"Arima, can I ask you about what happened with my sister?" While guiding Arima and Night through the town, Lifa asked.
"Mh? Oh, the emotion thing? What's wrong?"
"Actually, I also feel like her… I find it hard to believe that someone can control his emotions to that degree so easily."
Arima sighed, "As I said, it's not like I have perfect control over them, there's a lot of people like that from where I come from. I'm sure they can do the same... probably. Anyway, I only can keep controlling my emotions when they are of low magnitude."
"I see," Lifa nodded.
"By the way, who is that person who keeps those metals?" Arima asked afterward.
Lifa didn't answer for a moment. "Hm, I think you can only understand that when you meet him but that person is the reason why we have that much special metals."
"Why?"
"Because it's him who refines and mines most of them. I think you already know, but to create mithril we need to refine a certain ore called 'mestil' with magic. For adamantite, physical ability is needed and there's no one more fit than him."
"That's impressive."
At that moment, a group of four young elves approached. They were Layra and the children from before. The three kids ran toward Arima with cheerful expressions.
"Big brother!" They shouted to Arima and jumped on him. Night backed away when he saw them though.
"Layra, why are you here?" Lifa asked surprised.
"The children wanted to thank the person who saved them, so when I learned that you were here, I brought them." She said and smiled. "I'm sorry if I bothered you."
"There's no problem…" Arima mumbled. "Yeah, yeah, it's me. Can you stop clinging to me though?" He was trying to get the kids off him as they were clinging to him. Night looked at that with a bit of discomfort.
"{As I thought, I can't stand kids.}" Night said to Arima with telepathy.
"{Don't worry, me too.}"
When the three finally got off, Arima and Night stopped talking. "Flying on those birds was fun!" But they were still excited and talked to Arima about the griffins.
"(Birds? You're calling griffins, birds?)" Arima retorted in his mind but then thought of something.
"Hey, kids do you want to see those birds one more time and keep them?" He asked them while smiling brightly.
The three looked at each other and repeatedly nodded. Arima grinned. He waved his hand and three strange magic circles formed in front of each kid. "[Anima nexum] (Soul connection)." A ray of light flew from the circles to the chest of the children.
"[Tribus Bestia Gryphem]" This time, from each circle, a griffin was formed. They were smaller than the ones before and they were around the size of Night in his wolf form.
The griffins remained immobile with their eyes closed when they appeared. People gathered around to watch that but stayed away because of Arima while the guards were already here but they didn't do anything in regards to Lifa.
"Okay, kids, put your hands on their heads, it may sting a bit." Arima said and the elves nodded. They did as they were told and felt a small pain, like a needle touching their palm. When they took back their hands, there was a small red dot on their palm.
Then, the griffins opened their eyes, which seemed to possess some intelligence. The three beasts looked around then walked to their respective 'owner' and laid down in front of them.
"They are a special type of summoned beasts which I created when I analyzed the soul-summoning circle. I create the body with my magic then I provide the mana while I connect your souls to link your spirit and mana pool. Finally, I take your blood to connect your physical bodies together. It's basically a weaker soul beast. They're intelligent and will stay with you for your entire life." Arima explained.
Lifa was shocked and Night grunted. "I feel like I just witnessed something that shouldn't be performed by a human… no, by any living being." The former said trembling.
Night looked at her and blinked, "Don't worry, happens all the time."
"I don't think it will make me feel better."
Night blinked twice, "Don't worry, happens all the time."
Lifa fell silent.
After that, Arima separated from the kids and Lifa suddenly asked him to do the same thing with the cat which was still on her shoulder. Arima couldn't help it so he complied. She looked happy. She seemed to like cute animals.
"Arima, do you like children?" Lifa asked Arima while walking.
Arima laughed, "Not really. I'm not comfortable with them. You just have to look at Night, he is the embodiment of what I really think. And it's totally exposed."
Night frowned, "Don't say it like I don't know how to lie."
Lifa was surprised though, "Then why are you so kind to them?"
"When you grow old, the persons you come to be the most conscious of are children. Being kind to them is so important for those veterans of life, because they know what they became, or could have become if they had experienced a happy childhood."
"I see…" Lifa nodded seriously but suddenly realized something, "Old?" She rolled her eyes to stare at Arima.
"I didn't tell you? I'm 134 years old. I'm older than you."
Lifa stopped walking and was left behind. "…What?"
********************************
Arima took some time to convince Lifa and an hour later of walking, they arrived at a large lake in the forest, at the north of the elven town. From there, the distance to the Empire's frontier was not that big.
Lifa approached the lake, "Master Jorga!" She shouted at the water.
Arima was perplexed and surprised. When he wanted to ask what she was doing, he backed away from the lake by instinct. The ground shook a bit, ripples appeared on the surface of the lake, and the ripples soon became waves until a huge pillar of water was created by a figure emerging from the lake.
When the water calmed down, a huge gray sea-serpent-like creature had his head and neck out of the water. That serpent had a five meters large body, his head was the size of a small truck. His already out of water body was at least ten meters long. His sharp azure eyes observed Lifa, Night and Arima.
"Lifa, huh?" He said in a deep voice that resonated in the ears of those who listened. His voice carried a massive lot of pressure.
Arima gaped at the serpent and turned toward Lifa, "When you talked about a 'person', you were referring to this?"
She smiled, "Yes."
"What 'yes'?! The way you were talking about him didn't help me at all to prepare myself for that! Why couldn't you just say that it was a savant beast, or simply a freaking giant sea snake!?" He snapped at her.
Jorga frowned, he glared at Arima for a moment, "You… you're human, right?" He inquired as if he was trying to confirm something.
"Yes, I am." Arima rubbed his temples and turned his back to the giggling Lifa. He exchanged gazes with the huge beast.
"Strange… I can't measure his soul," The serpent mumbled inaudibly. He looked toward Lifa for an explanation. Arima also wanted to know who this serpent was.
"Master Jorga, this is Arimane Blade, a human. A lot happened but he is now a collaborator of our country and he requested for mithril and adamantite. So, my sister told me to bring him here. And, Arima, this is Master Jorga. He has been the guardian of this forest for almost a thousand years now."
"I see," They both nodded at the same time after the introductions and locked their sight on each other.
"Hey, little one, why do you want those metals?"
A vein bulged on Arima's forehead. "It's not your business, big one. Just give it to me." He emphasized the word 'big' for some reason.
Jorga's eye twitched, he smirked unnaturally. "Yes, you're right. But I can't give it like that, you can only try to persuade me."
Arima grinned. "Indeed, I suppose it's all I can do."
Night watched on the side with the restless Lifa. "Wa-wait, don't fight." She said in an attempt to stop them.
Night observed with an indifferent face as always. "The atmosphere is tense." He commented, "So much, that it looks like they're producing sparks," He added and continued to watch. Then slowly and gradually, his expression darkened.
"Wait! That's real sparks! What the hell are you doing!?"
Arima and Jorga both released their aura and clashed the other side's. Sparks was only the beginning. The land between them was crushed by the pressure and the one around them was razed and dug. It didn't stop there. The wind blew in an extremely strong way and the water of the lake became chaotic.
A strange fact, there was only one place which wasn't affected by the things happening here.
"Hm?" It was Lifa, she seemed to be protected by both Arima and Jorga.
"Hey!!" Night was trying his best to hold his ground while in his wolf form. His claws were firmly planted on the ground. "Why are you protecting her and not me!?" He shouted. He looked around and rushed behind Lifa to protect himself. He laid on the ground shamelessly. Even the cat on Lifa's shoulder pointed his paw at Night as if it was mocking him and meowed, "Shut up, shitty cat."
At that moment, Lifa looked at the sky and gasped. The clouds were gathering in the sky above them. On Jorga's side, the clouds were gray and very dense and on Arima's side, the clouds were black which meant that they were thunderclouds.
"Hey, hey. Those two are releasing their full aura with their attributes in them." Night commented, "They're trying too hard."
"…" Lifa was just gaping. She knew that Jorga was strong but although she knew it, she never saw it and there's also Arima, a human she just met by coincidence, who possessed a strength that she couldn't even imagine. So, she bugged.
"This girl lost it." Night glanced at her and turned back towards the two and his expression changed once again, "How far are they going to go?"
Thunder already was rumbling and lightning was connecting the clouds while on the other side, it began to rain and a tornado was already forming in the distance. If the two clashed now, the forest would be destroyed in at least a fifty-kilometers radius.
Of course, something like that couldn't pass unseen. Everyone in the Alliance saw the gathering of clouds of different nature. Particularly the rulers of the Free City and the Elven town, which were the closest. They perfectly felt the pressure. They wanted to rush the moment they sensed something but when they realized that one of the auras was Jorga's, they cast away the idea to go because they knew that they couldn't win against someone on the same level as the guardian of the forest. It wasn't only limited to the Alliance, the strongest individuals in other countries also felt it.
After a few minutes of an intense clash, the two auras calmed down and vanished. The clouds also dispersed and the weather reverted back to normal.
A part of the land near the lake was totally messed up but Arima and Jorga were laughing in the middle of it.
"You're pretty good," Arima remarked.
"You too, human. Let me present myself, I'm Jorga Manda. I'm a descendant of Jormungand."
"Jormungand? The World Serpent?" Arima was surprised this time.
"Yes. When I was born in this forest, thousands of years ago, I received the blessing of Jormungand."
"I see…" Arima squinted his eyes. "(Are some of the legends of this world the same as in my own?)" He thought. "(Or maybe even true?)" He frowned at that thought.
"Huh? What is that? Did I miss something?" Lifa was confused.
"Maybe that's what you can call respect between warriors." Night said to her.
"I see, I understand." Lifa smiled as if she had unraveled a great mystery.
"Understand? What? You can't understand something you shouldn't be able to, you know? I only saw that they were on the verge to kill each other. Hey, you hear me?" Lifa stopped listening and was lost in thought.
On the other side, "You wanted mithril and adamantite, right? How much do you want? Usually I make the elves do something for me or make them pay, but I'll give it to you for free."
"Thank you, but I won't take it for free, what about that, you can ask me for any favor."
"Oh, that's more than enough, having someone like you behind me is already an unfair trade. You're still a bit on the weaker side but I'm sure you'll become a monster in no time. But I won't hesitate and accept your offer." The huge snake smirked.
Arima wryly smiled, "That's good then. I'd want two units of mithril and one of adamantite."
In this world, one unit of a liquid or a metal is equivalent to a cubic meter.
"That much?" Jorga was surprised but still lifted three spherical rocks from underwater. "I suppose you know, but the silver ones are mithril and the dark blue one is adamantite."
Arima immediately put the three rocks in his storage. "Thanks, I'll be sure to come back soon." He said and left after he gave Jorga a telepathic link for him to ask his favor whenever he wants.
"Lifa can you find me a smithy?" Arima asked when they were in front of the town.
"A smithy? I don't think you'll find a good one here. You'll have to go to the Free City. But why do you want a smithy?"
"This is the first thing I thought when I saw the information about those metals," Arima smirked. "It's time to go back to the good old weapons."