First Day Of Our Scouting Mission

𝗛𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝘁ō

I held the reins tightly and squinted my eyes. This horse was going a little too fast after just being healed and a couple of days' rest.

When I reached the steppes, I pulled as hard as I can on the reins, and in response, the horse prances and I fall out.

"Ngaoof!?"

I said before making contact on the ground.

The horse just looks at me like I was an idiot.

"Yeah, no shit, I don't even know how to ride a horse."

I responded while throwing a bit of profanity, unbecoming of my Japanese heritage.

'Well, I do love the foreign culture outside of my country, which is why I like drawing fantasy characters. That's also probably why I also swear a lot.'

As always, I talked to myself to keep my sanity at bay and looked at my skill tab.

As I thought, there was no horse riding skill obtained but there was animal handling instead, Alice was the most proficient out of all of us when it comes to this skill because she was a summoner after all.

[𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲] 𝗔𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝘃.𝟭 - Ability and knowledge to handle animals.

I looked back on my memories to try and see how I obtained this skill. As a concept artist, of course, I knew many anatomies of creatures, both humanoids, and animals but the only animals that I knew to handle on a basic level were cats and dogs.

"And now a horse I guess."

Then unlocking this skill will require me to at least know how to handle three animals at a basic level.

When I thought that, there was a notification that popped up. I look in the menu and saw an orange circle with a symbol of the number 1 in it on the corner of the help tab.

A new section popped up again called "Skills"

There was one still there and it was the same skill that I just unlocked.

'But why? This wasn't in the patch notes that Megu sent to us before our first update.'

I tap the skill and it shows the same description however this time, it had a new description a few spaces below that says:

How to unlock: Know three animals that you how to handle at a basic level.

It was the same description that I thought of but how?

I hold the text while I think of something.

After a moment a keyboard popped up which genuinely surprised me. When a tap a single letter, it appeared on the help tab.

I had so many questions right now so I laid them out for myself.

'First of all, why is there only one skill when there should be at least two skills. I understand that skills like cooking and drawing wouldn't be here since I didn't know how to obtain said skills.'

As I said that, another skill popped up: Death Perception. It included its description, the new effects of the level two version of it, and finally, at the very bottom were the instructions on how to unlock it.

"How to unlock: Be killed and be revived shortly after"

"...a bit of salt in the wound eh?"

In truth, I wasn't really upset but was just a response to the appearance of it. I go to another section and try to see if I can edit the text here which was a definite yes.

"If this is the case then I should mark that this was my theory to avoid confusion in the long run."

I go back to the skills section and added a footnote next to the "How to unlock" text which was: (Himura Satō's theory)

I looked at the sections and try to see which creatures and plants, I discovered on my own and which one was discovered because of the book I read. So far there were no creatures that had my description which even included the abyss.

I sigh in relief and closed the menu. I didn't bother checking if I can edit the text in other tabs since there was no use for it and would be more detrimental than useful. After that sigh of relief, I then follow it up with a troubled sigh.

I wasn't someone who played video games frequently so it became very troublesome, referring to my stats and skill when talking to people which was saying a lot coming from me.

I sat down and cleared my head for a bit, when I look around there was no one around me. Another sigh of relief came out of me.

"Finally, some alone time."

Thanks to my being alone, even in this dangerous area, I was relaxed and no longer careful about how I carried myself.

"Once an introvert, always an introvert...wait is that the saying?"

I grabbed the reins of the horse once again and made my way to the so-called hedge maze. Looking around there was only the baron and hot land known as the steppes.

I sigh again.

"This is why I hate the goddamn sun"

I was already starting to sweat and with no trees in sight, I can't even rest in a shade without going into the maze.

Looking at the map, I was about thirty minutes away from the maze.

The reason that our mandatory report for each scouting was in every 2 - 3 days was because of how big this place was. After all, it took us a little over three days to reach the underground town.

Even at top speed, I only managed to arrive at the steppes after 3 hours with a horse.

"They say it 2 - 3 days but it probably once every week due to how big Megu's territory was"

I hear multiple crackling sounds then two scorpion-like monsters. Their lower half was the same as scorpions but their upper half was of a human while the other taurus.

The Taurus was a minotaur-esque demon that had a hairy but toned upper body and two horns on the side of his head.

Looking at their stats their names were only "Failed Experimentation" and reading that, I knew immediately that it was from those demons which trapped us here.

I stayed calm even if their bodies were practically melted together making it hard to identify them. I didn't bother looking at their stats since they already started attacking me, even if they didn't attack me, I would have still not inspected their stats because this world was beginning to feel like a game and not real life.

This world was a new start for me where there was no relation at all between this world and earth and seeing this menu made me feel uncomfortable since this it started on earth before Megu "blessed" this world with it which connected a bridge between worlds.

Now that I was in this world, I became scared of what will happen if this was all a dream. I cleared my mind of anything as if I was thinking of a small matter.

The human scorpion monster readies his shortsword while the taurus scorpion monster readies his one-handed ax. In response to that, I drew my longsword.

*****

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝘆𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗻

After, 5 hours' worth of walking we finally reached the foot of the mountain. Thankfully, that town was built near the mountain so this area was the nearest out of the four but still.

"I wish I had taken a horse as well..."

My feet were already sore not to mention the snow that started pouring but I didn't let it show and then I look at Lino and Astoria. They were very awkward with each other like they were trying to avoid something.

In elven culture, it's a tradition to use the name of where an elven child is born which is why I was named Freya Bellken.

'The Greenhorn village and Heatherin village must have conflicted with each other and that should be the reason they were awkward.'

As I say that to myself, I slowly started to have doubts about that theory.

"I'll explore the forest in the west."

Astoria speaks first and in response.

"Me too, I'll take the east."

They both said that before leaping into the trees.

"H-hey wait!"

They left me behind. I sigh, there was no point in following them even if I can follow the.

The trees were so close to each other that it became a certainty that I will hit the trees when I am fighting them due to my long steel staff unlike those two who wielded a bow for combat.

I look at my staff, and it was rough and had marks at the bottom part of it yet it was still functional then I look at clothes. I was still a priest in the church of Hu after all so I revealed a necklace under my clothes which contained the symbol of the church of Hu.

I straightened myself before making an upside-down T on my forehead with my thumb and putting my hands together in prayer.

I prayed for the health of my companions and for one single, to grant me the ability to use my mana other than mana transfer.

"Please, oh Hu, I beg of you don't let them die. They were the first people to ever have accepted me and please...grant me the ability to use my mana freely."

I had completely given up on trying to find the solution to this curse of mine. When I asked Alice about it, she knew nothing though, I don't blame her for that, after all, she had her problems as well.

Hu brought foreign things to this world or an individual as a sign of their faith in him. I had the logic that Hu may be able to bless me with something that can make me use his magic.

I finish my prayer and as always there was still nothing but my will did not waver. Looking ahead, there was only a long and spacious trail to the top of the mountains in front of me.

I readied my staff and walked using that path. The path of restoring my ability to use magic was long but now, it also become spacious. I met people who accepted me for what I am and even now, they put my trust in my abilities, and because of them, this path became easier to walk through.

"I may never have found such a miracle in my life but now I have companions that could walk with me if that happens."

I say such naive things as I was heading up the mountain. I knew very well the naivety of what I just said but I was still very hopeful.