After the men lost consciousness, I went to the bottom of the canyon, to take Faeran and my bag. I tried to move carefully and not wake up Faeran, as I ran back to the top of the canyon. I used few of the unused materials on my bag to tie them up. Seeing them closely, they had some animal like features.

The armored men all had brown scales and a lizard like face. They were all built like a normal soldier would be. The young man was wearing tattered clothes, but still looked good in it. He had fluffy ears which was peaking out of his spiky red hair. His body was filled with lean muscles despite him being young. He looked around 14-16 years old, yet his body was covered in scars. He looked like a typical slave that does hard labor. He probably got the scars from being punished because of his failure as a slave.

Since it was almost time for Faeran’s afternoon snack, I searched for a small flying monster and sent a sword wave to its direction.

1240 exp gained

I took out the unnecessary organs and gave them to the other monsters. I went back to the river and cleaned the skin and organs that I would use for the food. I picked a few seasonings from my bag and put the right amount on the meat. After a while, I put the meat on sticks I carve from the branches and cooked them. I left a few meat to be marinated for later use. By the time the food was cooked, Faeran woke up.

“Good timing, the food is ready.”(Sania)

“Nuu” Faeran moved closer to the meat and stared at it while waiting for the ‘ok’ signal.

I took one of the meat, took it out from the stick, and put it on Faeran’s bowl. His bowl was created from Alpheous Ursus’ bones so it’s quite sturdy. Actually, most of our things are created from the Alpheous Ursus. Even the pot I use for boiling water is made from its bone.

My bag is quite big so it can carry a lot, it’s a rectangular bag with a 2ft length, 4ft wide and 3ft height. I used bones for the sides of the bag to give it a permanent shape, and a two layered handle. Inside it are some of my crafting tools, cooking utensils, seasoning, and clothes. Well, it’s quite heavy if I look at it on human standards, but it’s light to me so it doesn’t really hinder my movements.

By the way, an Alpheous Ursus is considered as a raid boss, and it was the strongest monster I have encountered on my stay in this world. It was quite big and I encountered 2 of them on my stay at the forest, so I had a lot of materials for creating my things.

These are the stats of my current equipment:

Alpheous Ursus Fur Dress(High)

+35 defense

+15 magic defense

+5% regeneration

+5% resistance to all elements

+1% resistance to manipulation magic

+recovers 0.2% hp based on damage dealt

+recovers 0.1% mp based on damage dealt

Alpheous Ursus Bone Blade(High)

Durability 67/70(regenerates by 1 per day)

+50 strength

+20% increase in senses

+recovers 0.5% hp based on damage dealt

+recovers 0.25% mp based on damage dealt

I don’t know if they are good on this world’s standards, but as of now, these are the best equipments I have ever used.

___

When night came, the young man woke up. He stared at me with fear on his eyes, but I have a counter to that. I have prepared the best food I could make on this canyon and gave it to him. You know what they say, the easiest way to a man’s heart is his stomach. Well, I don’t really plan on making them fall for me, I just want them to see that I’m not their enemy.

The young man was cautious, he probably thought I put poison on it. I took the bowl and started eating. The smell started to spread, and he started breathing heavily. I took another serving and ate beside him. Every time I put a spoon on my mouth, I could hear him swallow his saliva. His eyes moved around violently and in the end, he took the bowl from my hands and started eating.

There is none that could resist. Everyone is a slave to an old woman’s cooking muahahahaha.

After eating the first serving, he looked down and gave the bowl to me. I know that he wanted another serving, but let’s tease him a bit. It’s been a long time since I have played a prank on someone after all. I grabbed the bowl and sat near Faeran, who was sleeping on top of the bag. It didn’t look like I would give him another serving, so he had a slightly dejected face.

I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. I could feel him moving closer to me and in a few moments, he was tugging my clothes. His eyes were begging for more food, and looking at it made me feel bad. Ok, let’s stop teasing...I’m starting to feel guilty.

I gave him another serving, and he recieved the bowl with a smile on his face. His small fluffy tail started to move around like what Faeran does all the time. After the second serving he asked for another one, then another, and the cycle continued. The food I cooked for 4 people were eaten by one young man...is his stomach linked to some infinite space or something?

After eating, he moved away from me. He started looking at me with fear on his eyes again...I just gave you food, is that not enough?

If my hypothesis is correct and he really is a slave, then he must have gone through a lot. The armored men looked like they wanted to kill him, and for a child, it’s probably traumatic. I won’t jump to conclusions, but as based on his reaction, there is a high chance that I am right...or I’m just a senile old woman thinking that I know everything.

I reached my hand to the child, but he pushed it away. His sharp nails cut my skin a bit and he looked scared upon seeing blood drip from my hands. Actually, if I was a normal human, my hand would have been sent flying from his action. He bowed to me and repeatedly slammed his head to the ground. It’s a good thing that Faeran was sleeping, he would have charred this child if he saw me get hurt.

I stopped him by hugging him tightly. He tried to push me away, but the difference in strength rendered his actions useless. I gently stroked his head and sang my grandson’s favorite lullaby. He slowly stopped pushing and instead, he hugged me tightly. He started speaking in a different language and cried. As I held him in my arms, someone suddenly cut my head off...just kidding.

Someone did try to cut my head off, but I noticed him a long time ago. When the sword was near my head, it was deflected by one of my lightning swords. I summoned lightning swords around the man and the other 2 who were about to attack me. I released an intimidating pressure to make them stop their movements.

“If you just stayed quiet, then I could have tried to listen or know about your side of the story. This child might have been acting and all of my speculations could have been wrong, but the thing you did, just proved that you guys are the ones at fault”(Sania)

I didn’t move from the spot, I didn’t kill them...I hesitated a bit since I didn’t want to kill a person, but there was another reason why I didn’t act. My pressure was canceled by a stronger pressure, a pressure that came from someone on top of my bag.

“ROAAAAAAAAR”(Faeran)

My cute little Faeran turned into a colossal 20ft lightning wolf. His body was made out of blue lightning and his horn was emitting black light. The dark sky turned red and sparks could be seen moving around the sky. The ground started to vibrate as Faeran gathered force on his mouth. The men couldn’t breath from the pressure that Faeran was emitting, in fact, they were already dying just from the pressure.

They started to bleed and their body slowly ruptured, but before they died, Faeran released a lightning attack from his mouth. Everything in front of Faeran vanished, the orange ground of the canyon turned dark. The sound from his attack was enough to destroy a person’s ear drum, and would have killed the child in my hands. Luckily, I covered my body with my own pressure to cancel Faeran’s pressure and I also sent a few lightning waves to distort the sound before it reached us.

0 exp gained

0 exp gained

0 exp gained

That’s odd, this is the first time I see 0 exp. Is it because we are not allowed to get exp from people? Ah, never mind, if I don’t get exp from people, then I really don’t have a reason to kill them...unless they do something to make me snap.

Faeran released his lightning form and ran to me. He sniffed the arm that got cut but the young man’s nails and started licking it...good, looks like he thought it was those men that did it. The young man didn’t care about what’s happening and continued to cry on my arms. He cried and cried, until he lost consciousness. It was still night and I had nothing else to do, so I slept beside the young man and Faeran slept between us...somehow, it feels like sleeping with a family.

___

When I woke up, the other 2 were still sleeping. I searched around the vicinity for food, but in the end, I had to kill another flying type monster. When I got back, Faeran was running around in circles while the young man was crying. After seeing me, the young man ran and hugged me. Faeran got a bit jealous, so he jumped to the top of my head.

The young man looked up and said something...well I was just a bit taller so it wasn’t exactly looking up. Even though I didn’t know the words, I knew what he wanted to say. I gently stroked his head and smiled.

“It’s ok, I won’t leave you.”(Sania)

He didn’t understand the words, but he knew what my answer was. It seemed like a burden was lifted from his heart, and for the first time since we met, he smiled.

___

After eating, we started traveling again. Faeran was on top of my head while wildly moving his tail, and the young man was holding my arms while wagging his tail. It’s like I adopted a high school kid... Well, at least there is someone I could make clothes for. Although the canyon is quite empty, so the only thing I could use for making clothes are the skin of the flying monsters.

It took quite awhile but I finally got his name. I had to make gestures like pointing at my self and saying my name to make him understand. His name was Astra Elois Cryslia, quite a royal sounding name, but it’s probably normal for this world...I’m not sure.

Anyways, after eating lunch, Astra and Faeran slept together...they are getting along quite well, I thought Faeran be angry that there is someone else with us. I killed a monster and created clothes for Astra. By the time they woke up, I have finished creating a set of clothes for Astra. When I gave him the clothes, he looked happy. He quickly stripped down and wore the new clothes.

The sudden events made me turn my head around. Even if he was young, it was still a man’s body. I am just a few centimeters taller than him, so if you think about it, his body is already developed.

Astra tugged my clothes and as I looked back, I saw him wearing the clothes wrong...I had to help him fix it. The clothes were a bit big so I had to modify it a bit and by the end of the day, Astra was wearing new clothes.

___

Our traveling pace changed a bit, but I could say it change for the better. Having more people really makes everything livelier. Although there was one thing disturbing me. As Astra’s wound healed, he got stronger and stronger. Before, he looked like he will get killed by the armored men, yet he is at the same strength as Faeran without the lightning form...

Not only is he getting stronger, he is even aging faster. A few days ago he looked like a young man at the age of 16, yet now he looked like a man on his early 20s. It’s quite awkward for someone taller to stick close to me, it probably looks like we are a couple or something. There are a lot of questions on my head, but seeing his childish smile was enough to make me forget it.

Right now he is holding my hands and waving it around. He seems really happy walking around with me, and it doesn’t seem like he has any hidden motive, but it’s a bit awkward to be holding a grown man’s hand.

The change in pacing was slightly affecting my judgement, but it was not like anything bad will happen. Just for now, until he forgets about his past...I’ll act as his mother...

We continued walking, and a week after meeting Astra, we entered a grassy plain. We could see a village from a far, so we decided to go there.

___

The monsters in the plain were a lot weaker. The strongest I could see is at the level of a monster that I could defeat at level 20. Well, the type of monsters I have met got weaker and weaker as we moved away from the forest. The plains were filled with blue grass...as always.

As we go closer to the village, I started to feel something bad. The village was a bit old when we look at it from a far, but the thing is that there was not a single soul there...or are they just all hiding in their houses?

When we entered the village, it was certain. The village was abandoned, and there were a lot of old bones there. Astra held my hand and started shaking. He was felt something odd in the village. Faeran on the other hand was calm.

Since I was a bit curious, I started checking the houses. The inside was filled with dust, and you could see spider webs on the ceiling...so there are also spiders on this world. I also entered every room.

“Sorry for the intrusion.”(Sania)

I only looked at the portraits, and they all had animal features like Astra. As I looked around, I saw more bones and a few documents, which I couldn’t read. I went from house to house, since I felt that I have to find something...wait, when did I get curious about this village?

Since, Faeran and Astra was there, the gloomy vibe of the village didn’t affect me.

After a while, only the one at the center was left. I felt that the thing I was looking for is on that building. I’m quite odd today, my flow of thoughts are a bit of a mess...

As I moved closer to the house, the sky darkened, even though it was still noon. My heart started pounding heavily, it felt like there was something really wrong about me being here. I changed my mind and started heading out of the village...but I noticed I was alone.

Where is Faeran? Where is Astra? When did we separate?

I started running around the village, but there wasn’t any signs of them. I tried moving out of the village, but I kept being sent back. I can walk out, but before I notice it, I am back to the village. There was no longer any light, except for my own lightning magic.

The place was starting to get more and more scary, but I had to continue searching. I have circled around the village but they were not there...no, there’s still the house in the middle of the village. If you think about it, that is the last place where I saw them, why didn’t I think of that?

I ran to the house, but the door was locked...it was already abandoned so I kicked the door open. I moved around but all I could see was an old abandoned house, and a few portrait in the walls. My body told me to search for something, yet I don’t even know what I’m looking for...I don’t even understand my own thoughts anymore.

I continued looking around, but I suddenly felt like I had to move something, it felt like I’ll find something. I looked at every places in the house, but in the end, I couldn’t find anything.

When I walked out of the house, just like before, I was sent back. I ran and ran, but I always got sent back to the house. I tried destroying everything around me, yet I couldn’t even scratch an old worn out wood...there is really something wrong.

I aimlessly moved around the house, I no longer know what to do, I don’t even know why I’m here. Why did I even come here? Where was I before? What was I looking for again?...who am I?

*crack*

The floor suddenly collapsed.

It was quite a long fall, and before I noticed it, I was already unconscious.

___

“Mother, why did you leave me?”(?)

Who’s that?

“You told me you loved me.”(?)

Who are you?

“You liar”(?)

Wait, tell me what’s going on.

“You betrayed me, you betrayed our people, you made the kingdom fall.”(?)

I don’t understand.

“But it’s ok now, since you can ask for forgiveness. Everyone is waiting for you, and they will accept you again if you apologize.”(?)

I...I don’t know...

“Here, grab my hand, I’ll lead you to the others.”(?)

I couldn’t see anything, I couldn’t feel anything, yet I wanted to hold his hand...who’s his mother? Who am I?

“NUUUUUUUUU”(Faeran)

The darkness faded, and right before me, a colossal wolf appeared. Its body was made out of lightning, yet blood was flowing out of its body.

WARNING: ???

???: Astra Elois Crysalia

Location: ???

Recommended Level(Party): ???

Recommended Level(Solo): ???

_________

Author’s Notes:

Spoiler : This is supposed to be a confusing chapter. When did it all start? Was it when they got to the grassy plain? Was it when she met Astra? When? Someone tell me what’s happening!