Chapter 97

〈 Episode 97 〉A New Journey Begins

Although it was only a delay in her martial arts growth, Asha also felt that her training in the Orc Settlement had reached a standstill. In terms of Sorcery, Asha had initially been unilaterally taught by Walter when she first returned to the village, but now she spent more time training and exploring on her own.

“Should I go see Uncle…”

Feeling the need to discuss her future plans with Walter, she headed to his laboratory.

“Uncle!”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s time yet, what’s wrong, Asha?”

In the laboratory, Walter was writing something on a pile of papers.

“Are you busy?”

“Ah, it’s not urgent. I was just writing about Sorcery.”

“Are you writing a Grimoire like a Spellbook?”

“That’s right! Just like a Spellbook. Asha, as you know, Spellbooks are so common that they’re practically rolling around in every corner, but there isn’t a single thing that resembles a Grimoire.”

Asha nodded in agreement with Walter’s words.

“That’s true. You said that most Orcs are Sorcerers. Why are there Spellbooks but no Grimoires?”

Walter explained the reason why there were no Grimoires.

“It’s because most Sorcerers thought it was difficult to convey Sorcery in writing. Magic only requires moving Mana according to a set framework, but if you try to follow Sorcery in the same way, you’re likely to shatter the very ground you’re standing on. But if you write down every possible scenario in detail, even 1000 pages wouldn’t be enough.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“Moreover, there are quite a few areas where opinions differ greatly. Even I find it difficult to produce consistent results when manifesting Sorcery, and with so many variables among Sorcerers, there’s a lot of debate about what’s right, which is a headache. In the end, due to various circumstances, there isn’t a single Grimoire, but I still think it’s right to organize it even a little, so I’m writing it whenever I have time. Maybe this will be the first Grimoire.”

As Walter said that, Asha thought the papers he was holding looked extraordinary.

“That’s amazing, Uncle!”

“Hehe… I’ll only know if it’s amazing after I’ve written it all. I’ve only been talking about myself. So, what’s the matter?”

Only then did Asha remember the business she had originally come for.

“Ah, that’s right! It’s just that I think my Sorcery study is in a bit of a slump.”

“Hmm… A slump? If you put it that way, I suppose you could say that. There’s not much I can teach you right now either. Why, are you thinking of leaving soon?”

“Um… I think I might have to. But is that okay?”

Asha asked cautiously, and Walter waved his hand.

“Why would you need permission? I know your circumstances are quite complicated. Hmm, alright. In that case, I should write down some things that you can hold onto even when I’m not around.”

“You really don’t have to go that far…”

Asha was already overwhelmed with how to repay Walter for the time he had taken to teach her, but she felt even more indebted when he said he would write something for her.

“Huh? Heh, ehehet! Asha, you don’t know how books are made, do you? Here, look.”

“Yes?”

As Walter reached out his hand, the ink on the desk floated up and was applied directly to the book, completing a page.

“Wow…”

With that momentum, Walter instantly applied ink to the paper, creating 6 pages, 7 pages, one after another, at a speed that rivaled a printer.

“Ahem, see? It’s nothing much. So, when an adult offers to do something for you, just say thank you and accept it.”

Realizing that Walter was somewhat embarrassed, Asha bowed her head.

“Thank you, Uncle. I’ll make good use of it!”

“Alright, go on. There are some parts that need to be organized, so come back tomorrow.”

‘Really… Thank you so much…’

Asha swallowed the words she couldn’t bring herself to say in front of Walter. Turning around, she wiped her reddened eyes and left the laboratory.

While she was here, she was comfortable without any worries, but Asha didn’t want to settle down aimlessly and face even more terrible consequences.

‘I should leave when I’ve made up my mind… But I should tell them I’m leaving.’

Asha didn’t want to part with people like she did when the quest ended and she disappeared without a word.

‘Honestly, when I see Lucia, I wonder if it’s meaningful… But I can’t just rely on her. Alright, who should I visit first?’

That day, Asha spent the day saying goodbye to the people of the Orc Settlement.

The next morning, Asha left the mansion with Lucia.

“Asha, take care of yourself.”

“Yeah. I’ll be back.”

Asha answered absentmindedly and was surprised by her own words. She realized that she had come to think of this place as home.

‘I’ll come back…’

Asha held Konrad’s chubby hand, who was being held in the arms of the nursery teacher.

“You have to be good, okay? Don’t run around recklessly.”

“Woo ah?”

Asha chuckled at Konrad’s blank expression, as if he didn’t understand what she was saying. Walter, who had been watching the two mothers, handed her a thick book.

“Here, it’s finished. I wrote it a bit haphazardly because I made it quickly, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to understand. Read it diligently.”

“Yes, Uncle!”

Asha received the book from Walter and immediately put it in her backpack.

“Everyone, I’ll be back!”

“Asha, if there’s anyone bothering you, tell me anytime!”

Asha’s eyes widened at Eva’s fierce words, but she soon smiled and waved her arm. With that, she left the Orc Settlement again and set out on a journey with Lucia.

“Lucy, shall we go towards the kingdom? Is that okay?”

“Yeah. I don’t mind. But which kingdom are we going to?”

“Let’s go to the Artua Kingdom.”

“Okay!”

Whether it was the Bluea Kingdom or the Artua Kingdom, it didn’t matter much to Asha, who had been dropped into this other world without any connections, but there was still one thing she needed to find out.

‘I haven’t had time until now, but I should be able to find out now. I need to find out what happened to Captain.’

Asha’s eyes sharpened as she thought of the man who had freed her from being a slave after she was captured while infiltrating the organization, and who had ultimately saved her life.

Asha held Lucia’s hand and walked, checking one by one how strong she had become.

[Character Name: Asha]

Strength: 43 <- 38

Agility: 27 <- 23

Durability: 33 <- 30

Stamina: 37 <- 32

Mana: 28 <- 25

Skills: Weapon Mastery LV.11 <- LV.8, Mana Utilization LV.7 <- LV.4, Intercourse LV.10 <- LV.8, Hospitality LV.7, Sprint LV.8 <- LV.6, Pain Reduction LV.7, Stat Enhancement LV.8 <- LV.6, Stealth LV.7 <- LV.4, First Aid LV.3, Trade LV.4, Search LV.5, Cradle of the Species LV.1, Sorcery LV.10 <- LV.6, Masochistic Tendency LV.2, Cooking LV.3

‘Only two months… It hasn’t been long, but I’ve gotten really strong. I guess it’s because I didn’t have time to learn properly until now.’

She realized that the rapid growth of her stats, especially her skills, was thanks to Georg’s and Walter’s systematic teaching. Even without checking her Status Window, Asha could feel her skills improving day by day as she trained.

“Huh? Lucy?”

Asha, who turned to the side, saw Lucia resting her head on her arm and rubbing it back and forth. She smiled and stroked Lucy’s head.

“Lucy, are you bored?”

“No, it’s just… It feels like it’s been a while since it was just the two of us, Mom.”

“Ah, ahaha…”

‘Have I been too neglectful lately?’

Because of her mature attitude and appearance, she kept forgetting that Lucia was only about a year old. Come to think of it, Lucy seemed to have made a pouty face a few times when she was half-asleep after finishing her training.

“Lucy, if there’s anything you’re upset about with Mom, you have to tell me, okay?”

“N-No, there’s nothing I’m upset about with Mom!”

Lucia denied it in a way that was unlike her, but that only proved that she had been upset about something. Asha put her hands under Lucy’s armpits, lifted her high, and hugged her tightly. Lucia was slightly surprised, but she snuggled into her arms as she hugged her.

“But Mom, what are we going to do?”

“There was a man who helped Mom before, and I need to find out something about him, so we’re going. We’re probably going to the capital of the kingdom. Lucy, you’ve never been to the capital, have you?”

“No. What’s the capital?”

“The center of the kingdom where people live? There are a lot more people living there than in other places. It’s my first time going too, so I’m excited, aren’t you?”

“Yeah! I’m excited!”

Asha and Lucia made eye contact and smiled together.

‘I don’t think I need to stop by the village.’

It didn’t seem like anything special would have happened in the human villages in the past two months. Asha, who had spread her Winged Garment after a long time, started flying with Lucia and looked around the village carefully from the sky.

“Well, the Orcs keep going back and forth to the village, so they would have known if something had happened. Lucy, let’s go!”

“Okay!”

Asha, who had looked around the busy village as usual, flew towards the kingdom.

Asha, who was being held by Lucia with her wings spread on her back due to the Winged Garment’s cooldown, was once again amazed by the speed of movement.

“It would have taken at least a day to walk… It’s really fast.”

“Fast? Shall we go faster, Mom?”

Asha was horrified by Lucia’s suggestion. Her skin was already tingling, and if she went any faster, her stomach would turn inside out.

“No! This is enough!”

Even now, they had already left the mountain range and were slowly seeing the gateway to the Artua Kingdom. Asha hesitated for a moment here.

‘Should I stop by the gateway?’

It was the first time even Asha herself had traveled like this. She was quite curious about various places, but when she thought about it, the two mothers had nothing to prove their identities.

‘The cities inside the kingdom probably don’t check identities strictly, but the gateway is probably different. It’s better to just pass by.’

“Lucy, let’s skip that city over there! It’s better to land in a forest a little further away!”

“We’re going to fly right away, right? Okay!”

Lucia, who was flapping her wings in place as she listened to Asha’s words, picked up speed again and passed through the gateway city, entering the Artua Kingdom.

Asha and Lucia, who had entered the kingdom directly from the air, quietly landed in a forest near the city. Lucia, who had been holding Asha, put her down and folded her wings, making them disappear.

‘She’s really versatile.’

Asha, who was admiring Lucia’s abilities, looked around.

“It doesn’t seem to be any different from the forest in the Orc Settlement.”

“Um… Mom? It feels like there are other creatures nearby.”

“Other creatures? Where?”

Asha, who hadn’t felt any signs at all, was flustered, and Lucia pointed in one direction with her finger.

“Over there~. But what is it? I don’t really know what’s there…”

“We’ll know when we go. Let’s go!”

Lucia nodded at her words and followed Asha.

“Ugh, ughh!”

“W-Wait, wait a minute!”

When Lucia saw what was in front of her, she was furious and tried to crush it right away, and Asha was horrified and stopped her. Lucia looked at Asha with dissatisfied eyes, which was unlike her.

“That’s a Tentacle. Aren’t you going to destroy it?”

What appeared in front of the mothers was a Tentacle that the two had seen so much of that they were sick of it. Asha stopped Lucia, who was trying to smash the Tentacles without asking any questions.

“Destroy it… I think we should check it out first. Why did it appear here?”

When Asha was in the Orc Settlement, she had never seen a Tentacle even when she was running around near the Orc Settlement. But it was strange that she had encountered a Tentacle in the gateway city, which was only a day away.

“Is it that there are no Tentacles on the border between kingdoms? I’ll have to see… “

Asha had only set out on her way to the kingdom to find out about Captain, Maximilian, but she had a headache when she faced a new problem.

“Mom~”

“W-Wait a minute! Just wait a little!”

While appeasing her daughter, who was unusually violent today, Asha observed how the Tentacle was acting. They were long bodies like earthworms, with several branches at the end.

The five that were wriggling and moving in a group soon rushed towards Asha when they found her. Lucia could have turned them into mush in no time, but Lucia didn’t step forward because Asha stopped her.

“Hmph!”

Asha, who quickly drew her sword, repeatedly rolled it in both hands as if stirring, and sliced the rushing Tentacles into sashimi. The Tentacles, which had been cut into two or three pieces each in an instant, did not stop wriggling or slowly sticking together at the cut surfaces.

“As expected… They’re persistent.”

Asha made a disgusted expression as she watched the Tentacles, which were still rushing at her or regenerating even though their bodies had been cut in half. She put her sword away, created flames on her hand, and threw them at the Tentacles right away.

Squeak!

The Tentacles, which had been wriggling vigorously even though their bodies had been cut into pieces by the sword, made a loud noise and burned when they touched the fire.

“Hoo…”

Fortunately, Asha breathed a sigh of relief when the method she had used before worked. She stroked Lucy’s sullen face.

“Sorry, Lucy. Lucy could have taken care of it, but I had to check if it was different from what Mom had seen before. You’ll understand, right?” “Ugh…”

While hugging Lucia, who had a sulky expression, Asha was inwardly embarrassed.

‘She’s not usually this violent… Why is she doing this?’

Asha, who didn’t know what Justitia had done to Lucia when she wasn’t there, was just wondering why Lucia was showing aggression towards the Tentacle.