Even though it was something she made me do, I still gave Edona some money for the reparation.

And she also made me explain what kind of spell exactly I used to do all that damage.

Well, I did get the promised belt at least.

It was a little big for me, but after a few adjustments it fit perfectly.

I was then shown a few other tools, but I didn't find any of them too appealing.

One of them was a full body armor, which was based on the shield's magic absorbing concept.

But that would not only hinder my movement but my spells as well.

Since it absorbed mana, it wasn't really fit for a caster like me.

Next, there was some sort of orb, which was supposedly able to hold a lot of mana.

But 'a lot' was apparently only about twenty thousand.

Even a single page from one of the dungeon books can hold way more.

Well, there were more of these tools, which would be useful for other people, but useless for me.

So in the end, I left with just the belt.

I'm not that disappointed.

The belt should already be plenty useful.

I tested it a bit and the results were quite satisfactory.

By increasing my weight at the right moment, my sword swings became quite destructive.

And when I decreased it, I was able to jump over Edona's entire mansion in a single leap.

I didn't even boost myself with air magic.

But I imagine I could probably jump over the royal castle if I tried a bit.

All in all, I think this visit was worth it.

Even if it's just one new item, it's good enough.

When I finally returned to the castle, an unexpected surprise was waiting for me.

It seems that some of the maids overcame their fear of me and instead saw me as a cute kid.

Kind of reminds me of a certain S ranked adventurer...

...

Did she have something to do with this?

What did she tell them?

Well, the problem is, they didn't like my attire.

They thought that if I'm an important person, I should be wearing some better clothes.

I was shown a ridiculous red dress with frills and before I could even say anything, they were already trying to get me into it.

Of course, I resisted.

I probably accidentally injured a few of them in the process.

And after that, they went back to fearing me.

Seriously...

|= Several days later =|

8 left to return.

Today is the day I leave this city.

It's a bit early, but I don't want to risk being late.

I will be riding in a carriage driven by Darius again.

This time, there are different people going with me though.

It's Blizzard, the hero and the princess.

Why the hero and the princess?

Shouldn't the hero be training for the imminent demon invasion?

Well, they said that it usually takes three to four months after the demon lord awakens until the full scale war actually happens.

Those few months are most likely gathering troops and other preparation.

If you ask me, I think it would be more efficient for the demons to have troops ready before the demon lord awakens so they could start immediately.

Well, not that I care...

For now, they said the hero should experience this world a bit.

The princess is supposed to be his escort or something.

But even if he is meant to be excited about this trip, he is still depressed.

I thought he would recover quickly, but it's been so long now and he is still like this.

Did I do something to him?

I don't really remember anything other than showing him a little bit of my magic.

|= A few hours later =|

We have arrived back in Bezendop.

During those few hours, the princess has been trying to get the hero to talk while I was chatting with Blizzard.

The princess has also tried to talk to me several times, but there weren't many topics I could talk about.

She looks quite exhausted now...

Instead of sleeping in some inn, we headed to a villa owned by the royal family.

It was almost as big as Edona's workshop.

When we entered, a group of maids and butlers welcomed us.

Some of them stiffened for a second when seeing me, but quickly accepted it.

How professional...

We were then showed to each of our rooms, where we would sleep.

But before sleeping, we went to have a bath.

I never really bathed, I just used magic to clean myself.

That's why I didn't really want to enter the bath at first but Blizzard talked me into it.

And it was decided I would enter the bath along with Blizzard and the princess.

Dan would enter with Darius after us.

Something about separating gender...

Despite me not wanting to come here initially, it felt quite nice.

The feeling of hot water on my skin and fur was really enjoyable.

The princess gave up on trying to strike a conversation and just absentmindedly kept staring at the ceiling while submerged in the hot water.

But Blizzard for some reason approached her and smiled.

"I know you are trying really hard as a princess, but isn't it fine to take it easy once in a while?"

That sentence made the princess snap back into reality.

"E-eh?"

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You don't need to act like that..."

"The king told you to try to get closer to the hero and Reiza, didn't he?"

"E..er..."

She sneaks a glance at me before looking back at Blizzard.

"You know, I'm sure I already told you, but even if Reiza is called a monster, it's not like she is someone to indiscriminately kill people."

"She only looks this scary because of all she had to go through, but inside she is still a cute girl!"

...

Hey, I'm sure you said something similar to the maids, didn't you?

And didn't you switch up what I look like and what I'm inside like?

"...um..."

She keeps peeking at me while mumbling some random sounds.

"...you shouldn't tell others things like that."

"Eh?"

To my remark, Blizzard widens her eyes as she lets out a stupid sound.

"You are the only one...who would call me a cute girl..."

"I have...killed other people without hesitation before...you know?"

"...but those were pirates and thugs, right?"

"There is no reason to show mercy to those!"

"...what makes you think...I wouldn't kill you if I had to?"

That sentence makes her stop in her tracks.

She stares at me with a blank face for a moment.

But then she smiles warmly and answers.

"Because you are not that kind of person..."

"I don't want to become your enemy, but if by some chance I do, I'm sure you would try to resolve it peacefully."

...

No...

If that god told me to kill you, I would probably do it.

I'm pretty fond of you, but if I really had to, I would kill you.

You really don't know what kind of person I am after all.

Just as I'm deciding whether to say anything or not, the princess mutters something.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"...maybe you aren't so scary..."

When both me and Blizzard glance at her, she raises her hands in front of her and waves them around.

"..I-I mean..."

"In terms of your power, most people would call you a monster..."

"B-but compared to a hydra or a dragon...you are way more human..."

Is it because of my appearance?

Because inside, I think I'm a complete monster after all.

"Right, right!"

"You can't really call her a monster."

Ah whatever.

Think what you will about me.

We chatted for a little longer before getting out and going to sleep.

The next day, we departed again.

Since it would take about three days till we arrived in Henduria, we will have to camp outside just like before.

And another thing is, this route has many thugs lurking around.

But that is not a problem at all.

Me, Blizzard or Darius with Edona's magic tools, just one of us would be enough to deal with them.

|= Three days later =|

Those three days passed without anything significant happening.

We encountered just one group of thugs, who we exterminated.

The princess also looked kind of grumpy because she didn't get to sleep in a bed.

But other than that, Dan's mood didn't change and nothing else happened.

And then, we finally arrived in Henduria.

Blizzard and I went to visit the adventurer's guild to meet Phil, while the others went to another one of the royal villas.

How many of these villas are there all over the country?

Is there one in every city?

While walking through the city, I looked at the turtle's shell outside.

It's in exactly the same position as we left it.

As expected, it's too heavy for anyone to move.

But can't see any people near it anymore.

Is the work around it all finished?

When we finally reached the guild and entered, all eyes inside turned to us.

There was no fear at all anymore, only respect.

Hmm...

Now that I think about it...

Blizzard is top of S rank and I'm the only X rank adventurer.

So that means we are the two strongest adventurers?

That must be the reason why we attracted so much attention.

One of the receptionist guides us upstairs and knocks on his door.

"Lady Blizzard and miss Reiza have arrived!"

"Let them in."

After the door is opened, we enter.

Inside, Phil is sitting at his desk, which is filled with papers.

He then looks upwards at us.

"Welcome Blizzard, miss Reiza."

"I'm happy to see you both in good health."

"We're here."

"Long time no see, Phil."

"Hi..."

Phil stands up from his desk and we all sit on the couches.

After a short small talk, we finally get to the important things.

"So, where exactly do you need to return?"

"...an island."

"An island?"

"Which one?"

...well, I don't really know if it has any name.

It's a really small island in the middle of the ocean, so it might not.

"Don't know."

"...you don't know...?"

"Then how do you know where to return?"

Well, that's simple.

Status screen: open.

I switch to quests and focus on the 'return to the start' part.

The mysterious ball of energy once again appears and flies out of the room through the window.

"...like that."

I point at where the ball of energy left through.

"The window...?"

"What do you mean?"

Hmm...?

Perhaps they couldn't see it?

"...there is something guiding me..."

"You can't see it...?"

"...no."

"Hmm, the god gave you some peculiar tools, huh?"

How strange...

I'm used to people having worse eyesight than me...

But the presence that thing is emanating is unmissable.

I guess it's something like the status screen?

"Well, I wanted to ask..."

"Do you want me to prepare a ship to sail you over there?"

"I heard you can run on water, but I'm sure a ship would be more comfortable."

Hmm...

I still have quite a bit of time left.

I'm not sure how long it will take to get there, but I can always just jump out of ship and run rest of the way.

"Who would be coming with me?"

"Of course me, Darius, the hero and the princess."

"We were all assigned as your escorts of sorts so we will follow you all the way to the final destination."

Hmm, then why not?

"Then...I accept."

4 days left to return.

----------------------------------------

Bonus:

Fun fact time II.

Fact no. 1:

Chapter 5: Learning, planning and testing

In this chapter, Reiza turned some pond into a concoction by the instructions of the plant encyclopedia.

When drunk, it was supposed to restore her mana.

But when she drank it, seemingly nothing happened.

Did the book lie?

Of course not...

That concoction really did restore her mana.

But as you might imagine, if your max mana is almost hundred thousand, restoring about ten or twenty is barely noticeable.

And since she didn't know about the status screen at the time, she could not really confirm it for sure.

"It reminds of when you have max hp of 100K in some RPG and those stupid monsters keep dropping those junk 50HP healing items."

"But you gotta keep killing them because you want that one rare drop from them!"

Fact no. 2:

Chapter 17: The adventurer's guild

In this chapter, Reiza mentions selling the demon steel mace to Albert the merchant for ten gold coins.

Of course, Albert gave her less than what he thought was the correct price.

So how much could it be?

In Armundis kingdom one pure demon steel ingot is generally priced at around 5 gold coins.

The mace contained roughly two to three of such ingots.

That would already place it at about 12 gold coins.

However, because it was already forged into a perfectly functional weapon, the actual price might reach even 30 gold coins.

But it's not like Reiza really cared about that pocket change.

After all, she got ten azure coins for killing the dragon.

"It's still a scam!"

"He was abusing her lack of knowledge!"

"Catch hiiiiim!"

Fact no. 3:

Chapter 24: On the road

In this chapter, Reiza visits the Bezendop city and in there meets the guildmaster of the local adventurer's guild.

During their meeting she gets the feeling that he wants to ask her something.

So what was it?

Well...

He actually wanted to ask the same thing she wanted to ask him.

'How old are you?'

...

He had the feeling she was much older than she looked, but he knew asking her age would be rude.

But even if he asked, Reiza doesn't know her own age, so it would probably just end awkwardly.

"Heh, they both wanted to ask each other the same thing."

"And they both refrained asking because of courtesy."

"It's like when a boy and a girl are somewhere together having fun."

"And they both want to ask if the other has a boyfriend/girlfriend."

"But they never ask because they would feel awkward."