Carrying two large bags of food, I leisurely walked into the noise-filled inn through the wide open entrance.

Quietly waiting for me in the restaurant area was Alexia. Disguised no more, she looked just like a little girl with her mouth stuffed to the brim with food like a squirrel.

Don’t be deceived by such an appearance though. She’s already a veteran adventurer with well over ten years of experience under her belt.

Her trained senses as an adventurer alerted her to my intentional sight, causing her eyes to dart towards my figure with obvious vigilance.

However, that morphed into relief upon recognizing me, and she started giving me her best puppy eyes for some reason.

I just stood there looking at her, utter confusion written on my face.

What the heck does this woman want? If she’s trying to sneak into my heart using her good looks and cute expression, then it ain’t working.

I have someone in my heart already! Be gone, tho—Cough, woman!

“Can I please leave for a few days, Master?” Alexia pleaded with a nervous tone.

Hmmm? Oh! It should be for that.

“I expect to see you in Gerya in just two weeks. Understood?” I simply granted her request. “Half a day more than that, and I might have to start using my joystick to direct you, ‘mkay?”

Unfortunately, she didn’t really get the joke. But she did understand that her current life might be forfeit if she’s late.

Hastily nodding, she sprang up from her seat, threw a few coins on the table, gave me a respectful bow, and rushed out of the inn at breakneck speed.

You could’ve at least finished your food, y’know?! I’ll definitely teach you a lesson when I see you next time!

Wasting food is the most heinous of crimes!

But it is what it is. She’s probably too anxious to save her parents after their long dangerous separation, after all.

Greeting the proprietress lady with a nod, I climbed the stairs to my room.

The Half-Demon girl was still very much lost in her dreamland, but I could faintly read a plethora of emotions radiating off of her.

It seems that the little bit of care I gave her yesterday along with the Heretic Magic induced sweet dreams started doing their job.

That’s great! As long as even a trace of her emotions comes back, I’m confident I can duct tape her up to prime shape in no time!

Walking up to the fireplace, I took out a few cooking pots and some firewood and set them up for a relaxing cooking session.

I have been craving cooked seafood for months now! It’s really hard to explain where I actually got the fish since the ocean is known to be infested with water dragons, so I regrettably couldn’t enjoy sea delicacies up until today.

When I went out a few hours ago, I decided to address this by cooking up some hot fish soup for me and the Half-Demon girl to enjoy.

Honestly, I would’ve preferred something solid like fried fish fillet or even plain fried fish, but the cutie’s body is too weak for those right now.

In fact, even fish soup might be too much for her, but I can always just pump in more Healing Magic into her body, right? I’m gonna be cooking this stuff using synthesized medicinal water anyways.

Isolating the air around the fireplace from the rest of the room, I took out a moderately sized table from my Spatial Storage and placed a brand new cutting board on it.

Then I narrowed the spatial crack, leaving only enough space for the ingredients I desire to slip through.

In just a few seconds, an empty corner of the inn room was transformed into a rudimentary kitchen.

It had everything I needed though. Whether it’s utensils, temperature control, or even humidity, I can easily make-do for them using a bit of magic and skills.

Especially the near omnipotent combination of Trickster and Shapeshifting, which basically allows me to consume food, specifically energy and matter, and convert it into other forms.

Up until now, I can’t glean any information about their magical constructions at all!

D didn’t add them to the system’s skill database, which goes to show just utterly broken those two are.

Expertly slicing open a fish’s belly and removing the bones, I let my thoughts diverge towards what I currently know and my future plans.

Currently, I’m at the most northwesternmost kingdom on the Daztrudia continent, The Kingdom of Aitouna.

It is one of Daztrudia’s many northern minor countries, which are basically vassals for the Holy Kingdom of Alleius.

There are also a few more minor countries to the southeast of Daztrudia, but those are the Analeit Kingdom’s vassals.

To the south and east are more minor countries, the north has a huge mountain range, and the west is the ocean where I came from.

Beyond the mountains and the eastern countries lies a never ending wasteland where only the strongest of monsters could hope to survive.

I made an educated guess based on the places where I’ve already been and designated the areas beyond those wastelands as the fringes of the dead zone.

There are mostly likely more ancient ruins hidden in those wastelands, which might contain more powerful technology like the Soul Poison I found in that underwater laboratory.

So I added archaeological expeditions to my list of future objectives. This one's gotta wait until after I rescued Aiko and Segawa though.

The Kingdom of Aitouna is arguably the safest country on this planet, but it is also the poorest.

It has no specialties of any sort, and if you came here for adventuring, you’d need to travel well into the mountain range before you start encountering relatively strong monsters.

If it wasn’t for the humanitarian aid from the church, the people of this country would have either been forced to migrate or starved a long time ago.

At first, I was quite confused about why Mister Ellois would choose such a place to conduct his business.

However, D’s explanation about the little angel, coupled with Mister Ellois’s transparent policy when dealing with Alexia shed light on the situation.

He’s only here because he was commissioned to do so by the church as a part of their aid campaign and to deliver some expensive fabrics to the kingdom’s royalty.

Looking back at it, his entire caravan was probably just a front for some of the church’s men to secretly sneak into Aitouna.

Alexia’s home village is located somewhere along the southern border of Aitouna, which coincides with the direction of our next destination– The Holy Kingdom of Alleius.

Yup! I’m taking Alexia and the cutie to Alleius’s labyrinth town, Gerya. Y’know how they say the most dangerous place is the safest and all.

Also, that labyrinth has quite the variety of monsters, which should allow me to power level the little cutie while increasing my skill repertoire at the same time.

“Ooo-ooo–aaah.”

A loud, cute yawn suddenly reached my ears.

Turning around, I caught sight of the little angel’s heavy eyelids slowly opening.

“You’re just in time, lil’ angel!” I grinned, placing two bowls of delicious fish soup onto a tray and moving to the bedside. “Come on, eat up. I want you in top shape before we hop towns.”

Slowly, she adjusted her posture and looked down on her legs. I could feel a mixture of fear and nervousness building up in her body.

“What’s up? Not feeling hungry?” I inquired with a perplexed head tilt.

Frankly, I’m shit at dealing with anything concerning human emotions– especially since empathy isn’t a part of my emotional spectrum.

The girl raised her head to look at me, but then flinched and immediately lowered it again.

I could see her shaking hands tightly clutching the blanket, just like a child does when they’re trying to hide from the imaginary monster under their bed.

…Ahaaaa! I see now.

I remember watching a similar scene in an anime before. In fact, I even went through something similar for a brief period of time.

She should be experiencing severe PTSD right now, if my memory and comprehension serve me correctly.

Shit.

What am I supposed to do now? I might’ve studied psychology while I was sifting through Earth’s knowledge, but I don’t have any real life experience in the subject.

This isn’t some impossible mathematical formula I could calculate with Sage, this requires actual human interactions!

…Alright! Here’s the plan: Act normally and hope everything works out!

“Uhhh, you should eat it before it goes cold, y’know? Wasting good food is a no no!” I stressed while placing the tray atop her legs.

Her body went stiff, but then she took the spoon into her hands and started sipping the soup in small but quick sips.

Nodding, I took my own bowl and started eating. It appears the bowl was too small for me though since I finished it in under a minute.

So I teleported the entire pot next to me and proceeded to refill my bowl, all while the little angel watched with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Noticing her gaze, I lowered my eyes, only to find that her hands had stopped and the soup was dripping from the edges of her spoon.

“Hmm? Is it too hot? Do you need water or anything?”

She hastily shook her head and resumed eating, but I could sense her fear gradually being replaced by curiosity.

See? Everything worked out in the end somehow!

The rest of the meal was spent in silence except for the five times I had to refill my bowl.

I offered her a refill as well, but she refused by simply shaking her head. So I stored the bowls and soup back in my Spatial Storage, and conjured some water for us to wash up.

After that, I took out two cups of fruit juice I had previously bought from a roadside stall and handed one to her.

“Sooo, can you tell me a bit about yourself?” I questioned her with a calming tone, afraid of startling her or causing her to remember some not so great memories.

She paused, as if contemplating something, then forced herself to make eye contact with me.

“...Can’t….remember.” She mumbled, confusion evident in her dim eyes.

Huh? Wait–What?!

I mean, I did hope she had some amnesia, so that I could name her and make sure she stays mine. But I didn’t expect her to have completely lost her memory!

Could this be a side effect of D removing her past life memories? If so, then I’m conflicted about how I should feel.

Leaving my thoughts behind for now, I asked her another question.

“What about your name?”

But she just shook her head to indicate her mind came up with a blank.

Fumu fumu. I see.

“Do you remember anything about yesterday?” I further inquired.

The response was still a head shake.

Wait a damn second! If she doesn’t even remember anything prior to today’s events, then why does she have PTSD?

The implications of this… aren’t nice at all. In fact, just thinking about them fills me with seething rage like nothing I’ve ever felt before.

She was most likely tortured both physically and mentally to the point where her body itself remembers and fears it.

What kind of sick freak can do such a thing to a child?! That’s why I fucking hate religious fanatics and racists.

Religion in itself is great, both as guidance and cultural heritage. But those fuckers take it way over the edge!

As for the racists, fuck those guys. I’m fine with them being racist in private, but they better prepare a grave before they decide to act on it in front of me.

“Alright!” I exclaimed with a loud clap, startling the little angel. “You’ll follow me from now on. I’ll take care of you.” I declared.

The little girl looked at me with apprehension for a few seconds, but then realized that she had no other choice and nodded her cute little head.

“If you're gonna be with me in the future, I’ll need a name to call you then.” I murmured while placing a hand on my chin.

I said this before and I’ll say it again, my naming sense is incredibly bad.

If I bought a dog, the chances of me naming it Pochi or Shiro are basically 100 out of 10. That’s how bad my naming sense is.

As such, I spent about three entire hours intently staring at the little angel, trying to come up with a fitting name for her.

Of course, I totally ignored how uncomfortable she was with that, and let her fiddle around under the blanket for the entirety of those three hours.

“I got it!” I suddenly exclaimed, springing to my feet. “From now on, your name will be Neoma– Neo for short!”

I nodded to myself, extremely proud of what I came up with.

A lot of aspects came to my mind when I was coming up with it, but only two stuck out to me.

Her dim gray eyes, and D’s story about her choosing to sacrifice for other people even if she doesn’t know them.

It reminded me of the moon brightly shining through the night, so I decided to name her Neoma, which means New Moon in greek.

This is to signify her bright heart and the new life she was granted upon me taking her in.

Also, while the Earth’s moon isn’t actually gray, the appearance that was known to humans up until just a few centuries ago was still gray.

“Neo…ma…?” I heard the little angel, now Neoma whisper.

“Yes! Your name will be Neoma from now on! We’ll be together for a long time, so do take care of me, Neoma!” I cheered with a wide smile.

“...Hmmm!” She nodded excitedly, her fear practically vanishing upon getting a name.

I knew Naming made it hard to feel any negative emotions towards the namer, but this is the first time I’ve actually witnessed it.

And I gotta say… It’s amazing and terrifying at the same time.

As I softly caressed Neo’s hair, Sage’s voice resounded in my mind.

 

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Naming] acquired.}

{Condition satisfied. Skill [Kin Control LV 1] acquired.}

{Skill [Kin Control LV 1] has been integrated into skill [Soul Seeker].}

 

Along with it, I could feel the weak bond connecting me and Neo strengthened by a lot, causing my lips to curl into a relaxed smile.

A new life companion, huh? Doesn’t feel bad, honestly.

Well, I guess that’s another reason why I need to become stronger.

…The church is now a potential enemy as well, but I have a rather dirty way I could get back at them.

I hope that manipulative pope guy can handle the human saint being stolen along with his church losing a large portion of its power.

Having him die from a heart attack would cut my fun time short, after all. Fufufu~

 

---