“So, do you have a lead to Amasia?” Sara didn’t give me an immediate answer. Instead, she just stared at me with calculating eyes, trying to figure out if I can really back my threat up or not.

‘She didn’t believe my threat but decided to take it slow and carefully. Good. At least she will not do anything reckless that can be dangerous.’ I nodded, pleased with her reaction.

After our little ‘throwing threat’ session, Sara is looking at me and the twin’s room cautiously. She may not believe my threat, considering she didn’t tell me anything important about mage, so she probably thinks I am still in the dark. But by the way, I throw my threat full of confidence and calmness, it gives her a little doubt about it.

This is the real purpose of my threat, to make her think about it carefully, so it will give the twins time to learn anything from Blessing of Magus and confirm what she has already explained. I still don’t want to think about what I would do if she lied to me.

I know it is not fair for me to treat Sara as if she is some sort of villain that will only use us against our will. She had been tortured for almost three days nonstop with her little sister getting kidnapped, for God’s sake!

Unfortunately for her, my family’s safety will always come first, so if she dares to do something outrageous, I will not hesitate to put her down. It is also not helpful for her to change her attitude from a meek girl into a cold politician, right after Andra fell unconscious. It gives me a feeling that she tried to manipulate us. She is a wild card for us right now, and I won’t risk the twins and Andra’s safety just for her, not when I can trust her for at least 50 percent.

Speaking of attitude change, it also gives me crucial information. By looking at her change of attitude when Andra is not around, her subtle manipulation towards me, and her disbelieving of my threat, I can make a guess that she looks down on me as not being a mage, either because of pride or prejudice.

At first, she acted like a meek girl that had experienced hard and painful torture to gain Andra’s sympathy as a mage, but after Andra collapsed, she tried to manipulate me by giving me a chance, so I will owe her a favor. If she managed to gain favor from me, she will definitely use it to gain Andra’s support as a mage. I am sure in all of our interactions, her mind is always wondering how to get Andra to her side, and she didn’t even waste a second to take a glance at me and the twins.  

‘A dangerous woman, indeed.’ I hummed, looking at her. Apparently, she is also lost in her thought, so I have to wake her up.

“Oi, do you hear me?” I snapped her out of her mind. She widened her eyes, seeming to forget that I am still here.

“I am sorry, what did you say before?” I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

“I asked, before, do you have any lead to Amasia?” At least she has the decency to look sheepishly.

“Well, considering I was kidnapped here, and by the look of the trees in this forest, I dare to say that we are at Valdivian forest, a tropical forest in the south of Pangea. It is rumored that Amasia’s main base is located in the heart of this forest, while their sympathizer is scattered across the continent.”

“Wait, you said before that Amasia is a village? Why is it that they have the main base as if they are some sort of terrorist, though?” I asked confusedly.

“Well, because they are. While they originated from the Amasia village, their propaganda had already spread across the entire continent. After they killed a family full of mages, they are basically banned from entering Pangea anymore, so they have to move out to this forest, the mythical forest that people said anyone can enter but not all of them can leave it alive.” Now, I get more confused after this explanation.

“If they managed to kill a family full of mages, then why did the authority punish them harsher than that? Also, if they are banned, is that more dangerous than before? Now they are doing whatever god knows without getting monitored by anyone? The fact that there are second and third families that got attacked is also proof that either the punishment is not working or the culprit is not Amasia, right?”

“Those sentiments are merit. However, we don’t have strong proof that it is Amasia who killed the family. The family itself was assassinated in a clod blood night, not in the battle, and their house is burned into ashes, so the authority didn’t find anything that can lead to the real culprit. We, just know that it is them who did it. But due to the lack of evidence, we can only punish them with seclusion.”

Now, I am getting suspicious about her explanation. It seems she left me out of important information deliberately, like how did they ‘just know’ Amasia did that if there was no evidence. She also started to avoid my eyes, getting more uncomfortable when she mentioned the assassination, so she definitely knows something.

“As for we cannot monitor them, we first thought that by secluding them is enough, with the fact that outside Amasia, there are only dangerous forests waiting. You may think that this forest is just an ordinary forest. What you don’t know is, that all of the forests that surround Pangea are filled with high concentration magus, which makes the habitant inside them grow bigger and stronger.

In this forest, you will probably see a mosquito that is as big or even bigger than you or a jaguar that can throw fire, and it is still not counting on the poisonous plants that will kill you if you are not careful. So we believed secluding Amasia to the outside Pangea was a good punishment.”

“And now, after there are more families that got kidnapped and killed, you don’t feel the same, right?” I muttered sarcastically. She just ignored it and asks me,

“So, with all of my explanation about this forest, do you still want to go out alone? You don’t want the twins to lose another family member, right?”

She probably thinks to take advantage of the fact that she will be alone with the twins. Unfortunately for her, Andra and I thought the twins how to defend themselves for as long as I know them, and they both are a master in the art of hiding, running away, and escaping tight situations. If they don’t want to be found, even Andra and I will have a very hard time to found them. Well, if a former assassin and the youngest captain in the military cannot find them, I believe it will be easy for the twins to escape an injured Sara. So, I give her my eye smile and replied, trying to make her overthink what I said.

“Don’t worry. The twins can take care of themselves. And it is not like I will not come back. It is not some sort of suicidal mission, right?” I replied back rhetorically. I can see the corner of her mouth twitching slightly as if laughing at what I said. Well, it is not my problem if she didn’t believe me, I thought.

“Do as you please. I will take a rest. After all, I am still injured, isn’t it?” She didn’t wait for my reply and just storm out to the room that didn’t occupy the twins and Andra. As for me, I take a peek outside, looking at the situation. The storm is already over, with a small rain still falling around.

I looked up at the biggest tree that I can see from the cave. A giant tree with an umbrella shape branched on top of that. I know from the book that Andra showed me once when we were children, that the tree is called Kapok Tree, originally from his hometown in Southern Region. What I don’t know is whether this tree is too big to be called a normal tree. Well, if what Sara said before is true, then it would be one of the strange effects of growth in high concentrated magus.

I decided to go to the tree for the start of my exploration. Sara said that Amasia is rumored to survive in the heart of this forest, and what is screaming of the heart of the forest more than a gigantic size Kapok tree?

After preparing my bag to travel for at least three days and taking lunch with the twins and Sara, I am ready to go. I may not trust Sara, but she is still our guest, our injured guest. The moment Andra and I decide to bring her to our home, we are responsible for her well-being, including food. Well, that is if she is not betraying us first.

The first five minutes after I started my exploration was filled with the strangest things that I have ever seen in my whole life. When Andra and I first arrived here by an accident, that was already night, so we cannot see anything. And the second time, there was a storm coming into the forest, so the animals were probably hiding before. But right now, when the sun is still shining brightly, I can definitely confirm what Sara said about anything growing stronger here.

Here I see a strange beautiful colored frog that is as big as a German Shepherd dog got killed by a Jaguar, but before the Jaguar can do anything, it fell unconscious. If what I think is true, then the frog is a poison dart frog, and before he died, he managed to release its toxic compounds as a self-defense mechanism and kill the jaguar.

The weirdest thing is, that the toxic is leaked through the air, killing anything nearest its corpse. Usually, the toxic from this kind of frog can only kill via touch contact. But here we are, looking at its poison killing even the trees nearby.

I decided to leave it quickly, not wanting to get involved with this kind of poison. I keep looking around, wondering about the geography of this world. If the south of Pangea is a tropical rainforest, what is the other? Will there be a tundra forest like in the Northern Alliance? And if so, how dangerous Grizzly Bear will be if he grew up in a place with high concentrated magus.

Everything is bigger here, from just a frog to the kind of animal like Tapir. But the closer I am to the giant Kapok tree, the more I feel the danger of this forest. It is getting quieter and quieter, showing something abnormal is happening here. I walk slower and more cautious, with a gun in my hand ready to shoot anytime. Honestly, I don’t believe it can hurt a lot of things in this forest, but at least I am not weaponless.

Suddenly, I can hear a roar coming from somewhere near me. I freeze for a moment before quickly taking cover at the nearest tree and holding my breath, afraid of giving my position away. I waited for several minutes before continue walking very slowly, taking care of every little movement I make so that it didn’t give any sound. Then, after passing several trees, I see the source of the roar before.

A gorilla, not just the normal one, but almost twice bigger than me, standing above four- no, five dead tigers, looking around menacingly. I hide behind the nearest tree and didn’t dare to do anything but just wait and see what the gorilla will do, hoping it will go away in a moment and not bother me.

Unfortunately, I just jinxed myself. I don’t know what give it my position, but the gorilla suddenly snapped its head and look in my direction intently. I gulped, feeling shivers down my spine.

I know the gorilla has already figured out my presence. But running will definitely make my situation worse. No, the correct decision to make when you face a dangerous beast is to slowly take a step back to its blind spot while still being cautious about a sudden movement.

However, my luck is not good today. Right, when I think I can probably escape the gorilla, a sudden crash comes from the tree behind me, and when I take a look, my eyes widened in shock. I can’t believe of what I see. A mythical beast that I forgot I fought several days ago, a beast with three heads; lion, goat, and dragon. A chimera. And like all of the residents of this forest, it is twice bigger than what I face in the military.

I took a deep breath, wondering how it is possible for me to be surrounded by a giant chimera and a giant gorilla while cursing at my luck today. Then suddenly, I hear a voice coming from the top of the chimera, shouting at me,

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! RUN!!”