At noon, on the East Main Road several dozen miles away from Light Shadow City.
The black-haired girl’s eyelids twitched a few times. After struggling to open her eyes, the piercing sunlight forced her to squint.
Bright rays of light filtered through the cracks in the wooden boards of the carriage, with countless motes of dust dancing within them.
Beneath her was a hard burlap sack, and the carriage jolted constantly, but she seemed… a bit more accustomed to it than she had been before falling unconscious.
As someone who was extremely prone to motion sickness in her past life, this ailment had been cured by an Incident in this other world, which could be considered one of the few good things that happened after her reincarnation.
She carefully turned her stiff neck and looked toward the inner side of the carriage.
That unknown boy still lay there quietly, covered by the rag she had placed over him earlier. Though his face remained pale, his breathing was steady. She reached out to feel his forehead, and his temperature was normal as well.
“Phew… It looks like he’s stabilized. At least survival isn’t an issue anymore.” Eurelia couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as she tucked the rag around him a bit more securely.
Looking out through a small window, she saw that they had long since left the forest clearing from that morning and were now traveling on a reasonably wide dirt road.
On both sides of the road were rolling hills covered in yellow-green tones, and the silhouettes of deep blue mountains could be seen in the distance.
The sky was the cerulean blue of early autumn, with a few wisps of white clouds hanging on the horizon. The air carried the scent of hay, dust, and the fresh breeze coming from the distant forest.
She instinctively looked back; the path they had come from wound away, disappearing around the corners of the rolling hills.
Gazing as far as her eyes could see, at the very end of the horizon, nearly merging with the grayish-blue skyline, remained only the silhouette of a faint, blurred speck.
That was Light Shadow City, the place she had fled from with fear and determination. Looking at it now, it seemed both distant and quiet, no longer possessing a sense of imminent threat, but serving as a clear reminder of the distance she had traveled in her flight.
However…
【This is also a brand-new beginning for my life…】
Eurelia rubbed her small face, which was still stained with much dried blood and dust. In this wilderness, there was no place to wash up, so she could only… bear with it.
***
As noon approached, the sunlight grew scorching. Leaning against the jolting carriage, Eurelia had just begun to feel a slight sense of relief from the boy’s stable condition when that cold, familiar voice arrived uninvited in her mind.
『Vessel, what are you rejoicing for?』 The tone of the Source of Calamity carried its usual mockery, 『Is it because that ant has not yet perished, or is it for the meager bit of recognition bestowed by this crude coachman? Is thy vision truly so shallow?』
Eurelia’s heart tightened, but her expression remained unchanged as she simply redirected her gaze to the wilderness flying past outside.
『Beat it, beat it. My joys and sorrows aren’t for an old bastard like you to judge.』
『Judge? No, I merely feel pity.』 It let out a cold snort.
『I pity that thou actually viewest such trivial charity as hope, and mistakest gasping for breath as stability. Look outside the window; it is a wasteland, a true portrayal of the fate of mortals like thee. Without power, how art thou any different from these wild weeds? The frost can crush thee, and the wildfires can burn thee.』
『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 Source of Calamity let out a low, eerie laugh, as if it had heard something extremely amusing.
『Hands, feet, and a brain? Heh heh… Vessel, dost thou know how many ants in this world possessed these things, yet were ultimately crushed beneath the weight of history? In the face of true power, what thou speakest of is naught but a bubble that pops with a single prick.』
『Thy so-called improvement of life is meaningless in my eyes. What thou rejectest is the Great Power that would allow thee to reign above this boring play, yet thou art willing to sink into such petty, groveling existence.』
『How pathetic, yet how interesting. I shall wait and see just where thy brain, hands, and feet can lead thee. When thou art at thy wit’s end and all hope is extinguished, thou wilt naturally recall thy folly of this moment.』
In response to this long barrage from the Source of Calamity, Eurelia chose to ignore it, continuing to appreciate the monotonous, dull scenery outside the window.
***
Just as Eurelia’s gaze lingered on the repetitive scenery outside the carriage window, a slight movement came from beside her.
A gasp distorted by pain, followed by the rustling of fabric rubbing against the coarse burlap sacks, caused Eurelia to quickly turn her body and look at the boy.
His body was unconsciously curling up slightly, and the rag covering him slipped off one corner, revealing a small section of his torso.
His brows were tightly furrowed on that pale face, his eyelashes trembled violently, and his short, water-blue hair clung to his forehead as if he were struggling to escape from a nightmare.
A few seconds later, under Eurelia’s gaze, those eyes finally slowly opened.
His pupils were filled with a dazed confusion and lingering pain upon first waking, his vision wandering toward the swaying ceiling of the carriage as if he couldn’t comprehend where he was, or whether he was dead or alive.
However, that confusion quickly transformed into shock. The wariness that was almost overflowing, along with the fear that hadn’t fully dissipated, made him struggle to sit up and observe his surroundings.
Those orange eyes swept across the ceiling, across the carriage walls, across a pile of jumbled goods, and finally… fixed upon the black-haired girl sitting sideways by the window, silently watching him.
Their eyes met in a silent gaze.
His gaze lingered on Eurelia’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 bandage on her neck that was seeped with blood.
“Sigh…” The girl suddenly let out a soft sigh, her gentle eyebrows arching as she tilted her head slightly and spoke first.
“You’re still alive. This is a freight carriage leaving Light Shadow City. I am Eurelia, the one who saved you in the warehouse.”
His gaze once again swept over the bandage on Eurelia’s neck, then moved to the tattered dress she was wearing, and finally back to that soft, pleasant 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.
The carriage fell into a temporary silence. The afternoon sunlight filtered through the cracks in the wooden boards, cutting several pillars of light filled with floating dust that happened to lie between the two of them.
“…Eurelia.” The boy finally repeated the name in a hoarse voice. His voice was dry and his tone was flat, revealing no particular emotion.
He did not offer thanks, nor did he immediately press for details about the warehouse. Instead, he turned his gaze to the small window, glancing at the desolate hills flying past outside, seemingly confirming their position and distance.
A moment later, he withdrew his gaze and looked back at Eurelia. The wariness still existed within his orange pupils, but it had diminished considerably compared to the beginning.
“Leaving Light Shadow City…” he muttered to himself, as if confirming it, and also as if thinking.
Then, he looked at Eurelia again, his question pointing straight to the core, his tone carrying a sharpness that was inconsistent with his weak appearance.
“Why 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, Eurelia lightly curled her lip.
【Hmm… what kind of reason should I come up with? One that is reasonable, can lay the foundation for me to form my own team, and possesses the uniqueness to fiercely slap that dead redhead’s face in the future…】
She needed a reason—one that stood on a completely different ground from Loranster’s future hero party, and different from all current parties in this world.
Simply being a kind passerby was clearly not persuasive enough, nor could it pave the way for possible future recruitment. If she added some utilitarianism… and some personal purpose…
Just as she was pondering, that cold voice rang out in her mind once more.
『Oh? Vessel, art thou actually considering how to deceive this ant? What an interesting sight. Why not simply tell him the truth, that thou bearest my Great Power, and then turn him into one of our kind?』
The sneer of the Source of Calamity unexpectedly stimulated Eurelia’s thoughts.
【Eh? That’s right! I can completely absorb the calamity power from other people now!】
A clear thought flashed through her mind like a bolt of lightning.
She couldn’t expose the existence of the Source of Calamity, but she could use the title of “talent” to rationalize her special ability to deal with calamity erosion.
Then, she needed to give this ability a noble goal—one that was completely different from the pure purification or even elimination recognized by the world. This was the packaging she needed for her own personal safety.
The expression on Eurelia’s face didn’t change much. Her brilliant eyes, like red gems, looked at the boy. Her expression was gentle, and combined with her current appearance, it held a certain poignant beauty.
***
“Well then, let me ask you a question in return.” She let out a soft laugh and pointed at the wound on the boy’s shoulder. “That was caused by a Fallen God Creation, right?”
His silence already answered the question. Those orange eyes stared fixedly at her, seemingly waiting for her to continue.
Eurelia met his gaze and went on, her voice not loud, but echoing clearly in the jolting carriage.
“The reason I saved you, of course, wasn’t because I was bored with nothing better to do. There is definitely a purpose. Let’s just say… we are in the same boat, and it was something I did in passing.” She first admitted this part of the truth to lower the other party’s resistance.
“I have a talent. I can seize any calamity power and then… dissolve it, or rather, destroy it.”
Regarding this answer, the boy’s wariness increased, and his tone became much deeper: “You say you… can control calamity power? A normal person? Do you take me for a fool?”
Before he could continue his outburst, Eurelia suddenly stepped forward a few paces. The moment her right index finger touched his forehead, an intense dragon might erupted from the girl’s right hand.
He only felt the blood and energy within his body surge violently. Even as a warrior who had just stepped into the Iron rank, he was completely defenseless against this ancient, long-lasting dragon’s roar that echoed from the depths of his soul.
In just a single instant, 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 at him.
However, this pressure came quickly and left just as fast.
Almost at the exact moment he felt he was about to collapse in the next second, Eurelia quickly withdrew her finger. That terrifying dragon 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 in this state, Eurelia breathed a sigh of relief. She hurried to hide her right hand, which was completely drained of strength and trembling uncontrollably, behind her back, and spoke while feigning composure: “Does this explain where I get the ability to handle calamity power?”