Freya and Her Beast Husbands-Chapter 19: Tainted Mana

"Head out where?" Freya asked.

"Well, we need to return to the military department and have you registered into the system. That way you can move around the city without any problems. Then we need to have our marriage legalized." Xavier pointed out. "Oh and get you some daily necessities... Unless you enjoy living in my clothes."

"Oh right..." Freya sighed, running a hand through her hair. "We definitely need to get some stuff."

Things were going a bit too fast for her liking, but maybe it was because she was so slow to adapt to such a different world. Honestly, she wasn’t sure how main characters in isekai stories did it.

They were mostly calm about everything, quickly getting into their new life and making clever decisions. Meanwhile, she was still stuck trying to figure out how to adapt to this world.

Sure, some things were interesting to her, but others... Well, she’d rather they didn’t exist. They were not normal for her, sometimes even just wrong to her, and it was throwing her for a loop.

She ate some of the porridge, glancing over at Xavier. She noticed he didn’t have any food by his side, so asked, "Are you not eating?"

"Already did." Xavier said, picking up his phone like device. "We can leave once you’re done... Unless we need to go over something else?" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"I’m all good here..." Freya mused to herself.

There was probably something she was missing out on, but she couldn’t quite think of it right now. So she just went back to eating, trying to finish her breakfast.

However, it was hard not to think about the awkwardness slowly filling the air. Xavier didn’t seem to care about it, making Freya feel she was just being sensitive to everything.

Finally, she couldn’t take it and asked, "Could you tell me a little about the city?"

She might as well make use of this time to get information about this world from Xavier until she could do it on her own. And having a conversation would dispel some of the tension in the air which was making it hard for her to eat.

Xavier glanced up at her. "Oh right... Guess you’re not from here then. Which reminds me. I’ve been wanting to ask where you’re from?"

"I’m not from any of the cities." Freya answered vaguely as she thought, Or from this world for that matter. But I can’t say that because of that stupid god!

"So a Wanderer born then..." Xavier mused.

"Is that bad?" Freya tightened her grip on her spoon, wondering if she accidentally said the wrong thing.

Those beastmen Xavier had killed were called Wanderers if she remembered correctly. Did that mean anyone living outside of the cities were Wanderers? If so, did she just make herself an enemy to Xavier...

She hoped that she hadn’t. And all because she had to open her big mouth and ask questions without thinking about how it would look.

"It’s not bad... But I’m surprised you’ve stayed sane with all that tainted mana around you. The last female to be found outside the cities had to get a lot of medical help to stabilize her." Xavier explained. "But perhaps it’s because you’re a guide and your body naturally purifies the mana."

Well that’s a relief. Although it’s scary to think I could go insane because of tainted mana. Freya mused to herself. Must be what makes everything so dangerous outside the city barriers.

And the mana part did explain what exactly her guide ability was doing which was great for her. However, it did lead to more questions. Ones she needed answers to.

So, she asked, "If my ability purifies tainted mana and the city barriers prevents it from entering the city, why do you need constant purifying? Is it because of your missions outside the city?"

"That’s partly it, but my power is also the issue." Xavier stated. "All abilities are powered by mana which sometimes creates tainted mana. It naturally expels from your body, however, the tainted mana can sometimes stay in your body and begin eating at your mind. Thus you need someone with a guide ability to cleanse you.

"Constantly having to go outside the city and be surrounded by tainted mana doesn’t help matters much which is why I need to be cleansed more than your average beastman. Which can be a difficult task..."

Freya pursed her lips at his words, trying to make sense of it all. So, the use of abilities tainted mana which resulted in that dangerous environment outside.

"Why not stop using abilities all together to reduce the tainted mana?" Freya asked. "And what about cleansing the tainted mana outside the cities? Is that not possible? Also how do those Wanderers survive for so long?"

"Even if I don’t use my abilities, mana is always flowing through my body producing tainted mana whether I like it or not. So, I might as well make use of my ability because only the strong survive in the world." Xavier said. "As for tainted mana being cleansed, it’s a bit complicated.

"I believe there was something that did that once in the past, but it’s no longer doing its job. Hence the unusually high amounts of tainted mana. Still, crystals from monsters are being used in hopes of trying to find a way to get rid of the tainted mana. And I’m sure you’ve seen how Wanderers are.

"They’ve lost themselves to the tainted mana and use females like yourself to try and cleanse themselves. Of course, the weaker ones die upon being exposed to high amounts of tainted mana, but the stronger ones live. Which makes them dangerous and why they are killed on sight."

"Right... They are crazy..." Freya chuckled awkwardly. Damnit! I got too excited again...

Xavier frowned at her words. "Do you have trouble remembering things?"

"Um... it’s not that..." Freya sighed. "My mind just blocks the... bad stuff."

It was a blatant lie, but she wasn’t sure what else she could say. Her best bet was to keep acting like some outsider to stop arising suspicion about her lack of common knowledge.

Granted, she was failing a bit at keeping the outsider act going. How she wished that god had given her world knowledge instead of some stupid ability. It would’ve made her life much easier.

"Ah..." Xavier pursed his lips. "I see..."

The air in the room got awkward again and Freya gave up on eating. Her stomach wasn’t having it. But at least she managed to get a bit down. Even if it was half a bowl of porridge.

Pushing the bowl aside, she said, "I’ll finish this later, so we can leave and get things over and done with."