Chad and Eli continued their wait for Vick under a tree. Eli took this as an opportunity to ask Mr. Chad a lot of questions regarding his divine mark.
Mr. Chad folded his arms,
"The first thing you need to know is how to hide that mark of yours. It glows when you use it. It's the same as telling everyone around you, 'Look, I have a mark! Yep, me!' That's how you got into a mess. That needs to change."
Eli touched his eye,
"This can be hidden? How?"
Mr. Chad rubbed the inside of his ear as he spoke,
"Just think about wanting to conceal it. If your mind commands it to be hidden, then it won't be visible from outsiders even when you use them for low-tier spells."
'Just think about it…'
Eli scratched his head.
He noticed it last night, but Mr. Chad really is not the best at explaining things clearly. No, it's more like he isn't the type to bother explaining things extensively, that's why he was left interpreting things on his own.
'Conceal, conceal…'
He closed his eyes and bit his lips. A frown formed on his brows.
Chad wiped his finger to his black pants,
"Don't get too tense. Do it naturally, the same as breathing."
Eli's facial muscles loosened up when he heard that.
He exhaled and decided to try once more.
'Naturally… conceal the mark…'
After telling himself multiple times, his consciousness filled a vision of his mark slowly hiding itself.
The eyes that once held a glowing sphere within their pupils slowly dimmed, the light sealing itself shut.
Eli opened his eyes and blinked twice,
"I don't feel anything…"
"Of course, you don't. How are you going to feel anything when you haven't even done it while using the mark? Are you an idiot?"
Chad scoffed.
Eli's cheeks flushed,
"W, why didn't you tell me earlier?! What was I focusing so hard for, then?!"
"Hey, hey, why are you blaming me? You're the one who decided to try it without even activating the mark. Tsk. Seriously, how are you holding Solomon's mark with that brain of yours?"
Chad sighed.
"Y, you… hmph."
Eli's face turned beet red. It wasn't Mr. Chad's fault, but how could he watch him concentrate earlier without even pointing that out?
He activated Solomon's mark, and his green eyes glimmered.
'Conceal, conceal…'
Even though his eyes were wide open, it felt as though he had a separate consciousness that had eyes with Solomon's mark watching him and surrounding him on all sides.
His eyes glowed brightly until the sphere slowly disappeared. He turned to the man sitting beside him.
'Did I do it?!'
There, he saw a man staring at nothingness. The one person he is currently most curious about. Eli took this chance to answer one of his questions.
"Mr. Chad, are you a demigod?"
The black-haired man with golden eyes looked at him amusedly, and smiled while nodding.
"Yes."
Eli blinked, and his index finger flinched. This time, his eyes did not glow.
"Huh?"
'Just now… it says he's lying…?'
Something is wrong.
Things just got more confusing for Eli. He thought for sure that Mr. Chad is a demigod, and he just wanted to confirm it.
Is he a human? But can a human do the things he just did last night? But then again, Eli's also a human who has a divine mark.
'Then… a demon?'
He doesn't seem to be one, either.
Although he had never seen a demon, Mr. Chad's appearance seemed perfectly that of a human's. In Eli's mind, demonic creatures look scary, inhumane, and with horns. There is no way Mr. Chad could be one of them.
'Those men who kidnapped me look like humans, and they are demigods.'
That was his reason for suspecting Mr. Chad for being a demigod, especially his knowledge about the divine marks.
Is it possible for demons to also look like humans? Or are there other races living in the world he didn't know yet? He asked Mr. Chad one thing but was left with even more questions forming inside his head.
Eli thought about the myths he had heard from the elderly in his hometown.
On the other hand, the man in question couldn't be bothered as he yawned loudly.
Chad looked at the direction where Vick went earlier.
'How long has he been gone?'
He was starting to get bored sitting around and doing nothing. He stood up,
"Eli, watch the horse. I'm going to the old man."
"Ah, yes, sir!"
This made Eli snap out of his thoughts and went to sit on the cart.
Chad walked into the forest and followed Vick's traces. He surveyed the area and nothing seemed wrong. So then, why is he not back yet?
He brushed his hair back in mild annoyance,
'Vick said there should be a water well near…Ah, found it.'
Rustle.
"Oh?"
He spotted Vick with a wooden bucket in his hands.
Vick got surprised, as he put down the bucket while laughing shyly,
"Ah, were you waiting too long? My bad, my bad! Ha ha."
They were waiting for about an hour, but Vick got too occupied to notice the time.
Chad sighed,
"What took you so long? Do you need help?"
"No, no. Actually, it just troubled me because the water on this well is muddy, so I tried to go to the other one but it wasn't any better. I was about to go back but, haa, how unlucky! How could they be contaminated at the same time? Last time I went here, they were fine!"
Vick clicked his tongue.
Upon a closer look, the edges of the water well have scratches that look like a child with unnaturally long and strong nails did. Perhaps because of the grass, but Vick also failed to notice the mud that looks like small footprints.
'Mud, huh…'
Chad narrowed his eyes.
Oakenford, Neval, and Velmire. If he went according to Vick's story from earlier, then a demonic creature roaming around wasn't exactly new to these secluded places.
There wasn't any report of casualty, so he figured it was either a weak demon or somewhat amicable. However, it's still concerning that they are within Ocnus' domain and it had already lasted for a week.
Chad clicked his tongue.
'Who allowed Ocnus to build his own clan anyway?'
He couldn't understand how the other clan leaders allowed him to do it. There was a reason people called him the God of Indecisiveness.
This must be one of them. Something of this scale would not be a trouble to villagers, if only a major clan rules here.
He turned around and said,
"Let's get out of here. I'll give you my water for the horse."
"Oh, is that alright?"
Vick hesitantly followed behind him.
"Yeah."
For Chad, a jug of water is nothing. If he continues to stay here, he might get more irritated, and that would be worse than anything else.
When they both got back to Eli, Vick noticed something strange.
"Huh? Where's the other two who were with you?"
"Oh! Uhm,"
Eli flinched and looked at Chad beside him. However, the man just yawned, as if it had nothing to do with him.
Eli quickly tried to come up with an excuse.
"T, they said they're going to, uhm, go on their way, ha ha…"
"They wanted to go on their own in this forest?"
Vick tilted his head. It was an unusual move for him, especially since those two did not look like locals.
"Ha ha…"
Eli laughed nervously, and chose not to say anything else.
Vick quickly fed and tended to the horse, and continued their way to Velmire after Chad's insistence to get there as soon as possible.
***
Evening came on the way to Velmire.
The cart driver, Vick, couldn't help but scratch his head. His face scrunched.
He saw the largest giant sequoia tree on their east. He sensed something amiss in the forest earlier. His grip on the horses tightened.
A bead of cold sweat slid down his temple. He knew something was wrong but he couldn't tell what it was. Was he imagining things?
Rustle.
The road ahead showed four different paths.
He gritted his teeth, and directed the horse to go to the second path. Even though it was different from the direction he knows, Vick wanted to confirm something.
After a while, they got to another point where they had to choose one of the four paths again. His brows furrowed.
He looked on their right, and saw the giant sequoia tree in the forest. It was the same tree he remembered earlier.
"What is this…?"
He murmured.
Eli noticed Vick's expression and came closer to him.
"Uncle, is there something wrong?"
"About that… have you two noticed that giant tree?"
Vick pointed to the tree.
"What's wrong with it?"
The child found the question strange. He didn't see anything unusual with the tree.
Vick stopped the horse.
He slowly turned around to look at the two sitting on the cart,
"We… have been circling around it for a while now, ever since the sun set."