Bubu snuggled towards me as I placed my arm around her in comfort while glaring at Lion and Sly, who both looked sheepishly towards me.
I gave a huge sigh and patiently tried to explain to them that Bubu didn't do it on purpose as she doesn't even know what kind of magic she has.
After a couple of comforting words from me, Bubu finally calmed down and gave me a look in which I nodded then she happily went away, trying to find the same warriors she spent time with earlier.
Good grief.
Oh, well.
As long as her partners are willing, then why not?
Everyone began fixing the mess they made, including Deus who tried to convince me that he didn't do anything to make a mess.
I was almost convinced by his words when Alpha gave him a look in which he hurriedly helped with cleaning up.
To everyone's surprise, Ghost and Khamsin got along quite well in which Khamsin told him that he can help him with training his magic despite not knowing earth elemental magic.
Ghost in return, told him that he will teach him some training exercises that will increase his endurance though he admitted that he learned it from me.
Khamsin gave me a grin then admitted that he wasn't surprised upon hearing it as the chaos that Bubu and I did back at the cave already convinced him.
Ah.
Why did he mentioned about the cave?!
I can feel Lion's gaze upon me as he asked Khamsin to tell him more about the cave.
....
Lion seemed cheerful after hearing the entire story though I have a feeling that he might visit the kidnappers later.
Not only him but the rest of the pack as they gave each other a mischievous look.
After everyone cleaned up the mess, Khamsin invited the pack and Deus inside his manor. He excused the warriors in which they immediately ran towards the direction where Bubu went.
The pack and Deus gave a huge sigh as we went inside Khamsin's manor.
To my embarrassment, while Khamsin is showing us around his manor, my stomach began to growl loudly.
But I don't want to eat nuts!
Wait.
This is a good business opportunity!
I asked Khamsin if he has a kitchen in which he gave me a funny look.
He doesn't understand what a kitchen is.
Ghost then gave him the entire explanation that made Khamsin looked interested, making Sly to take the opportunity to sell him some of our products.
Then all of us followed Khamsin as we went inside one of the empty rooms he have in his manor.
Lion is in high spirits despite using a lot of magic to make all the kitchen equipment as Khamsin is quite generous in paying for everything.
Orm and Alpha hurriedly went back to the inn to get all our stuff when Khamsin insisted that we should stay at the manor instead of the inn.
All of us immediately agreed as his manor has a gorgeous pool and most of his rooms looked comfortable.
Sly, Khamsin, Lion and Ghost started to have some sort of discussion about opening a business in the city while Deus went after Orm and Alpha after he finished examining the kitchen equipment.
After quite sometime of coming to an agreement, they finally finished their discussion in which the four of them have a satisfied looks on their faces, especially Sly.
If Sly has a satisfied look on his face while doing business, it means that it exceeded his expectations as Sly already has high expectations to begin with.
....
While Ghost cooked, I got busy making several types of desserts while Khamsin observed us with an interested look in his face.
I assured him that there's no nuts involved and gave him a taste of the cake I made.
Since that day, cake is Khamsin's favorite food.
And to his relief, he didn't vomit after having a taste, which proves that he is allergic to nuts.
Grateful that he can finally eat without vomiting, he gave me several sacks of food ingredients, some of which are unfamiliar to me.
He told me that all sorts of traders usually stop by in his manor where he bought all sorts of stuff from them.
Ah.
So he's an impulsive buyer too just like Ghost.
After examining some of the strange ingredients, I saw a certain ingredient that made me gushed with excitement as I exclaimed to Ghost that I can finally make noodles and bread, much to his amusement and interest.
Yes, you guessed it.
It's flour.
I didn't expect this world to have flour though they have different use for it. They used it to prevent pests from consuming the unripe nuts from the trees.
Ghost and Khamsin observed with fascination as I made some noodles and bread. Of course, they tasted as soon as I was done cooking.
Next time, I will show them the wonders of Italian cooking.
Everyone widened their eyes as they saw Khamsin and Ghost kept going back to the kitchen to place more food on the table.
I gave Lion a grin as he started to salivate at the smells. Not only him, but all of them including Ghost and Khamsin despite them having a sample taste as soon as I was done cooking with the dish.
As soon as I gave the nod, everyone ate like they haven't eaten for a month.
Bubu stuffed her face with a little of everything, then hurriedly took an entire cake that made those beside her complain loudly.
It didn't take long for all of them to finish eating. Everyone looked at me, expecting for more but instead, I just laughed at them as I told them that I'm too exhausted, but maybe next time.
Yeah, definitely next time as I enjoyed cooking for a lot of people.
...
After several days of staying at the manor, Lion decided that it's time for us to leave.
To the dismay of his steward and the officials of the city, Khamsin announced that he's going to accompany us.
Now there's nine of us going on the quest to find the transformation stone.
And yes, everyone told Khamsin about everything.
His eyes are full of pity towards me when the pack told him about the cuff on my neck. He didn't expect that it would cause me pain as he thought it was some sort of a necklace.
Well, it looked like a necklace to those who aren't familiar with it.
Finally, we arrived at the entrance of the city in which Deus made steeds for everyone. Of course, Lion and I are sharing a steed while the rest agreed to let Bubu ride alone as they gave up trying to deal with her chaotic personality.
Khamsin gave Lion a compass, which is very helpful as it will give us a direction of where to go.
Lion decided that we will explore the north first and led the way.
Never in my wildest dreams before that I would have an opportunity like this.
Lion gave me a tender smile as I glanced around, looking at everyone. It looks fascinating seeing them riding fast on a steed.
And magical.
Bubu is riding on her own, clearly having fun as she made the steed go fast but not too fast to overtake Lion as he gave her a warning glare earlier.
Sly is right behind us, giving me a delighted grin when I waved back at him.
As for Alpha, he's at the back of the group, busy at keeping watch in case there's enemies around. When he saw me smiling at him, his tail immediately wagged and he gave a happy howl towards me.
Behind Sly is Orm, who is busy trying to check if there's any mirages around. Of course, he gave me a wink when he saw me grinning at him. To be honest, I was worried at first on how he is going to ride the steed. But he managed to find a way by wrapping his tail around the steed's body.
Khamsin and Ghost are at each side of Alpha though they are a bit ahead of him. It seemed that they are engrossed with their conversation though they both gave me a wave when they saw me looking at them.
As for Deus, he is on the right side of Orm, though a bit far as he is keeping watch behind Alpha's back.
As for me? I just snuggled towards Lion as he kept insisting that we should ride together even though I know how to ride a steed.
I don't mind as I can have a little nap without any problem at all.
Not only having a little nap, but I can be busy with my thoughts without anyone trying to disturb me.
I am amazed that Ghost and Khamsin got along well despite my hesitation in telling them that they are brothers. In fact, they got along way better than Alpha with his three brothers.
Now that I'm thinking about their relationship with their siblings, it came into my mind each of the pack's relationship with their blood families.
As far as I know, Alpha still has his three brothers despite what happened to his former territory. I don't have any idea what happened to his parents or other members of his family but according to his unexpected revelation, it seemed like a lot of people close to him at his former territory was killed or died during the battle.
He has a close-hate relationship with his brothers, typical of a normal sibling relationship.
Orm didn't have a good relationship with the other tribe members and I already know what happened to his mother. Of course, he already told us that he has plenty of half-siblings and he doesn't have a good relationship with them too.
Yeah, they all caused his trauma.
As for Yilan, he got depression after he saw that the pleasure house where Violet is staying was burned to the ground. Orm told us that his father just stayed on one of his mansions and didn't go out, forcing Orm to keep visiting him as Yilan has a lot of unfinished work that Lion refused to finish it for him.
Of course, I already knew the real reason why Lion refused to help him.
And also, we didn't tell Orm about it. Orm thinks that Yilan is on one of his moods though he suspected that his father might be missing his mother as Yilan has a heartbroken, faraway look on his face.
So he really did fell in love with Violet.
Ew.
As for Sly, he has plenty of half-siblings from each of his parents though he doesn't have a good relationship with either of them. Sly managed to have some sort of cordial relationship with Aagon before we left the fire dragon territory.
Also, I had met one of his half-brothers which I gave him a nickname, the pervert. He deserved it though.
As for Lion, I don't know anything about him having parents or siblings. I remembered Ghost telling me before that back at the developmental center, nobody seems to know where he came from.
I'm starting to tear up and tried my best not to show Lion or else he might think that my cuff is causing me pain.
Too late though as he immediately stopped the steed and began nuzzling me all over my neck while asking me if it hurts.
Of course since Lion stopped, the rest of the group stopped as well.
This is embarrassing but I won't admit what made me cry.
While Lion is busy trying to comfort me, Sly made his steed approach us as he is curious why Lion stopped all of a sudden.
Seeing Lion trying to comfort me made him panic as he called the rest of the pack about my situation.
Stop!
It isn't what you think!
While the pack is busy trying to say all sorts of reassurances towards me, we suddenly heard Bubu yelling about something.
The rest of the group began to groan and murmured on how she's such a pest when I suddenly got a bad feeling.
After taking a glance towards Bubu, I noticed that she isn't in her silly self.
She's in her serious self.
And if she's yelling during in her serious self then that means we're either in danger or there is something interesting that we should definitely check out.
I shushed everyone, telling them that something doesn't feel right and they should check what Bubu was yelling about.
Lion gave a nod towards Khamsin and Deus in which both of them made their steed go towards the direction Bubu is pointing to.
Khamsin and Deus then signaled Lion that seem to tell us that we should see for ourselves on what made Bubu yell earlier.
There we saw what seems to be ruins of another ancient city.
But what makes this ruins different from the previous ruins that we encountered is that, many of its buildings are halfway covered with sand, not destroyed completely.
Should we check it out in case the transformation stone is in there?
Of course, we should not waste any opportunity of exploring it as it will be difficult to go back here if we are planning to explore the entire land of the deserters.
And even if there's just a tiny percentage of the transformation stone being here.
Lion seemed to be thinking about something then he closed his eyes as he raised his arm. A glow seems to dance around his fingers in which it immediately went towards the ruins when suddenly, there was a blinding spark when the glow touched the edge of the ruins.
Lion began to frown then tried to use another spell.
I have no idea what spell he used but I know he's trying to see if it's safe for us to explore the place.
The blinding spark seems to show us that protection magic is still very much alive here, preventing Lion from using some of his spells.
Is this place protecting something?
Deus suggested to Lion that we should explore the place as the presence of strong protection magic even after many years had gone by, indicates that there might be an important artifact or object inside.
Meaning, there's a chance that the transformation stone might be in there.
The rest of the pack agreed though Khamsin looked doubtful.
Khamsin advised Lion to be careful as it may be a trap that is trying to lure us in.
Now everyone turned to look at me.
To be honest, Deus and Khamsin both have good points.
Everyone seems to be waiting for my decision.
Now I feel pressured!
Bubu seems to be waiting for me to ask her to nullify the protection magic.
Not yet.
Let me think!
Wait....
Of course!
My Buddhist staff!
Lion began to look worried when I asked him if he has my Buddhist staff which he reluctantly gave it to me.
While I was busy trying to attach the pieces, Deus had a weird look in his face in which he took a step back, same with Bubu.
I asked them why they stepped away from me in which Bubu grinned at me, telling me that I might hit everyone around as I seemed to enjoy hitting the kidnappers back at the cave.
The pack, especially Lion chuckled as they nodded, in which Ghost explained to Khamsin on why they are chuckling.
Now Khamsin began to roar with laughter as Ghost told him about the time at the palace in which I knocked out creatures bigger than myself.
But that was different!
Now everyone began to laugh at my expense.
Just you wait.
Um.
How do I activate the power of the Buddhist staff?
Leon told me before I left the territory that he amplified the Buddhist staff even though he wasn't sure what kind of power is inside.
Me too.
All I know is that it purifies dark energy. Also by using it, you can cast protection barriers.
Maybe I will just copy what I saw in the fantasy anime before.
Well, here goes.
So I started waving around the Buddhist staff, making everyone laugh at me, much to my embarrassment.
Argh!
How do I use this?!
In my frustration, I tried to hit the air using the Buddhist staff in front of me when suddenly, sparks flew from it and struck the entire area.
I can hear several sounds of loud crackling, making me realize that I somehow destroyed the protection magic unexpectedly.
I have a feeling that Leon somehow overdid with the amplification of the Buddhist staff.
...
Khamsin was right!
That must be on everyone's thoughts, including Khamsin himself as we kept running away from the monsters that are chasing us.
After the protection magic on the area that is surrounding the ruins got destroyed, Lion used his magic to check the place around for any presence of monsters or traps.
Everything seems fine and so we tried to explore the area, much to Khamsin's reluctance.
After quite sometime of exploring the place, we decided to leave the area when Alpha unintentionally stepped on something that teleported all of us in another place.
Where are we?!
After several curses, Khamsin told us that we are inside the temple of the ancient ruins.
I can feel an eerie air surrounding us.
Lion tried to use his magic to find a way out to no avail as it seems something is preventing him to use his magic.
Bubu, despite being in her serious self, looked like she is freaking out.
Same with Deus.
Seeing that we must be on some sort of danger, the pack immediately surrounded me in a protection circle, with Lion holding me close to him.
My Buddhist staff seems to glow and I can feel it trying to warn me about something.
My gut seems to tell me that we should probably run.
My gut feeling is never wrong so I immediately told everyone to run.
They looked at me curiously, standing there stupidly when a voice seems to scream at me, telling me to run right now.
To everyone's surprise, I tried to run towards the nearest archway.
Lion immediately followed me as he tried to calm me down.
The rest of the group followed, in which we suddenly heard numerous sounds of portals opening at the same time, releasing horrible beings that seems too numerous to count.
Lion tried to cast a spell but nothing seems to happen. Alpha and Orm tried to use their magic as well, to no avail. Ghost, Deus and Khamsin exclaimed that they can't use their magic too.
Wait.
I seemed to remember something I read about from a fantasy book. It mentioned that there are specific areas where magic cannot be cast, usually in the sites where there is magic depletion or something happened that was catastrophic.
They called it, dead magic zones.
We are in danger!
I screamed at everyone to run in which they thankfully obeyed as I told Lion why they can't use any spells.
Khamsin was right.
The place is a trap.