Chapter 66. Meeting Anew

I woke up early the next day, same as I usually did, which was some time before the sun came out. The darkness of the night was still hovering over the city. This time, however, I hardly got proper sleep, as I kept tossing and turning on the mattress, thinking about my old master.

The same questions from last night remained in my head as I thought about her and the things that we did; about the time that she was gone; and the fact that I had mourned for someone that had tricked me.

I stood up from the mattress and stood by the window, looking at the dim lights of the city, and the mostly empty roads. I looked around, trying to sense for my master, but even if I wanted to do so, if she was anywhere nearly as powerful as she was before, then I wouldn’t be able to notice anything different. She could very well be standing right behind me, and I wouldn’t know it.

But, I shook my head. She said that she wasn’t going to be spying on me anymore, so chances are that she’s not watching me right now as there was no reason to say that only to still do it.

My attention was brought over to the mountain range at the east side of the city, where the Tainted Land was supposed to be. She did ask me to become stronger, and as such, I was planning on going back to it as soon as I could.

After contemplating it for a while, I turned away from the window and looked for the Magic Pocket that Igladith gifted me. It contained the armor and sword that I used just yesterday, and they were going to prove very useful when going deep inside a Tainted Land.

Those places would get tougher and tougher the deeper one went and the closer one was to the core, which was either something akin to a large jewel, or if one was unlucky, then it would be a beast made out of the magic that composes the Tainted Land.

Once I take that jewel, or defeat the beast, the Tainted Land would lose its form and disappear. Although, it would only happen whenever I did it, as when other heroes tried it in the past, the Tainted Land would simply remain dormant for a while, and the magic that composed it would reform again, giving shape to either more of the same beasts, completely new kinds, or a mix of old and new.

I always thought that I could completely clear a Tainted Land because I had been blessed by the Holy Gods to bring their light to the darkness of the world, and therefore, I was the chosen one to save the world. How foolish of me to think that. It was likely just something related to the Holy Gods that simply absorbed that power into what I had, which is why I would get stronger when fighting in those places—something similar to what Salrak said would happen right now in this world.

Regardless, it would be pointless to leave myself wondering about those things right now, as they were now in the past and I had another mission to accomplish. It was better for me to get ready, since I wasn’t likely to sleep anymore.

* * *

A couple of hours later, I was dressed with the school uniform, a backpack full of provisions, and the Magic Pocket strapped inside a bag, around my waist. I had considered leaving with the armor and weapon already on me, but I remembered the last time when a lot of police stopped me for that, Igladith suggested I didn’t walk around wearing it, so I left it for when I was already close or inside the Tainted Land.

I looked out the window, the sky was partially cloudy with a few rays of light passing by, but it didn’t seem like it was going to rain, so I didn’t need to worry about that for now.

I gave the phone one last check to make sure it was full on battery, and with a nod, I made my way to the door. However, as soon as I opened the door, I was left stunned.

“Oh! Hey, Althea!” Nicole said with just as much surprise as mine, her hand held up and about to knock on the door.

I quickly cleared the surprise and looked confusedly at Nicole. “Hello. What are you doing here?”

“Well… the security guys know me already, and they know that I come here regularly, so they let me in, and I thought that I should come over and see how you were doing,” she said with a smile, walking past me to go into the room. “You were looking kinda down and tired, and…” she turned to give me a narrow-eyed look. “You even have some bags under your eyes right now.”

I touched my cheeks, as if doing so would let me know if I had them or not. “Do I? I don’t feel tired.”

“Hm…” she replied with the same look she had just now. “Are you sure…? Have you been spending your time watching movies and not getting enough sleep?”

With a quick shake of my head I denied her question. “It’s just been a few hectic days, that’s all.”

“Oh really? Can I ask why?” she asked and easily settled herself on one of the chairs.

Seeing her getting comfortable in the room gave me pause to close the door and sit in front of her. She was eyeing the few red fruits still left on the table, but refused to take one.

“You can have some if you want,” I said, gesturing to her to pick one.

“O-oh… well… I brought them over for you, so it would be kinda silly if I was the one that ate them,” she replied with a wry smile.

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“It’s no problem. Someone else already took a few…” I said, turning my eyes to look out the window.

“What? You’ve had visits? And they took your fruits?” she asked with wide eyes. “Is that why you’re so… tired?” she then suddenly got excited as she nearly jumped up from the chair. “Is it a boyfriend!? Who is it?”

I was taken aback by the sudden explosion of emotion. “W-what? What are you talking about?”

“Humhumhum…” she weirdly laughed, turning her head to look at the mattress. “Tired… with little to no sleep…” she turned her head to look teasingly at me as she covered her mouth. “It must be a lover that’s keeping you awake.”

I frowned and shook my head. “No, no, it’s nothing like that.”

I was a pure maiden, as it was demanded of me to be the Hero of the Holy Gods and a proper leader of the Empire’s Holy Knights. There were a few close calls, but I was never touched by a man in such a way.

“Really now…?” she asked once more, not really believing what I had said.

“Yes…” I answered, before putting on a serious expression. “Rather… there’s been a few issues within me and my past, as well as with Bo’guth. But… most importantly of all… my old Magic Master visited me.”

“Your old Magic Master!?” she exclaimed, quickly leaning on the table. “T-that must be someone really important! Can I meet him?”

“Her, and… I don’t know. It’s not easy to get a hold of her, but she’s likely somewhere close by,” I said, giving the girl a cautious look, before my eyes turne to the window.

I never expected anyone to be this excited to meet my old master—at least, not unless they wanted to get something out of her, but usually, most people would rather not bother her, as it could cause her to turn on them and never be in contact with her again.

Nicole settled down once more as she sat straight again, putting away some of the excitement. “Then, what are those issues with Bo’guth? Is everything okay?”

“He suffered an attack by those Followers of Leyfall, and I had gone over to help him a couple of nights ago.”

Nicole paled slightly when she heard that, gasping softly as she did. “Oh my god. They got attacked too?”

“Too?” I asked with my head slightly tilted to the side.

“Yes, yes! This whole week, people from the other world have been attacked, almost randomly on the streets. Some of them were killed, but a lot were kidnapped. It wasn’t until like yesterday that a group of people were rescued but…” she trailed off, giving a somber look. “It seems like a lot of people are still missing.”

“Missing… huh,” I followed up, looking down slightly

It appeared like the ones inside that base weren’t the only ones that were in danger, but… without any lead, or any way to know where every person that those people took went, it would be difficult for me alone to find them… if they were even alive at all.

“But, hey, are Bo’guth and his… ‘cute little devils’ okay?” she asked with concern.

I nodded. “Yes. We were quickly able to find the ones responsible and deal with them.”

Nicole sighed in relief. “Good. I was worried that such a nice… demon… would be gone.” She looked up to me with a smile. “Think that he’s working today? Maybe we should pay him a visit; see how he’s doing.”

“I was planning to go to the Tainted Land today, as a matter of fact,” I replied, pointing to the backpack.

Nicole’s expression changed to surprise. “Oh my! That would explain why you’re wearing the uniform…” her expression then quickly changed to concern once more. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? You still look kinda tired.”

“Yes. I cannot waste time anymore, as my master needs me to become much stronger,” I said with a nod, turning my eyes to my phone for a moment. “And… I’m in need for coin, so I’ll go over there to get both of those things done.”

“E-eh…” she replied with a wry smile. “I would join you in that whole thing… but I don’t think I’m ready for those sorts of things yet. I’ll just accompany you there, give Bo’guth a visit, and then… I guess either study or find a secret place to practice…”

I frowned. “Have you been practicing your fire magic alone?”

“No, no! I’ve just been working on a way to do it without using fire, so I’ve been focused on the… fire within me, trying to sense it and understand it better, since that’s supposed to be my kind of mana,” she quickly replied. “Though, it’s not been easy to get a sense for it…”

“Hmm…” I considered the girl for a moment.

If she was a Fire Deviant, then my master might be able to properly teach her, since it was her who met her kind before, and with the level of magic mastery that she has, she might just be able to properly teach her how to use her Deviant magic.

But I didn’t know how to get in touch with Asteora at the moment, as she didn’t give a phone number or anything like that to contact her… so the only thing left to do was to hope that she would appear again.

“What?” she asked, obviously unaware of what I was thinking. “Do you think it’s wrong what I’m doing?”

“No, not at all. I find it rather interesting… but if you want to keep practicing your fire magic, we can do it right now if you want to,” I said, standing up from the chair and making my way to the middle of the room.

“Oh no, no, it’s fine. I’m not going to keep you from your own training and making that dollah dollah,” she said, standing up as well and going over to the door. “So let’s just go to the Labyrinth.”

* * *

“What have we here?” someone that I didn’t expect to meet so soon asked, standing right by the entrance of the building.

A few of the people that were hurrying on the roads stopped to give her a glance before continuing, even if their necks were straining more and more with each step. Her flowing platinum blonde hair distracted even the people driving on the roads, and the man that usually ignored me by the entrance of the building had his eyes turned to her, even if his expression and body language remained the same.

Her clothes were different from before, as she was now wearing a dark-gray blazer; a white, open neck, button-up shirt under it; a tight skirt of the same color as the blazer; and a pair of small black shoes that revealed part of her feet.

“Asteora… what are you doing here?” I asked with a frown.

I worried that perhaps she was here for something similar to last night, but if she wanted to do that, she would’ve gone in from the window instead of standing here in the open roads.

“Hm? I just thought about paying you a visit in a more normal way,” she said, seemingly unaware of the people who were looking at her.

“U-um… Um!” Nicole hesitantly stuttered, looking between Asteora and myself with blushing cheeks. “W-who…?”

I looked at Nicole, and gestured with my hand to my old Master. “This is my old Magic Master, Asteora.”

“A-a-a pleasure! I’m—”

“Nicole Lain, a Fire Deviant,” Asteora interrupted with a soft smile. “I’ve… heard about you.”

“Y-y-you have?! Has Althea spoken about me?!” the girl exclaimed, her cheeks as red as Bo’guth skin.

Asteora took a step closer to the girl, whose excitement couldn’t be hidden at all. “Something like that.”

“Eeek…!” Nicole quietly exclaimed, turning to look at me. “You—you didn’t have to talk about me to your friends!”

I frowned as I looked at Asteora’s soft smile. “I didn’t… why are you really here?”

“Me? Well, I’m just interested in seeing how you’re going to be doing this time, so…” she turned her eyes to look at me with a bright smile. “I’ll be in your care from now on.”