Blood Assimilation

\'What the hell was that uneasy feeling just now? Why did it feel like someone or something was observing me closely just now? No, I felt this strange look on my body ever since I came to this world.\'

\'Originally, I thought it was simply because I was on edge after coming to a different world with unknown dangers. But now, I am certain that some entity was observing my actions since a while ago.\'

Randy confidently thought to himself with a scowled expression. He had no idea why he could tell these things but seeing as how his body was reacting to the situation, there was no doubt about his suspicion. 

With vigilance, he stood there for a few moments with a pondering expression, and after a while, he proceeded to intently scour his surroundings with a focused gaze for a short while, seemingly on a lookout for any possible enemy attack or anything out of the ordinary nearby. 

After looking out cautiously for a while, he surprisingly discovered nothing unusual within the proximity around him, causing him to become more confused about this situation, and then he wondered to himself: " Was I simply imagining all these because I was too tense since a while ago? Regardless of whether I was imagining things or not, I need to follow after that girl. Otherwise, I will lose her tracks and also lose my only chance out of this forest.\'

With that decided, he quickly chased after the girl who had already made a considerable distance between them when he was busy searching his surroundings just now. 

… 

Back inside the throne room of that beautiful woman from earlier.

"Hm?" The beautiful woman curiously raised her eyebrows when she saw the young man\'s actions just now. 

"Why does it feel like that human could somehow tell that he was being observed? Judging from the way that he was searching around as if looking out for some enemy or anticipating an attack, he clearly looks to be on edge against the unknown." The beautiful woman muttered to herself in contemplation. 

A short while later, she shook her head and muttered: "No, how is that possible? There\'s no way a mere human could detect my clairvoyance spell. Unless they were as strong as me, they shouldn\'t be able to detect my magic." 

She paused for a moment, and then she confuted with certainty in her voice: "Not to mention, simply having the same level of power as me does not mean that they could easily detect my spell in the first place. In that sense, how could it be possible for that human who seemed clearly weaker than me just based on his movements alone?" 

"Maybe it was just a coincidence that he stopped when he did? He might just be an extremely cautious individual and nothing more." The beautiful woman with colorful red clothes that appears to be a tight-fitting dress sat on her throne in the dark as she pondered for a brief moment before she finally nodded and concluded that to be most likely the case. As there was simply no way such a weaker being could detect her spell even by a fluke. 

With that conclusion, she continued to observe the young man who trailed the young girl\'s tracks out of the forest at this moment.

…

After following the young girl for about a few minutes, Randy suddenly found himself out of the forest, and he had a look of delight on his face when he saw a structure that looked like a building in the distance. 

However, he abruptly came to a halt, and the smile on his face also disappeared. He noticed that at some an unknown time, a group of bulky men who looked quite fierce with their rakes, shovels, machetes, and other types of farm equipment in their hands were deeply staring at him with caution at this moment. 

Judging by how the group of bulky men positioned their weapons when facing Randy, they looked more like they were out to meet some monster that came to attack their town rather than meet a human. 

Not just that, because, in the distance, on top of the walls constructed from what seemed to be wood, stood a group of archers who also aimed their arrows at Randy at the same time.

Randy was initially astonished by the group of people that ostensively appeared to welcome him, or so he had thought. 

But as he looked at the weapons in the group of people\'s hands, he frowned slightly in confusion. Afterward, he proceeded to look at the group of people for a moment. And then suddenly, his gaze fell in the center of the group where he noticed a familiar face. 

He saw the young girl he had been chasing after since earlier; she was standing behind an old-looking man who seemed to be the leader of the people in this place. 

At this point, Randy finally understood what was going on and sighed helplessly. \'Was I that suspicious enough for you to aim your weapons at a stranger like me the moment you see me? Also, what did that girl even tell them enough for them to react this way to the savior of one of their people?\'

As he thought this, out of caution, Randy narrowed his eyes and then proceeded to glance at the old man guarding the young girl briefly with his probing gaze, as he checked to see if they were stronger than him based on their energy emission.

At this moment, when the old man noticed the young man\'s gaze on him, and then raised his eyebrows slightly in response, and afterward, he observed the young man in the distance closely. 

At this point, Randy noticed something was very strange as he did not sense anything from the old man. More precisely, there was only faint magical energy emitting from the old man, and he frowned when he noticed that the old man barely had enough strength to fight against him based on his energy alone.

\'Why does he only have such an insignificant amount of magical energy? Then, why is he the leader of this place? Wait a second, looking closely, all of them only had a faint amount of magical energy emitting from their body. What\'s going on?\'

While Randy was thinking this in bewilderment, the old man among the group of people hesitated for a bit before calmly taking a step forward and then shortly after, stood out from the crowd behind, surprising the crowd with his sudden action. 

The old man ignored their reactions, and instead, opened his mouth to say something in a strange language while looking at Randy with a questioning gaze.