Chapter 27: The New World Part 2 - The Leaf Territory

Hours have passed since Rodrigo fell into that dark forest, it was already night and he was still wandering.

'I know that I have not known this world long enough to affirm it, but I would say that this is not the *Dark Territory* anymore, there is more vegetation here. Although with my bad luck, it's normal that I haven't come across any fruit trees... but, mom never gave me that to eat, we never had fruit at home, just some vegetables that were noticeably inferior to how they should be and something similar to rice, but dark. It was not burnt rice because it tasted really good, but, *Sigh* that's a shame…'

Rodrigo looked down as he thought about those he had just lost, because of someone he did not know. In the midst of thoughts of him crashing into a tree and before he could curse its unexpected location, he looked up and saw what appeared to be an apple.

Quickly, he tried to climb the tree to lower the apple, but he had no luck, he tried to shake the tree, but only some bugs fell on him.

Somewhat desperate and annoyed, he threw a stone up and hit the apple, but it did not fall. He did the same thing several times, but could not hit it, until one of those stones fell on the head of a bird and it approached Rodrigo with a threatening aura.

'Oh look, a little bird, get out of here'

Rodrigo slapped the bird, which quickly filled with evil energy, a dark red energy that made it grow in size.

'Aaah, that bird went from 5 centimeters to 3 meters! And I feel incredible pressure, it will be better to escape!'

Rodrigo ran as fast as he could to escape from that beast, but he could not lose it. He decided to return to that river, but his sense of direction made him go in the opposite direction until he fell into a small hole and found himself cornered by the bird, which charged a green energy attack as it approached, but before being able to launch it his neck was pierced by a green arrow. The bird flipped around as the arrow unraveled and covered the bird's body in a green aura that caused it to be unable to move freely and take damage from vines that grew on its body.

Rodrigo turned in the direction from which the arrow came and saw a girl with green clothes and blonde hair that could barely be seen because of a cloth that covered her head and face. The girl shot another arrow again and it hit the bird's head, which fell to the ground due to the damage.

The mysterious girl approached Rodrigo and quickly became defensive, she realized that he was from the dark territory and was going to shoot him, but a loud noise made her return to her left. Several trees were felled while a person fell with great speed on top of the mysterious girl. Long green hair, with more elegant clothing but suitable for combat, this new girl apologized for falling on top of her partner.

"It seems I got too trusting, sorry Lisa"

"Don't worry Cathleen-sama, I defeated the bird we were looking for, and found something else."

"Really? Tell me later, we have like five extra companions with us, I accidentally went to their cave, sorry."

Five giant bears and one with a wounded eye (The Boss) appeared with a menacing aura, they were furious at the girls in green and rushed to attack. Cathleen and Lisa stood up and with a more serious look, Cathleen summoned a Katana, which she held with her hands and at great speed, she attacked the boss of the bears, cutting off one of his arms and then his head. The other bears attacked ferociously, but Cathleen fought back very easily. Meanwhile, Lisa charged her arrow with that same green energy and released it into the air as she said:

"Thousand Leaf Arrows!"

Cathleen stepped away and these arrows rained down on the bears, dealing great damage and engulfing them in the same green aura as the bird, preventing them from moving. Without wasting another second, Cathleen quickly attacked all the bears, cutting off their heads and defeating them.

"Uff, we already finished today's mission Lisa"

Not hearing a response from her assistant, Cathleen turned to look at Lisa and saw her grabbed by the neck by the bear she defeated first, her appearance was much darker and more evil, with eyes red like lava. Cathleen rushed to punch that bear in the stomach, sending it flying in the opposite direction of her assistant. Lisa had passed out from suffocation and Cathleen knew she could not fight and care for her at the same time, until she saw Rodrigo and alerted her.

"Wait, those eyes, those eyes without evil, could he be?... there's only one way to find out and it's not that I have any other options available."

Cathleen approached Rodrigo and asked him to take care of her assistant. He accepted with some trepidation, and Cathleen smiled at him.

"Don't worry kid, everything will be fine."

She quickly walked away and went in front of the bear, waited for it to stand up and they both looked at each other with annoyance. The bear roared loudly and charged at Cathleen, who parried her attack with the Katana, but the impact of it caused her to flinch.

"Despite having lost an arm, It's still strong... and regenerated his head, that's new... no, I haven't seen that for years, it seems there's no other choice"

Returning to her combat stance, Cathleen engulfed her body in green energy and then sighed. She launched into the attack and managed to make a big gash in her opponent's stomach, moving her body so fast that the bear could not react.

It tried to grab her, but she dodged his attack and managed to cut off the bear's ear. It got more annoyed and ran quickly to attack her, but she now dodged its blows and managed to make deep cuts every time she did. When it looked like the bear was going to land a blow to her neck, she used her katana to propel herself up into the sky and engulfed her weapon with its power, then fell at great speed, making a huge explosion of green mana that ended up disintegrating to the bear

The impact was so strong that it nearly sent Rodrigo and Lisa flying, who opened her eyes slightly and saw how her boss had won the battle. Cathleen came back to see how the two of them were and Lisa, already somewhat recovered, said that she was better.

"That beast caught me off guard, I'm sorry I made you try too hard, Cathleen-sama" -She said smoothly, somewhat embarrassed-

'Don't worry, with so many years of training I am able to use my power with ease, not like before. Are you sure you are okay Lisa?'

"Yes, yes I am. Rather, he seems worse than me, it was him I was talking about "

'I saw him, you don't have to worry, um, I don't know his name, but he's not bad'

Cathleen's words made Lisa look confused.

"Are you sure? I would not affirm something like that with such simplicity, much more if we are talking about a darkness, it would be better to exterminate him here and avoid problems for ourselves"

'Do you dare to disobey and doubt his superior? Those deserve a great punishment Lisa' -Cathleen said with superiority-

Lisa was scared and was submissive to her boss's decision, who decided to talk to Rodrigo and ask him something important, but he fainted from exhaustion and all the pressure he felt from being exposed to those beasts.

"It seems that the rumors were not so accurate"

'After all, Lisa, the Darkness are elemental beings, not demonic.'

"Mmm, I still have my doubts."

'Your excessive mistrust aside, we should take him with us to the palace, the forest is no suitable place for a child.'

"Do you really think it will be the right thing to do? What happens if the others get angry?

'You forget that I am the boss of all the *Lefea*, if they get angry I threaten them and that's it'

"Cathleen-sama, that sounds very evil."

'Worse would be to leave a child in the dangers of the forest of our territory.'

Cathleen put Rodrigo on her back and the three of them went in the direction of the Lefea palace, the palace of the leaf.

In another part of the world, in the dark territory, some subordinates of James; boss of the igneous; they were searching the place.

"Boss, we found dark energy, which, although weak, is still enemy energy"

'Where was he headed?'

"Apparently he fell into a river and from there I can't feel anything else"

'Most likely he drowned, and if not, he will enter the Lefea territory, the demon beasts will take care of killing him, go back home, the peace association must not find out that they are there.

With Saito dead, there is only one outstanding debt left and thus I will be the strongest again… the question is… what will be my excuse to attack the Lefea territory? Well, I guess we just have to wait, sooner or later those defenders of the rights of the dark beings will make a mistake, and I will take advantage of that to fulfill my plan.'