Risa suddenly shot a ball of light in the young girl's direction.
The ball of light seemed to swallow the mist as the surroundings became much clearer to Jason and Risa.
The trees surrounding them had grown much apart and the path had also gotten wider.
Though it wasn't an optimal place to fight, it was much better than the closely packed trees they had left behind.
"Grandma, do ghosts exist?" Jason couldn't help but ask as he remembered the horror stories told to him in the orphanage.
"They do exist but not in places like this. Also, ghosts can't make any sounds." She replied without turning her gaze away from the incoming figure.
Maybe her version of ghosts was different than the ones Jason was used to.
As though stuck in a horror movie, Jason felt that time had slowed by ten times. A few seconds felt like minutes as the figure kept on moving forward.
'Finally…' Jason sighed in relief as the figure finally appeared out of the fog.
The figure was a young child around Jason's age, wearing plain shirt and pants. Jason couldn't exactly tell whether the fellow child was a boy or girl since the child's appearance seemed to be in the middle.
'Blond hair like the golden young heir of a powerful clan. Blue eyes as deep as the ocean alongside a charming face…' Jason observed the child's appearance closely before taking a decision. 'when in doubt, go with boy.'
Risa on the other hand was looking at something else as her face was set in a frown.
'Why do I feel traces of his mana in the fog…' Risa looked around the fog once again while trying to sense the presence of others around her, the attempt being in vain.
Risa was usually good at sensing the presence of others around, something that had helped her in getting the upper hand against Nero, the demon commander who had come to take Jason to the demon continent years ago.
However, something in the forest seemed to be obstructing her senses.
Risa firsthand knew that the eyes could deceive so she relied on her other senses too. However, all of her senses weren't working properly at the current moment.
'If this is a trap, the chances are that there are other people hiding under the cover of the mist and they will attack us in the next few minutes.' Risa's expression turned guarded as she made her way to the child.
Jason followed her, ready to whip into action if anything went wrong. His senses were honed after spending countless hours watching fantasy things in hopes of escaping reality.
[ And let me stop you there. This is not the time to launch into a lesson on anime watching. ] The system gently interrupted as Jason sighed mentally.
"What's your name?" Risa asked while being five meters away from the child.
The response was quite obvious as the child wailed again. "Uyaaa!"
Risa was an expert at handling crying babies but her options were currently limited.
"Hey, kiddo. Look here," She suddenly called out in a gentle and warm voice as the child stopped crying for a few minutes.
Jason felt a soothing sensation spreading according his body, something the system didn't fail to notice.
[ Host, I think yours emotions have just been soothed to make you feel a bit more relaxed. I never thought magic could be used in such a way… ]
Even Jason was surprised to hear that Risa had controlled his emotions. However he had a feeling that she hadn't done it directly.
'System, can you tell whether Grandma is influencing the child's emotions or not?' Jason asked while noticing that the boy had went completely silent.
The mist around them had also started getting much thinner as both Risa and Jason could clearly see their surroundings.
"Do you want to see something fascinating?" Risa questioned as the boy slowly nodded in approval.
His eyes were glued to Risa's face as she slowly directed his attention towards her right hand.
A ball of light appeared in her palm before she threw it at the child's face. He jerked back reflexively but the light stopped a few feet away from his face before exploding into multiple colors.
Both Jason and the boy watched it with fascinated expressions as Risa's eyes took a sweep of their surroundings.
'Looks like the mist is somehow related to this child…' Risa observed as the fog . 'There are four people hiding in the trees and a dozen in the bushes. I wonder why they are still waiting.'
Risa's senses were back due to which she had sensed numerous figures surrounding her. She had no idea what connection they had with the child but it was clear that they weren't there for sightseeing.
"Jason, on the count of three, go around the boy and keep him distracted. Make sure he doesn't start crying." Risa whispered before tearing her gaze away from him.
She then counted to three with the help of her fingers before vanishing.
Jason immediately raised his right index finger and summoned a bit of lightning around it.
He didn't say anything as he raised his finger to his hair and moved it around. A few strands of Jason's hair suddenly stood up as the boy looked at him with a fascinated expression.
"Can I try that too?…" He mumbled while looking down as Jason smiled and moved forward. He knew that Risa was doing some killing and his only job was to make sure that the boy didn't cry.
'People should take tips from me on how to handle a child.' Jason thought as he sent a spark of lightning into the boy's blond hair and made them stand up as well.
[ I wonder if you were this narcissistic in your past life too. ] The system snorted as the boy looked at his hair with a fascinated expression.
'I never had anything to be narcissistic about in my past world. Perhaps this is my true nature or just grandpa's genes affecting me.' Jason replied without much thought as he looked around to see whether he could locate Risa.
[ She is at the top of the tree thirty meters away from you, interrogating someone. ] The system notified as Jason's gaze shifted to where the system had told him.
He caught a glimpse of red hair flying through the branches of the tree as Risa suddenly landed at the base of the tree. She looked at Jason for a split second before vanishing again.
Jason's eyes had been too slow to capture her moments but thanks to the system, he could keep track of her location.
'None of them are speaking anything…' Risa on the other hand was going from one person to another in a matter of seconds, trying to obtain some information out of them.
She had managed to learn that they were bandits who resided in the forest for quite some time but none of them had mentioned a definite time.
Risa hadn't been able to get any other information out of them. Many would argue that a few seconds was too less of time to interrogate someone but Risa wasn't a normal interrogator.
She just needed a few seconds to get inside a normal human's mind and everything was done then. Risa decided to try her luck with all those surrounding her and until then, Jason was keeping the boy distracted.
Risa finished interrogating and killing all of the bandits in the next five minutes and much to her disappointment, she ended with nothing.
"How did it go?" Jason asked as Risa appeared beside him. She just shook her head before looking at the boy.
He too stared back at her, looking a bit nervous but compared to the wailing mess from earlier, he was much more composed.
"What is your name?" She asked gently and this time, the boy didn't cry.
"Alex…" He averted his gaze while telling his name as Risa nodded and extender her right hand forward.
"Well Alex, I don't know who you are, what you are doing here or how the fog is connected to you but I am not going to leave you here." She declared as Alex's eyes stared at her hand.
Jason could tell that Alex felt a bit hesitant and confused as to what was happening. Jason could very well understand such a feeling as he encouraged him with a nod.
"Um, can I call you big sister?" Alex mumbled while extending his hand and wrapping it around Risa's index finger.
"No, call me aunt. I am too old to be anyone's big sister," Risa smiled. "Now, if you promise to not cry again, I will show you more magic."
Hearing her words, Alex's eyes lit up. He nodded hurriedly in case Risa decided to change her offer.
'I have to find out more about him while finding the trio. Why do such things keep happening to our family?' Risa remembered that the last time they had come to the ceremony, something strange had happened back then too.
Trouble seemed to be following the Syrward anywhere they went which made Risa wonder when she would get a break.
'But then, I did enjoy the past few years very much. The house had become so lonely with just me and Issac.' Risa shook her head before she started advancing in the direction of the carriage.
"Risa?!"
No sooner has she taken a step that someone called out her name, making her turn back. Her face suddenly blank expressionless when she saw who had called out her name.
"You…"
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