Dim light shone over the scavenged goods. Clothes, dry food and various magical trinkets divided in small piles.
A talk would be necessary, about the foxes, the possible demon to the west and how to move forward from here.
A talk which Lionel pushed till later so when the group had calmed down from the sudden retreat.
Rose distributed bowls of the rushedly cooked soup around.
Protected in the earth, people sipped warm food for the first time in days.
Though not much changed from yesterday and fox bodies were still gathered in the corner of the room, the mood in the improvised bunker became visibly lighter.
Hopeful whispers escaped every mouth, only a few more days and Kassia would come with a rescue force.
On the side of the room Valthar leaned against the wall.
The stone worm still was wrapped around his wrist as his eyes glanced at Hector.
Initially he had worried about Hector's life, but thankfully the caravan's healer had closed his wound swiftly.
And though not even an hour had gone by Hector already had a dumbass smile on his face as the village girl he saved fed him soup spoon by spoon.
Farmers really are resistant to pain huh.
Valthar chuckled as he took a sip of soup, the broth was salty and the vegetables were crunchy.
This was by far the poorest meal he had ever had in his life and yet the hunger from days spent unconscious was truly a great spice.
Funny how things don't seem so bad now. He coped in his mind.
To him it was very clear how close to death he was just minutes ago and all because of a misunderstanding.
Soon he felt someone sit down by his side, Amber the metal mage.
In her body her life energy pulsed with both shame and caution.
"It's okay Amber, things got out of hand up there but it's water under a bridge." Valthar said before the woman could even gather the courage to speak.
"I'm sorry..." She bit her lip and looked to the ground, chastised by her own mind.
Valther nodded to himself, his heart a little less annoyed as he could feel she truly meant her words.
"Apology accepted, just… Why were you guys so certain I was a demon?" He asked in confusion.
By now Valthar was pretty sure the caravan thought of him as a dark mage ever since the ambush night.
Yet they weren't concerned about such a thing for days, only acting when they thought he was a demon worshiper.
But how could such suspicion appear so suddenly?
Sure the worm thing looked very bad, but why assume it was of demonic nature when they already thought of him as a dark mage.
Amber's voice comes back in a whisper, quiet enough so others in the room wouldn't hear.
"I saw you cast a spell from nothing, not even the slightest mana fluctuation present… I thought only demon worshipers could do that."
Hearing her words, realization hit Valthar like a bull.
Screw me, no wonder she panicked so hard.
The Empire's magic system is heavily based on elemental mana, to the point even knight's progression was based on how elemental mana interacted with the body.
To see a mage cast a spell without mana would be the same as seeing a baby writing down a book about advanced magical theory.
Meaning it was either an anomalous miracle or some sort of demonic interference.
Worse yet, since no one else could see or sense life force now Valthar was guaranteed to be at least side-eyed whenever he manipulated life force.
"Damn, I get why you got scared now." Valthar sighs. "It's not from nothing though, I'm pretty sure I used life energy to revive the worm."
Curiosity lit up in Amber's eyes, it was not every day you found a dark mage so open to explain their magic.
"Life energy? Is that similar to life element mana?" she prodded carefully, comparing it to something she had seen before.
Valthar thought in silence for a second, though he had little knowledge about life energy he knew a lot about elemental mana.
"I wouldn't say similar, but connected." He scratched his chin as he searched for the right words. "For example the metal element mana you yield is not metal, it can produce metal and manipulate metal, but it is not metal itself."
Amber frowned with a little confusion.
"But then how can you control this life energy without mana?"
At that Valthar shrugged.
"I don't know, but my guess is it should be related to my affinity."
"Oh, so you have a very strong life element affinity?" Amber connected the dots but missed the target.
"I wish." He chuckled. "But no. In fact I can barely manipulate mana even with more than a decade of training."
Then after a moment of hesitation he put forward the theory he himself struggled to make sense. "My guess is that my affinity is directly to life energy and not to mana."
"What? But that's not possible!" Amber exclaimed, completely baffled.
"I know! I thought so too, but if that isn't the case then how did I revive the worm without the use of mana?" Valthar raises his wrist and points to the stone worm.
Amber frowned but couldn't find a counter, Valthar had a point she had felt nothing at that moment.
A third ring mage unable to feel mana fluctuations right beside her meant either Valthar told the truth or he was an archmage pulling her leg.
And there is no shot an archmage would be banished by nobles.
When it came to the powerful they were either pardoned with a slap on the wrist or directly executed, no in between.
"That's crazy." Was all she could say.
Peaceful silence took over the two for a moment before Valthar shifted topics.
"Though I'm not a dark mage my magic clearly looks like dark magic, will I have a problem in Deep Bonfire?"
Now Amber paused to ponder.
"It's complicated, you have to let the Silverfangs know in advance or they will kill you for it, but also if it is useful and does not harm others directly it's common that they look the other way and let dark mages do their thing."
Valthar tilted his head in confusion.
"The Silverfangs?"
Amber nodded.
"It's the family name of Deep Bonfire's city boss, they control the city in both dark and bright sides."
A surname? So he is a noble. But I never heard that surname before.
"Is the city boss a baron?"
He prodded in curiosity, Deep Bonfire is an important city to the Empire that he never heard the name of the noble family in control of it surprised him quite a bit.
"They are a count level family, but it makes sense you didn't hear their name in the capital." Amber shook her head. "They are a Beastborn family."
"Oh yeah, we are in the outlands." Valthar nodded in understanding.
The Beastborn kingdom had only been annexed for a couple centuries and to this day they are still seen as half citizens by the older races in the Empire.
Consequently they are not welcome in the central areas of the Empire.