Hat Man but He's Not Human

He’s not a man—err… I mean human, just as the ‘title’ says.

No one knows for sure who he was, even I don’t.

So… find out yourself.

******

…

After Marco had a near-heart-attack situation, Nina and Aily asked him to accompany them to the pub, Marco then persuaded them both to meet Scias first, and gladly they accepted his offer. “Phew, it's still morning and I'm in a heat already,” said Marco in his mind.

They later met Scias on the northeast corner of the town, where the accessory shop stands. He simply leaned back against the wall of the shop.

"Yo! Scias, how are you doing?" Marco greeted first hand.

"P-Pretty g-good, I guess...” Scias replied unwillingly, “m-moreover, how much d-did you obtain yesterday?" he asked in addition.

"Ah, about that..." Marco then told him about how much he earned yesterday.

"P-Pff..." Scias blurted. “Oi, oi… did he make fun of me while maintaining his stone face?” Marco frowned. Scias unleashed a sound of chuckling while his mouth remains closed and his arms crossed.

"Good day, Mr. Scias!" Aily greeted adorably. “Good morning, Scias,” Nina also greeted with a sincere smile.

"U-Uh," Scias nodded slightly. “Dammit, Scias... When will you start talking normally to everyone else?” Marco added another thought to himself as I stare into him. A few seconds later, his eye catches sight of me.

Now, both me and his eyes are staring at each other. We stared so hard as if it is a staring contest.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Four seconds.

Five seconds—

"D-D-Don't you have anything better to do, Marco?" Scias cuts the unprecedented staring show.

"Well, you also don't, right?" Marco retorted. "Y-You've got a p-point there," Scias replied and exhaled. Nina holding hands with her younger sister as she and Aily watches the two man ramble. She comments, “You two do get along, huh?” and ended with a smile.

Scias simply nods back. Again. Except this time he looked at Nina as he nodded.

“Hm…?” Scias looked at Aily momentarily. “W-What’s the matter? Don’t look at me like that!” she retorted. Her face got reddened up. “Ah… n-no… I found it impressive t-that you wore a thick dress. That is for elemental defense, c-correct?” Scias asked.

"Whoa, you realized it? Ahaha… geez, you have an eagle eye, eh, Scias? That's one impressive trait of you," Aily praised adorably.

Scias paused for a few seconds after hearing her complimentary words. Marco thought he’s going to simply nod again, he sweared that he’ll nudge him to the ground if he did.

"That's one kind c-compliment from you... that... um... g-good," Scias stated while stiffly attempted to smile but cancelled afterwards. Marco was impressed that he could finally talk with somebody aside himself that is Aily. “Molto bene, Scias!” Marco stated in his mind while showing an OK signature on his hand to Scias. Unfortunately, Scias didn’t see him doing so.

*FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

A series of rustled whistle was sounded. "Ach… high priority task…?” Scias muttered, “hah… okay, gotta go now," Scias grabs his katana beside him and walks away.

"Wha-wait-hey! What's going on? Scias!" Marco tried to call him but it seems the whistle’s tone was much important to him. “Oh!!! I remember now, that whistle noise was a call towards mercenary that doesn't have any work,” Marco explained his remembrance. Scias stopped and turned at the group.

"Gotta be that… biiiiig 'something' going on inside the forest labyrinth... I m-must make haste. No need to worry, I'll b-be back b-before sunset," Scias then rushed off into the mercenary’s dorm.

"Despite his silent attitude, he's a pretty hard worker isn't he?" Nina asked. “I don’t know if that’s true, though…” Marco felt a visible doubt.

"But anyways, let's go to the PUB shall we?" Marco persuaded.

"Super-agreed!" Aily gets excited all of sudden. The three then went to the PUB with ease.

They entered the PUB, only to be greeted with many people.

“Yo, Marco! Whassup!” one of them greeted. “He-hey! Runnin’ good, mate,” Marco replied.

“Hey, there, Miss Nina!” one man greeted, Nina replied to him kindly.

“Heya, Aily. Huggin’ your sister lately?” one of them asked. “Ueh…?” she blushed. “T-That’s not all the times, though!” Aily retorted followed by their laughs.

As usual, there are quite many people in here too; soldiers relaxing in their break time, mercenary that switched shifts, relaxing townsfolk, and even some cider-cravers.

"Go ahead and get what you two need," Marco stated and pointed with his thumb.

"Wait for us, OK?" Aily aimed her right index finger at Marco. "Come on, now, Aily!" Her sister pulled her forcefully onto the counter, “He-heeeey! Don’t pull me, sis!”

On the far left side of the room… “Huh? The hell’s that guy?” Marco noticed a new-face leaning back against a barrel. He can easily tell that the dude’s not from Areda. Marco got curious about him, so he went in for a closer look.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed his heather skin color by his wrists opening between his long sleeve and his gloves. The guy wears a unique looking fedora hat for some reason… Unlike Aily and Nina, who has focused mana-sensing ability, Marco couldn't sense his mana normally.

"What are you doing?" he asked softly. Marco got startled at him suddenly voicing out.

"Don't mind me. This is just how I look, OK, folk?" The man said. He thought Marco was shocked of his appearance.

"I'm not scared of you, sorry," said Marco as he waved his hand. He then thought, “What’s he doing here?” The man in question was leaning back on a wooden barrel near a trapdoor to the PUB’s basement for no reason. He’s just leaning back and just viewing the area around him.

"Hoh… but it appears you're trying to sense my mana energy, amirite?" he stated with a rather careless tone.

"Lessee… if you try to ‘screw’ around your mana channeling on your mana sensing ability like how you use simple magic… I bet you can sense better…" he explained.

“Hah?” Marco retorted.

“Seriously. Give it a shot,” he stated boldly. Marco then followed his words and tried to activate his sensing ability differently. After a few tries, Marco was finally able to sense the hat man’s presence. His presence is that as thin as a dot of marker.

"Woah!" Marco nearly shouted. He can sense people's mana energy clearer now. "Woah! Woah! WOAH!" He got excited. "Oi, Marco! What are you doing?” asked Nina, “ergh... w-who is he?” She asked, she just finished buying things and came to Marco with her sister.

"I don't really know... but he taught me how to sense mana energy normally!" Marco nearly shouted again. The man didn’t reply, he’s just there continuing viewing his surroundings.

"Why, that's good to hear. Mana sensing is a basic ability of an elementalist, you know?" Nina added. "That's good! You can help us recon an area together!" Aily added herself in.

"Anyway, thanks, man!” Marco thanked the man, “Who are you, by the way?" Marco asked the fedora guy. Only to notice that he also wears a mask that covers from his chin all the way onto his nose.

"You folks may call me... Queaz,” he disclosed his name.

"Thank you again, Mr. Queaz!" Marco thanked again,

"Yeah... no prob. Besides, it's just a simple trick, j’know…" he stated carelessly. "Oh, and one more thing before you folks go... You folks are elementalists, right?” he asked.

“Riight… what’s with that?” Aily asked back.

“I just want to remind you, that whatever you do... always remember, that the ‘Magissin’ is always watching. You can go on,"

What an odd phrase. Marco thought. He and the others quickly ignored it.

When Marco walks a bit from Queaz's position, he noticed a mana energy that fluctuates for a moment when two soldiers came in. When he looked at the source, it was coming from Knight Barts. He looked extremely stressed out by something.

"S-Sir Barts, s-sorry—

"Not now, Marco. W-We're in a big problem here!" the knight grunted.

“Geez, man…” Marco retorted. "A big problem?" Aily asked politely. "Yes," He answered shortly. "If we may, can you tell us what happened?" Nina asked in addition.

“Sigh…” Sir Barts sighed quite long. After a few seconds, his mana energy flows normally again.

"There is a big-mess in the forest, dearie,"