"It's you," She uttered, her tone serious as she stared blankly at the man. It was Xou, and he was with Zuo.
"What's the problem?" Xou asked as they got closer to Reiko while Zuo raised his hand up to wave at Rica, who looked confused because of what her sister was up to. But she also raised her hand with hesitation and waved back at him.
Reiko didn't reply because she had no idea what to say, and she couldn't just go out of her way and say that Hajime is missing or outside of her barrier. But even if she seemed like she was calm. her eyes could not hide the fact that something was wrong. But then Xou continued.
"Earlier, you seemed like something was bothering you. What was the problem?" With a glimmering smile.
Reiko looked away while her facial expression was still blank. She was getting more nervous, and her blank expression started to wear off as her body started to glow a faint cyan color. This was her mana licking out and trying to cover up her nervousness by healing the physical and emotional state. But then Zuo noticed something as he scanned the area they were in.
"Where's the chief's son?" He asked, still looking around. Reiko flinched. Rica murmured.
"Now that you've mentioned it. I haven't seen him today. Where is he?" Xou asked as he scratched the back of his right arm. While Reiko flinched again and slowly looked at him. Then Rica looked at Reiko with a curious expression and turned to look at Xou and said, "I think he went to drink some water in the village."
Reiko immediately turned and grabbed Rica by the shoulder and squeezed her while trying to keep her blank expression intact. Her mana started to glow brighter around her the smoke started to come out of her body. The smoke was just the sweat that she had been holding on to since she first noticed that Hajime was nowhere to be seen. And now it was being vaporized by the heat that was being produced by her body due to her mana being visible.
"Wait? You are saying that he went back to the village just to drink some water." Xou said. his tone surprised as his brow went up and his eyes widened. He was well aware of what was going on in the village, that's why earlier he sent some to ask Reiko what to do because Reiko is the only person who was left in the village amongst the people who could use barrier magic. The first person is Nanako, also known as Hajime's mother.
"When did he leave?" He asked as he started to panic while his face started to sweat. Now he knew why Reiko was acting off. And he knew that they were screwed if something bad had to befall on to Hajime.
"About an hour ago." Said Rica as she turned to look at her sister, who was looking down on herself for not being able to carry out a simple task of looking after Hajime. Zuo was confused about what was going on with Reiko and Xou. He just stared at them, and for a split second, he turned to look at Rica. But everything seemed to be okay with her because she was in the same boat as him.
Xou instinctively grabbed Reiko by the shoulders and said nervously. "Isn't there anything we can do about the people who attacked us earlier?" A dark aura started to ignite from his body. Everyone close to where they were noticed it. Most of them thought that it was death coming to take them. Except for Reiko, who seemed to look like the dark aura didn't affect her in any way. Some of the people around them, including Zuo and Rica, fell into despair because of the dark aura.
"To be honest..."
"...I don't have any idea what to do," Reiko said as her lips started to tremble. She places her lips together, trying to stop the trembling as tears start to run down her cheeks, while Xou's hands are still on her shoulders.
Everyone was still down from the dark aura being released from Xou, when suddenly, Reiko's body started glowing even more. It was like she was being touched alive by a cyan light. But instead of her burning away. The cyan light started to spread out all over the training ground and reaching the people who fell down because of the dark aura being released by Xou. This was still her mana, but it was acting on its own without her command to do so.
Xou let go of Reiko because he was caught off guard by what was happening with Reiko's body. His hands were full of steam, like he was being cooked on a light fire. This happened when Reiko suddenly started growing brighter than before. The dark aura from Xou started to fade away as the people who fell because of it started to rise again.
"Um..."
"Wh, what's happening to your body?" Xou asked while looking at Reiko with a surprised face.
"Huh?" Reiko murmured as her lips continued to tremble.
She had no idea what was going on. Then Xou added, while Rica and Zuo regained their senses, those were disturbed by the dark aura.
"Your body..."
"It's glowing."
Reiko confused her lips stopped trembling as her eyes focused on herself. but in her eyes. She was not glowing, and everything seemed to be normal with her.
"What are you talking about?" She said her eyes her eyes still focused on herself.
"...Hmmm...?" Rica uttered as she stood up slowly. Then she continued.
"...Ya are glowing!" Her gaze focused on Reiko.
"...What happened?" Zuo said while still down and rubbing his face.
Everyone's attention turned to Reiko. They looked at her with rather surprised and confused facial expressions. She turned her eyes to them while still confused why they all turned their attention to her.
"Why are you looking at me?" She asked, when suddenly, some small, different colored flowers started to bloom around where she was standing. She stared down at the flowers and looked back at Xou, Zuo, and Rica.
"...Um..."
"...You're glowing?" Zuo said, still looking at Reiko.
"So...? I always glow." Reiko said as she turned towards the village.
Inside the barrier, the village looked crystal clear, and it gave off the illusion that nothing was happening in the village and making the people inside it feel safe while being tricked that the village was fine. The barrier casts off all sounds coming outside it, no matter how loud the sound is. The only way to enter it was to first be granted permission from Reiko to open a path in order for anyone to get in or out.
"...You what?" Confused even more, Xou asked. But Reiko did not reply to him; she was busy trying to figure out a way to get outside the barrier without the barrier falling apart because she was outside of it.
Out of options. She slowly started to move towards the village. But as she was about to take another step, Xou suddenly appeared in front of her then stopped her from going any further. He knew what would happen if she left the barrier.
"Move," Reiko said as her blank expression returned on her face. But Xou didn't even flinch. He wasn't fazed by her blank expression.
Zuo and Reiko were just watching when suddenly Xou said with a serious expression. "I'll find him. just stay here and make sure the barrier doesn't fall."
And with those words, he left while leaving Reiko still with the blank expression on her face. He forgot that he was with Zuo, but Zuo just kept watch as Xou vanished into thin air.
He didn't vanish but was out of the barrier.
Meanwhile, people had stopped popping out in the village, so the imperial knights got bored of waiting and were almost on their way out of the village.
They captured one hundred and eight and killed over three hundred people in the village. And only ninety-eight people were still in the barrier.
To the main gate of the village. More and more imperial knights were coming in with the people they had captured and placing them in cages made of pure iron bars, which were forged to withstand any type of magic.
"I thought there'd be more of them," Mathew said while looking at the people being set in cages like wild animals, while standing next to Rose, who was holding a small lop tied to Hajime's waist.
She looked happy for some reason. Her eyes sparkled with delight as she looked at Hajime. A wide grin appeared across her face as she quietly whispered a song under her breath. Mathew looked at her with a disappointed look and said, "You know that's not your brother, right?"
"So, what?" She replied as she continued to whisper the song under her breath.
"...You have to get over it."
"...Your brother is dead. And he's been dead for two months now..." Mathew said his tone was blunt. But Rose continued to sing under her breath without replying to Mathew.
"...Why do I always get paired up with her?" Mathew wondered as he glanced away from Rose.
"Move it!" From a distance, one of the knights said while beating one of the villagers. But the villager wasn't listening to him. He tried to fight back by striking the night on the stomach. But the night the night punched him in the face that the villager started bleeding through his nose and mouth.
"Uhm..." Mathew murmured.
A moment later, Hajime started to wake up. He opened his eyes slowly as they shivered a little bit.