[Note : blue: speech, red: thoughts, green: item/skills]
Regina’s eyes widened when the ship got near Acacia.
She had never seen a city before and had never seen so many people gathered together too.
Regina looked at Richard with puppy eyes as the ship landed, expecting him to let her explore the city.
“No, you can’t, stay close to me.”
That was what Regina heard instead.
“You can remove your hood here, we are safe.”
Regina removed her hood and her hair started to sway by the sea breeze.
“We are going to Aerimes, the Adventurer’s Guild in this city.”
Regina held Richard’s hand tightly and followed after him.
The streets were laid with stalls selling unique and beautiful items, Regina could not help but stop to look at those, but Richard would lightly tug her hand to move forward, and she regretted holding his hand.
They reached a two-story tall building, with many posters on a board near the door.
As Richard opened the door, Regina was awed at the interior bustling with people, they were having a feast and busy chatting with each other, some of them were lined up in front of a counter holding a paper.
There were also people moving around, serving food and drinks.
“Oh, you are back!”
Moving around, a woman with short brown hair, wearing a cute orange dress with an apron and a hat greeted Richard.
“Did you find her?”
Richard stepped to the side revealing Regina who was standing behind him. But she quickly hid herself behind Richard again.
“Ah, so she doesn’t have the core.”
Richard nodded in agreement.
Noticing how on guard Regina was, the woman tried to calm her down.
“Hii~ I am Milliana, you can call me Milli, can I be fwends with you~?”
Milli held out her hand and gave Regina sweets which Regina happily took.
“Can you tell me your name~?”
“...Regina.”
“Ohh~ That’s such a cute name!”
“Do you want to come with me to the staff room, I’ll prepare drinks for you~”
“Hey! Where’s my food?”
A person sitting at a table with his companions spoke loudly at Milli so he could be heard since the place was loud and chatty.
“Get it yourself or ask somebody else, can’t you see I’m busy here?!”
Milli shouted back with exaggerated expressions and his companions laughed at him, which made him laugh too.
She then brought Regina and Richard to one of the rooms on the second floor.
As Milli walked up the stairs, Richard held her arm before she nearly fell from a misstep.
“...Where’s my tea?”
Richard asked after noticing Milli only poured one cup of tea, and it was for Regina.
“Get it yourself!”
Milli pouts at Richard.
“Now, Regina, what do you know about this world or your situation?”
Regina tilts her head showing confusion.
“Hey! Did you not explain what was happening to her?”
“...I’m bad at it.”
Milli bonked Richard on the head and sighed, then faced Regina.
“Sigh…Well, the Azevaria empire is ruled by Emperor Yahweh.”
“And there are ten generals under his command called the ten Kabbala, each of them rules a region with their monstrous strength. And you are wanted in every region ruled by them.”
“What did I do wrong…?”
Regina asked timidly
“Well… you didn’t do anything wrong...”
“Then why…?”
“Hmm…let me put it this way, according to a prophecy, you will be the one to end his reign.
But you can’t do it yet, not the current you.”
Regina looked more confused and discouraged after hearing what Milli said.
“Let’s put this aside and have you work here in the meantime, shall we?
This will be a good hiding place for you too.”
Regina then turned her head and looked at Richard.
“I won’t be staying here.”
Richard replied upon sensing what Regina was going to ask.
She then moved closer to Richard and gripped his sleeves.
“Pft, Ahahahahaha!”
Milli broke out laughing at what she was seeing.
“Loner’nen actually found a companion!”
“Shut up, not like I asked for it.”
“Lil Regina, can you stay with Milli~?”
Regina shook her head furiously.
“Aw, She prefers loner’nen over me.”
“Have you finished procuring my supplies yet?”
Richard changed the topic while his expression remained the same, showing that he was unbothered by Milli’s remarks.
“Of course, who do you think I am?”
Milli proudly pats her chest while replying.
“Stop it, any more and they won’t grow.”
Milli paused to decipher what he said and became flustered.
“They are big enough, thank you for your worries!”
Then she threw a bag at Richard.
“Here’s your supplies, no more discount if you mention my chest again!”
“Yes yes, I’ll be heading to my workshop now.”
Regina looked at Richard, then at Milli, and then decided to follow after Richard after bowing at Milli.
Milli sighed, cleaned the cups off the table, and headed to the first floor to continue her work,
as she walked down the stairs, she had to hold on to the railings to prevent herself from falling.
As Regina and Richard headed to his workshop, children played and sang ominous songs on the street.
“Awoken from the bed frozen in time,
The demon queen shall seek vengeance.
To the god sitting high up above,
she will reclaim what was taken.
The trumpet will sound to herald the end,
The trumpet of the beginning of Ragnarok.”
She felt uneasy hearing the song and held Richard’s hand tightly as they walked.
As they entered Richard’s workshop, Regina was surprised at what she saw, she did not expect Richard’s workshop to look so bright, colorful, and beautiful.
There were many colorful flasks, each shiny and glittering.
There were leftover powders splattered on the floor, walls, and furniture, making the whole workshop look so colorful it was like a painter’s workshop.
Many golden and copper tools splattered with powders were laid out in the room, and prosthetic limbs hung on the wall.
She was expecting his workshop to be dim, dark, and scary, the complete opposite of what she saw made her mouth gapped.
“Ouch!”
Upon sensing what Regina was thinking, he bonked her on the head.
“Why did you hit me?”
“Just felt like it.”
After a moment in the workshop, Regina started to feel nauseous and Richard quickly grabbed a bag and held it in front of Regina, which made her vomit in the bag instead of the floor.
“Sigh…wear this mask.”
He handed Regina a breathing device that also functions as a mask covering her face's bottom half.
“This workshop is filled with really dense mana, all these powders you see scattering about are elements in the purest form.”
“Most people would get nauseous if they breathed in too much mana at once.”
“This mask helps regulate most of the mana out before you breathe in the air.”
Regina pretended to understand how it worked by nodding her head.
Richard then laid out his items on the table, there were vials of different colored liquids, all shiny and glittery, empty bullet casings, and specialized golden tools.
As he removed the caps of different vials, the atmosphere would change.
The opened red vial would make the room hotter, the opened blue vial would make the room colder,
and the opened black vial would make the room darker.
Regina was amazed by what Richard was doing, even though he was filling the empty bullet casings with the liquid using specialized tools.
Time flew by and the night came, and Regina noticed a girl with purple hair and a burned mark on her lower left face down to her neck, wearing a metal dress armor came in.
“Ah, you are back”
The girl spoke while looking expressionless.
“Regina… nice to meet you, I am Indienee.”
Regina bowed her head to exchange greetings.
As Indienee sat on a chair, Regina jumped in surprise when she removed her arm which she thought was real.
“Ah, it must have surprised you, I lost my left arm and right leg in the middle of a war.”
“These are specialized prosthetic limbs created by Richard.”
Tears came out from Regina at what she heard, and Indienee smiled and said
“Thank you for shedding tears for me.”
She then attached a different prosthetic arm and replaced her left prosthetic leg with another one.
“A fire model…you going somewhere cold next?”
Richard spoke out after glancing at what prosthetic limbs she was replacing.
“Mmm, I’m heading to Angurn Village which is close to the region under the rule of Almany Kingdom, she might be there.”
Richard frowned at what Indienee said.
“Ugh…Almany's Fuhrer, Gevurah gives me a headache, that’s not an easy place to infiltrate.”
Richard explained further after Regina gave him a curious look.
“Region ruled under Gevurah’s banner boasts the strongest military might in the entire Azevaria Empire.”
“Currently Almany Kingdom is waging a war in Kishu, located in Bharatavarsha, I should be fine.”
Indienee tried to give Richard peace of mind.
“If she IS there…I hope she remains undetected by Gevurah…I’ll be off now, both of you take care.”
“You too.”
Richard went back to his work as Indienee left the workshop.
“Hai!!! Milli’s here!”
Milli cheerfully greeted Regina and Richard as she opened the workshop door.
When Richard heard Milli’s voice, his face twisted slightly, then he carried Regina up and placed her in front of his room.
“Go entertain Milli.”
“Eh?”
“Shoo, I need to concentrate on making my elemental bullets.”
“Any slight mistake and the bullets will explode.”
Regina gulped after hearing Richard’s warning while looking around the room.
“All these splatters must be from the bullets that exploded…”, she thought.
“Now go.”
Richard shooed Regina away and went back to his work.
“Hey lil Regina, looking cute with that mask.”
Milli greeted Regina which made her blush, and looked around the workshop.
“Where’s Indienee?”
“She went off to find somebody.”
“Aw, she didn’t even rest here for tonight?”
“Mmm”
“Sigh, her body might break one day if she doesn’t take a breather now and then.”
Milli tried to make a fake echoing sound while getting Richard’s attention.
“Loner’nen are you there~~~?”
“...Can’t you see I’m busy right now?”
“How heartless of you to leave defenseless poor girls alone.”
“Defenseless? Alone? You are the least qualified to say that among us.”
Richard countered her remarks with a slightly twisted expression.
“Why do you call him loner’nen?”
Regina asked curiously.
“Well, he is a loner.”
“Why ‘nen’ behind?”
“Hey, you didn’t even tell her your real name?”
“Doesn’t need to at that moment.”
Richard replied nonchalantly.
“Sigh...His real name is Ilmarinen you aren’t the only wanted one, we all are.”
“He uses a fake name to hide his identity.”
“Is Milliana a fake name too?”
“Nope, that guy is the only one who uses a fake name.”
“Sigh…so what did you come here for?”
Richard asked reluctantly, while still focusing on his work.
“Since lil’ Regina doesn’t want to be separated from you, and you are bad at caring for others,
I have decided to join you on your future missions."
Milli declared her plan smugly.
“Just great…”
Richard started to feel dizzy from hearing that.
“First things first, lil Regina, let’s go take a bath together!”
“Eh?”
Milli then grabbed Regina’s hand and took her out of the workshop, to a public bathhouse.
Regina’s eyes glittered as she entered the huge bathhouse.
Once they were in the women’s bath area, Milli undressed Regina to get her ready for the bath, then took her hat off and Regina caught a glimpse of her weird ear. And when Milli undressed, Regina saw a scar on her lower back.
“Um…that…”
Sensing what Regina wanted to ask when she looked at her back, she remained cheerful while replying.
“Ah, you see, I am a quarter-beast as humans would call it. My human dad married my mom who is a half-beast.”
“I had to chop off my tail and cut off half my ears to pretend to be human to survive when the Azevaria Empire invaded my country.”
“Kinda lost my balance after chopping off my tail, and still couldn’t get it back even now, haha…”
Milli gave an awkward smile while replying.
As Regina’s tears were about to flow out, Milli poured warm water over Regina’s head and then smiled at her.
“It’s okay though, at least I’m alive.”
“...What about your parents?”
Milli became silent for a moment.
“They were probably killed while trying to help me escape.”
Milli decided to change the mood after seeing Regina’s eyes turn red.
“Forget the sad story, now let’s get you all cleaned up!”
“...Ahahahaha”
Milli then tickled Regina while cleaning her up.
