Important notice

Twelve days had passed since our encounter with Orsted. Fortunately, after several days without further incident, Roxy, Laws, and Hilda relaxed considerably, and we traveled peacefully again. But that doesn't mean I've stopped training. Quite the opposite. After a couple of days, I finally managed to somewhat master "disturbance magic."

And since only one person besides me was a mage, I decided to turn to her.

"Haaa!" Without warning, Roxy threw a mid-range fireball at me. The heat warmed my skin, and the intense light momentarily blinded me and I raised my arm without hesitation.

"Hmm!"

The process was simple. Mana is everywhere in this world. Even a dead body possesses mana. I've already discovered that with imagination, you can do anything with mana, so my plan to master this new "spell" was simple.

I simply need to create a stream of negative mana and collide it with the concentrated mana of a spell.

The two streams collide, and as if they were electricity, they repel each other, causing the spell to dissipate.

(Fwoosh!)

With a dry sound, the fireball vanished mid-flight, leaving nothing behind.

Roxy's eyes widened, and I smirked.

"H-how did you do that?!" she asked in genuine surprise.

"It's hard to explain. I can even teach you if you want, but I must master it first," I said with a smile.

"Of course! Please teach me..." she said with a hint of embarrassment at the end, which made her look totally adorable...

Ahem! As I said, mana can be manipulated even in its base form, in its "oxygen" state.

"Now please try to accumulate the mana in your hand and let me know when you're about to form a spell!" I announced, and she nodded.

I approached her and stopped about three meters away.

She raised her hand, and I could see small droplets of water forming and swirling.

A water cannon...

"Now," she announced, and I immediately raised my hand, but the spell failed to cast.

Roxy blinked in confusion again as she stared at her hand in amazement.

"Okay, now try gathering mana in your hands," I said, my hand still raised.

She nodded, making a face of concentration that quickly turned into one of effort, and her cheeks puffed out beautifully.

"Ugh! I can't! Is this... is this another one of those skills?" she asked, catching her breath.

"Yeah... apparently, I've completely mastered this magic!" I said with a smile, and Roxy nodded in agreement.

"With this, you would render a mage completely useless, completely defenseless!" she said, suddenly realizing the magnitude of this ability.

"Yes... that's the purpose of this magic. Just tell me when you want me to teach it to you," I said with a smile.

"Of course, a skill like this would be extremely convenient," she murmured with a smile as she played with her vacuum with a small smile.

We were now at the foot of the rocky mountains that served as our border, beneath us stretched a vast forest.

The south of the Asura Kingdom...

"So, where should we start?" she said with a smile as she leaned closer to me. The mountain breeze hit us, and she held her hat, giving her a completely dazzling appearance.

My cheeks immediately turned red.

"How beautiful..." The words left my mouth unconsciously, and Roxy's cheeks turned bright red as well, and she looked away from mine.

"C-come on... I'm trying to be serious here," she murmured weakly.

(cough, cough)

"Sorry, let's talk about this later, shall we? Let's go back to the group," I said, and she nodded.

Now our group was on the way down the mountain. The others had set up camp about a hundred meters away from us, and we had stayed higher up to practice my magic.

Flute and Hilda had already started the campfire, and dinner was already boiling.

"Paul! It's almost ready! Come sit down!" Lilia yelled when she saw us arriving, and I nodded.

I sat next to Hilda on a dry log, and 10 minutes later we had simple vegetable soup for dinner.

There wasn't much activity today, so when night fell, we decided to sleep.

I made three earth igloos for Laws, his wife, Lilia, Flute, and Roxy, and the last one for me and Hilda because of the cold in the mountains.

So without another thought, I fell asleep with the pleasant sensation of Hilda's breasts pressed against my arm...

...

Or so I meant to say, but after a couple of hours of sleep, I felt an intense headache, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a completely white room.

"...(sigh)"

"Oh come on! It'll always be the same when I come to visit you!?" a faceless, completely white man said in a mortified tone. He even put his hand to his forehead and leaned back. It's all just for show.

"No, but right now I'm confused," I said.

"Hmm?! Confused?! Why would you be confused, my friend?!" he asked as he approached me with that creepy smile.

"You know very well. I want answers before you give me all that advice shit!" I said as I stared at him.

"Ah?...Ah! It's because of that Orsted guy, right? Pffft, there's nothing to worry about. In fact, I came to warn you about him the same way!" the blurry man said with a totally terrifying toothy grin.

"Warn me? Isn't it a little late for that? It's been two weeks since that day, and besides, if you wanted to warn me, you could have just told me a day earlier."

"Grrr... I was busy. You're not the only person in this world, you know that?!" Hitogami said in an annoyed tone, and I raised an eyebrow.

"So you're not a god? Bah, I don't care. Now tell me everything you know about that guy," I said, crossing my arms.

"Sure, sure! His name, as you know, is Orsted, but besides that, that guy is the evil Dragon God! You're lucky you even survived the encounter with him!" he warned.

"The Dragon God? Are you saying that guy is the second-largest power in the world?! That... that explains a lot, actually," I muttered to myself.

"That's true, and the reason I couldn't contact you is because I can't see Orsted..." Hitogami muttered.

"Can't you see him? I thought nothing escaped your vision," I muttered, raising an eyebrow.

"Almost everything! But my vision can be affected by several factors! Places with a massive concentration of mana can blur it, as can structures created by those pesky Dragonfolk..." he explained as I listened intently. He seemed to be speaking seriously, so I decided to take mental note of everything.

"And the reason I can't see Orsted is because he's a very special cursed child," he said.

"Cursed child?..." I murmured. In fact, I had already researched this phenomenon at the Asura Royal Academy. Unlike blessed children, cursed children, as their name suggests, are people born with characteristics or powers that always bring misfortune and chaos to the people around them.

"Yeah, that's it. You've probably noticed that your groupmates were completely terrified just by seeing him, right? You already know that, but that's one of his curses, but it's not the only one," he declared, while I listened intently.

At this, Hitogami's smile widened, and he continued speaking.

"Another of his curses is that he can never use his full power in a fight, but even so, with his remaining power, he's capable of destroying the entire world, which makes him the most powerful individual in this world!"

"The most powerful? And what about the Tecnique God?" I muttered, confused.

"If the two of you fought, Orsted would emerge the victor without much effort," he said, flinching.

"...and why does he know about you? What did you do to him?" He seemed very angry at your mere mention," I muttered.

"Heh... he's evil. How can't he use his full power to destroy the world? He wants to kill me," Hitogami declared, and I raised an eyebrow.

"But what do you have to do with the destruction of the world? Are you some kind of balance of the world or something? Why not Euno at all?" I muttered with a mocking smile, and Hitogami gritted his teeth in barely contained anger.

"Damn, insolent brat! If it weren't for me, your world would have already collapsed! And yes, I am the pillar of your world! Which is why Orsted is so desperate for his insane ambition that he's now aiming to kill me!" Hitogami's voice was a mixture of anger and fear combined.

"Okay... let's put that aside. What's your big piece of advice? I want to go back to sleep," I asked, crossing my arms.

"Okay, okay, that's it. I forgot... ahem! Listen to me very carefully, Paul Notos Greyrat!"

"Could you please stop doing that every time? It's annoying," I muttered in annoyance.

"Grrr...ahem! Paul, an ambush awaits you right on the border with Asura! To avoid it, you'll have to ask for help from the Red Wolves mercenary group! With them, you'll be able to enter the country unnoticed!" Hitogami declared, and I simply raised an eyebrow.

"An ambush? By whom?" I asked seriously.

"He's an enemy of yours in the capital! He has your poor brother captured!" Hitogami declared, and my world fell apart.

"Philemon? Who is he?" I asked, practically growling.

"I can't tell you now! But when you get to the capital, you'll take them all by surprise, and you'll be able to rescue your brother!"

"What need do I have? With my current power, I can handle an ambush by myself," I muttered as I looked at him. "That's true, but if you do, your enemy will notice your presence, and your poor brother's life will be in danger!" Hitogami said in a dismal tone as he hugged himself.

"...Okay, how can I meet that group?" I asked seriously, and Hitogami's smile grew.

"Phew...that's easy! Listen to me carefully!" he said with a smile.

Honestly, this guy's smiles give me a terrible feeling, but I still kept listening.

"Just head west when you go down the mountains. That's where the closest part to the Asura border is, so none of your companions will suspect anything," Hitogami explained in his always annoyingly playful tone.

"But, besides that, you'll have to request a special service! And it can only be accessed through a special code, so pay close attention!" the faceless man said, and I sat on the ground to listen to him while resting my head in my hands.

"..."

After a complicated explanation in which I had to speak in code, Hitogami nodded, apparently satisfied with himself.

"Okay, my friend Paul! You must do this to the letter so that your little brother's life isn't in danger! Also, you must not give your full name under any circumstances!" Hitogami's voice became a distant echo as I processed his words.

"Hey, wait! What's wrong with my mom? How is she?!" I yelled, but Hitogami didn't respond, and I immediately felt like a force was pulling me back, and I woke up...

"wah!!..."

Like all the other times I woke up with a start and quickly looked around me.

It was still dark and Hilda was sleeping peacefully next to me but my sudden movements seemed to have woken her up.

So I quickly lay back down and cradled her in my arms.

"Shh...don't worry, it's okay, I'm here" I murmured softly in her ear.

"hehe Pauli.." She murmured softly and fell back asleep.

"huff..." Letting out a sigh I looked into the darkness as I analyzed my options.

And my priority was Philemon....in fact this didn't surprise me as much as I would like to admit.

He is second in line to the Notos succession and of course my enemies wanted to have him on their side now that he is at his most vulnerable age.

But I still couldn't help but clench my fists in anger as I recalled my conversation with Hitogami.

He only mentioned Philemon but never my mother...

Either she must be captured anyway or...

I shook my head before that word even popped into my head as I thought about what could have happened.

My mother would never give Philemon up without a fight first...

I don't even know if Wii Taa is still alive or if he's protecting my mother in the shadows...

Let's hope he's alive and protecting my mother for the time being, imagine that...

"I guess I'll have to call in the mercenaries, huh?...

I muttered to myself as I gently stroked Hilda's head and closed my eyes to try to sleep again.

...

I woke up early in the morning after 6 hours of sleep...

I tried to act normal around my classmates, but I knew I'd have to tell them about this anyway, so it had to be as soon as possible.

And the best time I chose to pay for this was precisely at breakfast.

With some flour, yeast and wheat, Flute and Hilda made breads and Roxy roasted some dried meat and we had breakfast.

Everyone seemed calm, even excited to be so close to the country now, it was time to say it...

"Hey everyone, I have something important to say." I spoke with the most serious voice a ten-year-old could muster, and everyone looked at me.

"What is it?" Laws muttered as he continued eating.

"Everyone knows that we are already close to Asura, it will only be a couple of hours until we reach the border, but please I ask you to listen to me" I murmured while making a slight bow.

"Paul?...is something wrong?" Hilda asked as she held my arm in fear.

"In fact, you could say yes. Everyone knows that Minister Darius wants my head, right?" I muttered, and everyone nodded with growing concern.

"I've been thinking about it and I have a strong feeling that an ambush awaits us at the border," I declared, and the silence stretched throughout the group.

"That...that actually makes sense,He must be trying to eliminate you by any means necessary. I'm surprised they didn't do it on the lower jaw considering that there is the perfect bottleneck" Roxy muttered with her head down, and I nodded.

"Now that you put it that way, you're right. They're almost certainly trying to set up a trap at the border. But why are you mentioning all this to us? Don't you have confidence that you'll be able to break through?" Laws muttered curiously as he spooned another spoonful of soup into his mouth.

"It's not that, but I want to avoid as much as possible that Darius's men detect us...my family may be there and I fear for their safety" i declared.

"I understand... but if it's not through the border, then how do we deliver the pasi?" Laws asked again and all eyes returned to me, especially Hilda's who looked at me with fear.

"We will use the services of a group of mercenaries... I remember hearing my father talking to several knights about a group of mercenaries a few months before the Mana disaster, He said that they had a secret entrance to the country where they could smuggle people and merchandise, that he only found out by luck and ordered an investigation into this fact, But the disaster occurred and no response was obtained for these reasons, Therefore, if we are lucky, that group will still be active and we will use them to cross to Asura without being detected" I declared seriously.

Laws and Roxy made complicated expressions while Flute and Hilda seemed to understand my reasons.

"And you think it's safe?..." Hilda murmured and her grip on my arm tightened, she was visibly worried about me.

"I don't know, but unfortunately I can't force my way through this time, so this will be our best option," I said as I stroked her head.

She seemed to relax visibly and nodded slightly.

"I understand..."We'll follow you on this," Laws stated and Anna nodded in the same way.

"I will abide by your decision"

"me too!"

Flute and Lilia said one after the other

"...I'm not quite sure, what if they have the same hunting bounty request that Darius put against you?" Roxy murmured with palpable concern and I frowned.

"That's why I won't give my real name, you'll call me...Ryan Gosling when we're in the presence of those guys." I declared and Roxy nodded satisfied.

"Where did you get that name?" Hilda muttered.

"It's from a famous theater actor..." I murmured and she nodded satisfied

After breakfast we packed our things and continued our journey.

It took us until after noon to completely descend the mountain and thus we reached the forest, This super dense forest served as a border to Asura and as Hitogami said we started heading west.

At my suggestion the group stayed close together as we circled the wagon.

Me in front, Laws in the middle and Roxy behind, after all we would be entering mercenary territory...

Hours passed and afternoon arrived, around 5 pm I began to notice some Z-shaped marks on the trees.

And just as I was about to point this out, a smoke bomb exploded and huge plumes of smoke billowed up around us.

Here we go...