Reality Pierced Without Warning

A low voice rang out through the forest. For some reason, Fatenai felt that it put even more pressure on her than the boar did.

Fatenai took two steps back, but the sharp pain and weakness made her movements ineffective. She looked down helplessly, as if trying to watch herself lift her feet, but her gaze froze when it swept past the boar.

The boar moved. It was still alive!

Damn it, Fatenai cursed inwardly, but she knew perfectly well—she had never closely studied boars before, and this was the first time she had even seen what one looked like. How could a small dagger make a creature that looked like it had lost its mind simply collapse?

Yet even though she understood all that, she'd still been foolishly hoping the boar had died.

She was still too naive.

Thinking of that, Fatenai found herself unwilling to fall just like this. She desperately dragged her body to the side, throwing herself away. Even if she couldn't grab her sword again, she had to evade the boar's attack.

The boar lunged with incredible speed. Fatenai had only heard of such speed long ago, when Anna told her bedtime stories—Anna's stories said that the humans most favored by the goddess Allentia would gain tremendous power, and the arrows they shot could catch anything.

Back then, she'd secretly mocked it. The speed labeled as the fastest was often the most worthless. Who would've thought...

Now, the boar was moving at the fastest speed she'd always believed she would never experience...

Fatenai raised her head. Her body wouldn't obey her, and she could only stubbornly watch the boar pounce—there was a tremendous wind, swallowing everything, making her feel nothing but danger while leaving her utterly powerless.

Heaven knew why she could still think of a bedtime story at a time like this. Fatenai pitied herself inwardly, though all that remained in her mind was the arrow from that story.

An arrow that could catch anything... catch anything... an arrow.

Fatenai's eyes widened as she stared blankly at everything before her—the boar had collapsed without warning, and the distance between them... perhaps it could be called "within arm's reach."

The boar fell to one side, while Fatenai's eyes remained fixed ahead—perhaps because she was too shocked.

She saw a man holding a bow—he was tall, clad in leather armor, like the fully armed but distinctly different kind of "adventurer" from the "knights" Fatenai had read about in books. His weathered face had features as sharp as they had been carved with a knife. He held a wooden bow, still maintaining the posture of someone who had just released an arrow.

It took Fatenai several seconds of staring at him before she came to her senses. Then she turned stiffly and saw an arrow embedded in the boar lying on the ground.

He had shot that arrow? It had caught the boar that was about to kill her.

He'd saved her.

"Are you a noble?" The man didn't mention the arrow. He merely slowly put away his bow. Though it was phrased as a question, his deep voice was full of certainty.

Had he met many nobles? Fatenai didn't know how to answer, but she couldn't speak anymore either—the shock had drained every last bit of her strength, and the scene before her gradually faded into darkness...

When she woke again, she found herself lying on a bed covered in furs. It certainly couldn't compare to the carefully made beds of the Wisdom Family, but compared to the past few nights, it was astonishingly comfortable.

Her head no longer hurt much, but the weakness remained. She slowly sat up in bed, shook her head, and tried to support herself with her other hand.

"That hand of yours is injured too." A voice reminded her.

Fatenai became a little more alert. She looked up at the person entering the room—only then did she remember what had happened in the forest, and she also got a clear look at where she was. It was merely an ordinary wooden cabin, its plain, rough walls piled from logs, without any decorations meant to show off.

"Thank you." Fatenai glanced at her bandaged wound and spoke.

She knew how to speak to different nobles, but faced with someone like this... Fatenai didn't know what to say.

"When will your knight come looking for you?" the man asked. "Or do you have something on you that can help them find you? One of those little noble trinkets—you need to leave here."

"No one will come looking for me, and I won't go back..." Fatenai blurted out in surprise, then hurriedly changed her words after realizing she was exposing herself. "I'm not a noble."

The man said nothing, but Fatenai felt he simply couldn't be bothered to expose her lie, because he continued, "Stop playing your nobles' little games. Don't forget, you nearly became food for a Berserk Boar—haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

Fatenai clutched the blanket and said urgently, "No, I just lack experience..."

"Then you're wiser than plenty of hunters."

the man said.

Fatenai had nothing to say. Judging from what had just happened, not only would she gain no experience, she would have become the boar's prey instead.

But she had no other choice—how could she let the choice she'd made turn into a joke?

"Get ready to leave. I hope I don't see you here when I return." The man spoke as he headed for the door. He clearly didn't like talking, and the fact that he'd been willing to say so much to Fatenai might already have been a miracle.

"Wait, sir!" Fatenai didn't think that was a good thing. "If you're sending me away, I should at least find a way to repay you, right? Why would the boars in Eisole Forest become berserk? Someone must be distributing Magic Potions, right? Don't you think that's strange? If you're a hunter, you probably aren't very familiar with Mana, are you? I can help!"

Whether it was noble education or not, Fatenai found this kind of self-promotion deeply embarrassing, but she had no choice.

Fatenai watched the man's back as he paused and silently prayed to heaven. She had always believed she didn't worship Allentia, especially after the awakening ceremony. She hated that fabricated goddess to the core. Yet at that moment, she had no choice but to believe that the glory of some goddess might truly exist.

"You know the boars' berserk state is related to Magic Potions?" the man asked.

Thank heaven.

Fatenai cheered silently. She knew that as long as he didn't insist on driving her away, she had a chance to stay beside someone familiar with this forest—especially since he clearly lived in it.

"Of course. I even know the rough formula... Maybe I can help you find the culprit... Boars like these in the forest must have a major impact on your life!" Fatenai said happily.

People were strange. Even after swearing to live alone through hardship, when they thought they might receive someone's help, they still couldn't help trying their best to seize it.

"I've studied swordsmanship. I think I can help you deal with some enemies!" Fatenai immediately added when she saw lingering hesitation on the hunter's profile.

"I don't need your amateur swordsmanship," the hunter said bluntly, dismissing Fatenai's skill with a blade. "Once we find out who made the boars berserk, you must return to your estate, young noble lady."

Having gained that brief approval, Fatenai let out a sigh of relief, and her tone relaxed somewhat. "I'm not some young noble lady. My name is Fatenai. Fatenai... Frayton."

"Wickel," Wickel said, then walked out without looking back.

This time, Fatenai no longer had to worry that he would make her leave before he returned. She relaxed onto the bed and placed her hand over her chest, only then feeling her heart pounding violently—she hadn't expected talking to someone who wasn't a noble to be so nerve-racking.

Of course, perhaps she was overthinking it.

"Oh, miss, looks like you've found yourself a good home." A familiar voice rang out then. Hermes had appeared beside the window at some point. The window was only symbolically opened by a narrow gap, yet he sat on its edge. "Sigh, a hunter's house like this doesn't even have a proper window. What's the point?"

"Hermes." Fatenai felt her teeth grinding. "Shouldn't you explain what you've done?"

Hermes didn't seem to care. He looked at Fatenai. "Oh, come on, didn't you use me too? That makes us even."

"But you're a summoner, Hermes." Hermes seemed to be indirectly admitting that he was the culprit behind the boars' berserk state, and Fatenai's tone became stern. After all, she had nearly been killed by those boars. "You'd better understand who you are."

Hermes remained unconcerned. "Miss Fatenai, you're no longer the eldest daughter of the Wisdom Family. That tone isn't cute at all."

Fatenai wanted to rebuke him, but suddenly froze.

She really did still seem to be viewing everything around her through the identity of a noble—sometimes she thought of herself as someone who had lived for a long time, someone with memories unlike anyone else's. Yet after Fatenai slipped out of the Royal Palace, though she comforted herself by saying she didn't want to associate with these stubborn people of another world...

"Here, there won't be anyone to take meticulous care of you. No personal maid who'll appear the moment you call, help you change clothes, no mother constantly worrying about you, nor any of those familiar manners and etiquette?" Hermes shook his head. "Perhaps Wickel is right. Maybe you should go back sooner."

Fatenai took a deep breath and decided not to bicker with Hermes. Yet she wrapped herself in the blanket almost despondently, unwilling to face that fact.

Hermes watched as Fatenai ignored him. In the dim light, it was impossible to make out what emotions lay in his eyes. In the end, he sighed, got up, and jumped out of the cabin, his tone full of helplessness. "But no matter what happens, I still have to help you, my lady."