The Traveler: Martial Druid

Chapter 9

Unlike his expectations, Katsuo didn't hear from the elf that day. He had to go back to his campsite and sleep for the night. He hoped that she would make up his mind by tomorrow. The wait felt like a torture.

Most importantly though, he was happy that he finally had a proper conversation with another human... I mean humanoid being after so long. 

The only things he could usually talk with were sentient trees. He wanted to get an animal companion at first but he felt weird speaking to his food. It was like having a conversation with your egg before breaking it for a sunny side up so he had given up that idea.

Could he have made friends with animals that he wasn't going to eat? 

No.

Because there wasn't a single animal that Katsuo didn't eat in this jungle. He had eaten everything from snakes to squirrels. He had even eaten wolf meat on one rare occasion before. This was important because there weren't a lot of animals that he could hunt in this forest. That was why his diet mostly consisted of fruits, fish and occasional meat.

***

Just like clockwork Katsuo woke up in the crack of dawn and stretched his muscles to see Aranel sitting in front of his campfire. She seemed to set it up when he was still sleeping and now she was poking the fire. Her getup was different from yesterday. She was wearing a sleeveless fur jacket that showed her navel along with brown leather pants... at least they seemed like they were made of leather. The most striking thing about her clothes was the necklace she was wearing. It looked like a dream catcher. She was also wearing face paint. Now she was the embodiment of a druid that he was imagining.

Katsuo became hopeful, maybe she had accepted helping him.

"Morning"

Katsuo sat across from Aranel and greeted her but she didn't look towards him and kept poking the fire. 

Seeing that she was not replying to him Katsuo kept his trap shut and just watched the fire. His experiences in the jungle had taught him one thing. No matter what happens just keep your mouth shut. The only time Katsuo could relax was when he was around Granny Scarlet, that was why he was so chatty around her. Because it was the only place he could let loose and speak without any threat to his life. His first day in the jungle had taught him a lesson that he would never forget in his life.

So they waited.

***

"Okay, I have decided"

By the time Aranel made her decision, it was already nearing noon. Katsuo didn't do anything in the meantime and just sat across from her. He took it as some sort of meditation training. As a martial artist, he had seen his father meditate for hours at home. He didn't know why but he had said for a warrior refining their spirit was important. He even said that a true warrior would reach the realm of 'calm mind, silent and serene heart'. Katsuo also had spent days in hospital beds without being able to move so mediation was very easy for him to pick up. He just needed to shut down his mind and zone out.

*Gulp*

Katsuo gulped nervously. He didn't know what her decision was but he knew that this was a defining moment for his life. If she doesn't help him, he was destined to spend years in this jungle, training. Possibly waiting for storms and attract lightning to gain the resistance skill.

"Yes?"

"I won't take you out of the jungle after all."

That was the nail in the coffin. Katsuo bid farewell to his future that would be spent in this forest. How hateful, while his peers were frolicking around he was bound to spend cooped up in this place training. He might not even make it out of this forest for the rest of his life. Oh Aeternitas, why have you forsaken me!?

"But..."

"But?"

Katsuo became hopeful again. Even a little bit of help was appreciated. She didn't even need to do much. She could only talk to Ralsei and make it grant Katsuo a passage. That was enough. He could do the rest himself.

"I have decided to take you in"

"What?"

Katsuo blinked in surprise. What was this crazy elf talking about?

"Sorry, let me rephrase that. I meant that I will be taking you in as a disciple but I never had a disciple before. So I thought how I could train you, then I thought I might as well raise you like my children. I don't know if I can be a good teacher but I know that I am a good mom so why should I focus on my weaknesses when I could focus on my strengths"

"Excuse me? Your children?"

Aranel just rolled her eyes at the obvious reaction from Katsuo.

"You humans and your distorted sense of view. Yes, I am old enough to be your ancestor. Now let's move on. What say you? Do you want to get adopted by me?"

Looking at her serious expression Katsuo didn't know what reaction to make. He had only asked her to help him get out of this jungle. He hadn't even asked her about becoming a druid yet and now she was trying to adopt him.

"Sorry, I can't follow your thought process. Aranel-san can you please explain to me why can't you just take me out of this jungle?"

"Hmm, slow-witted this one. I need to make sure he doesn't become dense like that idiot. Okay, so let's start from the basics. You are an another worlder who doesn't know anything about this world, most importantly I am someone who is on holiday. This is our basic setting. I can't take you out of here myself because then I would have to cut my holiday short, you can't get out yourself because you are weak. Follow anything so far?"

Katsuo nodded.

"So if you were to become strong enough, you can get out yourself. Since I can't take you out, I can make you stronger. That's why I will take you in as a disciple. The second point, you were dropped here by the goddess and your body was also a gift from her. Have you ever considered why? She is an almighty goddess, she could have sent you anywhere in the world but she sent you here, in one of the deadliest places in the world. It wouldn't have been a surprise if you had just died to a demonic beast. But this place is also my holiday resort and your physique is extremely suitable for becoming a druid. Put two and two together. What does this mean?"

"...It means that goddess wanted you to train me?"

"Well done. I don't know her reasons for this but I am not going to question her motifs even if she is not the goddess I worship, after all, how can a mortal like me question the decisions of a divine being? That's blasphemy! Anyway so just like you have to train under me, I am obliged to teach you. That brings us back to the initial problem, I don't know how to train a disciple. In all my life I have never taken a single disciple before and you will be my first. So instead of doing something, I don't know I decided that it would be better if I just adopted and raised you just like I had done for my children. "

"Wait, then can't you just teach me the magic you taught them?"

Aranel shook her head.

"No, it wouldn't work that way. For elves, druidic training and the way we teach our young are interconnected. Not every elf ends up being a druid when they grow up but all of them know the ways of one. So?"

"Do I need to call you mother or take your surname?"

"You don't have to call me mother but you have to take on my surname. Because that would give you an identity in this world, you would be known as a human kid I adopted with a weird name but at least this is a better story than suddenly appearing in the world one day. Also don't think about revealing the fact that venerable Aeternitas was the one who personally sent you here. Otherwise only fate awaiting you would be becoming a religious idol. If venerable Aeternitas had wished for such a future for you, you would have been thrown to the church in the first place hence the reason why you need to keep it a secret. Anyway, this is the last time I will ask you. Kazama Katsuo, do you accept me as your adoptive mother?"