Chapter 4: Repel, Part 1

“[Kindle].”

The spell manifested from the tip of his index finger. With it, he lit the wood he gathered and watched it burn — a perfect campfire. For now, he had no tasks left, so he grabbed this chance to catch his breath.

He sat down next to the fire and glanced at the unconscious girl he happened to save. He observed her exposed figure and noticed that she seemed young — around the same age as him. However, he was sure she had no battle experience as she just completely surrendered to the bandits who tried to mug her. Hopefully, she did not develop a trauma.

He observed her some more. He spotted the soft blue glow emanating from her right hand’s ring finger — a water ring. She’s wearing a white long-sleeved linen dress, which appeared well-taken care of despite looking old. She topped it with a brown woolen sweater. Her clothing suggests that she came from the countryside, possibly Pago, since it was closest.

The flames in front of them suddenly grew brighter, illuminating her face. It caught his attention unconsciously, and that’s when he noticed….

‘Wait, you are—’

“AAAHHHHH!”

***

Her grandma told Mariana before that the veteran mages learned to never just wake carelessly when camping. They first check their surroundings while staying completely immobile. One’s sense of hearing, touch, and smell could be utilized as soon as one has awoken from sleeping and one didn’t need to move while using it. Her grandma added her grandpa did it to stay alert in case enemies have surrounded them while resting in the wilds.

At first, Mariana thought it was a pointless ability to practice. It’s not like she’d be a traveler and sleep outside for most of her future mage life. Still, it was her grandma who told her to do it, so she did, and it was immensely difficult. Mariana never paid attention before to everything around her every time she woke up. She just didn’t care at all! She also thought the entire world didn’t pay attention to how they should wake up.

So, because of all Mariana’s complaining added by the fact that it was a truly hellish task to complete, it took her over five years before she did it consistently. Mariana remembered how she jumped for joy and almost got kicked by Star when she ran outside to celebrate.

Naturally, this was the first thing that entered Mariana’s mind the moment she regained my consciousness; to exercise what she’d practiced throughout these years.

First, Mariana paid attention to the surrounding noises…

‘Hmm, so I hear lots of insects... There’s also the sound of flowing water, so I must be near a river or stream. I could hear Star munching grass nearby. That’s good. Wait, there’s still something… focus. That noise would be… burning wood!’

Mariana paid attention to what she was sensing next, since her nose wasn’t that useful at smelling anything.

‘Huh? Why did I sleep without my covers? My skin’s littered with dirt and, wait… burning wood?’

She stopped her investigation and carefully gathered her thoughts. Flowing water, dirt on her skin, and fire?

That was when Mariana remembered the last moment that registered in her mind before she lost consciousness. She was heading to Magna City and got attacked by bandits!

Mariana panicked. Dangerous scenarios then rose one by one in her head. 

‘Where am I? What are they going to do with me? Did they take me somewhere? Am I going to die?’

The fear Mariana felt from being on the brink of death came back, haunting her, and it made her carelessly open her eyes. As Mariana opened them, she saw a figure donning a black robe, gazing at her. His stare penetrated through Mariana’s soul.

“AAAHHHHH!”

The robed figure took a step back. He turned his attention away from Mariana and stared at the fire instead.

“W-who are you?” Mariana asked, her lips trembling. “Please don’t kill me.” 

Mariana’s legs wobbled and her heart raced, but seeing how he reacted just now made her relax a bit. However, she still didn’t know who this person was, so she thought she should stay on guard, despite how impossible that task was for her currently.

“You’re too loud…” he croaked.

‘Huh?’

Mariana’s fear instantly got blown away. She couldn’t understand. The person looked annoyed, yes, but aside from that, he seemed disinterested. Never once did he bother to look at her again after her sudden scream.

“Hey, please don’t ignore me. Please spare me! Today was the first time I left my village ever since I was born and I have been wanting to be a mage as far as I can remember. Please, I beg you. I’ll do anything, so please don’t—” 

The man suddenly stood up, so Mariana stopped. She was so close to kissing his foot when she saw the man’s mouth opened, but he just bellowed a sigh, and walked away.

‘HUH?!’

He just… left. Now Mariana’s confused. What should she do? Walk away?

That was weird, she thought. Mariana was thinking if he was the one who saved her. She remembered a voice before she passed out, but she wasn’t sure if that was him. He didn’t look like any of the three who attacked her, but she couldn’t say for sure since he was yet to speak.

His voice sounded exhausted, too. If he’s the one who saved her, then that’s understandable. Mariana would have wanted some peace, too, if she fought — or maybe killed — three people.

‘Wait, did he kill them? Oh, no! He could’ve killed the bandits. That’s why he was so mad at me! He probably was the person who hated hurting others but got left with no choice when he got caught in the middle.’

And to think that Mariana even said that he was one of them. She never had felt even more stupid than this.

‘Goddess, I’m so stupid! Why do I never learn? Think before you speak, Mariana!’

Mariana realized her rudeness, so what more could she do better than to apologize?

Mariana went to Star to grab her sack of rations. Thankfully, he didn’t run away despite the commotion that happened. Her face immediately crumpled when she saw its contents. Of course, it would be nothing but bread.

‘Oh well, this would do. Better than nothing.’

She took two pieces and went back to the campfire. There, Mariana waited for his savior to come back. She had hoped he never left her because she wouldn’t know what to do. Mariana started eating her share after a while, as she judged it would be some time before he returned.

Bread might be the best food to bring on a journey, but it didn’t mean that it would be satisfying. But Mariana had other opinions. It was bland; she thought. She’d rather eat potatoes. At least she could cook those into all sorts of stuff. Now she regretted that she never brought some. Even steamed potatoes would’ve been a better gift for a peace offering than her bread.

While Mariana was busy complaining to herself, leaves from behind her suddenly rustled. She looked back and saw that the stranger had returned. Now is the time for her to apologize and—

‘Is that a dead pig?!’

“Ah, hm, what’s that you have?” Mariana asked.

“A pig?” the man answered curtly.

Mariana seldomly noticed verbal hints from the people she usually talked to, but it was absolutely clear to her that the man replied that way because of one thing: what she asked was a stupid question.

“Right, but what I mean is, how did you get that?” Mariana said.

“I hunted it…”

Now she wanted to punch him.

“R-right,” Mariana changed the topic instead. “By the way, I wanted to apologize about what I said when I woke up. Never really saw your face when you saved me, so I thought you were one of those bandits. I was really rude to you even though you saved my life. I’m sorry.”

He grabbed something from his back — which turned out to be a knife — and replied, “Okay…” Then he proceeded to butcher the poor pig.

‘That’s it?’

“Um, please accept this bread...” Mariana offered him the clump of sadness she was holding.

But he never even bothered to look at it and just said, “No thanks…”, before he continued cleaving away.

“That’s… understandable.”

This left speechless, but it didn’t matter to her. She thought now would be the proper time to introduce herself.

“Oh, by the way, my name is Mariana! Mariana Fairchild.”

But only Star replied with a neigh.

“Um, how about you? Care to tell me your name?” Mariana asked.

‘Please answer, I feel stupid here, you know.’

Finally, he looked at her and said, “Ignis,” then went back to work.

He now stacked the meat separately based on the body parts. The loin, belly, ham, and the other parts were ready to be cooked. He did it so quickly and efficiently that Mariana almost gave him a pat on the head.

But Mariana quickly flushed her thoughts. She should clarify why he was mad at her and also apologize for that. It’s common to do so when one committed a mistake, so that was what she hoping to do.

“Um, Sir Ignis. Did you kill the bandits who attacked me?”

Ignis put back his knife in his back pocket and faced her.

“I killed two. One got away,” he said.

‘He killed two?! No wonder he’s mad…’

He then took a pouch from under his robe and pulled out a container inside. It was probably salt since he started rubbing its contents onto the meat.

“I, ah, um, are you mad at me? You know, for making you kill those people…” asked Mariana.

He put the container back in his pouch. It shocked the common sense out of Mariana, as she noticed that despite the container’s size, it still fit inside the small pouch. 

‘Is that a magic item? That’s so cool!’

Mariana planned to ask once they’re on good terms.

“I wasn’t mad at you, but you talk too much. It’s annoying,” he said.

Ignis put his hand inside his pouch and — unexpectedly — pulled a stake from inside it. Mariana was so shocked, she almost slid down from a big rock that she sat on to.

“WHAT KIND OF POUCH IS THAT?!”

Mariana immediately covered my mouth and said sorry when Ignis stared daggers at her. Thankfully, he let it pass this time and just answered her question.

He said that the uncommon artifact was called a Böotes pouch. It was essentially a bottomless sack, capable of storing any item, no matter the size inside, so long as it would fit into the pouch’s mouth. The stored items were also frozen in time, too, so food or any perishable goods, therefore, wouldn’t spoil. The user also wouldn’t feel the weight of the items. Its only downside was that if one forgets about what one put in there, it would stay there inside forever since no one would have any idea that it was there in the first place.

‘How come I haven’t heard of this wonderful artifact?!’ Mariana thought.

“It costs 1 gold.”

“1 gold?! That was more than my annual salary!” Mariana’s shoulder slumped. How could a single item be so expensive?

Setting the artifact aside, it surprised Mariana that he explained everything concisely. She thought he would just ignore her, but she thought she must’ve judged him too early.

“By the way, those bandits,” he said. “They deserved what happened to them.”

Mariana’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Cook this, eat it, then go back to sleep. I’ll answer your questions tomorrow,” he said.

“Okay…”

They haven’t spoken since. Mariana quietly ate the meat Ignis gave her and, although it was delicious, she couldn’t appreciate it. She thought it might be because of what he just said before ending their conversation, but she couldn’t be so sure, after all, they had just met.

Still, she felt Ignis meant something behind his heavy words. His words didn’t sound to Mariana as annoyed or just simply stating the truth. He sounded… sad.

‘I must be exhausted…’

Mariana quickly perished her thoughts and resumed eating. Afterwards, she grabbed her covers and eventually went back to sleep.