Kanix frowned when Mashyuu refused to believe that he was injured in any sort of way, even going as far as to divert the conversation with a compliment about her prosthetic eye. She gently caressed his face and gave him a smile; however, she was still disappointed that he was claiming to be completely fine when he wasn’t. “
How about not avoiding the question at hand with a compliment, hm?” the Guild Master stated, patting his cheek lightly before dropping her hand back to her side. Her face twisted in a look of confusion and distrust, watching as he raised a hand and pointed at the imprisoned Beast Soul wizard. Turning slightly, the woman caught notice of the dome of earth that surrounded the poacher, ultimately crushing him beneath its weight. “
Mashyuu!” she exclaimed, “
since when do you kill people rather than bringing them to the Rune Knights so the Magic Council can deal with them?” It had taken her by surprise the brutality that he could show when she had known him for dealing with situations in a more “legal mage” way.
She had not even heard the question in which he had asked her until after she had scolded him for killing the brute male. “
They’re all unconscious as far as I know; one might be dead, but he had it coming to him when he wouldn’t stay down,” Kanix answered him. A shrug of her shoulders followed suit of the answer, her gaze sweeping away from the rubble of earth to the fallen men and women beyond. Sticking around was not a good idea either, but there weren’t any animals around as far as she was aware they had all runoff. Glancing back at Mashyuu, the woman snaked her hand into his and held it close while he scrubbed the blood off his face. “
I don’t see any animals around her, so I’m wondering if perhaps they had taken off when the battling started to get away.” Kanix didn’t mind the thought of that; in fact, she liked the idea that the animals were smart enough to get away from dangerous situations.
“
Buck up, you wimp,” the woman snapped, hearing Mashyuu complain about Tetsukazu being too flowery of a place for him. “
You’re not supposed to focus on everything at once; you’re supposed to let your sense of smell pinpoint one scent and focus on that one scent alone.” Kanix quieted down after she had said that, her attention being brought back to the surrounding forest of overly large plants and trees. She breathed in deeply, tasting all of the smells of the flowers and animals that had wafted into the air around them, filling her scent glands. He was right, though, the aroma of the plants was overwhelmingly powerful compared to the stench of the animals that had just been around here. Fortunately, she was able to tell the difference between fresh and stale scents, figuring that many of the animal scents she smelled were disguised by the plants’ perfume. This meant that while there were fresh odors of the plants, there were fragrances of animals that were new beneath the odor.
“
Deep down, everyone has the ability to connect with nature and once you’re connected, you feel what everything feels,” she spoke in a soft tone. “
You can feel what the plants feel, hear what the wind speaks about, know what the animals think when they roam the forests.” A smile trickled across her lips and she glanced up at Mashyuu, tightening her grip around his hand momentarily before releasing it. “
You won’t know what you can’t do until you’ve tried it at least once, so don’t turn it down the second that it’s brought up, Love.” Instead of an answer, Mashyuu merely thanked her for saving him, despite having had everything under control at the time. Her heart swelled as he kissed her on the lips, feeling as if she would explode from the love and affection that he always gave her. If anything, he was the only one who truly loved her for who she was, whether she was a dark or light magus, sweet and gentle, or brutal and uncaring.
“
You’re right, Love; Tetsukazu’s creatures are exotic to Earthland, so magi from all over that planet come here through Wakusei portals to poach and sell their catches. It’s extremely saddening to me, as these creatures should be left here on Tetsukazu or else they’ll go extinct from all of the poachings. In fact, I hardly ever see the Shizenmesu and the Shizenookami roaming these forests anymore from when we first arrived here. I’m afraid that they’re going to go extinct and both creatures are an important part of the planet’s ecosystem. What will happen when they’re gone? The Great Spirit is not happy with your people’s choice of actions, arguing with me many days and nights that something should be done. They sicken me with how the magi, whether legal or dark, would do anything for the pelts of these creatures or to sell them to brutal owners.” She walked a little closer to Mashyuu, hand in hand with the other magus, resting her head against his burly arm and staring ahead.
As Mashyuu brought up their daughter, the smile that was on her lips faded for a second, like an overwhelmingly sad emotion enveloped her. Listening to him speak of Amaia was heartbreaking to her, but at the same time, it was heartwarming to hear that her daughter was doing well. Amaia had only lived with her for six years in Tetsukazu and after that, Kanix had brought her secretively to Mashyuu in Ace of Spades. She had not wanted her daughter to live the life of a criminal and had chosen one of the hardest decisions a mother ever had to make. Giving up her daughter for a better life was something that any mother hated doing, but at least Amaia remained with one of her parents. “
I’m glad that she’s doing well; I really do miss her,” Kanix murmured in response to him, nuzzling closer to him as she spoke. “
Do you think I’d be able to go along on the mission, too? Just to see her. . . that’s all I ask. . . it hurts that I can’t even get near Sabertooth anymore.”
“
The storms? They can get rather violent. Sometimes, they may act similar to hurricanes, other times they’re just really heavy downpours. It isn’t much to worry about, not like we’ll be needing to seek shelter or anything unless the storm actually ends up being a hurricane. However, you do have me with you and I am able to manipulate the water from any source that gives it, so no need to stress over it.” She knew how he could get with his magic since it was made up entirely of earth and earthen materials that were hindered by water. Whereas, she flourished in water, as being the Water Dragon Slayer empowered her with the magical effects of water and whatever else contained the element. “
I am the Water Dragon Slayer after all; where you are hindered, I flourish.” She reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips again. “
Unfortunately, I’m still not seeing any animals, so I don’t know if they have all gone off to hide or if they’re just not around the guild hall.”
When Mashyuu brought up that this had been his first time he came to the aid of her, rather than her to him, she merely laughed. “
Despite what you think, I can hold my own a lot better than you know, just I didn’t know what to do about this situation, so I panicked,” she answered him. “
I’m really glad that you had come when I sent Ancalagon off to you; I figured he would get lost trying to find Ace of Spades.” As soon as she had said that, a bird screeched overhead, sounding similar to Ancalagon, which meant he was listening to them. “
Oh, hush, Ancalagon. You know it’s the truth!” she yelled up at the bird, who only took off in response to the woman’s words. The screech of the bird startled the creatures of the forest, however, and a small group of Shizenmesu came rushing out of the bushes, straight for Mashyuu and Kanix. They weren’t startled by the giant bird screaming, though; no, they were startled by the poachers roaming the forest.
”