Chapter 7: The Way of Grace

But Sat didn't answer him, didn't even move, probably hadn't heard him. It was necessary that he invoked his help once more, to make him help him. Finally, thanks to the intervention of his friend, Gio managed to free himself from the clutches of his sister.

"Shit, Ve... A little restraint, you almost hurt me."

"Almost, to be precise. Oh well, if you really don't want to admit it, it doesn't matter. Anyway, sooner or later it will be clear whether you like the demoness or not."

"Mind your own business, instead... Meddle. Rather, Sat... Sat?"

"Yes? What is it?"

"Happy, now? The story of powers is cool, isn't it? The king told me that as the first hero, I will be able to wield the three weapons of the son of the goddess, the two gods believed in in this kingdom. "

"Good for you... You, Ve? What are you going to do with your powers?"

"Are you really interested, or are you just asking me as a courtesy?"

"To be honest…Both."

"At least you were honest. All right, that means I'll tell you about it. I, as the second hero, will have to travel to the realm of the elves, where I will learn to use the magic of the world tree. Or so it should be, if not We were at war, so the king said he would send for one of the guardians of the world tree to teach me."

"Oh, elves... I didn't think they were there too. This world could be bigger and more interesting than I thought. Maybe, just maybe... It will be fun."

After a while, there was a knock on the door, it was Dricea, who needed to talk to Sat.

"Speak, I'm listening."

"Not here, but in your room."

"Why? Gio and Ve can't hear? They are heroes too, just like me."

"It doesn't matter, they just can't. Only the third hero can get hold of this information."

"Come on, Sat, go with her, listen to her, at least this once." Ve told him, who in the meantime looked a little wary at the robot girl.

"All right... But only so that I can come back here to you as soon as possible." so, he followed her into her room, where he sat on the edge of the bed, while she stood before him.

In short, Dricea informed him that the first of the ancestral statues was located in the kingdom of Nianoto, bordering on the southeast by the kingdom of Fraradar. She also told him that to get there they should have taken the so-called Way of Grace, a path that connected the two kingdoms, as well as the safest, but not the fastest, since, being considered a sort of sacred place by the inhabitants of the Nianoto kingdom, it could only be traveled on foot. There were also villages along the Way of Grace, some larger, some smaller, except for one small town.

"And it is precisely in the town of Kiria, where one of the many headquarters of the Guild of Adventurers is located, that we will stay longer."

"Adventurers Guild? Did I hear you right?" he tried in vain to hide his enthusiasm, and Dricea perhaps seemed to like this.

"You heard very well, not well. How do you think we would make a living otherwise? Not to mention that becoming an adventurer will get you used to fighting and using your powers."

"Oh yes, about my powers. The king told me that I will be able to summon and control the five ancestral statues, after I find them. What I wanted to know is if maybe I could do something else too. Just in case otherwise, I would have no power, until the first statue is found."

"You have me, am I not enough? I will take care of protecting you, and of helping you in the assignments you will participate in."

"So, yours is a no, am I right?"

"No, you're saying wrong. Give me your hand. No the other, the right." she touched his palm, which suddenly lit up with a dim blue light, with her index finger.

"Say Dricea, say my name."

He obeyed, but without expecting who knows what "Dricea." nothing happened, until he looked up and looked her straight in the eyes. In fact, he wasn't looking into her eyes, but his. He was looking through the eyes of the robot girl. It was so strange, that he was so scared that he stopped doing it. In a sense, he had just connected and disconnected from Dricea's eyes, brighter than usual.

"You can do it even remotely, and of your own free will, as soon as you have learned to control the me that is in you."

"The…the you in me? What the fuck do you mean by that? Don't tell me you microchipped me while I was sleeping!" he stood abruptly, then pressed his forehead hard against hers. He hurt himself doing it, the robot girl's forehead was harder than expected. Although she was covered in a sort of synthetic skin, underneath there was a skull not made of bones, but of something metallic, as well as the rest of her body.

"I have no idea what a microchip is, and no, I didn't do anything to you while you were sleeping."

"So when? When?!"

"The first time I took your hand, this morning."