The plan to escape through the gate was simple. We are going to just rush at a straight line while hiding our bodies in the darkness, and when Hugo feels that they portcullis is going to be closed, he will throw the hard obstacle that I found to stop the gate from closing. He is faster than me, currently, and his arm strength together with his throwing technique is superb. As a test I made him to throw me as far as he could while I resisted and I flew a few meters, I know that I weight forty-five kilograms, but that throwing distance is not a joke, so it should be safe to assume that he can throw that obstacle even if it is probably twice as heavy as me.

And I don't have to worry that the obstacle is going to fail at stopping the gate. Thanks to my appraisal and my mental calculations, I know that the armor of those guards would hold the gate so there is no problem in that front either.

That's right, the hard object that I found are those guards.

So in summary, the plan is:

1. Running as fast as possible to the gates.

2. Hugo throws someone to the portcullis at the end of the corridor.

3. Once outside, running towards the forest near the city. Is it about twenty minutes of running at maximum speed.

4. Using my dark hair to blend with the darkness while running away.

5. Freedom get.

Yup. This is too simple to be considered a strategy and is way more reckless than the one I made to escape the palace, but I still think that this is doable.

The amount of guards on the gate coupled with the gate being actually open must mean, assuming that those kidnappers wants to catch us or at least catch Hugo, that this is either a trap or they don’t know that we escaped.

I doubt that this is a trap, since as I thought before, it would be too stupid, then the other option is the miracle that they still didn’t found out that we escaped and if my theory is true, then those guards shouldn’t be prepared for us.

But this doesn’t mean that it will be easy, since they are guards, so they should be ready to deal with people forcibly entering or leaving, to counter this I can only rely on our abilities.

"Are you ready Hugo?" I asked him casually as if to convey to him that this was nothing while making a sprinting posture.

Hugo, who was doing the same thing as me, nodded.

After confirming that Hugo was ready, I gave the signal and the both of us sprinted at full speed.

As expected, Hugo was a little faster than me, it is obviously because of this dress. I am going to challenge him to a 100-meters race after we are finally safe.

Just a few seconds after we started our run we were at a point where the guards could easily spot us, but they didn't show any reaction.

What the! Don’t tell me that they are really asleep!

In the moment that I realized that those guards were really asleep… unconscious to be more correct, many pieces of information started to connect in my brain, but I didn’t wanted to believe the answer I reached.

Let’s hope that this is really some kind of stupid trap.

But betraying my hopes, the guards were still standing still as stone, even when we passed beside the guards and entered the corridor.

Am I stupid!? I should have taken Hugo’s words seriously! No, even if I knew what is probably happening right now, I wouldn’t have gone back to the castle anyways.

Let’s just hope that those guys are okay, no let’s hope that the leaders of those kidnappers were assassinated and currently the soldiers are fighting with the assassins and that’s why there aren’t any pursuers yet.

I was distracted for less than a second from my own thoughts, but in that fraction of time, a guard sluggishly appeared from outside the city.

"▨▩█ ┴┬├─┼ ╞╟▌▐▀!” yelled the guard in a voice that seemed to be confused.

Did the sleeping effect run out? I guess that I should deal with this guy while he is still confused.

Come at me! I am going to get my freedom now!

The guard pointed his halberd towards us as if to try to stop us, but before I could do anything; Hugo, who hadn't stopped running, grabbed the halberd with his right hand, pulled it to himself to get close to the guard quickly, then he hit the lower part of the helmet with his left palm making the neck barely unprotected and finally he weakly hand chopped the guard's neck with his right hand, making the guard to fell unconscious and then he pushed him with a kick making the guard to fall just bellow the exit of the corridor. All that in a flowing motion and he kept running as if nothing had happened.

Uwaah, that was smooth. Hugo is seriously strong, I guess one doesn't need to have ridiculous strength like Blair to defeat humans even in this world.

After Hugo dealt with that guard, we finally managed to step outside the city.

I found five more guards at the outside, all of them were slowly starting to move and in that condition I feel that I can defeat all of them by myself, but I decided to ignore them and keep running since it will be a waste of time to deal with them when there are more guards inside the city.

"Hugo, do not fight them and run! They will fire us from behind so don't move in a straight line!" I instructed to Hugo while running in zig zag.

"Understood!" answered Hugo with a happy voice.

It seems that he is happy to be finally outside, I guess he still didn't realize why our escape was so easy, seriously being an idiot is a blessing, but I have to admit that I wouldn't have realized it if Hugo hadn't told me that the guards seemed to be asleep and will still be feeling annoyed trying to understand why nobody was pursuing us.

Even though I was thinking such mundane things, I didn't let down my guard. I sharpened all of my senses, even the new one I acquired after coming to this world and this new sense made me realize that mana was gathering at the top of the two towers of the guardhouse.

My instincts were telling me that it was dangerous.

"Fire!" I yelled while jumping to the side.

Hugo also jumped to the side at the same time as me and at that moment a rain of fire, water and arrows started to fall.

I glanced back just for a moment and I saw that there were four guards at each tower of the guardhouse attacking us.

So this is magic, it seems ridiculously similar to those seen in fantasy works.

The amount of mana gathered behind each magic attack is awfully inferior as the one gathered by Linda's attack. Another difference is that the mana gathered by those guards was from inside their hand while the one gathered from Linda was from the surroundings to her hands.

From that I can conclude that to use magic, one need to gather mana from inside their bodies and I can't feel the mana from inside a person's body, just from the area near me. Could my mana sensing get better with training or is it outright impossible to feel mana from inside another person? I want to check my theory with Hugo, but I feel that he can't even feel the surrounding mana.

While I was making a few theories I evaded an incoming arrow by lowering my body and then spun around to avoid a pair of fire spears.

Hot, hot, hot! My hair almost burnt! I should have braided it instead of trying to use my hair as a camouflage tool!

Wait, isn't the rate of fire increasing? Why are they making so much effort against two runaways, unless they believe that we were the ones who put them to sleep or they have already received the order to stop us.

"Hinata-san, it seems that my soul skill can't stop magic!" yelled Hugo with some tears while showing me a bleeding arm.

It seems that he tried to stop a magic attack with his arm, even though I told him to not even try it.

"Idiot! Didn't I already told you that it will be too dangerous!?" I scolded him while jumping and kicking him with both of my feet to push him away.

The place where Hugo was just before I kicked him exploded. The shock wave of that explosion made me, who was still in midair, to fly almost three meters to the side. I rotated midair to land on my feet and kept running.

"What is the plan now Hinata-san!" yelled Hugo panicking more and more.

I feel irritated to have been impressed by him back then when he defeated that guard in an instant, now he is just pathetic.

"Just run until we reach that forest! We will find cover between those trees!" I answered while starting to panic too.

It has been a few years since I ran like this, at least I should be grateful that those arrows and magic attacks are slower than guns, in fact since I can feel when a magic is about to be fired, this is even safer than running under a rain of bullet.

I started to understand when magic was about to be fired observing the shape the mana has before magic is fired and since the arrows can be seen thanks to those fire attacks, is not impossible to evade them.

But...

"Ugh" I groaned.

An arrow is struck in my arm, even if some of the arrows are visible, they are many others that are invisible because of this dark night. Luckily it seems that it doesn't have any poison, how stupid. If it were me, I would make all the guards guarding my city having two sets of arrows, one normal and other poisoned, making them use the poisoned one whenever they need to kill some runaways.

However, even if it isn't poisoned, it doesn't mean that this doesn't hurt.

"Are you okay Hinata-san!?" asked Hugo with a worried face.

"This is nothing! Just run! Look those guys pursuing us are slower than us because of those heavy armors isn't that funny!" I answered while making a smile.

The arrow hurts a lot and maybe it broke my arm. I need to do find some anesthetic grass or something in the forest to perform surgery.

I used my hair as a replacement for bandages while on the run. I didn't forget to keep evading the incoming attacks.

Hugo took off his coat and shirt and gave the latter to me while rotating the coat to deviate arrows... how, just how!? Is the temple he is talking about actually the shaolin temple? I seriously need to visit his temple someday when I return to Earth.

I took his shirt, but I didn't even try to imitate him, instead I used it to help with the bandaging. I feel as if I could do the same as Hugo if I try, my reaction time is inhuman after all, but I don't want to die trying to do something I did for the first time.

After running while evading for about five minutes I noticed that the rate of fire grew even more, but at the same time our distance increased which made their accuracy to lower, so the danger level didn't increase that much.

I am remembering a movie I saw a few years back, the one about those guys in underwear like armour which made Carla almost drool, fighting against the Persian army… I should forget the ending of that movie.

While I was remembering such uselessly stupid things, I felt a huge gathering of mana, almost half of the one that Linda gathered. This is bad. Seriously bad.

"A big one is coming! Is either super fast or super powerful!" I warned with a strong voice.

"How fast and powerful Hinata-san!?" asked Hugo with a panicked voice while making as much distance as he could from me.

"I don't know! Just assume that it is at least fifty times stronger than the earlier attacks!" I answered without being able to fake calmness while also taking as much distance as I could from Hugo.

If bigger mana is equal to a more powerful attack, then it is safe to assume that we are screwed.

Damn it, we shouldn’t have run away! I underestimated magic too much after comparing Linda’s attack with the attempt to use magic that the armoured guys at the castle did. I never expected that humans could gather that amount of mana. I took this situation too lightly.

Calm down, calm down. The constant of proportionality between mana amount and attack power may be very low and Linda is just an exception to the rule since her attack was a soul skill and not magic skills.

However, my last expectation was unsurprisingly wrong. In the middle of the two towers I was able to see a big blue ball of light, bigger than any other magic attack that they have fired until now, it's radius was around five meters. I don't have to be a genius to understand that this giant ball of light is not just some fancy flashlight.

This is it? Is this going to be my end? Could I have survived if I had abandoned Hugo? Am I going to die without being able to...

As if!

I am not going to die!

Not here!

Not now!

Think, think, think, think, think.

At this moment, the world stopped moving. It has been a long time since I thought to hard to the point that time stopped, but I can't lose myself in my memories now.

What do I have?

My soul skill is appraisal, that's my hero's ability.

Let's use that appraisal. Observe. Observe everything. Observe that ball of light!

That ball of light is concentrated heat, the surroundings aren't melting since there is a heat barrier near the ball of light.

It seems that my Appraisal can give me more information if I try to observe things more detailedly, but right now this is useless. I can't create a heat barrier, I am not macho...

Wait, how macho made his barrier?

Linda's soul skill is based on concentrating the surrounding mana to make a powerful attack, maybe macho's soul skill has a similar principle and I couldn't notice it since those walls at the castle had a high amount of mana from the beginning.

Let's assume that macho's soul skill works like that. Can I do that?

I can block the mana transmitted from those communication rings with my own mana, then there is a chance that I can block heat too.

The problem is the difference amount of mana between me and that ball of light. It's too large. I need at least ten Eun-Ha's to have the same amount of mana than the one that formed that ball of light.

What about quantity and quality? 

Can the mana I need to use to make a barrier be lower than to make heat? And can the barrier I made with the mana I have be enough to protect me from the heat of that ball of light?

I don't know, I won't know until I try, in fact I don't even know if I can actually make a barrier.

But there is not time to try, if that ball of light is as fast as the other magic attacks, then it would reach here in three seconds and even less if it is faster.

Do I have another choice?

Hugo's soul skill can stop the mana transmitted from the rings, but can't stop magic. His injured arm is proof of this. If I relay on his soul skill we are both going to be charred to death.

I don't have any other choice. Let's believe in my own abilities.

After reaching this conclusion, the world started to flow again at the same time I was manipulating the mana inside of me.

I did the same thing I did when I was blocking the ring's transmission just that this time, instead of moving my mana to my head, I moved it to outside my body.

Surprisingly, it was easier than I thought, but once the mana left my body, it started to quickly dissipate in the air.

The amount of mana I was releasing was so insignificant to the point that I recovered it immediately so the main problem was still the lack of time.

I started to concentrate to avoid my mana form escaping, which was harder than moving the mana inside my body, but I somehow managed to avoid mana leakage. It is somewhat easier if I control my breathing.

The ball of light started to move. It is slower than the attacks from before, just a little bit, but definitely slower, however it is not enough to avoid it. It will reach us in 4.5 seconds approximately.

I made my mana to coat my entire body, barely touching the skin like a thin film, and once I managed to do that I started to reject everything with it. This part consumed mana and with the amount I was using, I couldn't reject my clothes, which is good, I didn't thought about the possibility of my barrier destroying my own clothes.

This time, I made my mana to coat a few millimeters around my clothes. As my mana distance from my body, it is more difficult to control it, I need to concentrate more to avoid leakage.

I tried to reject everything again, using a bit more mana than before. The mana that I was using to reject everything was rotating quickly and I felt a little less cold and less air. I hope that this is a barrier.

When I finally made what I hope is a barrier, two second has already passed.

"Hugo, just come here! Stay behind me but don't even try to touch me!" I ordered to Hugo quickly, in a loud voice while running towards him and making a hand motion to express the same thing I said.

I don't want him to touch me for various reasons, but the main reason is because I am afraid of him destroying my barrier.

Hugo had a surprised face and seemed to tell me something, but nonetheless he followed my orders in an instant.

Another second passed, the ball of light is just in front of us and I can start to feel the heat. When Hugo was near enough I stood in front of him, at a distance of just being about to touch his chest with my hair.

The part of my barrier that touched Hugo stopped working. It seems that his soul skill effect is one that stops the movement of mana.

I expanded my barrier to cover Hugo making sure that it doesn't touch him and poured all my mana into the barrier.

I suddenly felt incredibly drained of energy, but I hadn't had time to dwell on it, since I had to change the barrier's shape from a sphere that surrounded us into a conical shape placed in front of me.

"Gah"

Me and Hugo groaned in pain. The ball of light crashed on the ground near us and its heat expanded quickly, following it with a huge rush of hot air and gravel assaulting us.

I didn't thought that the ball of light will crash onto the ground and explode. I thought that it will pass through us, that's why I initially made the barrier in a spheric shape. If I had reacted an instant later and didn't change the shape of the barrier I am sure that I will have died.

I guess that what I made was really a barrier since I managed to survive, but as expected, it wasn't enough to block the impact.

The explosion send us flying through the air. This pain that almost made me pass out, brings out some bad memories, but feeling this means that I am still alive.

Now they should start pouring us with a new barrage of arrows and magic.

I am going to die here after all... damn it.

I don't wanna die here. I want to see Carla and the others again. Return to my lab and making experiments. Meeting that assistant to ease my job. Having a cute girlfriend. And since I am in a world with magic, making some magic experiments, heck I even want to spent time here like a long holiday or doing some exciting adventures to tell back home and make Carla super duper jealous.

And there is still more things I want to do. I am not giving up yet. I have the duty to enjoy my life, so I can't die at this age so unreasonably.

This pain is not enough to make me give up. I didn't managed to survive until now for nothing. I am Sung Eun-Ha, someone who can do whatever is humanly possible or even more as long as I don't give up!

I did my best to keep my conscious intact and tried to analyze the current situation.

I feel pain all over my body, including my four limbs, this means that they are still attached to me or are just phantom limbs... no they are attached to me.

I am still soaring through the air and luckily, there are no more attacks incoming.

Have they exhausted themselves with that attack, they think that we are already dead or is it something else?

I don't know that yet.

I can't see Hugo near me, maybe he is flying behind me. I should have abandoned him from the start.

Weird, the way I am flying is not following the Newtonian laws. I thought that this worlds macrophysics were the same as in Earth.

I thought of predicting when I would fall down to reduce the impact, but if those laws doesn't work then I have to discover this world laws fast.

The pattern of my fall is weird.

"...nata..."

But even if learn the new laws, can I apply it with my tattered body?

"...tou..." , "...shi...kase..."

Even though I feel pain all over my body, I still feel that I have some energy left, but I can't feel even a single drop of mana, I guess that the energy in our body is different from mana. Could mana be quantified in calories too?

"...shin..."

Stolen novel; please report.

I can hear some annoying voice nearby, a real common voice without individuality.

"... worry, I'll make sure to bring us to safety"

Is that Hugo's voice? But it sounds too close, disgustingly close. Ahh, that's why my falling direction, speed and acceleration was all messed up.

"Didn't I... told you to not... touch me?" I muttered those words, with a pitiful voice.

It hurts! Even the sole fact of talking is painful. Did some of my ribs crack? I am even having trouble breathing.

"Uuh, being mean even in this situation... anyways, I am glad that you are okay," said Hugo with a sincere voice

"It's... your fault..." It's your fault that I treat you like this, is what I wanted to say, but it was so painful that I decided to not bother anymore.

"I know, I am sorry, I am really sorry. It's my fault that you are so injured, please forgive me. I will at least bring you to safety. You can count on me, so just rest for now," Hugo said with a serious tone, the most serious tone that I had heard from him until now.

What the hell is wrong with him now... Well it's true that it's his fault that I am in such a mess. If I didn't tried to help him in the first place I... well it was me who decided to help him and it was my decision to run away instead of hiding in the city... wait, isn't the current situation is my fault?

"Then, run faster," I muttered after cutting that train of thought.

Let's just keep blaming Hugo for my mental health.

Right now, Hugo is carrying me on his right shoulder, frantically running to get us to safety.

How badly injured am I, if I couldn't realize that I was being carried this whole time?

Focusing my view to the direction of the city, I can see a huge cloud of dust.

That's the reason why the attacks stopped, they can't see anything. Are they stupid? Or they thought that we will really die because of that attack?

"Hinata-san, the forest is nearby, just hold up for a little bit more," said Hugo energetically.

Hmmm? Isn't this weird? I am all tattered to the point that I can barely move and this guy.

"How...are you... okay?" I asked with a voice so weak and pitiful that it made me feel embarrassed.

"It's thanks to you Hinata-san. You stopped that expolosion with your soul skill, you are amazing," said with an apologetic and regretful voice.

Ahh, the barrier and my body shielded Hugo, but even then he should have some big injuries, if I look at his legs there is some blood flowing there. I can't see his face in this position, but I am sure that it is mess too.

"That... wasn't a soul skill. It was magic... something that you will... never be able... to do," I said with a haughty tone.

"What magic!? You can use magic!? When did you learn to do that!?" asked Hugo really interested.

Tch, I wanted to make him feel down again, not excited.

"Later... answer, wake up... one hour," I muttered and kept looking at the surroundings.

I don't want to answer him when I am feeling this much pain, specially if he won't feel bad.

For now, it seems that we are safe. Hugo is very good at hiding so it will be okay to relay on him for now, but once I rest a little I need to find something to treat our wounds.

Having decided my next course of action, I closed my eyes and entrusted the rest to Hugo.

***

Hinata Kuroko, someone who looks like a little frail girl. That was my first impression of her and in just a few hours I realized how wrong I was.

I first saw her today, when I was suddenly summoned in another world like in those stories that I read with my little brother and little sister. Even though I saw this kind of scene many times in those fun stories, I was very confused when it actually happened to me.

But, Hinata-san was different. She immediately started to look and observe everything to understand the current situation. When everyone were walking unsteadily, she was walking with firm and steady steps.

When we met the king and that black clothed guy next to him, everyone got cold feet because of their oppressive aura, but Hinata-san was able to calmly introduce us, making the rest of us feel at ease.

When I was trying to escape, I didn't know what to do and I when I was just about to escape using brute force I found Hinata-san. Her personality was totally different which surprised me, but something else surprised me move.

She was able to make an incredible strategy to escape in just a few seconds and just because I followed her plan I managed to escape from the castle safely. If it weren't for that, I would probably have been captured and even killed at the castle.

When we were running away, she was able to easily keep up with my pace, even though my body has been trained for several years, she could follow me with that small body of hers, truly incredible.

And when we were outside the city, she was able to easily avoid those magical shots and arrows, with godly reflexes, in fact, she even was able to predict an attack that I couldn't see and helped me to avoid it. I am sure that even if I had not dealt with the guard that tried to stop us, she would have somehow managed to deal with that guy too, since she is strong and reliable.

That's right. She is a strong and reliable person. The kind of man I aimed to be. The kind of older brother I wish to become.

And because of how reliable she was, I ended up burdening with her with everything.

I was such a fool.

I should have noticed that she was tired when she proposed that reckless plan to escape from the city. I thought that it was okay, since the other plan was also reckless but she somehow managed to pull it off so she will be able to do it this time too.

However, this one wasn't a good plan. If I think about it; the plan to escape from the castle, even though reckless, it was elaborate. But this one didn't had anything elaborate like that, it was just run and believe that we are going to be okay.

To be sincere, I didn't even tried to think at all. I just blindly believed without trying to give any ideas and, because of that she got those terrible injuries.

First, it was that arrow. I got worried at first, but she just answered with a smile as if it was nothing, making me feel calm again. Now that I think about it, I am sure that she was suffering from that wound but decided to fake it to avoid making me worry.

And then it was that huge explosion.

She warned me about that huge magic ball before it even appeared, but just before that thing exploded, she told me to stay behind her and I just obeyed her. I wasn't afraid since I felt from her voice that she could do something about that too.

And I was right. She somehow managed to block that attack. We ended up being blown off by the explosion, but nonetheless we survived.

I got many bruises that made it painful to move my body, but it wasn't so severe to the point I wouldn't be able to move.

It was amazing, Hinata-san was really amazing. The explosion she blocked was something that wouldn't be weird if it destroyed a house, left alone a human body. If it weren't for Hinata-san my body would have been scattered in multiple pieces.

I wanted to praise her for the amazing stunt she pulled, but instead of finding the invincible Hinata-san, I saw her tiny body in middair totally tattered, full of wounds bleeding even more than me. If I was feeling this much pain, then how much pain must be suffering her?

She shielded me using her body. I didn't hesitate to hide behind that little body that could be easily broken apart. Me who had trained his body for several years used that little girl as a shield

I am the worst, no matter how strong and reliable Hinata-san is, she is still a human. A human who is tinier and younger than me.

I quickly caught her body and then I ran and ran towards the forest. This time it wasn't because I was just blindly following her plan, but because I also think it is safe. I have confidence that I can hide in the forest.

When I caught Hinata-san, she seemed to be in the border between consciousness and unconsciousness, but in just a few seconds she woke up. As expected, she is truly strong.

Her voice was weak and she seemed to be in pain with just the act of breathing, but even then she managed to make a joke to lighten up the mood.

She blamed me for the state she was in a joking tone, but I know that it is true. She is in that state because of my selfishness of leaving everything to her so I sincerely apologized.

Her response was just ordering me to run faster. I know that was a joke too, but even thought my whole body was screaming in pain, I obeyed her and sped up.

I know this isn't enough for an apology, but I am going to take her to safety as fast as possible, luckily the attacks stopped and the cloud of dust that explosion made is perfect for hiding our bodies. We are going to reach the forest without them finding out from where we entered.

A few moments before, Hinata-san fell asleep saying to me to wake her up after an hour. I think that she needs to rest more than an hour, but I don't think that she can recover from those injuries in a day, so an hour seems appropriate. I am going to protect her until she wakes up... no, until we are finally safe

By the way, it seems that she stopped that explosion using magic, she learned how to use it in just a few hours without anyone to teach her. If magic is similar to martial arts, then it is an amazing feat. I don't think that she can surprise me even more.

***

I slowly opened my eyes again, there are trees as far as my eyes can see and I hear the sound of a river near. It seems that we are already at the forest. Hugo did a good job running away, I should thank him later.

To check on my body I tried to move my fingers and toes. They can move but hurt a little.

Breathing hurts a little too.

Moving my wrist and ankles. It hurts a bit more.

Moving my shoulders, elbows, legs and knees.

"Mhmm!" a silent moan escaped from my mouth

It hurts a lot, the most painful ones are my arms, specially my left shoulder and left leg.

Moving my neck. Much better than my limbs.

Conclusion, I can move at the cost of some pain.

Looking at my body, the dress is a total mess. I guess I can't sell it anymore.

Some parts are obviously torn up with the use of human hands and not from the explosion and in those places there are clothes used as bandages. I guess that Hugo did it to treat my injuries.

My hair ties are still on my wrist but my ribbons are totally torn. I should fix them since those are the ones that Carla made.

My hair is intact... how miraculous. It wouldn't be weird to have some parts burned, but my hair is completely intact, yeah completely intact.

This is definitely abnormal, not only because of the explosion, I was also under a rain of fire before that.

What is wrong with my hair?

Observing it carefully, I see that my hair has some divine protection which transformed my hair...

Hah? What the heck.

My hair can store mana from the surroundings and uses that stored mana for many functions. It produces a lot of eumelanin, making my hair completely black, it heals damaged parts and fixes the length and amount of my hair to the point where I received the divine protection unless I wish it otherwise, with the condition that I can't make it shorter or have less hair.

This is definitely not a soul skill. This is just a property of my hair, a property which humans doesn't have. Am I still a human?

If my hair is like this, what about the rest of my body?

I observed my left arm as sharply as possible and I understand that the bone is damaged, but I don't know how much. I suspect that this knowledge was given to me the pain signals from my arm rather than my appraisal.

Observing my arm more detailedly, I understood that my skin has the same received the same divine protection as my hair.

This divine protection also changed my skin, but the effects were a little different.

My skin uses my mana to make the production of melanin low and to regenerate quickly and thoroughly to the point that no scars will remain. Sadly, it can't heal muscles or bones, just my skin.

The divine protection from my skin uses my own mana instead of the surrounding mana like my hair. What a waste, maybe that's the reason why my mana amount was so lower compared to the other heroes.

The god that gave the heroes it's blessing was Wion right? Does that god has some kind of fetish with white skin and long hair? If this god was going to give me this kind of divine protection, then it could also have gave me the soul skill that Sarah has.

Does the other heroes also have a divine protection? I will need to check it with Hugo.

By the way, where is that guy?

"Hu ugh." I tried to call him with a yell, but my chest hurt. Maybe my ribs are really cracked, but since I am not coughing up blood, even though is not certain, I am going to assume that my lungs weren't pierced by my ribs.

Maybe he is at the river, should I go to him?

I started to stand up using a convenient branch that was by my side, I guess that this one is also Hugo's courtesy.

Well, I tried to stand up, but my whole body was giving me pain signals so I decided to rest for now and forget this new useless discovery. Instead I started to observe my surroundings more carefully since my appraisal seems to give me more information if I observe with more attention.

Hmmm... From the sound of the water, the river must be just a few meters from here.

There are many plants that I don't know what it is, but I understand that none of them are analgesics. The poisonous looking red mushrooms near me are surprisingly edible for humans but they are bitter. It's boring that those ones won't turn me into a giant

Maybe if I heat them some of them sill have analgesic properties?

When I was thinking about ways to ease my pain, Hugo returned with some bowl shaped bark filled with water.

"Oh you woke up, it was really in just an hour as you said," said Hugo surprised while walking towards me.

He was surprisingly okay, his face had a few cuts and his left leg was bandaged with a white cloth, but besides that he looked fine.

"I planned to use this to clean some of your wounds, but I think that for now is better for you to drink," Hugo said while giving me the water.

"Thanks," I answered and drank the water. It seems that as long as I don't yell I can talk now.

Ahhh it's fresh and cool. My throat was parched.

I unconsciously smiled from relief while drinking the water.

"Ahh, umm... I ripped part of your clothes to bandage your wounds, but I didn't touched nor saw anything inappropriate, but sorry anyways" Hugo said while bowing down and closing his palms in a praying pose.

"Don't worry, about that. It's true that I don't like to be touched by men, but it was for medical treatment so I don't have any problem. Also you are just a kid so I can still forgive it if... Ah I still haven't told you about me," I slowly and quietly said since I shouldn't raise my voice or my chest will hurt.

"Huh?" was Hugo's answer who looked confused.

He still thinks that I am Hinata Kuroko since I didn't told him the truth because. I was afraid of someone unwanted hearing it inside the city, but it should be fine here.

"Hrm, from where I start. Let's start from most the important part," I said while giving the bowl shaped bark back to him.

"The most important part is that you don't need to feel shy around me since I am not a girl," I casually revealed.

"...Haaah, not a girl?" Hugo looked more confused.

"That's right, I am actually a man, even my name is fake," I answered him while slowly getting up.

"Hm? Wait, I know that using your own body as a shield was super manly, but to consider yourself a man just for that is too much," said Hugo, who still didn't understand the meaning of my words.

So a stupid act is something manly for him, I guess that's what I should expect from Hugo.

"I don't consider myself a man because of what you said, but because I am a real man. I even had wet dreams and morning woods when I was just a little younger than you," I explained to him to clear his misunderstandings.

"Eh!? Wet, wet dreams!? Morning woods!? From where did you learn those words nor even my little sister who is around your age knows those terms?!" said Hugo in a rapid fire speed.

"Just how innocent is your sister? Ah, but seriously. I am really a man and probably older than your little sister, in fact I am probably even older than you," I told to Hugo who was panicking by my words.

Not just his sister, even this guy is innocent if he thinks that young girls doesn't know those terms. In fact, Carla was the one who taught me those terms when we were ten... she was a pervert even at that age. It feels wrong to be nostalgic with that kind of memory.

"Hmm? Older than me? I know that I look a little younger, but I am already seventeen years old," said Hugo, trying to ignore the part where I said I was a man.

Is it that difficult to believe that I am a man? Well, I was acting like a girl at the castle and was wearing girl clothes since I met him until now, it's not weird for him to be in doubt, but my pride is shattering from how much in denial this guy is.

"I am twenty-one. A man. Not Japanese. A man, not a girl," I said, stressing the point about me being a man.

"Are you messing with me again Hinata-san?" Hugo asked Hugo without understanding anything yet.

Forget it. It's too bothersome to keep convincing him.

"Haa... whatever," I said tiredly while using the branch to stand up.

Uhhh. It hurts a lot. I hope that there aren't any complicated fractures.

Hugo saw my pitiful intent to rise and quickly gave me his hand but I ignored it and just stood up using the branch.

"Don't force yourself Hinata-san, I can carry you," Hugo said while crouching and showing me his back.

"Don't need it, more importantly, how deep in the forest are we?" I curtly answered him and started to slowly walk using the branch as a cane.

"We shouldn't be near the border, but not too deep either. I thought that some dangerous beasts could live in the deep part of the forest," Hugo said following me.

That was a good decision of his part, he isn't as dumb as I thought.

"I see, good thinking. Where is the water?" I asked while analyzing every herbs in the surroundings just in case I had missed something. I seriously want a painkiller right now.

"Just a few steps from here, do you want more water?" Hugo answered and walked in front of me to guide me.

"I am not thirsty, I am thinking of getting us some food and honey," I explained while trying my best to avoid showing pain on my face.

"If you are planning to fish you should give up, there aren't many fishes in the river?" Hugo asked while looking back to check up on me.

"As if I can fish in my current state. I was thinking to look for edible plants in a different area since there wasn't anything tasty where I woke up," I answered.

"You shouldn't eat wild grass just because it looks edible! It can be poisonous!" Hugo severely scolded me after hearing my words.

What is wrong with him? He is opining before obeying this time.

"I wouldn't try if I didn't know how to differentiate the poisonous and edible plants," I said.

"This is a different world, it would be weird to find natural plants that have the same properties than the ones on Earth," Hugo refuted my words, but didn't stop walking, showing me the way to the river.

Hmm, he is against my idea again, maybe he understood that the previous escape plan was stupid.

"My soul skill solves that problem," I casually said revealing the existence of my appraisal.

Hugo wasn't surprised at all from this, probably because he didn't even knew that I said that I don't have a soul skill. But he showed another expression that made me a bit angry.

"Eh? That's your soul skill? It isn't anything flashy like the one that Linda-san and Blair-san had?" asked Hugo looking a bit disappointed.

I know that my soul skill looks lackluster! But you can't get food if you had Linda or Blair’s skills right!?

Is what I wanted to yell, but the mature and older me shouldn't get angry towards a kid's innocent remark. Also, it would hurt a lot if I were to yell right now.

"Shut up, at least I know how to make mine's useful," I spitefully remarked which gave Hugo a huge blow.

I guess that Hugo feels bad about how useless his soul skill was in receiving a magic attack.

Ah, I just remembered that I was planning to use my appraisal to see if Hugo has some divine protection.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I can only see Hugo as a normal Human. My divine protection was on my skin and hair and not in me technically, so maybe his divine protection is somewhere else.

"Hi, Hinata-san, why are you staring me?" asked Hugo nervously.

"To see if your body is abnormal or not," I answered while keep observing him.

"Abnormal, do you think of me as a freak?" asked Hugo dejectedly this time.

I can't find anything abnormal in him, maybe is it just me who received those weird divine protections?

"Tch, you are boring," I said and gave up in trying to look for a divine protection on him.

Hugo tried to say something in response, but at that same moment we reached the river.

It was as deep as my waist and the flowing speed was quick. Luckily it seems it was pure enough to avoid getting sick by it.

More importantly than the river is looking tasty food and drugs, painkilling drugs.

"I forgot to ask, Hinata-san, why are you looking for honey?" Hugo asked after he recovered from my last nasty remark.

His recovering rate is getting faster, I need to find new ways to mess up with him.

"Because it's sweet and tasty and besides, it can also help for treating our wounds and reducing the pain," I explained to Hugo without stopping my search.

I walk slowly, step by step, using the branch as a cane searching carefully everywhere.

I need to be careful since it would be disastrous to fall down with my current body.

Grr, I can't find any honeycomb.

"I feel that the tasty part of the honey is your first priority," Hugo said while searching together with me.

"That's obvious, the sweetness of honey is godlike, I can confidently say that honey was the gift from the heavens to humans," I answered without looking back at Hugo.

Oh, those plants that looks like mint growing next to the water are good for inflammated skin.

"Hugo, gather those mint like herbs over there carefully, I won't pick you up if you fall into the river," I instructed.

"Hinata-san, what does mint looks like?" asked Hugo a little ashamed.

Don't get mad, don't get mad. It's normal for someone to not know how mints looks like.

"Hugo, just gather a sample of everything here, making sure to cover your hands while picking them up and washing your hands thoroughly before touching any part of your body.," I instructed coldly.

"Isn't that a little too difficult?" asked Hugo a little panicked.

"After you are finished with that, make some fire, I can't start one since my arm is damaged," I instructed again while keeping my search for honey.

"Can I make the fire first? I am good at starting one," Hugo said with a boastful tone smiling.

"All right, I am counting on you. Once you finish making the fire, start the herb collecting. Also make sure that the fire won't be seen from outside the forest. And finally, find something that we can use as a pot to store water," I said without even trying to look at him, since the honey is more important.

"So Spartan..." Hugo muttered.

And thus we started our gathering quest.

***

Almost an hour and a half after the start of the gathering quest we had a fire and many herbs gathered.

The first half an hour was stressing me since Hugo wasn't as fast as I wanted and I couldn't find any sign of honey, so I decided to make a simple bowdrill to make fire.

I used part of my maid uniform to make many strings and coiled them to make a rope. As a replacement for the knife I used my newly learned barrier magic which I made it spin quickly like a chain saw. I will call this new magic Mini-Jason.

I had to be careful in handling the materials, since a wrong move would cause me lots of pain since my whole body was injured. I took the chance to make a splint to immobilize my left arm and left leg.

By the way, I tried to make fire with magic, but imagining making fire or heating stuffs while using mana didn't work. I kinda hoped that it will follow the same principle as the barrier magic.

When I finished making the bowdrill, Hugo came back with a flat but thick bark, many twigs and dried leaves.

Hugo was surprised by my gift and he used it to quickly make a fire, which I stopped since the smoke would make our position obvious.

I cut down a tree with Mini-Jason. It was slow since my mana amount wasn't fully recovered so I had to use it carefully.

I used that tree to make some planks and ordered Hugo to make a roof to conceal the fire's smoke. While he was making the roof, I was making a pot to store water and a few plates for soup from another tree using Mini-Jason.

At the moment Hugo started to make the fire again after he finished making the roof, I realized that I could make a fire using Mini-Jason, but I kept quiet and renewed my look for honey.

Once the fire was lit, Hugo obediently used the wooden pot to gather some water and after that he started to gather herbs, making sure that everything that he collected was different.

Now we are sitting in front of the fire, surrounded by plants, mushrooms and fruits.

"This one is the same as this other one," I scolded Hugo showing him two plants flowers that looks like clovers.

"Eh? Come on, they are different! Look, this one has sharp termination on the end while the other one is round!" Hugo retorted.

"You are right, they are different, it seems that you weren't picking them up randomly," I said like a teacher talks to a student.

Those two are edible, the one with sharp termination is bitter and the other is tasteless. The both of them have many vitamins, like vitamin B and C.

"So, how can you recognize the edible ones from the toxic ones?" Hugo asked without any shade of doubt on his face.

"Not telling you, only a fool will reveal his trump cards," I answered him while placing the poisonous plants, mushrooms and fruits in a piece of cloth from my maid uniform.

My maid uniform is currently a sleeveless mini-dress. Almost as shameless as my last costume. I should have used Hugo's butler's coat for that.

"Oh come on, you already know what my soul skill does," Hugo complained.

"That's your own fault for revealing it too fast, besides I already told you too much by telling you that I can recognize edible and poisonous stuffs with my soul skill," I answered while smiling.

I only told him about my soul skill, since he was doubting me whether or not I can differentiate poison from medicine, but since he already trusts me I don't need to reveal anymore. Thanks the heavens that he is an idiot.

"Will you start to trust me if I discover what your soul skill is?" Hugo asked with a challenging tone.

"Hoh. Why not? Try it," I said answering his challenge.

As if he can discover it. If he can do that then I wouldn't have to think all the plans until now by myself.

The main reason why I am keeping my Appraisal a secret is not because I don't trust Hugo as a person, but because I don't trust his brain. I fear that he will just reveal it without thinking.

"Hinata-san, I feel that you are underestimating me too much," Hugo said a little sad.

"I don't think so. In fact, I think you are so smart that I will only give you two chances to correctly guess my soul skill," I said with a teasing tone.

Two chances should be enough to find out my soul skill with the few hints I already gave him. It should be enough if he is not stupid.

"Won't people usually give three chances?" asked Hugo a little panicked.

"You are a disappointment," I spitefully said.

"Okay, I will find it out in only two chances," Hugo said closing his eyes.

Finally silence. If he actually manages get the correct answer I will have to change my opinion on him.

Now, let's focus on separating everything.

At my right are edible things, on left are poisonous things for humans and on my front are medicinal materials.

This boldo like herb has the property to soothe the pain from inflammation while the mint like herb can help to reduce inflammation, but the problem is that my skin is almost totally healed now thanks to that divine protection and the only thing making me suffer are my internal wounds.

Grrr, I can't find anything that can stop the pain, should I just randomly boil herbs until I find some results?

"Your soul skill is one that makes you able to recognize poison!" Hugo suddenly yelled, breaking my train of thought.

"Mostly wrong, try again," I quickly answered.

"Eh!? Then how can you recognize edible things from poisonous?" Hugo asked with a shocked face.

Did he really thought that stupid thing was my soul skill? If he really reached that answer then why did he close his eyes?

"Think about it, I didn't said that you were wrong, I just said that you were mostly wrong. Now as a punishment rub this herb on your wound on your leg," I said with a mean look.

"Is it something poisonous!?" Hugo yelled panicked.

"Of course not, it will just make you feel as if your wound is burning," I answered while giving him the mint like herb that has an anti-inflammatory properties.

"Are you sure that thing is not poisoned!? And why I need to be punished!?" Hugo yelled with tears on the corner of his eyes.

If you really dislike it, you should just reject it and run away. Is Hugo a closet masochist?

"Just be a man and accept it, also your next punishment will be tasting the meal first," I said and started to drop some non-poisonous herbs and mushrooms on the pot, then placed the pot on top of the fire while making a barrier under the pot to avoid burning it.

"Woah, the wooden pot isn't burning! Magic sure is amazing," Hugo said impressed by seeing a piece of wood don't burn from being placed on top of fire.

"Don't try to change the subject and rub this herb. I guarantee you that is not poisoned. Also after eating, bring a copy of those herbs in front of me. All of them are medicine," I ordered.

"Eh? Then does this means that the herb you are making me rub on my wounds is medicine?" Hugo asked surprised.

"Why are you so surprised? Of course I will make you rub medicine on your wound. The herb I am offering you can reduce the inflammation, but it is really painful. While this other herb can reduce the pain from inflammation. The both of them makes a pretty nice combination right?" I said while smiling.

"Is it difficult to believe in you when you are making that face," Hugo said while reaching his hand towards the two herbs mentioned.

When Hugo was about to grab the boldo like herb I ate it. Brrr, bitter.

"Eh? Weren't you giving me that herb too? asked Hugo confused.

"Then where is the punishment?" I answered while frowning due to the bitter taste.

"That's devilish!" Hugo complained, while standing up and walking somewhere.

"What, cold feet? Are you afraid of pain?" I said in a ridiculing voice.

"I am going behind a tree to rub my wounds, since I have some wounds on every part of my body," Hugo answered.

"The one I am giving is only for inflammation. This lotus like flower has an oil that is useful for cuts and scratches, you should try to find more of them since with only one or two of them it won't be enough." I said with a serious face for once.

"Thank you Hinata-san" Hugo said while grabbing that flower.

After taking the flower, he hid behind a tree and then "Aaaaahhhhh," Hugo suddenly screamed.

While he was suffering from the pain caused by the side effect of the herbs, I kept analyzing the soup.

The soup is turning to a sweet flavor. It seems that it will be more tasty than I thought. Appraisal sure is useful for things like cooking.

Thirty minutes after, Hugo finished rubbing the mint like herb all over his body and returned to the fire.

"The food is ready, is just a sweet soup, but full of nutrients so eat it all," I said while drinking the soup on my plate.

Yummy. The sweetness is perfect.

A smile was forming on my face without me noticing, but that's how tasty this is.

"Urgh, too sweat," Hugo complained with a face that is about to vomit.

How he doesn't like this soup, what a weird taste he has.

While eating, Hugo closed his eyes again as if he was thinking of something. At that moment.

"Graaaaah" We heard a huge roar similar to one that a lion does.

Both Hugo and I were suddenly surprised by this. The both of us have some sharp senses, but we couldn't sense an animal that can roar like that until we heard it, this is dangerous without doubt.