"That blue haired guy... Isn't he the Duke's son?"
"Which one? The cultist first born? the capitalist fourth or maybe the slaving bastard second?"
"No...that guy is the third son."
"The cripple? The guy who got his most of nerves and pathways ripped by the Duke himself?"
"Indeed. However the things he is doing now doesn't really need much explanation."
Somewhere a little distance from Asta and the front line, Two deer beastkin stood on a tree, one male and one female.
The male looked like a assassin, his entire body mostly covered in dark clothing and bandages except his antlers, while a curved sword hung at his waist.
The female on the other hand looked like a rogue thief with her jacket with armored paldrons,a cotton shirt and shorts clothings, but the two short hammers hanging at her waist said something else.
The two of them were looking at Asta from just outside his ki sense range. A curious expression plastered upon both their faces.
"Using mana without a mage's heart. A form of weapon coating that uses mana instead of spirit or divine will. And using the chi sense of the monks and Beastkin. What a weird guy."
"I agree. He is pretty good looking as well, I wonder why the Duke antagonized someone like him."
The Assassin guy interrupts, "you must be mistaken."
"Huh?"
"- It's possible the guy became like this for the sake of revenge. Try using the soul lense."
The female beastkin nodded and brought out a eyeglass from her sachet and fell on her butt from shock.
"H-h-HIS SOUL!! I-ITS—"
" *lightly pats head * stop panicking. It can't be that worse. " The guy snatches the eyeglass, "At most he just sold his so— THE HECK IS THAT!!? "
Through the eyeglass, The two had saw a twisted soul that was stretched out of the body like a phantom being pulled out and disappearing in space itself.
However what they saw on the other side was what shocked them the most.
"Just what in hell are those numbers?! Can a living being even handle that many traits."
The eyeglass in all of it's essence was actually a artifact that sees through a person's trait.
And as it turns out, the hivemind trait acted as a pathway for them to get a glimpse of Traits of Asta's real body.
Even so the man was a professional and noted down each trait he could read in the smallest time before immediately grabbing his companion and jumped away from the tree.
He didn't even stop there and sprinted to the other side of the caravan where most merchants were hiding. Only then did he stop for a breath of air.
"Brother... That guy. Huff that doesn't make sense! "
"I know! To have both angelic and Corrupted traits as well as a trait that even the glass couldn't see through, that guy might just be a fallen angel or a ascended Devil.... Or-"
"-A hybrid... " The rogue girl completed her sentence and they both shuddered.
"... If that guy really is a hybrid... We must bring him to our side at any cost!"
"But how will we do that? We don't even what that guy likes!?"
The assassin guy places hand on her sister's shoulder, giving her a pitiful gaze while he is at it.
"B-Brother? Y-You don't mean?"
"Mel... You need to cook."
The girl slapped away his hand in rage, "You are telling me to cook for a human!?"
"Unfortunately your face isn't good enough to match his own and you don't have any big assets... So we need win him over with food... "
Budge~
The girl named Mel then gave her bigger brother the meanest of sucker punches to the gut, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.
She then looked at direction Asta was in, "I don't care what others want. The one to decide my choose while be me and only me!" She said to herself.
And then leapt back towards the battlefield with her two hammers in her hands.
Meanwhile, Asta was dead tired from mana Exhaustion and gasping for air in front of the last dozen or so giant insects that remained of the monster wave.
The rest were either dead or completely crippled from even moving, leaving only 8 beetles and 4 ants alive.
However Asta's body had long reached his limit and his internal injury had also worsened to the point it was hurting like hell.
" If I die here. Maybe my soul will go back to the real body... But maybe it won't." Asta thought for a moment.
"If only I had a little more mana...maybe if I run awa— no! The guards will surely die if I leave. "
Asta's thoughts were dangling between possibilities, his morals.
The beetles on the other hand, having noticed their enemy's weakness were slowly approaching him with liquid dipping from their disgusting mouths.
Before long, Asta was staring down the mouth of a beetle as it came closer to bite his head off.
Yet just as he closed his eyes, he heard a loud Clang and opened his eyes to see the beetle gnawing at a pair of metal hammers before his body was tugged away by someone.
"You better pay me back for those!!"
The voice that reached Asta's ears was tomboyish like Princia or Mereleona's. However the stature of the person carrying him didn't match that voice.
And as he looked down at Deer eared beastkin carrying him towards the guards, Asta became confused.
"Huh? Who are you?"
"Someone who came to save you, Dumbass! Now shut up!"
"Save me? Why the heck did she not fight until I was half dead then!? "
Asta really wanted to swear like Yami but he didn't let his rage take over his head.
Right no, even the girl carrying him away could kill him if he tried to test her temper just like most of girls he knew.
So shut his mouth and gulped down his complains and let himself be carried off to the caravan where the guards were just about getting done with the first wave of insect corpses.
"LOOK!! IT'S HIM! "
" It's the knight...! and he is injured! "
"Medic, Somebody get the medics here!"
The guards immediately panicked, their formation in utter shambles until Asta spoke.
"GRAB YOUR WEAPONS!! IT'S NOT OVER YET!" Asta yelled the guards back into form, his finger pointed at the approaching insects.
His determined gaze made others willing to follow him. And the guards who owed him their lives quickly got into a phalanx formation.
Even as his mind was on the verge of fainting, he gritted his eyes open and kept staring at the guards.
And as he feared, The formation of the guards was shattered with a single tackle of the beetle and several were knocked back straight into some of the armored carts.
At that moment, Asta thought "at this rate, Those guys won't last even a minute...! "
The sparks slowly began flashing on Asta skin once more.
" I have to save them... I can't let anyb—"
Slam!
The beastgirl knocked Asta back to the ground, planting his face in the dirt as she spoke;
"Stop trying to act like a saint, you idiot. I didn't save your life for you to implode yourself from inside."
"BUT THE GUA—"
"- shhh~ " Mel points at the guards, "my brother will save them just fine."
"Your brother?? "
Then suddenly before Asta could ask further, something crashes down in front of him as the familiar beetle head appears in his vision.
It was just a head Left, the rest was gone as if devoured by something on the spot.
And for some reason Asta suddenly felt the world grow silent as a disgusting smell he hates down to the bones entered his nose in the near silent world.
"The scent of paladins! "
It didn't take long for Asta to pinpoint the scent in less than a second.
Then he saw the other beastkin, the assassin looking guy with a bunch of golden threats forming a armor around his clothes while he cleaved through the giant insects one by one using his sword.
Simultaneously, a golden aura surrounded him, the same paladin sparkly aura that Asta recognized in a instant.
He even subconsciously released of compiling bloodlust that froze everyone around in their spots, the insects included.
"Such a terrifying bloodlust. If he wasn't injured, I am sure his spear will be placed at my neck with no hesitation. "
The assassin guy shruddered, however he didn't dare attack Asta or move his eyes from the insects.
It didn't take long, but despite his body becoming much more clumsy under the overwhelming prickly sensation, the stationary insects were dealt with quickly.
Soon after, The golden aura vanished and the guy walked upto Asta under his bone chilling gaze.
"Oi... Are you a paladin?" Asta asked.
"No. I am not."
"Then why are you using that disgusting energy of angels."
Asta's comment made sibilings's ears perk up.
"Can we talk somewhere else? You could very well be proclaimed a cultist if you said something like that in open."
Asta thought for a moment and hesitatingly nodded.
It was painful but he also stood up by himself, refusing to accept any help from the siblings as he walked back to his cart and sat down.
The siblings, as expected, followed him back and while the merchants and other passengers were absent. They began their conversation.
"Now speak!"
"Not even introductions?"
"I will be the judge of that! Now say what you want. "
The siblings look at each other.
"We will get to the point. We need your help. Not the abandoned noble but you, the one controlling this body? "
Shing!
The spear in Asta's hand was already against Mel's neck.
"Gulp c-calm down! We don't want to fight you! "
But Asta was too cautious, "How did you know?"
"A-An artifact! We just checked your soul with an artifact and found it stretched... *looks at her brother * Help me Lloyd! , You jackass!"
"Ahmm. A stretched soul is normally a sign of a unwilling possession. We just happened to see your real body and wanted your help."
Asta narrows his brows while unhappily pulling back his spear, "What about that golden energy then? "
"It's a blessing from our tribe god. "
"Last question... Do you know any angels named Lucius or Osersia?"
"You mean those angels that were exiled? They were supposed to be angels under one of the human gods, we have no connection to them."
...
Asta's ki sense didn't detect any sort deception or lies. Which meant the guys in front of him were truly asking for his help.
However another problem arised, "I don't think I can help you guys. "
"Huh? Why!? "
"I am stuck in this body, and my original body is on the other side of the world. "
...
Mel's expression immediately turned regretful. "This... Then how will we save ou—"
"But that's doesn't mean you can't help in another way! " Lloyd placed a poster in front of Asta, making his eyes widen in surprise. "Is this good enough to convince you?"
The poster was of an illegal auction in Tisk territory, The hometown of Asta's current body.
And it didn't take much time for him extend his hand in agreement.
"I am Asta. I will be your care. "
"Lloyd, and I expect the same."