The sky was gray and heavy with rain. Thunder clattered through the air, making everybody in the town tense.
The whole town had been warned that it would be a long winter, and most people were already preparing for what they could do to survive. Everyone was looking at him—an eccentric guy who wore a black robe, a scarf, and a bird mask.
He is a self-proclaimed sage, and he met his first student, Gura, in the forbidden ancient dark forest.
Screw is the one who takes Gura, develops her, and teaches her magic after she is born from the seed. Even though she is terribly unqualified, he occasionally teaches her how to read in the dark and gets her ready to make narcotics.
They spent the evenings in an abandoned home, conversing about what they had discovered. Screw is aware that he risked his life by attempting to teach her an illegal technique, but he still wants to protect the young girl because he loves her.
One night, when they were having dinner, Gura asked if Screw had seen her mother. Screw says that no, he hasn't. "You haven't? Well, it doesn't matter anyway."
The lady in white interferes and says, "Why wouldn't you tell her that her mother was a grass?" Screw raises his hand and asks her to come near him, and she follows. Once she's near, he uses his knuckle to hit her head. "Ouch!"
She wailed, trying to touch her head to soothe it. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to." He stood up and walked to Gura's room to prepare her bed, saying, "You need to go to bed early; remember tomorrow was your first special mission."
Her cheeks turned warm, but she kept a grin on her face as she said, "But Pa, I can't sleep." He caressed her head and hugged her for a minute, but the small girl nonetheless went to sleep as her master told her.
Screw look to where the lady in white was. "You needed energy for tomorrow; go to sleep now." She stared at him with questions.
"Go to bed now; you'll need energy for tomorrow's quest," he urged again. "You'll accompany her tomorrow," he continued.
"No way," she totally rejected his idea, "I'm going to follow you."
"I need you to watch her during her mission."
"I'm here to learn something from you."
"I'm not the only character here, remember?"
"And so?"
"You need to learn from others while you're here."
"What if there's a tragic event?"
"If there's one, so be it."
"You—!"
"It is a part of the story; why do you always forget about that?"
*****
Before the sunrise, both of them walked outside. They found themselves in a ruined area with thugs and criminals. "Is this the correct direction?" The lady asked, and Screw answered, "The note states the meeting place is an old broken wall."
Both of them looked at the place that had an old broken wall. After several hours, Gura saw the contact point and pointed it at Screw. "It seems the correct place." Screw pats Gura's back. "It's your turn now; I'll be watching you from the distance, and no worries if it's shot in a bad situation; I'll be there to save you." Gura hesitates but nods in agreement that her master will help her if something happens.
Gura put on her bird mask and wolf-ear headband; she also fixed her scarf, and she began to walk toward the broken wall. She stood there without moving, waiting for the rest to arrive.
After numerous hours, a group of people consisting of eight members approaches Gura's location. The one who leads is Gillis, a mercenary who didn't expect that she'd show up first.
Gillis was pleased by Gura's dedication. Various minutes had passed when a man in a black robe approached the group. "Pass," the man said. They held out the sheet for him to see. Except for Gura, she is still standing and unmoving.
Upon checking the eight one by one, the man arrived at Gura. He looked at Gura from head to toe. "Where's your pass?" the man asked Gura with a stern expression. Gura stared quietly at the man while she told herself, 'I'm a professional and an expert. I won't bend at anything or anyone, even if someone throws a meteorite at me.'
'I won't budge like a mysterious expert!' She stated in her thoughts.
[The system was worried.]
[This is bad.]
[The system urge you to help her.]
[Do something!]
The system blasts Screw with a system prompt. Reading the prompt, Screw asks, "What help? And I doubt she requires help. Look at her; she's doing fine."
[The system urge you to help.]
[She needs that paper.]
"What paper?"
[The one you put in your pocket.]
"Pocket?" Screw touch his pocket, "this one?" He takeout, a paper.
[That's the one]
"Ooh," Screw rubbed the paper and look at Gura eventually. "Activate Breeze spell."
[System: Activating Breeze]
"Alyssa make it low and gently as possible," he instructed.
[System: Breeze Spell Degraded]
[System: Zephyr]
A very gentle wind blows in Gura's direction; everyone is astonished by the sudden cold wind. "Let's do this." Screw open a vial of powder and throw it through the wind. After that, he folds the paper and turns it into a paper plane before letting it fly.
The paper plane was guided by the zephyr towards Gura. Everyone was amused rather than confused by Guras' action. "She'll be okay now," he said, stepping away. "We need to do something else now."
[Will she be okay?]
"Yes."
A small paper plane that was circling the head of an uncharacteristically young girl who was wearing a wolf-ear headband, a black scarf, and a bird mask was embraced by the soft breeze and created a visually appealing snowflake effect.
The scene astounded everyone. Even the man in the black robe doesn't know what's going on. Gura's paper plane, which had been flying above her, suddenly flew beside him, and he unintentionally grabbed it to examine it.
He couldn't believe that the ticket he was demanding was the paper plane that was hovering. Gura noticed these effects, but she wasn't sure where they originated, so she turned to gaze at the sky to see where these snowy flakes came from.
A vicious aura surged as soon as everyone saw Gura raise her head. Their knees temporarily loosened as they all sensed her aura's tension. Unintentionally reaching for his blade, Gillis refrained due to the aura she released.
After a few seconds, Gura saw everyone's expression and got confused, so she honestly tilted her head, and her right eye flashed a red aura that seemed like a final boss in a dungeon. 'Where did the wind and snowflakes come from?', 'Why are they looking at me like that?' She asks herself. She is unaware that she let some of her aura, which is extremely strong for most people, out.
"Iyaaah—how come?! I also felt her aura, and it was strong!" The lady's legs trembled.
-----
Screw leave Gura; he goes to the forest and accidentally meets someone. She looks around thirty years old, with white hair and green eyes. Her eyes are full of life, like springtime, and she is smiling warmly.
"Sage?" he says in surprise. The woman stops smiling, and her face turns cold. "Do you remember me?" He tries again, but it seems to be the wrong thing to say. She tilts her head but keeps looking at him coldly.
"You're a bad girl, aren't you? No wonder your daddy never wanted you." Screw sickness flared up again. She moves towards him, taking off her hoodie and revealing a white sleeveless undershirt.
It takes all of Screw's willpower not to stare at the exposed skin. "Now, where have I heard you before?" She said while looking at him coldly. "Uh..." He thinks and tries to remember a genuine excuse, but his mind is currently on her breast. "I don't know, and you don't need to know my godly name."
He starts walking backwards, hoping to escape before she does something stupid. "You should go to bed; you need it. I'm sure tomorrow we can start learning more important things."
[What the hell?]
[Why do you keep telling her about her past?]
[Why do you keep on provoking her?]
[Is this how you lay low when you see someone you haven't seen for a hundred years?]
[Idiot! Run!]
Screw turns to run and cast the [Spirit skill: Spirit of the Brown Hare] when he sees the knife in her hand. The woman watched him run away before deciding to cast a spell and move faster through the wind.
Due to the spell, she is so close now, and she's getting closer every second. He runs as fast as he can, even knowing that he will lose the chase and have nowhere else to run.
He hears footsteps behind him. The man with a bird mask panics and jumps into the nearest bush. His heart pounds so hard that it almost hurts. "What was she going to do?"
[To kill you, of course.]
He heard her footsteps coming closer and tried his best to hold his breath, wishing for her not to catch him. Instead of smoking him out to his hiding place, she calls out, "Where's my daughter?"
"What?!"
[What?!]