45 Three

After digging for a while towards south if my orientation is correct, judging from the angle I dug and the distance we've went through, we should be way past the walls of Phione already.

I haven't tracked the time but it was already night time. As soon as I saw a trickle of water drop from the earth that I dug, we decided to stop. The water here if evaporated should provide us oxygen if I'm correct, and it would also be safe to drink...hopefully.

We didn't had any kind of tools on us but since the air is still fine, we decided to rest for a while.

"We can stay near this small spring for the night."

"Are you sure? This place doesn't look very comfortable..." Looking around, only earth existed and that question of hers makes sense.

"No worries. I can make a miniature camp here."

I dug us a large space and put up a white barrier of Origin as I passed to prevent the earth from burying us alive.

Not knowing much about how constructing a house, I just put up a dense barrier that can tank most high leveled mages' attacks.

I know the barrier won't help that much but as time passes, I'll be able to recover most of my Origin and would be able to strengthen the barrier as time passes.

Since the strength of Origin is relative to how much I have, the barrier was colored white yet it had a hint of red on it.

"Aih. Shoooooo....." After that I finally laid down and heaved a sigh of relief.

Aunt and Three also followed suit with smiles on their faces.

"...That was sudden. I didn't thought of us having a reunion like this." I broke the silence as I stretched and sat up.

Looking at Three like this, I got reminded of how we met.

I didn't even notice how she initially looked like, but tonight she looked dazzling.

Her black gown was ripped around the knees, exposing her white and slightly thick thighs. She had black shoes that had lines of gold on the side. The earth messed up her overall look but she still looked good for me.

Her black hair still had that silvery end to it, and seeing it once more still made me curious as to why that phenomenon happens. Her eyes looked slightly smaller than they were before from four years ago, yet it still had those same glow.

Her cheek bones were slightly starting to elevate along with her small nose bridge which made her a bit more cute than the last time I saw her. Her lips were partially black as if smeared in charcoal, but there were traces of red which probably meant that she tried to wipe it off earlier.

I could only imagine that she didn't had much trouble after we left, yet I couldn't really tell if she really is still the Three that I know.

"Do you even know who am I?"

"Of course! Only..."

"Only... What?"

Why does it feel embarrassing to call her by the nickname I gave her?

"Kaff, your face is turning red." Aunt smiled as he pointed out my face that was slightly heating up slowly.

"I believe it's our first time meeting, miss." Dorother glanced towards Aunt and handed over her hand.

"Oh. Kaff didn't tell anything much about me, did he?" Aunt took her hand and made quick handshakes.

"No. We were only together for a week before he just suddenly disappeared." She pouted as soon as she finished her sentence before looking to the side and shot her glance at me.

"Hey. I went to school that day and your Dad and Uncle insisted that you were sent to a different place because of an occasion on that very day."

"Because of an occasion? Just an occasion?"

"Yeah. Just getting dressed and stuff."

After that she went silent for a bit before she continued.

"I'm not sure what more they told you but they stopped me from going to school. It was only a few hours later that that Weiss told me you were leaving the Borollo and Phione for another town."

"Weiss...that red-haired boy?"

"You know each other?"

"Hardly."

With her reply, my heart felt some sort of relief I couldn't explain well.

"Oh. Oh?" Aunt's let out a wide smile as she watched us converse with each other.

"I should probably tell her about us, Three."

When I mentioned the nickname I gave her, her face slightly blushed and her eyes locked on mine. She was getting a bit teary-eyed so I started to tell Aunt how we met and got along for a short time.

Summarizing everything from when I saw her running while holding a familiar book, up to our door getting destroyed, with us meeting up once more under that tree...

How I met her uncle, Grandmaster, and Skip. How I was somehow able to understand how Gemmatria worked. How I first met Yona and ran together with Three, ending up towards their mansion...

That moment I swallowed that blue cube. The way they turned me upside down to force me to vomit the unknown object. The news of me getting cut up, and us travelling to a nearby town and met Virol...

Speaking of which, I don't even know what the name of that place was or if it still existed after Yona raided the surrounding towns and small cities.

Getting back after the Beast God somehow made up for my mistake, and finally, our sudden departure.

Just telling a few of the memories I have in mind makes me nostalgic. I know it's just four years since we've last seen each other, yet I feel that it's been a really long time.

"...and that's when I acquired Origin."

"Origin? Because of the Origin Fruit inside the box? But it doesn't explain why you somehow acquired power even without source magic." Three pondered and put her hand on her chin.

"So it's probably why the girl is stunned from the moment she saw you earlier. Someone without source magic really can't acquire power, yet this crazy kid did."

"Is that really so? I thought that she considered me... a demon, from the white orb that kept floating. 'Just someone that looked like Kaff,' something like that."

"With your hair getting a bit longer and you reaching a bit of height, of course I wouldn't easily recognize you. But my chest started to beat faster for no reason, and from the wanted posters... I could only assume that it's really you!"

"Wow, this kid is a heartthrob. You probably got that from brother."

"How's your family, Kaff?"

After they said those words, I felt a bit of heaviness in my chest, but I lifted up my mood instead.

"Dad's... gone. Mom is somewhere south."

I could see the sympathy from the frown Three made. Aunt turned slightly to the side with an expressionless face.

"Three, haven't you heard what happened during the war?"

"Actually, I did. But I wasn't entirely sure what was true and which ones were only rumors. I also can't believe Dad because he said you were with the enemy demons. With the Void Empress to boot."

"I'm sure you'll continue to ask me for my side of the story so I'll just tell you what happened on my side." I scratched the back of my head as I said that, and her expression became better as she smiled and sat closely next to me.

As an eight-year old boy, I'm still small but my body looks weird from the thin muscles that I have...for me anyway. At least they aren't bulging. But when compared to Three next to me, her white skin seemed like it was made by a fine artist who focused so much in detail that there was not a single rough edge to his art.

...

The next day, I started to drill again towards the surface but we maintained a straight pace. I wasn't entirely sure of how long we've been travelling underground, but it wasn't long before I finally experienced a few of the earth collapsing as I dug, which meant that the surface was near since there were more rocks and lighter earth that had not much foundation to stick to, before the ground finally opened to the burning sight of the two suns.

"Is it noon already? Damn, I'm hungry!"

"I'm also hungry. Hey look, a b---"

Before Three could even finish her sentence, Aunt sped up towards the wild boar at the distance and instantly hacked into its middle lower part of the body, making it stop before it died from having its heart stabbed.

"LUNCHTIME."

I didn't even had the energy to run more from using Soul Control for hours so I really just let Aunt do all of the cooking as I found a tree nearby to lay my back on.

Three could only look on with eyes almost bulging from the speed Aunt rushed just to make food. Hunger really is one of the best motivators for humanity.

It took about half an hour after she skinned and parted the inedible parts and just straight up stuck a tree branch half as thin as her arms before she started a fire to roast the boar.

"Have any idea where are we?" I asked Three as I stood beside her as they watched the roasting.

"I'm not sure. I haven't left Phione that much and stayed near the school and house as much as possible. Also, Sorn was always there after you left. Every. Time. Every. Where."

From her tone, I guess it wasn't a happy experience being followed by someone all the time. I mean, from the CCTVs I've seen from my past life I'd been indifferent to it but now that she mentioned it, it does kinda feel creepy even as a guy.

I climbed a thick tree to see the general view from above, and I could only see a vast expanse of forest towards the north, and to the east was a large mountain range which had white caps. It's highly likely that it's the Trinity Mountain Range so I'm relieved and felt that we've cut a bit of time travelling towards Kandria.

Looking at the west and the south, there was also only a vast forest, which would make one lost if without a map and compass.

At least the trees here are separated by a few meters, and there were rarely any shrubs and grasses which made me think if this was a tree farm; one where trees are cut for lumber as harvest material.

Those kinds of farms are large since trees are the main source of raw materials so it could explain why I can't see much further besides the green even from the horizon.

"If this is a tree farm, then it's overly large then. Not to mention huge, but the owner must be filthy rich to own all of these lands."

I went down to them and told them what I thought, yet they found it funny that this would be a tree farm. They're correct that there would have to be a lot of people needed to manage this massive place and the number of servants to tend to remove weeds and pests.

The fact that there's also a wild boar the moment we dug up probably meant that this was a natural habitat too, but I've known provinces in other countries which had wild boars visiting their homes to rummage through garbage to eat.

Heck, even a bear once went towards a house I don't know, and the officers called by emergency were forced to hunt the poor thing down.

A lot of things were giving us ideas that make sense, but it still doesn't explain where we're currently in.

"Since we're going towards south, let's just head there then."

"Where are we going?"

Oh, right. I forgot a simple matter.

"Will you be going home or... ugh, just forget it. I know you'll want to go with us anyway."

"Heheh. You still know me!" Three puffed her chest as I facepalmed, yet there was a slight joy in me the moment I realized that we're travelling together once more.

"We're heading towards Kandria. That's where Mom is."

"It means we're going to kidnap another girl again. Kaff you really take after your father."

"Hey, I'm not sure why we keep encountering girls though!"

"Another girl? Oh, that Kirllia lass huh. It's a pity I didn't get to meet her."

I could only give her a smile as she mentioned Kirllia, before I sliced a portion off of the boar using Origin and took a tree branch to hold it as I bit through the juicy meat.

"It's cooked already?" Aunt also cut through the boar and used a steel pick from somewhere I didn't even know.

"Kaff...could you give me some?"

Ah, the lady is of course, of noble birth.

I sliced a portion of meat for her near the soft ribs that's easy to chew and still tasty, stuck the meat on a thin tree branch and gave it to her.

Aunt brought up a a large bottle from somewhere once again as if she had some invisible bag or something. It had water on it, most likely from the spring we dug up underground.

The noon passed well with our bellies full.