Clarissa

All this time, the little girl was simply staring in front of her, pale and terrified.

She saw Iono kill the monster that was trying to eat her, but she couldn't comprehend what happened, she was frozen out of fear.

When she saw the body on the ground, dead, she came back to her senses, before she screamed and crawled away from it.

She lifted up her trembling head to look at Iono who was placing his daggers inside their sheaths.

"I got blasted away by a bug. This power is way higher than I remember. Maybe this forest has hidden powerhouses. I should be more careful... Hm? ", he thought and turned to look at the girl.

"Ah, yes. I forgot about her.", he said inwardly.

He walked up to her and crouched in front of the little girl that was hugging herself.

He smiled brightly and said, "Hi! My name is Iono. I am from the village that's south of the forest. Are you doing okay?", he asked politely.

The girl heard his voice, and stared at him for few seconds before colour returned to her face.

"I-I... am okay. T-Thanks f-for saving me.", she said in a sweet little voice.

She was a cute girl, with chestnut colour hair, and big, matching colour eyes. She was a bit small for an 8-year old, and she seemed rather skinny.

Her clothes where ragged and her skin was rough. It seems like she has been through some things.

"No problem. Are you from around here? How did you end up this far inside the forest alone? ", he asked.

"I-I too am from the village that's south of the forest . I was here l-looking for herbs."

It was then that Iono noticed a small basket next to the girl. It was filled with medical herbs.

"I see, so we live at the same village. I am Yusef and Anna's son. It's nice to meet you... ahh-", Iono scratched the back of his head, "Sorry, but I don't know your name... Bye then!", Iono quickly said and tried to leave this place.

Sure he saved her, but he doesn't want to deal with this troublesome little girl.

The reason he swooped in without hesitation, wasn't because he was a kindhearted hero or he liked saving damsels in distress.

It's simply because he was curious about why this girl was so deep in the forest.

Since he found out the reason, he thought it unnecessary to stay here any longer.

So he turned around and walked away.

"Clarissa!", the little girl suddenly yelled.

Iono stopped in his tracks and turned to face the girl.

"My name is Clarissa. Young master, thank you for saving my life.", she said as she kneeled down in front of him.

The reason why she didn't answer earlier because she was shocked that the one who saved her was the young master of the village.

Everybody knew Iono, he was the reason the village was created. But it was the first time she saw him.

Her mother would always tell her to be sure to help the young master if he ever needed anything.

Iono saw the little girl kneeling and felt awkward.

So he bend down and lifted her up.

"Don't worry about formalities. It's very nice to meet you Clarissa. Now, I'm sorry but I have to get going. I'll see you around.", Before he left he glanced at the girl. She was shorter than him by a good head, despite them being the same age. He was tall for sure, but she was also short for her age.

Clarissa looked at his back with her big chestnut colour eyes, and bowed before saying.

"Goodbye, young master. Once again, thank you for saving my life."

And so Iono disappeared, leaving the small girl alone, who picked up her basket and started picking herbs again.

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It has been half an hour since Iono encounter Clarissa.

Iono played around in the forest, occasionally fighting beasts.

He was starting to get tired. This was his training after all.

He reached a cliff, with a tree on top, and rested under it for a moment.

He closed his eyes once again, trying to appreciate his surroundings, when,

"AHHHHHHHHH", Clarissa's voice resounded.

"AGAIN!? SERIOUSLY!? " He yelled.

"Ah! Damn it!", he said as he rolled his eyes and dashed towards where he heard Clarissa's scream.

When he arrived at the scene he saw a Green Wolf, like the one he killed before.

It's maw was open and drooling. It was growling and slowly approaching the little girl.

It took a step, and then jumped while opening its mouth wide, ready to shallow Clarissa whole.

She screamed, and closed her eyes while covering her head with her hands.

But before it could reach her, something, almost like a torpedo, came crashing into the wolf from the side, pinning it into the ground.

A crack that resembled a spider web appeared on the ground, and inside it, the wolf, unconscious. On top of it, Iono, staring down at the beast.

He pulled one of his daggers out of its sheath and slit the beast's neck.

*Sigh*

"Twice in a day, who would have guessed?"

Clarissa opened her eyes and saw Iono standing on the corpse of the wolf. She stood up hurriedly and bowed.

"I am s-so sorry, young master. T-Thank you so much for saving my life once again."

She stuttered as she spoke and bowed repeatedly.

"Don't worry Clarissa, but it's getting darker, you should probably go home now. I won't always be here to save you.", Iono said with a smile.

Suddenly, Clarissa expression turned sad and she opened her tiny mouth to say,

"I apologize for the trouble young master, but, I'm sorry, I can't leave yet."

Iono was surprised by her answer. He wanted her out of the forest because he knew that now that they are acquainted, he couldn't simply ignore her if she was in danger.

The fact that, even though she was almost eaten twice today, she still won't leave, means that the herb gathering is really important to her.

Well, it didn't really interest him so he simply said, "Well, okay then. Have fun!", and left.

Clarissa looked at his back for a few seconds before getting back to gathering herbs.

------------

One hour has passed since Iono saved Clarissa for the second time.

After that Iono run to the north side of the forest, in the hopes that he won't run into her again.

He was rather far but there weren't many creatures that could actually hurt him in this forest during the day.

He found a small lake and decide to take a break next to it. Plus he was sweaty and wouldn't mind a bath.

Therefore he took off his shirt, putting his chiselled body out on display. He wasn't muscular, but he wasn't skinny either. His body was toned and looked like a diamond in the rough.

The tinge of green on his skin was rather flattering making him look incredibly tan instead of a demi.

He jumped in the lake and started washing himself.

He closed his eyes, and layed flat on the water, when...,

"AHHHHHHHHH"

A vein popped on his green forehead, and he sucked a breath of cold air, before yelling,

"YOU MUST BE F*CKING KIDDING ME!"

He jumped out of the water, put on his clothes on a hurry, and run towards the noise.

He rushed through the forest, and after a few moments, the trees cleared and in front of him was, obviously, Clarissa on the ground with her eyes tightly shut, hugging her herb basket.

Right above her, a Deer that looked extremely weird. It had a red colour fur, it was three times the size of normal deer, and it's horns where made of some kind of metal. It had sharp teeth, and a horn was sticking out of its chest.

"A Huntsman Deer!", Iono said inwardly.

It was a rare kind of awakened beast, that only appeared in the Nundram region.

Iono was admiring it, when suddenly the Deer charged to Clarissa with incredible speed, and hit her square on the chest, with its head.

Clarissa was knocked back on a tree, and fell unconscious.

"F*CK", Iono thought.

He pulled out his daggers and dashed towards it trying to stop it from eating the little girl. This deer was an omnivore.

The Deer sensed his presence and turned around only to see a dagger flying towards it.

The dagger stabbed its eye, leaving him blind in one eye.

The Deer let out a pained howl, before it rushed towards Iono with its horns.

Iono bend his body to the side to dodge before grabbing his remaining dragger with both hands and stabbing the deer's back.

The deer roared once again in pain. Blood flowed on its back. It turned to look at Iono with bloodshot eyes.

"Gur korte nagh ti? Gur to gor ga kurtoza!", it said in a coarse voice.

"Monster language? Has this Huntsman deer finished foundation? I don't know monster tongue! Whatever, I don't care, let's kill it.", he said inwardly.

The deer was waiting for an answer, while Iono switched to his scythe, just to be safe.

The deer realized that it can't converse with him so it pawed the ground with its foot and charged towards Iono.

Iono closed his eyes and grabbed his scythe with both hands.

As the deer charged towards him, Iono was gathering Prauna in the scythe.

When the deer reached him, he opened his eyes,

"Grandmaster's level scythe arts: Hexagram of Death!"

Iono turned his scythe facing upwards and stabbed the head of the deer from below, then he disappeared and reappeared on its left, but at a low level and once again stabbed upwards. Then he once again disappeared and appeared on its right, but high in the air, and once again stabbed downwards.

He moved in a random hexagram around the deer's body, stabbing it with his scythe in rotating motions.

This attack was extraordinary. It had tremendous speed and unpredictability, as well as incredible damage.

This was one of the weapon arts Iono mastered the last time round. He used it because he was mad about not stepping in, and causing Clarissa to be injured.

The deer couldn't even follow his movement with its eyes. It died right there on the spot with blood gushing out of the seven deep holes Iono made with his scythe. It was a gruesome sight.

After confirming that the Huntsman Deer is dead, Iono went to pick up Clarissa.

He picked her up and placed her on his shoulder.

He turned to leave but remembered the reason she was here.

"You really are a troublesome girl.", he said.

So he picked up both her and her basket and returned home.