Outside, the cottage was so quiet that even the breeze wasn't murmuring. As Martha slipped the key into the door lock, Ash experienced conflicting emotions about meeting Lucy again.

I'm wondering what my life will be like now. Should I be following Lucy all the time? I don't think I can live like that. Ash was reluctant to decide how he would act from now on when a beaten and old-wooden blade appeared through the opening, slicing through the air and aiming straight for Martha's throat!

The young woman with shoulder-length black hair was holding her old and beaten sword while lunging for Martha's neck!

Whoosh!

Undeterred, Martha only lifted Ash, which forced Lucy to halt her attack midway.

Hey! Ash was late to dodge, but it still came too close for comfort. The wooden sword's tip hovered just before his eyes.

“Teacher, that’s not fair." Lucy retrieved her outstretched hand and rotated her sword before inserting it into her imaginary sheath.

"Don’t use him as a shield!” Lucy snapped her brows together as she scowled at her teacher.

Ash could faintly hear murmuring under her breath, saying, “Good thing I didn’t try to use her sword this time.”

Ash became white for a moment, imagining if Lucy held something with the weight of an actual sword.

Martha wasn't fazed and replied with a calm tone, “This one’s not my friend, and I’ve already taught you that showing weakness during a battle could mean death. This reminds me that after breakfast, you need to get the usual for Dr. Kolver. He’ll be expecting it before noon, and don’t die,” she stated monotonously as she casually tossed Ash by the back of his neck as Lucy scrambled to catch him.

As she left to prepare the table, she continued, “And save your energy for tomorrow. Albert will be joining us for your training.” After entering the kitchen, her muffled voice continued, “I expect the best from you.”

“Uncle Bert will? Does that mean I don't have to go to school anymore?” Lucy asked.

She slowly placed Ash down, which made the latter grateful.

After settling down, the two girls were sitting across from each other, with a meal in between.

Ash was interested in the pie's taste and was ready to lick a slice when he was suddenly stopped by a hand.

“Ash. Do you remember the last time you ate one? You got sick for weeks!” Lucy reprimanded him.

Ash was defiant for a moment, thinking that the previous Ash might be allergic. But he wanted to try it!

With a bit of reluctance, he sighed and left the dining area. Good thing he already ate before at Dr. Kolver’s home. The sight of the two girls eating would make his stomach envious.

In his spare time, while waiting for Lucy to finish, Ash approached the corner where an open cabinet stood. It had some small boxes in it, but regrettably, there were no books or even a piece of paper.

Were books so expensive that normal households couldn’t afford to buy one? No pictures or any type of memorabilia...

Hmmm.

No.

That's not it.

It seemed like they just moved here, Ash thought as he observed the rest of the internal decor.

Aside from the necessities and needed furniture, the cottage could be considered bare.

Ash then remembered that something was off about Lucy. He turned his head back around toward the dining area and confirmed his suspicion.

So that’s the weird scent my nose was telling me. Lucy has now dyed her hair back to black. Is it a trend here?

After a few moments of contemplation, his thoughts began to run wild.

The dye could easily be washed. That would mean even sweat could make the color undone. Hmmm, back in the town, I couldn’t smell the scent of dyes from other people, or maybe it was because I wasn’t near them like I was with Lucy and Martha.

Lucy might be an orphan or something or a long-distance relative of Martha, who also happens to be her swordsmanship teacher.

No. The parents do exist, at least, supporting the presence of Martha here. This suggests that Lucy might be from a family of power. She must be a noble’s daughter from somewhere. Her eyes were already unique in comparison to the brown color of the townspeople and even Martha.

With blonde hair and blue eyes, this makes Lucy even more conspicuous to the public eye. Why am I even curious about her anyway? Sigh.

There are a few exceptions, like Sarah. She had her mother with her, and their sense of humility was genuine. They must be kind folks who couldn't handle the pressure of big cities.

When we’re alone, she will be more open and pour out her feelings. On the other hand, I can see Lucy’s masks whenever someone else is here.

Ash then shifted her gaze to the woman across from her and took note of the question marks on her translucent rectangular window.

A couple of complicated scenarios passed through his mind as he finally felt right.

Martha’s her bodyguard! Is Lucy some type of protagonist? Maybe this was the reason why that instant quest had that curious line.

This also doesn't exclude the possibility that Lucy was only hiding herself to have a vacation, but... That doesn't explain why she goes to school here. Hmmm.

As the small white dog was drowning in a flurry of possible scenarios, Lucy and Martha finished their breakfast.

“Ash, let's go!”

Huh? Coming!

Woof? Arf!

Ash reined in his thoughts as it was finally time to head outside. Life as a dog isn't good when your life only revolves around your owner. Which made Ash even more pressed for time to become independent.

Leaving through the back door, the duo were now back on the earthen path, straight for the forest. They crossed a makeshift bridge built with wooden planks, locked in place by knotted ropes.

A circle of huts emerged behind the sparse woods. Ash wasn’t able to see this before for reasons that he wanted to forget.

He could see a frowning old man with white hair and a long beard roasting meat over a fire in the middle of the camp. He seemed to be mixing some sort of special sauce in a wooden cup as the young woman and the dog drew near.

Lucy didn’t bother approaching the man, who was dressed as a hunter with a bow and quiver on his side, and just slowly passed the edges of the encampment.

But before Lucy could continue, the man warned her, “Young lady, be careful and avoid trudging beyond the river’s reach. Those damn monkeys are behaving a little odd lately.”

He gestured to the roasting meat in front of him and continued, “I only caught this one before being forced to return. Best to be with caution than harm.”

“Got it. Thanks, Mr. Sinugba!” Lucy replied with a jovial tone while lowering Ash to move for himself.

“Don’t worry, I have a strong guard with me,” she added, beaming a grin as she gave the old man a thumbs up.

The old man was a little slow for a moment before his expression brightened, and he said, “Hah! Okay, then, have fun!”

Lucy waved a hand, to which the man replied with the same gesture, shaking his head with a smile, and went back to roasting. He applied more sauce with a brush and continued.

There’s that mask again, you could’ve just been honest with him and said that I'd be the bait, Ash added with a self-deprecating comment.

Come to think of it, why didn’t I get any type of quest? Is this because Dr. Kolver specified it was Lucy? This doesn’t bode well for my plans.

If sticking with Lucy doesn’t mean free quests, then I would be forced to hunt on my own. This means I need to encounter more dangers to potentially receive quests. But at that time, it’s more accurate to say it would be forced on me.

I can’t risk Lucy’s safety that way, or else that woman would kill me! Ash shuddered as she remembered Martha’s threat earlier. The only thing stopping her was the fact that Lucy would be depressed.

He had already sensed something in between them, and Lucy didn’t reciprocate Martha’s approach.

Ash then reined in his thoughts as he noticed the area had gone darker, like the first time he arrived. He gazed upwards, found the mountain with unceasing lightning strikes behind it, and regarded it as a bad omen. But judging by the townspeople’s reactions, it must be a frequent occurrence that doesn’t affect them at all.

Where are we going anyway?

Arf? Ash barked in an inquiring tone.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there. Just over those dense sets of tree stumps,” Lucy answered while pointing at the front.

What the!? Ash exclaimed internally as he saw something that might be impossible to explain by science.

Trees with trunks formed so unnaturally that they seemed to be sprouting from the sky as roots were above and leaves below, almost working like bushes occupying the area around the tree. But the truth is, it is a part of it.

Ash could deduce that this tree could still perform photosynthesis, as all the trees beside one another are of the same kind. Nothing is covering the leaves from the sun’s rays, but are they truly trees? It’s like they were forming a wall separating the town from the rest of the forest.

Is this the reason why the townspeople felt safe? I get that the guards and the walls can have the same effect, but what if there were more to these inverted trees than they look? Like, maybe that plant monster?

Lucy, do those trees look like treants to you?

Woof? Ash stopped in the distance, gawking at the ominous-looking trees.

The dark clouds behind the mountains seemed to drift ever closer, approaching from behind the dark inverted trees as the branch-like roots swayed creakily in the wind as the thunder rumbled in the distance.

Fallen leaves were being pulled towards them by the whispering wind as a few small critters started to hide in their burrows or their holes in the trees. Eerily, not a single animal, not even an insect, was hiding in the wall of the weird trees.

Lucy was under one of these trees, haphazardly swiping a few leaves to the side, exposing the colored fruits behind the dense shrubs. She started collecting them one by one with finesse, indicating that she had done this multiple times before.

Seeing Lucy unfettered by the atmosphere calmed Ash down by a fraction, which made his fear subside and be replaced by curiosity.

Identify!

Woof!

[Balintuwang Tree]

Phew. It’s just a normal tree. I thought they were something entirely different, and we would have to run again. I’ll just stay here in case anything goes wrong, he sighed in relief as he observed the picked fruits near Lucy.

They weren’t as shiny as Ash thought them to be. They were, but when they were detached, they would shrink down and become flat. They weren’t even fruits. Lucy was gathering and was just round and inflated when they were attached to the stem. When Lucy picked one off, it would deflate and just look like a leaf.

So this was 'the usual' Dr. Kolver was talking about. Weren't these just leaves with a bit of space inside? I wonder what they were used for.

[Balintuwang Leaf - Increases the libid-]

But suddenly he could sense someone moving behind him, so he turned himself around.

He saw a brownish squirrel abruptly stop in its tracks. It started shaking like it was afraid of something.

Ash was curious, so he was about to approach it with his tail unconsciously wagging behind him, but the squirrel quickly ran away and hid behind the tree stumps. He tilted his head, which bent his big ears a little, and thought, That’s weird. Is it afraid of the tree?

The squirrel stretched its head and looked over the stump it was hiding on, and it widened its eyes when it saw Ash was looking at it. It skittered away and never looked back.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t chase it this time, or it would’ve taken us longer to get back,” Lucy popped up on his right with the gathered herbs.

Suddenly, Ash felt something. His ears perked up, and he turned around. The Balintuwang trees were still the same, but then he felt a slight tremor in the distance.

Ash could see a few birds flapping their wings and taking flight away from the ominous mountain.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The sound of cawing soon followed as Lucy snapped her brows together. While carrying her haul, she turned around and said, “Let’s go Ash! Time to deliver this to the doctor."

Ash lingered for a few more seconds, staring off into the trees in the distance. A couple of trees suddenly gave way and crashed to the ground.

His pupils dilated as his four short legs rushed to full speed and dashed back to the town.

Hey Lucy! Wait for me!

Arf! Arf!