Paula’s Resolve – Part 03

Lavia tensed up.

A snake was slithering through the fallen leaves. A snake of astonishing size. It was about forty centimeters thick and exceeded ten meters in length. Covered in dark gray scales, it blended into the darkness, but its eyes emitted a faint, bluish-white light.

This giant snake, known as the Ravine Serpent, possessed elemental magic stones that emitted a significant amount of magical energy and electricity within its body. The prevailing theory was that these elemental magic stones were produced internally, but the truth remained unclear.

The Ravine Serpent continued its advance. Snakes possessed two powerful sensory organs, one of which was the Jacobson’s organ. Present in many creatures, this organ closely resembled the sense of smell, but did not connect to the olfactory nerves. In the case of snakes, they were often seen flicking their tongues, collecting substances from the air and transferring them to the Jacobson’s organ inside their mouths.

The fire Hikaru had made, along with the smoke and the aroma of food, had inadvertently revealed the location of prey to the Ravine Serpent.

The other sensory organ was the pit organ. Located near the nostrils, it was capable of sensing heat sources and infrared radiation, compensating for the snake’s weak eyesight.

*Sssss*

The Ravine Serpent extended its tongue towards the still-warm ground.

There were traces of a recent meal. This Ravine Serpent had memories of eating a human in the past. Humans made excellent prey. They were slow and had large bodies, making for filling meals. The shell covering their exteriors was annoying—the human it had devoured was an adventurer equipped with armor—but discounting that, humans were perfect targets.

However, something felt off today. It was flicking its tongue, checking traces of its prey, but their presence had disappeared.

Its sensory organ indicated that the prey was within a five-meter radius. However, the pit organ detected no temperature changes anywhere. It was as if they had vanished like smoke.

*Sssssss*

There was a crackle, like dry branches snapping. Bluish-white lightning surged in the Ravine Serpent’s eyes. In that instant, the surroundings brightened, tree branches turning white. However, the electric current that spread across the ground couldn’t find a living creature.

“Flame Gospel.”

A voice came from above.

The Ravine Serpent turned around and saw a mass of flames approaching right before its eyes.

The twisting flames engulfed the snake’s head and swiftly reduced it to ashes with their intense heat. The flames then floated just above the ground, brushing against the tree branches as they rose into the sky, eventually dissipating.

“Phew…”

“Nice control.”

Hikaru, standing on a large branch, was holding Lavia tight from behind.

“Th-That was exhausting. We didn’t even have time to plan, but I guess it worked out.”

Lavia put all her focus in the challenging task of killing the Ravine Serpent while minimizing any damage to its body. Possessing formidable power, Flame Gospel was suitable for taking down large monsters. However, she had never before attempted to control the flames that manifested.

There was a risk roasting the snake whole, which would prevent them from collecting the blood they needed. Hikaru’s method of killing it in one strike while in Stealth mode was dangerous due to the Ravine Serpent’s electric charge. If it unleashed electricity randomly like earlier, he might have been electrocuted to death before getting close.

Hence, they went with Lavia’s Fire Magic. And she pulled it off perfectly.

“Thanks, Lavia. You can rest now… Hup!”

“Eek!”

Carrying Lavia in his arms, Hikaru jumped down from the branch and gently placed her on the ground.

He approached the Ravine Serpent. “Hmm, the wound is burned and sealed shut.”

The elemental magic stone containing magical power was also destroyed, eliminating any risk of electrocution.

A butchering knife wasn’t sharp enough, so Hikaru used his Dagger of Strength to stab the scales. They were tough, but the blade managed to pierce through.

Hikaru then poured the creature’s blood into a leather pouch. They brought three just in case. They were told that one was enough, but Hikaru decided to fill all three with blood. There was still some blood left, so he emptied one of their water flasks and filled it with the remaining blood.

A golden rule of adventuring was to gather whenever possible.

Due to the overwhelming smell of blood, Hikaru dragged the snake’s body somewhere far. Creatures of the forest should devour it. Though he covered the spot where he collected the blood with sand, an unpleasant odor still lingered. They put up with it and spent the night there anyway. They should be back at Brinkra’s house by tomorrow evening.


As soon as she disembarked from the carriage, Sara stretched. Lengthy carriage rides took a toll even on her flexible body. On the other hand, Sophie, dressed in a gray robe, appeared perfectly fine.

“Oh my, Sara. It’s not appropriate for a lady to be doing that.”

“Carriages are just not for me. If anything, it’s odd how you’re completely fine.”

“We often maintain the same posture for hours when offering prayers to the gods. But it’s very refreshing. How about joining me some other time?”

“No thanks.” Sara shook her head wildly.

Sophie chuckled, expecting her reaction.

“Let’s head to the village and enter the forest from there.”

“Okay.”

The villagers were visibly curious about the two women who appeared to be adventurers, but in this closed-off community, no one approached them to strike up a conversation.

“I’m getting hungry,” Sara said.

“I’m sorry for dragging you along.”

“Oh, it’s totally fine. Selyse asked me to look after you, so I’m gonna do my job.” Sara pounded her modest chest with her fist.

Sophie smiled. “We did only have a light lunch, so I’m feeling a little hungry too.”

“Maybe the Frontier Sage will serve us some food,” Sara said with a straight face.

“That would be too shameless.”

“I see.”

The sun was already setting as they walked along the path leading deeper into the forest.

“Let’s set aside the Sage for now. What will we do if Silver Face is there?” Sara asked.

“I’m not interested in him, but he’s the one who took the Duke’s request. I think it would be best to cooperate with him.”

“I guess. And, uh, there’s this other person you’re curious about, right?”

“Yes… Another masked child.”

Sophie was curious about Flower Face.

At the Ruler’s Rumble tournament held in the Confederacy of Einbiest, Gerdhardt Vatex Anchor was shot with an extremely powerful poison, but he managed to survive by a hair’s breadth. Apparently, there was a Healer who suppressed the potency of the poison during that time.

Selyse heard the masked man, Silver Face, call the name “Paula” in the midst of battle.

“I’ve always suspected that the girl from Cotton-elka, Paula, is a highly skilled user of Healing magic.”

The remote village of Cotton-elka faced a crisis when monsters spilled from the dungeon known as the Forest of Deception. Paula and her friends, residents of the village, participated in the defense along with the Four Eastern Stars. However, Paula’s friend, Pia, suffered a life-threatening injury during the battle against the White Dragon. Sophie had almost given up on healing Pia with her own Healing magic, but for some reason, the girl survived.

“I believe Paula’s Healing magic is the legendary kind, able to regenerate even missing body parts.”

“But she didn’t feel like a remarkable Healer when she was helping in the defense.”

“That’s true. I also had the impression that Paula was a novice Healer.”

“So you’re saying she was hiding it? That she was only pretending to be a novice? It’s weird. She was really trying her best to save the village.”

“She must have had her reasons. After that, their party disbanded. It’s possible that after revealing her true abilities, she couldn’t stay with her friends anymore.”

“Hmm? Aren’t friends supposed to have each other’s backs despite knowing the truth?”

“You have a point.”

“I guess not every relationship out there is the same as ours.” Sara grinned.

Sara’s words made Sophie happy. It sounded like she was saying that no matter what happened, they should support each other.

“I’m more curious about this Silver Face fellow,” Sara said.

“Apparently, he participated in the tournament to support Jillarte.”

“Someone that strong, we would’ve known about them a long time ago. Adventurers at our level would have definitely heard about him, at least. I wonder where Silver Face and Paula met.”

“Hmm…”

After learning that Paula served in the Church, Sophie went to the royal capital’s branch to gather information about her. However, all she learned was that Paula left her hometown of Cotton-elka, formed a party with her friends, and then became an adventurer in Pond, though they didn’t even last a year.

Sophie knew what Paula did after that. To her, she was just an ordinary girl from an ordinary village.

“Still, I want to be sure. I want to know if the masked girl is Paula.”

“What will you do once you know it’s really her?”

“I will ask her to join me in saving people.” Sophie’s eyes sparkled as she tightly clasped her hands.

“O-Okay…”

Sara knew from experience how difficult Sophie could be when it came to the teachings of the Church.

“How about you join us?” Sophie said. “Volunteering at an orphanage is a rewarding experience.”

Yup, here she goes again, Sara thought.

It wasn’t that she didn’t care about orphanages. Sara had donated a considerable amount of money to them, but volunteering was not her thing. She strongly believed that the money she donated should be used to hire someone to take care of things.

She had become a high-income adventurer. If something could be solved with money, she preferred to solve it with money.

At that moment, Sara spotted a house beyond the trees. “Ah, Sophie! I think that’s the Frontier Sage’s house!”

“It looks like it. According to the Duke, Silver Face’s party is here.”

Sophie’s tone changed from cheerful to a grim one, her expression turning sharp. Sara also tensed up at the mention of the name Silver Face.

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