Name: Maria Pale

Level: 100+

Race: Human

Title: General of the Silver Army

Description: One of the strongest beings in the far southeast corner of Falen. A friend of Simon Krol’s and an opposer of the churches.

Another one of the strongest beings? She’s also a friend of Simon. That seems fine but what does it mean to be an opposer of the churches?

I didn’t have much time to think about it as we arrived in front of a very simple building.

Maria turned around to us and spoke using [Telepathy], “Come on, this is my home.”

Before we continued, the mage who was with us spoke, “Why… [Telepathy]?”

He spoke without using [Telepathy] so I wasn’t entirely sure what he sail

However, Maria did respond by using [Telepathy], “Because, it can’t understand languages perfectly. Speaking to someone without their full understanding is just rude.”

I like Maria, she gives knowledge that, while maybe not the most useful, is free and without any issues.

“Is this why you wanted me to get [Telepathy]?” The mage asked while using [Telepathy].

“That’s only part of the reason. [Telepathy] has more uses than communication. When you can actually learn these uses I will teach them but for now you have no purpose in learning them.” Maria told the mage before focusing back on me.

“Now come on, there’s no point standing outside. We have so much to talk about.” Maria said cheerily before walking inside.

The mage and I followed.

Maria’s house was very unlike Simon’s. Simon’s house was shiny in some places while Maria’s seemed to be made out of rock. The furniture looked hard and uncomfortable and while there were plants, they were stiff and looked like sticks.

Maria sat down on one of the hard chairs while the mage followed. I stayed standing as I didn’t know how to sit on a chair.

Maria spoke first, “If you want you can become a Half-Elf again, it would make communication easier.”

I thought about the option, there isn’t any reason why I shouldn’t so I may as well.

Thinking as such, I used [Self Reality] and became the same Half-Elf I had been before.

Maria gives a smile, “It’s quite strange to see a wolf become a Half-Elf but I suppose anything’s possible. Now then, what do you want to talk about?”

She didn’t use [Telepathy] this time so there’s a high likelihood that it requires more than a little mana to sustain.

Deciding that [Telepathy] could be pondered later, I responded with, “I want to talk about knowledge.”

Maria didn’t seem confused like I had expected, instead she seemed to become more relaxed, “What kind of knowledge do you want to learn? If you have no preference then I suppose we can talk about Simon, he is quite interesting.”

“Simon? Do you have any knowledge about Simon?”

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“Well yes, you used some form of [Identify] on me and since there was barely any natural reaction from my mana I’ll assume it’s fairly more powerful than the original. Since it’s more powerful you should be able to see a description about me. It should still say I’m a friend of Simon’s so what’s so strange about me knowing things about him.”

This does make sense, I wonder how long she’s been a friend of Simon’s and how much she knows. I wonder if I’ll be able to learn it all.

“Since you haven’t said otherwise I’ll assume you want to hear about Simon. So, where do I start? I suppose I can start with his childhood. You see, we’ve been friends since we were children. Always going on adventures together and learning along the way. Simon was very kind, he made friends with everyone he met and even some more timid animals were friendly with him.

“He never wanted to hurt anything, even tiny bugs that were annoying were innocent to him and allowed to live. As we got older however, he started to hear about villages and towns being attacked by monsters and the inhabitants being slaughtered. I don’t know when exactly but something about him changed around that time. He went from being happy and playful at all times to being very determined. He studied weapons of all kinds and started going out to hunt. That’s probably when he started to like using a bow now that I think about it.

“Anyways, he started hunting and since he was killing things he gained experience and leveled up. Once he had leveled up a bit he set out to kill any monsters he found to protect people. I tried to stop him on numerous occasions but he always ignored me and walked past. After one too many times I started looking for a Job and a Profession so I could level up without harming anything.

“Eventually I had leveled up to a point where I could fight Simon while he wasn’t leveling up much due to staying near civilization and killing the weaker monsters that lived in the area. That was one of the rough parts of our friendship. We fought at a village I can’t remember the name of. That’s actually kind of… depressing. Not only do I not remember the name, I will never be able to find out.”

Wait, there was something odd about that statement. Why can’t she learn the name? Is some knowledge unable to be learned?

So I asked, “Why can’t you find out the name?”

Maria looked at me with a sad smile, “You might not know but some things can be lost forever. The name of that village is lost forever because my battle with Simon had caused it to vanish from space and time. The result of a clash between my Time magic and Simon’s Space magic. The people inside are lost forever and the land is uninhabitable.”

Interesting knowledge has become available, it seems like Simon knows Space magic while Maria knows Time magic. Both of them should be higher tier magics and much superior to the elemental magics like Fire and Earth.

While I was thinking about the knowledge I had gained, Maria continued talking, “After that incident Simon decided to become a pacifist again. Going around helping people and trying to do all he could to make up for being part of the reason the village was destroyed.”

There was an issue with that part and I immediately asked, “If he’s a pacifist and wants to help people, why is he in a war and fighting people?”

Maria lost her smile when I asked but still responded, “There are three types of reactions to that information. The first are fools who laugh and scorn the pacifist who goes to war. The second are the intelligent who question and find it odd a pacifist would go to war. While the third are the wise who run and fear the pacifist who goes to war.”

“Why?”

“The ones who laugh and scorn are fools because they will attack the pacifist and quickly die. The ones who question are intelligent because they don’t completely feel safe with a pacifist being alongside them in war. While the ones who run and fear are wise as they know that a pacifist who goes to war gives no mercy and expects none in return. A pacifist who goes to war will do anything in their power to meet their goal, even if it means their own death. A pacifist who goes to war has given up any hope that saving people is worth it and will do good. A pacifist who goes to war… is the reason all of his enemies should fear for their lives or fight until they die.”

“So Simon is very scary?”

“For people who want to just survive, yes. For people who have nothing to lose and merely want to fight, he’s the greatest person in existence.”

As we were talking, a person opened the door to Maria’s house. It was Simon, a man who I had learned more about now.

After entering he said, “Is it really right to tell Half-Elves about me? I assume they’re friendly but it isn’t the best idea to be seen with what is currently an oppressed race within our borders.”

Maria became a bit confused after Simon spoke, she asked, “What do you mean Half-Elf, they currently are a Half-Elf but they aren’t exactly a Half-Elf. They are your companion, the wolf one, named Salem.”

Now it was Simon’s turn to be confused, “What do you mean my companion? Yes my companion is named Salem and they are a Mana Wolf, last time I checked anyways, but they can’t become a Half-Elf.”

Hm, Simon’s confused about me becoming a Half-Elf so what if I turned back into a wolf?

Thinking about this, I activated [Self Reality] and chose to become my wolf form.

Simon watched on with confusion as the mana shell appeared around me and I disappeared from his sight.

When the mana shell opened however, Simon only became more confused and perhaps a small bit of fear was in his expression as well.