Of Sarith and Beyond

Kira pulled out her sword from the snake-type magical beast then gave her fellow apprentice a cold glare. The beast was giant, and it showed no obvious attack pattern. The girl had to rely on her intuition alone—which developed a lot but not to the point she could face large opponents. Thankfully, Zellis was dozing nearby and heard her when she called for help.

"Why did you have to cut it from head to tail? I need its heart intact."

"You're welcome that I saved your life." The boy casually responded and poked the dead body. He fished out something inside it and showed her the snake's heart in perfect condition. "I avoided the chest. I know you needed the heart."

"Nice. You really are the best!" Kira grinned from ear to ear, taking a bottle out from her space pouch. The small bag had a magic circle outside, so a person only needed to insert mana to get access. What she was holding right now was one of the lower-tiered ones that have approximate storage of 50 cubic meters. It was the first thing she had bought with the magic crystals she sold.

They were allowed to go down the mountain twice every month, on the condition that they had to return before sundown. It was a pretty strict curfew compared to her life before, but Kira was not bothered. She does not have anything to do in the town anyway, and it would be better to stay and train in the mountains.

After storing the heart inside the bottle, she thoughtfully grabbed a jug and handed it to Zellis. "Were you planning to go to town today? It looked like you needed a haircut."

"No, I'm too lazy to do that. Not to mention you added more stretching exercises than before, so I had to catch up on more sleep—" The boy instinctively took the jug as if it was a habit and took a sip, then said in surprise, "—woah, this is good! What did you do with this?"

"It's the juice from the Kiwano fruit, they turned ripe, so I added a bit of herb and honey," she casually replied, then glanced at the boy's long black hair. When Kira arrived in the mountain a few months ago, his hair was up to his neck; now, it was under his shoulder and needed to be tied up into a bun from time to time.

Zellis was a great cook, so he was the one that needed to make food for them three times a day. Before, they had to do it alternately, but since there was a great chef, Kira had given up on her attempt to cook for others and began doing other menial tasks like gathering ingredients and washing the dishes. The boy was grateful, though, since he felt those were troublesome tasks.

Additionally, she got interested in learning a bit of medicine from her master. The seven-year-old girl had to memorize the basics: herbs' names, appearance, and their uses. That was in no way easy, the terms were unfamiliar, and she had to use mnemonics when memorizing. In some cases, she had to make it into a catchy song to remember them. In return, when searching for herbs, she had to sing songs to remember what they called them.

Kira also got into the hobby of juice making that she had like in her previous life. It was easier to digest your macros and micros in liquid form, which made her wonder if there were protein supplements in this time yet. Eating large amounts of one type of meat would not be healthy after all. If she could not find it in the market, then she would try to make it.

"By the way, I mentioned it because I needed to go down today." The silver-haired girl mentioned as he watched the boy chug the contents of the jug, mentally reminding herself that she needed to make more of those; she added, "So I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go down with me."

Zellis stared at her, then at the jug, feeling wronged when he realized he got bribed without his knowledge. "I am—"

"It's too late to spit those out now. And I'm only a seven-year-old with no parental figure. It would be hard to buy things on the street."

"—going with you." Zellis scowled and remembered he had fallen victim to the same scam many times. Their master, for one reason or another, turned out to be busier now. He had no time to accompany the girl to the town like he used to, so she needed to rely on the boy—who was roughly the same age as her older brother—when going on errands.

"Nice." The girl smirked and gave him a thumbs up.

The boy seemed to give up then raised his middle finger.

Kira felt amused at this interaction as she said goodbye to preparing the things she needed to bring. There was one time she accidentally raised a middle finger to an annoying beast she encountered. Zellis was there, so he asked what that meant. The very considerate girl patiently explained the meaning of her action to him, which he dismissed as some Theron Continent culture he did not know. She felt she was a bad influence, but when she thought her senior had already killed someone, that should be the least of her concerns.

To be fair, the place greatly influenced by the Theron would be the Ebraxan border, where there were many merchants. Seeing they were located near the center, it was no wonder Zellis was not very knowledgeable about her continent's culture. The mountain they were living in was a few kilometers from the north of the Sarith Territory.

Sarith was also an Empire but compared to Yves, it was much larger and more abundant. It was established way longer than Yves, so scholars considered it more legitimate after considering its extensive background. From what she knew, they had conquered the nearby tribes when they were established then swallowed them as their own, making the population vary in terms of ethnicity. There were no such things as beast-men, but there were tribes that used magical beasts as their companion in life and death. Needless to say, it could not be denied the steep bias in the hierarchy was also because of this, moreso that slavery was not illegal but only controlled.

People had to register to be slave masters, and their regulations had to be monitored by a special committee in slave trading. Kira wanted to spit in their rules; it seemed they were becoming advanced but in the opposite way.

Not to mention the tradition of the Sarith Imperial Family to make their princes and princesses fight to the death to claim the throne. Of course, you could announce that you would not join the succession, but it would not automatically mean people would stop targeting you if you say so. There were cases where the winner did not even leave one or two of their siblings alive.

Kira felt that instead of the indigenous tribes, the Imperial Family of Sarith was exceedingly barbaric. Thankfully, she would not need to meet one of them, considering they lived beside an unimportant town.

----

"Priestess, the Saintess is here."

Mirin gave the servant a nonchalant glance as she signaled to let the guest in. She did not plan on going back to the Church, and she hated the place and the people. Lastly, she hated the God that kept whispering in her ear even when she was asleep. The woman felt it was unfair; she had already served for a couple of years, it would not matter if they let her do what she wanted for a couple more.

"Ah, Priestess. Nice to see you wearing that dark-colored clothing." A brunette woman entered the greenhouse garden. She slowly made her way to the table and gave her a bright smile.

"Ah, I see you've grown." Mirin unconsciously glanced at the woman's chest then touched her flat torso with bitterness. "Then I'm glad to see you too, Alicia."

Alica showed her a teasing smile as she sat down opposite her. "You have no people here, right?"

"No, you and I are the only ones." Mirin scanned the place with her divine powers to confirm. The brunette's worries were not boundless, the Church of Darkness was known as the information hub, and their people lurked all places imaginable. The perfect example would be their cafés and stores in the capital where the nobles frequent. It was easier to get information when the people had their guard down.

However, they could not afford anyone overhearing their conversation, and this was a secret meeting in the first place—their Churches were famous for not getting along.

"Ah," Alicia looked at her face then narrowed her eyes. "You never changed. You should be more expressive, or else the people you're talking to would think you hate them."

"Why would I be? I have a God in my head 24/7, and if they can remove that, then I'd be nice." Mirin remarked irritatingly, looking at her reflection in her tea. It did not help that her young mistress disappeared when she planned to go back for some time. Because of her resolution to find the girl, she decided to take back the position of the Priestess and get help from her Goddess.

The brunette only rolled her eyes. "What blasphemy—" she said as she picked up the teapot to fill her cup with tea, "—you know, it seems the Goddess of Darkness likes you even after you curse her like that."

"At least I did not beat up my Pope."

"Touché." Alicia sipped her tea, not feeling bad about the accusations about her.

A few months ago, Alicia reclaimed her position as the Saintess by knocking out the Pope with her staff. The woman then prayed on the spot, asking her Goddess for a new Pope, which God answered by giving out an oracle. The last time the Goddess of Light had given an oracle was years ago, when the Saintess was still there, so the Elders of the Church did not have any choice but follow the orders and select a new one, which allowed her to insert one of her people.

The brunette placed her tea back from the table energetically. "Then let's get right into it!" She said, pulling out a stack of papers out of nowhere and giving half of it to Mirin. "We've done an investigation in Ebraxan Continent, and so far, we didn't find clues about where the young mistress might be—"

"Then what are these papers for?" The Priestess nonchalantly glanced at the stack she was holding then browsed through it.

"—but! We found out about the magic that was used back in the dark organization's headquarters. You know we are pretty influential in Ebraxan, although not as influential as we are here obviously, so we managed to get a hold of another branch of magic called Teleportation." Alicia pulled out a paper from her stack and showed it to the other woman. "This illustration shows one of the recently recorded users of that magic."

Mirin stared at the illustration for a moment, then continued browsing the files given to her. "So they are called… porters?" She narrowed her eyes as she read the information.

"They were. So Porters were people from Ebraxan, their lineage dated back to a thousand years ago, but they started to go into hiding. Only a few of them were recorded in the past centuries for reasons unknown. Supposedly, the power when uncontrolled could slice through objects." Alicia put the illustration back in the pile of papers and took out a pouch full of cookies.

Mirin accepted the pouch, opening it, glad to find her favorite butter cookie. "So it separates them to another domain, transferring them through space—to which they would need to spit those things back out? Do they have a fixed place they can transfer things?" She said in between her munching as she returned the cookie bag to the brunette.

"No, it's how they teleport. It would go from the space we are in, then envelope it in their domain, then go back to our world after. Apparently, it strains the user, and it takes a lot of mana to use that power since they use the domain to go across time and space. That's why they can travel between locations in just a short time." Alicia found out that only certain people would have access directly to another dimension, and most of the time, these people called Porters would use it to travel in the form of portals.

Until now, people could still use portals. However, it would take a lot of resources and an experienced magician, at least a High Magus, to make the needed magic circle. That does not end there, as it was too expensive to maintain. It could only be opened for short increments and never consistently. It would also use a lot of energy for the magician involved.

"This is the person that might have helped her, right?"

"Well, might." The brunette corrected, checking for the remaining cookies in the pouch. "He was the last one recorded, and that was a hundred years ago."

Mirin clicked her tongue as she drank tea for her dry mouth. "Ah, you're telling me this so I could find him here in Theron' no?"

"You have a wider information network here. Besides, I've done all the work in Ebraxan." Alicia stated matter-of-factly, faux upset about her work that had gone unappreciated.

"We don't have any churches in Ebraxan. You know they hate us there. For them, the Goddess of Darkness is a curse." The Priestess of Darkness ignored her friend's complaint then rolled her eyes. The Ebraxan Continent had fewer religions, but the largest one was the Church of Light.

It was the largest; one could not compare the influence it had on Theron. If every town and city in Theron had a Church, then the one in Ebraxan had twice as less. The people treated their leaders as their religion; they would direct their faith and belief to those who ruled them.

"Guess so. Religion is another matter altogether in the Sarith Empire. They hold their Emperor above everything," the Saintess replied, a little irritated about the current situation in Ebraxan.

Mirin scoffed and sarcastically told her, "I also would if he was the one pointing a knife at my neck. The Emperor here is much better than the one from Ebraxan."

"Another thing, you met with the Grand Duke of the North, right?"

"Ah yes. He was in a much worse state than I thought." The Priestess closed her eyes as if tired. She did not expect the man to have weakened both his soul and mana in such a short period. "Well, on the other hand, it was a little irritating for him to apologize that he made the two of us his daughter's maids."

Grand Duke Albert was surprised when he found out that not one but two of her daughter's maids were related to the Church. Both of them had high-ranking positions at that. The man did not show it, but Mirin was sure he was glad. He was her previous employer; after all, she needed to know his mood. The two of them talk about the possible location of the young mistress and how they could search for her in the Ebraxan Continent.

Alicia felt as if they addressed the elephant in the room as her expression darkened. "I still can't forget about that day. It's already been a few months." She was never the same; every time she would be distracted, the woman would think of the events that time. "I wished I could have saved her."

"It's not our fault. We just need to do our best in finding our young mistress now." Mirin watched her friend solemnly, then averted her eyes.

"…you're right."

The Priestess sighed then decided to change the topic. "What did the Church of Light's Elders say when you used your power to help the Grand Duke?"

"They didn't know. Even if the elders did, do they still dare say anything?" Alicia devilishly smiled as she pulled out her staff from behind and stumped it on the ground.

"Fair point."

----

Zellis hated doing troublesome work, even more so now his older sibling had decided to cause chaos in town.

"I guess we only grab the things we want then go?" Kira whispered carefully beside him as they watched the procession pass by in front. The two had just arrived when they heard the Third Prince would stay here for a short moment. Taking into account their ostentatious way of traveling, they might have gone out for official matters.

"Don't take too long," he reminded her as he pulled her hood further down. "Master's going to go back soon, and he will not take too long out this time."

Zellis calmed his loudly beating heart when he heard the girl's hum of agreement. There were precisely six princes and six princesses in the Imperial Palace. A long time ago, he was called the 'Fifth Prince' born from a concubine, the daughter of a Marquis. His mother had a weak heart, and although she was a capable magician, she could not accept how his father handled his internal affairs that made her scared her son would die. As a result, she announced Zellis would give up his right to the throne. It made the Emperor angry, going as far as imprisoning her away from his son. In her panic, she asked help from his master to take him away, which ultimately became the reason for her untimely death.

It would be an understatement if someone called him angry. Zellis was beyond that. In the first place, he did not want the throne; he just wanted to turn the place upside down. Which was rather bothersome to do, but if he could see his dear father suffering, then it would be worth it.

After the procession, the two look around the market, looking for herbs, clothes, and artifacts used for training. Since the town was small, there were no stores dedicated to products so that the merchants would peddle on the sidewalk. The things available were also not worth noting, but it was the nearest market they could find. Commercial buildings with top-of-line products were only public in big cities, and the closest was two towns over.

It took them an hour before they could gather the things that Kira needed, and by then, Zellis was sure he would spend the rest of the day sleeping. They were about to go back when he saw the seven-year-old girl stopped before a stall selling small magical beasts. The beasts caught were either bred or procured by stealing them from their parents before they were born. Following the girl's gaze, he saw her looking at a pile of dirty fur in a cage with a 'for sale' sign written on a placard.

"What are you looking at?" Zellis was aware the caged magical beasts on the stall were meant to be kept as a pet. Most of the species he could see for sale would not grow any larger than a grown man's waist; they were also not combat inclined, so he became confused at the girl's sudden interest. It would be better to catch the beast themselves rather than pay for something subpar.

Kira ignored his questioning look and instead pulled him closer when she saw the sudden influx of people. "I want that beast."

"Then buy it," he replied in an instant as he looked behind him only to see white-robed men going their way. Zellis lowered his head, then his face under his hood, pushing Kira near the stall. He faced the merchant then asked, "How much is this?"

"One silver." The man casually replied after raising his index finger. "I can't lower the price anymore—"

"—I'll buy it." A voice interrupted behind them.

Zellis stiffened at the familiar authoritative voice as he felt a hand, tugging the sleeves of his robe. He looked down to see his junior peering at him while she held her index finger on her lips. The boy blinked and let out a chuckle as both moved to the side along with the crowd, making way for the white-robed men.

The merchant wittingly smiled at the one leading in front. "Would you also like this one, dear customer?" He said, pointing to the ball of the dirty beast that had yet to show its appearance.

"No, I want the egg." The man in a white robe pointed at the one beside it and snapped his fingers. A bag full of gold coins suddenly landed on the palm of his hand.

"That would be one silver—" The man threw the bag at the merchant as he caught it clumsily. With a sudden realization, he bowed at the man, "Thank you, Sire! Thank you, thank you!"

The group of men turned around then left, leaving the people around them astounded. The merchant knew he needed to go to the place or else he would get robbed; haphazardly collecting the beast cages, he looked around consciously, sweat trickling from his forehead.

The boy felt his sleeves getting tugged again. Looking down, he saw Kira gesturing for them to go. He nodded as he followed her away from the crowd.

"You little thief." Zellis gasped in disbelief as he saw the girl pull out a small cage under her robes.

Kira smirked, appearing proud about what she had done. "I borrowed."

"That's stealing." The boy looked at her up and down as he flicked her forehead. "When did you do it?"

"He was way too busy being scared that someone would rob him, so I snatched this lovely lad—don't look at me like that! You see how dirty it is; he must have treated it badly, that's why he did not dare to show its face to other people." Kira turned her back against him defensively as she examined the beast.

Zellis shrugged, looking over from behind the girl to also look at the beast. "Then make sure you don't get caught next time," he warned her as he sighed. The merchant received a bag of gold anyway, so he would not probably notice the missing animal. One gold equated to 1000 silvers, and one silver would be 1000 copper coins. The peddler suddenly turned rich overnight, enough that he could stop working all his life.

The silver-haired girl gave him a salute while grinning. "Yes, sir."

The boy was curious why she wanted to buy the magical beast, but he kept his questions to himself. They walked home after that.

There was some distance between the mountain and the town so that few people would go there. Furthermore, with the magic circle working, it was called the "Lost Mountains" since whoever entered it would disappear and find themselves at the foot of the mountains afterward. Some would try and venture inside, but Zellis quickly knocked them out before they were forced outside.

So it was a surprise when they encountered the group of white-robed men on the way home. The man leading them had his hood down so Zellis could see his face. He had short black hair, and he stood tall even among the others.

"Fifth Brother, long time no see." The man greeted, wearing a slight smile on his face. "You know, our father wants you back. It's such a hassle to find you all over the Empire only to discover you were in this little town."

"I don't understand what you're saying." Zellis stood in front of Kira as he faced the man.

The man tilted his head, his eyes narrowed into slits. "I'm not here to verify if you know. I'm here to take you back—" he pointed to them then signaled to the men behind him using his eyes, "—catch them, dead or alive."

"You never changed, Elvan," Zellis stated calmly as he shared an understanding glance between him and Kira.

----

Kira smirked as she looked away from her senior and placed the cage she was holding on the ground. She immediately attacked the two magicians near her. Fortunately, she was the type to bring her sword wherever she went, a trait that somehow rubbed off on Zellis.

The girl grabbed the hilt of her sword and released an ice attack. The magicians immediately raised their shields—the left one used fire, and the right one used the same as her, ice. She jumped and rushed to the fire magus when he dispelled his defense, hacking one of the man's arms; she hugged the man from behind despite the spurting blood, decapitating its head. Kira had killed the swordsman first, and now she was left with the magus.

The ice magician stood there, shocked for a minute, and watched her unhurriedly get down from the body. Kira then kicked the body down, lying face down while she stepped on the severed head.

This immensely angered the ice magician, and he began to chant a spell. "In this land of ice, I want to call upon the—"

Thwaaak!

"That was easy," Kira muttered as her gaze landed on the boy's fight. Zellis had also finished his and was wiping some blood off his robes. The girl was impressed as she whistled softly. The boy saw her looking, so he gave her a thumbs up.

From her estimate, there were probably three swordsmen and three magicians. She was not sure about their level, but the four of them must be a regular Magus and a Swordsman. However, the last two who remained at the Prince's side were probably a High Magus and a Swordmaster, a rank higher than her and Zellis' level. Kira cracked her neck and carefully watched the three people standing.

Kira felt bloodlust targeted at her. Glancing at the source, she saw the robed man beside the Prince took out his sword. The girl was not unfamiliar with the hatred she received, and she had received her fair share of it when she was not on the battlefield. If the man wanted to intimidate her, he should have killed a few more, at least more than her.

Vines started to appear near her feet. She became more cautious as her opponent could use countless magic. Kira avoided it, releasing icicles in the process, then threw them at the swordsman. She cursed when another vine caught her feet; she tried to cut it using her sword but to no avail. The plant curled on her leg tighter than before, and it climbed up to her thighs.

The seven-year-old gave the magical beast cage a sideways glance then looked in Zellis' direction. He saw him fighting with his brother and the magician receiving both water and ice magic simultaneously. Kira froze when the blade reached her neck; she felt the presence of the man behind her as she sneakily applied magic slowly from the ground to the vines.

"You already killed some of my men. You never fail to amuse me, Zellis." The Prince told the boy with fake affection. Elvan brandished his sword as he pointed it at his neck.

Zellis gritted his teeth as he applied pressure on the wound on his side. He gave Kira, who was held captive, a furtive glance. "Don't involve her in this," he growled, then tried to stand up. "If you want to get me, just get me. Stop being so annoying."

Elvan's eye twitched, but his smile remained. "I changed my mind. You're still as annoying as before, and you will both die here now."

"Then try it." Zellis tried to stay conscious as he charged straight to his brother. The world seemed to be in slow motion as he watched the sword slash down on him while he tried to tackle Elvan in an attempt to disarm him. "RUN, KIRA!"

Kira stabbed the vines that bound her after slowly overriding it with her mana, then quickly elbowed the swordsman behind her. She felt her insides burning as she controlled the mana to cover her, slowly releasing her teleportation magic then reaching Zellis right after he tackled his brother.

Kira grabbed the boy, who instantly fell unconscious, and teleported them near the cage, not forgetting the magical beast she stole. With a wave of her hand, she shamelessly bowed.

"Adios."