Ch. 76 In a certain world outside The Lands Between

“In a certain world outside The Lands Between, people call the distant starry sky the ‘universe.’ To explore it, they built Telescopes that can see stars billions of kilometers away, and they discovered that those stars are all suns.”

“Red suns, white suns, blue suns, orange suns.”

“And newborn suns, dying suns.”

“It is distant suns that make up the beautiful night sky.”

“Even the light of the moon originates from the sun; the moon reflects the sun’s light.”

“…” Sellen sat behind her desk, supporting the bottom of her Glintstone Crown with her hands, deep in thought.

“The sun?” she murmured to herself. “This is truly…”

Sellen’s hands curled and relaxed, and the sorceress constantly shifted her posture in her chair.

She was urgently contemplating the validity of this knowledge.

Then she stood up and paced around the room.

If stars are suns…

Then the ‘Star Seeds’ that the Primeval Sorcerers have sought to become until now—isn’t that a completely wrong path?

“Master?”

Mia called out with some concern.

She didn’t know if the knowledge from her previous life held true in this fantasy world.

At Mia’s call, the deep-in-thought Sellen looked up. “If this is true, then it is undoubtedly a brand-new path for exploring the origins of the stars. I must think on this carefully…”

“Ah, my apprentice. Thank you for telling me this knowledge from beyond The Lands Between. My apprentice is already able to teach her master; I am very pleased.”

“Alright, don’t keep your companions waiting too long.”

Mia nodded and backed out of Sellen’s study.

Sellen wanted to dive into her research immediately, to study the meaning behind the phrase ‘the stars are suns.’

But before her departing apprentice, she should still act as a master and see her off.

Although this phantom body could not leave the study, she could still watch her apprentice’s back with her gaze.

Mia turned around and walked toward the stairs leading out of the basement without looking back.

The study door closed once again.

A glintstone flew up and embedded itself perfectly into the hole in the center of the door.

“The sun… is a star?”

Sellen waved her glintstone staff. Under the illusion of the starry sky, she looked up, repeatedly mulling over the words Mia had said to her.

The girl, whose feet were already on the stairs, looked back at the closed door and sighed.

In this life, it wasn’t that she hadn’t experienced parting before.

Even though she knew they would surely meet again…

This was the first time she had experienced such sentimentality.

This journey had already given Mia many ‘firsts.’

It seemed she was slowly becoming more interested in this world.

Mia looked at the book and placed it into her storage space.

She walked out of the basement.

“Nothing left behind. Let’s head out.”

Mia summoned Torrent and skillfully flipped onto the horse’s back.

Kalé also mounted his donkey.

Without much fuss, the group walked out of the Waystation Street Ruins, where they had stayed for a month and a half.

The Waystation Street Ruins faced south from the north.

To the south lay that vast grassland, stretching all the way to a lakeshore that couldn’t be seen from here.

To the north and east, however, was rugged hilly terrain crisscrossed with cliffs.

Mia intended to head northwest.

Kalé suddenly stopped.

“You’re going north, right?”

“You?”

Mia turned her gaze toward him.

A word that felt distancing had come from his mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

Kalé took a breath. “I’m going south to the Weeping Peninsula to find my kin there.”

“By yourself?”

Mia asked with some worry.

She remembered that when they had walked out of that forest and turned south, Kalé had clearly expressed his future plans.

‘Go south, find my kin, and then head north together to find traces of The Great Caravan.’

During the month and a half at Waystation Street, she had almost forgotten that Kalé had his own goals too.

Kalé said with confidence, “Don’t underestimate the Nomadic People. Before I met you, didn’t I live this long and experience so many travels alone?”

That was true.

Mia had no intention of stopping Kalé from achieving his goals.

If anything, her month and a half at the Waystation Street Ruins had already delayed what Kalé needed to do for a long time.

“Then your things…” Mia said, preparing to take the bundle Kalé had just handed her out of her storage space.

“Those are for you guys!” Kalé answered with a smile. “There are some pots in the bag, as well as pans, bowls, ladles, a tent, sleeping bags, and other odds and ends. Otherwise, without me, you probably wouldn’t even know how to cook.”

“Then what about you?”

“I have spares, of course. Just consider it a gift.”

“That won’t do…”

During their time at Waystation Street, Mia had already received too many favors from Kalé for free.

The cleaning of the camp and the morning and evening meals were all prepared by Kalé.

If she accepted such a gift as well, Mia would truly feel uneasy.

“I still have some money…” The girl pulled out her last remaining three thousand Runes.

They were found earlier while cleaning up the battlefield of the Pumpkin Head Soldier and the Miranda Flowers.

She handed the coin purse to Kalé, and the latter had no intention of refusing.

“That works; I am a merchant after all.” Saying this, Kalé took the coin purse.

But even if there were no money, he wouldn’t have taken back the things he had already given Mia.

“Then I’ll be off.”

Kalé flicked the reins, driving Amia forward a few steps.

“Please take care of yourself,” she wished him sincerely.

“You too.”

The merchant smiled.

“Take care.”

Wilden looked at this merchant of a different race who had traveled with them for so long and thumped his chest hard.

His chainmail made a crisp clashing sound.

This was the etiquette of a soldier.

“Yeah.” Kalé held out a hand. “You take care too, Wilden.”

To think that at the beginning, he had quite disliked this Royal Army soldier.

Melina appeared beside Mia.

“Goodbye.” She also bid farewell to Kalé.

Melina’s eyes swept over the indifferent, yawning Patches.

Disgust flowed from her gaze, and she kicked Patches in the ankle.

“Ow!”

Patches let out a miserable cry.

“What was that for?!!”

All eyes gathered on him, and Patches shuddered.

“Oh, uh, right, take care!”

Kalé replied, “Forget it, I’m afraid you’ll curse me.”

“Hey!”

“Alright, see you later!”

The merchant waved and shouted.

Riding his donkey and carrying his instrument, he trotted off toward the southeast.

Mia gazed in that direction.

Before long, Kalé’s back had become smaller than a fingernail.

“Let’s go as well.”

Mia pulled the reins.