The Hunters

“There, that should do it.”

The girl nodded to herself as she bandaged some herbs onto Kai’s forearm. He had scraped it during his evasive movements earlier.

“Oh, thanks. If you’d like, you can help yourself to the alcohol I have with me.”

Kai offered the alcohol he had brought with him from the cellar to the hunters. He was never much of a drinker, as he vowed to avoid it after seeing how wretched his friends and family became when drunk, not to mention, he simply did not enjoy the taste of it. Also, since he found the stream, he had a steady source of drinking water now.

“Hm? Well, if you insist, lad. We can lighten your load a little for you, ha!”

The hunter without animal ears grinned as he helped himself to the three bottles Kai had in his rucksack. He called over the other two men and tossed each of them their share. The girl frowned at the sight the three frolicking over the spirits.

“Oh, my name’s Kai, by the way. Thanks again for your help, um…”

“Reanill. We save a life and snag a waterleaper. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.”

Kai glanced over at the carcass of the frog monster, which he now knew to call a waterleaper. The hunters had dissected it with precision, separating the different parts for unknown uses to Kai. Most of its viscera had been buried away, but they had kept the tail barb and edible body parts, like the wings, legs, a few organs and chunks of flesh. As Kai was getting his scratch treated by Reanill, another hunter had been roasting the waterleaper’s liver while preserving the rest of the meat in salt.

“The other mankin is my father, Rethis. The beastkin twin brothers are Vimmur and Gellum. You’ll have to ask them who’s who though, I can’t tell them apart.”

Mankin and beastkin. Terms unfamiliar to Kai, though they seemed self-explanatory. He glanced back at the other hunters. Rethis looked like your typical human. Vimmur and Gellum also looked like average people, though the animal ears sticking out from the top of their heads was certainly a significant difference. Their ears would move on occasion, shifting towards different directions as if homing in onto specific sounds.

As Kai was wondering if the beastkin also had heightened senses of smell or other animalistic traits, he noticed Reanill staring at his luggage.

“Is there something wrong with my stuff?”

“No… I was just wondering if you had a magic lantern there. Since it doesn’t look like you have any candles or oil with you.”

Kai had unfurled his rucksack to gift the hunters his alcohol, so his belongings were strewn out upon the sheet of canvas out in the open for them to see. Only when Reanill brought it up, did Kai realize that the lantern was indeed rather useless without any fuel. However, her calling it a magic lantern got him curious.

“Uh, I’m not sure. I just sort of tripped over it as I was walking, so I brought it with me. How do you tell if it is magical?”

Just to be safe, Kai decided to hide the story of how he was transported to this world. Until he could ascertain how the native people of Sigdra treated otherworlders, he figured it would be safer to just assume the facade of ignorance. Regardless, this was his first opportunity to gather information about this world from other people.

Reanill cocked her head towards the lantern, asking if she could hold it. Kai nodded and she held it in her hands. She inspected the lantern for a moment before it started emitting a soft blueish light from its empty chamber. Kai let out a silent gasp as he watched Reanill furrow her brow as the light grew brighter, then dimmer, before fizzling out.

“Well, looks like it’s a magic lantern after all. That’s a lucky find.”

Reanill handed the lantern back to Kai.

Kai could not figure out for the life of him how she got it to light up. It looked like it just started glowing when she held it. He wanted to ask how she did it but hesitated for a moment. Whatever she did seemed like it was a no-brainer in this world with how nonchalant she went about it. If that was the case, then inquiring about it would no doubt make him look odd, if not straight up suspicious.

Kai weighed the risks in his head. It might be worse to reach Lindroot without knowledge he could gain right now. There would be more people in a city, which meant more potential people to exploit his lack of this world's common sense. Of course, he would have to trust that since Reanill and the other hunters went out of their way to save him and treat his wound, that they were good-natured folks that would not take advantage of him.

“Uhh, so… how did you do that?”

Reanill stared at Kai with a blank expression, tilting her head for a moment. After a brief moment, she pointed to the lantern.

“You mean the lantern?”

Kai nodded and gulped, gauging how she reacted.

“I mean, you just pour your mana into it like any other magic item.”

Great, now I have to ask how mana works.

“So, well, I’ve never seen a magic item before, and the village I’m from didn’t really have anyone who could use magic…”

“Ohhh, okay, I see. In that case, I can give you a quick rundown if you’d like.”

“That would be great.”

Reanill took the lantern back from Kai and placed it in between them. She cleared her throat before starting to give Kai a primer on magic.

“All living beings with a soul have mana flowing through them. Everyone has a different amount of mana which we use to cast spells or activate magic items. It’s a bit hard for me explain how to do it, but to use magic items, you need to learn how to control your mana. Hmm… The best example I can think of is like how you can tense up different parts of your body. It’d be quicker to just channel my mana into you so you can feel it directly.”

Reanill took my hand in hers and focused. A couple of seconds passed by without anything of note happening, but soon, Kai felt an odd sensation rush into his body from his fingertips. It was both warm and chill, and it prickled his skin a bit as it flowed into him yet also felt soothing. The sensation was hard to put into words with its contradicting stimuli.

“Well? Does that give you an idea of how mana feels?”

“Yeah… Feels pretty weird, not gonna lie. But that helps.”

Now that Kai was made aware of the presence of mana, he could not help but notice it now, like becoming conscious of each and every blink. It pulsed across the surface of his skin in wavelike surges like cycling between a hot and cold bath, though perhaps such a description was a bit overblown. Kai grew curious if this mana existed back on Earth too, or if he was bestowed this essence upon arriving in this world. But he shelved that thought away as he picked up the magic lantern. As soon as Kai imagined his mana circulating into the lantern from his fingers, the same blue light softly came to life.

“Huh, looks like you’re a natural at this.”

Kai grinned sheepishly and set the lantern down. He noticed that it took a moment before the light in it faded away. Wondering if it took in mana as a fuel and burned away at it steadily like how a candle goes through wax, Kai made a mental note to try experimenting with it later.

“You said your village didn’t have much to do with magic, right? Then, you might as well check out the Sork Institution once you get to Lindroot. They know more about magic than humble hunters like us. You can get your magic aptitude tested there too. Also, here, waterleaper liver.”

Rethis joined Kai and Reanill, handing Kai a small chunk of roasted meat skewered onto a thin knife as he hunkered down next to them. He glanced over the treetops for a moment, gauging if the sky had even the faintest tint of golden orange before turning back to Kai.

“It’s a bit early, but would you like to join our camp for the night? We’re probably just going to smoke the rest of the meat and hunt in the vicinity for tonight.”

“Oh, well, that would be great for me. I’m still not used to journeying alone, so I'd like to see how you do things. I’ll do my best to stay out of your way, of course.”

“Ha! So, you’re a novice at all this, huh? You sure look the part with that getup of yours.”

Kai looked down at his clothes. He was wearing the black t-shirt and gray joggers he used as pajamas back home. It was certainly true that they did not look much like adventuring gear. Perhaps he should have taken the robe off of the skeleton back in the cellar, but Kai was a bit freaked out at the idea, not to mention he preferred not to desecrate the deceased.

“Yeah. I guess I could’ve put some more thought into my loadout.”

Unable to deny Rethis’ words, Kai chuckled with Rethis.

“Well, do you know how to pitch a tent with what you’ve got? If not, then get your bum over here so I can show you.”