Path.
Help.
“When little Yvette turns 18, Mommy and Daddy will come back to celebrate your birthday~”
The night was as dark as ink, heavily shrouding this desolate land, with moonlight sparingly casting a few silver rays, barely illuminating the winding path ahead.
The sound of children crying, the curses of slave traders, and the clamor of the caravan’s movement filled the air.
The screams of slaves rose and fell, as if every carriage held someone being beaten.
19…
She was powerless; she was just another slave, and making noise or resisting would only bring harsher beatings.
She had learned this lesson countless times.
If not for this beautiful face…
Heh, she was just an “A,” so would anyone even like someone like her?
Helplessly curled up in a dilapidated carriage, Yvette’s eyes no longer held their former sparkle, replaced instead by deep despair and emptiness.
Her lifeless, fish-like eyes stared blankly, her thoughts long gone elsewhere.
[If I’m really sold as a slave to those disgusting nobles to be their toy, I’ll just kill myself.]
Yvette thought silently, casually deciding the outcome of her future.
Compared to living as a slave, she’d rather die bravely.
But Yvette hadn’t found her parents yet…
Yvette was so unwilling…
Yvette didn’t want this…
“Yvette is 18 now. Yvette will be good and obedient. Mommy, Daddy, please come take Yvette home…”
Huddled in a corner of the carriage, sobbing helplessly, her vision gradually blurred.
She seemed to see her parents coming for her, smiling, reaching out to her.
Yvette reached out in return.
Then,
She fainted on the carriage floor.
Yvette had a fever, a severe one.
But,
Yvette was happy because, in her dreams, she saw her parents, who had been gone for six years.
Yvette fainted with a smile.
Cold.
The rain fell in a drizzle, and the biting cold wind seeped through the cracks, waking Yvette from her unconsciousness.
Her parents… were gone, vanishing like bubbles.
Even in her dreams, it was the day her parents abandoned her.
Blearily opening her eyes, the carriage had stopped moving.
The monotonous jolting and swaying were replaced by chaotic noise.
Outside, the wind howled, mixed with the low roars of beasts and the startled cries of people, echoing in the night like a call from hell, chilling the heart.
“Go, all of you, go! Hold that two-headed tiger back!”
The slave trader retreated in panic, not forgetting to bark orders.
The two-headed tiger was unexpectedly strong, and the expensive guards he hired were quickly killed by it.
If this continued, he’d lose his life here.
So—
He began issuing orders to the slaves within his sight.
Due to the low quality of the slave collars, only those within his field of vision could be controlled.
“08, 17, 23… All of you, hold that two-headed tiger back!”
Slaves weren’t important anymore; survival was. Slaves could be recaptured, but a life lost was gone forever.
“02, 07, 22… Bite it with your teeth!”
The slave master kept issuing commands.
The named slaves, compelled by their collars, stopped, turned, and ran toward the two-headed tiger.
“No! I don’t want to die!”
“Stop, please stop! My damned legs!”
The named slaves charged forward and were all killed under the tiger’s claws.
Yvette watched the blood-soaked scene outside through the carriage window.
Clenching her fist, then helplessly letting it drop, she knew she couldn’t fight.
She didn’t even have a proper weapon.
[She could only escape, somewhere out of the slave master’s sight!]
The carriage door was open due to the chaos, and the guards watching them were likely dead by the tiger’s claws.
Her body ached terribly, and her head was foggy from the fever.
But this was her only chance.
She had to escape! She ran in the opposite direction of the slave master’s retreat.
Yvette stumbled out of the carriage, running unsteadily.
A circle of slaves surrounded the slave master, all compelled by their collars to charge at the two-headed tiger.
Crunch!
Gurgle!
The slaves’ counterattacks were useless; they were killed in an instant by the tiger.
First, they were weak from abuse; second, they had no weapons; third, the two-headed tiger was a formidable sixth-tier beast.
The slave master’s earnings from selling slaves weren’t enough to hire a sixth-tier guard.
Hiring fifth-tier guards was already his attempt at valuing his life.
He only wanted to take a shortcut.
Wasn’t this the edge of the Forest of Fate?
How could such a powerful sixth-tier beast appear?
Damn it, I’ll never take a shortcut again.
The slave master thought to himself, if he even had a next time.
Splat!
The sound of flesh pierced by something hard.
The slave master felt like he was flying, but soon hit the ground.
Then,
He saw his bloated, headless body, with blood spurting from the neck.
The slaves… had all been killed by the two-headed tiger.
Yvette fled in a panic, witnessing the tiger slaughter the slaves charging at it in an instant, then swat the slave master’s head off with one claw.
The two-headed tiger killed too quickly, taking dozens of lives in less than two minutes.
Yvette didn’t want to die.
She hadn’t found her parents yet.
She had to live!
Stumbling as she ran, her steps slowed due to her weakness, her mind burning, as if she could collapse any moment.
But she couldn’t stop.
Because—
After killing everyone, the two-headed tiger was coming for her.
“You damned beast! Die!”
Yvette’s mind seemed to have burned out.
In a daze, she picked up a rock and threw it at the tiger.
The charging tiger paused at the small rock, its fierce gaze turning amused.
The tiny rock posed no threat.
But~~~
It seemed to have found an interesting toy, like a cat playing with a mouse.
A sixth-tier beast had some intelligence, roughly that of a six-year-old child, and playfulness was its nature.
A white-furred hamster?
Fun.
The tiger’s two mouths curled into what resembled a mocking human grin.
Combined with the blood of some unfortunate soul dripping from its jaws, it looked eerie under the moonlight.
Pure blood didn’t scare Yvette, but seeing a childlike, playful smile on a tiger’s face—both heads smiling—was terrifying.
Yvette thought she must be hallucinating, seeing human expressions on a tiger.
Trembling, she kept running, but the tiger grew bored.
It expected the “white hamster” to run faster as it chased, but it overestimated her.
The hamster was slowing down.
Boring.
Might as well eat her.
Her tender flesh should taste better than that fat man earlier.
The tiger sped up, lunging toward Yvette.
Yvette stumbled, turning to face the approaching tiger, closing her eyes in despair.
It’s… over, isn’t it?
Still, a bit unwilling.
[Pull me out!]
[Pull me out of the scabbard!]
“Who?”
She must be delirious from the fever, or perhaps it was a dying hallucination, but Yvette thought she heard a cute girl’s voice just before the tiger’s fangs descended.
[The sword! The sword stuck in the scabbard at your feet!]
“Sword?”
[Yes! The sword! Pull me out! Then kill it!]
[It peed next to me before! I’m gonna chop it dead!]
The girl’s voice sounded furious. Yvette looked down and saw an exquisite long sword, still in its scabbard, embedded in the dirt, gleaming with a golden light and a hint of divine aura.
But~~~
What good would it do?
She was only third-tier.
Even with a sword, she couldn’t beat a two-headed tiger, though the sword looked valuable.
Still~~~
“Dying in battle at the last moment? Sounds kind of romantic. Let’s go with that. At least… I tried.”
The despairing girl mocked herself, using the last of her strength to pull the glowing blade from its scabbard.
Then, a cold, mechanical female voice spoke.
[You have acquired “Magic Sword Eleanor Lillian.” Skill sharing now activated.]
[Sharing in progress, please wait.]
[Sword Mastery Lv8, Magic Mastery Lv8, Cleric Mastery Lv8, Shield Mastery Lv8… All skills successfully shared.]
The cold, emotionless mechanical voice listed the skills.
Report complete.
Then~~~
“Hello, Brave One, I’m Little Ai, the sword spirit, your personal assistant. Press 1 for more detailed growth guidance~”
It was the same cute, playful loli voice, completely different from the cold mechanical one.
This lively voice was full of energy, its owner’s joy practically overflowing.
“Brave One?” Yvette tilted her head in confusion.
“Huh? Weird, why did I call you Brave One? I’m a magic sword, aren’t I? No, no, let’s try again!”
The soft loli voice muttered to itself, then continued.
“Hello, Demon King, I’m Little Ai, the sword spirit, your personal assistant. Press 1 to blow up that pesky, pee-happy kitten over there~”
Magic sword?
Whatever.
She was probably delirious, but since she’d drawn the sword, might as well go along with it.
The girl pulled the silver sword from its scabbard, raising it high and shouting,
“1111111—!!!!”