Ch. 105 But Mia was covered in bloodstains from head to toe.

Immersing herself in the river water warmed by flames, Mia really wanted to pull Melina over too.

But she decided against it.

She could wait until they stayed at an inn with a comfortable, spacious bathroom and bathtub; it wouldn’t be too late to try and trick or coax Melina into bathing together then…

Although she didn’t yet know what kind of world this was.

But as the saying went, wherever there are people, there is a world of strife!

As long as this wasn’t a primitive world crawling with monkeys and apes, she shouldn’t have to worry about such problems.

After cleaning herself, she washed and dried her damaged clothes.

Then, wearing a shirt that was torn enough to expose her midriff, Mia began trying to mend her coat…

Rustling sounds came from the woods nearby.

Without needing to guess, she knew the Spirit Wolf had returned.

Lappland jumped out of the bushes and approached Mia.

It let out two howls, as if it were communicating with language.

Even more incredibly, Mia actually nodded seriously.

“Mmh, I understand.”

As the holder of the spirit calling bell and the spirit ashes, Mia, through her slight telepathic connection with her summoned creature, roughly understood what Lappland had discovered.

There seemed to be a village of some size nearby.

This was truly delightful news.

Mia had no intention of staying in the forest for long and stood up almost immediately.

“Wilden! Get ready to go!”

She put on her coat and used a yellow cloth strip as a belt to cover up the damaged parts.

She looked up at the sky.

If the villagers of that village were friendly, perhaps they could spend the night there?

She hadn’t seen any proper civilization in the months she had spent in The Lands Between.

That time in Nuln, she had been thrown into battle the moment she crossed over.

Mia was looking forward to the civilized world more than ever before.

Dusk was approaching.

On a dirt road some distance away from Mia and her group, Artoria and the other two were traveling in the opposite direction.

For the time being, except for one person, neither side was aware of the other’s presence.

“That wolf seems very conspicuous.”

Even Artoria, who knew almost nothing about the wilderness, could see some clues from the bushes that had been violently broken everywhere.

“A white, ghost-like giant wolf…” Kay muttered while carrying his scabbard. “How could it be a ghost?”

After all, the physical traces were right in front of them.

“Maybe that hunter just saw it wrong?”

Artoria replied optimistically. “But making mistakes is human nature; you shouldn’t speak ill of others behind their backs, Brother Kay.”

“Yes, yes,” Kay responded perfunctorily.

Who was the older sibling again?

“A white wolf, it must be very beautiful, right?”

Artoria had never seen such a creature.

The young girl gazed at the path covered in fallen leaves, lost in thought.

But then, she recalled the hardships the village elder and the hunter had confided to her.

“But even if it’s something beautiful… if it causes trouble for honest and decent people, one cannot let it do as it pleases.”

Artoria was full of fighting spirit.

“Artoria, Kay, wear this on yourselves.”

Merlin produced two pink and white flowers from nowhere and handed them to Artoria and Kay.

The young girl took the flowers and instinctively brought them to her nose.

The flowers emitted a charming, faint fragrance.

“What is this?” She cast a puzzled look at him.

Merlin was known as the Flower Magician.

At a time like this, to inexplicably produce flowers—he must be performing some kind of magic, right?

“It’s a tool to mask your scent.”

Merlin explained.

Artoria, half-understanding, tucked the flower into her hair.

Kay tucked his behind his ear.

They walked for only a few more minutes.

In the deep forest, a wolf howl suddenly rang out.

It was deep and resonant, as if it had come from a deep valley.

The howl lasted for several seconds and then vanished into the silence, dragging the entire forest into the same stillness.

“It’s coming!” Merlin suddenly warned. “Let’s hide quickly!”

“Eh?”

Before Artoria could react, the magician grabbed her hand and ducked into the vegetation by the side of the road.

“Is it something very scary?”

Artoria asked in a low voice.

“Shh—” Merlin held his index finger to his lips, making a gesture for silence.

Although she was still very puzzled, Artoria chose to trust Merlin.

The three of them crouched by the roadside, staring intently at the end of the undulating dirt road.

In the darkening sky, a giant wolf, just as the hunter had described—completely white and emitting a fluorescent glow from its body—appeared in the distance, walking with a light, trotting gait.

Lappland did not notice the three people watching it.

It approached a little closer, then stopped and turned its head.

“Awoo—”

It let out a howl as if urging them on.

“Be quiet, Lappland! Can’t you learn from Red?”

Mia criticized unhappily. She gripped her staff and followed far behind Lappland, along with Melina and Wilden.

“Don’t scare the people in that village!”

“Awoo~”

The Spirit Wolf lowered its voice, just like some kind of dog, and let out a bark while wagging its tail, urging Mia to walk faster.

It was probably still two or three hours until dark.

She wondered if she could see the stars in this world?

As she was walking, Mia scratched her arm.

She felt… a bit uneasy.

It felt as if someone was watching her.

‘Is it an enemy?’

Mia scanned her surroundings.

But there was only the rustling sound of Red moving through the woods.

“Be careful,” she warned the two behind her.

Just as she prepared for battle, intending to respond to any potential enemies at any moment—

Red, who was weaving through the woods, suddenly let out a howl.

The bushes trembled violently.

Surprisingly, human exclamations came from within!

“Whoa!”

“When did this happen?!”

“Wait a second!”

Under Mia’s astonished gaze, three figures were driven out from the roadside bushes by Red.

They were scrambling out in a disheveled mess.