Zach looked at Lexi for a moment, but she still had no intention of giving Zach the satisfaction of an apology. He just shook his head.
"Do you know why, at least?"
"Yes and no." Lexi shrugged with one shoulder.
"This doesn't have anything to do with the Labyrinth exploration, so can you tell me?"
"What do you mean it doesn't have anything to do with the Labyrinth exploration?"
"Didn't I mention during the dinner how monsters have always been drawn to me to an alarming degree after the Giupusta Locale?"
"Maybe."
"You weren't listening, were you?"
Lexi shrugged.
"Anyway. It's because you're glowing."
"Glowing?" Zach looked at his arms. To him, they looked the same as before, meaning they were not radiating with light.
"Not like you're actually filled with light, idiot. It's like…You know how people sometimes tell pregnant women they're glowing?"
"You're saying I'm pregnant?" Zach looked at Lexi with an extremely skeptical expression.
"God, I hope not. No. No. Gosh, no. Ugh, I don't even want to imagine that. Why did you say that?"
"You're the one who said it."
"Obviously I didn't mean it like that! I was making a comparison!" Lexi cried out.
"What did you mean, then?" Zach frowned.
"Rather than physically, it's like you're glowing on a supernatural level. It's not noticeable, like, at all. I couldn't tell either with my physical senses from training the sword or the magical ones from studying magic.
It's only with my talent for Domination that I noticed anything." Lexi hurried to clarify to try and get the image of a pregnant Zach and what he would have done to achieve such a status out of her mind.
Zach frowned.
"If it's that difficult for you to notice, how are the monsters doing it? There's no way they have senses that good."
Lexi shrugged.
"My guess is that they aren't noticing it. Their instincts are telling them you look the most delicious or something. It could also be bad luck." Lexi's answer was casual and not rooted in anything practical. It was like she had said, a guess.
But it was the only thing she could think of. Monsters, in general, were better than humans in two areas, their physiques and their instincts.
The ratlings, whose physiques weren't any special aside from their ability to camouflage themselves, would have good instincts to make up for it, despite their apparent weakness.
"I see…" Zach wasn't sure what to think of Lexi's guess or observation about him glowing, but there wasn't much he couldn't do about it. So, he set that aside for now and focused on what was truly important.
"I'm getting hungry, how about a break?"
Lexi and Nora looked at each other. They glanced at Yanael in the fields. They nodded.
"Sure."
After eating some of the snacks they had brought, they were ready to get going again, but not before the ground beneath them shook and armored ratlings burst out of the soil to attack them with needle-like swords.
Zach looked on blankly as they tried to stab through his barrier with fierce snarls and growls. They weren't even scratching the barriers, but it sure looked like they were trying their best.
They would almost have been cute if it weren't for their yellow, crooked teeth, and the slobbering saliva dripping from their jaws like they were mad.
Zach frowned and turned to Lexi while pointing at the armored ratlings.
"Are they usually like this? They seem very angry."
"I mean, you have killed hundreds of their comrades by now." Lexi shrugged.
"That was Yanael, though. Why are they coming after me?" Zach took a couple of steps to each side to prove that the armored ratlings were only trying to attack him.
"Because they aren't dumb enough to go for Yanael." Yanael had singlehandedly and effortlessly cut down the ratling population by a significant portion.
Zach, on the other hand, had hidden behind his barrier. It was clear which was an easier target.
"What Miss Lexi says is partly correct, Master. But it's also probably related to the presences of each member of this group. I tried imitating the ratlings' stealth, Nora is suppressing her presence, and Miss Lexi is perfectly concealing her presence. We are as good as invisible to these critters, Master. Compared to us, you are standing out like a light during the night."
Zach scowled in irritation. Why was he surrounded by only capable people?
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Zach looked at Yanael.
"You mean…?"
"Imitate the ratlings' stealth. It seems useful."
"My apologies, Master, it is not something beings other than ratlings can learn. It is an innate ability that seems centered around their fur somehow." Yanael bowed her head slightly.
"What? Then how come you're imitating it?"
Yanael held out her hand.
"As you can see, I am still fully visible. I am just learning from them how to hide my presence and make it blend with my surroundings."
"Can you teach me that?"
"...Not as you are currently, Master. It is something that involves having a grasp on your existence. It can be difficult to explain and understand but to hide your presence, you must first be aware of your presence."
"I see." Zach didn't quite understand what she meant. What did it mean to be aware of his presence? Was it different from knowing he existed? Wasn't he already aware that he was alive, breathed, moved, and affected his surroundings?
"Your familiar's pretty smart, Zach. She's also on the right track. I've heard some people meditate to figure it out. If you try that, you can look for the glow I was talking about. It should give you some direction." Lexi couldn't let Zach think she was completely useless, so she gave some advice.
"...Thanks."
Zach ended up deep in thought, pondering on Yanael's and Lexi's words while they continued walking. Yanael dealt with the ratlings that popped up, and the others simply walked behind Zach as he aimlessly wandered through the grasslands.
Through some miracle, they didn't circle back or find their own trails, even when Zach was leading.