“A long, long time ago, perhaps five hundred years, Rovers did not exist in this world. Neither did monsters. However, one day, an event we call the Rover’s Cataclysm threw the world into chaos. With the Cataclysm, the world was turned upside down, and it brought with it great change to our world, created monsters, and filled the world with aether.”

Erika listened to Marian’s words, her eyes wide. It was a story that she had never heard before, and it had not spread to her old village.

“Do you see these trees around us?” Marian waved around at the dark forest. “Most of them appeared with the Cataclysm, along with monsters.”

Marian was chewing on her unlit pipe again, and with her staring off into the distance, Erika could almost imagine Marian as an elder telling a story to a younger generation. Even the elders in the village did not know the story that Marian told, however. For her village, history started with the settlement’s creation, going back no further.

“And the Rovers appeared then, too?”

“Right. A little after the Cataclysm, unfortunately. However, their arrival stopped humanity from being destroyed, so beggars can’t be choosers. Now…” Marian took out the pipe and breathed out. No smoke came from her mouth, though. “About the Cataclysm. When I said that it changed the environment, I mean it. Records and ruins indicated that sands buried whole cities while forests grew over other settlements in mere moments. One second, you have a city, and the next, it was all wild.

Erika took a moment to imagine what Marian had been describing. First, she imagined the village, the only place she knew, being turned into a forest in an instant, with trees sprouting out of roofs.

Although she shivered, it didn’t sound too bad. But then she remembered that she was thinking too small a scale and that there were shires and poleis. Morganor alone had a hundred times more people than the village, so it must be big to match.

Being buried under sand sounded even worse, and considering that she had only ever seen sand along the thin stream that the village was expanding towards, she couldn’t even imagine that much sand.

Her face paled.

“You don’t look well. Are you okay?” Marian asked and then laughed. “Well, if you think that’s bad, wait for the monster nests.”

Erika didn’t really want to hear about monster nests. Monsters were terrible enough, and a whole nest of them sounded worse. A dozen monsters all gathered in a cave, waiting for someone to walk in…

However, it turned out she still underestimated how bad monster nests were.

“We call them nests, but to be exact, they’re places that spawn monsters. If you think that there’s a lot of monsters around here, try approaching a nest. Even the smallest nest contains hundreds if not thousands of monsters.” Marian looked up at the canopy above them, seemingly reminiscing about something.

“The monsters are here because of a nearby nest, even if you can’t see it. A small nest can affect land for dozens or hundreds of kilometers around them, causing animals to be corrupted by aether or creating new monsters out of thin air. The closer you are to the nest, the more likely the latter, and the stronger the monsters.”

It all made sense now why most of the monsters that had attacked them were so animalistic in shape. Many were big cats, a predator commonly seen around these parts. Others were gigantic rabbits and other prey animals but made more aggressive. They were just ordinary animals, but bigger, much stronger, and with slightly different colorations.

“What do you mean appearing out of thin air, though?” she asked. “Do they look any different?”

“Oh yes, they do. Believe me; you’ll know it when you see one.” There was a sly smile on Marian’s face, and Erika sighed.

“No surprises please?”

“Nope. People always get surprised when Rovers see their first proper monster in person, and it gets quite amusing. I’m not an instructor, so I don’t get a lot of those moments. That’s why I want to get the pure, undiluted experience.” An uncharacteristic cackle escaped from Marian’s mouth.

“...” Erika sighed again. There was no stopping Marian when she got like that.

Even the calm, kind Marian had a devilish streak. Luckily, that streak didn’t appear very often.

“What else is there to know about monster nests?” Erika asked. “Will I ever see one?”

“Who knows? Maybe you will. Some people have dedicated their lives to studying nests, so naturally, more knowledge is to be had if you look. But that’s beyond the scope of the conversation today!” Marian clapped her hands, grabbed Erika’s attention anew.

As quickly as the grin on Marian’s face appeared, it disappeared, and the serious and scholarly Marian was back. Erika wanted to put a pair of glasses on her face. “With general history out of the way, let’s move on to the important part. The part that concerns you and me. Rovers.”

At the mention of the word, Erika straightened. Rovers— the word for travelers that pass through her village. The group of people that Marian was a part of. A group that she hoped to be a part of in the future.

She was all ears.

“Tell me, please!”

Marian smiled. “I will, so no need to rush. A bit on history. Do you know what a ‘rover’ is?”

Before Marian arrived, Erika didn’t know, but ‘rover’ was one of the new words that Marian had taught her. So naturally, Erika knew what it meant. “It’s a wanderer or a traveler, right? That reminds me, what about Rovers that don’t travel?”

“Good!” Marian said. “That’s exactly the question I wanted you to ask. Rovers that don’t travel are still called Rovers because it concerns the Rovers’ origins. The first Rovers were five travelers who chanced upon a pre-Cataclysm ruin and awakened strange powers from it. They then continued to travel the world, gathering followers who awakened similar powers and saving humanity from monsters. Eventually, they became known as the Rovers. We chose our name to honor them.”

The way Marian described them was with reverence as if they were gods or legendary heroes. Her tone drew Erika in.

“They’re dead, right?” It was a dumb question, but Erika couldn’t be sure, so she asked just in case.

“Of course. Their bodies are embalmed and preserved in the Consortium’s headquarters. A story for another day,” Marian cut in before Erika could ask about the Consortium. “Now, you might ask, what exactly is a Rover? What is their power? The answer is that no one knows exactly.”

“But…”

“However, it has its roots in the Cataclysm and aether. We know that much. Its appearance was like that of a work of a god, descending like a miracle upon humanity when we most needed it and ultimately saving us. It was like a blessing.”

Erika scowled at that. “Why is it a blessing, though? Didn’t we achieve the power by ourselves? I guess I’m blessed that I was able to awaken it, but I still did my best to achieve it….”

“Erika, there’s something that you have to understand,” Marian said, interrupting her. “The vast majority of Rovers don’t awaken their powers by themselves. Remember those travelers you told me about before?”

Stein, Ymir, and… Erika forgot the last name because the last one didn’t stand out. Stein was the pervert, and Ymir was the mature one, according to her memories.

Now that Marian reminded her, she remembered the old-looking weapons they carried and the method of gaining the abilities that they used. They had touched a weapon, and just like that, they were a Rover.

It made Erika a little jealous, considering that even now, she had not fully awakened yet, but considering that she had already made it this far, she didn’t want to cheapen her experience by using a shortcut.

“So most people do it by using a weapon?”

“It doesn’t have to be a weapon. It can be armor, a toy, or even a creature. What’s important is that somehow, the thing contains a special power that causes new abilities to awaken for humans and creatures alike. They are called Vessels of God, or just vessels for short.”

“They sound rare and expensive.”

Marian shrugged. “I suppose, depending on the person buying them. Many of them are cheap, and the ability they grant is so limited they are not even worth using if you want a bright future. Others are almost divine in power. But one thing that is for sure is that you won’t be able to afford any of them as you are now, nor do you have a reason to. To use a vessel is to close off your future because an awakened ability has unlimited potential.”

Erika fell silent. She was no longer jealous.

Indeed, what comes from outside the body could not compare with what comes from within. As long as she worked hard, Erika could surpass anyone who used a vessel. There were no shortcuts.

There was no path for her but to steadily walk on. She’d realize her dream of being free from anything that might control her with her power.

As she realized that, her back began to burn, and Erika winced. She crouched down, clutching the burning spot.

“What’s…happening…?” she gasped out.

Marian started, eyes wide in surprise. “Oh my… this is a pleasant surprise.”

“W-what pleasant surprise?” Erika asked, squeezing her eyes shut and then gritting her teeth. It was like someone was pressing a hot brand to her body, but there was nothing she could do about it. “Marian, do something, please!”

“Unfortunately, I can’t. The pain is just a part of awakening. Congratulations!”

“You went through this?” Erika asked. Her breathing became ragged.

“Of course not. Everyone’s awakening is different, but every Rover gets branded with the mark of the Rover on some part of their body. It seems that yours is on your back, but mine is on my palm.”

Erika managed to open a blurry slit in her eyes tightly shut, and saw the glowing red mark on Marian’s arm. It was a red mark, with something scribbled in the middle. Four rings surrounded the scribble.

Although she had a million things she wanted to ask, she didn’t have any strength left. All she could do was lay there on the forest floor, doing her hardest not to writhe in pain.

As if attracted to her, a few monsters drew near, and she felt them from much further away than she had been able to. When they arrived, Marian stood guard over her and quickly killed them. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain finally faded. The sound of fighting had stopped as well, leaving an eerie silence in the forest.

When she lifted her heavy head to look around, the bloody corpses littered the spaces between the trees. Since they came one by one, wholly uncoordinated, Marian easily took care of the attacking monsters, and now Marian dropped down by her side and helped her sit up.

“Feeling better?”

Erika opened her mouth, but her mouth was dry. Her lips opened and closed like that of a dying fish. Her voice was a mere rasp. Grasping the meaning, Marian held up the water to her lips, and Erika swallowed the liquid with greed. At last, she nodded. “Yeah… It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“And how does it feel?”

“My head hurts,” she admitted after thinking a while. “It’s like a bunch of things were stuffed into my brain, and there’s not enough room for anything else.”

Worse, most of the things she couldn’t even call up. It was useless information.

After she explained, Marian patted her head. “It’s okay. Try to concentrate on the things you can understand. There should be at least something.”

Sifting through all the fog in her mind took a while, but at last, Erika found something that didn’t make her head hurt. She noticed that the fog was slipping away bit by bit, burying itself in her mind, which made her task much easier.

That piece of knowledge she grasped… “It’s… control.”

“Control, huh… Well, isn’t that ironic?”

Erika nodded at Marian’s tease. Considering her desire, it was ironic. But she didn’t mind since part of her wish was to take control of her own life. That her ability was to “control” was the surest sign that her awakening had gone right.

“But what does “control” mean? How does it work?” she asked. All she had to go off of was that one word remaining in her mind. It wasn’t even a real word but was instead a vague feeling that announced its meaning to her when she tried to understand it. She didn’t know how to describe it, but it was a feeling she had never experienced before.

Marian looked troubled at her question. “Honestly, I don’t know. More abstract abilities like yours are quite rare since they rarely show up in vessels. When we reach Morganar, we could maybe see if any people are willing to teach you, but I doubt it. I have a feeling that we’ll only find what you need in a polis, like the one I’m heading to right now.”

Although Erika didn’t want to have disappointment taint the delight from her success, she couldn’t help but feel a little sad that the awakening left her with something so vague. On the other hand, she had already made up her mind to move on and not give up.

In the case that there was no one to teach her, then she will just teach herself.

 

That night, they finally reached the settlement that they had been walking towards, and the walls of Morganor loomed over them.