How bad could it be ?

"Where should I even start..." Fuyu wondered, her ears low as she remembered what happened. "I guess starting by the beginning is the best course of action here... Well, as you may know Rei, your mother has got lots of knowledge that backs up her powers quite well. The thing is that this knowledge isn't only useful for Illusion Magic, but for all kinds of magic in general, so we're talking about general magic knowledge, quite weird things but nonetheless very useful to know. You might also know that she is quite famous for her extensive magic knowledge, which is a reason why she taught you how to use your Illusion Magic, right ?"

"Well, yes. That's also why I was able to travel by myself for a while too." Answered Rei, starting to understand where her friend was going.

"This knowledge is also the reason why she got kidnapped. A strange group of questers came to see her, not that far from the village, in the hope of having her teach them her knowledge, but she refused to do so. Her refusal greatly upset the questers, who decided to kidnap her. The story is pretty simple, but I suspect that there's more to it than what we can all see. After all, her knowledge is the same as every book's knowledge, so why kidnap her and not try to just read a book ?"

"Just why kidnap her ? They have no reason to do so !" Suddenly yelled Rei, her anger exploding at once without warning. "Just how dumb are they to think that it's even a remotely good idea ?"

In the meantime, you focused on Fuyu's question : after all, if Rei's mother's knowledge was the same that they could find in books, just why would they need to kidnap her ? That was completely useless, so there must be something more to it. From what you've heard, it was unlikely that she was taken as a ****, or it was an elaborate way to do so...

"Do you know where they went after they kidnapped her ?" You asked, having completely ignored Rei's burst of anger and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, which managed to quickly get her to calm down.

"I'm starting to see why Rei let you come here with her..." Mumbled Fuyu after she noticed Rei's reaction to you putting your hand on her shoulder, before answering your question. "Yes, I do know where they went after **** her, and I can lead you there. I think my help wouldn't be too much at all for what you are going to do, since I guess that you are going to try and rescue her the dangerous way, right ?"

"Completely." You reply. "Because I'm starting to think that doing something a normal way is becoming boring for me, at least for most things."

"I don't think it's a good way to behave in a dangerous world such as ours, but you do yours." Fuyu then said with a shrug. For an instant, you felt like she emphasized in the word 'ours' when speaking about this world to make you understand that you didn't belong here, but it took seconds for you to shake this feeling off. After all, it's not like she knew that you weren't from this world at all.

Afterwards, the three of you finally started going to where Rei's mother has been taken. You were expecting another cave, since it seemed like everything important happened in caves or caverns in this world, but maybe this time it would change. Anyway, on your way there, Rei and Fuyu started happily chatting, exchanging what they did in the year where they couldn't see each other, and you were impressed by just how much good Rei was saying about you. You weren't thinking of yourself as someone specially good, since you had flaws and you were aware of that, but hearing Rei just find lots of good things about you was surprising, and a bit comforting, since it showed that you weren't just an issue.

"You know Rei, I think you might be in love with him, given just how much you talk about him." Teasingly said Fuyu, before giggling as she saw both Rei and you blush at her comment. "I mean, I get it, he's not a bad human, but do you really need to tell every single thing about him ? I don't think I need to know most of it you know."

"Sorry, sorry..." Answered Rei, suddenly quite unsure of herself. "But you know, it's the first time I spent so much time with a human... And he's completely different from what we are told in stories. It's like two different worlds... And it's just impressive to see a human caring so little about themselves."

At least it was nice knowing that Rei wasn't thinking badly of you, but could they at least chat like you were right by their side ? Thankfully, Fuyu seemed to remember that you existed.

"I see you're not that bad of a human then, Adam. It's quite rare for humans to care mostly about others and not about themselves, not that I want to upset you, but I think you can't deny that."

"To be fair, you're right." You simply reply. "But I think caring only about myself will be detrimental later so..."

Seeing as both Rei and Fuyu stopped walking, you did so too, stopping to talk as well, as you faced a well-known group of questers.