Chapter 10

When the sunlight was at its highest point over the only part of the north where its light reaches as if by a divine miracle, a little girl was forced to run through a mysterious, hot forest with little concern for what might upset her balance.

The trees surrounding it were so large that the ground was tinged with a dark tone, as if a solid darkness enveloped the landscape where the sounds of unknown animals and insects echoed in the distance.

However, even amidst that haunting melody, the girl could still hear with her keen senses the clear signs that that great beast was still persistently pursuing her and closing the distance between them, eager to make her its snack as it took a liking to the taste of her kind.

Numerous branches and leaves were tangled in her fine, shoulder-length lilac hair, which was dyed a crimson hue.

Looking into her moist violet eyes, one could see the fear of the girl who appeared to be only thirteen years old. Her cheeks were still stained with the dried stains of her tears.

Although the running girl's breathing was labored, the number of wounds on her hands and feet caused by the trees and bushes she passed through only increased, as if she was trying to avoid getting tangled in the forest, she still ran.

Thanks to the long, pointed ears characteristic of fairy descendants, the sound of the monster chasing her could be heard to some extent. However, the creature couldn't be seen when she looked around.

The girl was a member of the long-lived race, the Nox, and had the ability to communicate with the nature spirits to ask for guidance on her journey; however, she wasn't yet skilled enough to ask them for help without calming herself, so it was impossible to ask where she could go to escape.

Nox's senses were good compared to the Terrians and only the Bestians could compare, but the girl was still very young and lacked proper training, so she didn't know how to handle this situation calmly and composedly.

The girl desperately wanted to escape from what was seeking to devour her, but her pursuer persistently tracked her.

Shiiiiiii~

Suddenly and without warning, a whistling sound was heard in the air and, suddenly, an arrow pierced the girl's right leg, causing her to inevitably lose her balance and fall painfully to the ground.

With difficulty evident on her face, she raised her head and looked at her right leg in dismay. The moment she saw that long, thick arrow clearly embedded in her flesh, bleeding, the girl finally felt a sharp pain that overwhelmed her senses.

“¡¡¡AAAAAAAH!!”

The girl was in such excruciating pain in her leg that large tears fell to the ground as she writhed on the floor in agony.

The bushes swayed, revealing several human figures approaching with slow steps.

They were all men who were equipped with leather armor and thick green robes to conceal themselves more easily in the forest, wielding various weapons such as bows.

Some carried a sword with daggers at their waist, while others carried small shields.

Evidently, they were all [Hunters]. The girl looked at them with teary eyes as her vision blurred.

No...that thing...will eat me...

His thoughts were cut off there.

The men had a look of utter shock on their faces as they watched her fall unconscious from the pain she had never felt in her entire life, as if they had not expected to find the girl, but they approached the girl without any carelessness, indicating a certain level of experience.

“This is… a stranger from beyond the mountain range? And she’s of the Nox race like Lady Alica…”

One of them looked at the girl with curiosity and interest, as if he were looking at a rare animal. It had been a long time since outsiders who had no dealings with Taylan had appeared so close, and the only Nox they knew was Alica.

On the other hand, they rarely got to look at her ears, so they treated her like any other Terrian without a second thought. To him, the girl was a complete novelty.

“What’s an outsider doing in Argos Forest? Wasn’t it assumed no one from outside had any interest in Cesna?” another member of the hunting party asked in bewilderment. No one had any interest in his lands because they thought it was a more barren place than the rest, or so he’d heard.

“He also seems to have more injuries on his body than the ones Rion caused, even a bruise on his arm. Did he escape here?”

“What does it matter? Let’s keep hunting.”

The hunter responsible for the girl's injury groaned, his disinterest in her well-being evident in his eyes as he looked at the cause of her grievous injuries. Some grimaced, and one of them, the most handsome of them all, glared at him.

“Come on, Clars! Are you kidding me? You just wounded her with your arrow and you’re going to leave her to die alone because she’s a foreigner?! Now then, you bunch of idiots, if you don’t want me to beat you up for being trash, help this girl and let’s take her to the church to get treated!”

"But…."

"Now!!"

That man, with his hands on the bow at waist level, instructed the other men as he released his spiritual pressure, not wanting them to question him. One of the [Hunters] approached the girl from behind with a jar containing a pink liquid inside and a bandage, his expression reluctant.

“John, are you sure about this?”

"Come on, move or I'll get really mad."

With the final order from their leader, John Asher, the other hunters set off with the girl toward the village. John walked behind them, watching from behind while sighing.

“What a day! First I make the terrible mistake of kissing my future wife like an animal, and now, after going out hunting to relax, my hunting companions hurt a little Nox from beyond the village and want to let her die, something so inhumane... Can this day get any better?”

He didn't know that while he was thinking all this out loud, a pair of beastly, yellow eyes were watching them all from the shadows with malice and caution.

♦♦♦♦

In this world filled with supernatural beings that surpass ancient technologies created with human ingenuity and wisdom, humanity's only chance to resist further threats from other planes is the Professions.

This was divine power latent within the human soul...which can better shape one's existence when awakened and grant incredible abilities to humans thanks to the gods and their gifts.

It was understood that awakening a profession is the only way for humans to effectively use their mana without relying on contracts with Spirits to perform so-called Magic, aside from ancient rituals, thanks to the abilities these grant humanity.

People who awaken their professional talents will obtain a profession to become powerful humans.

Among them, the four most common and desired professions for those who aspire to glory are warrior, rogue, explorer, and troubadour.

Humans can transition directly into these professions by activating their talents. The same is true for mages who normally make contracts with spirits; with sufficient talent, they can transition directly and ease their path as users of that power.

Some professions require the help of divine power from the gods to awaken, such as paladins.

Paladins here can only transition in the Churches of Ares, Lusticia, Gaea, Artemis, and Aphrodite. These are the only churches with their own paladin systems in the North, with the Churches of Gaea and Ares being the largest of all.

In the center of the North, the sacred city of warriors is dedicated solely to the Church of Ares, where several legions of paladins are stationed, awaiting the Duke's call to help counter the evil tide of demonic beasts coming from beyond the Great Wall.

There are other professions like this, such as druids, monks, and clerics, that require divine power to make the transition.

In addition to these, there are many rare and unusual professions, which are even more complex.

However, in the northern lands, the most popular and sought-after professions weren't warriors, but rather professions like [Farmer] and [Agriculturist]. The reason for that is quite simple: it's difficult to farm in the northern lands without those professions.

Many of the farmlands are difficult to cultivate without the magical skills granted by these professions. From this perspective, it wasn't so difficult to understand why this was so important to the cold northern lands. Even if they weren't guaranteed good treatment by high society, they would still be treated with some consideration by their neighbors.

Furthermore, when a profession's spiritual energy reaches a certain limit and is broken, the original profession can advance to a more powerful rank, allowing them to gain more incredible abilities. In the case of [Farmers] and [Agriculturists], their abilities become increasingly strange when it comes to tending farms or growing crops.

A Master Rank [Farmer], for example, could accelerate crop growth in days instead of months with the {Accelerated Crop Growth} skill enhanced at the Third Profession Rank.

While a [Farmer] can use their passive skill, {Farming Territory}, to create deadly traps for invaders in their compounds, keep pests away from crops, and have an automatic reminder of when animals are about to give birth and such, among other functions of that type, only at the Expert Rank.

Furthermore, {Agricultural Territory} improved the effectiveness of any farming activities on land a farmer controlled, effectively strengthening the [Farmers'] abilities. This was true regardless of Rank; though it was more than obvious that at higher Ranks it would be even more effective.

One can only see that if the farmers and ranchers of this world could be so absurd, then the combat professionals were even more terrifying.

Either way, Arisella was now grateful to herself for creating such an absurd world that felt like some kind of cheap video game with all those strange and meaningless abilities.

If it weren't for that, Taylan wouldn't have any truly logical reason to survive the past incidents even in the miracle that is Cesna, as the cultivation knowledge among the Taylan people was quite inefficient when it came to foreign crops.

They would not have fared well if they had had to seek information on how to grow seeds taken from the south in the lands of the north.

They could only get that information from the other Duchy, and leaving aside the money they would have to spend to obtain it, what would have happened if they had investigated why they needed to know something that was of no use in the North?

You should know that those seeds were obtained through smuggling, okay?

Fortunately, [Farmers] and {Agriculturists] possessed the {Agricultural Knowledge} skill, allowing them to learn the knowledge to grow those seeds without the need for a costly trial and error process.

Don't ask him why something like that would be possible; it was a damn novel where humans could acquire video game-like abilities and fight otherworldly monsters. There was no logical reason for such an ability to exist, other than "it's really convenient."

And it was. Otherwise, [farmers] and [farmers] would have been considered relatively useless in Taylan without those skills.

Thanks to Arisella herself, people who could only regret being born in a land where their skills were not appreciated compared to the rest of the North were able to prove their worth, and quickly twelve important [Farmer] families were formed in Taylan with several [Farmers] in their service, owning large plots of land to cultivate thanks to Arisella.

And as you know, one of the heroines of this world is part of those twelve families. And Arisella wanted to visit her... to make a good impression on the girl and so that the world wouldn't be hostile toward her because of Julia's hatred.

She may seem paranoid, but when it came to her own life, Arisella took it very seriously.

Therefore, she called her stern housekeeper with the bell-shaped magical artifact on her desk to do her bidding and then left her room. Now sitting quietly in her office, Arisella looked over everything there while she waited for her maid's arrival.

The room where a knight would normally work was simply furnished: high-quality marble floors covered with rugs made from animal skins, and walls adorned with various collections of swords, paintings, and shields.

Against the interior wall was a long wooden table with Arisella sitting behind it. Hanging on the wall behind her were a musket and a battle axe, something that didn't fit her style from any angle.

In Arisella's previous life, this room might have been considered rural, but here it signified wealth.

And if there was something Arisella had to point out...

Now that I think about it, I don't remember why the hell I have this office...

It was no joke

Even when Arisella reviewed her recent memories, she couldn't find a reason for her to have her own office or anything like that. Aside from giving one or two prophecies, she barely got involved in the administration of the entire village these days, much less used it to manage the mansion or her estate, which she did in her own room.

Arisella could only remember that, for some reason she herself didn't understand, she always came to this place to relax. Whenever she thought about talking to Amelia about the matter she needed to resolve, she automatically came here as if it were natural, and that puzzled her.

In truth, before recovering her memories she did those things without thinking much about it, the same thing happened with her maids and Leonora, they found nothing strange in her actions.

But now that she had the memories of Amael Parker, the author of this world, she couldn't help but notice the strangeness and wonder: Is there something strange here?

Because she was sure she'd never have an office built for nothing, and with such a masculine style that didn't fit with her current tastes (she admitted with some bewilderment). It was really strange.

The knock on the door distracted her thoughts from this mystery, and Arisella put it aside for now, allowing the other party to pass. When the door opened, a beautiful doll-faced maiden with turquoise hair and pink eyes entered with a soft step, bowing to Arisella.

"Lady Bluen, I've arrived. What do you need me for?"

"Amelia, I want you to accompany me to your family home. There is a very important matter that requires your presence." Arisella got straight to the topic at hand without any idle chatter, mainly because Amelia had no talent for socializing anyway.

“My family?” Amelia’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at those words before she asked with a certain urgency in her voice and expression, “My Lady… Did you have a prophecy or vision of something happening on my family’s farm?”

"¿Mmm?"

Arisella blinked, before quickly recovering and nodding naturally, "...It's not really a prophecy or a vision, but more of a feeling that something bad might happen there. I just want to be there because I feel it's important."

He thought using the idea of ​​a bad feeling as an excuse to visit his maid's family would be convenient, since he couldn't think of a credible reason to go with his family at the moment. Since [Prophetesses] have a reputation for possessing impressive fateful powers, he hoped Amelia would simply accept it.

But just as she finished speaking, Arisella suddenly felt her spiritual power begin to flow out of her soul for some reason… and in such large quantities that it surprised her.

Uh... it can't be what you thought it was, right...?... 

She thought to herself in surprise, cold sweat running down her slightly pale face as she realized what had just happened thanks to the profession in her soul that instinctively told her what was happening while she felt a little weaker from the loss of energy.

It activates so easily and without my command! What the hell?! Why should I have the same problem as the original heroine with this ability?

Amelia, whose expression showed that she took the words of her lady and prophetess very seriously, seemed worried to see her suddenly freeze.

“My Lady? What’s going on!?”

"Amelia, we have to go to your house now!" Arisella urgently got up from her seat (?) and walked away from the table, walking over to her maid and taking her hand to leave the office.

“M-my Lady…”

"Let's go!"

How exactly did this ability work again? It shouldn't be a coincidence! Or should it? Then she remembered a detail from her novel and cursed. Why should she have the same problem as the original heroine with this ability?

It was all so sudden that he wanted to hit himself hard. He was just making up a random, harmless excuse, not some damn false prophecy he was forcing into reality.

So why did the {Author of Prophecies} skill activate just now for such a simple reason?

Either way, I hope nothing really horrible or anything like that happens as a result... I just said I had a bad feeling, didn't I? What's the worst that could happen?

As she gave orders to the confused maids with Amelia at her side, Arisella thought about that and really wanted to hit herself.

She just put up a damn flag all by herself.

With a sense of urgency growing even more at that thought, Arisella quickly boarded her mansion's black carriage with Amelia and ordered them to leave quickly for the Runei compound.

There wasn't time to address the issue of her ability activating out of control until I was sure it had led to her death or something.

♦♦♦♦

In the northern lands, located on the border between the county of Lassius and near the borders of the Marquisate of Sion, south of the tundras of Azerisia, there existed a huge mountain range known as the "Great Cesna Range" by outsiders and the "Argos Forest" by its human inhabitants, hidden from the rest of the world.

On the outskirts of this hidden forest lies the village of Taylan.

It had a population of about 120,567 people, divided into 260 families. For a village on the outskirts of Frain County living among supposedly inhospitable mountains, this figure was extremely unusual, so they always reported a smaller number to the lord, blissfully unaware of his secrets due to their indifference to the commoners.

The main source of livelihood for the Taylan people came from the spirit forest and harvests, as they did not accept visitors with a few exceptions, such as a group of friendly merchants and some strange women in the past.

The villagers were busy from the moment they woke up at sunrise. The adults worked from dawn to dusk, and the children helped them with the menial tasks.

It was a difficult life, especially for those who worked the farms, but still quite rewarding for many, as they were aware from birth that they were blessed compared to the rest of the North, where the threat of bandits and magical beasts was the norm for countless northern settlements.

On this day, Emmi Runei, a young girl who had not yet awakened her profession of [Farmer], had her first task every day of the week, which was to go to the nearby well and draw water.

Drawing water from the well was the task assigned to the second Runei sister, and once the water tank inside her family home was full, her first and most important task of the day would be complete.

Around that time, her mother would prepare breakfast and the family of four would enjoy a family breakfast together, occasionally receiving visits from her eldest sister, Amelia Runei, from the Bluen Manor where her mistress lived.

Breakfast would generally consist of boiled barley with Dorian hen eggs and soft bread, along with some sautéed vegetables. Sometimes they also ate fruit.

After eating with her parents, her six-year-old sister would head into the forest to gather lenams, and Emma would help with the farm work, though she lacked the magical abilities of the professionals who assisted her. When lunchtime came, the Runei family and the [Farmers] who helped them in their fields would eat together in the center of their compound.

Lunch consisted of soup with ground beef, fried or boiled Dorian chicken, or meat with mushrooms. Afterward, they continued working in the fields, and once the sun set, everyone returned home for dinner.

Dinner usually consisted of bean soup and pork ribs, and if local hunters had managed to hunt some animals, they would also bring some wild animal meat, allowing them to feast on the animals of the south.

After dinner, everyone used the kitchen lights and chatted happily, while mending their clothes.

They went to sleep around 8 o'clock or later.

Emmi Runei was born 15 years ago and to this day her routine has not changed.

Although he had experienced some hunger in his youth due to the mistakes of adults in the past, he occasionally wondered if his current days would always be as monotonous as they were now.

He would soon understand that this quiet, boring life is a blessing.

♦♦♦♦

Like any other day, Emmi had gotten out of bed and gone to the well to draw water to fill the tank, and after breakfast, she had gone out to help with the farm work, even if it was just carrying a sack of potatoes or removing manure.

Her actions helped to some extent as they allowed the employees to reduce the workload to some extent most of the time and that made her feel satisfied because she was being useful to the farm, even without a profession.

At that moment, the slightly red-haired, green-eyed teenager entered the warehouse where the bags of manure were stored, his face calm and ready to carry the heavy bag of shit to its destination.

"Okay...here I go"

Emmi rolled up her sleeves and showed off a bit of her striking white skin, as she hadn't been exposed to much sun. The work she'd put in to achieve these had made her arms slim yet muscular.

Although the bag of manure was very heavy, Emmi lifted it with surprising ease. Even to those who didn't know her, it was obvious how accustomed she was to this, given her physical strength.

If the manure bag had been filled to the brim, I would have been able to make fewer trips, which would have made my work faster... right? But it shouldn't be too heavy for me to carry...

While thinking this, Emmi was leaving the warehouse when something happened. She heard a loud sound outside, and after turning toward the source, her heart sank in fear.

The sound he heard was the sound of breaking wood and the neighing of horses. Followed by something that sounded like...

"Huh? A scream...?"

It sounded like the squeal of a startled or surprised animal, but it definitely wasn't an animal making those sounds. Emmi couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what could be making those sounds.

He didn't want to believe it. It must have been his imagination; it definitely wasn't the cry of a human being in distress he'd just heard. 

Many terrifying thoughts crossed her young and naive mind.

She had to hurry because the screams seemed to be coming from outside her family compound; something strange was happening, and she had a bad feeling. Although she wasn't a [Prophetess], she trusted her senses.

He threw the bag of manure aside, because it was impossible for him to run carrying something so heavy.

Although she almost tripped over her dress, she quickly regained her balance.

The sound was heard again.

Emmi's heart was beating wildly.

It was definitely a human scream, there was no longer any doubt about it in his mind.

The young woman continued running, running, and running towards her destination.

Never in her life as a small-town girl had she run so fast, as if her life depended on it. She ran until she tripped over her own legs.

The sound of a wounded horse, people screaming and shouting something in panic.

Everything was becoming clearer and clearer and finally…

In front of Emmi, in the distance, she could see a dilapidated, cheap carriage with its various parts scattered on the ground, as well as several injured people and horses nearby.

“W-what…?”

Several of the [Farmers] surrounded something Emmi had never seen before, tightly gripping their sickles as they stared with seriousness and fear at the yellow-eyed beast before one of them gathered his courage and shouted.

“Get out of here, animal!”

¡¡¡¡Gryaaaa...!!!

The animal's roar of pain at being struck by a [Farmer] who made use of one of the few combat skills available to his profession, {Invader Cutter}, was terrifying, causing the young woman to fall to the ground on her rear, her body trembling in fear at the beast's fearsome appearance.

It was a lizard.

A lizard of exaggerated proportions for its species that should have been at least as tall as a man, two meters high and four meters wide. Its body was covered in scales that looked like white rocks, a section of which had been slightly broken by the attack of the brave [Farmer] who flew towards a stable before falling to the ground, injured, but at least alive.

The others grew more cautious as they defended themselves against the beast, who glared at him in anger after lashing out with its tail in retaliation at its companion, hissing with its tongue before suddenly, a weak energy was emitted from its body and the ground beneath one of them flew with it, taking them by surprise.

Fortunately, the [Farmer] managed to react in time, jumping and rolling to the ground, his tough body as a second-rank farmer allowed him to survive without many serious injuries on him, but he definitely had to receive help from holy magic or Lady Asher's potions due to his current state, although it depended on whether he could escape.

But that was the least of it... They were dealing with a magical beast!

Emmi couldn't believe it.

She more or less knew that Magical Beasts, also known as Spirit Beasts, were mysterious creatures that were born with spirit-like powers.

They were originally beings from another dimension, but many species on Earth had begun to evolve into Magical Beasts after the events of Ragnarok.

Even within the sacred walls of the Terra Empire, the presence of magical beasts was extremely common in the internal ecosystems. Since the majority of the animal population were magical beasts, they could not be completely exterminated, especially in the northern lands.

The only place blessed enough to lack a large population of magical beasts was the Southern Duchy, Arwirntar, where animals similar to the Pre-Ragnarok Era were more common, animals that were purchased for Taylan in place of the troublesome magical beasts.

As such, the only population of magical beasts within Argos Forest should be the more harmless ones that were threatened by the villagers' past exploitation a few years ago, not a huge lizard whose scales appear to be made of snow-colored dirt.

Emmi couldn't understand what was happening.

Why was there such a dangerous magical beast here?

What was going on?

"Sister!"

"Is that...Natia's voice!?"

A girl's frightened scream brought her out of her state of terror as she turned in the direction the voice was coming from. There, a girl was running toward her from the direction of the forest, tears in her eyes.

“Natia, come here quickly!”

—Young Emmi, little Na, get out of here!

"¡Arnund….!"

As she called out to her sister to rush to her, one of the men holding off the Magical Beast shouted urgently. This made her careless, and the beast's claw struck her chest before her friends' warnings could do anything, sending her flying in its direction.

"¡Kyaaa!"

Emmi screamed in fear as the badly injured man fell too close to her, his chest bleeding as he coughed up blood. Seeing this made her little sister freeze instead of continuing to run.

“Damn it, fuck all this! I don’t get paid for this!”

"What are you up to?!"

One of the [Farmers] looked like he wanted to shit himself in fear as he fled like a coward, leaving his three friends behind to defend the place from the lizard-like magical beast. He quickly used his powers again to raise what looked like a spear made from the ground, firing it at one of the larger ones who hurriedly dodged it, narrowly avoiding being impaled.

However, that caused the earth spear to continue flying forward… towards little Runei who was surprised by the injured man.

"Hide…!"

Just as Emmi screamed in despair at the terrible sight before her as she scrambled to her feet, ready to rush to the rescue in vain, a figure sped forward in front of the crying girl, shattering the earthen spear with its own. The two sisters' eyes widened when they saw who it was.

“¡Amelia…!”

“Older sister?”

“Air, gather before me and take the form of an arrow to pierce this enemy!... [Wind Arrow!]”

Before Amelia, who for some reason looked like some kind of battle maiden, could speak to her younger sisters, a beautiful woman's voice was heard singing along with the fluctuation of magical energy, and an arrow made of wind suddenly struck the lizard's back, causing it to let out a cry of surprise and flee.

Behind the creature was a lovely but slightly small woman wearing particularly expensive clothing, her hands raised as she muttered to herself.

“Well, fuck…”