90 Looking for Avalon Part 3 (2/2)

”Mister Nortrom! We meet again.” The young girl wearing a dress and now has tied hair called Wallace.

”Mhm. It must be fate. Have you met your parents?” Wallace acknowledged this girl's persistence. He's unsure if it's really coincidence or the girl really plans it.

”No. But I was told that I'll meet them in the our province.”

”That's good to hear... Oh, I'll have to leave now. Take care.”

***

Wallace remained in his cabin to pass the time as the ship docked on Araceli island in time. This ship only had about an hour to stay on this island before it would continue it's travel on the other islands.

With Wallace's heightened senses and Divine Sense that he always activated as a habit, he noticed Hani following him. If he didn't focus his attention on her, he might've missed her movement.

This made him suspicious. But since he didn't felt any mana fluctuation on the girl he still didn't get too cautious around her.

'It's impossible for her to get so attached to me, right?' Wallace shook his head and tried not to bother with a little kid.

He planned to erase his tracks so no one could follow him. He first needed to avoid the girl so he could start his operation.

The port was full of people so he easily lost Hani from her attempt to follow him.

He found an inn to stay where he gathered more information about the place.

Apparently, only the town near the bay was full of people.

The other side of the island is apparently restricted as it is a government property.

He asked people on what can be found on large forest.

”The place was full a medicinal herbs that can only grow in the wild.”

”There's also rumors that Keroxes dwells in the Kharvatt Sierra.”

”You haven't heard of a Kerox? Oh! That's understandable, I can see you're from a foreign land. A single Kerox was said to be equal to five Battle Mages in strength.”

”You can imagine them as a humanoid abomination of several animals. It has a head of bear that has two horns with an arm of a gorilla. They have a strong body, it runs faster than a Nite Horse and very agile in the forest. They don't normally fight humans as long as you don't invade or cause trouble in their territory, they have a high intelligence after all.”

”Oh, you don't need to thank me that much. All those information I gave you is a common knowledge here. Even childrens would be aware of it.”

Wallace thanked an old man reading a newspaper at the front of his house. He approached the man who kindly answered his questions.

”It seems that Keroxes were strong and scary. It's a good thing that they remain in their territory.” Wallace commented.

”Oh, thanks to the guards. It's also all about the balance of life. Although Keroxes is at the top of the food chain, their numbers were low and so they feed less. As long as they were not hungry, there wouldn't be a chance for them to leave their territory.”

”That's why the government controls the hunting within the place since we can't afford to eradicate all weaker Mana Beasts here or the citizens of this island would be the one to suffer.”

Wallace concluded his conversation with the residents of the town after having a good grasp on the situation of the forest. Although it was only a small part on what's inside, it is always better to have this kind of conversation so he won't be clueless once he entered the forest.

The Kharvatt Sierra is the longest mountain range in Araceli that bordered almost half of this island. Wallace calculated that the small island he was searching for was still behind this mountain range.

'It seems that deeper within the forest was fully inhabited by Mana Beasts aside from Keroxes.'

Wallace pondered after going back to the inn.

”I'll sneak once the night approached.” Wallace decided his next plan. He was aware of the tight security being placed by the local police to stop the intruders from entering the forest without permission. Only contracted Mercenaries were allowed to enter whenever there is a request coming from their Ministry.

Wallace doesn't have time to disguise himself as a member of a Mercenary group and wait for a request to enter the forest. He would rather find a loophole on the guards and use his flight to sneak into the forest.