In the distance, I finally caught sight of my destination, a walled village. “Finally! After weeks of fighting through this damned forest, I'm finally here!”

The sight of civilization invigorated me. I always thought that I could live all by my lonesome in the wilderness, but who knew it'd be so hard to be all alone with your only talking companion a lifeless doll and two horses?

“How long did it take you to reach our village anyway?” Belka asked beside me in her usual gruff tone. It turns out Muscle Bitch's name was Belka, so I started calling her that in my mind. The last thing I wanted was accidentally calling her Muscle Bitch for real.

“It took me three weeks and two days,” I grumbled.

Belka seemed to look surprised at my answer. “Only three weeks? That's impressive. With the route you took and the concentration of monsters there, it should normally take at least a month of traveling, not to mention you were all on your lonesome.”

“Well, it was the shortest route I could possibly take. It's not like there are other faster routes.”

Belka gave me an unimpressed look. “Of course there are. The one you took was the southern route that passes through several known monster-infested areas in the Wild Woods. Only an idiot would use that route, so I don't know what the hell you were thinking.”

My eyebrow twitched at her words. I never felt this strong an urge to strangle another person, but I stomped down on that urge and ignored her insult.

“Then what other routes are there then, oh mighty hunter?”

“If you did your proper research instead of just charging straight through the Wild Woods, you'd know you could have taken the western or the northwestern routes,” Belka replied. “The western route passes through a few monster-infested areas, but not as much as the southern route, while the northwestern route is completely safe.”

I already knew that these routes existed before coming here, of course, but I was still baffled. That's because I only knew about the routes, not the smaller details like whether they passed through monster-infested areas, although looking back, it sure as hell wasn't a small detail.

When I was looking at the map the Merchant's Guild had of this place, the only factor I considered was travel time, and since the southern route was the shortest and nearest one at the time, of course I chose that as my path to Wildpost village.

“I thought all the routes were filled with monsters? They're all inside the Wild Woods after all.”

“All the routes used to be,” Belka replied. “But the previous governor of Halros cleared the northwestern portion of the Wild Woods of monsters and established a secure route inside the forest. Thanks to that, the villages inside the Wild Woods can trade with the nearby city of Halros.”

“Wait, you mean to say that Wildpost isn't the only village in this forest?”

“Far from it. In fact, Wildpost is the youngest village in the Wild Woods, established only forty years ago.”

My brows furrowed in confusion. How could the youngest village also be the largest in the Wild Woods?

Just then, I felt one of the hunters inside the wagon, the annoying but handsome young man, poke Taloress. Again. Why can't this idiot keep his hands to himself?

For the past half hour we've been traveling, the young man had been trying to initiate a conversation with Taloress, probably trying to hit on her, but I made my puppet ignore him. The young man didn't take to this kindly and started annoying Taloress, trying to catch her attention.

“Touch her again and I promise you you'll never be able to draw your bow again, young man,” I shouted into the wagon. I felt the idiot in my fabric sense retreat quickly, glancing at Taloress and in my direction repeatedly, probably confused as to how I knew what he was doing.

Belka raised an eyebrow at me.

“What?” I asked. Was she offended that I reprimanded one of her hunters?

“I just find your choice of words unusual. You call one of my hunters a ‘young man’ yet you sound just like one yourself.”

Oh yeah, I forgot my voice didn't exactly sound like a grown man's. I'm thirteen already, but unfortunately, my puberty came late. But even if I was currently younger than that annoying young man inside the wagon, I'd be older if I also considered my age in my past life, so I had the right to call him a ‘young man.’

“Being young doesn't rely solely on age, Miss Belka,” I said, assuming my Mr. Marion manner of speech once again. “It also relies on the maturity of the mind. And the young man back there that keeps touching my companion for no good reason other than to get her attention like a child despite being a young adult is a perfect example of immaturity. A man-child, if you will.”

“Hey! I heard that!” the man-child shouted from within the wagon.

Unexpectedly, Belka gave a short chuckle. “You're right on that account, Marion.”

“Call me Mr. Marion, please.” I didn't really have any qualms about being called on a first name basis, but I was still bitter about Belka insinuating that my dresses were made for whores. Wait a minute, isn't my name officially ‘Mr. Marion’ since that's what's on my Adventurer Guild card? Then that should mean my first name is ‘Mr.’ and my last name is ‘Marion’…

“Eyes on the road, Marion, we're here,” Belka said, shaking me out of my reverie.

At that point, the wagon exited the treeline. The sight revealed before me almost took my breath away.

The village was situated in a large clearing, which we just entered. The wooden wall I spotted earlier turned out to be quite tall, maybe seven meters high, and there were watchtowers manned by armed guards watching our arrival. Up ahead was the village's entrance, but as we got closer, I noticed that there was a moat surrounding the walls.

But what shocked me wasn't the fortress-like village. No, it was the looming mountain right in front of me. While I was traveling through the forest, I caught a glimpse of the mountain through the gaps in the canopy, but I didn't realize I was this close. The mountain was enormous.

Not only that, my map turned out to be inaccurate. I thought Wildpost village was near the base of the mountain, but half of it it was actually built up the slope of the mountain.

Even if I saw mountains all the time on Earth through pictures and the internet, I haven't tried visiting one, which is why my mouth was currently wide open behind my mask as I looked up the huge mountain. I never really understood the meaning of the word looming until now, because from my position at its very base, the tall mountain seemed like it could topple over me at any moment.

“Impressive, right?”

Belka must've noticed my amazement even with my mask on, because she was grinning at me as if she won some kind of contest between us or something.

“The mountain, yes. The village? Not so much.”

“Hmph, you haven't even entered yet.”

I ignored the large woman's grumbling until we arrived at the village entrance, where Belka instructed me to stop. There was a small bridge that went over the moat, but it doesn't seem to be like the type of bridge that could be raised or lowered in case of an attack.

“Everybody out,” Belka barked inside the wagon.

The other hunters started exiting my wagon, the young man shooting me an annoyed glare as he passed by, but I didn't pay it any heed. In fact, I preferred his glare instead of the fearful glances some of them were shooting my way. For some reason, the fearful glances hurt me more than the glare.

“Head Hunter! I'm glad you're back safe and sound,” an old man greeted from the entrance. He looked like he was in his seventies or eighties, had long gray hair, and a mighty beard that reached all the way to his chest. He was garbed in a gray robe that reached his ankles and in his hand was a long wooden staff. If he added a gray pointy hat to his ensemble, I swear he'd complete the Gandalf look. Wait, did he just call Belka ‘Head Hunter?’

For a moment, I questioned my past choices. I fought, insulted, and talked with a woman who was nicknamed ‘Head Hunter.’ I'm sure it's a metaphor. She doesn't actually hunt heads, right? Right?

“And I see you brought us a visitor,” the old man added as he shifted his kind gaze to me. “I'm very excited to welcome a— Selise?!”

At that moment, the last two hunters that exited my wagon came out carrying a makeshift stretcher. It was a simple blanket that I gave them to help carry the unconscious girl, whose name turned out to be Selise.

“Is she alright?! What happened?!” the old man shouted in panic as he rushed towards the two hunters carrying the girl.

“Don't worry, she'll be alright, Bran. She just hit her head on a tree. Mr. Marion over there already treated her with Life magic,” Belka said from the village entrance.

“A mage?!” the old man exclaimed in shock, then proceeded to bow his head at me. “Ah, forgive me for this shameful display, Master Mage. If I had known you were a practitioner of the mystic arts, we would have prepared a much grander welcome!”

The old man's reaction made me speechless for a moment. This was the first time somebody reacted like that after learning I was a mage. Even when I was revealed as a mage back at Vont's Adventurer's Guild, nobody really reacted quite like this old man before me. Not even Belka.

The old man's expression upon learning I was a mage had a hint of fear in it, just like the other hunters earlier. And that's when I realized that they were just mundane people. Belka was an augmenter, a powerful one at that, so I easily understood her lack of fear. Heck, I should be the one scared of her. But to normal people, a mage who could wreak destruction simply with their will was something that should be feared, especially when they did not have the power to fight back. This was the first time I saw the normal reaction people had when they saw a real mage.

“Please, do not stress yourself so much, kind sir. I was the one at fault for the young girl's injury in the first place, so it's only fitting that I make up for it by treating her free of charge,” I said to the old man. “And just call me Mr. Marion.”

“Ah, how rude of me, forgetting to even introduce myself first,” the old man said in a fluster. “My name is Bran, Chief of Wildpost village. But let us continue this conversation in my humble home, Mr. Marion. It's only fitting that I show you our best hospitality. We get so few visitors these days.”

“Ah, before that, I must first accomplish the task I came here for in the first place,” I interrupted before Bran could continue. “I actually came here to find an isolated place to bury my mother who died recently, and I would be grateful if you could lend me a guide who could point me to a proper location nearby.”

I saw the faces of the other hunters pale at my words, but I couldn't think of the reason why. Is there some kind of dire implication of a mage burying their loved one?

Bran seemed to be oblivious of the other hunters' reactions and readily answered me. “My deepest condolences, Mr. Marion, I'm sure your mother has returned to the embrace of the Holy Mother. As for isolated burial places, I'm afraid there's no such place that I know of. Aside from the villages, the Wild Woods is teeming with monsters, and I could not think of a place where scavengers would not dig up your loved one once you bury her.”

“That would be fine,” I replied. Bran's face took up a funny expression, and I immediately realized my poor choice of words. “What I mean to say is that I'll be living near her burial place once I do find one and protect her from any monster.”

“Are you sure you do not want to bury your esteemed mother here in Wildpost?” Bran asked. “We will be happy to arrange her funeral here, and I assure you that there are no grave robbers here that would disrespect her resting place.”

“I'm glad for the offer, Mr. Bran, but I wouldn't want to impose when I just arrived here. I also intend to establish my own domicile away from many people, you see, as I highly value my privacy.” I was glad of Bran's generous offer, but I was speaking the truth when I said I wanted my privacy. I would have also preferred to find the proper place myself to keep it secret from anyone, but after weeks of traveling in the Wild Woods, I knew how easy it would be to get lost in this massive forest without a guide.

Fortunately, Bran didn't seem disappointed that I rejected his offer. “I understand, Mr. Marion, and I will respect your wishes. I think Head Hunter Belka would be the most fitting one to serve as your guide in finding the burial place, but before that, may I request to borrow her for a moment? There are a few concerns in the village that needs her attention, you see, but I promise it would only be a moment!”

“It's fine, Mr. Bran, I'm the one imposing on your kindness, after all,” I replied. It's not like I'm in a rush anyway. I've been waiting for Mom's burial for months already, waiting a few minutes more won't change anything. “I'll just wait here, then.”

With that, Bran and Belka walked a fair distance where they could talk privately.

●●●

“What happened?” Bran asked briskly once he and Belka were far enough from everyone.

“We had a bit of a scuffle when we initially met with Marion, but everything worked out fine after that,” Belka replied succinctly. She proceeded to narrate other details such as Mr. Marion's silent companion inside the wagon, his profession as a clothes merchant, and the fact that he was not only capable of Life magic but also another type of magic that produced force.

“A mage capable of at least two schools of magic, eh?” Bran muttered with a frown. “How about his personality? Would it be problematic?”

“I don't think Marion would bring trouble with his personality down the line,” Belka replied. “He can be an arrogant prick, but when it matters, he'll own up to his own mistakes. Case in point, Selise's injury.”

“I thought so as well,” Bran replied. “The simple fact that you call him by his first name tells a lot, and I even tested him by acting all submissive earlier.”

Belka grunted in reply.

“Which makes it all the more saddening that he rejected our offer to bury his mother here,” Bran said with a disappointed expression. If the newcomer had agreed to bury his mother in Wildpost, then that would also mean he would live in the village as well.

According to Belka, the newcomer was a decently powerful mage, and his silent companion who crossed blades with the Head Hunter herself was surely to be powerful too. If they decided to live in Wildpost, then they would have acquired two powerful people who could help defend them from the constant monster onslaught for the past few months. Not only that, having a mage would have discouraged any ill intentions of the other villages in the Wild Woods toward Wildpost.

Despite his kind face and grandfatherly nature, Bran was the most cunning individual in all of Wildpost. His sharp intellect was what made Wildpost the largest village in the Wild Woods in the first place, and he would continue to use it for the good of Wildpost until the Holy Mother decided it was his time.

“Fortunately, not all hope is lost yet,” Bran said. “Since you're the one guiding him to find the proper burial site, try to make it as near as possible to Wildpost.”

“Alright, but I won't be able to refuse if he doesn't want to establish his home so close to the village.”

“It will be fine as long as Wildpost is the nearest settlement to his home and not the other villages. If he's a clothes merchant, then that should mean he needs somebody to sell his products to.”

If Bran's plan went well, then Wildpost would become the first and foremost choice out of several other villages that Mr. Marion would choose from to do his business in. Bran knew Mr. Marion would inevitably visit the other villages to ply his trade there as well, but by being the closest village to his home, Wildpost would be able to establish strong ties with the mage.

“That will be all from me, Belka. There are other matters concerning the village's security that you need to be informed about, but we'll have that discussion when you come back later,” Bran said as he started walking back to the village entrance where Mr. Marion was waiting.

Halfway through, one of the hunters approached them with a pale face. It was Ned, the young man who had been acting rude to Mr. Marion earlier, Belka noted.

“Head Hunter!” Ned called out to the two, glancing back at the newcomer surreptitiously as if he was about to share some secret.

“I don't have time for you, Ned. I still have to guide the newcomer to a suitable burial place,” Belka said, her usual frown coming back to her face.

“But Head Hunter, this is important!” Ned whispered hurriedly. “That man, that man said he was going to bury his mother right?”

“What of it?” Belka asked, not slowing down her stride. The Chief was walking beside her as well, listening to their conversation but keeping quiet.

“When we were riding inside the wagon, only the masked woman was there!” Ned whispered hysterically.

The Chief gasped in shock, but Belka frowned in confusion. “So what? We already know there are only two of them. What are you babbling on about?”

Seeing as even the Chief's face paled, Belka stopped walking, a sense of dread creeping inside her. “What is it? Out with it, dammit!”

“T-There was no corpse inside the wagon to bury,” Ned revealed with a stutter.

Realization dawned on Belka's face. Bran thought he saw an expression of betrayal on her face, but Belka quickly masked her emotions with a cold expression. “Are you sure of that?” she asked sharply.

Ned nodded vigorously. “Even the others in my squad realized it when the stranger mentioned burying his mother.”

“Alright. Go back to your squad, bring Selise back to her house, and then return to the training grounds. Under no circumstance do you share this information with other people, understood?”

Ned nodded and dashed back to the group of hunters that rode in Mr. Marion's wagon earlier. They were shooting fearful glances at the newcomer.

“Is he what I think he is?” Bran asked nervously. His earlier fervor in trying to keep the newcomer as close to the village as possible was gone, replaced with dread. “Is he a necromancer?”

Belka felt her heart skipping a beat at the mention of the word. Necromancy was the most forbidden school of magic in the entire world, which made it the one with the least number of practitioners. The number of times necromancers were sighted over the past century could be counted on one hand. As a result, necromancers were usually a thing of legends in most parts of the world, whispered in old tales and used to scare off naughty children.

But everybody knew they were real. After all, the last time a necromancer emerged from the shadows, it required the alliance of several nations to bring down the army of undead that threatened the continent.

Now that Belka was seeing the newcomer in a new perspective, she can't help but chide herself for not noticing the obvious signs earlier.

For one, Ned and his squad should have had some kind of reaction when they climbed in the wagon earlier if the corpse of the newcomer's mother was inside. But if they did not react in any way, where was the corpse?

Belka remembered the masked woman she crossed swords with in the beginning. She did not talk, and when she was brought down by Belka's kick, she got up in an eerie manner that was not reminiscent of a human's movements. Belka now realized why she felt unnerved by her opponent at that time. She was fighting an undead.

“There's still a chance that he isn't,” Belka replied, although she didn't care to voice her thought that the chance was slim, almost nil. “We can't rule out the possibility that he's lying about burying his mother. That might be the reason why he isn't willing to bury her here.”

“Yes. Yes, you're right,” Bran said slowly as he calmed down. “I think Ned might be overreacting a bit. But just in case, forget what I said earlier about guiding him to a place as close as possible to the village. Instead, guide him as far as possible from any settlement in the Wild Woods and see what he does, if he really is…”

“Don't worry, Bran. I'll take care of it,” Belka said grimly.

With their new plan of action decided, Belka briskly walked towards Mr. Marion.

●●●

After a short wait, Belka rode beside me on the wagon again to serve as my guide through the Wild Woods. Right now, we were traveling through a very narrow dirt road leading away to the northeast of Wildpost, although it would be more apt to call it an animal trail. We were fortunate that it was at least wide enough for my wagon to fit.

The road was curved and followed the contour of the base of the mountain. To our left, the ground sloped on a sharp incline as it lead up the mountain while to our right lay the expansive Wild Woods.

“Can you give me any idea as to where we're going, Miss Belka?” I asked the large woman beside me.

“Drop the ‘Miss,’ it sounds horrendous,” Belka replied with annoyance. “I'm sure you don't want to bury your mother where monsters lingered in every corner, so I'm bringing you to one of the few places in this forest with some semblance of peace.”

“Yeah, I'd appreciate a place where some oversized cat wouldn't pounce on me out of the blue,” I muttered much more casually, remembering the powerful panther that I encountered during my trip.

“The place I have in mind is the area east of the Sunrise Mountains,” Belka continued explaining. “In case you didn't know yet, this mountain we're skirting around is just a part of a chain of mountains that stretches to the north, and east of this mountain range is a thinly forested area that leads to the coast. The Wild Woods is sparser there, which means fewer monsters.”

I nodded in understanding. I already knew the mountain we were skirting around right now was part of the Sunrise Mountains, although I had no idea that right beside it was the ocean. One thing bothered me though.

“If that area has fewer monsters, then why are there no settlements built there yet?” According to the map I copied from the Merchant's Guild, most of the villages in the Wild Woods were mostly located in the central portion of the forest where I'm pretty sure much of the monster population lives in.

“Every spring, when the ocean waters turn warm again, sea monsters surface onto land in search of food. The native monsters in the Wild Woods are easier to deal with than the ones that come from the depths of the ocean, which is why most settlements are far from the coast,” Belka replied.

“Then why are you leading me there when it's easier to live deeper in the Wild Woods?”

“Since there's just the two of you, it will be easy to hide from the sea monsters every spring, unlike a settlement full of humans erecting buildings and large walls,” Belka replied. “In the end, hiding from sea monsters is way easier than having to fend off the native monsters in the Wild Woods all year.”

I was confused at Belka's words for a moment when she said ‘the two of us,’ then I remembered that she met Taloress as well.

“Ah, yes, Taloress and I should be able to hide from a bunch of monsters easily. We intended to be discrete in building our abode anyway, so it should be no big deal.”

Belka eyed me suspiciously, but for what reason, I had no idea. Maybe she doubted my ability to stay stealthy given my bombastic nature when we first met, but that was just a facade anyway. I'm not some musclehead warrior that would rather fight off monsters trespassing on my territory instead of hiding.

The rest of the trip was pretty peaceful compared to my journey to Wildpost. As we steadily moved farther and farther away from Wildpost, the forest started growing sparser. We had an encounter with a flock of shrieking bird monsters, but the noise from a Force Blast was enough to scare them away.

At last, we arrived on the eastern side of the mountain, where the trees were very few and far in between that I could see much farther than usual. Farther to the east, I spotted the blue color of the ocean. That must be where the sea monsters come from.

“We're here,” Belka announced, and I pulled on Clip and Clop's reins. “Go ahead and look for the area you want to build a home in. This is technically still a part of the kingdom, but nobody would charge you for taking the land. It's not like anybody inspects these lands anyway, so might as well claim it as your own.”

That was what I was looking for when I made my journey: a place where nobody knows and cares about it. A place where I could live in peace and build my home away from the kingdom's eyes. Although the distance from civilization makes it pretty difficult to execute my plan to establish my own clothing company, I'll just have to deal with it in the future. For now, I only have one important task to accomplish.

I roamed the area for a quarter of an hour, looking for the perfect place to bury Mom. Belka tagged along with me, eyeing our surroundings with a vigilant expression, but I can't help but notice her looking at me as well with some tension.

We arrived at an area where the ground gently sloped upward. When we got to the top, I finally found Mom's resting place. In front of us was a small clearing, and at the other end opposite us was a sheer cliff that was a part of the mountain. At the base of the cliff was a dark cave, and with my fabric sense, I knew there was a large bear sleeping inside.

Belka signaled me to stop. “Quiet. There's something inside that cave, probably a bear judging from the claw marks on the cliff face. The large bones in front of the cave tells me it's a Grisly.”

I'm impressed that Belka was able to deduce there was a bear inside the cave even without a fabric sense. Do all hunters in Wildpost have some kind of unique predatory instinct that helped them hunt or something?

Just as Belka said, there were a lot of bones in front of the cave. Some were so large that they could only belong to another monster, which told us a lot about the strength of the bear inside.

“Let's go. It's dangerous to approach the home of a Grisly,” Belka whispered as she moved to leave the area.

“Wait, I'm choosing this place to bury my mother,” I said in a low voice. Belka turned around to glare at me, which was a pretty terrifying sight, but I stood my ground.

When Belka saw I wasn't budging, she sighed. “Fine, but I'm not helping you without compensation.”

I guess it would be pretty rude to ask Belka's help in killing a C-rank monster when she already served as my guide for free. “If you help me, I'll give you the bear's corpse.”

Belka's eyes widened, then she grinned. “Deal.”

Why did I feel like I just got swindled?

Once we discussed a plan to take down the Grisly, I returned to fetch my wagon, which wasn't that far away, and led Clip and Clop a fair distance from the cliff. Since Taloress was a part of the plan, I had to “brief” her about it in front of Belka, who gave a dubious stare towards my puppet. It was understandable since this was only the second time they met each other, especially when their first meeting involved crossing swords with each other. Not exactly the best first impressions.

“You ready?” Belka asked me as she drew the sword on her hip. I expected her to use the bow strapped on her back, what with her being a huntress and all, but I guess arrows wouldn't do jack on a Grisly Bear.

I nodded my affirmation and we both sneaked towards the cave. According to Belka, most bears hibernated during winter, monster or not, so our task should be easier since the Grisly Bear's senses would be duller than usual.

Belka's steps were light and silent, a testament to her experience in stalking prey. I, on the other hand, might as well be walking with bells attached to my ankles with how noisy it was. Since the ground was covered in snow, every footstep of mine came with a nice, hearty crunch.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

Belka turned back at me and glared. I could only shrug my shoulders since I had no experience in sneaking. How does she walk so silently on snow anyway?!

Fortunately, the Grisly Bear didn't seem to hear my pitiful attempts at sneaking, so we continued making our way through the snow. Once we arrived at the mouth of the cave, I got to work.

My part in our plan was to lay traps by the entrance of the cave. I placed both my palms on the snow-covered ground and concentrated. Stealthily, a few strands of thread slipped through my sleeve and slithered under the snow, hidden from Belka's view. Since she didn't know of my ability to manipulate fabric yet, I decided it should stay that way and pretended to cast my magic. Belka didn't seem to know the specific workings of spellcasting, so I didn't have to worry about her pointing out that I didn't need to lay my hands on the ground to cast the spell.

Once the threads were in place under the snow, I formed them into magic circles for Force Blast and channeled just enough mana into them. I made ten of them, each requiring at least three seconds to complete, although I took my time to finish them. If I cast magic too quickly, I'd get burned.

After several minutes, the magic circles were primed and ready, waiting to be triggered. I nodded at Belka, who was watching me silently all this time.

The large woman nodded back and sneaked inside the cave. Our plan was actually fairly simple: Belka sneaks inside the cave and kills the Grisly Bear in its sleep. It was a pretty sound plan to me, but Belka said there was a high chance that the Grisly Bear might detect her and spoil the surprise attack.

That's where my traps came in. If the Grisly Bear awakens, Belka has to retreat from the cave since fighting the monster on open ground was much easier. The moment the Grisly Bear walks past me, then I'll activate my traps and hopefully weaken it enough for Belka to kill it easily. The only downside to the backup plan was that I had to be near enough to activate the spells, but it was acceptable compared to having no backup plan at all.

Once Belka was inside the cave, I slowly walked back until the magic circles were just at the edge of my mana sense and stayed close to the cliff wall. The only thing left to do now was to wait.

In my fabric sense, Belka was now close to the Grisly Bear, maybe five or six meters away. Now that she was close enough, that's when I realized how big the bear really was. Belka was a tall woman, but even while lying down on its stomach, the Grisly Bear was still taller than her. It was almost similar in size to a bus, and I could only imagine how imposing it would look when it stood on its hind legs. I think this one is bigger than what I saw back in Erfeld.

It was a pretty surreal thought that I once peeked over the Baronet's wall to admire the corpse of a Grisly Bear from afar, thinking it would be futile for a normal man to take such a majestic creature down directly, and now I was actively trying to hunt one down.

Once Belka was close enough, she positioned herself beside the bear's head and got ready to stab its neck. It would have been better to stab it in the head for an instant kill, but Belka told me earlier that its skull, along with the rest of its skeleton, was tougher than metal. So that's why Belka seemed so eager earlier when I agreed to give the whole corpse to her. The bear's body must be a treasure trove of materials. I'm starting to regret that decision now.

Just then, the Grisly Bear stirred. I felt Belka freeze in place as the huge monster in front of her shifted in its sleep. After a few seconds, it went still again. I exhaled in relief. I had no idea I was holding my breath, and I bet Belka was too.

Then I felt the Grisly Bear's eyelashes raise. Its eyes were open. Not a second later, Belka moved and plunged her shortsword into its neck. Nice! A direct hit!

Unfortunately, Belka had to retreat as soon as she attacked to dodge the bear's swipe, leaving her sword behind. This meant her sword was still stuck on the bear's wound, greatly limiting the blood loss the monster would have suffered if Belka pulled it out. I could tell the sword was stuck with my fabric sense since the fur on the wound was parted like there was an object stuck there.

The Grisly Bear stood up and gave a furious roar that echoed through the cave all the way to the clearing where I was. It was so loud that even the snow on the ground shook a bit. Well, I guess that means it's time for plan B.

Just as I thought that, Belka started sprinting for the cave's exit, the irate bear right behind her. The cave wasn't a straight hallway, but rather a twisting path with uneven ground that made running very dangerous. Fortunately, it worked in favor of Belka.

The large huntress was agile, her footing always secure and her strides stable. The Grisly Bear, on the other hand, had a much harder time navigating its own home while running at full speed, and with its cumbersome size, it didn't fare so well.

Belka was out of the cave with almost a minute's worth of headstart. She quickly positioned herself directly in front of the cave so that she was the first thing the bear would see the moment it got out. She shot me a questioning glance and I gave her a thumbs-up, the gesture we agreed on that meant “ready.”

The wait was pretty tense. It took the Grisly Bear slightly more than a minute before it finally reached the entrance, and when it finally did, it roared once more at the sight of Belka standing bravely in front of its home.

As majestic as its roar was, it was cut off abruptly as I activated the spells hidden in the snow. With an explosion much louder than the bear's roar, ten waves of force blasted underneath the monster at once, the shockwaves knocking it to the side. Ten Force Blasts was only enough to knock it aside?!

I knew my Force Blasts were just third-circle magic, but there were ten of them! How heavy is this bear?!

Belka didn't miss the opening and charged towards the disoriented bear, aiming for the blade stuck on its neck. It turned out we underestimated the Grisly Bear's resilience since it still managed to swipe its claws on the large woman barreling towards it, forcing Belka to back away.

But Belka's charge was simply a distraction.

Just as the Grisly Bear was out of balance from attacking, something fell from the top of the cliff far above us. It landed directly on the bear's back and plunged the enchanted sword it was holding on the monster's neck, right beside Belka's sword. It was Taloress.

The Grisly Bear roared and tried to shake off Taloress from its back, but since I could control her entire body, I just pushed her entire form against the monster's back to prevent her from falling.

Taloress moved to remove both Belka's shortsword and the enchanted sword stuck on the Grisly Bear's neck to let the monster bleed to death, but it turns out I overestimated my puppet's strength. Despite Taloress' ability to exert the strength of a normal person, Taloress struggled to even budge the blades stuck on the Grisly Bear's neck.

The furious bear roared and slammed its back on the cliff, trying to knock off Taloress, but blunt trauma wasn't exactly effective on opponents made entirely of cloth. Taloress continued pulling on the swords even as she was slammed again and again on the rough cliff face.

Belka didn't simply remain idle while Taloress was trying to pull the swords out. Just as the Grisly Bear stood on its hind legs to slam its back on the cliff, Belka charged across the clearing, crossing dozens of meters in a few seconds and punching the damn monster on its gut.

It was a pretty funny sight to see a person punch a target many times her size, but what made it even funnier was how the Grisly Bear made an “oof” noise and crumpled on the ground. Belka didn't let the opportunity pass by and continued pummeling the bear's vulnerable belly, each impact creating loud thumping noises that reached even my location. Holy shit, augmenters are scary.

The Grisly Bear tried to fight back by swiping its claws, but with Belka so close, its large size made it easier for the large woman to dodge its attacks.

While my huntress friend continued her one-sided beating on the poor bear, I changed Taloress' actions from trying to remove both swords to focusing instead on trying to remove the enchanted one. With both her hands gripped on the enchanted sword's hilt, Taloress pulled. The enchanted sword came free after a few seconds of pulling, and as it did, blood spurted from the wound.

With the wound freely bleeding, Taloress jumped off the Grisly Bear's back and quickly retreated to the edge of the clearing. Belka must've also seen the rivulets of blood dripping down the bear's fur since she fell back the same time Taloress did.

The Grisly Bear tried to give chase, but Belka and Taloress easily danced around the lumbering monster. The excessive blood loss also slowed down its movements significantly. This was supposedly the end of our plan: wait until the Grisly Bear bled out and harvest its body for precious materials. I say ‘supposedly’ because we did not consider the possibility of what the Grisly Bear would do when it couldn't reach its targets.

Just as Belka stepped quickly to the side to dodge the monster's bite, the Grisly Bear's position ended up facing me. I felt like the entire world froze for a second as I made eye contact with the Grisly Bear. Oh shit.

The first thing that came to mind was what I always saw on the internet during a bear attack: play dead. Although seeing as how the Grisly Bear was now charging in my direction since it couldn't catch Belka, I think it would no longer be ‘playing’ if the damn monster started mauling me.

I started running in the opposite direction and began forming a Force Blast spell. I would have loved to describe this moment as a man heroically leading the dangerous monster away from two fair maidens, but I don't think Belka exactly fit the description of a maiden and my terrified cries were far from heroic.

“HELP! HELP ME! THERE'S A DAMN BEAR CHASING MY ASS!”

Even inside Mr. Marion's body, I could feel the ground tremble from the Grisly Bear's heavy steps. I could feel my heart pounding furiously from fear as I controlled Mr. Marion to run as fast as he can. Watching Belka battle the bus-sized bear from afar was pretty fun, but having it chase me with gnashing teeth and furious eyes was a whole different matter.

The three seconds it took to form the Force Blast felt like ages, but once it was ready, I launched it at the bear chasing me in a frenzy. The wave of force hit the Grisly Bear head-on, but all it did was slow its pace down for less than a second. Fortunately, I was near the edge of the clearing now, and once I was inside the forest, the trees should help me outmaneuver the large monster.

But once I did reach the forest, a single glance behind me dashed my hopes. The Grisly Bear bulldozed its way through anything in its path. The trees looked more like sticks as the Grisly Bear knocked them aside effortlessly, roaring all the while. It didn't even seem to notice the obstacles blocking it at all.

Fortunately, not all hope was lost. In my fabric sense, I could feel Belka running along with us dozens of meters to my right, probably readying to catch its attention or something. Taloress was chasing us as well since I made her follow us the moment the Grisly Bear chased us, although I'm not sure what she could do in this situation.

“Cast your spell on its feet!” Belka shouted.

I immediately followed Belka's instructions. If my spells were not strong enough to hurt it, then I should use them to slow the bear down instead.

I cast Force Blast again but this time, I aimed it at the Grisly Bear's foot just as it landed on the ground. The blast knocked the bear's strides out of balance and sent it crashing to the ground. I kept running for a few more seconds for good measure, but when the Grisly Bear didn't get up, I finally stopped. I intended to only slow it down, but the spell ended up stopping it entirely. With the amount of blood it already lost, it was probably running on fumes when it started chasing me.

We carefully approached the large monster, which was dying but still pretty much alive. Its breath was ragged and its black eyes stared at us, whether in anger or resignation, I couldn't tell, but what I was sure of was the pain it was experiencing as it slowly bled out.

“Give me your sword,” Belka said suddenly. I was confused at first, but I immediately realized she was talking to Taloress, who was also with us.

Taloress gave Belka the enchanted sword, who quickly plunged the blade into the bear's eye socket and stabbed its brain, quickly ending its misery.

“Finally, it's dead. This overgrown bear is one tough bastard,” I said in relief.

Belka shot me a glare. “It was only defending itself from us. The last thing you could do for it is give it the respect it deserves.”

“Oh, um, sorry,” I apologized quickly. I forgot Belka was a huntress who probably respected any animal she killed.

“I'm going to cut this bear into smaller parts to make it easier to bring him back to Wildpost. It would take a lot of time, so I suggest you start burying your mother,” Belka said as she started using my enchanted sword to carve up the bear.

“Say, can you give me its fur? In exchange, I'll let you borrow my wagon to carry the monster materials more easily.”

Belka considered my offer for a moment then nodded her head.

With that, I returned to the clearing in front of the cliff with Taloress trailing behind me. The adrenaline rush from the chase earlier was starting to recede, replacing it with intense fatigue. There was nothing else that I'd like to do more than sleep away the stress, but I had one last thing to do. The most important thing in my entire journey. It was time to bury Mom.

The reason why I chose this clearing by the cliff was that when we first arrived here, I couldn't detect even a single creature in my fabric sense in a radius of a hundred meters around me except for the Grisly Bear. This place must have been its territory. With so little monster presence, it was the perfect place to bury Mom and build my home where I could live in peace. No monster would come close, the nearest settlement was a small village happy with its isolation, and even if the King suddenly started looking for an Ascendant who could manipulate fabric, nobody would find me in this corner of the kingdom.

With Belka cutting up the Grisly Bear for materials, I started preparing the place for Mom's burial. Since there was nobody else around, I made use of my Authority. Threadtacles emerged from the wagon's windows and started clearing debris by the cave's entrance. The burial spot I chose for Mom was the area beside the cave.

After clearing the debris, I began digging the grave using threadtacles with shovel-shaped tips. The grave I dug was deeper than the norm, about one-and-a-half meters deep to keep monsters from digging her out.

By the time I finished the preparations, which took about half an hour, Belka came back to the clearing. By then, I made sure the threadtacles I used to clean the place and dig the grave were back in the wagon.

Upon seeing my work, Belka's face that was usually set in a dissatisfied frown showed surprise. “You're done digging the grave?”

“Yeah, it was pretty taxing, but with Taloress and me working together, we finished it quite quickly.”

Belka looked at me dubiously. “Even for experienced grave diggers, it usually takes hours, even days, to dig a grave. The only exception is if you're a Gravekeeper… or a necromancer.”

Belka's eyes gleamed at the last word, although it could have been my imagination.

“I'm a mage, Belka. I have my own means of digging a grave quickly,” I said with a bit of fake annoyance. “Anyway, are you finished with the bear?”

“Yes, the only thing left to do is transport it to your wagon.”

“Alright, wait one moment while I retrieve my Mom.”

For some reason, Belka was looking at me with suspicion. “Um, is there something wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing. If you want, I can help carry your mother.”

“Taloress and I would have managed, but sure, I'd appreciate your help,” I replied as I entered the wagon. With practiced ease, I opened the trapdoor of the hidden compartment where Mom lay. Belka, who was waiting by the doorway, looked in silence. I thought I saw a flash of relief pass by Belka's expression, but it must have been my imagination.

“I'll carry from this side, can you carry the other?”

Belka nodded in reply.

Together, we lifted Mom and carried her to the grave I dug earlier. I had to jump down the deep pit and carefully receive Mom while Belka slowly pushed her in since we couldn't just drop Mom's body inside.

“What are all those scribbles on the cloth?” Belka asked as she stared at the magic circles stitched on the cloth wrapped around Mom.

“Those are Preservation enchantments,” I said simply, to which Belka grunted.

Once Mom was snug in her final resting place, I found myself lost for what I should do next. What do people even do at funerals? Back on Earth, my first Mom didn't even get a funeral, although I wasn't sure. If she did, I wasn't able to attend since I was already sent to another city by my uncle.

As far as I know, the dead person's loved ones are supposed to make a eulogy, but should I? Belka was a stranger that I just met today and the two other attendees to Mom's funeral, Taloress and Mr. Marion, were freaking puppets. They wouldn't care about anything I said because they never knew Mom as much as I did. In this funeral, if I could even call it that, I was the only one grieving. I wished deep inside that all my friends in Erfeld were here right now to grieve along with me, to at least share the pain I was feeling, but I was alone now. No matter how many puppets I create, no matter how many Mr. Marions or Tedds or Taloresses I make, I'll still be alone.

“You gonna say something or what?” Belka said beside me, interrupting my thoughts. “You've been staring at your mother for the last minute or so. Don't make her wait. I don't know how long you've been carrying your mother in your wagon, but I'm sure she's just as tired as you. Say your goodbyes and give her the rest she deserves already.”

I stared at Belka, surprised. Instead of the perpetual frown, she looked somber as she looked at the grave. “I could only imagine the hurt you must be feeling when you lost your mother, but I do understand the pain of losing a loved one. Dealing with the pain is hard, but living a life without them is even harder. Daily habits that you used to do together with them become a painful reminder, any mention of their names becomes a sensitive topic, and all the best memories you had with them become bittersweet. It sucks, but at the end of the day, we all have to move on. We're all going to die someday anyway, so might as well make your story as interesting as possible so you can brag it to your mother once you meet her on the other side.”

It was pretty weird hearing about other people's views on death. Where I thought of it as something that would invalidate everything I've accomplished while I was alive and render it pointless, Belka saw it as something that would reunite her with her dead loved ones. It was pretty enlightening.

Belka's words helped me gather my composure I didn't realize I'd lost. “Thanks for that,” I said before turning to Mom.

“Well, I guess this is it, Mom. I always thought we'd still have more time, but it looks like the journey would have to end eventually. Thank you for everything you've done for me, and I hope paradise awaits to wherever death takes you.”

My words were short but heartfelt. I've already said everything I wanted to say to Mom throughout the entire journey we took to reach this place, and there was nothing else left to say. I could visit her grave every day anyway if I wanted to talk to her. That was the reason why I intended to build my home as close as possible to her grave after all.

Since Belka was here, I couldn't use my shovel-tipped threadtacles to dump all the soil I dug earlier back in the grave. So I told Taloress to retrieve the shovels in the wagon, even though I didn't have any. Once she was there, I made two shovels out of cloth which she retrieved.

“Putting back all this soil in the grave would take a long time, so you should go put the Grisly Bear in the wagon and return to your village, Belka. You don't need to bother waiting for us to finish,” I said as I started shoveling dirt.

Belka's eyebrow raised. “Why can't you just use the magic you used to dig out all that soil to put it back in?”

“After that fight with the bear and digging the grave, I'm already pretty low on mana,” I replied. It wasn't technically a lie since I only had about a quarter of my mana left, but with my big mana pool, that was still enough mana to fight off several attacks from weak monsters.

“Alright, then I'll be borrowing your wagon to transport the Grisly Bear. I'll send one of my hunters to return it to you tomorrow,” Belka said as she started walking back to wherever she left the Grisly Bear.

When Belka was out of the clearing, I quickly gathered all my fabric supplies in the wagon with my Authority and transported them inside the cave. It turned out I underestimated the amount of fabric I had stockpiled as what looked like at least a hundred kilos of cloth emerged from my wagon and flew to the cave. Transporting that much fabric took a large chunk out of my remaining mana, and I could already feel the effects of low mana.

While Taloress continued shoveling dirt, I went to the wagon to retrieve my other stuff that I couldn't control with my Authority like food and my camping supplies. Just as I did, Belka returned while carrying large cloth bags filled with something, probably bear parts. It was even dripping slightly with blood.

“Just make sure to clean my wagon before you return it, yes?” I said as Belka threw the cloth bag inside the wagon, some of the blood splattering on the walls.

“Don't worry, your wagon will be good as new when you get it back,” Belka replied with a suspicious grin. I dearly hoped she didn't mean replacing my wagon with a cheap one and returning that one to me.

It took Taloress and me more than an hour of constant shoveling to fill the grave. Just as we finished, Belka also finished lugging all the Grisly Bear's remains to the wagon, everything stored inside cloth bags. Where did she even get all those bags?

“I'll be taking my leave, then,” Belka said as she went to the driver's seat. “I suggest you use the cave as your shelter while you haven't built your home yet. The Grisly Bear's scent should still be strong, so no monster would trespass this area for the next few days or so.”

“Thanks for the advice,” I replied. “Oh, how about the bear's fur?”

“It's gonna take several days to dehair the hide. It should be ready by the end of the week.”

I considered removing the hair myself using my Authority right there and then, but I stopped myself. A few days of waiting wasn't the end of the world or something.

“I'll come by the village at the end of the week, then,” I said. “Thanks again for all your help, Belka. Say hi to the old man for me.”

With that, Belka urged on Clip and Clop, who had been eating whatever grass they saw ever since our fight with the Grisly Bear began, and returned to her village.

I turned around and took in what would be my home for the foreseeable future. I'll admit, it looked pretty bland and bleak, but after weeks of traveling on the road, I was ready to call it home.

“All right, first things first: figure out how I'm going to survive by myself in the wild!”