To my surprise, Yukiko’s response to my bombshell of the truth was unexpectedly controlled and rational for such a revelation. I had prepared myself for the worst, be it anger, fear, worry, or anything else that could’ve arisen from the uncertainty I had created, yet she simply sat in silence for a few minutes.

During this time, she didn’t once look me in the eye. Perhaps she was only trying her best to control her emotions on the outside, but I couldn’t have been completely sure. 

When she finally spoke to me again, her first question was not regarding what I’d do in the near future or even anything remotely related to her, but instead expressed a genuine interest and compassion for what life had been like within the barrier.

Our conversation continued for hours into the night as we dove into the topics of Hanakawa, our village sentry, the events that we faced, the trials we overcame as a village of only a few hundred, and more. At some point, she excused herself to her wagon and returned shortly after with some sheets of paper for taking notes. I briefly touched upon the topic of my family, but she quickly urged me to carry on with another topic. 

Apparently, the shards were well known and sought after sources of power in the outside world, but when discussing my receiving of the shard, I purposefully omitted the part regarding meeting Aeolus. I still couldn’t be fully certain on how the outside civilizations viewed the gods.

If for just that night, it felt as if my worries could fade away without a consequence. As the mood grew warmer, we felt more comfortable confiding our concerns in one another, laughing away our troubles as if they were nothing more than things of the past. The atmosphere began to remind me of how my family had used to spend our sunsets. No, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t just forget and move on. But, for now, maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to let myself relish in the moment. 

As the hours passed us by, we gradually grew more and more weary before giving in to sleep. I was somewhat sure that I had passed out first, and I could vaguely recall Yukiko’s fading jests at my fatigue from pushing myself to stay up in my condition.

Soon enough, the night had passed and the sun was now beating down from directly above. It was about noon when I awoke to find I now lay within a tent. Unzipping the flaps, I snuck a peak outside to find I was still within the same campsite as last night. The fact that Yukiko had to have stealthily set up such a tent around my sleeping body amused me.

Emerging from the tent, I was suddenly jolted into full wakefulness by the sound of leaves crunching underneath footsteps.

“You can relax. It’s just me”

Yukiko had returned from the direction of the ruins with a bag of supplies in hand.

“I’ve finished everything I came here to do, so let’s get going once you’re ready”

I could only nod in response. For just how long had she been awake and working instead of resting?

Within the span of a minute, we had already loaded everything back into the wagon and continued on the trail in some direction, with Yukiko at the reins and myself keeping watch in the back of the wagon. 

We rode in silence for some time before Yukiko decided to initiate conversation.

“You’ve been rather quiet this morning… is everything feeling alright?”

Indeed, compared to the warm banter that brightened the previous night, I had acted rather reclusive this morning. With everything laid before me in broad daylight, both literally and metaphorically, I was truly beginning to feel the weight of the journey to come.

“Yeah, maybe I’m just a bit homesick. Or anxious. Or some mix of both”

Her laughter was definitely capable of lightening the mood.

“Don’t worry! Once we’re in Synoria, you’ll have the Snow Guild and myself to help you grow accustomed to life out here. After all, you did say you wanted to join last night”

Had I said something like that? The details from just before I passed out felt fuzzy, but the thought of me saying I’d want to join the guild was somewhat familiar. I could only hope I hadn’t said anything too embarrassing. Unfortunately, I later found out that I had deliriously spilt out something related to wanting to find family-like bonds I could protect.

“Oh, by the way, back in the barrier, there was only your village, right?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“Well- We’ve got a long ride ahead of us, so I thought it’d be a good idea to briefly go over the outside world’s history with you. You said you already know about The Great Uprising, so why not just fill in the rest of the gaps?”

I gratefully accepted, after which I was told to find two maps that’d be located in one of the bags next to me.

Unlike how knowledge of World Zero was greatly confined within the barrier, I found that the diversity and landmasses of the real World Zero were far greater than I could’ve ever imagined. Separated by large expanses of ocean, the three continents that made up World Zero were Greater Magius, New Magius, and Lesser Magius. 

Being the first continent inhabited by the initial settlers of World Zero, Lesser Magius was the smallest of the three, and in the present practiced isolationist policies that made their current state relatively unknown. 

The last continent to be inhabited was New Magius, a rather large continent that sported the ‘new civilizations’ founded upon the pursuit of greater technology, leading to them being the supplier of nearly all magetech in trade. However, despite its size, over half the continent has been made uninhabitable by the dangerous growths of a corruption-based ecology. 

Lastly, the current continent we were now traveling on was Greater Magius, which was by far the largest and most inhabited of the three. Its size led it to be divided into four provinces determined by the cardinal directions, those being Borealis of the north, Orientalis of the east (which we were currently in), Occidentalis of the west, and the newly formed, self-proclaimed Divinus Imperium of the south. 

Occidentalis was arguably the simplest and most traditional of the provinces, retaining a clan-like style of governing from ancient times. While these clans were generally divided in their struggle to hold ruling power, peace was almost always upheld as the utmost priority over personal gain. Rather, the desire to rule simply stemmed from the pride of upholding one’s own clan name instead of being a result of inherent greed. Their lifestyle seemed most similar to Hanakawa’s of the four.

As the most ‘recently formed’, Divinus Imperium was the title raised by a religious organization that seized control over the previous ruling class. This group consisted of worshippers of Zeus, alongside some other gods, who claimed they were chosen by the divine to eventually aid Zeus’ descent to the mortal realm. From such claims, Yukiko stated it was likely that the Divine Layer from The Great Uprising was beginning to weaken, although it was impossible to discern whether or not their leaders had ever even interacted with Zeus.

Borealis, a once flourishing civilization that bridged the natures of modern and traditional, had been destroyed by the corruption several years ago. During the First Calamity Event, in which the first corrupted beings arrived in World Zero, Borealis was the ‘landing zone’ ravaged by the ensuing battles and chaos, leading to all humanity and civilization within its borders being brutally massacred. Presently, Borealis served as the corruption’s ‘headquarters’ within Greater Magius. 

Finally, Orientalis was ruled by three ‘city-states’ that each held high levels of official power, each one being led by a presiding guild. Synoria’s Snow Guild oversaw matters of public image and diplomatic relations, Arelium’s Shadow guild was tasked with maintaining defense and military needs, and Chalytus’s Steel guild managed foreign trade and economics. Other matters of governing were left up to each city’s presiding guild. 

Synoria, specifically, was composed of multiple interconnected districts that each specialized in their own aspects of sustaining civilization, the largest being the Central District, holding the Snow Guild’s Headquarters and the majority of Synoria’s residential areas. At the moment, our destination was Synoria Outlook, a pseudo-district that was less of a specialization and more of a stop for travelers, earning its name due to being the westmost settlement of Orientalis that overlooked the borders to the other provinces.

Uniquely, the Calamity Events of the outside world were only a name given to catastrophic disasters that struck Greater Magius specifically, and at a surface level appeared to have no connection to the more deliberate events of Hanakawa. Despite this, I still held onto the slight suspicion that there had to be some connection between the two. After all, what were the odds of the exact same terminology coincidentally arising with connection to the corruption?

Yukiko was preparing to dive deeper into Synoria’s history before my stomach rumbled with monstrous noise. It was at this point that I remembered how I hadn’t eaten since waking up the previous day, after which I was tested multiple times in empty-stomached combat. After waking up this morning, I had also put my condition aside for the sake of keeping up the pace of travel. She laughed at me again.

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

“…Over a week-”

Yukiko stared at me with deadpan disbelief before abruptly pulling over to the side of the path. 

“We’re eating right now. Ugh, how could I have not noticed…”

She resentfully grumbled at herself as she hopped off the wagon and looped around to the backside, where she pulled out some travel gear that included a firestarter and some cooking equipment. 

“We should be just about another hour away from Synoria Outlook. You can wait here while I go get some freshwater. I’ve camped out somewhere near here before, so I think I should be able to find the nearby stream fairly quickly”

With that, she departed into the trees holding a metal bucket. The scenery at this point of the journey had now been flipped, with the right side of the path bordering an expanse of forest while the left side of the path bordered a large range of canyons and valleys, much rockier than any terrain before. According to Yukiko, that sort of terrain was what bordered Borealis, serving as humanity’s only glimpse into those territories.

Now alone with nothing but the sound of my own breathing and the wind, I began contemplating how I’d pass the time. Looking around, I couldn’t see anything that was particularly interesting other than more trees and dirt. I then looked at myself, my gaze eventually settling on my right arm. I decided that if I had the time, then I might as well get more accustomed to using it in this condition.

I found a suitable spot on the ground a few paces from the wagon and took a meditative pose. I’d begin with the complete basics, channeling my aura from the center of my body out through my limbs in complete focus and relaxation. After a few seconds, it felt like my mana was sputtering out through my right arm, causing my aura to fall out of balance before I eventually lost control of it.

The glow around my body faded as I sighed in frustration. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, thinking, “Alright, let’s try this again”.

Second attempt, same result. Seventh attempt, same result. Nineteenth attempt, similar result, but I was definitely making progress. My attempts might have just been adding mere fractions of a second to the total duration, but I was definitely able to sustain my full body aura for just a few seconds longer by the time I had reached the 50th attempt. 

Wait, I had already gone through fifty attempts, but Yukiko still wasn’t back? I know she said she had some familiarity with the land, but still… at least 15 or 20 minutes had to have passed already. 

I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants before turning to face the forest. With these thoughts racing through my head, the previously peaceful calmness had transformed into an eerie silence. 

 I completely stilled my movements and sharpened my senses, looking for anything amiss, listening for any sounds of danger, straining my body to sense any odd currents of mana.

Suddenly, a shriek pierced through the air. Without a doubt, it had come from the forest, and it was Yukiko’s voice nonetheless.

Without stopping to think, I grabbed her spearstaff and dashed through the trees. My aura was still functional everywhere else in my body, so long as I excluded my right arm from the circuitry of mana. 

I glimpsed a clearing up ahead and could hear the sound of flowing water. There was something glinting by the water, and I quickly recognized it as the same bucket Yukiko had brought with her. There was a sharp cut made through it, and it definitely had been dropped in a hurry. 

Please don’t let me be too late! Multiple sets of footprints could be seen leading off in one direction. Following the footprints, I could hear gruff voices shouting up ahead. Soon, I could see the backs of four cloaked men. Only, they were moving extremely… slowly?

Whatever, no time to analyze the situation. All that I needed to see was Yukiko up ahead, baring her aura in hostility towards the four aggressors. 

[ You have activated Mana Manipulation (Lv. 1) and Weaving (Lv. 1)! ]

The dirt beneath my feet crumbled as I kicked off with immense speed, maneuvering myself over my targets’ heads before landing in front of them. It would’ve been easier to simply knock them out from behind, but I had my own reasons for wanting to see these people’s faces for myself.

Observing them from up front, I noticed that each of their cloaks bore the same insignia over their hearts: an upturned bleeding crescent moon, into which a sword was impaled.

So it was an organization going after her, huh?

“Kaito, wait, I can take care of this-”

“Duck”

A sweeping force that aimed for our necks now barely grazed the top of our hairs. 

“Heh! You’re quite perceptive for how you look, brat!”

A fifth person bearing the same cloak and insignia seemingly stepped out of thin air. One by one, he tapped on the shoulders of each of the other men, after which their normal speed returned. By his presence alone, it was easy to tell he was the leader of this gang.

“So, Princess, finally got yourself a bodyguard?”

Yukiko ignored the provocation and continued to address me.

“You might feel better now, but that arm is still in no condition to fight”

She began stepping forward with a determined look. 

I held out my right arm in front of her and signaled for her to step back, showing her the spearstaff tightly clutched in my hand. 

“I’m not taking any more risks of losing anybody in my life”

[ Mana Manipulation (Lv. 1) is almost ready to level up! ]

“You’ll support my decision, right?”

Upon hearing my words, she gave a knowing grin.