At the moment when Ian was being taken to the village by Erza, a severe crisis was brewing within the member of Ian's party.Louis, who was supposed to secretly tail Ian and keep an eye on him, in case he did something stupid, saw the whole thing go down between Ian and Erza.This is the version of the story that Louis made up from what he saw and delivered to Ash after he came back to the tent in a hurry.1. Ian went to take another look at the village.2. He was caught by surprise as some unknown beautiful tribal woman warrior held a blade against his neck with all hostility.3. Although he managed to somehow persuade her to put the weapon down, he was still taken hostage by the woman.4. Lastly, he got dragged into their village against his will.He said that he came back to the tent so he could take either Ash or Damon with him.Since they were capable of knowing each other's location, he wanted to let Ian know that they were coming to his aid by taking one of them with him."What
Ian was being interrogated. Not just by one person but multiple. And they were all elderly people.As he sat in the middle of what could be called a dining room, he was being stared at, measured and questioned by at least fifteen elderly people who were surrounding him completely.Erza didn't even get a chance to explain herself as she was dragged inside by her parents the moment her mom showed up."Hmm.. The muscles aren't in too bad a condition..""But he's too thin..""He got the right eyes though..""But look at his clothes.. They're dirty..""Is he poor? Are you poor?""When did you meet our Erza? Why are you still alive?""Why would she bring him home? Why?""Are you a poor wandering adventurer?""He sure looks poor.""But hey! It's not a bad thing for us, right?""Right, right? If he's poor and alone, we can just keep him here.""You're really thinking about accepting a scrawny guy like him for Erza?!""Hey! Shh! She might hear us and decide to run away with him, y'know!""Exac
Ian was in trouble.He was surrounded by a whole tribe full of misunderstood people and had an attack spell coming towards him with each passing second.As if these weren't enough to ruin his peaceful night, from a while ago, he could sense unusual movement even within the members of his party that he left behind before.'Are they coming here? Don't tell me they're coming here.''They'll be here in fifteen seconds.''Thanks.. I really didn't need that.'As the Phoenix replied to his self blabbering with an accurate answer, he felt a small throbbing ache inside his head. It was going to get troublesome if they came here and saw something ugly.'Here goes nothing.'Ian took a big breathe, injected some mana in his voice, only small enough to cover the whole field and then screamed."I'M NOT HERE FOR YOUR DAUGHTER SO PLEASE STOP!!!"The clouds that were accumulating in the sky due to the activation of the spell stopped, they didn't disappear completely but for now, that was good enough.
While Ian was inside his shield which was engulfed in flames, the tribal people finally came to their senses as they realised what had just happened.Erza had also managed to come out after being locked up and held back who knows where. Her hair was a mess but there weren't any wounds. She just looked out of breath."W-what... What happened here...? Pa..? What just-?!"She looked around at the destroyed fields, the smokes and the fire all around her and was left speechless. As she looked at her father for an explanation, one of the younger girls, close to Erza's age, probably a friend of hers, came and stood by her side."They were fighting..""Huh? The warriors ritual.. I did hear it from inside but really...?"She looked at her father in disbelief as the old man lowered her head slightly, unable to face his daughter."The chief summoned his fireball and attacked.. ""His fireball? But that's only for dangerous enemies?!"She grabbed her head as she felt a headache approaching. Since
"Why's he still not coming out..?"Ash pondered as he softly placed his palm on the shield. A soft sizzling sound came from the point of impact as he felt the burning heat coming from inside the shield."Umm... Excuse me.."As Ash was standing beside the shield, someone slowly approached him and his party from the other side. It was Erza, and she had a very troubled look on her face."......."Ash turned and looked down towards her. She was short. And somewhat cute as well. And the enormous amount of mana and talent that he could feel coming from her was definitely at an amazing level.But he still didn't like her for some reason. So instead of answering her call, he simply crossed his arms and perked up his chin in reply."I know you all belong to Ian's party-"'...Ian? Are they that close already?'He freaked out internally while keeping a straight face and kept listening-"He told me you guys were adventures.."As she continued, so did Ash's thoughts.'Oh.. They're not close.'Sinc
"Brother..."Ash looked at Ian who was holding the leg of a barbecued Scorpion on his hand with a complex gaze before he finally sighed. He was so done with this man."I'll have some!"And then there were people that went along with everything he did. Take Louis for example. The guy looked genuinely excited to see the grilled meat in Ian's hand."Great! Anyone else? Damon?""Yeah! They're really yummy!"The millenia old maze hopped happily as he strode towards Ian, following Louis.Rick and the others also looked like they'd be more than happy to take a bite of that delicious meat one more time. Their eyes were practically shining.'Seriously.. these people.. Do they have no sense of time or place?!'Ash looked at them as if he was looking at a bunch of apes circling around a pile of bananas. His only salvation was his mother who wasn't partaking in any of this nonsense. He felt like she was the only real adult around him.Ash looked around, there were many people around them, unfamil
"Hey! Brother! Snap out of it!"Ash whispered in a small voice from behind Ian as he saw Erza and her father contemplating over whether they should apologize to Ian or not.As he nudged Ian from the back, Ian also quickly snapped out of his thoughts and continued where he left off, reliving Erza and her father from the thought of having to apologize to him.'It's too early right now.'He decided to let Erza in on the secrets little by little while helping her out from the sidelines. It's what he always did for the others, the same old pattern."Anyways! Let your people enjoy the food as well, why don't we?!"He said as he looked around and then back at the chief. He nodded his head and signalled for the others to join them and soon, it was another party, just like the ones they witnessed before, happening around them once more."Whoaaa! What is this?!""Right?! It's so delicious?!""Did he cook this himself? Wow, I'm impressed!""We should've gotten them married while we had the chanc
Ian and his party were currently staying in the tribal people's village. After they sorted out the initial misunderstanding that they had about each other, they decided to party all night to forget about the bad stuff.While Ian was busy informing the chief about what was happening in the outside world, time passed and morning arrived before the two even realised.Since they were drinking and eating snacks the whole night, Ian felt tipsy by the time morning came. The two of them were the only ones awake by that time, everyone else deep asleep. After the chief also fell asleep losing the fight against the alcohol and drowsiness, Ian was the only one standing. He pondered for a moment whether he should also take a nap but then decided against it."Someone should stay awake.. "He mumbled under his breath, cheeks flushing red as an effect to the alcohol. He could easily flush it out if he wanted to but the feeling of getting drunk after so long got to him. Noah used to be a regular dr