Chapter 4
Kimiko Pov
Kimiko was troubled by the event that had happened a few minutes ago. It was almost midnight as she tied up those assassins. They were affiliated with a troublesome group as well. No matter where, a Hero’s job was made more troublesome by this group. The last time she had encountered them, it was her sword slicing the head off of their leader who was renowned as [Witchmistress]. She was the most feared figure after the previous [Demon King]. Not his 7 [Demon General] who were the strongest after the [Demon King] but her. At least most of the [Demon General] fought you on a duel to death but the Witchmistress?
She was cunning, manipulative and was totally unhinged. However, knowing her past it was understandable how she turned out the way she is. But Kimiko had decided she won’t pity her. After all she was the reason for so many tragedies just because she could do it. In fact, she was even responsible for having a hand in the destruction of Empire of Amrita. It couldn’t be a stretch to say that she was the one who single-handedly destroyed the Empire. Kimiko wondered.
‘Still now the offspring of the organization still lives?’
After all, they had missed killing few of them. They were millennia old group and uprooting them would take time which Kimiko and her group did not have. Kimiko narrowed her eyes in chilling manner thinking about them. One could even see a glint forming in her eye.
But now was the time to wait back patiently and obtain the information from them. Then something happened. Both Assassin had their bodies convulse and then it seemed to implode in itself. Kimiko casted a [Sound Barrier] to lessen the sound caused by exploding bodies. She could not do anything because it seemed that they were afflicted by a curse and it was a strong one at that. Not to the level of the previous Witchmistress but still a threat.
‘No wonder the other adventurer could not get the info out of them. They are rigged to die the moment they are incapacitated. Also these were developed by the Witchmistress after countless human experimentation that even Solomon shuddered in disgust at the sight of them.’
One could say curses and the like were the bread and butter for the Witchmistress. She easily surpassed even Solomon in those areas. Kimiko frowned at the mangled corpse. However, she was not disgusted by it. She had seen far worse things already. She was ill-at ease though because just what were these cultist doing here? In this Kingdom founded at the homeland of Solomon? The Lord of this region was suspicious as well. It seems that they wanted ‘Little Girls’ but not in the way the people thought they were doing. But a covert operation was best suited at this if it involved anything like the cult. Not to flaunt out and besmirch the reputation of the Lord as well as put the territory at the sight of the Kingdom.
‘Perhaps a fall out? By someone involved in this activities? …….or is the Lord involved in this somehow? Is he trying to get caught? Guess I need to check the Lord out first before getting to the Adventurer Guild to register myself.’
The Lord himself is suspicious somehow. Now all Kimiko could do was wait for the morning after disposing of it, which was quite easy.
The Next Morning
Kimiko woke up. It was morning as the sun was rising above the little haze of fog of the forest. She got off the bed and started to stretch a little. Her figure emphasized by her tight nightwear she took out from her Dimension Storage. These were the size she had stored as a memento before she got bigger in her previous life. After all, she had spent almost a decade there. Some clothes were still usable like her bland clothes as each were enchanted to their fullest. She decided to test her strength and whether or not, this new body is accustomed to it or not. She went downstairs to see Sheila getting ready for working if her farming attire was any indication.
“Good Morning, Sheila-san,”
Sheila looked at her and asked.
“Umm Good Morning, Kimiko-san. Did you have a pleasant sleep last night? I don’t know if you are accustomed to such rough materials or not.”
Kimiko quirked an eye at that. Maybe Sheila was thinking like that because Kimiko had told she lived a sheltered life. She may have assumed that Kimiko was from a wealthy family. Kimiko nodded and dispelled her worry.
“It was good. I slept like a baby.”
Sheila sighed in relief at that. But it seemed that her worry had yet to abate somehow. She smiled and said to Kimiko.
“Well, I need to work on my field for a bit so could you wait for Breakfast? Then we can go visit Rin together. She seems to be more fond of you than me though….”
At first Sheila was cheerful, but at the last sentence anyone could look at her and tell that she was sulking.
“…..It seems hard for you.”
At least Kimiko could console her. Sheila seemed to be worried for Rin, especially with the stunt she pulled yesterday. It was weighing in her mind.
“YEAH OF COURSE!! That girl, I changed her clothes when she leaked herself as a baby. I fed her and played with her as well. We both sister tell her to be wary of strangers but NooOOooo. The first time she saw an Adventurer she hugged their leg and cried for them to tell her their stories! In the middle of the village, in front of everyone. Oh God, we were so embarrassed.”
Kimiko was used to being used as an emotion venting cushion so it was not that surprising and just replied at the frustrated woman.
“She seems to be endearing to everyone in this village.”
Sheila clutched the shirt that Kimiko was wearing.
“Yeah, that’s right. She is precious to everyone around here. She is like a little ball of sun. But…but…..she was nearly sent to the orphanage and we couldn’t do anything about it. I cannot take her because the Lord forbids anyone taking in little orphaned girls. We tried to get [Kelpa grass] before Rin even asked about it! But the men never returned. We were so worried that she would be KILLED by the beasts!”
Her shoulder seemed to be shaking with her head faced downwards.
“Words cannot describe how grateful I….No we all are, for rescuing her. So please don’t hesitate to ask anything from us……..I really needed to vent it out. Sorry…”
Kimiko too was surprised at the outburst, however she just smiled.
‘I am ….. glad, for the first time in this life I was not late in saving someone else.’
Flashes of images went in her head.
A mangled corpse of a person, dead for a long time if the rotted smell was any indicator. He was the one who had saved her from the Nobles despite acting as if he did not care about her at all.
Her heart wavered when she had learnt the truth.
A long red haired dead woman who was sitting on the ground, exhausted and tired due to taking a fatal blow meant for Kimiko. A woman who trained her in the Arts of Sword as well as her mother-like figure.
She cried silently as she clutched the sword given as a present.
A man who wanted to save everyone despite knowing that it was impossible. Even though trying to save every person, it slipped through his fingers yet he still strived forward to make his dream a reality. He had helped her many times before and had saved her twice already before she had met her current party members yet she could not do so for him.
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He even had encouraged her not to be like him but to focus what she had on her hand. He was the one who saved her when she was so lost in her regret. To fail to save him would be one of her biggest regret.
Her life in Vesperia was not an easy one. It was filled with moments she wanted to do so much more as well. People she could not save, did not want to be saved. People sometimes showed her how twisted and malevolent one could be, how her belief were questioned by herself in those times but it also showed her how amazingly selfish, good and simple they could also be. That was why she had kept on moving forward. Vesperia had showed her humanity as well as other kinds of living beings at its worst as well as at its best. That is why she decided that enough was enough, she had died protecting them and had fulfilled her duties. It was time that she rests and take it easy after so long. She will only move now when those she considered precious to her was in danger.
Call her selfish or whatever but she was tired of all this backstabbing and political maneuver or whatnot. She decided that now she will be an Adventurer and do what she wanted to do. Live a carefree life and do whatever the hell she wanted. Maybe….just maybe help Ryuu a bit if he were ever in a pinch and she was nearby. Ryuu was best at everything like a true ikeman. If she wasn’t so nerfed by her abilities then he would have beaten her as well. He can handle himself just fine. Her eyes widened a bit.
‘This is the first time I trusted this much to someone other than my party members. Maybe it’s because he is my childhood friend.’
Well it seemed that Sheila had dried her tears and was now wiping it using her sleeves.
“Wow, Kimiko-san I never would have thought I would say that much. Really you have an aura that good-natured Grandma has. Not to say that you are as old but you know…..”
Kimiko just sighed.
“Don’t you have to go to field to work?”
Sheila looked sheepish.
“Eh..Ah sorry, I will prepare some breakfast after an hour if that is ok with you, Kimiko-san.?”
Kimiko hesitated.
“Well do not make anything for me, Sheila-san. Today I will be going to the forest to hunt. I will make do with my skills.”
“Well, if you say so. Then we will meet up 2 hours later if you want to come with me to see Rin?”
“It’s all right.”
Kimiko nodded before she turned around and walked outside of the house.
Five Minutes Later
Kimiko was in the middle of the forest. She looked around for a bit.
[Search]
Then a map like thing appeared in front of her. It displayed in a radar like display which showed things like forest type, known things like herbs and so on as well. It was actually developed with the help of Misha and Mitelt. It showed some red dots and white dots. Red was for monster and white was for neutral party like animals. Although she had disabled some other functions due to the massive load of information she would get from how big the area radius of [Search] was. As she was neck deep in the forest it did not show the status of the village.
The nearest red dot was ahead of her.
[Farsight]
Then appeared big horse-sized brown colored wolf. It was called ‘Dire-wolf’ or something like that. It’s level was 78. As it was low leveled, it formed packs that could be a threat to even some D-rank Adventurer. Sometime, these Dire-wolf could even produce ‘Dire-wolf king’ which was even a threat to higher leveled people as it also could summon its own Dire-wolf to empower itself. That was why it was rare to see a Dire-wolf alone.
But it didn’t matter to Kimiko. Her objective was to get some practice. She took out an enchanted normal looking European double-edged sword,
[Check Status]
Name: Fool’s Sword (Uncommon tier)
Durability: 246/246
ATK: 356 (+10 times enchanted)
MGC: D-
EFFECT: -
DESCRIPTION: A crude sword enchanted to the Max by a fool which brought it from Common tier to Uncommon tier.
This sword was just as what the description had said. Some idiot had this crude sword be enchanted to the Max and now it was on her hand. It was even recorded as such. Well the system was getting quite intriguing though. She had contemplated whether to discard it but decided to keep it as a memento of the said fool person. Now it was finally brought to use.
She then took a deep breath and suddenly as if her switch flipped she suddenly tensed and focused. The air around her stilled.
Then using the maximum of her [DEX], she suddenly jerked into motion.
The scene could only be described as if a comet had just crashed on the Earth. As she focused her strength on the sole of her left foot, the ground cracked and deformed under the strength of her feet crushing it. A radius of almost half a kilometer was destroyed in an instant. Grounds cracked and caved in, trees were splintered and broken like twigs, animals and monsters alike felt that an apocalypse had come without any warning. Then suddenly she forced into motion to her intended target. A large boom could be heard as she broke the sound barrier and accelerated beyond Mach speed in an instant.
The wolf didn’t even see it coming as it was instantly pulverized by the speeding and covered in fire Kimiko. Heck even she was surprised by her strength. She then used both of her leg to stop her acceleration but she knew she had just messed up again. The momentum was too great for the ground and her inertia carried her forward. The ground was destroyed and she kept on rolling forward for half a kilometer, decimating any unfortunate creatures along the way.
[Exp gained: 2406]
[Exp gained: 658]
[Exp gained: 540]..
.
.
.
.
.
[Exp gained: 123]
[HP: 3,513,425/ 3,515,500]
‘Really?’
Kimiko thought as she was lying on the ground looking at the sky. At least her clothes were looking fine despite the wear and tear.
Half an hour Later
Kimiko got rid of all the dirt that had clung to her uniform. Thankfully the clothes had held on though their durability took a massive loss. She then practiced her skills as well as [Magic] in moderation. To say the landscape had changed around her would be an understatement. One area was full of lava, another was made up of ice crystal, some had massive rock pillars jutted out of the earth reaching towards the sky, some trees were overgrown and twisted as if alive and many more were unaccounted for. She also practiced various of her swordplay, spear, her archery as well as guns. She managed to get herself the control she needed.
‘Know yourself, know your enemy then you shall win a hundred battle’ was a true statement.
Kimiko was still trying to know the limits of her body. However, she was confident that she would be victorious. It was not arrogance but it was confidence. Only those of Divine or something close to it could deal with her like the Guardians, Elder Ancient Dragon, World Tree and who could ever forget about the Gods.
She then hunted for something. She hunted for a deer and using her swordsmanship skill skinned it by throwing it in mid-air and performing various slices. With the blood drained and skinned she decided to roast it. She had also wanted to check if her [High Chef Cooking Lvl 6] was any good or not. She slowly roasted the meat on the fire. Using some edible herb, she had found in the forest she mashed them together and infused it on the grilling meat. Aroma could be seen being whiffed out and Kimiko was delighted to see her skill had only gone a little rusty.
Again few minutes later the meat was cooked perfectly and she relished on the taste of it. Savory as well as full of taste of earthen flavor from the herbs. However, it could use a little touch of salt then it could have been perfect.
Now that she had rested for a bit, the time for the meeting was coming closer. She restored her clothes and returned to the Ranga village.
Ranga Village
She had almost returned to the village but she could feel the presence of someone else near the place where she had kept the two dead bodies. It had gone the way it was supposed to without any suspicion for the moment. Now the villager who had found the body was gagging at the scene found by him along with other villagers. One of them was even speaking, dubbed as Villager A.
“How….how did they die?”
The other villager, dubbed Villager B, responded as they had some farmer equipment like hoe and shovel with them.
“We don’t know. The body was found this morning being eaten by a pack of wolves. We drove it off but found the mangled bodies at the site. Some of us recognized them.”
Villager A again spoke.
“What the hell were the pack of wolves doing this close to the village?”
“Maybe they wanted to, you know, after the destruction caused by the monster, wanted a piece?”
“Well, nothing we can do except inform the Lord.”
“…..though I am glad it was them.”
Now a new one Villager C spoke.
“The Lord may not like it but who gives a damn about that pedophile!”
The other villagers seemed to agree at the sentiment. Villager A spoke.
“Keep your thoughts to yourself people. I wonder what the Lord will do then. But not our fault but them being unlucky. Burn the body. We don’t want any undead roaming around. If the messenger asks why then tell him, we can’t afford to handle any threat now. This will keep those pesky vultures away for a while.”
They all nodded and burnt the body.
Kimiko nodded, then she felt someone arriving from afar. She looked over to the distance and saw a black silhouette.
[Check Status]
[Partially Successful (Cause: Has a medallion that obscure half assed attempt of checking status)
Name: Theta (No name) Age:?? Lvl: 274
Title: Titled Assassin of The [Cult](Hidden)
Yeah even the system was sassing her now.…..but was it just her or was the system more…..verbally abusive to her?
Kimiko wondered what to do with her but ended up deciding to scare them away. She then changed her clothing to more menacing one. It was even jokingly called [The Grim Reaper set]. It just contained a black colored rag dress that covered her whole body with skull hanging around like belt. She had a Skull mask as well to hide her identity. She started to hover before floating at the level of the pointy trees. Then Kimiko narrowed her eyes dangerously as a feeling of wanting to kill emerged. She focused the feeling as burst of [Killing Intent] emerged from her and aimed at the figure. The figure tensed as it crashed into the tree in mid-air before falling down.
It looked at where she was but seemed to freeze upon the skull that looked at it. Without hesitation it withdrew a scroll and used it before being teleported by the scroll. It seems her intimidation was quite overpowering it seems.