Chapter 9: When the war starts, we’ll meet again  

“Rita! Are you crazy? What’s gotten into you, all of a sudden?!”  

It was a question everyone in the room wanted to ask.  

“Rita, can we talk for a second?”  

Ignoring Rita’s scowl, Blena whispered softly and gave an awkward smile to Hans, the administrative officer.  

“Sorry, she must be confused. Please discard that application!”  

As Blena waved her hand frantically, Rita grabbed it firmly and pulled it down.  

“Blena, it’s decided.”  

Her cold gaze and curt words left Blena speechless.  

Come to think of it, this was the real Rita. 

She had only hung out with her recently because Rita had been acting a bit strange. 

The original Rita wasn’t someone who easily let others in.  

While Blena stood there, flustered, Rita’s resignation was processed.  

Rita dragged the gaping Blena outside.  

“Blena, it was short, but thank you.”  

Her impassive face aside, the abrupt farewell brought tears to Blena’s eyes.  

“Rita? Why are you leaving?”  

“Something came up.”  

“But what exactly…”  

“It’s personal.”  

Blena grabbed her hand tightly.  

“What if I come with—”  

“No.”  

This time, Rita was the one left speechless. 

She nearly blurted out that Blena would be a burden but averted her gaze instead.  

She could’ve phrased it more gently, but Rita wasn’t that eloquent.  

“Why won’t you tell me? Wait, is this because of those monsters we saw at Aide Hill?”  

The sharp question hit its mark. 

Rita neither confirmed nor denied it.  

To Blena, who took her silence as affirmation, it was utterly bewildering.  

“Why you? Didn’t they say it was over?”  

Rita remained silent again. 

Even if she explained, Blena wouldn’t believe her.  

“I’ll tell you later if I get the chance.”  

“When is that? Will we even see each other again?”  

“Maybe… when the war starts, we’ll meet again.”  

“What? War?”  

Despite Blena’s shocked voice, Rita turned away immediately. 

Staying longer would only let Blena hold her back.  

Perhaps because of Rita’s resolute demeanor, Blena couldn’t follow and stood there, calling out her name.  

***

“…Hey, are you really leaving?”  

Outside the Mage Tower, by an old tree, Seth stopped Rita.  

Rita glanced at him and paused as she passed by.  

It wasn’t surprising, but Seth was the same as he’d been in the research department.  

The squinted eye whenever he saw her, the voice full of complaints, the arrogant posture with arms crossed and one leg forward, and his prickly tone.  

He dislikes me so openly yet goes out of his way to talk. 

Is he trying to mock me?  

Rita frowned as well.  

She felt gratitude and guilt toward the Seth who fought alongside her in the final battle, but this era’s bitter Seth was hard to deal with.  

“Yes, that’s how it is.”  

“Are you insane?”  

His tone was laced with mockery, but Rita ignored it. 

She didn’t want to argue with Seth on her way out.  

Instead, she offered advice.  

“Seth, it’s good to work hard, but don’t do it for others. It’s your life.”  

Despite his attitude, Seth was smart enough to understand her meaning.  

Rita stared briefly at his silent face before turning away. 

Seth called after her.  

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”  

“I just think it’s a shame someone as talented as you is lingering in someone else’s shadow.”  

“What? Are you talking about our master?”  

“Maybe.”  

With a vague reply, Rita walked off briskly. 

Seth shouted her name after a while, but she didn’t look back.  

This, she thought, was enough repayment for the Seth who stood with her in the end.  

Rita made her own judgment and felt satisfied.  

***

In the middle of Grang Street, Rita turned her back on the Mage Tower and looked toward the north, where Aide Hill lay.  

“First, I’ll check the north, then head to the temple. I need them to confirm those creatures and make an official announcement.”  

As she listed her destinations, Rita suddenly thought of the “god.”  

More precisely, the warning that she’d be killed if she didn’t keep her promise.  

Was that really the god Rihanes?  

Rita swallowed her unease.  

It had been half a day since she climbed onto a straw-filled cart.  

Sitting crouched and leaning back, Rita gazed at the clear sky.  

“I should’ve stolen a teleportation stone or two.”  

She mocked her overly honest nature.  

Teleportation stones were common in the Mage Tower, but their main users were royals, nobles, or wealthy merchants.  

They rarely reached the common market, so the only legitimate way for an honest Rita to obtain one was to buy it.  

But Rita was poor.  

The meager stipend given to Mage Tower mages barely covered living expenses.  

Unlike others who skimmed materials for profit, Rita was no opportunist, so her pockets remained empty.  

“Maybe I lived a bit too foolishly…”  

Rita slightly regretted her upright past. 

She fiddled with the few coins left in her pocket.  

“I’ll need funds for a while. Maybe I should sell some beast bones.”  

Amusingly, beast bones were sturdy enough to be used as weapons.  

Since this was valuable information for allies, there was no issue in exploiting it.  

If she could hunt beasts, she could cover her travel expenses.  

Rita’s expression gradually brightened.  

“Now the problem is the journey…”  

***

Though she set out from Grang Street, the north was quite far.  

It took a week after leaving the Mage Tower for Rita to reach Bergen, the northernmost small city.  

Traveling by summoned creature was limited by her mana reserves.  

When her mana ran low, she had no choice but to hitch rides with merchants’ carts, slowing her down.  

Large caravans, which were faster, didn’t head north unless on a fixed schedule, so Rita’s options were limited.  

Even the cart she carefully chose didn’t go all the way to Bergen.  

As a result, she had to restart from the village of Lorang, far from Bergen.  

From Lorang, a small village, it was a day’s walk to Bergen.  

Having conserved mana thanks to the cart rides, Rita summoned a creature as soon as she arrived in Lorang and dashed off.  

She encountered a rowdy band of bandits on the mountain path, but it wasn’t a big deal.  

The bandits fled the moment they realized she was a mage, allowing Rita to travel relatively peacefully.  

What caught her attention more was a family emerging from a forest trail.  

A young man pulled a small cart piled with bundles.  

Thinking they were migrants, Rita was about to pass by when an injured man on the cart called out to her.  

“Hey, you… are you heading north?”  

Rita stopped at the question as she passed the cart.  

“Yes.”  

“Oh… don’t go. There are monsters in the northern forests right now. Those monsters will… will soon overrun the city!”  

The man’s eyes, shouting loudly, were filled with fear.  

Rita zeroed in on the word “monsters.”  

In this era, the only things people called monsters were chimeras or beasts.  

“Wait! That story…”  

“Oh, sorry. He was badly injured in the mountains outside Bergen recently, and his mind’s been all over the place.”  

A middle-aged woman rushed over, smiling awkwardly.  

The man, wrapped tightly in bandages, rambled with unfocused eyes.  

A young man, likely his son, muttered curses at his father’s state and pulled the cart.  

Rita could say nothing as they fled.  

But she couldn’t ignore the man’s words, so she whipped the reins and hurried on.  

***

Upon reaching Bergen, Rita headed straight for the central tavern.  

She didn’t know exactly when the man she met was attacked, but the fresh blood on his bandages suggested it was recent.  

If he was desperate enough to warn a passerby like her, the city must be abuzz with talk, and if his family dismissed him as unstable, he’d likely been mocked.  

“Just a stew, please.”  

The young waiter taking her order kept sneaking glances at her.  

Sharp-eyed, he immediately pegged her as an outsider.  

Ignoring his blatant stares, Rita focused on the conversations around her.  

A tavern at dusk was where all sorts of information gathered.  

“That guy who came as the guard captain…”  

“All the young folks are heading to the capital, so making a living’s gotten tough.”  

“Old man Jonah’s skills were way better. Old man Ben’s no good anymore. His candle-making’s subpar…”  

She eavesdropped for a while but found no useful information.  

As her ordered food arrived, Rita grabbed the lingering waiter.  

The young waiter, as if waiting for her attention, sat across from her with sparkling eyes.  

“Yes, what’s on your mind?”  

“I met a family on the way who mentioned seeing a monster. Has anything happened around here?”  

The waiter’s eyes widened, then he nodded with a chuckle.  

“Oh, they said they were leaving today, and I guess they did. That family lives on the outskirts—a hunter family. The old man got badly injured in Becky Forest.”  

“Injured?”  

“Yeah, said he saw a monster. The soldiers stationed here went to check, but all they found were wild boars. The old man must’ve been drunk and seeing things…”  

“Wild boars? Are you sure it was just wild boars?”  

“What else would be in a place like this? Maybe wolves at best, but those are rare these days. Nobles have been ordering a lot of beast pelts lately.”  

Rita’s enthusiasm deflated at the waiter’s snickering.  

Was the man really just raving out of his mind?  

“Storytellers have been making a fuss about that thing up there recently, but nothing’s actually happened, so don’t get fooled.”  

“What about the tribes in the north?”  

“The tribes? Well, they never come south of the Harun River. Nobody’s seen them lately. They’re probably fine on their own.”  

“I see. Thank you.”  

Rita bowed slightly and handed over a coin.  

The waiter, pleased with the payment for his information, gave a polite bow and left.  

Rita sighed as she took a bite of her stew.  

If there was no information, she’d have to check for herself.  

***

After resting at an inn, Rita headed out early the next morning to Becky Forest, outside the city walls.  

Cutting through the forest would get her to Aide Hill quickly.  

The path wasn’t well-traveled and would be rough, but it was the shortest route, so she prepared accordingly.  

Once she reached the open plains near the Harun River, it would be easier.  

“What’s that?”  

Right after arriving at the lower Harun River, having crossed the rugged mountain path, Rita sat by the riverbank to wipe her sweat.  

Her eyes caught a red stream in the water.  

Tracing the color up the clear river, she saw it led to a dirt hill on the opposite bank, where the red was vivid.  

“Blood?”  

Rita leapt to her feet.  

“Creation drawn from dreams.”  

This time, instead of a horse, a massive eagle-shaped summon appeared.  

The eagle, larger than a human, grabbed Rita’s collar with its talons.  

With a swift flap, it carried her across the river in an instant.  

Surveying the land from a wide vantage point, Rita instinctively covered her mouth.  

Blood was gushing like a spring from a nearby forest.  

“No way.”  

A bad feeling rising, Rita dispelled her summon and rushed toward the forest.  

As soon as she entered, bloodstains were everywhere, catching her eye.  

Rita furrowed her brow at the faint, eerie mana she sensed.  

If it’s in this direction… that’s the tribal territory.  

Comparing the sun’s position, Rita stared into the dark forest.  

Gripped by rising unease, she quickened her pace.  

Deeper in, she began to see something.  

It looked like a disaster had struck—trees were toppled chaotically.  

But more shocking were the fragments of decaying corpses beneath them.  

Rita knelt to examine one.  

“Human remains. Judging by the tears and damage, it’s from something more than a beast.”  

Rita hurriedly tossed aside her cumbersome cloak and sprinted.  

Given the state of decay, it had happened recently—within a day or two at most.  

An isolated tribal village would be paradise for a voracious beast.  

There must still be something there—fragment or beast.  

Something Rita had to eradicate.