For Cassian, Yeling's departure was unfortunate, as he would no longer have an instructor to teach him his art.
But he thought he was close enough and understood enough to finish it on his own.
"Well, I guess I'm on my own now... let's see...huh?"
Thrmm... thrmm!...
And just before he looked around for more bison, he felt a slight vibration on the ground and looked back.
In fact, it was another bison coming in his direction. The problem was that the bison had someone hanging from its head, as if it had rammed into her and continued on its way, dragging her along with it.
"Her...? Where have I seen her before...? Ah, yes, Nisha's daughter... What was her name again...? Nahara? No... rather... I have to help her."
Cassian thought she looked familiar, and remembered that she was Nisha's eldest daughter. He had been too focused on Nisha earlier, so he had trouble remembering her name.
But more importantly, she seemed to be in trouble. She was literally being rammed and dragged along like a rag doll, and he wanted to help her.
But before he could step forward...
He noticed that she wasn't just being carried away by the bison. Rather, she was holding onto the bison's horns!
Before he could step forward, he saw her let go with one hand, pull out a dagger from her waist, and stab the bison in the eye.
BRUUUHHHHH!!
BRUUUHHHHH!!
Without hesitation, she dropped the dagger and gripped the horns again. Using the bison's shaking and pain to her advantage, she shifted her weight, swinging herself upward. The momentum carried her smoothly, allowing her to rotate and land firmly on the animal's back.
Once on top, she adjusted her stance as if riding it, then drew a short sword from the back of her waist and drove it repeatedly into the bison's back and neck.
MROOOHHHH!
It bellowed in pain and thrashed about, but it was useless. The woman, persistently and in a good position, stabbed it continuously. It was brutal, but effective.
This continued until the beast's momentum waned, stopping its run and falling... right in front of Cassian, who watched this whole series of events with surprise.
"Ugh! That hurt! Ufff... I need a little..."
And it didn't end there. Because the woman took a second dagger from her waist and made a cut in the bison's neck, removing a thick piece of meat that she cut to the exact size and began to eat, not caring about the blood or that it was raw.
"..."
"Nom, nom..."
"..."
"Chomp, glup!... Hey you! Stop looking at me like that while I'm eating. What's your problem?"
Apparently, the woman didn't like Cassian watching her from the side while she ate. She looked angry and glared at him with a threatening expression.
"No, it's just... well, it's weird for me to see someone eating raw meat... but I guess it must be normal here, right?"
"What do you mean, normal?! Of course it's not normal! Did you hit your head? Where's your common sense? I don't like doing this either, but I need to recover my energy quickly so I can hunt more."
"Huh? Can you regain energy that way?"
"Tsk... what's wrong with your common sense? It's because of my art... or rather, the art passed down in my town, which is of the fire attribute. By consuming things with the fire attribute, we can become stronger and regain some energy."
"Huh? The Arts can do that? Because Ling-Ling didn't tell me?... Ah! That's what it meant by consuming any kind of thing with mana!..She said she didn't understand that part either, so that was what it was about.... so mine works with anything."
Cassian still didn't fully understand the arts and didn't know that could be done, since Yeling didn't mention it. But he remembered a certain part where it said that he could recover energy with things of any attribute. If that was the case, it was very convenient.
"What are you muttering about? Do you think I unfortunate that I have to resort to this?"
"Why would I think it's unfortunate? Rather... wouldn't you have infinite energy or something like that?"
"What?! What's wrong with you? Are you playing with me? Infinite energy? I'll be lucky if I'm okay tomorrow with so much unrefined mana being absorbed..."
"What do you mean?"
"...Are you kidding me? Tsk. I'm not going to waste any more time here. I have fire bison to hunt."
"Wait, I really don't understand, you know? I learned my art yesterday and there's a lot of things I still don't know, or understand."
"Nonsense! Stop talking nonsense! It's impossible for that to be true when you're so strong. I watched you from a distance and saw how you easily took down those bison."
"Ah! It's a misunderstanding, I have a skill that improves my physique. It wasn't because of the art."
"Ugh! A skill...? So that's what it is!... And that silver-haired woman has it too? Is that what makes her physically strong and good at fighting?"
"Huh? Ria? No, she doesn't have it. Hers is different."
"So she's not strong because of her ability... Between you and her, who is stronger?"
"Between her and me? Well, I don't know... maybe her. Why do you suddenly ask?"
"...I'm just curious about what that woman is capable of."
"Curious? But why do you seem angry?"
"Tsk. Well, I'm not ashamed to say it anyway. This morning, she easily subdued me and my brothers. I know you guys are our saviors and must be 'special'... but it still bothered me. She even had room to be considerate with me."
"Ah! I think I understand. Hey, but going back to the subject of the arts, besides bison, what else works? Also, if it makes you strong, does that mean you can become strong just by eating?"
Now that she had discovered something new about the arts that Yeling didn't know, she wasn't going to waste it.
Only a day had passed, but he felt that his perspective had changed a little, starting with the fact that he had discovered the origin of many bad things he had experienced, which was his skill, but at the same time, he understood that he himself, with everything that was happening, was not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
In fact, as far as he understood, it was really necessary now, so he didn't mind practicing the art and becoming stronger, not to mention that he rationalized that being strong was important for creating and maintaining a harem...yes, that last part had weighed heavily on his mind since he met the spider woman.
So he was interested in the arts, which was the common method of becoming strong, and he looked expectantly at the woman.
"Ugh, well, you don't seem to be looking at my face... I don't know if you learned it by practicing your art... but you should understand that what you can and cannot consume depends a lot on the art. In our case, it's very flexible, and all beasts with fire attributes are included. And you won't get very far just by eating it, let alone without processing it."
"Process it? Something like cooking it?"
"Yes, but it must be properly cooked or turned into a potion, because if you don't, all the impurities and so on accumulate in your body, and if you do it a lot, it's like being poisoned... or it can even lead to death or something even worse."
"Worse than death? Ah! But doesn't that make it dangerous to eat anything? And if it's so dangerous to do so, why are you doing it?"
"Stop asking so many questions at once. First, it only works when you're circulating your art. Second, yes, it's dangerous. Our people are on the verge of extermination. There may not be a tomorrow. Even if it has impurities, it's the fastest way to make me strong and help the people. Even if I die, it will be fighting and protecting my younger brothers."
"I see... but does it really make you stronger? Is the improvement significant?"
"Haah~ Not really, but any improvement is better than nothing. Huaah~ I've already answered your questions just as you answered mine. Now, if you'll excuse me, 'savior,' I'm going to go around."
"Wait!"
"What?! What else do you want?"
"No, this... I mean, that bracelet you have on your arm... if it's not too much trouble, could you give it to me?"
"What!! Why would I give it to you?!"
This request seemed to have come out of nowhere, but that bracelet was something Cassian had noticed when talking to her. It wasn't as if his skill had been activated or he had suddenly become greedy for that bracelet.
Rather, in addition to having an amber stone as its centerpiece, it didn't seem special at all. What caught his attention was that it seemed to be something that could be stretched and bent — something Cassian really wanted.
Since yesterday, he had felt that his hair was getting in the way a little... it was long, and sometimes, when he moved around a lot, it blocked his vision.
Until now, it wasn't really a big deal, but it was annoying. And now that he saw Nahara's bracelet, he thought it would work for him to tie his hair back.
That's why he asked her for it, although he didn't expect her to seem angry at the request. Maybe the stone was worth more than it looked.
"Well... if you don't want to, that's fine."
"Of course I wouldn't give it to you—hmm... Okay!, let's do it this way. I'll give it to you, but you have to fight for it!"
"Huh? Fight for a bracelet? Why would we do that?"
...Tsk! Fine, I'll tell you, what does it matter what happens... listen and listen carefully, I'm really not convinced. I don't agree with anything about this savior business or anything that has to do with all of you."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean that. The prophecy and all that. I don't really understand it. Why does everyone seem so happy to entrust the future of our people to strangers? Why does even my father, one of the best warriors, have to act deferential to who are only a little older than me? None of it makes sense. We are a people of warriors. To begin with, we should defend our own things personally and not trust strangers with something like that."
"Oh... well, if you put it that way... you know, I also felt weird when they welcomed us like that, although I'm not complaining about your mother's welcome... well, I guess it's reasonable for you to think that way."
"..."
"What?"
"No, I thought you were going to say something like you were an envoy and that I was being disrespectful or something... I was ready for you to even tell the boss or my father what I said."
"Why would I do that?... Ah! But we've already reached an agreement with the boss, so there's nothing we can do."
"Haaah~ I know that. Anyway, this is something I shouldn't even have an opinion on. There's nothing I can do about it."
"But what does that have to do with fighting and the bracelet?"
"Like I said, I really don't think it's right to trust strangers. Even if you have the stigma of our god... before, that woman caught me off guard. Now I'm ready, and I want to really see the difference, and if you deserve all the expectations the people have of you. Besides, defeating me is the least you have to do if you want my bracelet.."