[Web Novel] Gloria Infidelis

First topic message reminder :

Quote :

This has nothing to do with RolePlaying or Eremidia itselfs. 

Gloria; Infidelis
-Glory beyond the Madness-
R-15
Full Cast (Will be introduced later on) :

Vram the Fallen Crusader:

Josephine the Apostle's Witch:

Summary : 

Quote :

In a world where magic lingers and ancient monsters freely flies here and there, Josephine, a witch renowned in her hometown as the Nude Witch, accidentally summons a crusader human as her familiar. The summoned Black Crusader, Vram, went as far as to consider himself as a monster rather than a human himselfs. As Josephine tried to get closer with him, they realized that Vram had lost some of his memories as to why did he become a monsters, as his previous life was indeed a human. With that said, Josephine decided to travel around the world in order to found out what had happened to Vram in his lifetime, as well as to satisfy her wish to travel.

Chapter:

Quote :

Prologue Chapter
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
[url=http://www.rpgmakerid.com/t8807p10-web-novel-gloria-infidelis#124631]Chapter 8[/url]

Chapter 17

[Eheheheheh~]

Yohn was seeing giggled to himself on the sides, as Rud was in the middle of doing something toward a stone while Vram, not that far from them both, was in the middle of carving something in his sword.

[Stop that, it’s creepy.] Rud’s pricking as he was being disgusted at Yohn expression

[Hey, can’t we just live here, like, forever?]

[Don’t even get there…!] [I mean, did you forget what had happened to me about months ago?]

[But all the girls here were so cute and kind, ya know~?] [They all even let me took a bath with them, playing with them, and… ehehehehe~]

[SO THAT’S YOUR INTENTION, BASTARD!?] [We can’t really playing around here, Yohn!?]

[And mind telling me what are you doing right now?]

[I don’t know….]

[Hey, mister black knight over there.] [Isn’t it kinda too much for him to learn how to use magic now?] Yohn was trying to call Vram, but even if Vram was still focused on his own weapon, he’s still responding to Yohn just fine.

[I do realize it’s asking too much.] [But since removing the thing that’s happening on your body is practically impossible, you just need to control it yourself.]

[Wait, what do you mean impossible!?] [Your master said that I could be healed!!]

[It’s just her opinion.] [Lady Hilda does agree with her plan also, but she never said that she could saw the success either.] [In fact, it’s because of the fact that there’s almost no hope for you, that she pushed herself harder than usual this time, like learning from morning until evening, doing another experiment over and over again.] [Even Lady Hilda started to slacked off from her works to help Master.]

[Wait….] [By any chance… are we being a bother to you, mister Vram?]

[You just realized that now, mouse?] Suddenly a ***** was shown on a sword Vram had been making this whole time, as it crumbles apart. [Ugh, another failure….]

Rud, whom have been listening and training on the side, was putting out a guilty face as he tilted his head downward.

[But… there’s no one else I could ask help to….]

[Then at the very least, try to protect yourself by controlling your newfound ability.] [The chance is small, but having you exploded in front of my master would be terrible enough.] [And at least, you could help Master Josephine in some way or another.]

Rud was just nodding after hearing Vram’s confirmation.

[But then, what about you yourself, mister Vram?] [I mean, sure, you’re doing this for your master, but were you not expecting us to do something for you?]

[Not really.] [And even if you could, what would you offer me to?]

[A knowledge.] [For someone like you, mister Vram, knowledge could be a tool of trade for many things, right?]

[That’s true, but….] Vram seeing Rud over and over again, observing him while Rud was trying to train his magic by imagining something to the stone. [I don’t think he had that much knowledge regarding something I need.]

[Ah, he’s useless.] [You can’t expect him to do anything other than something for himself.] [But I’m different.] [I may not look like it, but I was once a great scientist on the outer continent.]

[Hoo….] [And, do you really have something to tell me regarding something that I need?]

[Mister Vram.] [Were you, by any chance, knew a thing regarding Blackhemist?]

[Black… what?]

***

[A magic chemistry and smithery?] Josephine tilted her head left and right after hearing an unfamiliar technique.

[Yes, it is quite a rage in outer continent to be able to pull of such a feat.] [A weapon that could emit ability a monster had.] [Like, let’s say that we have a part of salamander’s scale, that could breathe fire.] [And with the parts coming off from the monster and the Blackhemist technique, you could easily create a sword that could emit fire all by itself.]

[Such a thing exists in outer world?!?] Josephine’s eyes blinked hearing Yohn’s explanation. [Vram?!] [Why you never told me about something this amusing!?!] 

[I’m sorry master, it’s also the first time I’ve heard of such feat.] [I’ve learn the way of smithery back when I was still young, but never once I have came across a document mentioning such things.]

[I’m also surprised to hear that you never knew such things existed.] [It’s been founded about two decades though.] [Anyway, though you may really need to cure Rud now, it’s not like we’re in a rush, you know?]

[Wait, Yohn?!] [What are you thinking?!?] [I want to be healed as fast as possible!!!]

[Weren’t Vram already you that it’s impossible?] [No matter how much Lady Josephine tried to learn, it would still put a long time for her to finish.] [Besides, what if we endanger her health so much that she messed up when she’s finally able to heal you?]

[Guh…!] Rud’s can’t argue much about how he’s been treating Josephine all this time. He’s been rushing things that ended up putting Josephine in a predicament, but never says anything. That’s also the reason why Vram despised Rud so much.

[I know you’re ignorant to other people, but at least try to think a bit about people helping you, brother!]

[… I never knew you’re the type to care about other, Yohn.] Vram was suddenly letting out a weird comment out of his respect toward Yohn.

[Well at first I was indifferent….] [But if I could take a bath with those girls every day, well~….] [ehehehehehehe~]

[You sick bastard.]

[We… well, it’s not like I was really strained to help you both…!]

[Anyway, back to the point.] [Lady Josephine, you once told me that you want to find a way to improve Vram’s ability to its fullest, weren’t you?] 

[Yes… that’s right….]

[If you could utilize the Blackhemist to its fullest, you can see that this already monstrous black knight could even more monstrous than ever, you know?] [There are many monsters out there that have quite outstanding abilities, like walking in the air, split the ground, controlling water, and many more.] [Imagine if Vram were able to do all of the abilities above, he’ll be more than a monster!] [Even a Phenomenon against Class creature would kneel in front of him!]

[E… Phenomenon? Class?] Josephine was confused at many foreign words Yohn had blabbering.

[Hmm….] [That’s certainly interesting idea though, to wield a shield that could protect me from all direction….]

[But I never once make a sword, Vram….] [Let alone learning smithery….]

[And there’s no way that I could learn magic and alchemy altogether.]

[And that’s why!] [Both of you should make it together!!]

[[Huh?]] Vram and Josephine both could only blurted such words hearing Yohn’s talk.

[I never said that this process could only be done by 1 person!] [Mister Vram, you were quite skillful with your smithing ability, and Lady Josephine’s chemistry ability was a class on their own, and I don’t have to mention your magical ability more, right?]

[Wait, such a thing is possible?!?] [I never heard of a witch worked together to create a magic item together?!?]

[That’s….] [Maybe because as a witch yourself, your mana were already self-sufficient for all kind of grand-scale magic, so the thought of gain help from another Magic-Caster was not even goes through your mind.]

[But still… can we even do it, Master?] [For this kind of magic experiment, weren’t there any risk in doing so?]

[Well as far as I remember, it has the same risk as how people would doing a chemistry and smithery altogether.]

[Which mean, if one of us weren’t focused, hell would arise, eh?]

[But that’s sounds fun!] [Let’s try it, Vram!!]

[Ugh… really, Master?]

[What is the purpose of knowledge if you wouldn’t use it!?] Josephine goes excited hearing a new kind of magic exist beyond her reach.

[Well… I do agree with you….]

[Then we should do it right away~!!]

[Wait!] [To do that, you need many kinds of thing, and the most important thing is, that you need a part of a monster needed!]

[About that, you don’t have to worry, Yohn~❤]

***

[Uh… Just when you said you’re putting off that human experiment for a bit to have fun, now you’re trying something weird….] [Are you really sure you both can do this, Junior? Vram?]

Yohana was there, escorting Vram, Josephine, and Yohn toward a pedestal on the deeper parts of the village. After Josephine, Vram, and Yohn finished preparing the things that they need, they went and asked one of her senior, Yohana, to give her a right to use the pedestal which usually used to summon a familiar, for her own experiment.

[There’s always a first time for everything, Senior~❤]

[Well, that’s true….] [And what about you, Vram?] [Aren’t you worried something would happen to your master?]

[Well, it was different than when doing that experiment which almost had no result at all, this is worth trying.] [And to think I was able to help my master in another way, honestly, I’m actually looking forward to it.]

[Oh Vram~❤!] Hearing her own familiar response, Josephine started to get near Vram and hugged his arm.

[You two really are inseparable, eh?] [Guess I couldn’t take a bath with her anymore….]

[Still, would you go as far as to tell us, Witches, about the magic in an outer continent, Yohn?] [I mean, sure, it’s helpful to us, but would it be like betraying those humans?]

[Maybe it was, if you were as hostile as we’ve thought before.] [But seeing you girls after months, I realized you weren’t as bad as what our people told.] [And you did trying to help that hopeless man of his predicament, for at least giving him some hope.] [That’s why I need to repay you at least this much.]

[Hmm….] [Oh, where’s that red haired man, by the way?] 

[Ah, he was taken by Hilda.] [She’s kinda angry since he hasn’t had much progress since the beginning.]

[Ahahaha… I see….]

***

[Well then, let’s get started, Vram.]

[Yes, Master.]

Hearing her familiar’s response, Josephine starts to chant out some magical words as the magic pedestal reacting to her chant. The magical circle starts to assemble on the ceiling and the wall of light covering both the pedestal and the person inside. After that, Josephine still controlled the magic and the pedestal while Vram letting out the things that was prepared for the experiment.

[Now, put the mixed liquid into the center of the pedestal, Vram.] Yohn was on the sidelines, instructing how the experiment should go on.

[Right.] 

Vram slowly and carefully pouring some of the liquid into the pedestals cup enough so that it won’t overflow.

[Next, Josephine should create a liquid ball that concentrates its substance on the center of it.]

[Okay~!]

As she swings her arms, the liquid start to flow out of the cup and concentrating itself on the sky, right in the middle of between the magic circle on the ceiling and the pedestal, creating a mass of liquid ball. 

[Now Vram just need to hold the sword inside the ball, and then try to mix all of the ingredients inside the ball.]

Vram then took out one of his best-made short sword and plunged the blade slowly into the liquid ball. Then he took out the other translucent liquids to mix with the liquid ball, and finally he took out the most important material, the monster parts. They were using what they’ve been holding this whole time, the Mana Cocoon from the Vasp. As Vram put the Mana Cocoon inside the liquid with his bare hand, the Cocoon melted and started to become a layer of fiber material. Then Vram uses his bare-hand to try to cover his sword with those fiber layers evenly on the blade.

[I see, it’s just like coating the sword with magic powder to give it a temporary magic attack.]

[Yup.] [Guess you both already get the hang of it.] [Now we just need to wait until the weapon mixes itself completely.]

[Ah.]

Vram realized that a little bit of the fragment layer were being peeled off from the sword, as he quickly turned his hand to cover the opened parts.

[Ah, I read that that happens quite a lot.] [Usually some people swirl the peeled part back to its place with magic.] [But that won’t completely restore the part that was peeled though.]

[Hmm?] [Why won’t they use their own hands?] [I mean, it’s not like it’s impossible to maintain the mana being transferred while moving your hand to do some simple movement like that, right?]

[Uh… well….] Yohn looked hesitated to answer Josephine.

[Because the liquid itself were poisonous, Master.] [I’m fine somehow, but if this liquid were to touch you or other people, either you’ll be melted right away, or something bad happened to your body.]

[WAIT, YOU MOUSE!!] [WHY YOU HAVEN’T TOLD ME ABOUT IT!?!?] Yohana was enraged and start gripping Yohn hard.

[I… I already told Vram…!!]

[And I’ve tested it that I’m fine.] [You don’t have to worry that much, Lady Yohana.]

[Urgh….] [Then, for how long are they going to keep doing this.]

[I don’t know….]

[Huh??]

[I did read the maximum time limit of making such an item was about a week, so….]

[SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT THEY’LL STAY LIKE THAT FOR ANOTHER WEEK!?!]

[It’s fine, senior~!] Josephine was smiling while she was still focused on concentrating her magic on the pedestal. [It’s not like there’s nothing to gain out of this.]

[But there’s no chance that it’ll succeed!] [Vram! You usually against something like this!!]

[I apologize, Lady Yohana.] [But I do realize that I still weak in comparison to the monsters existing around these areas.] [That’s why I needed this, and Master also complies, though I do feel bad for using her.] [And, also, it’s not like it doesn’t had a chance of succeeding unlike what she’s previously doing.]

[Really…?]

[And the strain of having to manage the weapon itself falls upon me, while Master just need to maintain the mana transferred onto the pedestal.] [I’m sure she could do it while sleeping also.]

[Ehehe~] [You knew me so well~]

[Uhm… that’s right.] [I already explained that most of the strain of creating these weapon lies in the maintenance process, of having to make sure the fiber weren’t peeled off while it absorbs the liquid.] [But I forgot to tell the duration.]

[*sigh… you two are really….] Yohana just express her disbelief of her junior and its familiar, to strain themselves this far. [Well I guess I just have to make sure that you both went undisturbed.] After saying that, Yohana started to went out of the room.

[Thanks a lot, Senior~!] Josephine expresses her gratitude to Yohana while still focused on maintaining the magic.

***

[She hadn’t finished yet?]

[Guess it’ll take about a week or so.]

[What in the world…?!] [I’m kinda happy that she decided to let things about restoring this ‘trash’ go for a bit, but did it went around for the extreme way again!?] As she dragged the red haired man whom were somehow looked so ragged that most people barely recognizes him, Rud.

[… What did you do to him, Hilda?]

[What?] [Just a little bit of mana control training.]

[I never heard a magic training that makes people looked like a used rag like that.]

[Because I kicked him everytime he made a mistake.]

[I guess he’s been messing up over and over again?]

[After one success, we finally had enough time to rest.]

Hilda was already finished with training Rud, as she dragged her into the place where Josephine and the rest were. Along the way, Rud had already fainted from intense training by Hilda, thus, reason why Hilda dragged her all the way.

[Then… how long they’ve been at it…?]

[They’ve been at it for about… I don’t know, 3 days?]

[That’s… quite long, eh….]

[You’re not angry?!?] [That she pushed herself that far?!?]

[I’ll get angry if she does it for other people she doesn’t even knew whether to trust them or not.] [But if she does it for herself, who am I to complain?]

[Urgh….] [You… really know how to deal with your junior, eh?]

[Well me being an instructor wasn’t just for show, you know~❤]

Suddenly a sounds of footsteps can be heard from inside.

[Eh?]

From inside, two figures can be seen walking sluggishly outside. It was Vram and Josephine, with Yohn on Josephine’s shoulder. After enclosed herself for three days straight, the elegant smiles she usually wore was no more, as if she was being weighed by something.

[Wha… what happened?] [You looked worse than usual, did something happens?] Hilda, being worried, disgusted, and wondered, ask Josephine of her current situation.

[Uuu… It’s failed….]

[EH?!] [After three days of shutting yourself inside, and it was a failure?!?!]

[Uu… Yohn said… that when it’s completed, the liquid will turn light blue.] [But I forgot about the finishing process, and just quickly terminated the process.]

[No, it’s also my mistake, since I was sleeping so soundly.] As Yohn can also be seen sulking in despair after their failure.

[And… where’s the sword in question itself?]

As Hilda somehow interested in the results itself, she tried to ask Josephine about it. Josephine hesitantly pointing toward Vram, whom has been twirl and poked the blade of the sword. Though it looked like a sword, it’s already broken. Or to be exact, it’s already rusted enough that it couldn’t be used anymore.

[Wuah….] [It’s a total mess.] Somehow Hilda just showed an expression of awe seeing the results itself in front of her.

[This is weird, though.]

[Why?]

[I’ve been holding sword since I was a kid, thus I was able to discern the weight of a rusted sword and a normal sword.] [Yet this sword’s weight, it does change, but it doesn’t feel so fragile that it’ll break with just a tap of the sword.]

[Hmm….] [Then why don’t you just tap it?] [If your hand doesn’t works, try something heavier?]

[I’ll try to hammer it, then.] 

As he tried to listen to Hilda’s suggestion, Vram pulled his smith hammer from the “storage” and readied himself to hammer it.

[WAIT!] [If you want to destroy it, then let me do it!] [It was mainly my fault that it failed.] Josephine was seen with her face tearing up from blaming herself.

[Uh, I wasn’t planning on destroying it though….] [But if you’d like to, Master, then go on.] 

Vram then gives the hammer to Josephine. With the sound of her gulping her own saliva, Josephine steeled herself to hammer the broken sword right in front of her eyes.

[Here we go….] [HIYAH!!!]

*PRAAAANG!

It was halted. No, Josephine did hit the sword with her hammer. But somehow the hammer was stopped by the sword itself, as the place the hammer dropped was cracked. But below the hammer itself, a shimmering light was shone brightly that it blinded Josephine.

[As expected, this is…!!] [Master, let me handle it!] Vram, whom have been surprised by the results itself,  asked Josephine to return the hammer.

[Eh? Eh?? Fue??] 

Without a clue and still in a daze, Josephine just willingly returned the hammer. Then Vram hastily yet gently tapped the sword with his hammer. Though he did it gently, it still had some strength that it totally broke the outer shell of the sword, showing another sword that is hidden this whole time.

[Th… This is…?!?!?]

The sword, after being pulled from its shell, just like a butterfly that’s just born from its cocoon, was shining more brightly than any kind of magic spell that came out from Josephine’s spell. The blade had totally changed shape. Though it was smaller and lighter than the previous sword, the hardness of the sword itself was quite tough. The center of the blade was empty, yet it was filled with some kind of fiber material that as strong as the blade itself.

[Such a thing…!] Josephine was in awe that she couldn’t speak anything.

[To think that it could also be born that way….] Yohn was unable to hide his surprised expression.

[I guess I knew it would turn out like that.] As Hilda commented on the sideline while getting closer toward Vram. [I heard that you use a Mana Cocoon to create this, right?] [Though it was classified as a monster, it’s actually a monster with a fragile shell on the outside.] [That’s why, when the sword was created, it completely replicated the characteristic of the sword.] [Isn’t that how the experiment works, Yohn~❤?]

[Eh!?] [Uh… uhm… yeah…!] Suddenly Yohn felt a chill runs toward his back after being shot with Hilda’s preying eyes.

[But this sword….] [It couldn’t cut anything….]

[[[[Eh????]]]]

Chapter 18

[Hurgh…!]

[Ah, finally woke up, blockhead?]

Rud was finally waked up from his slumber from the neverland.

[Ah… GAAAAAAAAAH!!!]

Suddenly Rud stands up and take a stance against a red-haired woman right in front of him. And before he realized it, he bumped into someone behind him.

[Eh?]

*PLAAKKKK!

And suddenly his head was being thrown away into his right. His left cheek was beet red, not from being embarrassed or anything the likes. He was slapped by a green-haired woman whom he bumped just now.

[This man… he’s really a trash, or even worse, totally different than Vram.]

[Well that can’t be helped, there’s a difference in how they lived their own life.]

Hilda and Yohana somehow were able to agree on one thing, that is which to refer Rud as nothing else than a lowlife form, that even lower than a trash. As Rud was struggling to stand up again, he rubbed off his left cheek, trying to ease the pain.

[Wait, what’s with this difference in treatment…!] [Ugh… and your slap hurts… though Hilda’s punch was more deadly.]

[WHA…?!?!]

[Eh?] [I hit you with a magic wind though?] [You think we witches are barbaric enough to use physical strength to deal against someone like you?!]

[Eh…?] [But Hilda’s….]

[Ah, Senior Hilda’s a special case.]

[… Chih….] Hilda somehow disliked the way Yohana mentioned about her, and that confused Rud even more.

[By the way, where are we?]

As Rud starting to aware of his surrounding, he realized that he wasn’t in empty grassland again, but in the middle of a forest where it’s almost hard to find a spot with a lot of light.

[Took you long enough to realize, eh?] [We’re in a hunting field.] [We usually used this place either to train our familiar in battle here, or to hunt some material needed.]

[Wait; don’t tell me I’m going to be thrown in here?] Rud’s suddenly having a cold sweat imagining him being thrown off 

[Not now, at the very least.] [Well, for now, you can see it for yourself there.] 

Rud was trying to focus himself on and tried to take a look at where Hilda was pointing at. It was a familiar figure, of a black knight wielding his shield and sword, in a face-off against a monster, a feline-type monster, but with a giant fang on its teeth, a claw on the back of its palm just like a avian-type’s claw, and somehow it also had a long ears, just like a rabbit.

[What the heck is that of an abomination monster?] Rud unnecessarily commented on how the monster shaped.

[It’s not about the monster you should care about.] [He’s going to start again, so make sure you watch him carefully.]

[Huh?]

*ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!

As the beast jumped out and starts closing its distance toward Vram, he quickly lowered his posture and dashed into the monster’s lower body. He quickly stomped hard onto the floor and rotating his body as he swings his sword on the left side of the beast.

*BHRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!

The beast was thrown off far from where he was. There was some kind of sparkly marks on its body, but somehow it quickly dispersed. And yet, the monster somehow standing quickly, like it had received some kind of damage.

[What… what kind of monster is that!?!?] [It was able to withstand such deadly blow from that black monster?!?!]

[No, it’s not about the monster.] [It was thanks to that sword….]

[Huh?!?!]

After Hilda pointing out the sword, Rud finally realized something’s off with that sword. The sword was totally different from what Vram usually uses, it has weird ornament on the blade and it was so sparkly, a complete opposite of what Vram wear.

[That sword… Vram said that it couldn’t cut anything, even though it took him such a long time.] [We thought it wasn’t supposed to be a weapon, but Vram and Josephine think differently.]

[And now they were testing it against that kind of abomination?!] [Does he not fear death, that black monster?!?!?]

[Well I’d say he’ll be fine against it even if he’s not using any weapon at all….] [But even I had no clue regarding that sword’s ability.] [Maybe you know something about it, blockhead?]

[Whatever are you talking about?] Rud can only put on a blank, confused face, which somehow Hilda’s already expected, yet still feeling conflicted.

[*sigh*….] 

When she finally get tired of converse with the red blockhead, Hilda turned her head, looking back at Vram’s desperate struggle.

[This is it!] [Now I finally understand this weapon’s true worth, master!!!]

[Huh??]

***

[What is it, Vram?!?!] [Did you finally find it?!?!]

[Not exactly, but I think I finally have a clue regarding this weapon’s special ability!]

After Vram had said that, he fixed his battle posture, as if he’s finally ready to end the battle itself.

[COME!!!]

Vram dashed toward the beast. Responding to it, the beast also instinctively jumped toward Vram. The beast somehow sensed that the last changes of strike shall decide the moment.

*KRAAAAAKKKKK!!!

But little did the beast know that the enemy in front of it was someone that the beast could never hope to defeat. As the beast thrust its claw onto Vram’s torso and its deadly fang aimed toward Vram’s head, they somehow just keep scratching against his armor.

[Vram!!!!]

[What’s that black monster doing!?!]

[No, he’s doing it voluntarily….] [What is he….]

As the monster struggled to pierce through Vram’s armor, his left hand was already placed in the back hilt of the sword as he aimed toward the monster’s chest, or to be exact, its heard.

[PIERCE THROUGH!]

*JRUAAAAAAAAAKKKK!!

The sword, with great force, had pierced through its chest. But strangely, the beast doesn’t felt any pain or even reacting at all. The beast just brushed it off as if Vram’s already failed its attack. But in truth, the sword “did” pierced the beast’s chest, yet no blood was shed from it. The others were somehow either amazed with it, or even confused.

[Now this is the real deal!] [UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]

As it was in his first time against the Queen Vasp, Vram’s body was covered in red lines again. His over-powered strength pushed the sword even deeper into the beast’s body.

*GRAOOOOOWR!!!!

The beast finally realized what was wrong with its body and struggled to get away from Vram. But it was too late, Vram had already plunged all of the blades inside of its body that the beast somehow were unable to move.

*CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

Something just exploded. Though there are no external wounds nor any kinds of magic were deployed, certainly there are something exploded, or destroyed. The beast, though somehow still breathing, somehow looked so lifeless that it barely moved. Vram slowly pulled the sword from its body, the shining parts that covering the parts where its body pierced suddenly disappeared. After Vram released his sword from the beast’s body, the beast just dropped, laying there, unmoving.

[H… hey… it’s still alive, you know.] Rud, started to walk closer toward the beast, realized that it’s still respirating. Yet somehow the beast’s eyes, though opened, doesn’t even reacted at all.

[Vram….] [Does that weapon….] Hilda looked panicked, as if she finally realized the true worth of the weapon itself.

[Yeah, it’s a weapon that directly harms a creature’s soul.] [I realize it the moment its movement were become even more sluggish than usual, as I deduced that this sword maybe had cut its strengths bit by bit when I slashed it.]

[Wait, does this means that you could defeat the monster without having to wreck the body itself?!?!?] Josephine somehow grasped the idea of the weapon’s capability.

[Correct, Master.] [But at that time, I used too much force into it, that its soul were somehow being dispersed and exploded like before.] [I think I still need to control my own strength before mastering this.]

[Eh? You’re still planning to use it?] Yohn asked Vram with confused looks.

[Why wouldn’t I?] [This is a perfect weapon that I needed right now.]

[Why?]

[Because….]

[BECAUSE WE COULD EASILY MAKE ANOTHER BLACKHEMIST WEAPON WITHOUT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ITS QUALITY SINCE WE WERE ABLE TO CAUGHT A MONSTER ALIVE NOW!!] [THIS IS BRILLIANT, VRAM!] [IT’S A HUGE SUCCESS!!!!]

Josephine jumped out here and there and started to hug Vram tightly after seeing that their newly made sword was actually worth of something. Hilda and Yohana just sighed seeing the excited Josephine jumped out here and there.

[So you’re still planning to do this, Naked Idiot?]

[Of course I am, Senior Hilda!!]

[Completely forgetting about him?] As Hilda pointed her thumbs toward Rud.

[Ah…!]

Rud somehow looked in a bit of despair. He was afraid, afraid that he will be abandoned anymore by his only savior.

[That’s… I….]

Josephine somehow was at a loss for words. He doesn’t know how to answer Hilda’s question. Even if she says that she will recover him, in fact, she hadn’t progressed much far that she doubts herself. At that moment, Vram was getting closer toward Rud.

[We will recover him.] [My master had already said so, and I plan to stick to it until the very end.]

[Eh?]

[What… Mister Vram, I thought you hate him…?] Yohn somehow asked something that should’ve been obvious to other people, yet such answer was unexpected coming from him.

[Because I hate him, which I can easily say that I will make sure that Master and I find a way to recover you.] [The only thing I asked of you is to not rush her too far.] [We need time, and for that reason also, we need to improve ourselves.] [Still having doubts of it, you red monkey?]

Rud was silent, yet he shivers. Vram doesn’t even look back at him, but the others could be seen empathizing with him. He was about to cry, unknown of reasons.

[S… shut up, you black monster!] [What are you even talking about at this time?!] [I’ve been waiting and walking for many years, I’m fine with waiting for more years!]

[Good then.] 

Josephine smiled. She jumped cheerfully and started to grab Vram’s arm as both of them walked out of the forest.

[Oh.] Vram stopped midway as he suddenly reminded of something. [Should we change our training regiment to hunt a monster together, red monkey?] [I think it’ll be a good improvement for your survival training.]

[ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!?!?]

***

[FINISHED!!]

Josephine shouted. As she sits down in front of the pedestal, she relaxed her own shoulder as it went slump, while Vram was in the middle of cleaning up the mess after using the pedestal. They’ve just finished doing a Blackhemist again to create another weapon.

[Damn, its endurance is worrying.] [Somehow I can’t really bring myself to test it out, afraid of it’ll break in the middle….]

After finished cleaning and wiping the newly made weapon, Vram double-checked the sword once again to ensure its ability. It was a two-handed long sword, while it had a thick blade; the core of the blade was somehow so thin and empty. But Vram could easily tell that there’s something hidden beneath such fragile things.

[So… which weapon was it again? The 10th?]

[We’ve already made more than 20th months ago.] [This is the 23rd ones.]


[Whoa, we’ve already comes a long way, then~?]

[And our stock of Mana Cocoon had already dried out just now.] [Since it’s come to this, I think it’s about time we’re going out to hunt again.] [As a formal Frontier Unit, of course.]

In actuality, though Josephine had been long appointed as a Frontier Unit, she had almost never been going out of the village, mainly thanks for her keeping a lot of Mana Cocoon to fill the quota. Though the truth enrages Yohana so, somehow Hilda just brushed it off.

[But hunting the Vasp becomes a lot more dangerous now.] [If we took our time for too long, we’ll end up have to had a face-off against that Vasp Queen.] [And if that’s not enough, there are more than a few handles of those Vasp Queens.]

[Weren’t hunting normally is enough?]

[I don’t really want to go out that long if I could help it, you know.] [Even with everything I’ve done, I still hadn’t had a clue of how to restore Rud’s body.] [I feel like there’s something lacked in our knowledge, but I don’t know what it is….]

Josephine and Vram started to sit down and leaning their forehead toward each others. Somehow it has become a normal thing for them to sit down together, discussing things while having their forehead touched each other. Even if the other persons were wearing a helmet.

[Then….] [Aside of the lack of knowledge regarding what had happened to Rud….] [Should we try to hunt a stronger monster on the outside?]

[Hmm?] [I have no objection regarding us having to improve more of ourselves, but….] [Why?]

[Well there are two reasons.] [First, for a monster strong enough to destroy a whole village, they usually stayed in places that contain a massive amount of mana, right?]

[OH?!] [So you’re saying, that by having us to defeat the monster, we’ll be able to obtain a fortune for many years later?!]

[That, and the second part is….] [We need to move your rank into something higher, Master.]

[Eh?] [I’ve already ascended into the 4th tier long ago, though?]

[I get a feeling that there are some information that could only be reached once we reach a 5th tier and more.] [I mean, Lady Hilda does know a lot about those kind of magic here and there since she’s a 5th tier, but that doesn’t mean that she had researched everything that we need.]

[Umm… you do have a point there.] [I actually never considered of having to ascend into the upper tier….]

[So we have an agreement, then?]

[Eheheh~] [It sure is weird to have a discussion against a familiar.]

[What are you saying at this point, Master?] [It’s already more than half a year since we’ve last met.]

[*giggle* true~!]

***

[Luminous Cave?] Rud had this confused look as he’s in the middle of cleaning a magic tool that was given by Hilda.

[Yes.] [I had asked Yohana regarding a nearest place that had a wave of mana surging at one location, and it was there.]

[And you both have to go there in order to procure the Mana necessary for the village….] [I’d say good luck then.]

[You’re coming too, red monkey.]

[WHAT?!] [WHY!?!] [I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO RELAX A BIT SINCE HILDA SUDDENLY SAYING SHE HAD SOMETHING TO DO!!] [WHY DO I HAVE TO FOLLOW YOU TO FIGHT SOMETHING SO DANGEROUS LIKE THAT?!?!?]

[Shut up, you red monkey.] [You’re our slave, so you’d best do as what we say.]

[IT’S THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU RECONFIRMED MY STATUS HERE, THOUGH!?!?!]

[Wa… wait, let’s calm down for a bit, okay Vram?] [Well, it’s just that we really need some kind of reinforcement, so I was thinking of bringing you along as well.] Josephine was trying to convince Rud that she needed some help regarding her current quest.

[But weren’t Vram’s ability are more than enough?] [I mean, you already able to create a weapon strong enough to destroy a whole village.] [I don’t think I’ll be of much use….]

[Another helping hand would be useful, even if their only purpose is only as a meat shield.]

[ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!?]

[We wouldn’t, red monkey.] [I’ll grant you some of my best equipment, and I want you to protect Master Josephine in my stead while I’m fighting.]

[Eh?]

[Umm… though I don’t really demand it, it is reassuring if we had more people to fight.] [At least, that’s what Vram was trying to say, Rud.] [Will you?]

[Ugh….] After contemplating himself for a bit, Rud’s expression finally shows that he had decided on something. [Alright, I’ll do it.] [Just make sure that you give me your REAL best equipment, black monster!!]

[Considering whether you’ll be able to use it or not, though.]

***

A three figure. All of them were walking along the coastline, strolling around the forest on the island, trying to reach what was seemed to lies at the end of the coast. One were equipping his usual full-clad black armor with some kind of white hair plunging out of the back of its helmet. The other man was also wearing almost the same black, robed light armor with jet-black metal covering his torso, shoulder, hands, and feet. The other figure was a woman, though had wearing a thick, white robes on her shoulder, her clothes itself were only consists of a black lingerie and a corset.

[Hey… just what kind of enemies are we going to fought?]

[I don’t know….] 

Vram was just nonchalantly answering Rud’s question that Rud ended up making a weird face caused of confusion.

[HEH?!?]

[Well actually the place we’re going to went ahead to is a forbidden spot that which somehow showing a sign of mana surging in one places, but most of our girls who went there never be able to return.]

[Hey, isn’t that supposed to be dangerous?]

[That’s why I need you to keep an eye of your master.] [Makes sure to stay vigilant, we’re almost there.]

[*gulp*… I shouldn’t have agreed….]

[I intend to drag you out still if you were going to refuse, though.]

[*groan*… But still, this is quite equipment you gave me.] [It’s light, but also hard.] [Wonder if this armor actually is really inferior to yours.]

[What are you talking about?] [It also has the same attribute with my armor.] [It’s just that, that equipment you wore was mostly used for either a cavalry battle or when charging against an opponent with lance.]

The moment Vram explained the true worth of the armor itself, Rud double-checked his equipment. Though it was mostly consisted of robe, he was wielding a shield with length about 1 to 1.5 meters. It was enough to cover his whole body inside the shield. And Rud was seeing his weapon, the black trident, that can be used either for slashing when charging against opponent, or to thrust it while defending against enemy attack.

[This… is really one of your best equipment then?!]

[I did tell you, right?] [It’s just a matter of preferences, as I prefer to use this armor in order to gain versatility when using many weapons at once.] [That’s why I want you to make sure that you fulfill your role.]

[Alright!]

[But Rud….] [I haven’t seen Yohn for a long time, where he is??] Josephine was looking elsewhere as if she was trying to find a mouse.

[I don’t know, somehow it’s also been a while since the last time we talked together.] [He maybe still enjoys playing around with the girls….]

[*giggle* You’re right.]

As the three of them keeps on walking, they somehow reached a crevice where a hole, or to be exact, a cave, huge enough to even fit a whole village inside.

[Is it inside this cave?] [They did say that the reaction came from here….]

[Uh… Josephine, Vram….] Rud was observing the cave while looked frightened. [This place… it looked like a bad news… we shouldn’t have entered this place….]

[What are you saying Rud?] [We still have Vram here, so everything will be alright!] [Besides, we’ve already come this far, returning would be kind of stupid, aren’t we, Vram…?]

Vram was silent. It’s not that he couldn’t hear Josephine’s word, but he was too fixated onto something. He was observing, though what he observed wasn’t the cave or something inside, but he was fixated onto a rock that’s quite far from their own position.

[Vram…?]

[Master, we should get away from this place at once.]

[EH!? WHY?!?!]

[Ugh… are you seeing something that we shouldn’t have…?]

[I hope that thing was just my imagination….] [But if it’s something that I feared to be, our location would be too disadvantageous….]

[Alright, then we should move away from… eh?]

As Josephine turned her back trying to retreat from that place, she sensed something amiss. Or to be exact, she did saw something weird.

[Was this stone wall was always here?] [Or more like… where’s the way to return??]

[DAMN! WE WERE TOO LATE!!!]

Vram quickly pulled out his great bow and its spear as he quickly aimed toward a far away rock where he felt something weird. 

*BVVWAAAASHHH!!!!

The spear was flying fast toward a stone right in the middle of the shallow water that’s somehow unnaturally sitting there.

*JRAAAAKKKK!!!!

The Spear hit. It hit the rocks, but the sound it makes when it hit was somehow weird. The sound of the impact wasn’t as hard as what they expected, and the spear were also repelled in a weird way.

[The… the rock… it’s moving…?!?!?]

As the rock somehow looked like it’s squirming, the earth begins to rumble. A tremor was happened right inside the crevice where there’s no way out.

[WHAT IS THIS! WHAT IS HAPPENING, VRAM?!?!] Rud went panicked after seeing things that happened right in front of his eyes.

[Rud! You and Josephine need to distance yourself from me! I will deliver the first strike!!]

As Vram quickly ordering Rud, he runs toward the giant rock is and pulled out a lance and a big shield right from his storage.

*BLAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

At the same time, an explosion was happening right at the center of the crevice, at the center of the shallow water that’s covering the whole crevice entrance, and right in the middle of the giant rock itself. After the water had cleared up, something was standing right in the middle of it.

[Wha… A….]

Rud was too surprised that he had lost his ability to talk. Josephine was also in awe after seeing such a scene right before her eyes. She knew about it, or to be exact, the general knowledge of such things. But what’s appearing before her was something no one could’ve predicted.

A monster.

A monster was hidden inside the ground, a bit lower than the shallow water. It hid itself as a normal rock in order to fool its prey as they gets closer and started to rise up when it realized the timing to hunt was perfect. But right now, it was different, the monster’s ambush were found by Vram, that’s why it’s quickly arise from its place as if it was indicating itself that it was ready to battle.

[A… a Wyvern?!!?!]

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!

[UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!]

Chapter 19

[Now where is she, I wonder….]

Endrossa was wandering here and there, looking for someone. But somehow she wasn’t able to find out who she was looking for.

[She wasn’t in the pedestal either.] [Where she could have roamed, I wonder….]

[Are you looking for someone, Elder?] One of the senior witches asked Elder who had been wandering aimlessly.

[I was looking for Josephine.] [Do you know about her whereabouts?]

[Josephine?] [Last time, I saw her went toward the Valiant office.] [Maybe she’s already out of this village, doing some work, I suppose?]

[Eh?] Somehow Endrossa looked so shocked hearing the information, but trying to keep her cool. [I understand, thank you.]

Endrossa started to quicken her path toward the Valiant office.

***

[WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!?!]

*BRAKK!

Endrossa jumped suddenly from her chair as she screamed toward the receptionist.

[P… please calm down for a bit, Elder….]

[HOW COULD YOU JUST ALLOW HER TO GO TO THAT FORBIDDEN SPOT JUST BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO PROCURE SOME SUPPLIES!?!] [HAVE YOU GONE MAD!?!?]

[I… I actually wanted to forbid it also, but….]

[I allowed her to do so.] As one of the circle member of the Valiant Unit goes out into Endrossa’s presence.

[And what have you been planning here…?!]

[I was just thinking, with a Familiar that strong, wouldn’t it be possible that Josephine will be able to do it?] [Since we do heard some news that that familiar was able to stand toe-to-toe with a Vasp Queen.]

[And what will you do if she failed to do so…?]

[It just means that we’ve been overestimating her.] [It’ll be a good lesson for other people too.]

[HER LIFE IS ON THE LINE, YOU KNOW?!?] [HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT WE STILL UNABLE TO CONFIRM WHAT KIND OF DANGER LIES IN THERE?!?!]

[That’s why, Elder.] [If, by any chance, she survived, whether she managed to remove the danger or not, we can confirm what had actually happened in there.] [Besides, it’s not just her, all Valiant outside were always risking their own life.] [Isn’t that kinda unfair to favorite her life only?]

[Don’t belittle things with your logic!] Endrossa quickly turned her back as she tried to go outside, as then….

[Are you going to save her yourself, Elder?] [Forsaking the whole village, just to save one girl?]

[You…!]

Endrossa, who reluctantly stopped, clicked her tongue and glared at the council members. Just then, another person had stepped inside the office.

[Then it’s fine if I’m the one who go, right?]

[Huh…?] [You….]

***

*BVWAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!!

A surge of light beam went straight toward where one man, a fully armored black person, wielding a great shield, was standing. As he quickly predicted the direction of the light beam, he quickly abandoned his shield and starts to roll sideways. The beam easily pierced the shield and blows it away as there’s only an ash of it left.

[BLOODY HELL!] [THAT’S ONE SCARY ATTACK IT UNLEASHED!!!] Rud, whom were either too afraid to join in the fray, or was doing as what Vram told him to, to protect Josephine, was commented on the sideline while hiding together with Josephine.

[But that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a wyvern that big!] [Not to mention that light projectile, it is on a different scale compared to any wyvern in the recording!!]

Josephine observed the wyvern carefully. With some kind of stone scale on its thick meat was something akin to a mineral that usually used to create a weapon. As such, it is almost impossible to pierce such skin, as it can be seen on the ground, that Vram had already unleashed many weapon, only to end up being broken so easily by its skin. Though thanks to that, the monster’s movement was way to slow that it took forever for that monster to chase its prey.

[But its ability to control other mineral around him is a real trouble…!] [If not thanks to that, we were already able to get away from that monster easily.]

[How could such a monster exist in this world anyway?!?] [Damn it, if I know this was going to happen, I would’ve bought Yohn also…!]

[For now, we can only observe and find its weakness while Vram distracted it!] [I don’t know whether magic would’ve worked against it too.]

[But how about that sword?] [The sword that he used once when he was capturing those monsters to create your new weapon.]

[Rud….] [Are you already forgotten about that…?]

As Josephine was aiming toward one place, there lies a fragment of a broken sword. Though the shape was already known to be a short sword, the ornament on its fragment wasn’t natural. It was a fragment of the sword that was able to directly damage the victim’s soul. But yet, it was broken now.

[Since when…?!]

[Ah, I guess it happened when you were freezing in place.] [My guess is that the stone scale itself wasn’t connected to his skin.] [Since it was akin to Vram’s armor, an exterior skin, it won’t be able to penetrate the soul.]

[Then how are we going to defeat it?!?]

[That’s what I’ve been thinking, okay!?!?] [Well, for now I think Vram’ll be fine, since that monster were unable to fly, it’s easy for Vram to keep his range away while he focused to defend himself….]

*BWUSH!!

Suddenly a weird sound was coming from where the Wyvern is. Sounds of raging wind was blowing right below the monster, as the monster’s feet slowly leaving the ground and keep going higher.

[… Eh…?]

[… Are we… screwed or something now…?]

***

[What the…!?]

Vram was seeing something unbelievable. A monster, though it does have wings, the thickness of its skin should’ve left it unable to fly. But what happened in front of him right now defy all common sense. It flew. It flies out of the place where they were trapped by the same monster that are flying and circling around.

{What kind of strength does that monster have to be able to flap its wing like that and fly?} {No, I guess that’s to be expected, but I never thought that it would really fly that well, though.} {But for now…!}

Vram started to pull his great bow from his “storage” as well as the lance he usually used to either throw it or be used as an arrow. He aimed his arrow toward its wing as he was planning to shot it down.

*BVWAAAAAASH!!!

Without even flinched or having doubt a little bit, Vram releases his grip on the arrow as it flew straight toward what Vram had been aiming this whole time, its wing. 

But something unbelievable also happens. The moment the arrow had almost reached the wyvern, it furiously flapped its wing harshly that it stopped right in the middle of its flight, thus having Vram’s arrow completely missed its target.

[Seriously!? It was that flexible?!?!]

Even Vram couldn’t hold its surprise as he keeps seeing the wyvern circling around and around. And finally after making a big, sharp turn, it bend its body down toward where Vram located at and started to flap its wing once.

[That posture… can it be?!?!?]

*BVWOOOOSH!!!

Vram quickly ran to the sideline, but as the wyvern had started to charge itself from the air against Vram, noticing it were trying to run away, the wyvern shifted his body a little bit to change its falling direction toward where Vram was running.

[THAT GUY WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE AERODYNAMIC!!]

Rud whom have been watching on the sidelines screaming as he protested against what that wyvern was capable of, as the wyvern completely noticed its presence. But there’s no way that that wyvern was capable of changing its falling direction as it keeps closing its distance toward Vram.

[VRAM!!! RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!]

Josephine frantically screaming, hoping that Vram was able to shook it off. But it was all for naught, as it doesn’t seem Vram was able to evade the tackle.

[GHRK!!]

Vram quickly pulled a giant shield that’s over than 2 meters, completely hid Vram’s body from the monster’s sight. But the wyvern doesn’t even care about it and just went straight for the killing.

*BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The impact was so great that it created a blast of water towering over the cliff itself. The sight of both of the monster and Vram was being hidden by the water blast that Josephine have a hard time confirming Vram’s condition.

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!

The wyvern’s roar was so loud that the water that’s been raining on it completely disappears. The roar was also heard by both Rud and Josephine that they ended up covering their ears, since the sound was too loud it may have split their ears. 

[Vram…?!] [Where’s Vram?!?!?]

Josephine was walking a little bit closer toward the place where the wyvern was. But not only couldn’t she find Vram’s whereabouts, all she could confirm was that the shield, that was around 2 meter in height itself, was completely flattened despite its sturdiness.

[Don’t tell me… he’s dead?!]

[NO!] [HE’S STILL ALIVE, I CAN FEEL IT!!]

[Then where is he?!] [If he really is still alive, he needs to help us quickly or that monster will be making a mince meat out of us.]

Josephine and Rud were on guard, or to be exact, almost losing hope. The moment the monster confirmed Vram’s whereabouts was unknown; it shifted its target toward Josephine and Rud.

[… Vram…!]

*GHRK!!!

Suddenly the monster jerked. The wyvern was flinching its head while letting out some moan as its tail, though short, were somehow stretched out, as if reacting to something. Not long after, the monster itself starts to run amok all by itself, unclear of reason so.

[That’s…!!]

Rud was pointing toward the monster’s head, or to be exact, right behind the back of the monster’s head, around its neck. From it was hanging a figure of a person, while grabbing the parts on its neck as his left hand was thrusting through the skin of its neck.

[Vram!!!]

[Impossible!] [How could he survived that?!?!?]

[What?! You want him dead, huh?!]

[No, but… even if he did receive the damage head on, there’s no way he’ll be able to stand up and fight just like that!]

Rud was somehow makes a good point. No matter how sturdy Vram is, to be able to stand up after being tackled that hard against such a monster was an impossible feat, or that’s what Josephine at least thought. But as of now, Josephine can only focused on how Vram was struggling on the back of its head and start to chips away its thick skin by using his entire available short and sturdy hammer.

*THWACK!! *CHRACK!! *KTHRAK!!! *JHRACK!!!

{This bastard… just how much weapon do I have to sacrifice just to pierce the skin on the back of its head!?}

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!

The monster keeps struggling, but Vram was stubbornly hanging onto the neck as he keeps thrusting and chipping away the rock-like skin.

*PRAKKKKK!!!

As he started to pull a lance that was a bit thicker than the usual lance, it finally made a ***** on its neck as Vram quickly strike the lance toward where the ***** is.

*JRAAAAAASHH!!!!!!!!!!

*GRAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!

The monster screamed as hard as it could as Vram was finally able to pierce through its thick, rock-like skin. But as soon as it screamed, the monster jumped as high as it could and rolled backward, trying to flatten Vram while doing a backdrop.

[DAMN!]

Sensing what would happen, Vram quickly jumped from his position, start pulling another spear from his storage, pierced the ground, and using it as a pivot to swing his body away from the wyvern.

*BAM!!!!

*GROOOOAAAA!!!

The monster’s groaned. Not only it was failed to flatten Vram, the impact of his backdrop gravely injured its-already-wounded inner skin, it squirming itself on the ground. As Josephine and Rud sees this as a chance to regroup.

[YOU DID IT, VRAM!] [You finally found its weakness!!]

[Nhah, that’s just pure luck.] [That monster’s quite cunning than I thought, that I don’t think the same trick will work twice.]

[Trick?]

[I wasn’t actually shielding at that time. I used that to hide myself while I jumped to the sides to evade its tackle at the very last minute.]

It was a moment that Vram thought of that way. What Vram used to guard himself was a 2 meter shield in height that it was able to completely covered Vram’s body. As the monster was about to reach the ground, Vram quickly jumped toward its blind spot, above his head. And since the monster were also received quite a bit damage from slamming right onto the shield, it just completely unconcerned about its neck.

[Rud.]

[Yes?]

[Change of plan.] [I’m going to guard Josephine, while you should try your best to survive on your own.] As he said that while casually lift Josephine with both of his arms. To be exact, Vram was doing a princess carry for Josephine, with his left arm on her body while his right arm was lifting her legs.

[Uwaaah???] Josephine’s face somehow went red after being carried by Vram.

[WHAT!? WHY?!?!] [You were able to fend off its attack just fine before!!!]

[Right, and now, I don’t think I would stand a chance while protecting both of you at the same time.]

Vram turned his head toward the wyvern as he was concerned about what to do. Rud was somehow still confused at what Vram was worried about, until he also tried to look at the now struggling-to-stand wyvern. Josephine somehow sensed something weird was happening to it, as she quickly put her hands toward her ears.

[Rud, close your ear.]

[Eh?]

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!

It screamed. But the way it screamed just now wasn’t an ordinary scream. It was enraged. A scream of rage that could even split the hardest diamond ever was echoed through the whole place. Rud, whom was a little bit late covering his ear, had his ears bleed a little bit.

[It’s coming!] [Rud, quickly move away from us!!]

Vram was trying to warn Rud, but sadly Rud was unable to hear anything thanks to his ears being paralyzed.

[Vram! He couldn’t hear!!]

[Dang it!!!]

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!

The monster charged toward the place where Rud, Vram, and Josephine were. The speed of its charge tackle were somehow faster, if not, twice as fast from its usual speed. Though it’s still slow, Rud’s unpreparedness left him standing like a log.

[RRGH!!!]

*THWACK!!

Vram swing his right leg right toward its side and kicked Rud out of the range of the wyvern’s path. As he finished the kick, Vram letting go of his left hand and quickly pulled another giant shield to cover him while Josephine, instinctively knew what would happen, gripping tightly against Vram.

*BHWAACK!!!!

The recoil from the impact that was caused by the wyvern hitting the shield causes Josephine and Vram to be thrown off far from the wyvern.

*BRAAKKK!!!

Though he was hit, Vram was able to make sure that his master, Josephine, was safe from any attack. Though the impact caused by its raged tackle does damage on its body.

[Vram! You okay…?!?!] Josephine, thought surprised a little, was somehow able to survive the tackle uninjured. She quickly checked what had happened to Vram.

[I… I’m fine…!] Vram’s struggling, trying to stand up while still carrying Josephine on his arms.

[Vram, y-… your left hand…!] Vram was unable to hide it, but his left hand was trembling. Not because of fear, but because it had taken its toll after being hit.

[I’m sorry, Josephine….] [Just give me a minute, and my left arm’ll heal in no time.]

[No it’s not!] [Let me down!!!]

[I’m afraid I can’t do that…!]

Vram was about to get ready to evade another attack, but the wyvern didn’t attack. Or to be exact, it was looking at an entirely different place.

[DAMN!] [SO IT’S STILL AIMING FOR RUD!!]

[RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!!!!]

Rud was already standing after being kicked by Vram, but his hearing was still at its worst and it seems also that his vision becomes so blurry that he couldn’t even tell what was happening here and there. The wyvern, seeing the chance, charged toward Rud while slowly opening its jaw.

[Uh…?] Rud was still half-awake and blurry when he realized that something is closing toward him.

*CJHRAAAAAAAAACKK!!!!

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!]

He was crushed. Its mouth that’s wider than Rud’s slender body was completely covered Rud’s upper body. Its fang was already buried deep inside Rud’s body, though thanks to Vram’s armor, the wyvern had a hard time chewing it. But it does Rud more torture since it wasn’t able to completely crush him.

[RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!]

*BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!

Josephine panicked and started to cast all of her magic and shoot it toward the wyvern. The repeated magic just keeps hitting off the wyvern body. But its already enraged state wasn’t feeling anything out of it.

[JOSEPHINE! STOP IT!!!]

[LET ME GO!!] [RUD… RUD IS DYING! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!!!]

Josephine was squirming and struggling while still casting off all of its magic attack toward the wyvern.

[WHAT IF YOUR ATTACK ACCIDENTALLY HIT HIM!?!?!]

[Ah…!?]

It’s abruptly stopped. The magic bombardment that’s been unleashed stop abruptly after hearing Vram’s reasoning.

[Then… then what should we do…!?]

[Aim for the back of its neck with your magic!] [If you just calmed down, you’ll be able to aim precisely at that spot, right??]

[Ah…!] As if she was being knocked by a hammer in the head, she quickly realized her mistakes and started to focus herself toward where she has to shoot.

***

 [ARGH!!] [AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!]

While Rud was still struggling against the pain and the torture, his eyesight and hearing somehow were able to return. After seeing what had happened to him, Rud panicked even more.

[Eh?!] [Wh… why… ARGH!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!]

It was hell. A hell of pain and regeneration of its body struggling to survive. Though Vram’s armor did helped a lot in him to not being chewed thoroughly, the main reason why Rud was able to survive was thanks to its ability to regenerate and to make its body condition at its usual form as before. But the pain caused by the wyvern’s bite was enough for one to wish for ‘death’. As Rud’s keep going back and forth between conscious and unconscious state, Rud was almost gave up on his own life.

{Why… why do I have to go through this…!} {I… I only wanted to get myself healed…!}

[“It’s impossible”]

{Wha…!?}

Another sound was played inside Rud’s head. It somehow feels familiar; yet such sound has never been appearing before him. 

[“There’s no way for you to return back to normal.”]

{Th-… THAT’S NOT TRUE!} {SHE SAID THAT SHE WILL HEAL ME!!} 

[“And how is it exactly?”]

{What…?}

[“You’re stupid, so you haven’t realized.”] [“From the very beginning, they never see of any chance to restore your body”]

{NO!} {I BELIEVED IN THEM!!} {THERE’S NO WAY THAT MY BODY WILL NOT BE RESTORED!!!}

[“But you’re going to die here….”]

{What?}

[“You’re going to die before you even had a chance to recover what you’ve lost.”]

{No…!} {NO! I DON’T WANNA DIE!! I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!!!}

[“Then embrace me.”] [“For I shall grant you the things that you desire the most.”]

{I…!} {I’M NOT GONNA DIE IN A PLACE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!}

[WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!]

*BYAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

Rud’s body was shining in a crimson colored line as he screamed his lungs out. The wyvern, realizing that something had happened, started to put out all of its strength inside his jaw and aim to completely crush him.

[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

***

[Vram, look!] [Rud’s body…!!]

[That’s….] 

Vram was familiar with that scene. It is also happening to him when he was fighting against the Queen Vasp. It is the moment where an instinct of a monster surfaced and overtaken what was left of his human senses. The only difference is that, when it happened, only Vram’s eyes was turned red and a red line was covering his body in an orderly manner, while in Rud’s case, though his eyes were also turned red, it’s shining and the red line covering his body was somehow jumbled up and overlapping each others.

[Josephine, you just keep focused on targeting the place I’ve told you!] [I shall go to the frontline and confirmed his situation!]

[Alright!!!]

Vram quickly dropped Josephine and started to sprint toward where Rud was. It was quite a sight, as he was seeing a wyvern, struggling to crunch a slender man, though it is hard to call him a human anymore.

[WAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORGH!!!]

Rud’s face had contorted into more of a skull-face than human ones, that even Vram could even feel the dread out of it. He just glad that Josephine hadn’t had a chance to see his face, or something bad might happened.

[Now’s the chance!]

Vram pulled out another pole arm with a trident on the tip as he jumped and aimed toward the monster’s back head, where a part of its skin was already exposed. Sadly, the monster was too focused on chewing Rud that it completely forgot about Vram’s existence.

*JRAAAAAASH!!!!!!!

*GRAAWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The monster screamed hard that it finally let go of Rud and started squirming on the ground.

[JOSEPHINE! NOW!!!!]

[HUMH!!!]

Josephine doesn’t have to chant any kind of magic, since she’s a witch. She just has to concentrate her mana in one position, creating a formula on her head, and apply it on any kinds of medium. As she finished the formula quickly, her hands moved toward the air and start to draw some kind of magic circle. The finished magic circle then gets enlarged and started to cover the whole roof where all of them was.

[Fleeting thunder of the blue sky, VRONT FUROGA!!!]

*JRUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

*GRAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!

The center of the magic circle creating a spark and within it a 4-headed flaming thunder was streaming toward where Vram stabbed his pole arm before. The 4-headed thunder magic was attracted toward it and started to strike the pole arm, which was positioned behind the back of the wyvern’s neck. It is as expected; the wyvern was fallen after receiving such damage from a concentrated attack.

[I DID IT!!!]

[No, Josephine, stay vigilant and move away from there!] [It’s still breathing!!]

[EH? IMPOSSIBLE!!!]

It is as Vram said, the monster’s still breathing, and started to gather its strength to quickly stands up once again.

[In that situation, there’s no way he’ll be able to avoid my attack even if I used DragonTooth…!] And just before Vram was able to pull out his weapon. [… Eh?!?]

*BRAKKKH!!!!

He was kicked. He was being thrown off a bit, though thanks to his quick reflexes, he wasn’t thrown far off and still not having his posture gets broken. 

[What are you doing, you red monkey!?!?]

It was Rud. He attacked Vram right before he was about to deal the finishing blow toward the monster. Since he was about to pull a DragonTooth, Vram was unable to pull out any other weapon and can only faces him bare-handed.

[UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!]

Rud started to dash toward Vram and launched a barrage of punch and kick. Though it was to be expected, Vram was either able to block, parry, and evade most of its attack.

[He… He’s unconscious!?!] [Moreover, this strength… wasn’t Stagnant Component renders him unable to freely changes his strength?!?]

*BRAK!!!

Vram started to swing his arm to moves him away from Rud. As there are ranges between them, the two had started to stand still and gets wary of each other.

[To think that useless, ignorant fool would exert such strength….] [Now I kinda understand that True Descendant’s intention….]

[VRAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!]

As Vram was about to pull out another weapon from his storage, Josephine was starting to scream from afar.

[THE WYVERN!!! IT’S CLOSING ONTO YOU!!!]

[Eh?]

Vram was surprised. No matter how much attention he paid off to Rud, there’s no way that Vram weren’t able to notice the wyvern’s charge tackle of its fire beam. But what had happened now was something beyond his logic even more. A moving rock. A rock was moving and swimming toward Vram and Rud’s position at an insanely crazy speed.

[DAMN!!!!!] 

*BKRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARKH!!!!!

Vram and Rud, sensing something off, start to jumped out from the place as the wyvern finally ascended from the ground it was swimming from. The ground was split as its feet finally touched the ground once again. It seems like it was more enraged than usual, and more powerful.

*GRAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!

It shifted its sight toward Rud as Rud was quickly charging toward the wyvern. As Rud’s was about to flew its punch to its head, a strange spark was happening inside the wyvern’s mouth.

[It’s going to fire!!!!] [Rud, dodge it!!!!!]

As Josephine screamed out her lungs to warn Rud, the wyvern had finished charging up its blast and aimed straight toward Rud as Rud just blindly charged toward the wyvern.

*BWVAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]

*JRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

He took it directly. Rud has taken the blast head on, and yet there’s no sign of him being disintegrated. To be exact, his regenerative ability and stagnant component magic keeps replaying at full speed that it could easily taken the full brunt of the flame. Josephine can only open her mouth in awe of what has becoming of him.

[A… amazing… To think there are people outside of this island that could rival the might of the monsters around here….]

The monster finished throwing off its fire beam, and in front of him, Rud was standing there motionlessly. But no matter how much Rud has changed, there is no way he’ll come out unharmed from that kind of attack. His face that was once looked so dreadful started to return to become human-like again as he finally falls on his knees together with his body. The wyvern was also started to exhaust itself and was struggling to even breathing.

[You deserved some praise, red monkey.]

Suddenly the wyvern jerked. It was too preoccupied with annihilating Rud that it forgot about another existence that was more frightening that the one he’s been trying to remove first. Such is the instinct of a monster, to annihilate someone weaker first.

[I guess no matter how cunning a monster is, they’re still monster after all.] [With your condition, you couldn’t even react to me.] [Now, I shall deliver the final blow!!]

Vram was already pulled his biggest and strongest weapon from his storage, the DragonTooth, a club that shaped just like a fang of a dragon, with its base used to blow the enemy away.

[UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!]

*JWEBHLAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!

*GRAOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Though it tried to evade it by leaping, Vram’s swing was faster that he already aimed straight at its chest area. Vram already knew that the chest was also a weak part of it, but after lost his precious sword, he gave up aiming for that place, until after Rud was managed to distract it.

*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

The monster was frantically trying to bite him, but Vram just quickly ducked and went closer toward the area of its chest where its neck won’t even reach. As he throws away his DragonTooth on the ground, he pulled another sword. It was a long sword with a wavy blade that looked like a flame with the hilt that had a crimson crystal as an ornament. It was a weapon he build together with Josephine, a special weapon made from monster material.

{Master named this “Vlamridge”, since it was made from a flame monster “Lava Ridger”.} [This sword shall end you!]

Vram positioned his right hand right besides his head while his left hand was grabbing the lower hilt of the blade and positioning the sword horizontally while aiming right at the exposed skin parts of the monsters.

[UWOOOOOOOOOOO!!]

*JCHRAAAAAAAK!!!

*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Vram’s body was covered with red lines once again as he thrust and pierced the exposed skin part of the wyvern. As the red line flows and covering his whole body, the sword that’s inside the wyvern’s body start to react.

[EXPLOSION!!!!!]

*BTDHUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*BGHOGHK!!!!!

The monster’s body was expanded. Or to be exact, it was exploding inside that it expanded its skin. Normally Vram’s sword was to burn and completely explodes the monster into tiny pieces. But since the wyvern’s skins were too tough, it only expand and contract at a small interval and completely demolished its insides, leaving its outer skin left.

*GRWOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo…….!!!

*BUM!!!!

The monster finally fallen. With its whole inner body being roasted, the monster finally falls down and stopped breathing. A smoke can be seen rising from the wound came from the ***** of its body.

[*hahh… *hahh….!] [Finally….]

*thud

Vram finally down on his knees, though he’s still trying hard to not lose consciousness. Josephine quickly running toward Vram after knowing that the battle is over.

[Vram?!?] [Are you okay…?!] [I’m sorry… for pushing you this far yet again…!]

[Don’t worry about that, Master….] [More importantly, you need to tend to Rud’s wound.] [He may be immortal, but that doesn’t mean he was immune to those kinds of attacks.]

[But Vram, your body is…!]

[I’m fine….] [Just need a bit more rest…!] [More importantly, Josephine….]

[Yes…?]

[We did managed to defeat this bastard….] Vram looked back at the monster while lightly hitting it. [But how do we escapes from here?] [Can you break the wall?]

[That’s….] [Maybe I could, but I need to collect some more mana to do that.]

As they were discussing about how to get out of place while trying to recover themselves, suddenly….

*BLAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!

[Huh!?]

A sound of explosion was heard a bit far from their current position. The wall was somehow broken and creating quite a wide hole leading outsides. As the fog cleared up a bit, something that looked like a round, hard creature came inside rolling. Just like a ball.

[Wha… another monster!?!]

Vram quickly ignored his fatigue and start to pull out his weapon while Josephine stands behind him, readying her magic.

[NAKED IDIOOOOOOT?!?!] [ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!?!?]

[Eh?]

[This voice, Senior Hilda?!??]

[Oh, so you did survive.]

***

[Wow… to think that this stupid buffoon could contribute that much.] Hilda was sitting right behind Rud, whom had been lying down and having his head right on Hilda’s lap, and Vram besides her, trying to recover most of his lost stamina together with Josephine.

[But to think… that you would encounter that Bastrios right on the first day of your expedition….] [You sure are a trouble magnet, aren’t you, junior…?]

[Bastrios?]

[You don’t know about it?] [It’s a subspecies of a wyvern that specializes in camouflage and explosive ability.] [I once heard that it could even control the terrain of the earth, spewing some fire breath, and even swimming on the ground.] [But that’s ridiculous, right?] 

[It did, Lady Hilda.] [And for a reminder, it’s not just a simple breath, it’s a beam fire.] [All of my shields were easily penetrated by it.]

Hilda was just dead silent as she was looking at the sky hearing Vram’s explanation.

[*sigh… anyway, I’m kinda glad that you both were safe.] [If not thanks to Yohn’s keen nose, I wouldn’t even realize that you were trapped here.]

In truth, the reason why Hilda was able to find Josephine and the others was thanks to Yohn whom have been scouting all over the places together with Hilda. And now since Rud, Vram, and Josephine was too tired after the battle, Hilda was tending their wound as well as guarding them with Hougo.

[That mouse was worth more than how it looked.]

[Ehehehe~!] [I do agree, if not thanks to him, we would never been able to defeat that monster~!] Josephine was giggling while showing the mouse some gratitude.

[HEEEEEEEY!!] [YOU WERE RIGHT, THERE ARE SO MANY CRYSTALS INSIDE THIS CAVE THAT IT DOESN’T EVEN LOOK LIKE WE’RE GOING TO RUN OUT IN 10 YEARS!!!] 

Yohn was running outside after scouting what was inside the cave. It was Hilda’s idea, considering that they must be wary of another trap set by monsters.

[And the trap?]

[There are none, Lady Hilda~!] [I tried to inspect every crevice that was inside this cave, and there’s almost none.] [Though it does seemed like that wyvern made this place to be its nest.] [The eggs were still around.]

[Humhumhum~] [Good job, Yohn.] Hilda’s hand went closer toward Yohn and started to rub his face and hair.

[Ehehehe~] [It was nothing, Lady Hilda~~]

Josephine and Vram can only watch in silence seeing how close Yohn and Hilda was, that they have nothing to comment about.

[You two, are you fine now?]

[Ye… yes!] [I think I can run already.]

[I’m fine now, thank you.]

[Good, now while I’m still tending this idiot monkey here, you guys can go ahead and secure the things that you needed.] [We do need them, but we shouldn’t destroy their ecosystem.] 

[Alright!]

Josephine just hurriedly moves toward the cave while dragging Vram away from Hilda.

[“Hey, Vram!”] Josephine was trying to whisper to Vram while still walking toward the cave. [Senior Hilda… seems different now, wasn’t she…?]

[Hmm… I don’t know about that….] [One thing I do know is… Hougo was a lot more different than the last time I saw him.]

[Eh?]

Josephine was looking back at Hougo. It is as Vram had said, Hougo had a different aura coming from it. At first glance, it looked just like a boulder with a crystal on the center of the *****. But a magic line was visible through those ***** as well as the way the boulder connected wasn’t natural.

[You were right….] [I guess she’s now in a good mood thanks to that.]

[By the way, I’m going to take this monster back for our experiment.] [Is that okay, Master?]

[Sure~❤]

Another day has ended with Vram and Josephine finally started to move onto the next stage. But unknown to them all, a dread was approaching the village of the witches. The day where Josephine shall make the hardest decision in her life was drawing near. A moment to decide what she shall let go and what shall remains besides her.

Prologue 3

It was a damp place. It’s surrounding was quite dark. Yet the place was dried even if they were in a place far from any sunlight. And within such a dried place, a sound of dripping liquid can be heard. 

The liquid’s sound was heavy. Quite an amount of liquid was dripping off, and it certainly wasn’t pure water. The weight of the liquid makes stain everywhere, and the color itself was nauseating. 

It was blood. A blood was dripping out of what was seemed to be a primate with white fur, and in front of it was someone whom looked so ragged that it was hard to not notice what kinds of trouble she had been through. With all her clothes tattered, her weary legs, her bruised arms, and her messy hair. 

[DAMN IT!] [Of all people, to think that that monster just goes ahead and went straight toward me!!] [And all of them didn’t even do their job properly!] [After all I do for them…!!!]

[*Kikii….]

[SHUT UP!] [I DON’T NEED FOR YOUR CONCERN, AND I CAN’T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE TRYING TO SAY!!!]

[*KII….!]

[Ah….] [I… I’m sorry, Hanna…!] [It’s not your fault, I know….] [I mean, you’ve been protecting me from all of those monsters….] [How could I even blame you…?]

[*Kii~~~….]

[*giggle*….] [You really are kind.]

It was Mariabelle together with Hanna. They were also a member of the frontier unit, and were assigned to fill some quota to hunt. But one way or another, her days weren’t that fruitful. Such situation leads her to this condition, where she was trapped inside some kind of a cave, already ragged together with Hanna, and was also separated from her companions.

[*sigh*… I guess I have no choice….] Maria then pulled something from her already-torn sleeves and chanted a magic on it. The mentioned item then turned into some kinds of fairy and starts to fly away from that place.

[*Kii??]

[I actually dislike asking help from others, but I can’t take any more risks.] [Your condition is deteriorating, Hanna.] [Your safety is my first priority.]

Maria was softly stroking Hanna’s fur on its head while Hanna was just clinging closely toward Maria. Though its head was already dirty and sticky with its blood, Maria just keeps stroking them softly like a mother whom was trying to pamper her child. She also starts to sing lullaby to calm Hanna down.

[*KII…!?]

Suddenly Hanna wakes up after sensing something.

[Hanna?] [… Is something’s coming?]

Maria was just about to prepare for another battle and readied her magic. But Hanna had different reaction. Without even trying to reconfirmed its intention, Hanna just grabbed Maria, hugged her tightly on its chest, and start to run with its hand and feet at full speed.

[Hanna?!] [Why are you running?!] [If it’s a monster, we couldn’t just turns our back against them!!]

[*KII KII!!!!]

Maria then tried to look behind Hanna’s back, and what she saw was something so dreadful that Maria regret almost choosing to fight back. It was a monster. But there’s no shape of it. Or rather, the monster was shaped like a shadow hands that were crawling on the walls. The shadow hands were too many that it’s almost infinite. Maria realized that, if by any chance one of those shadow hands touching them, it’ll be the end of their lives. That’s why Hanna quickly runs from those places.

[HUGH!!!] 

*BLAAAAARRRRRRRR

Maria then throws her fireball onto the ceiling, hoping that the rubble that falls from it were able to halt their movements.

But it was a fleeting hope.

[Wha...?!?!?]

Forget about the rubble, the ceiling wasn’t even scratched from her attacks. She then realized that this whole cave was actually covered in some kinds of mineral that nullify the effect of magic and absorbed it onto the mineral. It can also be seen that some of the shadow hands were already absorbed onto the mineral, but it still wasn’t enough to halt its movement.

[Hanna, find the places where these mineral originated from!]

[*KIII!!!!!!!]

Hanna then swiftly moves between the caves and crevices, using its nose and sharp eyes to identify the mineral and find its original location. As both of them keeps running and searching, they haven’t realized that they’ve dwelled far inside the cave.

{The amount of the shadow hands looked thinner… that means…!} [Just a little bit more, Hanna!!]

[*KIIII!!!]

Hearing Maria’s voice, Hanna’s forcefully running forward, using every inch of strength it had. As they finally reached a place where the majority of the wall was covered in that same mineral.

[THERE’S THE EXIT!!!!!!]

With all of its strength, Hanna jumped toward the hole where the mineral was originated.

***

[Unggh….] [Hanna… are you… okay?]

[*Ki… Kikii~~….]

[*giggle*….] [Don’t lie.] [With your wound, there’s no way you’re fine after taking such fall.] [Thank you….]

Maria then moves her body away from Hanna, whom tensed a bit after falling from the hole where they came from. The hole which they came from was too far away from their current location that they couldn’t even see the ceiling.

[Oh no….] [How are we supposed to get out of here then…?] [If we’re moving carelessly, those shadow hands will undoubtedly swarming us….]

Maria started to observe her current location while tending Hanna’s wound with her magic.

[Still, this place’s somehow has an abundant amount of mana.] [If we’re managed to secure the roadway, we may be able to uses this place to farm more mana for our villages.] [But those shadow hands were quite a nuisance….]

[Ki ki?]

After finished tending to its wound, Hanna was able to move again, though not as energetic as before. The two then started to walk around the area as they finally reached a giant room with some kind of altar in the middle of it.

[What’s that…?]

[Ki! ki ki ki!]

Hanna somehow sensed something dangerous from the altar, and trying to warn Maria for its danger. 

[Hmm….] [But if we don’t investigate it, we wouldn’t be able to come out….] [I think we should walk closely toward it….]

Maria and Hanna, completely tensing their muscle and instinct, started to gets closer toward the altar. And in the center of it, there are a pedestal which holding something. A book.

[Hmm?] [What’s a magic book doing in a place like this…?] [And it was protected with many layers of magic barrier no less.] [It’ll be hard to decipher it by myself….]

Just when Maria was starting to gets closer toward it….

[“Pray.”]

[Huh?]

[“Pray thy wish.”]

[Something’s talking…?] [Who is it!?!]

Maria was trying to question the voice’s origin, but it hadn’t replied much, and only repeating the same words over and over again.

[“Pray thy wish.”]

[Wish….] [What do you mean by that…?]

[“I see it.”]

[“An Image of a woman.”]

[“Stronger than many, different than others”]

[“The wish, to overcome.”]

[“The female, the brown haired girl.”]

[Huh?!?]

Maria surprised hearing such words. It was what was being hidden deep inside her hearts. A feeling of wanting to prove herself better than others, to be acknowledged by others, and to be looked up to by others.

But it has all been for naught, as the one whom received such treatment was standing before her.

[I…!]

In fact, she was hoping that she could contribute better for others. But one way or another, her contribution hadn’t been acknowledged properly by others. It’s all because one woman had a better contribution more than her. Thus born a feeling of jealousy inside of her, of wanting to overcome her, and even as far as to harm those around her.

[I WAS BETTER THAN HER!!] [I HAVE STUDIED MORE THAN HER!] [I HAVE BEEN HELPING MORE PEOPLE THAN HER!!!] [YET, WHY NOBODY PRAISES ME!?] [WHY NOBODY CARES ABOUT ME!?!] [Why….]

[“But you lost against her.”]

[Huh…?!]

[“Yeah, you did better than her.”] [“Yet, how come you’re still losing to her.”]

[“You cannot defeat her, even if you do better than her.”]

[Wha… what are you saying…?] Despair starts to fill her eyes. She couldn’t even fathom the truth behind the words leaving behind by the mysterious words. 

[“Pray thy Wish.”]

[“Wish for your happiness, for your sake.”]

[“Then you shall find salvation there.”]

[I… I…!!!]

[*KII!!!!]

[SHUT UP, HANNA!!] [I… I don’t want to lose to her anymore!] [Grant me power!] [A power to completely show her who’s superior!!!] 

*KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!

The book start to glow so bright that it blinded the whole room. Without her realizing it, she was already engulfed in a bright light from the book.

[“Very well, the Grimoire shall grant thy wish.”] [“Thy shall obtain salvation.”]

[*KIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!]

Hanna quickly jumped toward Maria as it senses something dangerous. Before long, the two was finally engulfed in a bright, green light.

Chapter 20

It was a dark. Though the sun has been shining so bright, the dark cloud interfere the light, making the whole land becomes dark. Below the darkened sky, there exists a town, full and bustling with people. But the town was silent. Even if the road were filled with people, the people’s mood was devastating. In the center of the town, many people were weeping in front of a coffin. A mourning priest can be seen near the coffin as many families are crying besides it. All of it was seen from a person’s eye far from there.

The people passing through that person were somehow glaring. Many negative eyes were being shot toward the person. But the person didn’t say anything. And even if he did say anything, nothing can be understood from it.

As the mourning goes on, another person went toward the person. She was different. She sees the person with eyes of sadness, as if empathizing with the person. “This is not your fault” was what she’s trying to tell the person. But the person just brushed it off lightly and started to see the sky, and begun to murmur to itself.

[“Then why am I alive?”]

***

[*groan*….]

Josephine wakes up from her sleep abruptly. Her expression is telling that she doesn’t feel too well even after some sleep. With here half-opened eyes and grumbled mouth that doesn’t even fit her tight, smooth skins.

[That dream again….] [Just what was that dream actually….]

Though looked depressed and feeling sick, Josephine just got up from her bed and walked toward the living room half-nakedly, where she sees Rud and Yohn, still away on the dreamlands.

[Is he outside?]

Josephine then started to walk out of her home, as she was trying to look for someone. Someone she could rely on and someone whom always be there when she needs him.

[Oh, already wake up, Master?] [I was in the middle of my daily exercise, do you need something.]

Vram hurriedly goes toward Josephine. Though he’s breathing roughly, he still calmly greets his master. But weirdly, Josephine didn’t answer his greetings and just went closer toward Vram.

[Master?] [… Are you feeling unwell, Josephine?]

The moment Vram said his master’s name; Josephine started to hug Vram tightly as possible. She looked afraid. Her whole body starts to tremble. But she refuses to talk. Realizing that, Vram just goes to tap her back lightly while stroking her head.

[You don’t have to be so scared.] [I’m here.]

[Mmm….]

After a while they hugged each others, Josephine moves herself away from Vram and started to scratch her cheek lightly with her finger, as she’s feeling a little bit embarrassed after tried to remember what was happened to her.

[I… I’m sorry… guess I was too tired, and….]

[It’s fine.] [I’m just glad that you’re feeling well enough now.]

[Uh… umm….] Josephine’s face somehow started to turns red. [I… I guess I’ll go back to sleep now, I think I’m not feeling well enough now.]

[Well considering what had happened these days, that’s a given.] [I should tell Hilda and the others regarding your condition, so just rest easy, Master.]

[Mm….] [Thank you, Vram….]

After saying that, Josephine returns to her room while Vram was just standing there motionlessly, looking at the sky.

[… I need to get myself together. Shouldn’t let my past haunted me.] [Still, somehow I started to dream about that time over and over again.] [Why is it…?]

As Vram avert his eyes from the sky toward his hands as he clenched his fist. It’s as if he was lamenting something, though nobody knew what he’s been lamenting off.

[What are you doing over there?] [Standing there while not taking notice of your surrounding is not like you at all.]

Vram was a little bit surprised after a voice called him out of nowhere like that. It was Hildegarde, together with her newly revived familiar, Hougo.

[I’m sorry….] [I wasn’t pay attention….]

[No, it’s not something you need to apologize though….] [Did something happen?] [I know that last week was quite hectic, but it’s not like you to be so out of it.]

[Last week, huh…?] [Come to think of it, I started seeing that dream again from last week….]

***

[WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!?!]

Endrossa was having a fit. Or to be exact, she was out-rightfully angry. As she shouted her voice out, Josephine and Hilda can only cower in front of her as both of them were sitting with their feet below their hips and arms on their thighs. A formal sitting style to respect their elder.

[HAVE YOU REALIZED WHAT KIND OF ANOMALY YOU’VE JUST FACES?!?!] [HOW COULD YOU NOT TRYING TO THINK WHY WOULD I DECLARE THAT PLACE FORBIDDEN?!?!?]

[But… I thought I could do it, since I have Vram and Rud…!]

[SILENCE!!!!]

[U….] Josephine can only bite her lips when Endrossa shouted.

[And Hilda, Why didn’t you stopped her?!] [I told you to take care of her because of this!!!]

[I’m sorry….] [I was preoccupied with my own experiments that….]

[THAT’S NO REASON!] [I LET YOU TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR HER BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR IT!] [BUT IF YOU COULDN’T EVEN DO THAT, THEN FOR WHAT REASON I ASSIGN YOU TO SUPERVISE HER?!?!]

As Endrossa letting out all her rage, Hilda can only lowered her head while biting her lips, as if she was trying to say something but decided to hold back.

[Wait, Elder…!] [It… it wasn’t Senior Hilda’s fault….]

[So what?!] [Just because I was blaming Hilda, it doesn’t mean that you’re blameless also!] [The moment you decided to fought against Bastrios, it was your mistake!]

[But…!]

[Enough of this!] [Hildegarde, I’m going to revoke your class ascensions to 6th tier, together with your Instructor License.]

[WAIT, ELDER?!] Josephine suddenly screams in desperation after hearing her decision regarding Hilda’s punishments.

[And Josephine, I also revoked your Frontier License, and from today onward, you will be placed as a Gallant Unit under Yohana’s supervision.] [That is all, no further discussion is needed!]

As Endrossa said that, she just furiously flipped her back and disappear somewhere, left Josephine and Hildegarde at loss, unable to say anything in her defense.

[… Guess it can’t be helped.]

[Senior….] [I… I’m so sorry!!] [I… I never thought this would’ve happen… I…!!!]

Josephine lowered her head as she keeps apologizing over and over again toward Hilda. But Hilda just smiled lightly and stroked her heads.

[It’s fine.] [Not being able to teach you about anything else is kinda lonely, but it’s not like I was helpless.]

[Senior….]

[Yohana.] Hilda tilted her head as she sees where Yohana is. [It’s your turn now; make sure you take great care of her, alright?]

With pained face, Yohana started to gets near Josephine and hugged her, while looking at Hilda.

[What are you going to do now, Hilda?]

[What are you talking about?] [Since my license has been revoked, the only thing I could do now is to do my job as a proper “Frontier” unit, aren’t I?]

[But your…!]

[Let me get this straight, Yohana.] [Hougo’s more than capable of protecting me now.] [Don’t worry, he’s gotten stronger.]

Striking a bewitching smiles to both of her junior, she quietly walking away from there and start to wave her hands, calling Hougo, whom now looked like a clump of rolling big rock.

[Josephine.] [Stay strong, okay~?]

***

[So how’s your condition, Lady Hilda?]

[Never been better~❤!] [I actually grown quite fond of my newly revived Hougo, to think that I could easily filled my quota in less than a week.] [Also, I don’t really have to instruct the other kids anymore, which left me with so many free times.]

[You looked lonely, though.]

[Vram.] With dreadful face, she started to get closer to Vram. [I’ve been thinking about this all the time.] [Even if you’re trying to be polite, the way you use your words feels like you’re humiliating me all this time.]

[Then I should apologize for that, for it was not my own intention.]

[Urgh…!] Hilda started to gets a little bit pissed each time she listening to Vram’s talk. [You’re really… alright, fine, I’m going to get straight to my point.]

After taking long breath for a bit, Hilda started to stare at Vram seriously.

[Vram, please have a mock battle against Hougo.]

[What?] Even Vram shocked after hearing Hilda’s exclamation. A request that no one, even Vram, would even imagine.

[*sigh*… I know you’re quite confused….] [It’s just that, you see, I’ve been bonding a lot with Hougo now, and I kinda able to tell everything that he desires.] [Though he rarely desires many things, but somehow… He wants to have a match with you now.]

[Why?]

[That… I don’t know….]

The moment Hilda said that as she dropped her shoulder while looking at the ground, Hougo starts to roll toward Vram.

[Hmm?]

As if he’s trying to understand something, Vram tried to puts his hand on Hougo’s body. He started to go silent while still touching Hougo’s body for a long time.

[I see….] [If you’re prepared, then I shall accept your challenge, Hougo.]

[Wait, you understand what Hougo’s saying, Vram?]

[I kinda understand it a bit.] [Guess it was because we’re both a Familiar.] [Then should I wake up Josephine now?]

[Ah, you don’t have to.] [I won’t disturb the battle; you’re going to fought Hougo himself.]

[I see.] [Then I just write her some notes that I’ll be away for a bit.] [Where are we going to fight anyway?]

[The Outfield far from this village.] [I don’t really want to attract some attention, so I prefer doing this in secrecy.]

[Understood.]

***

[Hurrmm….]

While munching some hamburger while stroking her head roughly, Yohana was deep in her own thoughts, uncaring of how she looked like right now.

[Hrmm…… *munch* *munch*….]

[Uh… ] [Yohana, your face’s a mess there.]

[*Muguh*!!] as she let a weird voice that almost choked her, she was surprised of someone she familiar of calling out her name.

[Chris!] [What are you two doing here?] [And Hilda’s not with you??]

[Well we’re having a break, since we finished our quota faster than usual.]

[Wha…?] [Faster than usual?] [But you’re literally clearing the quota at the same speed as Josephine!!]

[Well, it’s just show that our Lady Hilda’s really gotten stronger than before~❤]

[Umm… Just how much stronger Hougo gets, actually?]

[Let’s see… I think he’s currently stronger than Vram without his weapon, I guess?]

[Wha…?!]

[In fact, she was in the middle of challenging him and Hougo into a duel right now~❤]

[FOR WHAT PURPOSE??]

[I don’t really know about that.] [She just said that Hougo wanted to test his abilities against Vram it seems.] [You know that Hilda and Hougo has the closest bond between us witches and familiars, right?] [It seems that Hougo himself that asked Hilda to challenge Vram himself.]

[Wow….] [Coming from that Familiar whom I remember quite a humble and timid guy, he’s quite brave to challenge Vram.]

[Power and Love can change people.] [The saying that has been passed down since generation before.]

As the two has been exchanging pleasantries with each other, Yohn somehow popped out from Chris’ valley, or to put it simply, her cleavage. The sight of such image puts Yohana silent as she unable to express her reaction.

[What is that mouse doing over there…?] by stroke of luck, Yohana had already equipped the translating earrings that was used to translate Yohn’s language.

[Ahahahah~] [Well long story short, it is our way to pay Lady Hilda back.]

[Meaning?]

[These last weeks were pretty hectic for me, you know~] [Forget about what had happened to Josephine and Hilda, I have been worked to the death by Hilda that my hair started to get bald.] As Yohn tried to complain about everything that happened to him.

[While actually for the compensation for him helping Lady Hilda was that this mouse can do everything he wants to her….] [I volunteer myself to satisfying him with his demands.]

[You rotten mouse.] As Yohana start to glare at Yohn for his lecherous personality.

[AH!] [YOHN, WHY ARE YOU HIDING UNDER CHRIS’ VALLEY AGAIN!?]

And just like that, Rosa starting to appear to while bringing Chris and Yohn some food.

[Sorry, but….] [This place is really the best~.]

[What, so you don’t need to eat?] [Then let me eat all of these by myself~]

[Noooo, feed me hereeeee!]

[No~pe~] [Here, if you want to eat, come here~] Chris waving out the food right in front of Yohn, yet not letting him take a single bite.

[Uuuu.] Yohn started to take his stance while trying to get out of Chris’ valley. [TOOOOOOOH!!] And jumped toward the food Rosa had held.

[Ehehe~ Good boy~ good boy~] as Rosa said while gently grabbing him and patting his head while rubbing her cheek, as Yohn blissfully enjoying his meal.

[Uh… Is she also volunteer to….] As Yohana worriedly pointing toward both Rosa and Yohn.

[Nhah, not her.] [She already took a liking to Yohn somehow that she only wants to play together with him.]

[… Sometimes I don’t understand what’s going on inside her head….]

[I agree with that.]

[By the way….] [What can this mouse even do that Hilda dare to propose such a thing, like compensate it with her own body…?]

[Well the thing is….] [It’s because of that mouse itself that Hougo become so strong….]

[Eh?]

[I was surprised myself, but he has quite vast knowledge regarding magic.] [No, I think he might be once a magician himself.] [As for how he ended up in that state, nobody knew….]

[I… I see….] [So their journey was to one day to return to their body.]

[In a sense, that might be right.] [And thanks to that knowledge he shares to Hilda, Hougo started to become something entirely different.] [Also us too.]

[Hmm….] [Now I’m interested….]

[What?] [You want to offer your body to him also, Yohana?]

[I’ll pass on that, thank you.]

[*giggle* You’re welcome~❤]

***

[*huft*… *huft*…*huft*…] [That’s quite a pleasant surprise there, Hougo.] [To think that you’re that strong now….]

*GRK

As if it’s happy and agreed with Vram, Hougo’s jumping back and forth while still in his boulder rock form.

[HMPH~!]

And Hilda was sitting besides Hougo, pouting and looked dissatisfied.

[Why are you so angry, Lady Hilda?]

[I’m not.] [I already knew that Hougo would lose in the end, that’s why I’m not feeling anything about it.]

[Guess you’re upset that I’m still a bit stronger than Hougo, I presume.]

[I AM NOT!!]

Hilda’s face started to redden as she glared back at Vram. A bit of tears can be seen on her eyes, feeling depressed that her newly revived familiar still lost against her junior’s.

[But I’d say that in terms of firepower, we’re evenly matched.] [What makes the difference is in our skills and experience.] [I mean, before this, Hougo’s only mean to attack was to throw some stone and crushing enemies with his jumping power, right?] [Suddenly having “that” kind of attack would need him a lot of time to get used to.]

[Is that so…?] [I just equipping him any kind of technique I could fitted on to him, but I guess it strained him a lot….]

As she depresses over the fact that what she does making Hougo uncomfortable, Hougo then started to roll itself near Hilda and bumped into her a few times.

[Sigh… you’re really….] As she smiled warmly while stroking Hougo’s body for trying to cheer her up.

[Vraaaaa~m.] [Where are you~~???]

A familiar sound was heard a bit close to where Vram and Hilda’s rested.

[Master~!] [Over here~!!]

[Ah, so there you are… UWAH!?!?!]

As she went closer toward both Hilda and Vram, she was surprised. The reason was being of the scenery that appears in front of her. A burning field, with many holes that completely spreading through the whole field. Massive amounts of sword and shield that had been broken here and there. Vram’s body that had been scratched and burned, also Hougo’s crippled body. One could say that a massive war had just happening there.

[YOU SAID THAT YOU WERE ONLY GOING TO HAVE A LIGHT PRACTICE WITH HILDA?!?!]

[Well, somewhat or another, both of us gets so excited that we forgot to hold back a little bit.]

[SENIOR!] [EVEN IF YOU’RE STILL THE SENIOR THAT I LOVE AND RESPECT, AREN’T YOU BEING A LITTLE BIT OVERKILL HERE?!?]

[Uh… I know you’re upset, but hear me out first….] [I didn’t partake in this fight.]

[Huh? Then who…?]

[It’s Hougo and Vram.]

Josephine suddenly went silent while seeing Hougo’s crippled body.

[… Why…?]

[Master?]

[WHY YOU DIDN’T WAKE ME UP?!?!] [I WANNA SEE THAT FIGHT!!!!] With teary eyes and pouting face, Josephine was throwing a tantrum at both Vram and Hilda.

[Uh… Why would you want to see it, Master?]

[IF HOUGO BECOME SO STRONG, THEN I’D LIKE TO SEE IT!]

[No way~❤!] [I’ve finally able to caught up on you, there’s no way I’d ever tell you the secret of Hougo’s power.]

[MU!!] [SENIOR, YOU CHEAPSKATE!!]

[Mufufufu~❤] [I kinda like seeing Vram struggling so much when fighting against Hougo.]

[To tell the truth, that was quite an entertaining fight.]

[DON’T TEASE ME YOU TWO!!] [GO AND FIGHT AGAIN!!!!]

[No way, Master.] [I’m kinda tired, and my shield’s mostly wrecked, I need to repair them first.]

[IIIIIGH!!!]

Chapter 21

[Don’t you think he’s becoming less of what he’s originally was?]

A sudden remarks made by Yohana as he’s pointing out toward Rud, while in the middle of munching a hamburger together with Hilda, Chris, and Josephine while Vram was standing at the back, in the middle of conversing together with Yohn and Rosa.

[Uh… what do you mean by “originally”?] 

Rud, somehow looked worried, asking the most obvious question while averting his eyes.

[You… got a point there.] [It feels like we’ve been played around by him without noticing the difference in our position.] Hilda was completely agreeing with Yohana on that subject somehow

[I guess it’s all thanks to his peculiarity and his trustworthy partner that we forget it all.] And Chris just calmly affirming the situation while she’s munching out her hamburger.

[Umm… What are you all talking about?] And Josephine, as usual, just munching her hamburger happily while letting out pure expression of not understanding anything.

[[THAT GUY IS YOUR SLAVE, RIGHT?!?!]]

In unison, both Hilda and Yohana shouted straight while pointing at Josephine now.

[Hoe…?] And Josephine can only react as she herself confused with their statements

[Master… don’t tell me you forgot what was he originally...?] Vram, whom somehow overheard their shout from the back, started to look at Josephine.

[Well if he’s as cute as Yohn, then maybe he could be a pet, right Yohn~?] As Rosa commenting on the back 

[I don’t even wanted to become one.] As Rud expressed his own opinion against Rosa’s, suddenly….

[Don’t get cocky, you slave.] Hilda just scorned Rud while looking sharp to him.

[Yes ma’am.]

[But still….] as Yohn was trying to talk his way for his partner. [I know that sometimes he’s an no-brain idiot, irresponsible, dense, and all talk, but that doesn’t mean he’s just doing as he please.]

[Thanks for the compliment, partner.] as Rud sitting there annoyed hearing Yohn’s banter.

[At any rate.] [I’ve always doing everything I can to help finding what was he capable of, what he could contribute to Josephine for all her helps, and to train him to become something better.] [Heck, even Vram helped us so much regarding this.] 

[And…?] Yohana frowns her eyebrows as she looks sharply toward Rud.

[He’s useless.] As Vram take a deep breath before answering. [His fighting skill’s only as good as a foot soldier, making him a free meal in this island. He’s unable to focus at something in front of him, easily distracted. Also, I don’t really have to mention the ticking bomb inside his body, do I?] [To be honest, if not because of Yohn, I’d be forced to kick him out of my master’s eyes.]

All the people there can only sighing deeply as they saw the most useless person in the whole island, or maybe even the whole world.

[Ugh... then at least let me do something that doesn’t have anything to do with labor works!] As Rud was trying to reject their dissapointment

[Sadly none of us know what kind of works would be suitable for you]

As they all having quite a trouble thanks to the idiotic red-haired man, suddenly Rosa steps into the group as she observes Josephine.

[Umm... Lady Hilda.] [A slave is... someone who would serve their master and would fulfill every needs of their master, is that right?]

[That’s right.] [Why are you asking that?]

[You see....] [Does she ever have the needs to be fulfilled?] [I mean, all she ever does is eating, studying, playing with Vram or us, and experimenting.] [Does she ever need a slave to begin with?]

And suddenly the staring gaze shifted toward Josephine, whom somehow feeling the pressure and guilt of that stare.

[Wait, why is it my fault now?!?!?]

[Nonono.] Hilda’s starting to feel disheartened after listening the fact from Rosa. [In the end you’re not fit to have a slave under your wings.]

[Then if he was unable to fulfill his role as a slave, there’s only execution awaits in front of him.] As Yohana tried to ascertain his fate.

[[Ugh...!]] Both Rud and Josephine reacted at the harsh words thrown by Yohana.

[Eat, sleep, study....] And just then, Vram was muttering all by himself on the back.

[What, you have some problem with my daily life, Vram?] As Josephine pouted and depressed by herself after being pointed that out by Rosa.

[Why I didn’t think of that before!?]

[Yes?]

***

*JYASH!!

*GYAAAAAAAAAKH!!!!!!

As a sword still hanging on its body, the creature that looked human-like, though having a reddish, brown skin as well as pointy ears, and wielding something like an axe on its hand, was already dead. As its eyes somehow lost its color, the creature just lost its balance and fall into the ground. It’s still breathing, but it’s pretty much dead at this rate. The place where the sword piercing it were also being slowly closed, with no wound to spare.

[*Phew*... I guess that’s the last one of them, Master.] Vram was calling out to her master while dragging the monster with his one arm. For the record, its height was as big as Vram.

[Thanks a lot, Vram~!]

[Umm... Senior Josephine....] a junior on a Gallant unit was tagging along with Josephine, together with her familiar, a creature with its long head, though having a small mouth and a horn attached in it as well as a long body with 4 legs attached on it, with fur-like tail, it often referred as Unicorn. [We were ordered to kill each and every last one of the monster whom somehow were trying to force through here, right?] [But....]

[Ah, no worries~] [They were pretty much dead already, only leaving its body intact.]

[But... They’re still breathing.]

[Yeah....] [I need their body, still active at least, so that I can do some experiment on them....] [It feels wrong to do this, though.]

[Experiment?] [But most of the monster you caught was a humanoid-type.] [Even that familiar you had itself keeps switching its equipment all the time.] [What kind of experiment are you trying to do, Senior?]

[Hmm... I can’t really say for sure, since it was rarely performed by our ancestors....] [To explain it in a better words, it would be....] [Assembling and Destroying, then Re-Assembling, I guess?]

[He?] 

The Junior suddenly confused with what Josephine was trying to say, as suddenly Yohana came back from her area of patrol.

[You’re almost making no sense at all, Fina.]

[Ah, Senior Yohana.] The Junior suddenly making a gesture of respect at the presence of Yohana.

[Well that’s why I’m experimenting it!] [I have the gist of an idea of what I’m going to do, but I don’t even know whether it’d work or not, that’s why I can’t explain it very well.]

[Hmm...] [Is it related to what your slave is experiencing now?]

[Um... Yes....] Josephine hestitately answering Yohana’s question.

[*sigh*... well I guess you do need to do it for him, though I still don’t like that idea.]

[Senior Josephine... why do have to go that far just for that human?] The junior asks Josephine in a curious manner, considering the Witch was taught to despise humans since birth.

[Uhm... well....] Josephine was trying to ponder at something before starting to open her mouth [At first I wasn’t really interested in him at all....] [But hearing about how he was becoming something different than the rest of his race, I just....] [I kinda emphatizing with him....]

[Just for the record, Master.] [At the very least, you’re not causing other people trouble like that guy.] Vram suddenly interject from behind as he’s collecting the monster’s corpse.

[G... GEEZ! I know!!] [W... well, we’re supposed to be done with our assignment today, so shall we get home now?] [I’m wondering how he’s faring now with his new assignment~!]

[Well Lady Hilda and Chris are overseeing him, so I guess nothing’s going to go wrong, right?]

***

[YOU’RE SLOW!!]

[I’m sorry...!]

Inside Josephine’s camp, chaos ensues. Rud was frantically turning left and right while Hilda and Chris was behind him, observing what Rud has been doing all the while Josephine and Vram was away on their new assignment.

[WAIT A MOMENT, REDHEAD!!] [ARE YOU TRYING TO JUST POUR IT ALL IN A SINGLE SWING LIKE THAT?!?!] [YOU CAN’T!] [THE TASTE WILL MIXED UP AND TURNING WEIRD!!] [PUT THEM UP SEPARATELY!] 

[Y... YES MA’AM!]

Somehow, even Rosalinda, whom was always cheerful and seemed to be having fun all the time, becomes a spartan at trying to fix what Rud was doing.

[WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TAKING THINGS SLOWLY LIKE THAT!] [THE SOUP WILL OVERHEAT!!!]

[YES MA’AM!] [I’M SORRY!!!]

[WAIT! DON’T JUST PLUNGE THEM UP LIKE THAT!] [THE SOUP WILL SPLATTERED EVERYWHERE!] [YOU’RE ALSO DAMAGING THE INGREDIENTS LIKE THAT!!!]

[I’M SORRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!]

This is what Vram had in mind, to put Rud in charge of cooking. Considering all he need to do is to exactly follow the recipe given to him, it shouldn’t pose much of a trouble.

[Still though, I don’t really think he was that useless, don’t you think so?] Suddenly Chris brings up a weird conversation out of the blue toward Hilda.

[What are you trying to say, Chris?]

[Well... I mean, look at him.] [His hand maybe not that dexterous, but it doesn’t mean that he was incapable.] [It was just a case of getting used to it.] [Given enough time, he should be someone better, don’t you think?]

[The problem wasn’t lies in his skill.] As if she’s feeling remorsed, Hilda was pouting for a bit.

[Then...?]

[It was Josephine’s Familiar.] [He was too capable despite being a former human.] [He does sometime shows his arrogant side, but all of that was supported by his ability.] 

[Umm....] Chris suddenly become confused.

[Hrmm....] scratching her head for a bit, Hilda immerses herself trying to explain it better to Chris. [Well, you see....] [Since we’re both a Frontier unit, I’ll give you some example.]

[O... okay....]

[Imagine if two witches, whom had the same class as well as their magic proficiency the same altogether.] [Then there’s their familiar, in which both of them had combat ability as their main point.] [Now, what if one of the familiar was weaker than the other?]

[Obviously we would asks the strong ones to keep maintaining their works and fill their quota and....] [... wait a minute...!] Chris suddenly realized something amiss among it.

[Right, the weak ones would be redeemed incapable of completing their works and often being a subject to a transfer of her delegated work.] [Even if she herself still manages to complete a set number of quota within the delegated time, when comparing it to the other ones, it was disregarded easily like that.] 

Suddenly Chris feels like she was having opened up an ol wound that was closed for a long time, as her face contort to that of a regret.

[I... I’m sorry, I....]

[Don’t be....] [I do feel the same way as that Naked Idiot do toward him.] [He may be annoying, but his situation resembles the way both of living right now.] [And Maria was also the same, that’s why I didn’t do anything when she does that.] [She was feeling insecure of what would happen to her....] [The same as me back then....]

[Lady Hilda....]

When she finished talking, she turned her head back to Rud when suddenly she caught Rosa in the middle of scolding Rud.

[THIS IS UNNACEPTABLE!] [HOW CAN YOU WORK SO SLOPPILY LIKE THAT!?] [LOOK! THE SOUP’S STARTED TO GET THINNER  BECAUSE YOU TOOK A LONG TIME MIXING IT!!] 

[I’m really sorry...!!!]

[IF YOU REALLY FEELING SORRY THEN START TO MAKE THE NEXT DISH RIGHT AWAY!]

[YES MA’AM!!]

[[....]] Chris and Hilda can only show their face in disbelief seeing how Rosa act when it comes to cooking.

[Well, in a way, I’m also thankful to her.] Says Hilda while looking at how Rosa act toward Rud.

[I agree.] [She maybe a simpleton and not really good at understanding complicated stuff.] [But she has a good heart.]

And with that, Hilda return back to where Rosa and Rud is to continue their lecture of cooking while Christine can only looked at their back.

[....] [If only I can also cook....]

***

[Wow... it’s good!] Yohana was having a hard time trying to hide her expression upon the surprise that lies before her.

[I really underestimade it....] [This really taste better than I thought.] Even Vram was astonished by itself.

[Umm....] Josephine also taste it out and it does satisfy her, but somehow she couldn’t utter a single word of it.

[What’s wrong, Fina?] [Eat up, you’ve worked hard today after all!]

[I agree with Lady Yohana.] Chris suddenly speak up toward Josephine. [You wouldn’t want these delicious food to go to waste, right?]

[W... well it’s true that I’m hungry and it does taste superb...!] [But....]

[Well it is quite surprising, but I kinda expected it though.] [That Rosa and Lady Hilda would be able to produce such high quality of food in such a short amount of time.]

While the others were enjoying the warmth of the freshly made food, Josephine take another glance at the other table where Rosa, Hilda, and Rud are sitting together, and Rud can only lower his head, somehow looked ashamed.

[He’s experiencing living hell right now, that’s for sure.] Yohn can only commented on the other tables while also enjoying the food that both Hilda and Rosa made.

[I’m kinda curious, what exactly happened when we’re away, Yohn?]

[It was chaos.] [Making a meat soup, he accidentally slipped too much water inside.] [Frying a fish, he ended up over-heating the fire, making the inside still totally raw.] [roasting it, the place where it roasted wasn’t even.]

[... I wonder how is it that you guys did manage to survive all this time.] 

[Well you already know that Rud is immortal as long as he isn’t killed, and me being a random small primate can eat anything as long as it is edible.]

[By the way, Vram.] Suddenly Chris was looking toward Vram with a worried look.

[What is it, Lady Chris?]

[Why are you still wearing your upper helmet and only opened the lower part of it?] [We’re just eating leisurely here, so....]

[NO!]

Suddenly Josephine cut out both of their conversation which makes Chris and Yohana confused.

[Um... but....] [Your familiar looked a bit uncomfortable there, so....]

[NO!] [I don’t want to!!]

[Ummm....] Chris looked back to Vram before looking at Josephine again.

[But... you see, even if he looked hideous or scary, it doesn’t mean you should hide it or what, right...?]

*BRAKK!!!

[ARE YOU SAYING THAT MY FAMILIAR IS UGLY?!?!?]

[Eh?] [He’s not?]

[He’s...!] [He... he is....] [....]

Suddenly Josephine’s head reddened so much that it looked like her head was fuming out.

[... Vram, can I ask you to come with me for a minute?] Yohn asked that as he come down and went somewhere secluded.

[Wait.] Vram, sensing something serious, trying to follow Yohn.

[Hmm....]

While Chris was still concerned about Josephine’s reaction, Yohana being dumbfounded in the sudden situation in front of her eyes, the two of them spend quite a long time on a secluded place where almost nobody can see them. After a while, the two finally came back while Yohn was hurriedly running toward Chris.

[Lady Chris...!]

[Yes, Yohn?] Chris suddenly preplexed upon hearing Yohn’s serious tone.

[Let’s not talk about his face any longer.]

[E?] [Why??]

[It was deadly!] [SO DEADLY THAT IT’S ALMOST UNFAIR!!!]

[Wait wait.] [Was his face supposed to be his ultimate ability or what?]

[It may be!] [At any rate, you can’t!!] [For us men, it’ll cause us to shrivel down beyond words, and for you girls, you won’t be able to think straight any longer!!]

[Wait, are you saying that Josephine had fallen to such scary ability!?!?] Said Yohana surprised while pointing toward Vram.

[Wait a minute, I don’t remember having that kind of ability....] Vram was somehow flustered by the way Yohana react.

[NO! YOU HAVE!] [IN FACT, THAT’S THE ONLY THING THAT EXPLAIN YOUR MASTER’S CONDITION NOW!!] [I REMEMBER YOU SAID SHE DOESN’T LIKE TO WEAR CLOTHES UNTIL YOU APPEAR, AND IT’S BECAUSE OF YOUR FACE!!!]

[That doesn’t make sense, though?!?] [Master, are you sure that was the case?!?]

[That...!] [That is...!] [That....] 

Before being able to confirm it herself, she ended up sitting back on the chair and lowered her head, blushing all the way to her ears.

[See!?] [She already confirmed it!!] [Your face is dangerous, Vram!!]

[That... was it...?] Vram can only baffled at the truth coming out suddenly.

Somehow or another the two tables turned awkward for the better or for the worse. Not too long after that, Rosalinda start to ease up her own expression.

[*sigh* Let’s stop this.] [It’s really uncomfortable after all, having to scold you over and over again.]

Seeing somehow Rosa just easily let him off, Hilda also ended up letting go of her own feeling.

[I... I’m sorry....] Rud ended up only lowering his head in Rosa’s confession.

[Oh well....] [At least one thing is clear to us now.]

As Hilda said that, she suddenly went toward Josephine’s table, leaving Rud confused by himself.

[Naked Idiot.]

[Umm... yes?] Still in a daze after Chris’ question, Josephine can only reply empty headed toward Hilda.

[Your slave.] [Give him to me.]

The sudden exclamation Hilda made out of nowhere turns everyone’s face there as white as a paper. Unable to react against it, Josephine can only open wide her mouth.

Chapter 21.5

[That’s all, you two.] [Are there any question?]

One time, in some room, a red-headed woman was trying to teach two girls that somehow looks still very young.

[Umm... Lady Hilda...?]

[Yes?] [Do you have something in your mind, Chris?]

It was Hildegarde, back when she was still barely managed to summon her own familiar, as well as the two new witches whom was still learning things, Christine and Rosalinda.

[I was wondering ever since the start....] [Lady Hilda was supposed to be a Frontier Unit, right?] [But why aren’t you doing any Frontier-related things like what you’ve teach us?]

Such question that came out easily from her innocent mouth somehow puts them in an awkward situation.

[YA! CHRIS  YOU IDIOT!!] [THAT’S NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD’VE SAID LIGHTLY!!]

[Oho~?] [So you’re saying that I’m so pitiful that you can’t ask me that kind of question, Rosa~?] Hilda suddenly feels pricked by Rosa’s claim.

[Ah, no no!] [That wasn’t my intention, but...!]

[Well it’s not that surprising actually....]

Hilda was somehow signalling something with her eye toward somewhere. Then suddenly something was rolling from the side of the room into Hilda’s side. It then transformed into some kind of stone doll.

[[Ah...!]]

[Well, when you have a familiar like him, you’re bound to get looked down a lot by other people.]

[Wait, that doesn’t make sense!] Chris somehow getting worked up upon the fact that the Familiar Hildegarde has was only a golem. [Lady Hilda, you were supposed to be one of the very few witches whom are capable of completing their quota in such a short amount of time, right?!] [There’s no way that it’s your familiar!] [Your mana quality are also considered the highest purity among others!!]

[Just believe it, Chris.] [I had my own strategy to be able to finish my own quota quickly, but not to obtain more than the needed ones.]

Hildegarde then start explaining her own strategy to the two witches’ apprentice, of how she didn’t use her own familiar to defend herself, by using herself as a bait to pull some monster toward some location, then let her own familiar, Hougo, to finish everything all by itself.

[But the cost of such strategy is quite dangerous considering it’s me and this kid’s body that were at stake, so everytime I gain some profit, I quickly spend it for his maintenance.] [That’s why I decided to do this, becoming an instructor.] [Elder Endrossa also saw it fitting for me to become one, starting to teach you two as my own very first apprentice.]

The two apprentices can only stay silent in her answer as the instructor can only show her bitter smile for letting her newly appointed apprentices seeing another side of her.

[Lady Hilda....] [YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!] 

[Huh?] Hilda confused at her own apprentice’s reaction.

[Rosa?] [What are you saying?]

[YOU’RE THE BEST WITCHES I’VE EVER MET!!] [I MEAN, EVERY OTHER WITCH I’VE EVER MET ALWAYS SAYING THAT “MANA QUALITY IS IMPORTANT” OR “YOUR FAMILIAR IS THE ONE THAT DECIDE YOUR RANK” OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!] [I REALLY HATE THAT!!] [BUT LADY HILDA! YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN’T RELY ON THOSE THINGS AND INSTEAD TRYING YOUR BEST TO BECOME THE BEST WITHOUT IT!] [I... I THINK I LOVE YOU, LADY HILDA!!!]

*PLAKK!!!

[Ow~!] Rosa was suddenly being hit by a paper fan out of nowhere in the head by Hilda.

[Don’t get too worked up there, girl.] [Some of the things those people saying aren’t far from the truth either.] [I only wishes to be useful after all.]

[But...!]

[I also agree with Rosalinda here, Lady Hilda.] [To achieve something that no other witches could do, I’d rather following your footsteps and working hard to achieve my dream than to leave everything up to fate... to let my own familiar decide my future...!]

[*sigh*....] [You two sure are something....] [Listen, I’m teaching you here not to become someone that comes behind me.] [I want you to be something better than me and contribute more for our village, our home.]

[Still, for me... no, for us, you’re the only witch we’ll ever approve!]

[I ALSO AGREED!]

*PLAKK! *PLAKK!!!

[[Ouch!]]

[I’m grateful for your concern.] [But still, you can’t just hope to learn everything from me.] [Even I have some mistakes here and there, and it’s the job of the other instructor to fill it up in my place.] [So don’t just learn from me, try to learn everything else from other.]

[O... okay!] The two answer simultaneously.

[... Wait a minute, you two.] [Don’t make it look like you two are my subordinate or something.]

[We would be delighted if you make us one, Lady Hilda!]

*PLAKK!!

Hilda slap Chris again with the paper fan in her reaction of Chris’ declaration.

[Don’t joke on me like that!]

[We’re not, Lady Hilda!]

[You... both are really...!] 

***

[So that’s how you got both of such obedient subordinate like that....]

[Like I’m telling you, they’re not my subordinate!]

At some point, Hilda was in the middle of retelling Yohn the story of her past, regarding of how at some point, Rosalinda and Christine keeps tailing her from the back.

[So that’s why you’ve been desperate to find a way to improve yourself.]

[Yeah....] [I’m not really into the concept of becoming the best witches nor becoming one of the Apostles.] [But I can’t really betray the expectation of those two.] 

[I see.]

But the two of them actually wasn’t just leisurely conversating. Somehow Hilda was in the middle of tinkering with some kind of device while Yohn observe everything.

[Still, I’m kinda surprised that humans were able to create these kind of things.]

[I’m far more surprised that that Black Knight possesed such equipment all by himself.]

[I kinda agreed with that.] [Not to mention he can actually use it to any kind of situation at a perfect time.] [But for now, that’s less of my concern now.]

Hilda start to focus her entire concentration onto the device in front of her.

[You really sure that with this, Hougo can actually use magic?]

[Well technically yes.] [But the formula needed to unleash the magic itself must be engraved perfectly as well as including where does this device going to absorb the mana needed.] [In Vram’s case, I’m guessing each time he opened the ‘pocket’, at that time, the mana consumption had already begin.]

[So not only it enables him to use magic, but to control when and how to unleash it, right?]

[Yup.]

[Hmm....]

Hildegarde pondering for a moment then start to have quite a sinister smile on her face.

[Can I equip more than 2 of this device onto Hougo?]

[Wha?!?] [Well... It’s not impossible....] [But the strain of equipping so many of these is quite risky....]

[Well I think Hougo can handle it just fine, right~?]

As if answering his master’s hope, Hougo somehow jumping up and down lightly.

[But are you sure about it...?] [You not trying to play with my body and instead asking me about my past as a price for your knowledge....]

[For someone like you, I kinda prefer to know more about you than just to play around.]

[*sigh* You’re one sly mouse.]

[Eheheheh~]

[I guess I should kick up a notch and quickly finish this Rune Core so that me and Hougo can return back to the frontline!]

And with that, she was deep focused into creating the device to make Hougo stronger than before, while without realizing it yet herself later, she would create a strongest familiar that nobody could predict, something that even the Elder Witch found its strength unfathomable.

Chapter 22

[Eh?]

Rud was somehow preplexed all by himself, in a huge field, standing while equipping some kind of device in his hand. The device was a bit designed like a glove with a crystal on the backhand, but with some kind of trigger on its palm.

[YOU READY, BLOCKHEAD!?] Hildegarde was far away  from him, trying to observe the experiment with Rud as her lab rat.

[Wait a minute, Lady Hilda...!] [I don’t really understand what are we trying to do!!]

[You  really are a blockhead after all.] Yohn was coming up toward his collar and start to speak to him near his ear. [We need you to test the Rune Core that we’ve recently made here.]

[Wait, this is a Rune Core?!?] [She made one?!?!]

[This is already her 10th one.] [So hurry up and be done with it.] [You’re whining too much  for a slave.]

[AREN’T YOU ON THE SAME SIDE AS I AM?!?!]

After yesterday’s confirmation regarding Hilda borrowing Rud’s slave, Hilda quickly decides that he’ll be assisting her regarding the creation of the Rune Core and for testing it out.

[If you forgot the reason we’re doing this, I’ll tell you again.] [Since Hilda pretty much a seasoned Witch and capable of doing a close-combat magic chanting in a short time, there’s a difference between her using it and when she equipped it to her familiar.] [To be able to test this tool effectively, someone who has a big amount of mana container as well as being unable to use magic at the same time is needed.] [Thus, we decided that you’d be a perfect fit for it.]

[And without my consent?!?]

[We already get our permission from your master, after all.]

[YA!] [HOW LONG ARE YOU TWO GOING TO LEISURELY TALKING LIKE THAT?!?!?] [WANT TO HAVE SOMETHING JAMMED ON YOUR BACK?!!?]

Hilda, growing impatient, start to threaten Rud that he ended up closing his mouth immediately and start to focus on using the tool, the Rune Core.

[Alright, listen up.] [All you need to do is to Aim toward the center of the field and press the trigger on your hand.] [You may feel a bit weird having your mana consumed for a bit, but overall there should be no problem.]

[Grrgh... okay....]

Doing as instructed, Rud slowly helding his hand on the trigger of the tool and.... 

*CLICK!

*ZWAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

Almost at the same time as the trigger were pressed, a fireball suddenly forming in front of his hand. As Rud keeps holding the trigger, the fireball keeps getting bigger, but still staying in front of the trigger.

[Wha...?!] [Is this the feeling of being able to use magic?!?!]

[Alright, I guess there’s no error on the device itself.] Hilda was self-boasting after he make sure that the tool do works properly.

[This is really cool though!] [Whoaa...!] Mesmerized, Rud start to waving his arm left and right, up and down, while the fireball keeps following his arm.

[ALRIGHT! THAT’S ENOUGH, YOU CAN RELEASE IT TO THE FIELD!!] 

[Eh?]

Just at the same time as he’s releasing the trigger, he didn’t realize that he’s aiming the fireball toward his own head.

*CLACK!!

[WHA...!] [YOU FOOL!!!!!!]

[Eh?]

*BLAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

The ball exploded right in front of Rud’s head.

[IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!]

[DON’T WORRY!] [WE’RE SAFE!!!]

Somehow Yohn and Rud barely saved. The ball did explode right in front of them, but right before then, a wall of stone stand between them and the explosion. And with that said, Hilda furiously run toward them.

[YOU FRICKIN’ IDIOT!!!]  

*PLAKKK!!!!

With a paper fan in her left arm, Hilda strike Rud’s head as hard as he can, paining him somehow.

[I... I’m sorry...!!] [I wasn’t focused...!!!]

[YEA YOU SHOULD BE SORRY!] [THIS IS JUST THE FIRST TEST, AND YOU ALREADY RUINED IT!!!!]

[B... but, Lady Hilda....] Somehow Yohn was trying to calm her down by climbing up toward Hougo’s head. [At least he’s safe, so we can....]

[OF COURSE HE WAS SAFE!] [I’VE ASKED HOUGO TO ALWAYS KEEP WATCH ON HIM IN CASE SOMETHING DID GOES WRONG!!!] [NOW LOOK! HE LOST ANOTHER SHIELD ON TOP OF THAT!!!] [IF EACH TIME WE’RE DOING A TEST AND SOMETHING KEEP HAPPENING, EVEN HE WOULDN’T LAST!!]

[I’m sorry....] Rud can only keeps his head lower and lower than usual, realizing that he really was at fault.

[*sigh*... make sure to stay focused, alright?] [All you need to do is to aim at the central field and press the trigger.] [In case something did happen, Hougo will be there to help you, so you shouldn’t worry too much, okay?]

[Right....]

Then suddenly, Rud notices something is amiss.

[Wait a minute, Lady Hilda.] [How come Hougo can actually moves that fast toward me?] [If I remember correctly, he was supposed to be right beside you, and yet he reach all the way here in no time at all.]

Yohn and Hilda was totally shocked hearing Rud’s exclamation and can only stand silently.

[... You still haven’t realized it yet?] [For who do you think this Rune Core is made for?]

[It wasn’t for me?]

[....] [Clear your head up on the stream over there, and we’ll be restarting later.]

[Wait whaaaa?!?!?] 

***

At other place, a sight of something unfathomable happens so suddenly.

[HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS!?!?!?]

[I... I’m sorry.] [I promise I’ll make it up to you by the end of the day!]

Yohana was in the middle of apologizing toward some other girls from the Relief Unit, the one that mainly does things regarding the development of the inner village, like agriculture and the likes. And somehow Yohana, one of the representative from Gallant unit in which its purpose was to maintain safety within its own town, had to beg for forgiveness for the mistake of one of her junior.

[AND HOW IS IT GOING TO HELP US AROUND HERE?!?] [YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS ALREADY THE 9th TIME THIS HAPPENED!] [FURTHERMORE, IT’S HER OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!]

She’s angrily pointed toward one of the girls whom have been lowering her head in regret. A girl with light brownish hair together with her familiar which’s clad in full black armor.

[I have no excuses regarding that.] [But I’ll promise you that I’ll recompensate for the damage that’s already happened....]

[YOU’D BETTER BE!] [AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING WITH THAT GIRL!!] [EVERYTHING’S A MESS THANKS TO HER!]

Yohana can only stay silent until the girl from the relief unit finally stops shouting and start to leave the place after Yohana had promised to compensate her. As they finally manage to leave the place, this time it was Yohana’s turn to interrogate Josephine.

[Fina.]

[Y... yes, senior?] Though Josephine was already expecting that she’ll get scolded, her heart somehow still unprepared.

[Normally I won’t ask this out of consideration....] [What happened actually?]

[Eh?] Josephine can only stand shocked being suddenly asked something like that out of the blue.

[Besides your ability to recreate magic items, lately your concentration has been off.] [At first I thought it’s because you’ve been keep creating some kind of weird tool over and over again.] [But there’s also something wrong with your daily life.] [You’re unusally late at waking up, and sometimes you’re so out of it that you can barely hear us talking.] [Tell me honestly, what’s wrong with you?]

[Eh?] [Uhmm... Well, I do have some worries on my mind, but I don’t think it’s that straining for me.] [Right, Vram?]

[I agree.] [More like, I’ve always observing Master to ensure that she doesn’t overwork herself when she’s working with something.] [Though it does makes me wonder, her being always late at waking up, her aimless magic, and her tendency to space out sometime.] [It wasn’t like that from the beginning?]

Yohana feels like something wrong about the situation that unfold before her. She somehow sensing that there’s some kind of happening right in front of her.

[Wait a minute.] [Fina, from the time after you summoned Vram, do you feel anything strange?]

[Strange?] Josephine pondered for a bit from those question. [Hmm... aside from the time I’m feeling light-headed when I tried to cast a complex magic, I’ve been perfectly fine.] [Though lately I’m feeling hungry more often than usual....]

[What...?] Hearing the case Josephine is having, Yohana somehow shows a dreadful face which surprise Josephine and Vram even more.

[Fina!] [Come with me now!!!!]

[EH?!] [But I still have to write some report regarding....]

[THAT CAN BE DONE LATER!] [OR RATHER, I’LL BE THE ONE DOING IT!] [For now you should come with me quickly!!!]

[Eh? Eh? Eeeh?] 

***

At some places, Chris was in the middle of playing together with something. It looked the most like a human, with the difference in size having only as big as between the elbow and the arm, also with a transparent bug wings on its back and weird eyes. It was often referred as a fairy.

*SHIIING~!

[Thank goodness....] [You’ve finally restored.] [I really was worried you know, when you’ve been swallowed by that shadow hands....]

[It was scary, I tell you!] [Seing half of our familiar’s body getting swallowed like that.] [Thankfully somehow Hougo wasn’t affected by that.] Rosa from the other rooms also start to comment something while in the middle of treating her own familiar.

Suddenly then, Chris’ familiar was flying toward the entrance, surprise Chris as it was too sudden. 

[Wait, Alsha.] [Where are you going!?]

Flying so fast toward the entrance, one of the witches whom were in charge of taking care of the wounded familiar were also surprised seeing the familiar energetically flying toward the exit. But the moment it reached the door, it wasn’t trying to goes out, instead was opening the door and let it just like that.

[Umm... is someone going to come, Alsha?]

Alsha just flying toward Chris’ face and nodding her head. Not too long after that, Yohana was coming in forcefully while dragging Josephine, while Vram and Sear, Yohana’s familiar, are following from behind.

[Yohana?] [What are you doing here?] [Was Sear getting hurt or something?]

[Sorry, I’ll explain later!] [For now, I need you to check Josephine’s condition!!]

[[Eh?]] Almost everyone including Chris and the other Witches there can only stand there confused. But since it seems to be quite urgent, the witches quickly drag Josephine into their Examination Room.

[Lady Yohana.] Vram somehow started to feel the tension there.

[Vram.] [No matter how the result turned out, I don’t want you to blame yourself over this.] [In fact, I sincerely hoped that I was mistaken....]

[Did something happen?] Chris quickly stand beside Vram, curious about what was about to happen.

[Chris....] [I... I can’t really bring myself to mention it in front of her and Vram....] [Since... she was finally had his own familiar...!]

[Wait, I don’t get what you’re talking about...!]

Yohana start to went silent, which somehow put an awkward situation right in front of them. After waiting for quite a long time, Josephine finally came out, looking a little depressed.

[Josephine?!] [What’s wrong? Did something happen?!?!]

Chris, somehow noticing that something went wrong with Josephine, start to hurriedly goes to her aid.

[Senior Chris...!] [Wh... what do I do...!]

Josephine start to teared up while almost bawling her heart out. Just then, the girl whom was in charge of examining Josephine, steps out from the room, and Yohana quickly went toward her.

[How is it...?!]

The girl can only stay silent before finally decided to talk.

[She... experiences a short-circuited mana link.] [And apparently, it has been going on for long....] 

A case where a magician or spellcaster had one of their Mana Circuit, which was mainly used for transforming a mana into a magic. For a Witch, usually they had more than 2-digit numbers of Mana Circuit than normal human has, which is why they could complete many kinds of complicated magic with ease. 

[What?!] Chris whom have been listening from the side suddenly went into a big shock hearing the news.

[So it’s really true....]

[Wait a minute!] [We’re a witch, so there’s no way we’ll experience that kind of situation!] [Besides, Josephine barely ever use a grand-scale magic, so....]

Before she finished her reasoning, she stopped herself. Not because there was something caught on her throat, but she suddenly comes to a realization, as she shifts her gaze toward one anomaly that has been with her this whole time. 

[Don’t tell me... the demerit?]

[It seems so....] [The way her mana regulate irregularly isn’t endanger her own life, but it does her quite a lot burden.]

Somehow when the situation become gloomy, Vram was the only one left clueless there. Then step out toward them.

[Demerit?]

[Ah, I forgot that you can’t use magic, so you don’t understand.] [You see, we witches always have a familiar that’s close to us right?] [Usually regarding the summoning of those familiar, not every strong witch can obtain a powerful Familiar right out of the blue like that.] 

[Yes, and why is that?]

[It’s because you, and the rest of a familiar, had a merit and demerit effect that directly affect us Witches.]

[What?!?]

[And guessing for the symptoms....] [I guess it is the demerit of your existence....]

[Wait, then Master is...!]

As Vram suddenly panicked and shifted his sight toward Josephine, suddenly she stopped crying and can only looked confused.

[Eh?] [Demerit?] [Not because of me overworking my mana circuit???]

Her sudden claim also confuses the other that they ended up staring toward the girl whom examined her.

[Well there are also some place where the circuit line were being worked to the maximum, but somehow the strain quickly heals itself.] [While somehow, the short-circuited ones has been there for quite long and doesn’t seems to be used much.]

Everyone there can only stay silent as they’re trying to understand the whole situation.

[Wait a minute.] Suddenly, Rosalinda come out of nowhere after listening to most of their story. [So basically, Josephine cannot utilize some kind of magic anymore?]

[Err... to be precise, she cannot utilize any kind of grand-scale magic that demands her to create something out of her own mana container anymore.] [For any medium-scale and lower, she might be able to, but higher ones may need some time to be perfectly cast.] [But she still can do any kind of ritual magic that needs a lot of preparation and resources to be fulfilled.] 

[Wait...!] Josephine suddenly raised her arm as she was concerned of something. [Then that means my life nor Vram was in any kind of danger?!]

[Umm... I never said that, though.] [I’m just saying that your familiar somehow is related of your condition.] [As Lady Yohana says, it is the Demerit of having a familiar after all.]

[GEEZ! DON’T MAKE IT SOUND SO COMPLICATED!] [I THOUGHT ME HAVING A SHORT-CIRCUITED MANA LINK WAS GOING TO CAUSE SOME PROBLEM TO VRAM!]

[But Master....] Vram reaching out to Josephine in worry.

[Yes?]

[Aren’t you concerned about it at all?] [I mean, me being the reason of your condition right now....]

[Umm... Nope, none at all.]

[Eh?]

[I already knew about there being a demerit once you’ve made a pact with a Familiar after all.] [More like, if a Witch were afraid of the demerit it has, none of us would be brave enough to summon one, after all~!]

[Yup~!] [That Naked Idiot over there got it right~!] [That’s not something us should fret about, right?]

As Rosa freely expressed her content, somehow Yohana looked more worried than before.

[No, I need to fret about it.]

[Yohana?] [What’s wrong actually?] Chris somehow confused as what kind of problem Yohana had to face.

[You see....] [Since the demerit was actually that fatal....] [Josephine had lost any qualification needed to become a Gallant.]

[[[Eh?]]] 

***

[WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!?!?]

Endrossa, suddenly went into a rage and shock, shout her lungs out toward the girl whom have delivered some report to her.

[I... I’m afraid so....] [I already had the testimony of the other group of girls whom were also together with Maria.] [It seems that they split up when they were being chased by a Vasp Queen.]

It was a report of a missing Witch, in this case, Maria’s dissapearance. The Relief unit was finally received her distress signal, in the form of a faerie light. But what enrages her the most wasn’t for the fact of her went missing and in trouble, but....

[For her to go to the Forbidden Spot...!] [What in the world is she thinking...!!!]

[Elder....] [I’m sorry for being rude, but....] [We... I don’t think there are any unit from either the Relief nor Rising Unit would dare to set foot in there....]

[Still, we can’t let her alone just like that.] 

As she says that, she moves away from the room she has been staying.

[Inform all of the 12 Apostles to assamble.] [Make them know that this is an emergency.]

[A... alright!!!]

The girl quickly rushed out to inform each and every Apostles as a new conflict creeping out into their lives.