Investigation

If Aerym were to describe her current mood, it would be Not Very Good. Today, she had met two weirdos, and each one was stranger than the last. Aerym didn't like anyone to know her name, without knowing them back. Or more like, she didn't like strangers at all.

The last time she trusted a stranger, she was kidnapped, and her parent spent a lot of money to get her back. Thus she hated not knowing anyone's name. It doesn't matter if the name was fake. All that matters was that she knew what to call the person itself.

However, today, she actually met two people whom she didn't recognize, but seemed familiar with her. And she didn't recognize them. Not the slightest bit.

The first one was arrogant. It was just as the second one had said. Hair was the same colour as shit, eyes the same colour as weird shit, and acts like everyone else other than him is shit. He was as shitty as he could get. He casually passed by, and casually mentioned her name, and casually beat her with a single finger. Ever since then, her guard was raised in case of stalkers.

But then, another one actually came. It was another unknown person, and a weird one at that. She wasn't as arrogant as the shithead, but she spouted words that didn't make any sense. After all, she'd never met the shithead before, so why would that girl assume that he was Aerym's master? In the first place, her Guidance Tome was something that was distributed along the knights'.

Aerym sighed. Just the mere thought about them were starting to get on her nerves, so she wanted something to do. And the plan? To get to the southern forest, and gain Levels.

◇◇◇

By the time Lancell opened his eyes, four hours had passed. His body was lighter than ever, and he was refreshed from all the tension and killing intent from yesterday. It was good.

He stood from the bed, and stretched his body. It wasn't actually needed, but it was habit. And who knows, it might actually have benefit.

"Good morning, Lancelot." A voice came from beside him.

He looked at where it came from, and greeted back. "Good morning, Valle."

"Are you going?" She asked. It seems she knew what Lancell was planning.

"Yeah. I still don't know where exactly they spawn."

It was something that Lancell had always been curious about. Everytime there was a Wave, where did the monsters come from? He didn't have any chance to find out, and no country did. All attempts to unravel the mystery ended in failure. And it wasn't surprising either. After all, no one would be able to survive a massive horde of monsters coming at the same time.

'However, this time's different.'

It was. He was stronger than the current monsters, and his Levels was way higher than the average elite. And he could even take on a person of the Third Step with the current him. That's why...

"Let's go, Valle."

"Mn."

And so, they travelled. To the southern forest of Selvenia.

◇◇◇

The southern forest, which actually had a name but was too long to remember, was the largest forest in the entirety of Selvenia.

It spanned for about 10 kilometers, and was a home to ogres and trolls before the Great Shift. However...

"Not sure if this could still be called forest." Muttered Lancell as he looked at the devastation in front of him.

As far as he could see, it was all ravaged trees. Lancell could barely see anything that resembled a tree that was properly standing. The ground had varying sizes and types of footprints, and it was on terrible condition. Lancell could only shake his head on this familiar sight.

"Well, gotta move on. I don't have much time."

As he said so, Lancell kicked the ground beneath him as he instantly traversed several dozens of meters, as he searched the entire place. Well, even if he was searching, he wasn't actually hoping to find any clues here. The devastation still stretches for as far as he could see, and if the clues were somewhere, it should be there, at the edges.

However, as Lancell moved, he saw something quite interesting.

He stopped, and inspected it. "An monster corpse...and the blood is still fresh..." he muttered in interest.

Its core was already gone, and it was killed using a sword. A monster of the First Step, and it was probably somewhere in the Level 80s. The strikes were done cleanly, and there wasn't much damage to the corpse. Meaning that whoever killed it was much stronger than it.

Lancell observed the monster, but a faint jolt reacted in his intuition, as he instinctively materialized Arkenvalle, and slashed. However...

("Lancelot, wait!") Arkenvalle stopped him.

He quickly activated Void Sensitivity, and he perceived everything nearby, as the world slowed down. And when he saw the attacker, he frowned.

'Aerym?...'

Adjusting the trajectory of his swing, Lancell cancelled Void Sensitivity, and parried the sword strike, and threw a quick forehead flick.

THWICK!!

A satisfying sound rang out.

"Agh!!..." Aerym made a shrill cry as she ducked and held her forehead. On the moment of impact, Lancell dispersed the forced of his finger on her forehead as to maximize pain.

It was something Lancell learned from a certain person in his past life, and experience told him that this was not something a normal person could endure. It was surprising that Aerym wasn't rolling around in pain.

Lancell looked down on her with a glare, as he spoke. "What the hell are you doing, idiot?"

"W-Who are you calling an idiot?! Y-You...you stalker!!" she yelled in retaliation as she kept a hand on her forehead.

Lancell sighed. This woman was really cautious, to the point she misunderstands things quick. And now that he thought of it, didn't they also meet like this in his previous life? Life was really stranger than fiction.

Lancell crossed his arms. "So? What are you doing here?"

"What about you too?!" she pointed a finger at Lancell, "What are you doing here?!"

Lancell nerves bulged on his forehead, but he kept his patience. "I'm searching for something."

"Something?! You don't really mean SOMEONE, right?!" she retorted.

Now she was really getting on Lancell's nerves, however, Arkenvalle intervened.

("Calm down, Lancelot. Let me talk to her.")

("Is that fine? I thought you don't want to show yourself yet.")

("It should be fine. And there is no worst case scenario anyway.")

Lancell heaved a sigh of relief. ("Alright.")

"Hey! Why are you getting silent now! At least deny it!"

Lancell ignored her, while Arkenvalle spoke from behind her.

"Don't worry. He's not here for you."

Aerym turned around, and saw Arkenvall walking towards her with light steps. She suddenly went into a daze, as she muttered.

"Beautiful..."

Arkevalle smiled, and reassured. "Don't worry. He's really searching for so—"

Arkenvalle was about to vouch for Lancell's intentions, but was suddenly cut off as Aerym had rushed ovee and hugged Arkenvalle. She held Arkenvalle to her bosoms, like a mother protecting a child.

"Demon! Brute! To think you're even tricking a girl like her...I'll cut you down!!"

Now this was unexpected.