Chapter 20

Inside a beautiful room filled with jewelry-making tools and bracelet-making machines, a young woman with brown hair sat on a white wooden chair in front of a worktable, summoning spiritual power within her soul to manipulate the magic within her.

He made the mana within him flow smoothly into the material in his hand, a piece of silver, and began constructing complex runic formulas to bring about a magical phenomenon that would alter its form.

The construction of the formulas necessary for his work was extremely fluid compared to the past, perhaps because he currently has a stronger soul than before.

So, whether it was the mere formation of the Runes, the order of the magical sequence, or the stability of the mana threads needed to construct the formula itself, everything was much more efficient to perform and much more resilient over time, not easily dissipating.

He vaguely thought that the increase in his spiritual power greatly strengthened his mental strength and processing ability, indirectly increasing his magical abilities. However, he pushed those unnecessary thoughts aside and focused fully on finishing his work.

And so, she quietly spent over an hour making a variety of accessories with different enchantments on them. That would naturally drain her spiritual power, no matter how great, and it was a bad idea for any professional to get to the bottom of it.

I need to get this over with as soon as possible, my spiritual power is already running out and I don't want to faint again.

With this in mind, Arisella Bluen activated the complex metallurgical spell she had constructed in just 5 seconds, which would surprise a professional mage with her excellent ability to manipulate mana.

Immediately, the lump of shining silver ore suddenly dissolved as if melting in her hands. Arisella then placed a ball of golden Tetran Silk into the mass of liquid silver she held like a fluctuating ball, causing it to sink within. With her intention, the liquid silver began to deform and gradually took the form of a silver bracelet whose design resembled a crown. In turn, Arisella guided strands of Tetran Silk toward the object to construct complex magic circuits.

When the bracelet was finished and the magic circuit began to function, golden lines formed on its surface, resembling the circuit lines that certain wizards from a certain franchise would have. Seeing this, Arisella nodded in satisfaction and placed the bracelet on a pile of magic accessories near her, which she had been able to create during the last two hours of work.

"It's amazing how quickly I made all these beautiful accessories in such a short time... Truly, the spiritual power I currently have benefited me greatly."

Arisella happily looked at the fruit of her hard work. Not only were there bracelets like the one she had just finished, but there were also several beautifully crafted rings, bracelets with various pretty jewels, and even necklaces; all of them were made from useful magical materials that were kept in abundance in Bluen Manor's warehouse.

This should be enough for now… Thinking so, Arisella put all these accessories inside a trunk and then took the magic bell from the spatial bracelet, shaking it twice.

No sound came from the device in question, however, a soft glow emanated from the object as it released white particles with movement. Shortly after, two knocks were heard on the door, making it clear that it was the housekeeper, Leonora.

After giving her permission to enter, Arisella wasted no time and gave orders indifferently: “Leonora, go and tell the maids to go buy several essential items for long-distance travel. I have plans to go with the Silver Lion Caravan to the Duchy capital as soon as possible, and Lucelle should have already contacted Uncle Ershas. Oh, and tell the cooks to prepare some food for me, I’m hungry.”

He said it in such a casual way that it was almost like saying, “I’m going to take my dog ​​to the playground for a walk. Can you make me some food before then?”

However, Leonora simply stared at her in bewilderment, unable to understand her intentions. It seemed completely unexpected that Arisella, of all people, would want to leave the village, and even more unheard of, to declare that she would willingly visit the nest of demons… cough, the 'nobles'…

"Ma'am... What do you mean by going to the capital?"

"Well, I have some very important business to do there, so I need to leave quickly after giving my friends and family their new accessories... Oh, I made one for you too, take it, okay?"

Arisella took a bracelet made of amethyst stones from the trunk and handed it to Leonora, who took it in a daze.

Making good use of his knowledge as an Author, all of these magical accessories had spells engraved on them that would only exist 12 years in the future, which would be very useful in case of emergency. He may have gone a little overboard with many of them, especially the one he made for Natha and Emma, ​​but you never know what can happen, right?

Actually... that was wrong, since Arisella could see the future if she wanted to. But she thought it wouldn't be the wisest course of action to use her powers every time she felt uneasy about the very small chances of something going wrong. After all, there were prophecies that could weaken the soul for days or even years and only yield disappointing results.

Besides, the people weren't weak enough to care about them at that point. The only reason they were destroyed in the novel was because, first, the invaders were high-ranking mercenaries, and second, the Silver Lion Caravan wasn't there to defend their favorite supplier.

Although it was doubtful they would have been able to protect Arisella from the novel even if Ershas had been present. After all, the mercenary leader who participated in the Prophetess massacre and fought Jayden was a Rank 5 Professional; the closest thing to transcendence.

While Ershas was only a Rank 4 martial artist, both were considered masters in their respective professions. However, the ranks were there to clarify the difference between these two existences, which were completely unmatched in terms of combat prowess.

No matter how skilled or experienced you are, a single rank difference can't be overcome with sheer determination. You'd need unique abilities or a special bloodline that makes you stronger than those of your rank.

Like the God of War bloodline that Astrian and Jayden possess, which gave them access to the divine power of war.

And Ershas did not possess such a special lineage.

Arisella was certain that there were only two families with such transcendent bloodlines in the Terra Empire after all, and those two were sovereign families, with distinctive characteristics that the Barbara version of Might Guy in this world did not have.

"Uh... B-but going to the capital is dangerous, my lady!" Leonora said anxiously to Arisella. "Do you know how many monsters in human skin live there!?"

Most of the northern nobles have their palaces and mansions within the capital of Aswort, so if a beautiful prophetess were to suddenly appear in that lair of lustful orcs, then the fate that awaits her would be extremely tragic.

It didn't matter whether Ershas was with her or not, as there were many ways to kidnap a woman like Arisella without having to fight the barbarian merchant head-on.

Also… my ex-Lady Grisella’s family was there.

What if they find her and see the extreme resemblance between them? They could discover her lineage and use it for their own purposes.

"It's too dangerous! You can't do it!"

"Leonora, I've made a decision. I must go to the capital of Aswort no matter what. It's very important." Arisella said with a firm expression. "If I don't, horrible things await us at the hands of a true demon in a human body, so I ask you to go quickly and do what I asked."

"But -"

"That's an order, Leonora."

Seeing how stubborn she was, Leonora knew she couldn't change her mind so easily. As dictated by her contract as master and servant, it was her duty to listen to her orders as her housekeeper and obey them if they didn't directly harm her, so there wasn't much she could do.

With a sigh, Leonora asked something she never expected to say out of faint feelings of hope that this would prevent her from doing something stupid.

"...But what about your lover, my lady? Aren't you going to tell him anything?"

"Well, he already knows, I told him just yesterday..."

Arisella's face immediately turned awkward when Leonora asked about that man, causing her to frown. With a hint of coldness in her tone, she seriously asked her mistress, "Did that person do anything wrong to you because of this matter?"

"That? Oh no, none of that…. technically it would be me who did something to him, since I broke up with him right after.”

“You broke up with him!?”

“Yes, it was just yesterday. There were many reasons for that, but I don’t want to talk about it.” Knowing that Eleonora didn’t like John either, Arisella simply ignored the slight note of joy her housekeeper exclaimed at the news and looked at her.

“By the way, Leonora, if people visit us when I'm getting ready to leave, tell them I'm very busy with prophetess things, or something like that. As for Lucelle, let her in if John isn't with her.”

"As you command," Leonora nodded, bowed, and left the room. Along the way, it wasn't surprising that a certain thought appeared as a faint glimmer of joy emerged in her eyes.

For a moment, she even thought this wasn't so bad...until she scolded herself for that thought.

Anyway, with all that said and done, time passed, and the Silver Lion Caravan finally arrived at their village…as fast as they could.

♦♦♦♦

The Silver Lion Caravan.

That was the name of a group of merchants who began humbly as a small group of street vendors without a last name, constantly traveling to sell trinkets and earn a living in this harsh and cruel world, where not having a family makes you worse than a vagabond, who at that time called themselves Reisende.

They traveled from village to village, from town to town, selling goods not for money, but for food and useful items like medicine, barely surviving on the trinkets they managed to sell in the harsh northern environment.

They were a group fortunate enough to avoid attracting the attention of bandits simply because they had nothing to gain from them. They were treated like insignificant nomads by everyone.

But one day, that changed; what was once an insignificant caravan in a relatively short period of time became the possessor of a wide variety of goods never before seen in the cold lands ruled by the Duchy of Aswort, at least not in the hands of commoners.

From Tetran Silk, an unheard-of type of silk that can be used in magic, to exotic livestock and crops that should only grow in the southern lands. Not only that, they also sold tons of spirit cores taken from magical beasts and magical accessories with useful abilities enchanted onto them.

With those things, Reisende, now known as the Silver Lion Caravan, quickly grew richer; increasing in scale, and anyone who tries to extend their greedy claws to its wares will come face to face with Ershas, ​​the enigmatic leader of the retinue who appeared shortly before its great success across the north, and a small team of guards who followed his orders.

Their rise was fraught with mystery, and the existence of the powerful, southern-looking warrior who led them left no doubt that there was a powerful force behind them.

However, no one could have imagined that behind the explosive growth of this caravan to its current state there was not a powerful force hidden from the eyes of the rest of the Empire, but a small village within a mountain range that was lucky enough to settle on fertile, warm and humid land.

Not at all, the lady from that town who was preparing to travel with the caravan to the capital was a 22-year-old young woman.

Arisella looked at the gathering of enormous, elegantly designed carriages with silver covers before her. Each of these "carriages" was almost as large as a middle-class family's house in the village, and they were driven not by any animal, but by a powerful mana engine.

These things were a marvelous piece of magical engineering that shouldn't have been in the hands of a Trader Caravan, and yet here they were using most of them as mere transport vehicles for their goods; and very few of them were used as mobile homes for the more important members of the Silver Lions.

Around these magical carriages, several intimidating-looking guards could be seen riding strange creatures.

The animal, a rather docile magical beast called the Tundra Prowler, had grayish-green fur with a head that resembled a turtle's, but with ears and arms similar to a kangaroo's, and hind legs reminiscent of a dinosaur's.

It had no shell, but it did have leathery, waterproof skin like that of turtles, which protected them from dehydration and possible injuries, with a tail large enough to make it fearful of flying away with a single blow.

They were beasts that, as their name suggests, could be found roaming the northern tundras, eating dwarf shrubs, sedges, grasses, and a rare species of crustacean that survives in peat bogs. They were commonly used for traveling throughout the north and were easy to maintain.

Needless to say, they are not cold-blooded.

Overall, although they were quite large magical beasts and would scare children if they saw them for the first time, they were quite adorable with their small black eyes that looked at you curiously. That's what Arisella thought anyway.

There were a large number of men of different races in silver-colored work suits, loading the supplies Arisella had bought in the village for this trip onto the back of a specially designed magical carriage, larger than the rest. All of them were encased in boxes with magical charms to store items in a separate space. Some of them were also carrying a large collection of clothing.

It is also where Arisella would stay with her maid, Amelia, as they made their way to their destination.

Arisella wore a beautiful gray fur coat that reached her knees, with leather pants, and her hair was braided in a style that reminded him of a certain movie princess with a living snowman. Her feet were covered in dark brown leather boots, and overall, she looked very nice in them.

Ershas, ​​who was standing next to her with some trepidation, scratched his head in confusion as he looked at the boxes and asked Arisella with a puzzled expression. “Well, I can’t contain my curiosity anymore… What’s all this food, cosmetics, and repellents for? No… I understand the cosmetics and repellents, even though they’re honestly too much, but why the food?”

"Dude, do you really want to know?"

"Of course, that's why I asked."

“Is that so? Well,” Arisella shrugged. “The food supplies serve two purposes: one, of course, is because I don’t trust the caravan’s taste in food.”

".....And the second one?" Ershas's lips twisted at hearing her so openly criticize his caravan's eating habits.

"So as not to have to buy potentially poisoned food in the capital"

“¿...and?”

"Isn't the capital a place full of lecherous nobles and unscrupulous professionals? Even if you're there to dissuade them from a direct confrontation, those rabble have plenty of ways to kidnap me, since I'm a beauty they've probably never seen before in their entire lives."

Ershas's large eyebrows furrowed tightly and his lips made a grimace that he tried to hold back when he saw Arisella softly say "Ahhh... sometimes it's troublesome to be so beautiful... but it can't be helped~"

Leaving aside the fact that neither Astrian nor I would allow such a thing to happen, if you're so worried about it, why didn't you use Alica's abilities to make yourself uglier? I wanted to express what, but Ershas knew it was a terrible idea for several reasons, so he simply asked something else.

“…And why would they poison you if they want to kidnap you?”

"Well, it's obviously not a lethal poison, but it's one that requires me to see a doctor for detoxification. That's where they could kidnap me under the guise of a private deal for a ticket."

"Don't you have a lot of imagination? Besides, if it comes to that, we could pay a clergyman to heal you."

“Did you forget I said it wouldn’t be a lethal poison? What they’d use would be the kind that would possibly cause excruciating stomach pain or something. We’d only be expelled if we tried to liberally use the clerics for something any doctor could cure. It’s better to have my own food supply secured than to buy something potentially harmful from that crime den.”

"I think you're being pretty paranoid, kid."

“You can think that way, if you want…” Arisella said as she looked away, feigning curiosity about a Bestian who had somehow fallen out of his Tundra Prowler.

Not that I can tell you that I wrote a similar scenario in my novel...

In the original story, a heroine is kidnapped by a Count's son using the same method. Not only that, Amael even devised more absurd methods of kidnapping the nobles without the need for a direct fight, such as using a perfume sample to forcibly summon its source and, of course, whoever applied it as well.

Hence the need for the large amount of cosmetics I bought for personal use....

Arisella saw that all the crates were loaded onto the large carriage and turned to look at Ershas. "Anyway, if your curiosity is satisfied, I'll go in, Uncle Ershas."

"Okay, have a good time inside."

Arisella said goodbye to Ershas and climbed the stairs of the carriage/rover, unaware that Ershas was looking at her with an amused smile after saying that in a meaningful tone. When she opened the door and entered, what awaited her inside was something she couldn't have expected.

Inside they found, in addition to her maid, three women of great beauty and sensuality with blonde, crimson and jet-black hair respectively.

“Lucelle, Aunt Alica and….. Aunt Selena!?”

For some reason... even after seeing the aunt who had been missing for several days, Arisella didn't feel excited as she exclaimed, completely shocked.

♦♦♦♦

"What's all this? What are you doing here?" The Prophetess quickly fired incredulous questions at the three women, who absolutely shouldn't be on this trip to the northern capital.

I was sure I told them I had to do this alone. I didn't expect them to ignore her words and decide to follow her here, even bringing the aunt I hadn't seen in the last few days.

Suddenly, she remembered Ershas telling her she'd have a good time inside the carriage with a rather meaningful tone in his voice, and Arisella gritted her teeth. It seems my uncle Ershas is doing his little sister a favor.

Yes, Ershas and Selena were biological siblings. The only thing they had in common was their hair color. Otherwise, they couldn't be more different.

"Is that all you have to say to me, Arisella? How about 'I missed you' while you give me a loving hug?" The black-haired cleric, Selena, said with a motherly smile.

Selena was a total beauty, with her long hair reaching her plump buttocks, breasts even larger than Arisella's, and almond-shaped purple eyes. Like Alica, her clerical attire only further highlighted her erotic figure, but compared to her redheaded companion, her enormous breasts drew more attention than anything else.

However, Arisella paid no attention to any of that as she grumpily replied, “What? You’ve only been away for a week, why would I do that?”

“Why not?” “I missed you,” Selena said, her expression unchanged as she continued. The smile she had, however, didn’t seem to reach her eyes the entire time they were talking, sending a shiver down her spine. “However, when she finally returned, I learned that my darling girl seeks to seduce the most powerful man in the North, robbing someone else of their happy future while discarding her current lover like trash.”

"I can't tolerate you abandoning my brother out of greed, sister." Lucelle looked at her as if she were seeing someone who had committed a crime.

"Being a green tea bitch is bad!" With her eyes closed, Alica shouted in a tone full of justice, her fists clenched with a strong sense of duty to stop his "evil plans."

"Gods, I told you it wasn't that!" Arisella exclaimed in frustration.

She had already explained to them time and time again that she was doing this to save people from a calamity, but everyone still believed she was looking for a powerful husband like the Duke.

Arisella had recently even heard her personal maid, Amelia, tell her companions that she supported her ambition to become the First Duchess of the North. It was the first time Arisella had seen her happily speaking to other maids like this...and it wasn't because she thought it was a good thing!

I don't want to be a duchess, for the love of our Heavenly Father!

“Just kidding,” Selena said with a genuine smile, causing Arisella to blink in surprise before continuing. “I myself don’t believe you’d do something so immoral and sleazy… but we still can’t let you go alone to meet a man who, who knows, might force you to do it.”

Selena looked at her seriously as she said this. “Your reputation isn’t looking good, this meeting could go wrong.”

"Yes, yes, what if that Duke wants to force you to have sex with him?" Alica nodded vigorously, declaring her agreement with an unusual excitement in her voice as her imagination ran wild. "He might forcibly grab you with his barbaric arms, throw you onto his bed while ripping off your clothes with one hand, and take your nipples in his mouth while you moan uncontrollably-"

“Aunt Ali!” This is Lucelle, who could no longer bear to hear about Ali’s sexual fantasies about her younger sister and an unknown man.

No matter how much of a servant of Aphrodite she is, who would act like a pervert if she only thinks about those topics?

“Actually, I thought of something similar too. Probably even if you beg him not to, the Barbarian Duke will pin you against the wall while he lifts your skirt and penetrates your vagina to the depths with his large penis—”

"Aunt Selena!" Arisella also screamed in anger and embarrassment at her delirium, her cheeks turning red as she glared at her.

There's no way Duke Venustraphobic would do something so outrageous, okay!?

"What's going on? You don't think it could happen? That's so naive, there's no straight man who wouldn't want to do it with a beauty like you, Arisella. Honestly, I always thought John was nothing but a coward for not showing you what a woman's pleasure is.

“It’s true, I can’t deny that my brother is more of a coward than a Doran hen for having been unable to impose himself on his ex-lover.”

“¿¡Lucelle!?”

"What? That's true," Lucelle replied matter-of-factly. She didn't seem embarrassed at all about insulting her older brother.

“...Is that skinny Merion imposing on you or something?”

“Yes, and I love it,” the blonde replied with a cheerful smile, leaving both Arisella and Amelia stunned by how she didn’t seem to hide her masochistic tastes, the latter blushing furiously while somehow maintaining her usual expressionless face.

Alica and Selena looked at Lucelle approvingly, their proud eyes seeming to say, "That's it girl, don't be ashamed of your sexual desires and fantasies... Expressing them freely is something Aphrodite approves of!"

As expected from two Clerics of Aphrodite, whose sermons always revolved around freedom of sexual expression and the acceptance of carnal pleasure as part of spirituality.

Arisella had a severe headache.

Why don't you explain to me the real reason you're here instead of this nonsense?

♦♦♦♦

After getting over the shock of learning that her childhood friend and sister figure at heart was a masochist, Arisella and the group of women gathered in the luxurious living room of the mobile carriage (yes, it had a living room) to finally talk about serious things.

“I asked them all seriously because I really must know the answer… What are you doing here? I know you’d be worried about what might happen in the capital, but I have Uncle Ershas on my side, you know? He could literally single-handedly destroy any threat that came within 10 meters of me as Grandmaster.”

The three women nodded, without denying that fact.

Ershas is a powerful martial artist with incredible talent, so much so that he was able to awaken his profession at a tender age with nothing more than training in martial arts with great determination and enthusiasm to become stronger.

At the time when Arisella was not yet born and Selena was just a child, Ershas had already mastered many martial arts that her father had taught her, awakening the profession of martial artist at the age of 12 and advancing to the level of a Grand Martial Master in just 20 years.

Something that, according to the novel, would astonish the old foxes of the Eastern martial sects if they ever heard it.

That's because becoming a Martial Grandmaster wasn't as simple as rising through the ranks!

The martial artist had to master many martial arts and fuse the essence of those martial arts with his body and soul. Not only that, his mastery of Qi had to be high enough to be able to use arts that allowed him to leap high into the skies, perceive almost omnisciently what was happening a few meters away from him, or traverse entire miles with a single step.

And Ershas, ​​48, had the power to do all those things.

He was a monster among martial artists, an existence that could barely fight against Fifth-Rank professionals without fear of being unable to flee if he so desired. Someone so similar to your bodyguard was already very trustworthy, Arisella was certain of that…

So why do three women without high combat power follow them to the capital?

No matter how Arisella looked at it, even without considering Astrian's venustraphobia, the mere fact that not one, but 4 women of great beauty and unknown origins were going to the capital full of unscrupulous nobles and professional evildoers was truly insane.

Arisella herself was already taking a risk with all this, and now it turns out everyone came just to complicate the situation even further. While she appreciated their concern for her, Arisella found it ridiculous that they believed they could contribute as much as Ershas to her protection.

Lucelle was a talented rank 2 alchemist, but she only specialized in medicine; with very little skill in elemental transmutation.

Selena was good at Divine Magic, but as a low-ranking follower of Aphrodite, she could only do things like purify weak poisons, exorcise curses, and increase her own and other people's charm.

Alica, like other Nox, was particularly talented at archery, but at most she could only hunt a boar. She should also be able to call upon weaker nature spirits, given the fairy lineage that exists in all Nox, but they wouldn't be of much use in defending against these powerful practitioners.

Neither of them had what it took to make up for the problems they caused with their presence. Instead, it seemed they were only there with the full intention of stirring up the hornet's nest called capital even more than Arisella could do on their behalf.

It was like handing yourself over to the pigs on a platter.

And while some might hesitate to attempt to kidnap two clerics and their friends for fear of offending the gods, Arisella was fully aware, as the author, that more than a few heretical nobles would be more than willing to do so whenever they could.

They were confident they wouldn't be discovered, so Selena and Alica weren't necessarily as safe as they might think.

“I know that from your perspective, the three of us couldn’t contribute anything to your goal of saving us from calamity, but I must tell you that you are naive if you think I could be inferior to my older brother in terms of talent and power,” Selena declared expressionlessly as she gradually released her holy power.

Arisella's face filled with surprise as she felt the enormous holy power emanating from the Cleric, surrounding her body like a bright pink aura, and not to mention that even Alica released her holy power still at a level comparable to Selena's, shocking Arisella to the core.

“You two....are high-ranking clerics!?”

What? How...? Since when!?

Arisella was genuinely puzzled.