Chapter 101: Lily’s Past 1

~Lily’s Perspective~

Lily focuses, feeling the gaze of Toru and Esther.

As she focuses and closes her eyes, she can clearly remember even now. Her party members’ faces, their unique voices, smiles,

And—even the way they died.

After coming out of the elven forest, Lily had been moving from place to place by herself.

The reason she left the forest was that her master told her to “Observe the outside world.” She was taught that traveling was also a form of training.

She registered as an adventurer with the guild and received quests to defeat various monsters.

The requests from the guild were all tedious. This was because Lily’s skills were already around B-rank or higher.

No matter how good people are, a newly registered adventurer would start at the F-rank. For adventurers of B or higher ranks, it is understandable that defeating F- and E-ranked monsters would be extremely tedious.

I registered to broaden my knowledge, but it didn’t add up to anything. Just as I was thinking about giving up on being an adventurer and moving to another town.

I was invited to a party.

The party’s name was “Cat’s Paws”.

It was a party formed to help those in need.

There were three members. The leader was the swordsman Tucker, the sub-leader was the shield-bearer Liger, and the priestess Mina.

I decided to join Cat’s Paws on a whim.

I thought it would be a good idea to stop being an adventurer after I had experienced being in a party.

At first, I had put up a wall between the three and me. I had already made up my mind to quit being an adventurer, so I thought there was no point in getting along with them.

It doesn’t matter to Mina, the priestess, who kept approaching me.

“Lily, you’re so cute, but you need to dress up!” (Mina)

“You have to change your clothes when you go to bed, or you’ll make the bedding dirty!” (Mina)

“Here, this is a hair clip. I’m sure it will look good on you!” (Mina)

“Mmm, Lily. You need to eat your carrots properly or you won’t grow up!” (Mina)

(……noisy) (Lily)

No matter how much I ignored them, they persisted in getting involved with me. Mina also called out to me many times.

At first, I felt annoyed with Mina.

However, when I was alone at the inn, I realized that I was uncomfortable with the silence that I had never experienced before.

The party members were about two levels lower than me. However, I learned many things from the three members of Cat’s Paws.

They taught me how to recognize safe roads and how not to get ripped off by merchants. How to pack for a trip, how to do laundry, and so on.

Before meeting them, I had only magic in my mind. Other than reaching the depths of magic, I thought it was trivial and not necessary for me to learn other things.

Meeting them turned me, from a beast into a person. That’s how lacking I was. I realized that I was ignorant.

“What do you want to accomplish in the future, Lily?” (Mina)

“Reach the abyss of magic.” (Lily)

“What will you do when you reach it?” (Mina)

“……” (Lily)

I had not thought about what I would do after reaching the abyss of magic.

I pondered for a moment and then answered.

“Open at a Magic Bookstore.” (Lily)

If I open a magic bookstore, I will be able to pass on the secrets of magic I have learned to others.

It will not end with me alone. The power you have mastered will be passed on for generations to come.

The words came out of her mouth like a joke, but Lily thought that spending quiet time in a bookstore was not a bad idea.

There are three people who come to the bookstore as usual and take care of Lily. And as a matter of course, they pull the owner’s hand and force him to take her out on an adventure.

She had such a vision in her mind.

However, the future that Lily dreamed of was suddenly robbed a few years later.

It was during the time of a rank-up quest.

The members of Cat’s Paws had risen to B-rank, and if we could only move up one more rank, we would be among the world’s best adventurers.

With the exception of me, the three of them were by no means A-ranked. At the very least, they are above the C-rank, and at the highest, they are below B-rank.

Their individual abilities may have been C-rank, but their ability to execute as a party was A-rank. This is because I was making up for what they lacked in strength.

At that time, I already had the ability to easily exceed the A-rank. My level had caught up with the skills I had accumulated up to that point.

But that did not mean that I believe that I could solve everything on my own anymore.

If it were me from a few years ago, I would have thought that one person was enough. However, I could only fully display my abilities when I had a shield-bearer to protect me during my chant, a swordsman to dispel the aggression from my ranged attacks, and a priestess to support me with her Laws.

It was thanks to the members of Cat’s Paws that I was able to think this way—because of them my heart had matured.

***

The rank-up quest was to gather “Persimo” berries, which are the raw material for some secret medicines.

My teammates and I desperately made our way forward, despite being blocked by strong monsters and the Everlasting Fires.

It was about the time they were approaching the “Persimo” tree.

Suddenly, a human wearing a black cloak appeared in front of them.

It was very suspicious to see a lone figure in such a place. As I readied my wand, Mina stepped forward.

“What are you doing in this place?” (Mina)

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