Predicament

Just as Maya said, before long, a wooden house came into view that was neither small or large. The house was encircled by thick trees all around. Its height cut off underneath the top of the trees, making it look out of place for how wide it was. This, plus the woody maze they had to traverse through to get here, made Austin dubious. Whoever built this house had clear designs of making it hidden in this forest.

Maya went to the door first, intending to hold it for Austin and Heinz to carry Elena in. She went on her tippy toes and raised her arms as high as she could to reach the handle and push open the door. With routine practice, she didn't struggle much and opened it immediately.

The inside of the house looked like how one would expect. It had a fireplace, tables, chairs and was quite compact, giving it a nice homely feel. 

"Over here over here!" Maya ran to the only room in the house, waving her hands and guiding them over. 

There was one large bed inside the room and a couple of books for children. Seeing no other beds in the house, this had to be where Maya and Heinz slept.

Delicately, Austin and Heinz placed Elena on the bed. She was motionless the whole time and her body remained unnaturally cold. 

Grief plagued Austin's heart as he stared at her face that showed no changes. 

'Please be okay and wake up soon Mother...'

Maya was also concerned, but after bringing Elena to the bed, she had run out of ways to help and turned absentminded.

"Thanks for helping us out Maya, Heinz," Austin finally muttered after a long while. There was nothing else they could do except wait so there was no point dawdling around. He decided to check on Elena throughout the day when his Magical Eyes could be used again and see if the problem in her body was getting better. For now, there were other things he needed to do, the first being to find out where they were.

...

"Browncrest Village? Where is that on the continent?" Austin asked Heinz. They were sitting on the two chairs by the fireplace. Maya was not with them because she remained in the room, wanting to stay with Elena.

"We're at the very edge", Heinz replied with a slightly cold tone. After Maya was not here anymore, his attitude toward Austin had clearly turned for the worse. Austin was all the more sure he was only putting up a disguise earlier because of Maya. 

 Glancing elsewhere, Heinz seethed with a low voice, "this place can't even be considered as being in the Western Region." As he said this, Austin saw a deep-fuelled rage in Heinz's eyes. It was not just any small anger, but one that really contained blood and slaughter.

In all likelihood, Heinz let it leak unintentionally, thinking a 7-year-old child such as Austin wouldn't notice. But how could he not? Austin vividly discerned the murderous chill the air but did not let anything show on his face.

In the hot weather, Heinz was wearing a thick, black long-sleeve top and pants. A faint red mark revealed itself on his right wrist under the hems of his shirt.

An array of colors danced in Austin's eyes as he focused his sight on Heinz.

He quickly looked away just as Heinz turned back to face him. With a palpable fastening of his heart, Austin was astonished by what he discovered.

"So what happened to you guys? How did your mother end up like that and how come you don't know where you are?" Heinz asked. From what he had observed about Austin, this child a bit younger than him was inordinately sensible for his age.

Unknowingly, both children were playing mind games with each other.

Needless to say, Austin could not tell the truth. Who would believe they were attacked by twenty Wind Mage assassins and two grand masters, then, were actually able to escape using a space-teleportation device? Austin doubted if 90% of people in Fantasia even knew something like that existed. 

"My parents and I were attacked by thieves when we were traveling. My Mother is a Mage so she was able to escape with me but got she hurt and we were split up from my father," Austin said. Technically he was telling the truth just whilst leaving out some details. 

"I see." After Heinz's eyes gleamed in an indiscernible light, he turned away in disinterest as if he didn't care anymore. 

Austin felt Heinz was acting odd once again. 'Did he believe me so easily?' Clearly, this child was not as simple as he looked. Austin didn't think Heinz would take what he said at face value and expected him to ask more questions to validify.

If he was such a cautious person earlier, then why was he being so carefree now? Does he not care if we are dangerous at all? Austin thought there was no way this was the case, but seeing how Heinz really had no intentions to, he dropped the matter. 'I might be overthinking...'

Actually, Austin wanted to keep a conversation going with Heinz to find out more about Browncrest Village. He was very much disheartened to discover the necklace teleported them to the very edge of the continent. Since they came from the Krashal Nation, which was closest to the Central Region, this means they were brought to literally the furthest distance away possible.

Although Austin did not know exactly how far the two points were separated, it was definitely not a small amount.

To find Bram and return just became many times harder.

No matter how much bad luck they had, they could get closer to home by using the necklace again. Unfortunately, it was a one-time-use and broke apart after activation, but that had to assumed considering how precious of a treasure the necklace was. Without it, they would have never made it out with their lives. Once he sees Elizabeth again, he'll have to thank her and do her the favor she wanted...

 "Hahh..." An inaudible sigh came out of Austin's mouth.  They couldn't start going back since Elena was unconscious, and he didn't have any Rank 1 spellbooks on hand either so there was no way to train in magic... Although, conbining elements did interest him and was something he could play with..

Thinking of what Bram told him, another idea fashioned in mind...

'Pitter pitter.'

After a few hours of empty silence, Maya walked out depressingly with her head down, somewhat slouching. She naively thought moving Elena to a bed would be the solution to all their problems.

Austin felt warm again seeing her care for Elena. "Don't worry Maya. With you taking care of her, my Mother will quickly get better soon. I'm sure of it!" He said enthusiastically. It sounded like he wasn't trying just trying to persuade one person.

Maya looked up with sparkling eyes, gaining encouragement from Austin's words. "Mm! You're right, Maya will look after Auntie every day until she gets better!" She said gravely as if her life depended on it.

Heinz had a weird look on his face but eventually broke his silence and nodded his head. "Don't forget to take care of yourself as well Maya. You can't look after someone else if you are unwell."

"Mn!" Maya nodded as well like this was a lesson.

The gloominess in the room before her arrival dissipated.

It was still early in the day. Sensing Heinz was not going to say anything, Austin spoke up, "so, how come you guys live here by yourselves in the woods? Why not in the village?" As soon as he did, he felt a deadly piercing gaze on him.

"Here... we've always lived here." Maya turned towards Heinz dejectedly. "Maya doesn't know either." 

Both of them were looking at Heinz as if waiting for an answer. Obviously, the choice of living here was made by him. 

At last, Heinz was not able to stand it anymore. "That's none of your business," he snarked at Austin. The latter's eyes widened in surprise from his sudden aggressiveness.

Maya was still very young and could not understand many things but she clearly felt something was wrong between them. Her shaky eyes jumped between the two of them and she wriggled in anxiousness, but in the end, she went to Heinz. 

"Brother, is something wrong?" She mumbled timidly, tugging on his arm.

Instantly, Heinz patted her head and smiled, "no, nothing is wrong." 

But he did not look back at Austin to explain.