He didn’t look very old.
In fact, he looked quite young. His eyes were a clear shade of azure blue, and his hair was pure white, blending seamlessly with the pale tone of his face.
But he didn’t look well.
Despite having just cleaned the statues, his body was thin, and his lips were almost entirely blue.
"....."
"....."
For a mont, the surroundings turned completely silent.
Neither one of the two made a sound.
But that was until—
Swooosh!
He turned around and made a dash for it, leaving everything behind.
"Hey, wait!"
His sudden actions left stunned for a mont. However, I was quick to snap out of it as I imdiately chased after him.
I thought about screaming, ’Wait, I don’t an any harm! I’m friendly!’, but that would only make things harder. Not only that, but he was very likely not speaking the language I spoke.
They spoke a different language around here.
Thankfully, I wasn’t completely unprepared as I tapped into my ring and took out a small artifact that I placed next to my shirt.
I started screaming again.
"Wait!"
This artifact was sothing that Anne had given to us beforehand.
Knowing that we were going to the ’Land of Elents’, she got an artifact that could directly translate my words. It was also like this that the others were able to communicate in the Mirror Dinsion.
Still...
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
It didn’t seem to work at all, as the little guy started running even faster.
I stared at the scene speechlessly before stopping.
In the end, I could only swipe my hand in his direction.
".....!"
His entire body froze on the spot.
’I should’ve done this from the start. I don’t know why I even bothered chasing him.’
Flicking my hand again, the boy turned around as I ushered him in my direction. He tried to resist, but he wasn’t very strong. He could only struggle so much until he finally arrived right before .
His eyes shook.
’Yeah, this isn’t good.’
I pressed my hand down.
’Fear.’
An Emotive Mage couldn’t just channel emotions into another person. They were also capable of removing said emotions, and that was what I was doing as I used my emotive magic to calm him down directly.
That did the trick as he started to shake a mont after.
"I’m not going to harm you. You can relax."
For just the briefest of monts, his eyes shook, but I curbed any rising fear as I made sure to keep eye contact with him.
"I’m only here to ask you for information. I promise you that I won’t harm you. Look, I’ll slowly release the binds over you. Just don’t run away."
I raised both of my hands to show him that I wasn’t trying to hurt him and slowly released my skill.
The boy’s body twitched for a brief mont.
I almost thought he’d run away, and I could still tell that his emotions were going rampant, but after calming his fear down, he didn’t run away.
He just remained standing, staring at with his azure eyes.
’Okay, it looks like he can be talked to. This is good.’
I opened my mouth and tried to communicate with him once more.
"Like I said before, I don’t an any harm. I’m just looking for so information. Is it okay if I ask you? In exchange, I’ll give you food."
".....!"
The ntion of ’food’ was what did it.
His eyes lit up for a mont, but only for a mont, as he imdiately grew guarded once more.
’Ah, here we go again.’
I had no choice but to take sothing out of my ring and toss it in his direction.
"Here."
It was a chocolate bar.
I had plenty of those.
"You can have this. I’ve got plenty more."
"....."
The boy stared at the chocolate bar with a blank expression, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed quietly. I expected him to eat it right away, but instead, he slipped it into his pocket and crouched down without a word.
"Hm?"
His actions confused , but soon, his hand reached for the snow beneath.
"Ilyen?"
What was that?
I looked at the boy who suddenly stopped to look back at . He then pointed at himself.
"Ah."
I suddenly understood.
"Is that your na?"
Nod—
The boy nodded, his hand moving once again in the snow.
’I am mute.’
His next words made understand his silence and the reason why he was writing with his hand.
After a mont of hesitation, he looked back at before writing.
’...Do you have more food?’
I assured him.
"Yes, I have more. I’m going to give you more if you can provide with more information."
The boy’s azure eyes remained fixed on before he nodded once more.
’Follow .’
He didn’t elaborate further.
However, I knew that he was most likely going to bring sowhere important. But just as he was about to leave, I stopped him.
"Wait a mont. I’m not the only one here."
Ilyen stopped, his expression growing a little wary. I didn’t explain to him and just looked back.
"You can follow or stay here. There’s only one other person."
"....."
Ilyen remained silent, but ultimately decided to follow as I led him towards Evelyn.
However, on the way to Evelyn, I realized that he was a little restless as he looked at each statue carefully.
I wanted to ask him more about it, but stopped.
"J-julien!"
Her voice reached a mont later, soft and trembling. Guilt washed over the instant I saw her.
Her whole body was shaking, and her face looked even paler than before.
A small fla flickered weakly in front of her, its light unsteady, as if it could die out at any mont.
"W-what... took you so long?" She asked, her voice filled with a little resentnt. "Why did you... Suddenly disappear like that? It’s getting... e-even colder, and my mana reserves are starting to die out. I don’t thin—Huh?"
Evelyn suddenly blinked, finally taking notice of the boy who stood close to .
"Wha..."
Evelyn raised her head to look at .
"Who is that?"
I didn’t waste a second and introduced him to her.
"He’s... Illyen. At least, that’s what he says he’s called. I found him below, which is why I had to rush. I couldn’t afford to lose him since he might be able to get us so important information."
"Oh, ah."
Evelyn’s lips pursed for a mont, her voice lowering for a mont.
"...If that’s the case, then you did well. I g-guess, I... would’ve preferred it if you had told in advance."
"There was no ti."
"Well, f-fine."
Evelyn turned her attention towards Illyen and waved at him.
"Hello."
"....."
He didn’t answer and just looked at her.
Evelyn’s face turned awkward as she looked at .
That was when I explained to her, "He’s mute."
"...Oh."
Evelyn had a look of understanding.
Just when she was about to say sothing, I felt a small tug on my clothes. When I turned, I saw Ilyen looking at with a sense of urgency, his hand pointing towards the distance as if trying to say, ’Let’s go! No, ti! Let’s go!’
I looked at Evelyn, and the two of us imdiately went to grab the others.
We didn’t question his warning.
But—
Shake! Shake! Shake!
Ilyen’s grip over my shirt tightened as he hurriedly shook his head.
"Eh?"
I turned to look at Ilyen before explaining, "They’re my comrades. They are with . They are also alive, so—"
Shake! Shake!
Ilyen appeared insistent, his head shaking even more fiercely. He appeared completely opposed to the idea of bringing them along with us, and for a mont, I was stumped.
That was until—
Thud!
Ilyen knelt onto the snow and started writing with his finger.
’Dangerous! Don’t bring! Co back later!’
His words made Evelyn and pause.
"Dangerous? Why would it be dangerous?"
Ilyen didn’t elaborate, shaking his head repeatedly.
’No! No! No!’
He kept insisting that we couldn’t bring them, but it wasn’t like I could just abandon them here.
"I’m sorry, but I can’t do that."
I couldn’t allow for anything to happen to them.
"....!!"
Ilyen looked frustrated, reaching for my shirt again, but I was also firm on my stance.
"Explain the situation more so that I can understand."
It wasn’t like I was dismissing his warning. I did believe him, but I couldn’t just toss them away because of this. I could still feel their mana, and I knew that they were alive.
’I can just go to them later, but I don’t feel like that’s a very good idea. The environnt is turning worse and worse. I have a feeling that if I leave them here, by the ti I return, they’ll turn like the other statues here.’
’No! No! No! No! No!’
Ilyen grew more frustrated, and all his previous fear and anxiety started to return. He tried to bring away, but I refused to listen.
In the end, it was Evelyn who ended up speaking.
"Why don’t you explain the situation to us so that we can understand? These people over here are people that we care about. I understand that you want us to leave, but we can’t just blindly trust your words without knowing about the situation. We—"
Cra Crack!
A loud crack reverberated throughout the area.
It was subtle, but the mont it sounded, it seed to spread across the entire surroundings, attracting our attention.
Ilyen’s face froze, and the fear that I had just suppressed resurfaced once more as he slowly turned his head in the direction of the frozen statues behind.
I followed her lead, and that’s when I saw it... The statues were moving. Thin cracks split across their necks as, one by one, thousands of frozen figures slowly turned their heads toward us.
My breath paused, but as if that wasn’t enough...
Cra Crack!
I heard a cracking sound coming from near , and as I turned my head, I watched as Leon’s, An’as’s, and the others’ statues started to turn their heads to face our direction.
The mont I activated [Mana Sense], I also saw nurous bright lights flooding my vision.
Lights that hadn’t been there before.
I smiled then.
’It’s not like I didn’t want to heed his warning, but he never explained the situation properly. I just couldn’t abandon them without knowing the reason. After all, it’d be stupid of to believe the words of a stranger blindly.’
I sighed, looking at all the statues staring in my direction before grabbing Ilyen by the back of his shirt.
"Point at where we need to go. I’ll bring us there quickly."
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