It was midday, on the main eastern road dozens of miles away from Shadowlight City.
The black-haired girl’s eyelids flickered several times. After struggling to open her eyes, the piercing sunlight forced her to squint.
Bright rays of light filtered through the gaps in the wooden boards of the carriage, where countless motes of dust danced in the beams.
Beneath her were hard sacks, and the carriage jolted constantly, but she seemed… a bit more used to it than before she had fallen unconscious.
As someone who was extremely prone to motion sickness in her Predecessor Life, this ailment had unexpectedly been cured in this Otherworld, which was one of the few good things to happen after her transmigration.
She carefully turned her stiff neck to look toward the inner side of the carriage.
The nameless boy was still lying there quietly, covered by the rag she had previously placed over him. Although his face was still pale, his breathing was steady. She reached out to feel his forehead, and his temperature was normal.
“Phew… It looks like he’s stabilized. At least survival isn’t an issue anymore.” Aurelia couldn’t help but sigh in relief, tucking the rag a bit tighter around him.
Looking out through a small window, she saw that they had long since left the forest clearing from that morning and were now traveling along a relatively wide dirt road.
On both sides of the road were rolling hills covered in yellow-green tones, and in the distance, the silhouettes of deep blue mountains could be seen.
The sky was the bright azure of early autumn, with a few wisps of white clouds hanging on the horizon. The air carried the fresh scent of hay, dust, and the distant forest.
She subconsciously looked back. The road they had come from wound away, disappearing around the corner of the continuous hills.
Straining her eyes to look as far as possible, she could see a blurry silhouette of a small dot at the end of the horizon, almost merging with the gray-blue skyline.
That was Shadowlight City, the place she had fled from with fear and determination. Looking at it now, it felt distant and quiet, no longer a source of imminent threat, but it served as a clear reminder of the distance she had traveled in her flight.
However…
[This is also another brand-new beginning for my life…]
Aurelia rubbed her small face, which was still stained with plenty of dried blood and dust. There was no place to wash up in this wilderness, so she would just have to… endure it.
As noon approached, the sunlight grew scorching. Aurelia leaned against the jolting carriage, just beginning to feel slightly comforted by the boy’s stable condition, when that cold, familiar voice unexpectedly arrived in her mind.
***
『Soul Container, what are you rejoicing about?』 The tone of the Disaster Source carried its usual mockery. 『Is it because that ant hasn’t died yet, or because of the meager recognition bestowed by this crude Coachman? Is your vision truly this shallow?』
Aurelia’s heart tightened, but her expression remained unchanged. she simply turned her gaze back to the wilderness flying past outside.
『Get lost, you old bastard. My joys and sorrows aren’t for you to judge.』
『Judge? No, I only feel pity.』 It snorted coldly.
『I pity that you actually view such trifling charity as hope, and regard lingering on the brink of death as stability. Look outside at that wasteland; it is a reflection of the Destiny of mortals like you. Without Force, how are you different from those weeds? They can be crushed by frost and consumed by wildfires.』
『Compared to becoming an accomplice to an old bastard like you, this is the best life. Besides, I have hands, feet, and a brain; I have plenty of ways to improve my life. As for you, get as far away from me as possible.』
The Disaster Source let out a low, eerie laugh, as if it had heard something extremely amusing.
『Hands, feet, and a brain? Heh… Soul Container, do you know how many ants in this world possessed those things, only to be crushed under history in the end? In the face of true Force, what you speak of is nothing more than a bubble that bursts at a single prick.』
『Your so-called improvement of life is meaningless in my eyes. What you are rejecting is the great power that would allow you to transcend this boring play, yet you are willing to sink into such petty, groveling existence.』
『How pathetic, and yet how interesting. I shall wait and see where your brain, hands, and feet can take you. When you reach the end of your rope and all hope is extinguished, you will naturally remember your foolishness today.』
Aurelia chose to ignore this long barrage from the Disaster Source, continuing to admire the monotonous, dull scenery outside the window.
Just as Aurelia’s gaze was lingering on the repetitive view outside the carriage window, a slight movement came from beside her.
***
A sharp intake of breath distorted by pain was followed by the rustling of fabric rubbing against the rough sacks. Aurelia quickly turned her body to look at the boy.
His body was unconsciously curling up slightly, and the rag covering him had slipped down at one corner, revealing part of his torso.
His brows were furrowed tightly on his pale face, his eyelashes were trembling violently, and his short water-blue hair was plastered to his forehead as if he were struggling to escape from a nightmare.
A few seconds later, under Aurelia’s watchful eye, those eyes finally slowly opened.
Upon waking, his pupils were filled with vacant confusion and lingering pain. His gaze drifted aimlessly toward the shaking ceiling of the carriage, as if he couldn’t understand where he was, or whether he was alive or dead.
However, this confusion quickly transformed into shock. The wariness that almost overflowed and the fear that had not yet completely dissipated made him struggle to sit up and observe his surroundings.
His orange eyes scanned the ceiling, the carriage walls, and the pile of cluttered goods, before finally… settling on the black-haired girl sitting by the window, silently watching him.
Their eyes met in a silent gaze.
His gaze lingered on Aurelia’s face for an exceptionally long time, especially on her crimson eyes, which looked somewhat unusual in the dim light of the carriage, and the blood-seeping Bandage on her neck.
“Sigh…” The girl suddenly let out a light sigh. Her soft eyebrows arched as she tilted her head slightly and spoke first.
“You’re still alive. This is a freight carriage leaving Shadowlight City. I’m Aurelia, the person who saved you in the Warehouse.”
His gaze swept across the Bandage on Aurelia’s neck again, then looked at her tattered dress and the soft, pleasant tone of her voice.
Though his memory was hazy, he could still remember that the person in front of him… was indeed the girl who had saved him.
Silence fell within the carriage for a moment. The afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the wooden boards, cutting several beams of light filled with floating dust that happened to lie between the two of them.
“…Aurelia.” The boy finally repeated the name in a hoarse voice. His voice was dry and his tone flat, revealing no particular emotion.
He didn’t offer thanks, nor did he immediately ask for details about the Warehouse. Instead, he turned his gaze to the small window, looking at the desolate hills flying past outside, seemingly confirming their position and distance.
A moment later, he withdrew his gaze and looked back at Aurelia. The wariness in his orange pupils was still there, but it had diminished significantly compared to the beginning.
“Leaving Shadowlight City…” he muttered to himself, as if confirming it, or perhaps thinking it over.
Then, he looked at Aurelia again, his question cutting straight to the core with a sharpness that didn’t match his weak appearance.
“Why did you save me? You look like… you’re in no small amount of trouble yourself.” His gaze pointedly swept over the injuries on her body.
Facing this question, Aurelia gave a slight pout.
[Hmm… What kind of reason should I come up with? One that’s logical, can lay the foundation for building my own Order, and has a level of uniqueness that will let me ruthlessly slap the face of The Red-Haired Guy in the future…]
She needed a reason, a reason with a stance completely different from Laurence’s future Hero Party, and different from all the other squads currently in this world.
Simply being a kind passerby was clearly not convincing enough, and it wouldn’t pave the way for potential future recruitment. If she added some pragmatism… and some personal goals…
Just as she was thinking, that cold voice rang out in her mind again.
『Oh? Soul Container, you are actually contemplating how to deceive this ant? What an interesting sight. Why not just tell him the truth? Tell him you carry my great power, and then turn him into one of our kind. How about that?』
The sneer of the Disaster Source unexpectedly stimulated Aurelia’s thoughts.
[Eh? That’s right! I can completely absorb the Power of Calamity from others now!]
A clear thought flashed through her mind like a bolt of lightning.
She couldn’t expose the existence of the Disaster Source, but she could use the label of a “talent” to rationalize her special ability to deal with the erosion of Disaster.
Then, she needed to give this ability a noble goal—one completely different from the pure purification or even elimination recognized by the world. This was a packaging she devised for her own personal safety.
The expression on Aurelia’s face didn’t change much. Her brilliant eyes, like rubies, looked at the boy. Her expression was soft, and combined with her current appearance, she had a somewhat poignant beauty.
“Then, let me ask you a question in return.” She gave a light laugh and pointed at the wound on the boy’s shoulder. “That was caused by a Corrupted God’s Artifact, right?”
His silence was an answer. Those orange eyes stared fixedly at her, seemingly waiting for her to continue.
Aurelia met his gaze and went on, her voice not loud, but echoing clearly in the jolting carriage.
“The reason I saved you is, of course, not because I had nothing better to do. I certainly had a purpose. Let’s just say… we’re in the same boat, so I did it in passing.” She first admitted that much to lower his resistance.
“I have a talent that allows me to seize any Power of Calamity and then… dissolve it, or rather, destroy it.”
To this answer, the boy’s wariness grew even stronger. His tone became much deeper: “You’re saying you… can control the Power of Calamity? A normal person? Do you take me for a fool?”
Before he could continue his outburst, Aurelia suddenly stepped forward a few paces. The moment her right index finger touched his forehead, an intense Dragon’s Might erupted from the girl’s right hand.
He felt the Blood Qi within his body surge violently. Even as a warrior who had just stepped into the rank of a Black Iron Grade Warrior, he had no power to resist this ancient, lingering dragon’s roar that echoed from the depths of his soul.
In just a single moment, he felt as if he had seen his long-deceased parents standing on the opposite bank of a river, calling his name and slowly waving to him.
However, this pressure came fast and left just as quickly.
Almost at the exact second he felt like he was about to collapse, Aurelia swiftly withdrew her finger. That terrifying Dragon’s Might receded like a tide, vanishing without a trace in an instant, as if everything that had just happened was merely a hallucination.
When he looked at the girl before him again, there was no longer any doubt in his eyes—only shock and disbelief remained.
Seeing the boy like this, Aurelia breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly hid her right hand, which was completely drained of strength and trembling uncontrollably, behind her back. Pretending to be calm, she spoke: “Does that explain how I have the ability to handle the Power of Calamity?”