The child had to be around fourteen or fifteen years old by now.
A young child wearing a white veil on her head, looking young and clasping her hands while looking out the window.
The girl’s eyes were stunning, glistening with stars within them.
However, the expression the child had wasn’t so good because what was invisible to others was clear to her eyes.
And then someone approached her.
“Anna.”
“Brother.”
When the girl named Anna turned, her brother, Ricky, stood there. They were siblings chosen by the Goddess Pyro and the church’s leaders.
Ricky stood next to her, who could now see the world for what it was.
And asked,
“How is it?”
“Not too bad.”
Anna’s eyes could see invisible things, for example, the ominous air in the surroundings.
Anna, who was staring at someone, frowned slightly.
“An ominous feeling is gathering. And it will be something huge.”
The place she was looking at was none other than the Rotomo Strait, which was designated as one of the six Bans. It was said to be the place where traces of the God of War, Shiva, were found, and the environment itself felt dangerous.
However, what Anna saw wasn’t simply ferocious moving water.
Ricky frowned.
“So it moved there.”
“Will Sarah be alright?”
At that question, Ricky couldn’t answer.
She was moving with the Rans, but the enemy side must also have strong people with them.
Anna’s eyes were accurate, so she knew that a fight would happen.
In the process, Sarah’s safety was one thing she wasn’t sure of.
‘Still, this has to be done.’
Jamie was not interested in his sister. In other words, whatever Sarah would do didn’t concern him.
However, he couldn’t tell Sarah this fact, and even if he did, Sarah wouldn’t stop fighting.
Ultimately, she would constantly risk her life and die at some point.
‘It isn’t that I don’t trust Sir Onyx, but…’
Swordmaster Beryl Onyx was strong and had the right qualifications to be a teacher.
The only problem was that he was tied to the Six Pillars.
His position didn’t allow him to move easily, so he couldn’t be with his disciple. In other words, he couldn’t be responsible for Sarah’s life.
And Ricky heard that she did all her missions alone, and he was surprised that she was still alive.
And this meant that Beryl was being that considerate when giving her missions, but the world doesn’t run on a difficulty level.
One day, she might go up against someone she can’t beat and die in vain.
‘This is why she needs to be with someone that has the power to tear apart the strong.’
Someone who can show more faith in Sarah than anyone else.
‘Isis.’
The former head of Frontier, a Grand Master, and the next ruler of Ran.
As soon as he heard a party was being made, he immediately asked her to mentor Sarah.
She wasn’t too sure right away, but after hearing about the situation, she agreed.
When Ricky was thinking to himself, Anna waved her hand.
“Brother?”
“Ah, sorry.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing. Anyway, things will be fine.”
“Right?”
“Yes. Since she is moving with the Rans, there won’t be any problem.”
Rather, he hoped Sarah would learn something.
‘Because there is no better experience than seeing with your own eyes what the world of the strong is like.’
Most likely, Sarah would not be able to do anything. Hit here and hit there and run.
But that was good enough.
‘Live, Sarah. You need to survive longer. Get stronger… stand proudly in front of your brother.’
Sarah was climbing a steep mountain road.
It was a rugged path, and it wasn’t easy to take a step as this wasn’t made for humans to tread on.
Even Sarah, who was an expert, had trouble, which meant a normal person could never climb it.
It was supposed to be like that.
‘What monsters…!’
Sarah held her tongue as she watched the Ran race walk up the mountain with huge strides, as if they were just strolling through a garden.
As if it wasn’t steep enough, they were jumping and sprinting around. As expected of one of the strongest races in the world.
Sarah would have felt envious of this, but since she was having a difficult time, she couldn’t think of anything else.
‘I wish they could go a little slower.’
Sarah was always proud of her stamina due to the rigorous training she went through under Beryl for three years.
From a certain point on, she never gasped or got tired.
But now…
‘I want to rest.’
Her breathing went up until she was gasping, and it hadn’t been long since her thighs began to turn hot.
Her neck was sore, and her arms were drooping to the side, which meant she had no more strength.
By the time the world turned yellow, her eyes had begun to spin.
“Let us rest here for a while.”
The voice of salvation came.
Sarah slumped forward and almost collapsed to the ground.
All of the warriors of Ran looked at her. Either way, Sarah just closed her eyes, not caring.
For now, she wanted to stay like this.
And after a while, she opened her eyes.
‘Um?’
She must have fallen asleep. There were no enemies around, yet she just fell asleep.
Did she push her body to such a level?
In that shocked state, Sarah stood up.
They hadn’t reached their destination yet, but she already felt like she was a burden. Even if they chose to abandon her, she couldn’t say anything.
“I apologize.”
As soon as she got up, she lowered her head without even checking the area.
…
No answer came back.
She was prepared to be scolded, but did they actually abandon her?
Sarah raised her head with a confused expression. The dark forest was so dense that it was impossible to see an inch ahead.
She gulped and looked around.
“Excuse… me?”
Everything was silent.
There were no signs of any presence.
Sarah felt she was left alone in this dark world where even the step of an animal couldn’t be heard.
“Is no one here?”
Sarah walked around. The forest was filled with a thick darkness, but this wasn’t going to disturb her aura.
She looked around.
The densely packed trees and the grass under her feet told her how hard the previous journey was and how difficult it would be from now on.
In this place, she couldn’t even hear the sound of grasshoppers.
And this made her feel like everything was too much.
‘Did they really throw me away?’
She didn’t come because she wanted to. She was asked to do this, and yet they abandoned her?
Of course, sleeping like that was wrong, but they could have woken her up.
Was there some rule in the Ran race about not waking a sleeping person?
“What do I do?”
It made no sense to head back like this. She had to go to the Rotomo Strait alone.
Her mission was to retrieve the traces of Shiva, who was said to have been found in the Rotomo Strait.
Right. It was right for her to do this mission alone. Doing it with someone was just annoying.
So she promised herself and turned.
“…”
“…”
A face floated in the darkness and moved right in front of her.
Sarah thought, looking at the face that was familiar but darker.
‘Ah. I am afraid of ghosts.’
And she collapsed.
“… Uh”
Isis, who was the one behind all of this, saw Sarah collapse with a confused face. And then shouted,
“Sarah!!”
She didn’t think the child would pass out.
When she was little, her mother read her a children’s book.
It was about the black monster that lived in the closet and kidnapped children at midnight.
Later, the story ended with the conclusion that the child could sleep peacefully by removing the monster with a candle, but when she was a child, she was afraid of closets.
Not only did she have a candle up all night, but she would sleep with her parents. In addition, the ghost stories Sarah heard when she was young made her cry.
Of course, it was just a story she grew up listening to, and she normally preferred stories of happy princesses and princes over ghosts, so at some point, she forgot that she was scared of ghosts.
After holding the sword, she lived a day without thinking about it.
Sarah opened her eyes.
She was lying in a place with a clear night sky in her view, but her memory was cut off right in the forest, which meant someone had moved her.
‘… it was a dream.’
She had a dream about her childhood. It was a pity that it wasn’t a dream of good times.
As she stared at the sky, she chuckled a little.
‘I cannot believe this. I fainted because I was afraid of ghosts and to think I kill people….’
It must be proof of the trauma from her childhood. Even so, this felt confounding.
Sarah felt a bit bad and got up.
Tik!
She turned to the sound of wood burning and saw a group of people around a campfire.
“You awake?”
Isis smiled, and Sarah blankly said,
“I thought you left me.”
“Why would we abandon you
“Then where did everyone…”
When Sarah looked at the people around her, she realized they were holding back their laughter.
And she realized that the people of Ran were playful.
She sighed as she said,
“You were hiding to tease me.”
“We were planning to rest today, so…”
The green-haired man sitting opposite Isis said. He looked as young as Isis, but he was actually the youngest in this party.
His name was Mero.
“We ran at a faster pace than usual to test how far you could catch up to us.”
“Ah.”
No wonder their speed seemed so shocking.
“We did slow down a lot from the halfway point.”
Slowdown?
She was about to die by then.
Sarah looked at the person she was speaking to.
The Ran was a middle-aged man with white hair and a white jewel.
It was Karlovan, who was in charge of this party, and the lieutenant.
“Still, it is an amazing thing that you managed to come after us without a rest.”
“Right. I honestly thought you would step back right at the start of the mountains.”
“As expected of the Welton bloodline.”
Everyone spoke to lift her spirit. And thanks to that, Sarah didn’t realize it right away.
Hasyath, had taken his gloves off.
“From tomorrow, we will start again at our actual pace. It will be better than today, but it will be tough with your current stamina, so be prepared.”
“Ah, yes.”
“It looks like the meal is almost ready.”
Hearing that, she could smell the amazing food.
Seeing the light at the back of their camp, it seemed like the food was being prepared.
“Eating is important. Eat a lot.”
Hasyath got up first, followed by the others. Isis approached Sarah and held her hand.
“Let’s go eat.”
“…Yes.”
Sarah took her hand and got up.
Isis said to Sarah, who was next to her,
“Starting tomorrow, let’s take a look at your sword. It will be a harsh schedule, so be prepared.”
“I will do that.”
“Let’s go. Before the others eat it all.”
“Yes.”
The two of them moved.
Four days later, the search party arrived at the Rotomo Strait.
