Chapter 3

In Ranga Village

But before she tore down a new one at the Lord she decided it would be best to ascertain the common sense of this world. Or rather what was considered ‘Common Knowledge’ of this world at the moment. Kimiko looked at the fuming Sheila and decided it would be better to ask her.

"Sheila san, it might seem a bit awkward but you see I have lived a sheltered lifestyle without interacting the outside world. So I might need to ask you some common questions if that is ok?"

Sheila looked at her up and down to see her Adventurist kind of clothes in suspicion before she shrugged.

"Well if you are that sheltered then go on and shoot the question."

Kimiko knew that 10 years here would be roughly 1 year in her own world. That meant that 16 years in her world would be roughly give or take 160 years here.

"So .....which kingdom are we residing in?"

Sheila stared at her incredulously as if asking ‘Are you serious?’.

"......oh my GOD! Just how sheltered were you? To not even know the kingdom, we are on! Hah-.....we are residing in the Kingdom of Posat. It is also known as the birthplace of The Grand Magic King, Solomon."

Yeah .....Kimiko was totally out of the loop. The village of Posat drastically changed into a Kingdom?

"Ah so....which part of the Kingdom are we on?"

Kimiko inquired politely. Sheila's eye twitched a bit.

"In the Southeastern part of it. The capital of Posat, Kiepnihar lies directly at the northernmost part of the kingdom. It was renamed from Posat. Though a small country sandwiched by bigger nation like Larad in the West, Elsev Urik in the East and Sholiy in the South, our Kingdom has remained strong. That is due to the artifact that the Grand Magic King Solomon had left behind for his birthplace to remain safe. We have friendly relationship with Elsev Urik, neutral with Larad and hostile with Sholiy."

Kimiko was listening to her in apt attention. It seemed that the world had changed drastically in her absence. Sheila continued on.

"Well one of the 3 Guild headquarters is also situated in this kingdom. The branches are spread out all over Vesperia. It is rumored that the most powerful Golem created by the Grand Magic King is one of the founding members of the Guild. The strongest person of our Empire is the Grand Marshal Stan, the head of Duke Elcot, one of the only three Dukes of the Empire. There are altogether 8 or 9 kingdoms. Well I know only this much though from passing Adventurer and Peddlers."

There was a topic that Kimiko was interested in, since her whole class was summoned for a reason.

"Well what about the [Demon]?"

Sheila looked to be thinking hard before replying.

"Well, we do not know but there are rumors floating about how the new [Demon King] was chosen a year ago or so. Even still, all the Kingdoms have yet to cease hostility. The Temple of the Origin Gods was responsible for summoning heroes though. If they have succeeded or not is yet to be determined. The previous era of [Demon] and [Hero] did quite a devastating blow to both sides in lives as well as economy as a whole. Only few kingdoms survived those time. But now we seem to have flourished more than in previous era."

Kimiko nodded. It seemed that the world had flourished after the defeat of the Demon King as a whole. Something she wanted to see but something else was also nagging her. Whispers from her title 'The One' had sent her something.

"Death.....Destruction......Recreation......Repeat.....NO HOPE"

Her eye twitched violently. Well that was ominous as fuck!

Her Title could grant her Immunity to all kind of status effect but it also put a damper on her emotions. That is why she is always looking so stoic. The title also had a hidden feature that was very very very very rare and was triggered only when something big is about to happen. The title was said to have been connected to the [The Ode of the World] where all the things of the past, present and the future of the world was recorded. It is voiced through the [The Voice of the World]. It was also responsible for creating the effect of skills as well as the Leveling system of the World as well as magic and the language system. The most annoying thing about this language system is that the older a language cast then the more powerful a magic or spell becomes.

For example: When two magician or swordsmen fight each other, their stat is not only responsible for their victory or defeat but also the language used to cast their magic or skills. Old language has such a varied effect as well. Dwarves in her time used the language [Matra Dukedom Script] of Ancient Matra Dukedom, a dukedom that existed 20,000 years ago which was famous for their blacksmithing (One of the oldest language ever excavated). They used use that [Language] to blacksmith their weapons, creating more powerful version than before. But if used for casting normal offensive spells it would only be stronger than most magic but very less powerful than when it was used for blacksmithing.

The power was tied to the legend of that kingdom. That is why it was such a pain in the ass to find what the old empire was famous for. As the [Ode of the World] recorded every single language used in Vesperia. It was still a debate as to which language was the oldest. Some say the language spoken by the Dragons, other say the language created by the World Tree. But to her it was without a doubt the [Divine Language of Gods] a language spoken by Gods and it was powerful in every aspect as well. At the same time there was another.....

But the strange thing was that the Divine language seemed to have disappeared from Vesperia like it was intentionally done. If what the hypothesis she had arrived on was correct then Kimiko may be very well be in danger. So she had to be careful in revealing such sensitive information. She along with Solomon had arrived at THAT conclusion meaning there was something more happening behind the scene. Including that Parasite which she had killed at [The Tower that reach the Heaven] before sealing it. She could count on Arthur, the Golem created by Solomon in providing her assistance as well. He was very loyal to the Braves, especially to Solomon and her as well as Terza.

Well time to see if anything has changed in her stat because she did not had time to allocate the points gained by defeating the Demon King. It was around 12 levels so she should be at around Lvl 960.

"Status Open"

[Status]

Name: Kimiko Hasegawa Age: 16 (40) Exp: 14.45%

Lvl 968. Job: Primordial Sword Master Effect: (STR,CON,VIT,DEX) all +50 Per level

Title: The One (Immunity to ailments below Divine tier) [Given to those who pursue the path of truth above all]

HP: 3,514,500 (Recover: 1% per min) MP: 2,239,456 (Recover: 1% per min)

STAT

STR: 3450 CON: 2556

VIT: 2750 DEX: 3879

INT: 2978 WIS: 3008

CHA: 67 LUC: 1002

Skills

Divine Swordsmanship Lvl 6: Void slash, Origin Breaker Series, Heaven Ender....+25 more

Divine Archery Lvl 5: One-shot Kill, Frozen Hell Shower, Triple Strike......+22 more

Divine Spearmanship Lvl 6: Fate Shatterer, Lunar Strike, Gae Bolg.......+19 more

Divine Blacksmithing Lvl 5: Heaven Plunger, Earthquake Mayhem, Continent Shatterer.....+30 more

Divine Sharpshooter Lvl 7: Shape Shift, One-shot Kill, Nuclear Warhead.......+21 more

Saint Enchantress Lvl 8: Heavenly Fortification+++, Healing Sanctuary+++, Amrita.....+27 more

Magics

Firaga Ultima: Grand Flame Fafnir, Core Meltdown, Volcanic Eruption, Prominence......+48 more

Thundaga Ultima: Grand Lightning Blitz, Ray Shower, Blitzkrieg.......+56 more

Mercury Ultima: Water World, Rage of Leviathan, Pressurized Ray……+44 more

.......+15 more

Auxiliary Skills

Origin Gazer Lvl Max, Super Concealment+++ Lvl Max, Mana Concealment++ Lvl Max, Hide Divine Detection++ Lvl Max, Dimension Storage, Auto-change, .......+283 more.

Unique Skill

[Devour]: [Able to steal one Skill or Magic from the target] [Use: 10/10] [Recharge: One per day]

[@[email protected]##]: [-------------------]

Remaining Stat Points: 0

Her eyes twitched at the information. She seemed to have gained additional 8 levels as well. She didn't know why but guessed it was during her rebirth that something must have happened. But it seems that all her remaining point was randomly distributed. Her insane amount of skill was due to her Unique Skill called [Devour] which can take any skills or magic from a person with 33% chance. It was truly a blessing for her to get such a skill in those dark times, otherwise she may have died a long time ago. The other however, she didn’t want to be reminded of.

In this world there was a skill tree. At first her Divine Swordsmanship was only normal Swordsmanship. But after gaining levels you can evolve them further and further. You also get skills associated with it which you can use with [MP]. But now was not the time for that. Just looking at the stink eye the orphanage head was giving to the hospital she was sure that he would try to do something sooner or later.

Just then the hospital door opened and Rin came out looking quite cheerful and happy.

'Her mother may have survived, it seems.'

She looked around to see the familiar face of the person who had saved her and brightened up when she saw Kimiko and her aunt Sheila. She skipped along the way and hugged Kimiko again. Rin nuzzled her face to her stomach.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you soooooo much."

Kimiko just briefly smiled and ruffling Rin's hair and patting as well. Rin seemed to like the gesture because she clutched her a little harder. Sheila was dumbstruck at the intimacy shown by her niece. Her eyes narrowed a bit.

'I knew she was an airhead and cheerful girl but not this clingy at all!'

Then Rin suddenly looked at her aunt with big hopeful eyes as she asked.

"Hey Aunt Sheila, can we bring big sis......Ah! I forgot to ask for your name!"

Rin panicked and looked at Kimiko. Kimiko just looked at her and said.

"Kimiko."

"Big sis Kimiko to umm…. your home?"

Sheila's eye just twitched, ah it seems her niece was even more fond of Kimiko than even her..... However, she smiled at Rin and said.

"Well I don't mind Rin. In fact, you can come as well to stay at your Aunt's home."

Rin just shook her head.

"Nooope! I want to stay with my mother at the Hospital!"

Sheila sighed. It was an instant rejection. Her niece could be vicious without even knowing about it.

"Don't trouble your Mother all right. She may be all right but she needs her rest."

Rin just huffed and said in a childish tone.

"Hmph! What do you take me for?"

Sheila deadpanned.

"An over enthusiastic, hyper, airhead and bubbly girl who doesn't know when to quit."

Rin just raspberried at her aunt while Sheila just rolled her eyes at the antics. Kimiko just looked on from the side.

Sheila's Home

Down the muddy road, a small but cozy looking house with a field and wooded fence was seen at a distance. Sheila led Kimiko through the path and opened the door with a key that Sheila had kept as a necklace. Inside was as expected, a wooden house with few leather materials and a fireplace. Sheila just sighed and said.

"Well nothing too fancy but just cozy and comfortable to live in. The guest room is on the second floor. You can pick any one of the two. Till then I will have something prepared up. You can freshen up by then."

Kimiko just shook her head.

"Well I wouldn't like to impose."

Sheila just smiled and said.

"No no not at all. It's not imposing. This is just a thank you for saving my niece. Nothing more and nothing less. If I didn’t do this much then I would feel bad."

Then Sheila went to the kitchen to prepare something and Kimiko just accepted their generosity. She took the stair up and choose the room to the left where there was a large window. After opening her [Dimension Storage] she found the miscellaneous things like Ancient Ginseng, Six-leaved magic clover, yada yada things. After searching for quite a bit she found what she was looking for.

'Ah finally.'

She took out a modern weapon she and her friend made a prototype of. It was a first ever built tranquilizer gun. She knew that the man of the orphanage was about to do something and she wasn't in a rush to do things. She spent 10 minutes cleaning the Black colored gun. After all it had been a long time since she had done any check-up like Misha used to do. She checked and aimed at a virtual enemy with fast movement. Then, she checked for bullets in the magazine.

'Hmmm....Five rounds.... Enough.'

She chanted a simple spell.

[Check Status]

Name: Tranquilizer gun (Unique tier)

Round: 5/10

Durability:1600/1600

ATK: 1017 (+7 times enchanted)

MGC: -

EFFECT: Contains unique sleeping agent extracted from Dread Naught Grass of the [Underworld] which can even cause adult dragon to sleep.

DESCRIPTION: A prototype gun made by Terza with description from Kimiko. As a prototype, its attack power is quite low.

She looked at it fondly. She then practiced some James Bond stances for fun. She heard Sheila call from below. She equipped some simple clothes on and went down. In the small dining hall, there was a plate for two. In it was a simple dish, some bread and a chicken soup broth. They both sat down to have dinner. Some talk was exchanged and Kimiko heard some strange things as well.

"So Sheila-san, how much value is 1 Amrita Gold?"

Amrita was the one of the kingdom where she and her party was most active. It was one of the biggest as well as the strongest kingdom then. But it was destroyed eventually but not before she had amassed some wealth. It was about some 1,234,004 Gold. In those time and still today there was the cliche system of Gold, Silver and Copper coins. 100 of Copper was equal to 1 Silver, 100 silver was 1 Gold and 100 Gold was equal to rare 1 Platinum Gold. However, in those time each kingdom had their own kind of money. But now it seemed that every country in this era had one single monetary system issued by The Merchant Association according to Sheila. There are many Association in this era like The Magic Association, The Blacksmith Association, The Martial-Arts Association, The Alchemist Association, etc. However, they all could join the Adventure Guild as a mean to gain experience it seems.

Sheila spitted everything over in her mouth at Kimiko in surprise. She coughed and coughed until she drank water. Heaving for some seconds Sheila finally realized what she had just did as she panicked.

"OH I AM SO SO SO SORRY!"

"It's ok"

Kimiko replied while wiping off the.....food off of her face with her hand. More importantly.

".......just why the reaction?"

Sheila replied a bit too fast.

"Are you nuts? They are priceless! Some collectors would give Millions of Gold just for 1 Gold of Amrita! Those relics are not found anywhere. 10 Gold is enough for a family to live peacefully for one month. Anyone here earns at most 8 Gold on average in this village, just barely enough and it was worst in the past where we earned only 3 Golds. If you have the Amrita gold, don't show it to anyone!"

She looked at the ruined dinner table. It seems she had knocked some things down. She sighed.

"Alright......Just let me take care of this.....mess."

After cleaning the mess on the table, Kimiko decided to change the dress. As she got up from the chair, Sheila said hurriedly and apologetically.

"Ah! Hang on, I will prepare some hot water for the bath as a sign for apology."

Five minutes Later

Kimiko found herself immersed in hot water bath along with Sheila. It was 6*8 long bath tub. It seems that resources were abundant in this era that Sheila could afford a bath. In those times, such luxurious things could only afforded by the wealthy people and public bathhouses were the only place where the common people would bath in. In some places, the commoner had to bath in the cold rivers. Sheila was loosely hanging her blond hair and washing it. Her figure seemed to have been shrouded in the water vapor forming some kind of Anti-Peeking ability. But Sheila had a healthy body with what looked like C cup size…. chest (Kimiko's was at the upper D cup and it still was growing). Sheila was not enough to be considered a beauty but had a kind of unique charm about her. Kimiko was considered to be Divine Beauty (However it was not said by her but the people who was spell-bound from her look). So much trouble seemed to follow her especially her body was continuously being lusted by Noble who did not know of her status. At first time, when she had arrived in Vesperia she was a scrawny looking girl with a pretty face but after the hardship faced by her back in those days, her figure had taken a qualitative leap forward.

In times like those she did felt thankful of her abysmal [Charm] as well as her [Passive ability] which hid her look to others. Otherwise she wouldn't know what to do if a cult did rise a hundred years later considering her to be a Goddess. Her ability was casted this time but had quite degraded version making her less pretty than what was her actual face. Otherwise, she would have been pursued by countless admirers back in Earth where violence was not a viable solution. However, it was sad knowing that nobody knew how she really looked like. It seems only the people with pure heart like Rin could see what she truly looked like. She washed her body and dried off before leaving the bath with Sheila. Then they both went to sleep......

......or Kimiko was just getting ready for a midnight operation. Her senses were not flaring so it meant that the man had yet to do anything. After all, her senses could cover a small village like this in a jiffy. She equipped some dark colored clothes which blended her seamlessly into the night. She then silently jumped out of the window and raced across the rooftops until finally into the roof of the small hospital. She looked inside the room from the window to see on one of the many beds that Rin was nodding off on a chair. A woman with blonde hair who looked a lot like Sheila was currently sleeping on the bed. She looked pale but her breathing was stable. Kimiko then stood on the roof looking at the particular direction where an aura of malevolence could be felt.

Kimiko frowned. As expected something was going on at the background.

Ryan's POV

This time it was also a failure. Really the meddlesome adventurer really done it again. The first failure had them being whipped by the Lord and he did not act with mercy. That bastard really did want to kill them. Knowing our history and his, he definitely wanted to kill them. But that was for another story. This time they have to kill the target's mother and with that they can also take that little girl to the Lord. They had been observing the little girl Rin for some time. The stone reacted violently and disintegrated when exposed to her aura which meant that she had much affinity for Holy power than even the Saints. They had expertly manipulated the D-rank Monster with a certain crystal to destroy her house and kill her mother along with it.

But not only did her Mother survive, no doubt the influence of Rin's Aura, but the girl herself got nearly killed. For the first time they were relieved that the good for nothing adventurers had successfully saved her. But the girl had mentioned that the Adventurer had killed the bear which was quite troubling. They need to sort this mess out fast and kill her mother. This way they can legally assume the guardianship of the little girl. With this little girl their Mistress’s plan can finally come into fruition. It was the reason why both him and his co-worker had arrived to the hospital silently. It was time to poison the mother with their special poison and let her die instantly. The doctors of this village wasn’t that skilled to trace the poison after all. With this and taking the guardianship of the girl they can send her to the Lord immediately. Their missions fulfilled and they can leave this village for good.

Kimiko's pov

She used her observe skill on two of the intruder, no doubt the orphanage head and his co-worker, and frowned at the information as she disabled the equipment function. It was pretty late into the night.

[Check Status]

[Successful! * 2

Name: Ryan Bel Age: 35 Lvl: 141

Title: Member of the [Cult](Hidden)

Status: Brainwashed (Severe)

Job: Beginner Assassin

Adventure Level: E

STAT

STR: 267 CON: 183

VIT: 209 DEX: 543

INT: 239 WIS: 189

CHA: 335 LUC: 145

Name: Samuel Age: 25 Lvl: 113

Title: Member of the [Cult] (Hidden)

Status: Brainwashed (Mild)

Job: Beginner Assassin

Adventurer Level: D

STAT

STR: 200 CON: 155

VIT: 186 DEX: 440

INT: 196 WIS: 156

CHA: 248 LUC: 114

]

Why was she entangled in a troublesome matter? Was the whole world out to get her? It just had to the freaking [Cult]. She sighed and kept herself concealed. As they came closer and closer to the Hospital she jumped silently. She jumped gracefully in an arc and landed silently behind them. They seem to get ready for something as they crouched and took out their knife coated in poison. She silently approached behind them and tapped on their shoulder.

"Hello there!"

Both of them were shocked and looked behind at the same time. Kimiko smiled charmingly but that smile did not reach her eyes.

""Huh?""

Before promptly getting shot by the tranquilizer gun to their head. And they fell to the [Dream Land] where their every fantasy came true. Kimiko looked at the sleeping figure that had a dart poking from their head.

'Shooting on the head might be the effective way but not visually pleasing it seems. At least it is funny.'

She concluded. They were alive though and she had to make them answer her.