"Why are you giving them to me?" The girl asked as Bell took the cores out of the wolves and handed two to her.

"You killed two of them. It’s only fair if I give them to you"

"No, I don’t need it" The girl shook her head as held Bell’s hand and returned the monster cores to him. "You should keep them instead"

"But..."

"Just take them as your reward" She said with a wink.

"If you say so" Bell took the cores and forced them into his pocket thankfully, these cores were much smaller than the ones he got from the spiders.

"My name is Astoria, by the way" The girl finally introduced herself.

"Oh"

"What do you mean by ’oh’" Astoria suddenly bursted out, pouting.

"Nothing" Bell turned back towards the bushes he came from, hoping to find his way back. "I’ll be going, good luck on your exam"

"Wait!" Astoria quickly rushed to Bell and held his arm. "Are you really going to leave me here?"

"Huh?" Bell turned to a with a confused look on his face. "Am I the one who brought you here to begin with?"

"What do you mean by that?" Astoria yelled angrily. "If you want to save someone, you should go through with it. You can’t just leave me alone after that, what if another pack of wolves attack me? Who’s going to help me?"

"Well, you should have thought of that before you choose to come here" Bell said and took his leave, Astoria quickly caught his leg.

"Please, don’t leave me here" Astoria cried as she held Bell’s leg even tighter. "I don’t want to be alone in this place"

Bell sighed, reconsidering his decision. A mage who knows flame magic would be useful to fight of monsters, especially when he have to protect Ryu when fighting and she’ll make a good flashlight. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Okay, you can come with me"

[Astoria joined your party]

"I knew you’ll finally come to your senses" Astoria stood up and wiped her tears. "Nobody can resist a cute girl like me"

_i pretty sure I’m going to regret this_ Bell thought. He held Astoria’s hand and pulled her into the bushes. "It’s better we leave before something else find us"

Astoria blushed a little as she followed Bell into the bushes, they came out right next to the river Bell had drank from. He stopped and knelt down next to it’s banks, using both hands to scoop water and splashed on his face, washing of the wolf’s blood on him.

Astoria followed, scooping water and splashing it in her face. She looked at Bell, expecting him to say something but he didn’t, he was busy washing the blood of his body.

"It is really cold tonight, huh?" She asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I guess" Bell replied coldly.

"It reminds me of on of my camping trips" Astoria started. "My brother and I used to..."

Bell held her arm and pulled her up, interrupting her in the middle of her statement.

"I don’t have time to talk, I need to get back" Bell said as he walked, releasing Astoria arm after she stood up even though she was still struggling to keep up with him.

"Back to where?"

"Back to my sister"

"What!?, You left your sister on her own?"

"She will be fine"

With that, Astoria stayed quite for a while till she noticed Bell looking around.

"What are you looking for?"

"I’m looking for a mark. I marked some trees pointing towards where my sister was."

"Wait, you were the one who did those strange markings on the trees?"

"Yes, what do you mean by strange markings, did you see them?"

"Yes actually, I saw one in that direction"

Bell quickly ran towards that direction and Astoria quickly followed.

"This is it" Bell said and saw some firewood. "We should pick some of those for firewood"

"Wouldn’t building a fire attract monsters?"

"Don’t worry, it’s a safe place. No monsters would be able to see it"

"If you say so "

They picked the firewood and with the help of the markings, they got back to camp.

Bell quickly check on Ryu, she was asleep but slightly shivering. He quickly built the fireplace and tried to lit the fire with some rocks but it didn’t work, Astoria offered to help and used her flame magic.

Bell kept his sister close to the fire as Astoria sat in front of it.

"This place doesn’t seem as cold as the rest of the forest" Astoria said as she took off her bag and kept it beside her. She rested her staff next to her and lay down sideways.

"Thankfully, the trees surrounding us helps to keep the cold out" Bell replied, he hugged Ryu tighter trying to protect her from the cold. "But I’m afraid Ryu is sensitive to the weather"

"Your sister is really pretty" Astoria commented. "I never got to ask you what your name"

"It’s Bell. Bell Ragna and my sister is Ryu"

"And I’m Astoria Flamerose" Astoria announced proudly but Bell didn’t react to it.