The Druid Guardian

Chapter 17: Unsettling Feelings

-Yuuto's POV-

I don't like this.

Everything about this situation doesn't feel right. Here I am, sitting under the Grand Oak Tree with Kuma, and we have two guests with us.

The problem with this is that these two guests are the cause of my concern. Sure, I was the one that brought them here so that we could heal Ninja Girl, but I didn't expect Kuma to be interested in them.

When we got to the Grand Forest, I told the Griffin to take us to where Kuma was. Kuma lives in the Grand Oak Tree, so that was where we went.

The reason why we were going to my animal mentor is for his healing abilities. Unlike me, Kuma can use far more advanced healing magic than me.

In fact, Kuma was the one that taught me healing magic in the first place. How a talking bear knows how to use healing magic is something that I can't explain.

It's likely because of his race or something like his position as a guardian of the Grand Forest. Either way, Kuma can use Healing Magic, so that's why we went to him.

Once we got to him, I asked him to heal Ninja Girl. He was confused at first and wondered what happened, but we didn't have time, so I insisted.

Kuma complied and healed Ninja Girl up. Despite getting healed, she didn't wake up.

Grace was concerned, but I reassured her that she was alive when I checked her pulse. She was still breathing, but unconscious.

She likely went into shock due to that stab wound, so I'm not that concerned nor ever was. It was possible that when she went into shock and passed out, she suffered mental damage.

It's nothing serious like making yourself dumber or something like that, but more like traumatic stress like PTSD. Sometimes, people who almost get killed will be more stressful, paranoid, and likely even aggressive due to this.

What I'm trying to say is they won't be what they used to be, even if it's just getting stabbed. It depends on the person that experiences the event and what they will do about it.

Something tells me that when Ninja Girl wakes up, she's going to be more scarred than expected. When I saw her fight Marcus, I sensed a lot of hostility towards him.

It wasn't just any regular hatred but more personal than anything. It's possible that those two have a history with each other.

Since Marcus was a slave owner, the only thing I could think of was that Ninja Girl was Marcus's slave or one of her relatives was a slave to the guy. I'm leaning towards the former since this level of hate would explain that.

Anyway, I figured that Ninja Girl would go through some kind of trauma, so I decided to help her out with that.

Don't mistake my actions for me being nice, because I'm not. I'm only doing this because I don't want her to complain about what happened and acting all emotional.

I wanted to get this over with, so I quickly picked up Ninja Girl and took her to the place where I first woke up in this world. I took her here because apparently, this room has some kind of spiritual healing power.

I know this because it did the same thing for me when I came to this world. The moment I came to this world, my mind was under extreme trauma.

It seems that getting trampled by all those people left a permanent scar in my brain to the point where I was nothing but a drooling mess. The reason I'm still sane is due to that room.

Thanks to this knowledge, I can easily help Ninja Girl out so that she won't whine about her failure. I quickly picked her up and carried her over to the stone room.

I explained to Grace about it, and she decided to stay with Ninja Girl until she wakes up. With that over and done with, I went back to Kuma so that I could tell him everything that happened.

After explaining everything, Kuma had this bright idea about wanting to meet Ninja Girl. I was against it, of course, since it involved this brat staying here longer than she should.

Plus, Kuma will get too friendly with her, and it'll lead to all kinds of problems. One of them being that Kuma might make her a residence here when she needs shelter or something.

I only brought her here because I didn't want her to die. Plus, since I saved her, she'll have to owe me.

Whether she agrees to it or not, the fact that I saved her means that she's in my debt. I already got something in mind for her to repay her debt to me.

"How is your wound, Miss Grimm?" Kuma asked Ninja Girl.

"It's fine now." Ninja Girl replied with a slight smile.

"Good. I'm glad that I was able to help you."

"Yes, thank you for saving me."

"Oh, well, you should thank Ayato for doing that." Kuma pointed his paw at me next to him. "If it wasn't for him, you might've not made it."

"A-ah . . . I see." Ninja Girl's smile disappeared and replaced with a grim expression.

Does getting saved by me bother her that much? Maybe I should've let her die in that mansion.

"Anyway, I'd like to talk to you about what happened with this man named Marcus." Kuma began.

At the mere mention of the name, Ninja Girl's expression turned even grimmer. I was also sensing a lot of malice from her too.

She's probably thinking about the fight and getting stabbed by Marcus. I can tell that the girl wanted payback.

"If it's too much for you, you don't have to tell me. Ayato told me his side of the story, so I'm well briefed." Kuma seemed to notice too and tried to be considerate.

"No, it's okay. I'll tell you."

And then Ninja Girl told Kuma her side of the story. While she did that, I stayed quiet and thought about other things.

One of them being that stupid Hint Marcus gave me. He said that even though I was the guardian of the forest, there was always a way to lose my follows.

Since I'm the Druid Guardian, I'm the protector of nature and this world's balance. My helpers are animals, plants, and others, but this guy said that I could lose them.

If that's the case, then that means his target is getting the animals and the rest of the residence in the forest. How is he going to do that though?

There are over a thousand different animal species in this forest. If Marcus wanted to control all of them, then that means he has something for that.

It looks like my next course of action is finding out what the hell Marcus has that's going to help him take over my home.

"Ayato, are you listening?" Kuma called my name while I was in my deep thoughts.

"Huh? What's up?" I asked in confusion.

"I said that until this Marcus fellow is taken care of, you and Miss Grimm will work together to stop him."

It took me a few seconds to process what he just said before I could speak. I then managed to utter one word.

". . . Huh?"

This was all I could say to Kuma after hearing him. I looked towards Ninja Girl with a shocked expression.

 It was obvious that Ninja Girl could tell that I was surprised and not amused by this. I could tell because she was making a similar expression.