Chapter 31: Different Dreams (2)

Divine Grass, or “Shard of the Sun.”

A flower that grows naturally in the Salangs Mountains of the Libertaria region, characterized by its golden petals resembling the sun.

The flower is roughly the size of a child’s palm.

However, what makes this plant famous is not its appearance, but its unique properties.

As its name suggests, ‘Divine Grass’ has the unusual property of containing divine energy instead of magical energy.

How this is possible remains unknown.

Some theories suggest that the flower might have a consciousness of its own, while others speculate that it absorbs the faint divine energy present in sunlight.

In mythology, it is even described as the remains of one of the two suns that once existed in the distant past.

Of course, that is unlikely to be true.

Nonetheless, Divine Grass has several special properties due to its divine energy.

Firstly, the root of the Divine Grass is an essential ingredient in almost all healing potions.

In fact, it is a key component.

While lower-grade potions can use cultivated Divine Grass from a temple, higher-grade potions require wild-grown, natural Divine Grass.

Potions made from 100-year-old Divine Grass, in particular, are said to be so potent that they can regenerate severed limbs, making them nearly priceless.

At that point, they are almost in the realm of miracles.

Because of this, the value of natural Divine Grass is extremely high.

But this comes with a downside: it is not easy to find.

As mentioned earlier, Divine Grass contains divine energy, and divine energy repels magical energy.

This means it cannot be found using detection magic.

Therefore, the only way to find Divine Grass is to search for it by foot, scouring the mountains with one’s eyes wide open.

However, because Divine Grass is so valuable, all the more accessible areas and paths are already depleted.

Every piece that has been found has long since been harvested.

To find high-quality Divine Grass, one must venture into remote, untouched regions where human feet rarely tread.

These are treacherous lands, teeming with fearsome monsters, where one’s life could be lost at any moment.

In such places, the truly valuable Divine Grass can be found.

To explore such areas, it is essential to have a well-trained team of elite companions—

“So that’s why you called me.”

“Exactly!”

Isabella nodded brightly in response to Lancia’s words.

The maximum group size for the optional assignment, [Gathering Natural Divine Grass], is four people.

They could fill the four slots with Isabella, Sion, Beryl, and Rosalia, but that felt lacking.

So, Isabella came up with the idea of recruiting Lancia, who is widely recognized as the strongest swordsman in the first year (excluding the Hero).

In terms of skill alone, Lancia was far stronger than Rosalia and would undoubtedly be a great asset.

“Besides, you need the extra credit, right, Lancia?”

“W-well, that’s true…”

Lancia answered with a blush, feeling a bit embarrassed.

The truth was, Lancia’s grades weren’t very good.

She had devoted herself solely to swordsmanship from a young age, leaving her skills in other fields nearly nonexistent.

Though her diligent nature allowed her to somewhat keep up with her classes, it was more for maintaining appearances than anything else.

She knew it was wise to seize any opportunity to improve her grades if it presented itself.

Lancia cleared her throat and said, “Alright, if my strength can be of any help, I’m happy to lend it.”

After a brief pause, she glanced toward Sion.

“And above all… it’s a great opportunity to witness my master’s swordsmanship in real combat.”

Lancia’s eyes were filled with unwavering trust as she spoke.

Ever since their last sparring incident, Sion had taken the time to teach Lancia swordsmanship whenever she could.

There wasn’t any particular reason. If anything, it was just because she was ‘bored.’

There wasn’t much else to do at the academy, so training a newbie was at least something to pass the time.

And Lancia absorbed Sion’s teachings with remarkable speed.

She truly embodied the phrase, “Teach one, and they will learn ten.”

Just a few casual pointers tossed her way would change her stance and elevate her skills.

She was someone worth teaching, and Sion had grown quite fond of mentoring Lancia.

But there was one problem.

‘I’ve raised her affection level too high.’

Yes, Lancia was now like a hatchling duck who had just imprinted on its mother.

She saw the first person who had guided her—Sion—as a parent figure, following her blindly.

The overly earnest title of ‘Master’ was just a bonus.

That wasn’t necessarily bad. Sion wasn’t twisted enough to outright reject any goodwill directed at her.

The issue was that in this mission, such intense attention would be more of a hindrance.

Today, Sion’s objective wasn’t to gather Divine Grass.

-“U-um, Sion… Are you really going to do this…?”

Exia, now disguised as a jewel attached to a fake holy sword, whispered anxiously to Sion. Her voice was thick with worry.

-“W-wouldn’t it be better to stop? If you get caught…”

-“I won’t be caught. Who do you think I am?”

Sion declared with a solemn and resolute tone.

As mentioned earlier, memory manipulation isn’t perfect.

If left alone, the manipulated memory might revert to its original state at any time.

In other words, the existence of Beryl was like a ticking time bomb to Sion.

And risks should be eliminated when possible. Simply put…

‘Getting rid of Beryl here today is the best course of action!’

Yes, that was Sion’s true goal today.

Of course, getting rid of her didn’t mean killing her.

Sion hadn’t fallen so far that she’d harm an innocent person for her own gain.

Besides, Exia would never let that slide.

Sion’s plan was different, she intended to ‘stage’ Beryl’s death.

If Beryl simply disappeared, Isabella would likely use her wealth and magic to try and locate her. So, that was out of the question.

To remove the risk entirely, Sion needed to prevent anyone from even thinking about searching for her.

“Erase Beryl’s memory and send her away somewhere,” “while making the party believe she is dead.”

That was the crux of her plan.

‘In that sense, this mission is actually a blessing in disguise.

It wouldn’t be strange if some unforeseen accident happened during a quest.’

Initially, Sion had wanted to avoid getting involved with Beryl at all. Being around her might keep triggering her memory, and she might eventually discover the truth.

But thanks to a certain energetic and overly meddlesome princess, avoiding her had become impossible.

So, Sion decided to change her approach entirely.

She chose to see this situation not as a crisis but as an opportunity—a chance to cleanly and subtly handle this unexpected variable.

‘I did warn her. I wrote in the letter that if she kept digging into the past, it wouldn’t end well for either of us. She ignored that and came here anyway, so she can’t complain if things get a bit bitter, right?’

Sion stared menacingly at Beryl.

At this point, her mind was filled only with the desire to punish the girl who had disregarded her ‘generosity.’

Meanwhile, as for Beryl—

‘This doesn’t feel right.’

She hadn’t put it into words, but she was sensing an intense unease.

She had grown up in the back alleys—a rough place where even the strongest could lose their lives if they let their guard down for even a moment.

To survive in such a place, you had to develop a sense of intuition that went beyond logic or reason.

A sharp instinct for detecting hostility directed toward you.

And at that moment, her senses were screaming a warning at her.

‘Something is going to happen to me during this mission.’

There was no concrete evidence. It was just a gut feeling.

But Beryl knew from experience that whenever she had this kind of feeling, her intuition was never wrong.

And in this case, the one most likely to cause trouble was…

‘Hero Sion!’

From the moment she saw her face, a sense of unease had bubbled up from deep within her chest.

Despite her outward appearance of a holy and noble hero—a figure that anyone would revere—her inner instincts seemed to reject that impression.

There was something dark, something unsettling about her.

Something was there. It had to be.

There was undoubtedly a hidden side to her, a secret that ehe was keeping from everyone.

Although Beryl had no evidence, only a strong suspicion, so she couldn’t afford to say anything carelessly.

‘I need to stay as alert as possible and be careful… Make sure she doesn’t try to strike at me.’

Beryl glanced at the hero, muttering to herself internally.

Before she knew it, her left hand had gently rested on the hilt of her dagger.

While the two engaged in a silent battle of nerves, at the front of the group, Isabella was visibly in high spirits.

She was practically skipping, humming a tune as she swung her arms.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Princess.”

“Of course I am! This is my first real adventure!”

Isabella had always wanted to take on elective assignments, but she had been forbidden by her brother, Martin.

His reasoning was clear, If something happened to the princess of a country while she was out, what would they do?

Moreover, the elective tasks were designed for commoners who couldn’t afford tuition, so it wouldn’t be right for a royal to take away that opportunity.

But Isabella had always been dissatisfied with that.

Naturally, fieldwork was much more thrilling and exciting than boring classes. So why was she not allowed to do it?

Did being a princess mean she had to be kept safely indoors all the time? Wasn’t that just reverse discrimination?

She had always thought so, but she had grudgingly suppressed her frustration since Martin’s logic was sound.

But now, at last, an opportunity had arrived.

Helping a friend in need—a convenient pretext. A four-person task carried out together, with all the rewards going to one person.

This way, Beryl would earn four times the money, and Isabella would finally get to try out a quest that had been a distant dream.

It was an ideal win-win deal.

“And with the hero joining us, my brother Martin couldn’t object anymore. His face was priceless when he realized it. Oh, you should’ve been there, Lancia, it was hilarious!”

“Re-really…?”

Lancia replied in a hesitant voice, unsure how to react to hearing that her fiancé had been cowed by another woman.

Oddly enough, she didn’t find it all that unpleasant.

“How about you, Lancia? Are you excited?”

“Me? I’m…”

Unlike Isabella, Lancia had experience with actual combat. She had even personally dealt with minor monsters.

So, there wasn’t much reason for her to be overly thrilled about just going out…

“Well, yes. I am looking forward to it.”

Lancia glanced over at Sion.

Over the past week, she had clearly felt how truly extraordinary Sion was. She knew she was far above her in skill.

But she had never seen Sion actually fight a monster.

How would she fare in a real battle? Would she display that same incredible swordsmanship she had shown before?

She wanted to see it. She wanted to see it as soon as possible.

‘I won’t miss a thing. I’ll observe her every movement without fail.’

Perhaps, in watching her, Lancia might find a hint that would allow her to leap to an even higher level.

With that thought in mind, Lancia continued to fixate on Sion.

Her eyes were filled with expectation and excitement.

And so, a party of four—Isabella, Sion, Lancia, and Beryl—was formed.

Their ostensible goal was to gather Divine Grass, but each harbored their own thoughts.

Four people, four different colors—each looking in a different direction, a party of differing dreams.

Thus, the curtain rose on an extraordinary journey that could go in any direction.