After all, she was a mage, and over these years of traveling, she had also learned that if you want to live long, don't stick your nose into other people's business. And mages were even less able to face unexpected situations than one might imagine.
But the most troublesome thing was, knowing about it and leaving it alone would also make her feel somewhat guilty. However...
Ash didn't agonize over any of this at all. While she was frowning in distress, he made his decision very simply, "I'll go lend a hand after all... I'll be right back."
"No, but... ah, mm, that's true too! You're already a Evil God, after all. Really... whose child are you anyway~ You're already this strong, yet still so kind, so gentle~"
The girl who always couldn't resist acting like an elder and unconsciously ignored his status, after only a moment's hesitation, remembered his current identity, yet couldn't help but smile and stand on her tiptoes, proudly raising her hand to pat his head, saying smugly, "My~ A child this outstanding, aren't they just from my family~?"
"Do you have to treat me like a child like this? I'm clearly..."
"What are you saying! Once a teacher, always a mother, didn't you say that yourself? And if I don't do this, what about my jealousy! You said it yourself, that I can put on elder airs anytime I want! Was that a lie?"
Roxy pretended to be displeased, pouting, interrupting him, and threatened with full confidence, "It's not me bragging, but if at this moment you were to confirm that everything you said before was just to humor me, that you've already looked down on a master like me, I might... no, I definitely would start crying!"
"This is the first time I've encountered this kind of threat..."
'No, it should be the second time, right? Do girls all like this kind of threat?', Ash was somewhat dumbfounded, rather not knowing whether to laugh or cry as he said, "Do you really want to display your authority as an elder? That way of putting it is..."
"Because! When your disciple suddenly becomes this outstanding, I also get very lonely," Roxy interrupted him again, and continued on her own, "And then? Was what you said before all a lie? Or was it true?"
"Though I don't know what you're feeling lonely about... but of course those weren't lies."
Though it was indeed something he had said, and he also found this tiny girl putting on airs quite amusing, Ash hadn't expected it to be enforced at this moment, and under Roxy's stern gaze, he could only somewhat reluctantly nod and acknowledge his previous words.
This immediately made Roxy beam with joy, nodding repeatedly, "Then isn't that just fine~"
"What's fine?"
"Don't worry about it, hurry and go save them! Also... be careful, okay?"
"Mm... don't worry."
Ash nodded helplessly, briefly told Roxy the direction he was heading, and then, before Eris could notice anything amiss, his figure flickered and he instantly vanished from the seaport.
"My, my... before I knew it, you've become this strong, and you're not even the type who has nothing but power. You've made it so that I can't even feel jealous, only look up to you and feel proud of you. As expected of my disciple."
Roxy stood quietly in place, using the back of her finger to gently tuck the stray hair scattered by her cheek behind her ear. Though her eyes showed trust and contentment toward Ash, they still faintly revealed a trace of worry.
It wasn't worry about whether Ash could safely deal with this group of slave traders, with Ash's current strength, dealing with these people would surely be easy, but rather worry about what his true enemy was.
Because whether as a former apprentice or now as one of the Great Eight, Ash was still constantly learning and training, which made Roxy truly unable to understand just what kind of enemy would require Ash to study magic so painstakingly, to improve his strength so tirelessly?
———
Outside the port city, deep in the dense forest, a seemingly unremarkable wooden warehouse stood quietly.
From the outside, this place was probably used for storing maritime goods, yet not a single person could be seen around.
Ash stepped forward and knocked on the door, and soon after, a middle-aged man wearing a hood and sporting a full beard emerged.
This person looked extremely suspicious, his eyes full of vigilance as he sized Ash up and down before lowering his voice and saying in a deep tone, "Password."
"Don't know."
"Hah? Then... Guh?"
Before the man could finish speaking, Ash's figure suddenly moved, and with a muffled "bang!", his knife-hand easily pierced through the wooden door like cutting into cardboard without losing momentum, going straight through the man's heart, making him widen his eyes, filled with terror and disbelief, blood bubbles continuously bubbling from his mouth, yet he couldn't utter a single word.
"Sure enough, with something in between, the blood doesn't splatter on you."
Ash sighed with emotion, his expression unchanging, as if discarding a worthless piece of trash, he flung the man along with the pierced wooden door to the side.
It was only at this moment that one could see that this man still had a sword gripped by his hand, unfortunately... he hadn't even had time to draw his weapon before dying on the spot.
Then, ignoring the corpse outside, as if returning to his own home, he stepped without hesitation into the crude wooden hut.
After scanning the room with his gaze, he casually opened a wooden board on the side, revealing a staircase leading downward.
Following the stairs down, there was a damp cave passage, dark and lightless inside, with no wall lamps installed.
At a corner, two men were chatting in the darkness by the light of a small candle.
As guards of this place, when they heard Ash's footsteps, they both instinctively glanced in this direction.
Normally, a contact person should have led the way here, but now Ash appeared here alone, this situation immediately made the two alert, and they both quickly drew their swords, shouting loudly, "Who goes there? Where's Kermit?"
"Dead... you two as well."
Ash's voice was calm and cold. As soon as the words left his mouth, before the two could react, several invisible slashes shot out like arrows released from a bowstring.
The two were cut into chunks of meat before they could even show their anger.
Blood instantly bloomed in this dark passage, and a pungent smell of blood filled the air.
Yet Ash didn't even glance at those chunks of meat, continuing deeper into the passage as if taking a leisurely stroll.
Actually, he and Roxy were quite similar in some ways.
If there were some invisible problems, he might have been able to pretend he hadn't noticed and chosen to turn a blind eye.
But since he already knew about this matter, and it was happening right nearby, if he left it alone, he always felt there would be a slight discomfort in his heart.
Anyway, it could both harvest souls and make him feel good... this casual act of kindness wasn't bad either, right?
"But... I've also done quite a few bad things, killed countless people. Can I really be considered kind?"
Remembering what that interesting master who liked to act mature had said earlier, while quickly walking deeper into the passage, Ash's face also showed a somewhat troubled expression.
Deep in the underground passage, one could see quite a number of armed personnel along the way.
They were either playing cards or dozing off, each with only a single candle lamp beside them, the light dim and flickering.
Ash's footsteps were light and didn't cause much commotion.
He merely walked past, and the slashes manifested by his cutting magic shot out, leaving heavy bloodstains on the walls.
Accompanied by muffled thudding sounds of things falling, the smell of cheap alcohol mingled with the stench of blood, entrails, and various filth, mixing into a unique, nauseating odor.
However, the slight commotion here was entirely covered by the distant cries of children, so it basically didn't attract the attention of those slave traders.
Before long, Ash passed through the smuggled goods area and arrived at the cell area used for holding slaves.
This place had probably recently had its goods cleared out, as there wasn't much in the cells.
When Ash passed the first cell, through the iron bars he could see a magic circle emitting a faint light inside, and at the center of the magic circle lay a large white dog the size of a lion.
"What are you looking around at?", The long-haired man sitting in front of the bars, probably mistaking Ash for a buyer, directly snarled viciously.
"What, can't I even look?", Ash replied flatly.
This, however, angered the headscarf-wearing man beside him who had his arms crossed, who immediately reached out to grab Ash's collar, "Are you looking for trouble? Kid!"
"Indeed."
"Hah?", The headscarf man was clearly stunned by this answer.
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