A buzgal's appearance greatly resembles that of a water buffalo. But, buzgals are twice their size. They are mostly black or dark brown in color, their horns curve upwards and have sharp edges. Aside from that, they are great users of earth magic. Despite all of that, buzgals are gentle creatures and were easily domesticated.
Buzgals are also a close relative to a bull, a great beast revered by the people of the kingdom of Regas as they believed that Taurus was one himself. Although smaller, bulls are much more fearsome with four elemental magic at their disposal and thick muscles that only harden as they grow older.
Aside from the children, everyone was prepared to jump into action. But, before they did, Linus and Fen went off ahead of them.
"We got it," Linus said.
He jumped off of Fen with his sword already drawn. The buzgal saw him and didn't waste a second to charge. Swaying on its head was the corpse of the unfortunate man.
Side by side, both Linus and Fen also charged towards the maddened beast. After being close enough, the gray wolf stopped, he howled and spikes of stones made their way towards the charging beast.
Fen managed to stab the buzgal with the spikes, but it continued. Even when it lost a bit of its balance, it forced through and continued the charge. Every stomp it made caused the ground to shake.
The other knights were down their mounts and were prepared to aid them. But, they didn't need to. One slash from the great warrior, Linus, was enough to cleave the head of the enraged beasts. He also avoided the corpse of the man dangling on its horn.
Once the situation was solved, Linus confirmed that the man on the buzgal's horn was indeed deceased. Arsen and the others checked the destroyed house to see if there were other human casualties. They were glad that no one was inside the crumbled house.
Nireus commanded Konon to head to the city of Byllenes, which was the nearest place to their location, and to tell them about the enraged beast and the damage it did. The knight followed his command with haste.
While waiting for Konon, the others set up camp beside the brick road. They also removed the buzgal's remains, fallen trees, and huge rocks, off the road. For the dead man, they removed him from the buzgal's horn. Tiriara couldn't stomach watching them. She puked at the sides after trying to hold it in for a while. Aeneas also turned away, although it wasn't the first time he had seen a dead body, it was different than seeing Nasaea's death, the one in front of him had a huge hole in the abdomen. Still, he managed not to throw up. On the other hand, Neoma didn't react and just stared into it, as the others covered the corpse with a cloth.
The group had a campfire using the trees laying in the ground, and fire from the flick of Arsen's fingers.
"Should I roast that buzgal?" Linus asked.
The lord of Arsida said that they shouldn't eat it.
"Why? Are you afraid that you'd get the madness? We always eat beasts that get mad like this one."
"No," Nireus and the others also knew that maddened beasts are safe to consume. But, Konon was on his way to report the incident, and the people from the Chancery of Health wanted a cadaver to examine. If not for that, they could roast and eat the meat.
"Let's eat these instead," Lyra said. She took out a basket from the carriage's storage compartment. Eluard helped her carry it. Inside were meat, vegetables, and fruits, separated into sections. She also took out another basket that had her cookware, cutleries and other cooking utensils, as well as condiments in small jars.
Linus stared at her, it wasn't apparent with his expression, but he was amazed. Nireus couldn't help but chuckle even though he knew about it.
While Lyra prepared their meal, Theresa offered her help, which Lyra accepted. It was the first time the lord of Arsida's daughter had ever held a cooking utensil. Yet, she was great with it, cutting every ingredient like how Lyra asked her to.
On the other hand, their steeds dine on the green grass. Trained harions didn't need to be tied up as long as their owner was in sight.
It would've been a wonderful camp, if not for the fact that there was a dead body lying beside them, and a corpse of a buzgal that had gone mad. Aside from Tiriara and Aeneas, everyone else paid no mind to the corpse.
Lyra and Theresa made a meat and vegetable soup for everyone. For Fen, Lyra asked Linus what he'd eat, in the end, Lyra made him a roasted steak with a little amount of seasoning.
They were eating the dish Lyra and Theresa made when they heard the clacking of harions' hooves from the distance. Konon was leading a squad of knights and two people from the Chancery of Health. Harions were pulling two wagons. One was more than twice as big as the other and had one more harion pulling it.
Both the knights and the personnel from the Chancery of Health bowed and showed great respect and admiration towards the lord of Arsida. They made sure to conduct their duty swiftly.
"Why don't you eat first? We have made a lot," Lyra offered when she saw them finish putting the buzgal's body in one of the wagons, and the dead man's corpse in the smaller one.
The knights looked at each other, and so did the two personnel from the Chancery of Health.
"You should accept the offer. It's delicious," Nireus said.
With Nireus's words, they obliged and joined them with their feast. They exchanged pleasantries and stories while they ate and sat around the campfire.
Most of the conversation was about the growing number of incidents caused by maddened beasts. The knights from the city of Byllenes said that they had been encountering more each day. Especially towards the north of their city which was the direction of the Great Verdant forest of Pantera.
Nireus looked at one of the personnel from the Chancery of Health. He has long blond hair tied at the back, pale skin, and bluish eyes. Similar to his partner, he wore a black tunic robe paired with brown trousers.
"Have you found anything about these maddened beasts?" Nireus asked.
"Unfortunately, no, Chiliarch," the man said.
The conversation went into the realm of theories about what could be the cause of their world's current predicament. A predicament that has happened in the distant past, yet no records were found about its causes and how exactly the twelve heroes of the past led their people to victory. All that was written in the annals of history was that they quelled the Calamity of Chaos, bringing peace back into the Nusterran land. How they did it wasn't mentioned.
One of the knights spoke and said that more people were trying to blame those who have what they call a demon's mark for their predicament, to which Nireus said that it was nothing but a baseless farce. Lyra and the others shared the same thought as him, while Linus looked away with a saddened expression as he knew that they were talking about people like him.
It was then that Aeneas thought about the people with signboards he saw in Heos and other places.
"Maybe it was the use of magic that caused these creatures to go mad?" the boy blurted out.
Everyone was staring at him. The knights from the city of Byllenes looked at Aeneas with disbelief, although they tried not to make it obvious with their expressions, it is apparent that none of them thought that what Aeneas said could be anything near the truth. A babbling of a child that has yet to learn the world.
Meanwhile, the boy's question struck the others who had an open mind. More so, Lyra has had it in the back of her mind for a long time. The two personnel from the Chancery of Health were also deep in their thoughts.
"Why do you think so, Aenie?" Lyra asked.
Startled, Aeneas explained that it was a thought he had in the spur of the moment. The conversation made him remember those people with boards where the same thing was written.
With his explanation, the two from the Chancery of Health were a bit disappointed. They also know about those rallying people. The consensus was that those people were envious of others who could use magic with ease. So, they wanted to level the field even a bit by lessening the use of magic.
After a while, the knights from the city of Byllenes, and the two personnel from the chancery of health, left. The group has also started packing their things in preparation to continue on their way home.
The full moon was high above the sky. After a few hours more of nonstop travel, the group arrived at Heos an hour and a couple minutes before midnight.
Nireus and Theresa went straight into their manor, while the others went to the Caspius's home. Tiriara didn't even need to plead with his father to allow her to go with them.
At the Caspius manor, some of Arsen's knights assisted them with their steeds and things. Things Lyra bought in their short stay in Khrysos. They were also staring at the huge silver-haired man with a pet wolf.
Arsen explained everything, but left the details about the man being from a hidden village and that he bears the Zeal of a God unknown to them.
Crisa stepped out of the main residence, "Have you all eaten?" she asked.
"I've made soup," Lyra replied with a smile.
Aeneas rushed to his room the moment they arrived. The two girls followed behind him.
"Did you miss your room so badly?" Tiriara asked.
Once they reached the room, Aeneas went straight to the black egg on his table. It was placed inside a cylindrical container made of wood that had heat stones placed on its corners to make the inside warm.
Disappointed, "It didn't hatch," Aeneas muttered.
Outside the manor, Arsen guided Linus towards the grave of Nasaea. The silver-haired man stared at her grave with a wistful smile. Then, the moonflower emerged with its brilliant glimmer under the full moon.
"I missed you, little sister."