The Divine Wolf... or?

After they had made it outside of the city's walls, Ephine could see guards and people running after them. She had a feeling that someone troublesome would probably show up if they stuck around for too long, so she immediately raised everyone up with the help of wind magic and flew away.

Seeing so many people suddenly take to the skies was naturally pretty shocking to see, and the guards didn't even bother chasing them. They were only stronger than normal people. Sure, they could fight several ordinary people at once and even fight some weaker demons, but flying through the sky? That was nothing more than a daydream.

Ephine could feel her mana quickly draining, and her concentration was being strained to its limit. Finely controlling so many people to fly through the sky was hard to do as it was, but she also needed to reduce the resistance that they were facing when they were flying to make sure that no one was hurt. The adults were one thing, but the children were a bit more frail, so she had to be careful.

After they had made it about halfway, Ephine was starting to feel exhausted. Since no one seemed to be chasing after them, Ephine lowered everyone down to the ground, and they walked for the rest of the way. If someone suddenly showed up, then Ephine could always fly away with everyone again after making a distraction.

For now, she wanted to recover some mana whilst she tried to get to know everyone a little better.

The children seemed to really like her, perhaps because of her cool powers, but because the children seemed so close to her, the adults got closer to her as well. Tony and Elise in particular talked with Ephine a lot, maybe because they already felt closer to her after they had talked earlier. Edward was talking a lot with the architect that they had brought with them.

He had been a city planner before, and they had some shared topics to talk about. From the looks of things, they would probably have to help design the settlement that they would build. Since that was the case, it was better to get to know each other beforehand.

After walking another quarter of the way, the children were beginning to get tired, and Ephine felt a little bad for them. Since she had recovered some mana, she took flight again with everyone after informing them. The rest of the trip was through the air, and it was both fast and smooth.

Flying rapidly through the air was a pretty novel experience, especially since they weren't really facing any resistance at all.

When they finally arrived at the camp and Ephine let them down, two of the adults threw up. Although most of them found the journey through the skies somewhat thrilling, it was also easy for some to get motion sickness. Everyone else was curiously taking a look around at the small campsite. Sitting next to a fire that had already died out, Sharon was trying her hardest to knit a shirt.

She had never been good at housework, but she still felt like knitting shouldn't be that hard. The result was catastrophic, but she was too stubborn to give up.

A bit further away, Ark was busily playing with the children. It was a surprisingly harmonious scene and some of the people who had originally been a little dubious about Ark calmed down a little. Even though they knew that he was a big wolf in his true form, he seemed like a nice person nonetheless.

Ark naturally noticed that Ephine and Edward had returned with some company, and he went over to them.

Some of the children already knew each other from before, and the rest quickly introduced themselves. The small campsite was quickly filled with the sounds of children laughing and playing with each other. The parents that had lived in fear in the city could feel some relief upon being able to see their children having fun. It was a sort of spiritual release.

After everyone introduced themselves, Ark quickly took an interest in the architect that they had brought back.

The man in question had a weathered face, and some of the hair on his temples had already gone grey. His stature was small and his temperament was elegant and refined. His name was Mark, and Ark had a small mission for him already. Since they were quickly growing in numbers, Ark felt like they needed something that was a little bit better than tents.

He was planning on staying here for a short while to get stronger, and whilst he was doing so, everyone would need some shelter.

Mark was excited to help out, especially on such an easy assignment, and after sitting down with Edward, they both started drawing and talking with each other. Ark could easily create houses, walls, and all kinds of things with magic, but he needed a good enough visualisation, which was why he got Mark to draw him some designs that he could use.

Whilst Mark and Edward were engrossed in their work, Ark looked at the sudden influx of people with a gentle smile on his face.

The atmosphere was lovely, and he could tell that Edward and Ephine had brought back some good people. Since they had been journeying all the way over, some of them were starting to get hungry. After talking a little with some of the newly arrived people, Ark learned that Elise was a cook, so he asked her if she wanted to help him prepare some food for everyone.

She wasn't particularly tired so she agreed with a smile.

This time, Ark had learnt from his earlier mistake and told everyone that he would retrieve some ingredients from his storage space. So as to not scare anyone. Whilst he got to know Elise better, the children had their hands full with playing all kinds of games. Atar had never played most of the games, but he quickly became popular with the other children because of how quickly he learned.

For some strange reason, he felt a sense of pride from the other children's praise. Pride that he didn't even feel when he defeated a strong opponent.

Ephine was keeping Elise and Ark company, but every now and then, she would go over to one of the couples that they had brought back with them. This couple didn't have any older children, only a small newborn. Ephine was fascinated by the small little bundle of joy. Atar wasn't as small when he was born, and he quickly learnt to walk and run after a few weeks.

Perhaps because of her innate affinities with the spirits, the child seemed especially fond of Ephine.

Ephine couldn't help herself from coming over now and then and playing with it a little. The laughter of the small newborn was truly heartwarming, and everyone who heard it relaxed a little. They felt like they had made the right choice in leaving the city. Maybe it was too early to judge that now, but a gut feeling was a powerful thing, and it would often have some truth to it.