“We’re going to stay here until when?”
“At least until that guy upstairs leaves. Waiting for those two heads to come to an agreement probably won’t take long. If nothing unexpected happens, we’ll be spending the night here.”
Nia wiped the longsword in her hand, then looked up to exchange a glance with the Two-Headed Dog crouching above the cliff.
The three heads of the dog lowly barked as if in conversation, pacing back and forth in a way that seemed to confirm Nia’s words.
“Or if you could take care of it, we could leave right now. I could also be free sooner.”
After being stuck in this cave for half a day, EI kept babbling nonstop—annoyingly so.
Nia realized for the first time that some men could be so talkative, though most of his chatter was about trivial things.
“Let’s just wait for it to leave. If I’d known we’d run into this situation, I should have brought that with me.”
The man sighed and began rummaging through the cave.
Nia could still hear his muttering.
“According to novels, caves that suddenly appear halfway up a mountain are never simple… Even without an old man, there should at least be some awesome cultivation method or divine artifact, right?”
Since waking up, Nia had heard him mutter countless times.
Besides the one complaint about her battle record, not a single one made any sense to her.
Shaking her head, she tore her gaze away from the man searching the cave and began loosening the clothes on her upper body.
“Nia! What are you doing?!” The shirt had just started to slip down when the man suddenly shouted in the quiet cave, “We’ve only known each other for one day!”
Nia ignored him and continued with her movements.
The shirt fell away, exposing a fresh, bloody wound on her right shoulder.
The female knight frowned.
She felt like she’d been having nothing but bad luck lately.
Sighing helplessly, Nia tore a strip from her shirt and prepared to bandage the wound.
But because the injury was on her shoulder, it was hard to manage with one hand.
After fiddling for a while, she cleared her throat and called over to the man.
“Mr. EI, give me a hand.”
EI seemed to have been watching her all along because the moment her voice dropped, he appeared beside her.
Ignoring the look of guilt in his eyes, Nia handed him the strip of cloth.
“Help me out.”
“Oh…”
The man sat beside her, lowering his head as he worked on her wound.
His hair cast a shadow over his eyebrows, hiding his expression, making him look somewhat absent-minded.
After holding back for a while, he finally spoke weakly.
“Miss Nia, sorry, this must be from when you just saved me, right?”
“Tsk, don’t worry about it. I’m tough; a few wounds won’t hurt,” Nia replied.
“Besides, I’m used to it by now, and you saved my life too. We’re even.”
The man said nothing more, but his expression didn’t change, and his movements grew more careful.
A cold wind blew in from outside the cave.
Autumn in Turg wasn’t warm, but Nia, having shed her shirt, didn’t feel chilled.
On the contrary, she felt a little hot, and her mouth was slightly dry.
At this moment, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about her body.
Once EI finished bandaging the wound, Nia picked up her sword and created a small fire with a flame magic on the ground.
“I’m going to—”
EI stared in amazement at the fire suddenly flickering to life on the ground. “Is this magic? That’s awesome…”
“This is just the most basic fire magic,” Nia said as she looked at him. “You seem like you’ve never seen this before, Mr. EI?”
“Nope.” EI shook his head. “No one back home knows this.”
“Then your hometown’s pretty primitive. This is the most basic magic every apprentice learns.”
Of course, Nia didn’t say that out loud.
The two sat around the campfire.
“Miss Nia, I’m curious—what level is magic like this in your world?” EI asked again.
“The lowest. Magic has ten levels total. This is Level One magic.”
“What about the highest? Have you seen it?”
“No,” Nia replied. “Level Ten magic is legendary—no one’s seen it. The strongest known mage can only use Level Nine magic, and each use requires several days of preparation.”
“How powerful is Level Nine magic?”
“I haven’t seen that either.” Nia thought for a moment. “But records say it was used during the Empire’s civil war centuries ago, causing tens of thousands of casualties.”
“Oh. I think I get it.” EI nodded thoughtfully, then his eyes brightened. “Can I learn it?”
“Well… I’m not sure. I think you have to measure your mana capacity first…”
“You don’t know either?” EI looked at her in confusion. “Then how did you learn, Miss Nia?”
Nia shook her head and answered honestly, “I never learned.”
“Never learned?” EI doubted her words. “How could anyone know magic without learning?”
Nia didn’t answer directly, instead asking, “Mr. EI , have you ever learned how to breathe?”
EI was stunned by her question.
“No.”
“I never learned magic either. I was born knowing it, just like breathing. So I don’t really understand it, but…”
“But what?”
Under EI’s expectant gaze, Nia continued, “But all magic principles are similar.
Once you learn to ‘breathe,’ I can explain what to do next.”
“That’s like saying nothing.”
Nia smiled, unable to deny it.
But immediately her brow furrowed again.
“Mr. EI.”
“What is it? Did you come up with a plan, Miss Nia?”
“No.” Nia shook her head. “I want to ask if you smell something strange.”
“A strange smell? No.”
“Try again. It’s been there since we arrived.”
“It’s been here since we arrived? How come I didn’t notice?”
El sniffed his clothes and confirmed there was no scent.
Then he leaned toward Nia and sniffed.
“Nope.”
“Maybe it’s just my imagination.”
Is it really just imagination?
Nia didn’t think so.
She decided to investigate her current physical condition.
Using staying awake on watch as an excuse to let El rest first, she dispelled her camouflage and carefully examined her body.
Honestly, a woman’s body was troublesome.
Because something was in the way, checking the lower half was inconvenient.
Aside from the new wound from today, the rest were mostly old scars from before.
Nothing seemed strange…
Wait, what’s this?
Her gaze settled on a bruise on her lower abdomen, where she noticed something unusual.
A strange yet familiar dark pattern.
The pattern was small, nearly hidden within the wound on her belly.
Unlike the simple, tiny pattern, Nia’s expression hardened.
She looked serious, as if facing a great enemy.