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A girl a little younger than him stood before him. Red eyes gazed into his. Her black hair was wild, her pale skin filthy. Her clothes were tattered, held together by more white spider thread than cloth. The shirt was too small, baring her midriff, and the shorts barely reached the mid-thigh. She looked at the sword leveled at her chest and lifted a single finger, pushing it away. "Is that how you greet friends?"

"Are we friends?" Ike asked.

"We can be," she replied. She walked away, hopping up into a tree to look down at him.

Ike stared up at her. She wasn\'t even worried about my sword. Is she some kind of expert? He pressed his aura outward, trying to sense hers, but it was like reaching into a void. He felt nothing, and yet, a chill shivered down his back.

The second he reached out with his aura, her head snapped up. She met his eyes.

Ike stared for a second, then retracted his aura.

She smiled.

Oh, she definitely felt that. This girl is way stronger than me. I should treat her with respect. Ike cleared his throat. "I\'d like to be friends."

"Oh, that\'s good. Me too."

Silence.

"Can I help you?" Ike asked.

"Well, I was wondering what you were going to do with that fire," the girl said, in the most casual way possible.

She is definitely pissed about that. I need to tread carefully. "Uhm, I was just cooking," Ike said.

"Oh. Good. I see you cleared the webs from the foot of the flame. Could you clear them a little further? I live here, you know."

"Right, right! Sorry. Sure." Ike jumped up and cut the webs a little further back from his fire. He glanced up.

The girl looked down at him, one brow cocked expectantly.

Not far enough? Ike grabbed his sword and cut a little further.

She waited, brows still raised.

How far does she want? Ike backed away a few steps and cut again.

The girl turned away, putting her head on her hand.

Guess that\'s far enough. Ike walked back to the fire. He checked that she wasn\'t watching, then, putting his body between the girl and the fire, uncorked Rosamund\'s head and poured the gunk into his pan. There was no way for her to see the head at all, or the gunk that spilled out of it.

"What\'s that?"

Ike startled. He looked up, quickly grappling the blocking stone back into Rosamund\'s neck.

The girl was still looking in the opposite direction, but she turned around as she spoke. She nodded at the head. "What is it?"

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"It\'s, um…" Reluctantly, Ike looked at the head. I don\'t want to give up my secret to a total stranger.

"We\'re friends, aren\'t we?" she said. She tilted her head. "I sensed that thing from across the forest. What is it?"

Shit, she\'s that strong? She\'ll probably kill me outright if I lie. But then, I don\'t have to tell the whole truth, either. Ike grinned nervously at her. "It\'s…a doll head. Magic-powered. See? Looks like a human head, doesn\'t it?" He pointed Rosamund\'s face at her. Rosamund wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Oh." Completely disinterested, the girl looked the other way.

Huh? I\'d expect some kind of reaction. Disgust, or anger, or…I don\'t know. Rosamund feels like dark magic to me. She shouldn\'t have this non-reaction. Ike frowned. He tilted his head. Her eyes weren\'t inverted. She didn\'t use lunam, she used mana. She\'s definitely a mage. Does she have some sort of mana source down here?

Wait. Hold on. Ike snapped his fingers. "You\'re a beast, aren\'t you? A monster!" After all, monsters use primal energy, or whatever it is Ket called it. They can grow on mana just the same as they can grow on lunam. And unlike humans, the beasts don\'t get inverted eyes.

The girl whipped around. Her eyes locked onto his. "What of it?" she growled.

Ike smiled disarmingly at her, hiding his fear. "I had a mentor who was a monster, too. Silver. He was a giant panther. I\'m used to it, don\'t worry."

"Oh." Her voice lightened, and she smiled a little. "Did he teach you the sword skill? I thought it felt oddly familiar."

"He did," Ike confirmed.

The girl hopped down. She sat beside him, so close they almost touched. "You\'re not one of those idiots who try to hunt us or make us pets, are you?"

"No. I\'m not stupid," Ike said. He eyed Rosamund\'s head, then wisely kept his mouth shut. I don\'t want her to get enraged at my lifeline and destroy it.

"Mmm. I like you. My name is Wisp."

"I\'m Ike."

Wisp hummed, disinterested. She sniffed the smoke. "That smells weird."

"Yeah, I know," Ike said.

"Smells funny," Wisp repeated. She bounded off and returned with a small herb. It looked a little like basil, with broad, rounded green leaves. Wisp tossed it into the pan, then sat back.

Ike startled. He went to yank it out, but the herb immediately dissolved. He stared at the pan, pressing his lips together. I don\'t like that.

"It\'ll make it smell less. And purify it a little," Wisp explained.

"Oh. Thank you," Ike said. If that\'s all it does, then there\'s no problem. But do I trust this wild child?

"Why are you here, in my forest?" Wisp asked. She tilted her head innocently at him.

Ike looked at her, then looked all around them. "You\'re… a spider monster?" he guessed.

She ran a hand through her hair and said nothing.

He glanced at the spider across the way from them. The one he\'d just killed. Uh oh.

"If I wanted you dead, you\'d already be gone. Speak honestly," Wisp urged him.

She\'s got a point. She knows I killed that thing, and she hasn\'t attacked me. Maybe there\'s spiders she\'s fine with me killing? "I came here to hunt a monster with strong fangs. Fangs hard enough to cut through porcelain. Um, but…I can look somewhere else," he added quickly.

Wisp thought for a moment. "Monsters with strong fangs? You\'re after the wolf spiders, aren\'t you?"

"A—a single wolf spider. And I can look elsewhere," Ike interjected.

Wisp frowned at him, then laughed. She jumped to her feet and stood at her full height, only a little taller than Ike\'s crouched form. "Human, would you get mad if I killed and ate a monkey?"

"Uh…no?" Ike said.

"Good. Stop being so precious about your desires. If you want to kill, say it. These spiders are animals to me. They\'re nothing. I eat them when I get bored."

"Oh," Ike muttered to himself.

She crossed her arms. "It\'s insulting for you to assume I\'m the same as those animals, in fact. I have half a mind to eat you right here, right now."

Ike took a deep breath, absorbing as much of the mana as he could. He tensed, preparing to activate his skills.

Wisp giggled. She patted his head. "I said I\'d help you, didn\'t I?"

"You didn\'t," Ike told her.

"Oh. I\'ll help you. I\'m bored anyways. As long as you give me that." She pointed.

Ike followed her finger. Loup walked over, wagging her tail. His face turned stony. "You can\'t have Loup."

"What? I don\'t want that tiny dog nugget. That!"

Ike looked past Loup. The dead spider laid sprawled on the ground. He furrowed his brows, then shrugged. "Sure. Go nuts." That thing is disgusting in the first place, and I have no idea if any of it is worth anything in town. She can have it.

With a mad grin, Wisp leaped from his side to the spider corpse. Ike turned away, but couldn\'t block his ears from the horrible crunching and squelching sounds behind him. He shivered, goosebumps raising on his arms and back. A wet slurp and a long, vicious tear echoed in his ears, and he flinched instinctively. Gods give me strength…