Nick looked around worriedly. The sound of his first chop had rung through the woods. It felt like a monster king would come running at him from the shadows at any moment.
But according to Sosora, the only two monster kings that bothered being sneaky were the Midnight Panther and the Splash King. If any of the other monster kings came for him, they wouldn't be coming from the shadows.
Nick had no idea about the Splash King, but he doubted the Midnight Panther would take offense to his actions. Even if it didn't like it, he doubted the panther would try to get rid of him. They were friends now.
Nick gathered as much of his optimism as he could.
If any of the other monster kings, whether it be the Angry Cow or the Moose King, Nick was confident he would notice them before they could get him. So, he steadied his feet again and swung the axe–a little harder this time.
The movement still felt awkward, and the sound unnerved him, but putting more strength into it felt good. A larger chunk of wood got sent flying, and the impact as the blade cut into the tree felt nice in his hands.
There was something satisfying about it.
Nick hacked at the tree a couple of times before taking a break and looking around. It seemed he was in the clear for now.
His mind was calm while he went wild at the tree, but it still wandered. He thought about how he could improve his stance and how he held the axe to make better and more efficient swings that didn't gnaw at his joints. Each swing was marginally better than the last.
But he also thought about something else.
The monster kings were monster kings. Didn't that mean they had kingdoms? Not necessarily. It could just be a fancy name for powerful monsters. But that would only be necessary to separate them from ordinary monsters.
That meant the monster kings weren't the only creatures, other than the tribes, living in the forest that he needed to be wary of. There could be other monsters roaming around looking for food.
His initial thought that the Midnight Panther and the Splash King were the only two monsters using sneaky tactics was wrong.
Once that thought settled into his head, he had trouble focusing on his chopping. It also made him more aware of the blisters he was starting to get on his palms, the soreness of his muscles, and the passing of time.
All of a sudden, he had a plethora of reasons to take a break.
"How's it going?" Someone asked before Nick could make that decision.
Nick's heart stopped, and his breath caught in the middle of his throat. He nearly dropped the axe on his foot as he flinched. Slowly, he turned to look at the person who appeared right next to him without him noticing a thing.
'Short,' was the first word that came to Nick's mind. The other was 'Hairy.'
He didn't know what tribe it was, but the person in front of him had hairy skin, a roundish head, and big, curious eyes. It was not the Lowat tribe Nuir was from. But they were a little similar.
He looked at the person.
"You…scared me," He said, breathing again.
The person's eyes widened in surprise.
"I did? I thought you were doing this because you knew we were here," she said, blinking in confusion as if she couldn't understand why else Nick would make so much noise.
"No…I had no idea—" Nick slowly shook his head before stopping as he realized something.
"We?" He asked.
"Yeah." She nodded behind Nick. Nick slowly turned his head to glance behind him only to see another person from the same tribe standing there as silent as death. He couldn't help but flinch and jump a little. He definitely did not yelp like a little girl.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat and stood up straight.
"I had no idea you two—please tell me it's only the two of you—were nearby," He said, his eyes darting around nervously. He did not want another jump scare.
"Right now, yeah. It's just me and my brother Tilo keeping wa—Hanging out nearby. Me and my brother. Relaxing in the center of the forest. As we usually do." She nodded and went around to her brother. She put an arm around his shoulder and had him nod along in agreement.
That's why they were there. Definitely not to keep watch over Nick, the Outsider.
Nick looked at Tilo with narrowed eyes. Tilo avoided his gaze. Nick reached out his hand to the first woman.
"I'm Nick. Since you are hanging out here as you usually do, we might be seeing each other often in the future. It's nice to meet you…?"
Nick could guess what the two were up to. Sosora had mentioned that other tribes were wary of him. It wasn't strange for them to have someone watch him, especially when they were that good at hiding.
But it was a little unnerving. Hopefully, he could do like he did with Sosora and Malak and befriend them.
The first hairy spy looked at his hand with a tilt to her head as if she couldn't understand what he wanted. But then she realized he was greeting her. She grabbed it with a firm handshake and strength that surprised Nick's tired hand.
"I'm Mijko," She said before glancing to the sides and leaning in, whispering,
"If anyone asks, this conversation never happened."
"What conversation?" Nick responded with a wink.
"This conversation. The one where we've talked about what Tilo and I are or aren't doing here and during which we've even introduced ourselves," Mijko helpfully explained.
Nick gave her a deadpan look before nodding.
"Of course."
Mijko grabbed her brother and slowly backed away into the shadows of a nearby tree, disappearing.
Just out of curiosity, Nick took a step and leaned around the tree to see if he could see them. He couldn't.
"Schh…" Mijko hung from a branch above him as she hushed with a finger over her mouth, urging his secrecy.
'How the flip…?'