X-Loves: From Another World
Chapter 42: Rott, Ghost of the Forest

The village chief received the three of them at his residence. It was a wooden stilt house covered in red, black, and white paint. Although it seems simple, but this house looks magnificent with its traditional architecture. He also serves a number of dishes to Aldy, Anna, and Dwi as a welcome to his guests.

“Before we apologize for scaring you. We are indeed quite careful with foreigners who enter our region,” said the village chief.

“No problem, sir. It is precisely we who should apologize for suddenly entering this village and shocking the people around,” said Aldy.

“You don't have to apologize either. It was indeed an accident,” said the village chief again.

Anna drank the warm tea served by the village chief, then asked him.

“Eh yes, sir. If I may ask what village is this sir?”

Aldy immediately smiled at the question from the blonde-haired girl. Anna looked at him in wonder. Does he know what this place really is? The village chief then returned.

“While we told you maybe you'd be confused, young lady. Our village is not on the map,” said the village chief with a smile.

“Eh? Father mean?”

Anna was getting curious about what he said. Aldy, who was next to her, finally explained.

“This is Padang 13 Secret District, a hidden village in the middle of Borneo forest. The village was never recorded on a public map and is only listed in the sacred library,”

“What?” Anna was surprised to hear that. The girl instantly remembered an urban legend in her world, a magical city inhabited by an invisible creature named Padang 12. The name of this village is almost the same as the name of the city in the urban legend, but has different characteristics.

“Ah, apparently you know a lot about us yes, white-haired young master,” praise the village chief.

“Call me Aldy, sir. I am a student of Jailolo National Magic Academy along with them, Anna and Dwi. We were about to fly to Lhokseumawe, but our Kite was suddenly attacked by a mysterious flying creature until it fell near this village,” explained Aldy.

“Oh, is that it? ‘Dia’ is always looking for problems,” said the village head while holding his chin.

“Dia? What father mean?” ask Anna.

“Kyant” replied the village chief.

“Kyant?”

“Magic creatures who have terrorized our village since

old,”

“…”

Anna and Dwi were still confused by what the village chief said.

“Ah... It looks like this will be a fairly long discussion, yes,” said the village head while sipping a cup of tea.

“You know what Rott is?” ask the village chief.

“Smooth creatures that supposedly love to kidnap children and make them Parachi,” replied Dwi.

“One stop. Well, now what if Rott was a means to obtain magic power?” the man asked back.

“Hmm... Rott be the magic intermediary? Can you, sir?” ask Anna back.

“Actually it's impossible to do. Although Rott is a magical creature, he cannot transfer mana to other magic users. He could only use mana for himself, such as to kidnap children and brainwash them. However, many people also believe as if they can give magic power to him like the Magical Waiter,” explained the village head.

“Hmm.. So yes,”.

Anna held her chin while looking at the cup of tea that was underneath. His face was visible from the drink.

“Those who believe this mostly go to the middle of the forest to meet with Rott and try to make a contract with him. But it is still impossible to do, even too risky to combine mana with Rott,”

The village chief again sipped his tea before continuing his explanation.

“But unfortunately, there was one of our villagers who did just that, and he was hit by a curse,”

“What? Curse?”

“That's fine, young lady. He forces himself to enter into a contract with Rott through spells and special tools. Indeed he managed to combine Rott mana and mana he had, but the impact, he turned into a figure of a bodyless creature that disturbed people,” explained the village head.

“So yeah? Hmm..”

Anna sipped the tea again.

“Well, that's what I want to tell you, Aldy. You are the hope for us to overcome this problem,” said the village chief.

“What? Me?”

“Uh. I want to ask for your help to do something, and this is related to Kyant's. A moment..”.

The man is seen taking a box and opening it. The box contained 8 small knives and a machete-like weapon. A red rope was wrapped around the objects. The village chief then showed a weapon that seemed familiar to Anna and Dwi.

“This is my heirloom Mandau. I've made it so that it can be used by other witches. And this thing will be our key to overcome the problems in this village,”

Aldy held the weapon and watched it closely. Anna and Dwi had expected it, the weapon had the same name and form as the one in their world. In the real world itself, Mandau is a traditional weapon used by the Dayak community in Kalimantan.

“What should I do with this gun?” Ask Aldy.

“Use that gun to catch Kyant. First of all we will install these 8 small blades forming a beam as a trap shield. Then after Kyant got into the trap, flow lightning magic into this Heirloom Mandau and plug it into the ground. He will seal Kyant's body so that it cannot go anywhere else,” explained the village chief.

Hearing this made Aldy surprised. How did he know that the white-haired man was capable of using lightning magic? That's what's on his mind., though.,

“Haha... Are you surprised, Aldy? I knew from the beginning that you could use lightning magic. That is why we asked for your help, because no magician can use lightning magic here,” said the village chief.

“Oh, so yes..”

“But before that, we have to lure that Kyant first in order to get into our trap. There must be a number of people who want to be bait in order to lure him into a trap. And if possible they are a Parachi, because which they have is very liked by the Rott,” continued the man.

Hearing what the village chief said, Aldy's gaze immediately fell on Anna and Dwi. Suddenly it immediately made the Javanese man surprised.

“Eh, us?”

“Yes clear, Dwi. We are Parachi. So we must be ready to lure the creature out,” Anna said as she patted the partner's shoulder.

Dwi's face looked agitated after hearing that. But because there was no other choice, he would not want to follow what they planned.

“B... Alright,” Dwi said as she lowered her face.

“Good. Then all right. This is the plan we have to do,”

…

“Aduh, why should we be the bait?” luh Dwi's.

“We are indeed Parachi, Dwi. Moreover, the village chief has also promised to repair our Kite after this arrest is completed. This is as our thanks to him too,” Anna replied. Unlike Dwi, the girl looked more cheerful.

“Iya too anyway, but..”

They both walked through the dark forest of Borneo. As illumination, Anna as a white element magician uses her light magic.

Rain spots were felt again, but did not indicate that the storm would occur again. The air temperature began to decline, the cold was so piercing the skin, moreover they are now in ‘habitat’ para Rott.

Dwi was sweating coldly. The man walked through the forest with half his eyes closed. He only focused on his footsteps and barely looked in any direction.

“Duh, Anna. When will this end?”

Dwi tried to call his partner, but there was no answer.

“Anna?”

The man nodded it harder. Again, there was no answer from the girl. Until finally he ventured to open his eyes fully.

“Eh, Anna? How did it disappear anyway? Don't leave me..”

So surprised Dwi after finding out that Anna is missing. He was alone in the dark forest. He seemed very frightened and wanted to run, but his feet seemed to be pecking at that place. He could only look around without moving a bit from his current position.

“Anna..”.

There was nothing else he did but look left and right in fear, until his attention was turned to a bushes moving by itself, right before his eyes.

“,,,”

There was no storm here, but the bushes were moving very strongly, as if something was moving them from behind.

While being swept away, Dwi ventured to reach him, seeing something moving the thing behind him. Fear completely enveloped him, but there was no other choice because he was alone there. His heart was beating very fast. Slowly he reached for the leaves and tried to see what was behind him, and it turned out…