It has been two days after Hugo and Falay killed the King Goblin and we are ready to depart. The initial plan was to depart a few days later, but since the subjugation of a King Goblin is a huge deal we decided to start our trip earlier. To be honest, I planned to start our trip the morning after they killed the King Goblin, but... Rechia drank like crazy on the farewell dinner I made and got a hangover so horrible to the point that she couldn't muster enough concentration to heal herself with magic. She is seriously a huge pain; we should have just left her behind.

Well, looking at the bright side, we used that day to sort our luggage more carefully so there is nothing that we are missing and we distributed Falay's farm animals to the village. Her farewell towards her cow was painful to look, but there is no way we can bring a cow on our trip.

Now, the four of us are dressed in a long black winter coat over our outfit and each of us carrying a bag, Hugo carrying the biggest one while I was carrying the smallest one. I also made sure to check Falay's and Hugo's bag just in case they missed something, but my worries were unnecessary.

There is only one thing left before departing.

"Hugo, here a gift" I said with my natural smile while handing him a one meter long black steel rod painted with red on one end and blue on the other end.

"Hm? Wait, I have seen this before," Hugo said while looking scared.

"This is the completed version, so don't be afraid," I said while taking a huge distance from him. I also erected a barrier around Rechia, Falay and me.

"This is clearly suspicious!" Hugo yelled afraid, but he didn't let go of the rod.

"Don't worry, as I said, this is the completed version so it will be fine. You should know how to use it but I will explain the using method anyways just in case," I said with my natural smile again.

What I just handed him was the magic tool I was making for a few weeks. If one press the button on the red end, a 50 [cm] long Ice Bolt will be shot from the blue end and if one press the button on the blue end, a 70 [cm] long Fire Bolt will be fired from the red end,  each shot traveling at 100 [m/s]. When fully charged with mana, it can only fire ten shots, each shot taking two hours to charge without interference. The best thing is that it doesn't require the user's mana input to use since is using my hair that naturally absorbs mana as a circuit.

Is the same magic tool he used last time which ended up burning my hair, but since I fixed all the bugs it should be fine this time. I am erecting a barrier just in case, not because I am afraid of failure. I should take some more distance, just in case.

"If is okay, then why are you erecting a barrier?!" Hugo loudly complained.

"Is a standard safety measure for dangerous equipment field test," I replied as a matter of factly.

"Why is there a need for a field test if it is the completed version! And wait, did you just said dangerous!?" Hugo complained yet again. What a crybaby.

"Just shut up and use it, you damn coward! Do you wish to be some kind of hero with that kind of courage!" I yelled fed up of his complaints.

Hugo stopped trying to argue and prepared to use the magic tool.

I made Falay to erect a Mud Wall, an intermediate level magic normally made by combining Earth and Water elements, as the test target. 

Hugo took a deep breath, aimed at the Mud Wall and fired an Ice Bolt.

Crash! The Mud Wall crumbled. It seems that the mass of the Ice Bolt was bigger than what I calculated.

Next I erected together with Falay an Ice Wall, an intermediate magic normally made by combining Water and Wind elements as the test target. We can erect an Ice Wall by simply using Ice Element magic though.

Shwush! The Ice Wall was easily pierced and stuck the house's wall, leaving a huge burn mark. The temperature of the Fire Bolt was higher than my calculations again.

The next test was to fire the remaining eight shots in succession in any order. For this, Falay used a great deal of her mana to erect a strong Mud Wall which I covered with a Water Wall made with all my mana.

The Ice Bolts and Fire Bolts were shot without any problem, finishing the field test. The Walls that we made wasn't completely destroyed, but it was near crumbling.

The output was a little stronger than my calculations, but it was a success as I expected. Man, I am really a great genius, the pinnacle of humanity.

"This is amazing! Cool! So this is what it feels to use magic!" Hugo was shouting incredibly delighted, even though he was trembling before.

"Is not you who is using magic, but the magic tool. Using magic directly feels different, way more awesome," I commented with a mean smile.

"Don't ruin my fun and dreams," Hugo complained but he still had that happy expression on his face.

"How did you manage to bypass Hokuto's Mana Freeze?" Rechia asked interested.

"Is my hair, my hair can naturally absorb mana and since is flexible I can weave it in a way that it can form a Magic Circuit by the push of a single button," I proudly explained.

"You could make a living out of this you know?" Rechia said amused.

"My hair is too precious to sell," I quickly answered while hugging my hair.

Making a magic tool that can shoot a simple elemental or intermediate level magic is not that difficult if one has a clear understanding of the process of the magic that they wish to reproduce, but the amount of mana used when using magic through a magic tool is usually higher than using magic with the usual methods unless the user has a high proficiency in mana control.

Hence, a magic tool that doesn't require mana from the user in the first place is really useful, but the hair I used to make this magic tool came from the ones I cut as a hiding measure a month ago. There is no way I am going to willingly cut it again, even if it grows fast.

"Eun-Ha, what is this magic tool's name?" Falay asked with her eyes shining.

Flaming Ice Rod! As if I can say that.

"I'll let the owner of the magic tool to name it," I said gently while pointing to Hugo.

"Eh?" Hugo let out a stupid confused sound.

"I already told you is a gift. Besides, I made that tool specially for you," I said casually.

"Oh, are you serious?" Hugo asked with a super happy expression. Ugh, disgusting.

"Of course I am. Why do you think I went around the trouble of making a magic tool so it can be specifically used by people who can't use mana in the first place?" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hugo looked dumbfounded for a moment, but then his face brightened and yelled "Thank you very much!" with so much energy that it made step back a little.

"I am getting jealous here. Can you make a tool specially made for me too?" Asked Rechia with expectant eyes.

"You don't have to be so grateful, just name it quickly," I said calmly, completely ignoring Rechia who made a fake pouting face that doesn't match her age at all. She sure has guts to try to act as a young girl at her age. Look, even Falay is making a stiff smile because of that disgusting act.

Even if her mana control is horrible, with her ridiculously high mana level she can probably use any kind of magic tool so there is no reason for me to go out of my way to make a magic tool for her.

A few seconds passed after I made Hugo name the magic tool and it seems that he made his decision already.

"Hyoen no Hanbo" said Hugo with a satisfied expression.

Let's see. Hanbo is a one meter staff and Hyoen is probably a word that he made himself, but if my guess is right then the name is super cool, I mean super lame. As expected of a hero wannabe naming sense.

"Hmm? What does it mean?" Asked Falay excited.

"Hanbo is a staff weapon of around one meter long, just like this magic tool and Hyoen is made from the word ice and flame from my language, so the translated name of this weapon is 'Hanbo of the Freezing Flame'," explained Hugo with a childish smile.

I knew it, lame.

"So cool!" Exclaimed Falay with her eyes shining.

"Hyoen no Hanbo is a little long, so let's call it Hyoen," said Hugo while scratching his cheek that was a little red.

"Hyoen, not bad," Rechia said with a normal expression on her face.

Eh? Weird, Carla often told me that those kinds of names are only fit for fantasy stories and are completely lame in real life. Ah, maybe in this world that is full of magic those kinds of name are normal, which means that my naming sense is cool here!

"Freezing Flame, as expected of a youngster right?" Asked Rechia with a burlesque face.

"Ye... yeah," I quickly replied with an expression that I hope was composed.

Tch, why whatever I think sounds cool is actually embarrassingly lame?

"Hokuto, lent me Hyoen for a moment," said Rechia after giving me an annoying smirk.

"Eun-Ha, told me that is mine," said Hugo aggressively.

"I am just going to charge it," said Rechia suppressing a laugh.

Since my hair naturally absorbs the mana in its surroundings, Hyoen could be charged faster if someone surrounds their mana directly on it, but.

"Can you charge it with your supposedly horrible mana control?" I asked without any ill intention, but pure curiosity.

Rechia said that she can't do any kind of magic except the ones related to Life Element due to her low mana control so I doubt that she can charge Hyoen efficiently.

"That's not a problem," said Rechia with a confident smile.

Hugo decided to trust Rechia and passed her Hyoen and Rechia started to charge it.

"Done!" Said Rechia a minute after she received Hyoen, while wiping the sweat off her brow.

A minute that felt too suffocating for me who has a sharp mana perception. Falay who can see mana directly was worse than me.

"Quantity over quality..." I muttered while massaging Falay's eyes.

"Thank you, is okay now," muttered Falay with a teary voice.

What Rechia did to charge Hyoen was very simple; she just released a huge amount of mana, completely filling our surroundings with a heavy concentration of foreign mana. The concentration of her mana was so intense that I wanted to throw up while Falay got dazzled and had to cover her eyes.

"Uf, this was tiring. I used almost half of my mana," said Rechia with a refreshed expression.

"Don't do that ever again!" I yelled angrily.

"Come on, don't exaggerate. Look at Hugo, he is totally fine," Rechia said unapologetically.

"That's because his mana sense is not as sharp as us!" I yelled again.

"Ah, then use that as training, as preparation in the case you have to face against someone with a huge amount of mana like me," said Rechia while laughing.

Urg, she is right in that regard. If I ever face off against a monster with that amount of mana I won't be able to run away if I can't move in perfect conditions.

"Okay, then do that stunt every night before sleeping," I said annoyed.

"I was joking you know?" Said Rechia taken aback a little.

"It is no joke, Milady. I also think that is important to get used to seeing that amount of mana," said Falay seriously while blinking fast.

"I also want to test the limit of my Mana Freeze so I am also agreeing with that idea," said Hugo while raising his arm.

"Oh come on. Is near impossible to find someone with my amount of mana," Rechia said with a complaining face.

"That's why is important. What are the chances that we can find a friendly mage who has as much mana as you," I said with a demanding tone.

"But is tiring to release so much mana," Rechia complained again.

"Milady, you can use that chance to train your mana control," Falay said with an encouraging tone with her fist clenching in a cute pose.

"No matter how much I train, my mana control won't be getting any better at this point," Rechia said while waving her hand.

We kept pestering her to do the new job that we assigned her while she kept trying to avoid it by piling up excuses after excuses. That's how we started our journey, we that meaningless banter between us that became common without us even realizing it.

***

We have been walking for a many hours, without having even taken a rest for lunch. We are already far away from the village and on our way to the next one that is at a week at normal walking speed.

The road we are walking on is the main road of the kingdom. Is made of dirt making it easy to the feet at walking and there aren't any forest at the side of the road making it impossible for bandits to ambush travelers out of nowhere.

I was thinking of alleviating my load by using a few Barriers but sadly I used almost all my mana with the experiment in the morning and the amount I recovered by absorbing the mana from my hair is meant to be used for emergencies.

"We should have bought a horse," I said while eating a few cookies. Hmm, yummy. The amount of sugar is just right.

"Do you really think that there is going to be a horse in a village as small as that?" said Rechia while also eating a cookie with a happy face.

"I don't think you have a right to complain when you are carrying the lightest bag between all of us," said Hugo with a strained face while chewing on dried meat.

"I was thinking about Falay, not me," I answered without feeling any kind of guilt for pushing most of the luggage on Hugo.

"I am okay. I was travelling with Milady and her friends before starting to live in that village," said Falay with a happy face while munching on a few cookies like me and Rechia.

"But we were travelling in a carriage that time," said Rechia a little worried while trying to steal some of my cookies. I let her steal the super salty and spicy one that I prepared beforehand.

"And I am regretting staying inside the carriage all the time, just learning etiquette and common sense," said Falay with a regretful face.

Rechia said that Falay was like a blank paper, devoid of a shred of personality when she found her so I was wondering where she learn her etiquette considering how vulgar Rechia is normally, but it seems that they weren't alone but travelling with Rechia's friends and I guess they were the ones who taught Falay everything she knows. That's right, if Rechia was the one who taught her, the current Falay won't be as angelical as she is now. Whoever is it the one who taught Falay etiquette, thank you.

"Why I have a feeling that you are thinking rude things about me?" Asked Rechia a little annoyed while handing the cookie she stole from me to Hugo.

Tch, why she always use her Foresight each time she gets food from me? Poor Hugo, he is screaming incoherent things while Falay is giving him some water now.

"Is not a feeling. I am always thinking rude things about you," I answered with a refreshed smile.

"How depressing, I am always thinking good things about you. Like how cute you are, how lovely your girly face is, how adorable your feminine figure is," said Rechia with a smile similar to me.

I am so going to poison her food tonight.

Just before I was about to start verbally fight with Rechia, Hugo interrupted me to ask a dumb question.

"I know that I am late to ask this, but from where are we going to leave this country?" Asked Hugo honestly while wiping some tears from his eyes from reasons that are completely not my fault.

Is he an idiot? Now that I think about it, I have never told him our travelling route, but aren't those stuffs things that one normally asks?

"Why you haven't asked until now?" Asked Falay with a surprised expression.

Look, even Falay is surprised by how dumb you are.

"Try to think by yourself first," I said trying to suppress my urge to smack him.

"Hmm..." Muttered Hugo and after a few seconds he answered enthusiastically, "From Cheykia region!"

"Beep! Wrong," I said while making a cross with my arms.

"Eh? Why? From what we studied, the lord of Cheykia is from the pacifist faction and the one most tolerant with other races so the military security should be lax over there right?" Asked Hugo confused.

"You are right, the lord of Cheykia is a kind lord, but that's the problem. The other nobles don't trust him because of his ideals, making the security tighter there just to spy him," I answered with my teacher tone.

Hugo looked impressed for a moment by my explanation and then he gave his second answer. "We will leave from Rikia! The lord of Rikia is the most extremist between all the dukes after all," said Hugo with a proud expression.

I know that I suck at politics, but at least I am not as bad as that idiot.

"That's even worse because of that" I yelled while covering my face with my right hand.

"We are leaving from either Olkia or Geskia territory. The dukes of Sekia, Olkia and Geskia are the most neutral in their human supremacy ideology and their thought about the war, but the lord of Sekia is bad at management which forces the other dukes to help him, thus making Olkia and Geskia the less noticeable to enter and leave," explained Falay with a gentle tone.

"Ohh. It makes sense now that you are explaining it in that way," said Hugo honestly impressed.

Like Falay said, we are leaving through either Olkia or Geskia. Even if those kidnappers realize our escape route, it is still the safer strategy, since I doubt that they can waste their military in catching us without even knowing if we are still alive or not.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

By the way, when Falay asked me from where we will be leaving, I also told her to think by herself before I gave her my answer and she answered splendidly unlike Hugo.

"Hugo, you are getting another history lesson before sleeping okay?" I said menacingly.

"Urg, give me a break," complained Hugo a little depressed.

"Cheer up, I will also study with you," Falay said while laughing a little.

"As I said, he won't be able to concentrate if you are too close with him," I said gently to Falay.

"Oh? Let's prepare a battle formation," I said casually while unsheathing my daggers and dropping my bag to the ground.

From the sound, there are five, no eight four legged animals. I don't know how they were able to hide in these treeless plains, but they are slowly surrounding us.

"Eight enemies, four legged. They are invisible and surrounding us. They are around fifteen meters apart from us," I quickly informed with a relaxed tone.

Falay froze for a few seconds, but quickly composed herself, dropping her bag and standing in front of Rechia and behind me and Hugo who was at my left, with her staff ready. Hugo and Rechia were already on their battle stance the moment I said 'battle formation'.

I sharpened my senses and realized that those beasts are using some kind of magic. I guess that's how they hid their figures and sound. Falay also seemed to notice them thanks to her eyes that can see mana directly.

Oh... How pitiful.

"Hugo, take care of them by yourself," I said casually while picking up my bag. I erected a Barrier around Rechia, Falay and me just in case but I know that it will be unnecessary.

"Eh? Why!?" Hugo complained.

At that moment, three green and bony wolves appeared out of thin air from our right side, leaping directly to me.

Hugo quickly stabbed his pole towards the opened jaws of the left wolf killing it and then swung his weapon sideway, with the wolf still stuck in it, hitting the other two wolves knocking them unconscious. This guy really has a monstrous strength.

At the same time that Hugo defeated those three wolves, two more wolves appeared from behind Rechia. Hugo quickly shot a pair of Ice Bolt with Hyoen, one for each head killing them on the spot.

The last three wolves appeared from our left side. Hugo stabbed the middle wolf with his pole, pulled his weapon back then spun it to hit with the handle of the pole the right wolf and stabbed the left wolf in succession then he swung his pole backwards in a downward motion hitting the head of the right wolf, that was still conscious after being hit with the handle, to give it the final blow.

The battle ended in less than five seconds. As expected, Hugo could easily handle them by himself.

"Eh?" Falay let out a cute sound.

"You are mean! Why did you make me fight by myself!?" Hugo loudly complained.

"Help me dismantling the wolves, they will be our dinner," I said ignoring his complaints.

"So we are camping here?" Asked Rechia while heading to the side of the road.

"Yes, it is getting too late and we haven't even ate a proper lunch so I am getting hungry," I casually answered.

"I felt useless..." Muttered Falay disappointed.

"Don't worry about that. Those monsters weren't in shape for a proper fight, that's why we were unneeded in this battle. For now just help Rechia with making our camp," I gently said while approaching the two wolves that Hugo has yet to kill.

"Is it really necessary to kill them?" Asked Hugo a little sad.

"Yes it is. They are hungry enough to leave their natural habitat. If we don't kill them now, they will kill some innocent people," I gently said to Hugo and I shot a pair of Stone Bolt directly to their head killing them in an instant.

Hugo looked sad for a moment, but he quickly changed his expression to a brighter one after closing his eyes for a moment.

Even after killing humanoid monsters like goblins he is still soft hm? Well, as long as it doesn't weight too much on him it should be okay for him to remain like that.

"Do you know about those wolves?" Asked Hugo intrigued.

"Haaah," I sighed disappointedly and then I said "You should also know about them since I already taught you about them. They were in the monster encyclopedia," with a scolding tone. Then I proceeded to explain him, again, what those wolves were, again. I am going to give him a thorough lesson about history and the flora and fauna of Talkia tonight.

"Those wolves are a type of monsters named Wind Wolf who lives in mountainous forests. They can use some Wind Element magic to hide their smell and the sounds they make, but what makes them more dangerous is the property of their fur. Their fur can change color when infused with mana, making them practically invisible like a chameleon. However, it consumes so much mana that they only use it for a few minutes, just before an ambush, thus they adopted mountainous forests where there are plenty of trees to hide without the need to use their fur property as their natural habitat," I calmly explained while I was dismantling them with a dismantling knife.

Yuck! It has been a long time since I last dismantled an animal, but is gross as always. This amount of blood should be censored on TV. My hands are smelly and the organs are yuck. But I need to keep my composed face. Composed, composed, composed. Is gross dammit! Is food, is food, is food, is food, is food.

Hugo who was listening to my monster lesson was also learning how to dismantle by looking at me who I hope doesn't look pitiful, while Falay and Rechia were preparing the camp on a side of the road.

In the middle of my lesson, I got absorbed by some worries which were a godsend to ignore this gross feeling that are threatening to make me cry.

The wolves that attacked us were famelic to the point that their skin stuck to their bones and they were so desperate that they left their homes using their camouflaging ability for such a long time risking themselves to be unable to move due to overusing their mana and moreover, instead of retreating after Hugo easily defeated three of them, they decided to keep charging until all of them died by his hand.

I know that is hard to find food in winter, but the weather is not so harsh for them to be in such a pitiful state.

While I was pondering, Rechia approached me and said "Is due to the war," with her usual casualness.

Does she has the ability to read minds or I am that easy to read for her?

"Uwa, so it has gone so far as to disturb the fauna," I said as casually as her.

What the hell are the soldiers doing? If the war is causing monsters as dangerous as Wind Wolf to appear around here then they should cull them by making some regular patrol or at least hire some hunters to do the job. We were able to easily deal with them since we are pretty strong ourselves, but a normal villager would have died against them.

Well, this means that they are really lacking manpower; the frontline must be horrible, thanks goodness that I escaped.

"And this is still near the capital, I guess that you already have some image of how good places farther away from the cities are faring," said Rechia with a sarcastic smile.

Is saddening to think about it, but why is Rechia talking about this stuff with me now? Wasn't she supposed to make our tents... oh Falay finished it by making four stone walls and covering the top with a sheet. Now she is making some kind of rudimentary kitchen with magic. Magic sure is convenient.

"Eun-Ha, we can use those mana crystals on their brains together with their paws as proof of subjugation," Hugo said after he dismantled his first wolf.

Oh, he is using his brains! That's right, if monsters as dangerous as this has appeared, then there should be some subjugation Quest in a nearby Association branch and even if there weren't any request we should be rewarded anyways for avoiding a future danger.

Also, he learned how to dismantle faster than what I expected. Good, then I can just leave this kind of torture like work to him from now on.

"Good idea. Make sure to use only the same paw as proof that they were eight different monsters," I said while deploying a magic that I personally developed.

The magic is named Bathing Water and is a combination of Fire, Water, Wind and Earth element system, but at the end is just a variation of Water Whip, a magic that makes a whip from a viscous liquid, viscous enough to hurt when hit.

I made the magic to be warm and soft to the skin and to produce bubbles when it rubs against a target. It can be even used without undressing since I can make the liquid to enter between the gaps of the clothes. However, the downside is that it drains a lot of mana since is a magic which uses four different element systems and has to be controlled without rest. The amount of mana used is roughly one percent of my mana per second, meaning that I can't even use it for two minutes when I am fully charged.

Is okay to use the mana I saved for emergencies for this task since being covered by all this gory crap is a real emergency.

I didn't forget to mix citric fruit concentrate to the Bathing Water to help with the smell. 

Sliding the whip around my hands and arms to remove all the blood, taking the chance to also clean my coat. Now to clean my face too.

"Haah," I exhaled for the pleasure that the nice citric smell gave overriding the horrible bloody smell.

I am sweaty so let's clean my body too.

I slid the whip under my clothes and started to thoroughly rub my body in a gentle massage, absorbing the sweat and dirt that my body collected during the day.

"Fuuh," Another relaxed sound escaped my mouth, but I can't help it, this magic is amazingly comfortable.

I should keep improving this magic to make the mana usage more efficiently.

After thoroughly cleaning myself I shot Bathing Water to the side and used the remaining of my mana to clean the bubbles with warm water and dry myself with hot wind.

"Fuaah," a happy sound unintentionally leaked from my throat because of the comfy feeling of the hot air.

Now that I am feeling refreshed, let's start with dinner. Oh? I don't have mana to spare in cooking; I guess that I will cook normally this time while relying on Falay with process that I need magic.

Wolf meat is smelly and to tough and since they are bony the taste should be somewhat bad. At least I don't need to worry about food poisoning since my Appraisal keeps giving me information without rest.

"What kind of magic is that?" Asked Rechia with some redness on her face interrupting my cooking plans.

"Bathing Water. I made it myself," I quickly answered and resumed with my mental cooking plans.

Hm, but even if they are bony, the amount of meat is too much for four people so I guess I will smoke the rest.

"Erm... Eun-Ha? Are you perhaps asking me to dismantle all the wolves by myself?" Asked Hugo without looking at me.

"Of course. You are already a complete master in dismantling so you shouldn't need my help anymore," I happily answered and walked towards Falay. 

Yup, smoking should be good.

I happily went towards Falay to ask her to help me with dinner while Rechia and Hugo were chattering among themselves about some stuff that I couldn't hear, but for some reason I feel that they are talking about me.

Well, who cares. I am feeling refreshed, but hungry so I want to cook quick!

***

We finished eating dinner and made some snacks for the next day. I am definitely not eating wolf meat again unless I have the proper seasonings, the smell was too awful and Hugo was the only one who enjoyed eating such a chewy meat.

After a small rest, we did our huge mana concentration enduring test. It felt awful as if I were hearing a lot of disturbing noises, but I think that I will get used to it in a few weeks and it seems that Falay will probably get used to it in more or less two months. Hugo can easily stop the full amount of Rechia's mana with his soul skill so I believe that he can even neutralize the mage with the highest mana level in the world.

Now is time to study. Hugo once against showed me how lax I have been in my lessons so I am going to turn into a Spartan teacher. I am going to focus first on monsters and dangerous beasts that have some type of poison or troublesome hidden traits and then in social studies so he doesn't commit a stupid mistake.

Falay decided to join the study session by her own will, but she is going to have physic lessons since she already has the knowledge to avoid dangers. Her mathematic level has reached to the point where she can understand and deduce some physic equations, but I am going to give her some advanced mathematic lessons some day in the future. She is so smart that I bet that she can become a good engineer in the future.

"Hey Eun-Ha, can you give proper lessons without a book?" Asked Hugo with some hope in his eyes.

He still thinks that he can avoid studying, how naive.

"Of course I can, but I am going to use a book anyways," I said with a smug smile and went to Hugo's bag.

"Huh?" Hugo let out a confused expression, but it quickly changed to a surprised one and then an angry one when he saw what I was pulling out of his bag.

"Why my bag is full books!?" Hugo loudly complained.

"Because you are the strongest among us," I naturally replied.

"No! I mean, I don't remember packing a single book inside!" Hugo yelled.

"I put those inside when I was checking the luggage this morning," I answered while massaging my ears because of how loud he was complaining.

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand?" Hugo asked with a face that seemed as if he was accusing me of doing something wrong or unfair.

"Because you would have refused to bring the books and leave them behind gathering dust," I answered as if I was saying the most obvious thing in the world.

"Weren't we only supposed to bring what was necessary for the journey?" Hugo asked again without changing his face from before.

"Books for studying are absolutely necessary and also very expensive in this country," I answered getting a little irritated by his questions that looked as if he was complaining.

Seriously, how can he say that books are unnecessary?

Hugo gave up on trying to argue after hearing what I say.

"Eun-Ha, pass me 'Love, love, starry sky'," casually asked Rechia.

"Here, I am still in chapter two so don't spoil me anything," I said while giving her said book which I pulled out from Hugo's bag.

"Don't worry, I am not that evil. Ah, I also packed a book named 'Liwsok'. I found it yesterday at the wine cellar and it was a book that I still haven't read so I was thinking that we can read it together after you finish 'Love, love, starry sky'," Rechia said while gladly receiving the book I handed her.

"Seriously? Then let's read it when we reach the next village," I happily answered.

She may be an annoying pervert, but her tastes in book are really good. I am looking for it.

"Hey!" Hugo yelled angrily again.

"Entertainment is also a big a necessity," I quickly said with a serious tone.

"That's right. A person can get serious health problems if they work all the time without rest," Rechia also quickly said with a serious tone.

"Don't try to play the fool here! Hey, there are more than fifteen romantic novels here!" Strongly snapped Hugo.

"Oh come on, you didn't had any trouble until now with carrying your bag so there is nothing to complain about here," I said while lightly waving my hand.

"Erm... can we start studying now?" Falay asked with a fed up expression.

"But..." Hugo wanted to say something, but Falay spoke first to interrupt him.

"Eun-Ha, Milady, apologize to Hokuto right now," Falay coldly told us.

"Sorry, we will carry our own books," Rechia and I said at the same time while lowering our heads.

Falay's gaze was so cold that we immediately obeyed her.

Rechia went to Hugo's bag and pulled all the books and distributed it evenly between our bags while I started with the lessons. For some reason, Hugo's motivation to study tonight was worse than other days, but after an hour his bad mood dissipated and he started to make a real progress with the study.

Falay showed that she has a good understanding of classic physics so I am going to start teaching her advanced mathematics sooner than what I expected.

Soon, the time to sleep came. Hugo and I were in charge of the night watch since our senses are better than them and they would be in charge of the early morning watch. I used our night watch as an extension to our study session to make sure that whatever Hugo learned tonight would get inside his head.

Even though we started travelling, it seems that our daily life hadn't changed too much.

***

"You are not sleeping right Milady?" Asked a young girl with silver hair and silver eyes.

"Of course not. I travelled around the world so is obvious that I know how to keep watch," said a black haired lady as a response of the question.

Those two women were Falay and Rechia doing their watch while Eun-Ha and Hokuto were sleeping after they finished their watch.

The night was about to end, but the chilly winter night was still too cold for them so they were cuddling in front of the fire.

At first, Falay was studying while Rechia was reading her book, but now that they finished they started to talk in case that the other had fallen asleep which is a fatal mistake for watchers.

"Did you stopped travelling because you found me?" Asked Falay

"Of course not. At that time I had already finished travelling around the world and was resting peacefully without any disturbance. I just decided to look for you when I woke up," answered Rechia with a soft melancholic smile.

"Haha, is hard to believe that. Milady is someone who loves to make ruckus, so I can't imagine you resting peacefully as you claim Milady," said Falay while laughing.

"You are getting as rude as Eun-Ha," said Rechia pouting.

"Milady, can you tell me now what I am?" Asked Falay completely serene.

"I am sorry. Is the truth that I don't know anything about you," answered Rechia with an apologetic face.

"It doesn't seem like you are lying, but is suspicious that you went to look for me even though you don't know anything about me," said Falay teasingly.

"One of the reasons I went to look for you was because I wanted to know what you were," said Rechia still looking apologetic.

"You don't have to look like that Milady. I understand that you are not telling me everything for my sake," said Falay with a gentle tone.

Rechia looked pained for a moment, but she recovered her good mood after a long sigh and another moment after her face brightened.

"Falay, there is something that I did discover about you. Is small, but is something," said Rechia cheerfully.

"Really, Milady!?" Asked Falay very excited.

"Wait, calm down. I said that it was just a small thing, is really very small and nothing to get so overly excited about," said Rechia a little guiltily.

"I don't care if it is small, just tell me please!" Vehemently asked Falay while approaching Rechia with a lot of force.

Rechia retreated a little and grabbed the young girl's shoulders to calm her down.

Falay got surprised, and stopped her approach, but her heart was still racing like crazy.

"Human. Falay, you are someone from the Human race," said Rechia with a calm, yet serious expression.

"Human..." muttered Falay looking downwards.

"Sorry to disappoint you," apologized Rechia while patting the young girl's head.

Falay kept muttering 'Human' under her breath repeatedly and then she suddenly lifted her head, showing a bright and shining face, rivaling the brightness of the moon and stars on the sky combined.

"I am Human!? Is that certain!?" Asked Falay much more energetically than before.

Rechia was surprised by the sudden outburst, but she managed to answer.

"Yes, is certain. It was Eun-Ha who found out about it, but don't tell him that I told you that," said Rechia a little confused.

"Eh? So it was Eun-Ha who told you? And why was he keeping secret the fact that I was Human?" Asked Falay, still happy and cheerful.

"Ah, no. He probably doesn't know that you don't know your own race," said Rechia getting happy like Falay by looking at her joyful face.

"Hm? So what I have to keep secret?" Asked Falay a little confused.

"The fact that he knows your race without anybody telling him," said Rechia seriously.

Falay's confusion lasted just for a few moments and then her face showed as if she understood something.

"I see. So Eun-Ha has some way to identify things easily," said Falay with a proud face.

"Maybe yes, maybe not," said Rechia while smiling calmly

"The soul skill that Eun-Ha has as a Hero is the ability to identify things," confidently said Falay.

Rechia's calm smile broke and turned into a stiff smile.

"Don't tell him that you discovered it because of me," whispered Rechia with a stiff voice.

"Milady, I don't think that he was trying to hide it at all, at least not from us," said Falay with a teasing face.

"What do you mean?" Asked Rechia confused.

"Eun-Ha has been openly using that ability of his in front of us all the time. When cooking, he immediately knows which ingredients to use without anyone telling him; when using the magic tools on the house, he just used them without anyone teaching him how. In fact, wasn't Eun-Ha the one who choose Hokuto's equipment after he decided what to buy? Eun-Ha is a smart guy, if he wished to keep that ability secret, he wouldn't use it so blatantly in front of us," said Falay with a smile as if she had won a contest.

Rechia looked shocked after hearing the young girl's explanation and she started to murmur something.

"Wait... he... he tricked me!?" Yelled Rechia and then she burst out laughing very loudly.

From Rechia's memory, is true that Eun-Ha told her that his Appraisal was a secret, but he never told him that it was a secret from her. And is also true that he blatantly used it many times in front of her. He even used it the same day he made the secret exchange, quickly identifying the Werl Herb and other types of medicinal herbs right in front of her.

"Hahahahahaha!" Rechia continued to laugh as loudly as before.

"Shh, they are going to wake up!" Falay quickly scolded Rechia.

Hearing her, Rechia stopped her outburst.

"Ah, you are right, I should stop. Is just that those two are too amusing," Said Rechia lowering her voice.

"By amusing you meant gentle right? My debt for Eun-Ha has grown once again," said Falay with a childish smile.

"I think that as long as you don't reveal his soul skill to Hugo you will pay this debt," said Rechia while wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Really?" Asked the Falay doubtfully.

"He told me himself, that this is a secret that Hokuto doesn't know," said Rechia with a face that was still laughing.

"He is mean as always to Hokuto, but I can guess why he is doing that in this particular case," said Falay, feeling pity for Hokuto.

Falay also understood why Eun-Ha doesn't want to tell Hokuto his soul skill's ability. He doesn't look too reliable when he acts without thinking so Eun-Ha is probably waiting for Hokuto to find it out by himself.

"You are definitely getting as mean as Eun-Ha, but in your own way," said Rechia happily smiling.

Falay got a huge shock from what Rechia said and realized that she has slowly starting to treat Hokuto as an idiot like the other two.

"I need to apologize to Hokuto when he wakes up. I just treated him the same way you two cruelly do towards him," said Falay feeling honestly bad.

"You don't need to do it, he is an idiot," said Rechia with a mean face.

"He is not! You are just comparing him with the wrong people!" Complained Falay.

"Why are you always on his side?" Asked Rechia with a pitiful face.

"Because..." Falay stuttered, but she quickly continued talking. "Because you two are the one who are in the wrong most of the time!"

"You just stuttered. You are definitely hiding another reason!" Retorted Rechia with a childish expression.

"No, you are wrong," Falay softly defended herself.

"Tell me the truth," said Rechia with an imposing voice this time.

"I am telling the truth," Falay said softer than before.

They kept talking like this until their watch ended and Hokuto and Eun-Ha woke up

Rechia personally woke Hokuto up by splashing him cold water out of jealousy and Falay hurriedly dried him using magic. Part of that water splashed unto Eun-Ha, but a Barrier defended him.

Rechia and Falay just looked dumbfounded at him, thinking that he was awake and heard their whole conversation, but what he did was to tie his long hair around his body making a Magic Circuit that activates a Barrier around him, just as if he himself were a huge magic tool.

Rechia and Falay looked relieved for a moment and they laughed at the ridiculous stunt Eun-Ha pulled using his special hair. They may lack some common sense, but even they know how difficult is to create a magic tool so they understand how abnormal is for Eun-Ha to have achieved this level of understanding of magic tools to be able to do something like that in such a short period of time.

After Eun-Ha and Hokuto were fully awake, they made a sweet breakfast as always which perfectly suited the taste of three from the group of four and continued their journey.