"Lady Nanoda! Let's go on an adventure together!"
This was Übel — also green-haired. Her image used to overlap with Yuna's in Nanoda's mind, always stirring up a wistful sort of nostalgia.
"Übel's only in her early teens, still a child. At the very least we should wait until she's an adult before letting her go adventuring, don't you think?"
Nanoda still meant to refuse, and glanced over at the girl's "guardian" standing nearby.
"I trust Übel. She's already an excellent Mage. And I trust you too, Lady Nanoda."
Yuna's answer was somewhat unexpected.
Still, just as Yuna said, the girl was already ahead of most Mages at the same starting line — perhaps even more gifted than Yuna herself had been back then.
Judging by the Mana radiating off Übel, she'd have more than enough power to face down any Demon under a century old.
Such explosive growth in Übel's Mana owed everything to Qual's hellish training regimen — one genuine brush with death after another.
Nanoda had occasionally gone to witness Qual's methods firsthand.
It was only because Übel was a freakishly gifted prodigy that she'd survived; an ordinary person would have died who knows how many times over.
Übel's worth just kept climbing.
"Alright then. As it happens, I have some business that'll take me away from Gaderia for a while."
"Eh?"
Übel had been just about to unleash her ultimate technique — crying, throwing a tantrum, and rolling on the ground — to badger her Grand-Master into agreeing.
"Something important?"
"No, just something as Acting Pontiff. I need to go handle the selection of the next Pontiff over at the Church of the New God."
"Ah, I see."
Seeing the tension ease out of Yuna, Nanoda understood — the girl had been worried about her.
"By the way, is there anywhere you'd like to go, Übel? Since it's an adventure, an interesting destination would make it more fun."
"That's a surprise. So Lady Nanoda isn't a total homebody after all."
Übel's exaggerated look of surprise left Nanoda a little speechless; the girl really did have a smart mouth on her.
"So Lady Nanoda is the Pontiff?"
"That's right."
"So I'm the Pontiff's grand-disciple?"
"I suppose you could say that?"
"Then could I become Pontiff too, someday?"
"No, I wouldn't recommend it."
Übel as Pontiff of the Church? Far too reckless, far too terrifying a thought. Nanoda snuffed out the absurd notion on the spot.
Nanoda cut her training short and hurried to Gaderia's lord's manor with her disciple and grand-disciple in tow.
After some planning, Nanoda settled on the headquarters of the Church of the New God, in one of the Central Lands' nations, as the destination for their trip — or rather, their adventure.
These days the Church of the New God held its own sovereign territory among the nations — one might as well call it a theocratic state — standing in clear opposition to the Southern Lands' Goddess's Order.
Traveling down from the Northern border, Nanoda deliberately chose several remote, rarely-trodden mountain ranges as waypoints for their adventure.
"This map was drawn ten years ago. Some of the human villages marked on it might not exist anymore, or might have relocated. We really should bring plenty of travel supplies."
Yuna carefully pointed out the resting points along Nanoda's planned route.
"True. We should stock up on more food, and clean water too."
Considering all the usual hazards of travel, Nanoda herself had nothing to worry about — a Demon's body was built to endure the wilderness, terrifyingly resilient by nature.
But Übel was still a child, so to make her first trip outside go smoothly and be enjoyable, Nanoda decided to lay out a rough plan in advance.
"Übel really is a lucky one."
Lügner, who'd been organizing documents the whole while, suddenly spoke up.
As a Demon, he'd walked the wilderness on pure instinct from the moment he was born.
No prepared map, no guiding markers — just wandering aimlessly.
Hunting to survive, fighting to survive, devouring to survive.
The only thing that had ever kept him company was the magic he'd forged himself, magic he took pride in.
Magic was the whole of his dignity.
Over the years spent among Humans, his outlook had gradually shifted.
He'd come to enjoy a manor that kept out wind and rain, warm invigorating tea, and a soft bed for restful sleep.
He had to admit — these were all fruits of human wisdom.
He'd gradually come to sense what the Demon Race lacked, yet could never quite grasp it, because instinct kept telling him that things were fine as they were.
"Lügner, while I'm away from Gaderia, command authority in special circumstances will pass to Qual. My thanks for your hard work as lord in the meantime."
"I'm honored. And — understood."
Facing his superior's words of consideration, Lügner bowed with great humility.
The next day, Nanoda set out on the journey with Übel.
They walked until nightfall, and Übel never once showed any sign of tiring.
This was thanks to the fact that, after Nanoda taught Übel Severance Magic, she'd found there was nothing else left worth teaching her.
So instead she'd applied her own physical conditioning regimen — the one she used to hone her combat skills — onto Übel.
Nothing more than bare-handed mountain climbing, leaping through the trees, underwater ambush drills — the basic training of a former assassin.
Along the way they enjoyed the scenery, taking things at a leisurely pace.
On the second day of the trip,
"Lady Nanoda, do you have any dreams?"
Übel seemed to have grown a little tired of the scenery.
"A dream? It's simple — a stable life, like the one I had in Gaderia. I hope days like that can go on forever." Nanoda's answer was plain.
"Eh~ That sounds so boring. Chasing stronger magic is way more interesting... Oh, I know! How about this: training yourself endlessly for the sake of a stable life, to keep the peace in Gaderia?"
Übel had found a reason for why her Grand-Master, already so powerful, still kept training herself. Nanoda didn't deny it.
"Come to think of it, I had a friend once whose dream was to become human."
"That's even stranger. Was she a Demon too?"
"Of course. She was quite the formidable one."
The two of them went back and forth, chatting.
"Could you introduce me to her sometime, Grand-Master? That strange Demon who wanted to become human sounds interesting. What kind of magic did she use?"
"She's gone now."
"That's a real shame."
Übel turned to look at Nanoda beneath her black cloak. Her expression didn't change, though she seemed to drift off for a brief moment. Curious as she was, Übel didn't press the subject any further.
"Shhk." Nanoda suddenly stopped in her tracks. Beside her, Übel reacted half a beat late before drawing her small staff from behind her back.
"I was just wondering when this would happen. Now it feels right."
Nanoda spoke with the confidence of someone who'd foreseen it all along, her prediction now confirmed.
Übel saw only shadowy figures bursting through the roadside brush, a clatter of footsteps rising as the figures formed a ring around the road.
Under the bright sunlight, they were unmistakably a pack of vicious-looking thugs, each one gripping a weapon.
____
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