumours say that the Chaos clan are after stronger prey. That meant Upani-level and above.

"The amount of Upani-level Sura is notoriously low when compared to the statistics of five years ago," Naru said, "Therefore we can conclude that Chaos clan Sura have moved away from this area."

Madoka had listened carefully to his explanation, while staring at the papers Naru had handed her. "Nastika and Rakshasa are no longer in the Human Realm. Supposedly," she said, "But there are rumours that some may have gotten stranded during the Cataclysm and kept a low profile. Wherever Chaos gathers in great quantity means that they might be present."

Lin would not like to encounter any of those. Those two are the highest level of Sura. Together with the natural and generational gods, Nastika have existed since the beginning of time. Rakshasa were the children of the Nastika. The children of Rakshasa were Upani, and what followed after them were the Mara - the lowest level that did not have a human form.

"The Chaos clan Sura may have wiped out most of the Upani in this area, and then moved away after only Mara was left behind. I could observe one Upani against seven Mara."

That was fortunate, Lin thought.

"Well, Naru... I hope you don't mean that you will have to do this again in five years," Madoka said with a warning smile.

Naru didn't reply and it filled the other two with dread. Fortunately for him, the conversation was interrupted by some knocking on the door. They quickly shuffled the papers in a stack and put it aside.

"Yes?" Madoka said.

One of the nurses opened the door.

"Sophia and Si Mun of Sura Intelligence Department are here."

"Let them in," Naru said.

A tall woman with long blonde hair and her companion entered. Greetings and words of gratitude were exchanged.

"Wow, I'm so happy to meet the people of the Sura Intelligence Department," Madoka beamed, admiring the woman's looks at the same time. "My name is Madoka Aremi, a Sura biologist."

Lin introduced himself as a mathematics teacher.

"It was only a matter of time before we would meet," Sophia replied with an elegant smile, "Our department has been established only as of a couple of months ago. I would be very happy to make acquaintance with those in the field. I have heard Doctor Enma takes a similar interest."

Her soft brown eyes glanced at Naru, who gave a slight nod.

"It's among one of my research topics," he replied, then added, "Given that Madoka Aremi is one of my teachers, it's only natural that I have such an interest."

"I see, so it's due to your teacher's influence..." she said with a smile, then turned to the man with black hair and some premature white hair. "Well then, I will not make my colleague wait. This is Si Mun, a triple Indra magician. He would like to talk to you about your... accident."

"Thank you, Sophia," Si Mun gave a thin smile and immediately addressed Naru. "As you probably know from what the healing magician has said, we found you at the river in the forest... not too far from the city."

"Yes, I was about to head back to the city after doing some research."

"You were reported as missing. How come your stay was extended?"

"I was dissecting Sura and counting the numbers in various areas. It took while."

"I see," Si Mun scribbled it down. "Were you counting the clans?"

"Not in particular, I was counting the ratio of Mara and Upani in the forest."

"Why?"

Lin watched them with curiosity. Si Mun seemed very keen about knowing the details on Naru's little adventure.

"Madoka and I intend to use it as data for a joint research paper on breeding," the younger man replied.

The man looked at Madoka who nodded. The blonde woman leaned against the wall with an unperturbed facial expression. Lin thought this was beginning to look like an interrogation by the police.

"Hmm, all right," Si Mun said, seemingly convinced, "We found you with a stab wound near the river. Can you tell us what happened?"

"I was about to return to my camping gear, and all of sudden I saw a girl I had never seen before coming out of a forest. I was surprised at her presence so I talked to her."

"At what hour did it happen?"

"At noon, I estimate."

"Can you tell us how she looked like?"

Naru closed his eyes for a moment.

"Short, brown hair, brown eyes... slightly tanned. The girl wore a skirt and a green t-shirt. She also had a bag with her."

"What did she say?"

"She made herself known as someone who did not know how to defend herself. Unfortunately I had insulted her to the point of making her want to return where she had come from - the forest. I was resolved to make her stop going."

Si Mun had heard from the rumours that the researcher had quite a personality - a rather unpleasant personality, and it showed in the interview.

"Physically?"

"Yes, I tried not hurt her, but she struggled and to my surprise she stabbed me in panic."

"What kind of weapon did she use?" Sophia asked.

"A dagger," he replied.

"Then she went into the forest?" Si Mun resumed again.

Naru paused for a moment.

"I lost my consciousness quite immediately after being stabbed."

Sophia interrupted again by holding up her hand.

"Doctor Enma, so you did not manage to use a spell to keep her from going?"

"As far as I know, I did not."

Sophia smiled a little.

"What happened to the girl? Did you find her?" Madoka asked them.

"Yes, we found a human girl of the same appearance," Si Mun replied, "We found her in a Half village... I won't give you the specifics, but it was very deep in the forest. The village had been... raided by Half hunters and I can tell you it was not a pretty sight."

"Oh my..." Madoka said holding a hand in front of her opened mouth. "And this girl saw it?"

"I don't think so. It did not seem like she fled village to escape from the hunters so I reckon she must have left before it was invaded," Si Mun said, and asked Naru, "Did the girl say anything about her intentions?"

"The girl said she was running away," Naru replied. "No mention of hunters."

"How is she?"

"She was unconscious when my colleagues found her," Sophia said to Madoka, "And she was wounded. We assume the hunters were still there when she arrived and they found her to be a threat."

"They used an Indra spell on her, but it was not powerful enough to kill her," Si Mun added. As someone with a triple Indra attribute, he knew what kind of wounds would be inflicted on his victims. If anything it seemed as if the user of the spell did not intend to hit the girl.

"Isn't that odd?" This time it was Lin who spoke. "It almost sounds like the village was victimized by a group called Somos."

"Somos... yes, we thought about that. They're known for committing such atrocities without leaving any witness alive - Half or human. The useless remains are lit on fire as if to announce their deeds and wanting to say, 'Look at us. We burned down this Half village, and who knows how many more there are in this area'. Then other Half-hunters flock to that area and wipe out other villages," he said with a stern face, "Although Half-trade and killing Halfs is legal, killing humans is of course a criminal act. Even among people who hate Halfs, there are also a lot who don't support Somos due to crimes against humans."

The room went silent. If Somos was behind the massacre of that Half village, they would have left nobody alive, not even a human. Everything about the incident screamed it was Somos, but why was the girl left alive?

"Then..." Lin broke the silence. "What if someone saved the girl from being killed?"

"That's indeed possible," Sophia said.

"We didn't see anyone else though," her colleague said.

"A Half?" Madoka said.

"Impossible, if anything Halfs tend to stay away due to the Yaksha bones. Somos has collected quite an amount of those. A Half with weakened physical strength would be as helpless as that girl," Sophia replied.

"Of course."

"Ah, time's up Si Mun, we need to go to the girl and see if she's awake," the woman said to Si Mun, and then with a smile she addressed the other three. "Thank you very much for answering our questions. Doctor Enma probably needs to rest as well, so we'll leave it at this. I hope you don't mind, but I might have to contact you again about the girl."

"Of course," Naru said with a thin smile. "Thank you for everything."

Si Mun and Sophia left, after Madoka thanked them again.

They closed the door behind them and walked to the healing magician's office. When they were out of hearing from anybody they conversed again.

"Si Mun, what did you think of them?" Sophia asked with a quiet voice.

He cupped his chin with his fingers and thought about it. After a while he shook his head.

"From the way they answered the questions I was lead to think they were hiding something, but I can't put my finger on why or what."

"Hm, very well. I'll trust you on that," she said.

"What do you mean? Is there something wrong with them?"

"Not all of them. Perhaps you may want to do a history check," Sophia said with a smile. "First, let's see if the girl is ready to tell us something."

Si Mun considered her suggestion for a moment. He mentally noted he would have to go to the magic guild tomorrow to see if there was something interesting to find in the archive.

"But what do we tell miss Ayako about what occurred between Noll Enma and the girl?"

"Nothing," she said, "Unless she confesses to have done that, but I do not expect that to happen."

"...why?"

"I would like for miss Ayako to think of her as girl who needs her help, not as a girl who has stabbed a boy," Sophia said with a sad smile.

"You're too kind for the girl..." Si Mun sighed.

Sophia frowned.

"Do you think she poses any danger? From what we've just heard she hardly qualifies as a magician or a warrior and we found no such weapon on her."

"No, you're right."

"Miss Ayako will surely let us know if she poses a danger to society."

"But then it might be already too late."

"I've profiled miss Ayako. Don't worry, she does have some tricks up her sleeve if worst comes to worst," Sophia said with a wink.

(o)~(o)

Mai had woken up without pain in her body, but there was a constant unrest in her mind. Her memories were jumbled up and she could only vaguely recall what had exactly happened. Her eyes were still closed, as she was still unwilling to see her new reality. She honestly didn't want to face whatever world she would live in. A world without the village, her best friends Michiru and Keiko. Ah yes, that morning she'd left the village without problems, even managed to get through a good deal of the forest without getting into a fight with Sura.

Then she met him, the good looking young man with that awful personality - a true narcissist. Ah, she had to give him a name... She couldn't keep referring him as 'the guy', 'the narcissist' or 'him'. Narcissistic Naru. That fits. What did he say? Stupid. Stupidity. Then he said something about Michiru - she's dead. Then he wouldn't let her go. Panic and fear overcame her. So she stabbed him.

The girl turned in her warm bed and started crying. What if he was dead? It would have been the most pointless death ever. She was so grateful and lucky when he saved her from those people. Nanase and Somos.

Do you realise now? They were not protecting you from the world. No, they were protecting themselves! You look young, so you might not know, but the Halfs once took away what was precious to humans... and this is how they are being punished.

Could she believe those words? She wanted the dagger, and he wanted her village dead. Somos wanted her dead. Mai had to hide from them. Maybe she couldn't tell anybody about this, or else they'd be in danger.

Her eyes went wide open.

She was in a room, a very clean-looking room with pastel colours that lacked personality. This wasn't her room or anyone's room. Her string bag was next to her. The dagger! Her hand flew to the bag to open it, but the dagger wasn't there! Did Nanase take it away? No, wait... Naru had it. If she didn't have the dagger she couldn't defend herself. To be honest, she didn't want the dagger, but at the same time it was the only thing her parents left behind. Her parents whom she didn't know or even remember. She lost it. She lost them all.

Mai was about to burst into tears again when the door opened. A young man with blonde hair and blue eyes entered. He was a human too. He seemed completely harmless, so she wasn't afraid of him.

"Ah you're awake," he said, smiling sweetly, "Hello there, my name is John. I'm a counsellor. You were brought here in order to help you recover."

She couldn't believe it. Could he actually be a kind human? She didn't know what a counsellor was, but she guessed she would find out soon.

"Do you want me to talk to you?" he asked as if he was threading on needles. "I promise I won't tell anyone else. I will try to help you as much as possible."

He was super kind!

"...yes," she said.

John smiled and sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"Okay, just tell me what you're comfortable telling. If you're not, you can keep it to yourself..."

Mai nodded. Maybe... maybe she should do that.

"How are you doing?"

Feeling completely at a loss at what to say and she suddenly started to cry.

"I... I don't know."

John remained silent and retrieved something from his pocket.

"I'm sorry for crying."

"Don't be," he said, "Here's a tissue."

"Thank you."

Mai took the offered tissue and removed her tears.

"Maybe it's because I don't know anything...," she finally said.

John seemed to sense that she wasn't about to tell him anything.

"If it's too hard for you, we can leave it at this... " he said, "But can you at least tell me your name?"

"Mai, my name is Mai," she said with a smile.


Simplified Guide to N0 the year of the Cataclysm (The Great Change)

The Great Change occurred in the year D1000, which was changed into N0 later. It was a year of disastrous events. Two Primeval Gods, Shiva and Visnu, vanished. Entire planets were destructed during a large scale interracial war involving the Gods, Suras and Humans. In order to end the war Visnu separated the races into three different realms before he left. Gods and Suras can no longer freely access each realm. Notably, the bonds between Gods and Humans have weakened.

Half discrimination

Before N0 the Halfs were treated the same as the humans and Quarters. The emotional resonance with the Nastika Kings of their respective clans made the Halfs attack their friends, family and lovers. This is the reason why the Halfs ended up being discriminated and treated like slaves, sold and killed without any remorse from humans. Usually they need a patron to be able to pass the checkpoints of the major cities. Most Halfs refuse this treatment and hide themselves in impenetrable regions, where they build hidden villages.

(o)~(o)

Author's Notes

The next one will be uploaded next week, and I promise you it is a great deal of fun. University is about to begin so I doubt I can manage two chapters a week, but the chapters will be a bit longer (around 3500+ rather than 2500-3000 words).

Thanks for reading and following! (Reviews, where are you~?)