Upon landing, Hills let Arundel down.
“The path is not difficult.”
Hills pointed ahead. There was a winding canyon of red soil.
“Just follow the canyon. At the dead end, there will be the forbidden seed.”
“Understood.”
“And before you get to where the seed is, if you see the fruit of eternity, there is a guardian protecting the seed nearby.”
“The fruit of eternity?”
Arundel blinked at the name she’s hearing for the first time.
“It’s just a grandiose name. It’s just a pretty fruit that doesn’t rot.”
There’s all sorts of things in the demon world.
“What’s a guardian?”
“A guardian is a being that protects the seed… it’s a bit of a headache.”
Hills stroked his neck with a troubled face.
“Why? Is it a very scary being?”
“No, that’s not it.”
With that, Hills paused for a moment.
“Our goal is to quietly take the seed. To do that, we must not disturb those guys…”
“Is there no way?”
“There’s not no way.”
I see, I thought there would be.
Arundel’s expectations of Hills had already risen.
In fact, by this point, she deeply realized that it was absolutely impossible to do it alone.
As Arundel looked on with sparkling eyes, Hills slowly opened his mouth.
“Throw a stone.”
Arundel blinked.
“What kind of stone? A magic tool?”
“No, just a stone.”
…?
“Throw a stone to distract the guardian’s attention, and then take the forbidden seed.”
I could have thought of that…
Arundel shook her head. Her expectations for Hills ended there.
“…I’ll just do it myself.”
“Why? You don’t like the stone-throwing strategy?!”
There was a sense of injustice in Hills’ voice. Arundel turned around, waving her hands.
“See you later.”
Arundel headed towards the canyon. Contrary to her tension, the canyon was a very quiet and peaceful place.
Only the chilling wind that passed by Arundel.
‘I can’t believe I’m wandering around the demon world alone.’
Arundel thought, closing her cloak again to keep her energy from leaking.
Right now, she was walking in the middle of enemy territory for a woman she had met just about a week ago.
Arundel suddenly had a fundamental question.
Is Mary that precious? Enough to do such reckless things?
To put it bluntly, no.
It was closer to being concerned than precious.
Even to herself, her actions were utterly contradictory.
She came to grab the treasure of the demon world just because she was concerned?
‘…It’s too late to think about this in the middle of the demon world.’
Arundel shook her head alone.
She had to be wary of any further thoughts. Arundel walked around, keeping an eye out for any popping beings.
After walking silently for about an hour, she saw lush greenery below the desolate cliff.
The harmony of the blue trees and the red soil was quite a nice view.
As she got closer, the blue trees had sparsely opened red fruits.
‘A pearl…?’
At first glance, the fruit looked hard and shiny, and it looked like a red pearl.
It must be the fruit of eternity that Hills mentioned.
Arundel approached a little more and examined the fruit. A good scent came out.
‘Hmm…’
It’s tempting.
There was a rotten fruit with a hole in the middle, perhaps eaten by a bug. Arundel reached out and picked that fruit.
‘It’s okay because it’s eaten by bugs.’
She wiped the fruit on her cloak and put it in her pocket. Then she moved on.
As Hills said, as soon as the fruit appeared, he found three demons in the shape of a large wolf.
They seemed to be the guardians protecting the forbidden seed.
Even with their eyes closed, their appearance was ferocious.
‘…What should I do.’
Arundel hid behind a tree and looked at the guardians. She couldn’t think of a clever way to deal with them.
What are the options?
Arundel quickly brainstormed a way to overcome this situation. Two methods came to mind.
First- use divine power to defeat the guardians. (However, it can get noisy.)
Second- …throw a stone…?
Arundel coughed with a slightly embarrassed face.
She felt a little sorry for ignoring Hills. After all, it’s the same strategy after thinking over and over again.
As Arundel, who had made up her mind, looked around, she saw stones lying here and there.
Arundel, who was looking for a suitable size, picked up a stone the size of a fist.
And she found a place that could make a loud noise.
When it hit, it had to make a pretty loud noise for the guardians to move.
‘That place would be good.’
After throwing the stone up a few times to get used to it, she threw it towards the gold cliff that was far away, filled with divine power.
Bang!
As expected, the cliff with weak ground broke down with a loud noise.
The startled guardians got up from their spots and went to check the situation.
‘Hills… this genius guy.’
Feeling that the situation was going better than expected, Arundel approached the forbidden seed.
Regardless of the word seed, there was a brilliant yellow gem twinkling in its place.
Arundel looked at the gem with her eyes narrowed.
‘This…should be it, right?’
It looked similar to the gem that Hills had given as a substitute, so it must be right.
Arundel put aside her doubts and reached out, lifting the seed.
Her hand trembled as she lifted it.
As soon as she lifted the seed, Arundel realized that this was a treasure of the demon world.
As soon as she lifted it, she had to do her best not to lose consciousness due to the overwhelming energy.
“Haah…”
Arundel took a deep breath.
As soon as she regained her senses, Arundel took out the substitute gem she had put deep in her pocket.
Just as she was about to get up and place it where the forbidden seed had been,
‘…Damn.’
She made eye contact with one of the guardians. Arundel jumped up from her spot.
And she ran.
It was a full-on sprint. While running, she looked back once and saw the guardian chasing her with his ferocious teeth bared.
At this rate, she thought she would be caught soon.
Wherever she was caught, seeing the enormous fangs, she felt like she would be torn apart in an instant.
Arundel gathered divine power in her hand. Although it was best to leave quietly, if that wasn’t possible, there was nothing he could do.
She refused to die in the demon world.
‘I’m going to be caught…!’
The moment she closed his eyes slightly to use the divine power,
Thud!
A strong force grabbed Arundel. When she looked up, he saw Hills’ face.
‘Hills!’
She never thought she would be so glad to see him.
Hills pulled Arundel’s arm and sent her behind him. The guardian came sniffing.
“It looked like a human…where did it disappear to?”
Surprisingly, the guardian couldn’t recognize her.
She was just behind Hills. It seemed like Hills had used some other method.
The demons who were talking noticed Hills’ presence and hesitated.
“You are…Hills?”
“So what?”
Hills’ voice was low, just like when he was talking to that strange demon. The guardian seemed a bit intimidated.
“What’s going on?”
“…I have no business with you, I’m looking for a human.”
“A human?”
Hills acted nonchalantly as if he had never heard of it.
The guardian seemed to have mistaken Arundel for a human because of the energy hidden by the cloak.
“Uh… Yeah. I saw a human lurking near the seed. It ran away like an arrow when it saw us.”
“I didn’t see it, so you should go look elsewhere.”
When Hills answered coldly. The guardians lowered their tails and obediently moved away.
When she thought the guardians had disappeared from her sight, Arundel popped out from behind Hills.
That’s when Arundel knew. Hills was emitting a strong demonic energy. Perhaps it was because of his intense demonic energy that the guardians couldn’t find her.
She owed Hills in many ways.
Hills asked Arundel.
“The seed?”
“I got it.”
When Arundel spread her hand, the seed, imbued with a brilliant yellow light, sparkled.
****
As soon as she entered the sickroom, Mary’s corpse-like face caught her eye immediately.
She was really on the brink of death.
“Mary, Mary!”
He shook Mary, but there was no response.
Arundel put her hand in her pocket, took out the seed, and brought it to Mary’s mouth.
‘…Please.’
And she pushed the seed deep into her mouth.
Suddenly, a tremendous light filled the sickroom. Blinded by the dazzling sight, Arundel closed her eyes for a moment.
After a little time passed and she slowly opened her eyes, the light was gone.
“Cough!”
At the sound of coughing, Arundel quickly approached Mary. Mary’s eyelashes were trembling.
Soon, clear golden eyes were revealed.
“Mary!”
“…Arundel…?”
Her speech was slow, but unlike before, there was strength. Arundel realized that Mary’s condition had improved.
“Mary, are you okay? How’s your body?”
“…Huh?”
Mary’s eyes widened in surprise. And she sat up and looked around.
“…I’m not…hurting.”
Mary said with a trembling face. She seemed to not believe the current situation.
Arundel hugged Mary’s body tightly.
“I’m glad, Mary.”
Between the thin bodies, she could feel a round belly. It seemed the baby was safe too.
“…What’s going on?”
Mary still looked confused. Arundel stroked Mary’s back.
“It seems a miracle has happened.”
As Arundel smiled, Mary’s expression relaxed a bit.
“You’ve been through a lot, Mary. Rest well today. I’ll be on my way.”
Arundel, who had completed her mission, was about to get up. That’s when Mary’s hand urgently grabbed Arundel.
“Just a moment!”
Arundel’s gaze turned to Mary.
“…Did you save me, Arundel?”
She seemed slow but perceptive. Arundel, who couldn’t affirm, replied playfully.
“I wish I did. I don’t have the ability to perform miracles.”
Despite her firm words, Mary’s hand didn’t loosen its grip.
“I can see you tomorrow, right…?”
“Of course. See you tomorrow, Mary.”
Only then did her hand slowly loosen.
Quietly leaving the sickroom, Arundel went to find Hills. It didn’t take long to find Hills.
Arundel’s expression was much sterner than when she was talking to Mary.
“Is Mary okay?”
Arundel nodded.
“But why do you look so gloomy?”
Hills asked, puzzled.
‘A quick-witted guy.’
Arundel, despite Mary’s recovery, still felt uneasy. Perhaps it wasn’t right to touch something labeled ‘forbidden’.
The strong energy she felt when she lifted the seed seemed to linger at her fingertips.
It felt as if…this incident would lead to unexpected consequences.
The seed was already out of her hands.
“…The forbidden seed. Is it okay to grab it?”
Arundel asked Hills.
Hoping for a positive answer, even a little.
“Hmm…”
After some thought, Hills shrugged and answered.
“I don’t know.”
“What?!”
A light answer provoked an agitated voice.
“Honestly, if you knew the future, you’d be too scared to do anything. Just hope nothing happens.”
Arundel’s head spun at the guy’s nonchalant words. Even so, she didn’t get angry at him.
The seed had already been used by Mary, and it was useless to regret it now.
However, if something happens later, she will definitely not leave that guy alone.
Arundel looked at Hills’ face, which seemed to have no particular thoughts.
****
The next day.
The ship emitted a hazy smoke, signaling departure. Mary, standing in front of it, didn’t look good.
“…Are we parting here?”
“My destination was originally up to here.”
Arundel replied with a bitter smile.
“I see.”
Despite Mary pulling her hood deeply, Arundel thought she was about to cry.
“Mary, I prepared some food because I thought you might not have packed enough.”
Arundel, who didn’t want to end with tears, took out the food she had hurriedly prepared at dawn.
This was definitely enough to eat on the way.
“And this.”
Arundel handed something to Mary’s hand.
“What is this…?”
Mary examined the object she received and asked.
“It’s a pearl. A red pearl. They say if you have it, you’ll live a long life.”
Of course, it was a lie.
What she handed over was the fruit of eternity from the demon world. Since a bug had eaten it and there was a hole in the middle, she made it into a necklace by threading a string through it.
She wanted to give her a small gift at the end, so she prepared it.
“Thank you…I didn’t prepare anything, what should I do?”
“Live healthily and let’s meet again next time. That would be a gift.”
She was sincere. She thought she would be very happy to see a healthy Mary by chance next time.
“Arundel…”
The ship began to make a loud noise. It was a signal that it was about to depart.
“Mary! You’ll be late!”
“Yes… Yes!”
As Arundel pushed Mary’s back, Mary climbed onto the ship, looking back until the last moment.
When she could no longer see Mary, she felt her tension ease.
Arundel watched the departing ship and said goodbye once more.
‘Goodbye, Mary.’
If there is a connection, they will meet again next time.
