"Master, do you mind if I accompany you?" she asked, walking toward him. "There’s something I would like to talk to you about... alone."

"No problem," responded Mark, opening the door and gesturing with his hand for her to follow him.

"Thank you, Master."

And with that, both of them left the house and headed toward where the village chief was waiting for them.

Mark walked at a slow pace, still feeling his body heavy from the week without moving, and Rose walked at his side with her hands behind her back.

"So," said Mark, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Rose didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she continued walking in silence for several more steps, her gaze fixed ahead and an expression on her face.

"Rose?"

"...Are you really sure about your decision, Master?" she asked finally, not looking at him.

"What do you mean?"

"About all that business of trying to unify the semi-humans and demi-humans," said Rose, turning her head slightly toward him.

Mark looked at her.

"I know you like that little rabbit girl," continued Rose in a direct tone. "And I understand that you want to protect her and her people."

"..."

"But is it really worth all those problems just for that?" said Rose, frowning slightly. "Unifying dozens of races that have spent centuries not agreeing on anything is not something that’s done in a couple of weeks, Master. That could take months or even years."

He continued listening to her without saying anything.

"I think it would be better to kill them all," Rose confessed, looking him in the eyes. "The five of us are more than enough to do it."

Mark remained silent and continued walking, watching the villagers as he passed by them.

An old man with ram horns who was repairing the roof of his house waved at them. An elf woman who was sweeping the entrance of her shop bowed to them. A group of children with ears of different animals watched them with curiosity from behind a fence.

"I’m not doing it just for Zilu... I’m also doing it for myself," responded Mark, keeping his eyes on the villagers. "I can’t imagine myself carrying out a genocide of that magnitude."

"..."

"If I had no other choice, you can be sure I would do it without a doubt," Mark confessed in a tone that was more serious than Rose had heard him in a long time. "But I do. The second option exists and no matter how difficult and complicated it is, I prefer to try it before resorting to that."

Rose fell silent for several steps.

"Aria was right..." she said finally, letting out a sigh.

"About what?"

"That you’re too kind for your own good."

Mark simply let out a short laugh and then continued walking in silence for a few more minutes.

Then he felt something, barely a change in the air to his right, as if something had moved very quickly between the rooftops of the houses. And his body reacted before his mind.

Mark grabbed Rose with one arm and pulled her toward him while with his other hand he activated one of his new abilities.

"Bone Wall."

A wall of white bones emerged from the ground in front of them in an instant, rising up to two meters in height and completely blocking their path.

And less than a second later, an arrow wrapped in brilliant green energy impacted against the wall. Upon contact with the bone wall, the arrow exploded with a detonation that shook the ground and sent up a cloud of dust.

The bone wall despite the impact held firm and suffered no damage. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Rose, who was still pressed against Mark’s body, opened her eyes in surprise.

"What—?" she began to say.

But she didn’t finish, because a bear made completely of green energy jumped over the bone wall.

The bear was translucent, with claws that left trails of light as they passed and an open mouth that emitted no sound.

Upon seeing the bear heading toward them, Mark didn’t hesitate.

"Raise Skeleton Army."

The ground in front of them cracked at multiple points at the same time. From each crack a skeleton emerged, crawling out of the earth with rusted swords and broken shields in their hands.

Fifteen skeletons rose in a matter of seconds, forming a barrier between Mark and the green energy bear.

The bear fell upon the first skeletons, destroying two of them with a single swipe.

The remaining skeletons threw themselves at the creature from all angles, driving their swords into the green energy body over and over again until the blades pierced through enough for the bear’s form to begin destabilizing.

The creature thrashed about, tried to give another swipe, but three more swords drove into its side at the same time, causing it to finally fade away, leaving the skeletons with their swords raised waiting for orders.

Rose separated from Mark and looked around with a frown.

"What the hell was all that?" she asked, materializing her staff in her hand.

"I have no idea..." responded Mark, looking in the direction the arrow had come from.

And then footsteps were heard followed by slow, measured applause, echoing through the village street.

"Well, well, well..." said a voice that came from the other end of the street. "For a human, you’re quite skilled."

The footsteps drew closer.

"Not only did you react to the ranged attack, you also neutralized the summoning in a matter of seconds," the voice continued in a tone that mixed surprise and contempt. "I have to admit I didn’t expect that."

And from behind one of the houses appeared a tall, slender elf with long hair in an intense green color that fell below his shoulders.

His face had sharp features with clear green eyes that looked at Mark with a coldness he didn’t bother to hide.

He wore light silver armor that covered his body, and at his waist, he carried a sword that he had just unsheathed as he walked.

"But unfortunately," continued the elf, approaching without stopping his walk, "your kind is not welcome here."

Mark looked at him with a frown.

"Those with that disgusting essence of death clinging to them don’t deserve to set foot on these lands," said the elf with an expression of contempt that twisted his face slightly.

Rose, who had already materialized her staff in her hand with magical energy accumulating at its tip, took a step forward.

She was about to launch a spell when a voice interrupted from the side.

"Wait! Please, wait!"

Said the other elf, the village chief, who appeared running from one of the side streets, limping from his wounded leg, but moving as fast as his body would allow.

The old elf positioned himself between the silver-armored elf and Mark, raising both hands.

"Please don’t attack them!" said the village chief, gasping from the effort. "These humans were the ones who saved us!"

The green-haired elf stopped immediately upon hearing the words of the other elf.

"Them?" said the elf, pointing to Mark and Rose with the tip of his sword, with a completely confused expression.

"Yes, so I would appreciate it very much if you could be nicer," responded the village chief with an annoyed tone in his voice.

And then these two began to argue heatedly while Mark and Rose watched the scene.

"Still think unifying them is a good idea, Master?" said Rose, looking at Mark out of the corner of her eye with a half-smile.

"..."