Clear 5 dungeons within level range (excluding Ruben/Henir/Ereda)
Description
The girl encountered some unpleasant things on this unfamiliar journey, and preps herself before the next village.
Quest Completion Dialogue
Aren's Letter:... How have you been, Ara? We've been quite out of touch. Flowers have already began to bloom from trees.
Aren's Letter:It's beautiful here at the capital. The trees have flowered in vivid colors. Even the lakes here are shimmering in vibrant hue, adopting the colors from petals that flutter like angels' wings.
Aren's Letter:Alas, even the most brilliant views that the Capital has to offer, feels like nothing compared to the modest flowers of our home. I suppose the time spent here has yet to endear me to these streets.
Aren's Letter:... I apologize for being sidetracked. I do try to like it here.
Ara:(Flowers... I think I understand now.)
Eun:Ara, you're distracted again. Cheer up. I see a village right at the valley.
Ara:Yes... I should try to like it.
Ara listlessly replied. Eun started nagging.
Eun:I understand you are tired from walking all night, but you must straighten your back and keep your head up. We can't have a repeat of what happened in the last village.
Ara flinched. Yes, indeed. The outside world was not just rainbows and sunshine for a naive 17 year old girl from a noble family.
Ara:... But I did learn something from this trip.
Eun:What have you learned?
Ara:That you can't learn about the world solely from books... and the most terrifying thing is another human being.
Eun:... It took you long enough to learn one of life's most fundamental lessons.
Eun:Of course a naive traveler with precious jewels is a good target, especially since she doesn't even know how much her belongings are worth.
Ara:I neve knew I was s bad at bargaining...
Ara:... I wasn't even aware that it would be this difficult to find someone to trade these jewels.
Ara chuckled, remembering when she offered her golden ring as compensation for her stay at a small village.
The kind villagers joked that she could buy the whole village with the ring and offered her a place to stay the night, even giving her the direction to a bigger village where she would be able to trade in her jewels.
Though she ended up being scammed in the bigger village.
Ara chased the memory away and headed towards the village.
... ... ... ...
It was early morning, but the village had a tense atmosphere. The villagers were gathered around discussing amongst each other with a pitchfork in their hands.
Eun:They don't look like they're getting ready for field work.
The moment the villagers noticed Ara, they looked at her with suspicion.
Ara:They look like they're ready for battle. Do you think demons have attacked this village?
Eun:I do not sense demonic energy.
Ara:Is that so... Still, it seems I have come at a bad time...
Ara felt uneasy. Though she has yet actually see one, she heard that many villagers who lost their home due to demons have become bandits.
She expected that things would turn for the worse the closer she got to the Capital. Perhaps that moment was now...
Eun:They're holding farming tools as weapons. If things go awry, you could probably take them down.
Ara:I would rather avoid something like that from happening...
As Ara hesitated, a particularly intimidating man approached her.
Intimidating Man:Oi. You look like you're good at fighting...
Ara nervously tightened her hold on her spear.
Intimidating Man:Are you an exorcist?
Ara:Exorcist...?
Child:No! You can't!
A scent of dried herbs wafted from behind, and she heard a high-pitched voice of a child.
Child:I'm against this! I told you! That spirit in the mountains is not a monster, it's a divine beast! You can't exorcise it!
Ara:Divine... beast? Exorcise...?
Ara's eyes widened from this unexpected turn of events.
Clear 5 dungeons within level range (excluding Ruben/Henir/Ereda)
Description
In the calm before the storm, the girl meets a child, and encounters a monster in an old shrine.
Quest Completion Dialogue
Kind Lady:Jen Che, we already talked about this. Besides, you haven't actually seen the spirit. There's no way to know for sure.
Jen Che:But I do! I can just tell!
For their conversation, Ara was quickly able to figure out what was happening.
This was a small nameless village at the bottom of a ridge of a mountain. There was a holy spirit that lived in the mountains for a long time, and the villagers lived peacefully, gathering herbs and cutting trees under its protection.
You could say it's a symbiotic relationship, as wild animals and dokkaebies avoid areas where powerful holy beasts have settled.
But one day, the holy beast just left.
Ara:(A holy beast... the guardian spirit leaving their home... I didn't know something like that could happen...)
The villagers thought this could be an omen, but they couldn't leave their home. They continued to live on in uncertainty.
This uneasy peace continued until a few days ago, when a traveler climbed the mountains and barely escaped from a monster that was residing in the shrine.
Ara:So that's why you were carrying pitchforks. But you know, if what he saw was actually a monster, farming equipment won't do much.
Jen Che was insistent. Ara contemplated for a moment, then spoke up.
Ara:Since she is convinced... and I do not have time to go around the mountains, I could... check on the way?
Jen Che didn't immediately disagree, but was looking at Ara with suspicion. Ara did not understand. Did I do something that caused this girl to be wary of me?
... ... ... ...
It was a small mountain, so the climb was easy. Ara asked Eun as she followed the path paved by people passing by.
Ara:I do not understand how the holy beast could have left. I thought guardian spirits settled in one place.
Ara:Beings that live infinitely longer than humans, bringing peace and wealth to their lands... Am I wrong?
Eun:Humans tend to put what they do not understand up on a pedestal. But you have to remember that these spirits are also living beings.
Eun:Trees, mountains, cliffs... These can't leave their place, but a beast may leave their home if they feel threatened.
Ara:Threatened... So this is yet another suffering caused by demons.
Ara:Humans were not the only ones suffering...
... Ara could see the shrine further down the path. Just like the village, it was small and quaint, with a badger symbol drawn on the sign.
The closer she approached, the more she couldn't ignore the feeling that something was wrong. Ara stopped. She could sense an unnatural flow of air.
Strong current of wind flowing on the ground. Almost like water.
Ara quickly checked above her. The leaves and branches were still. Not a single hair on her head moved, and her forehead was still glistening with sweat.
Eun:This must be that 'monster's ability. Be careful. Let me see what's going on.
Ara:Alright. ... What do you think, Eun? Is it a demon?
Eun:No. But... It's definitely not the original inhabitant of the shrine.
Eun:...! Duck!
WHHHEE...!
The wind turned sharp. Ara was barely able to dodge thanks to Eun's warning.
???:SHAA!
A screeching sound made by some kind of a creature. Ara raised her guard and looked at where the sound was coming from. There...
Ara:Oh... This is so...
Ara:So... Adorable!
Eun:Hmph, weasel. A young weasel at that.
A very small white weasel spirit had his fur raised as it glared at Ara with guarded looks.
Ara:Oh! It's really small! A young holy beast? This is the first time I'm seeing a baby holy beast.
Ara:Hello, dear holy beast sir, calm down. I'm not here to hurt you.
The white weasel approached, sticking his snout out, as it sniffed her extended hand, but Eun felt something else.
Eun:Ara, be careful!
Ara:Ouch!
It happened so quickly that Ara didn't even have a chance to dodge. The white weasel scratched the extended hand and scurried back about 4 steps. The hand, swelled and turned red, the blood slowly welling from the wound.
The wind started to pick up again. It was blowing past the trees, the boulders, and the pillars, while the narrow opening between valleys and buildings created a howling sound.
Wun could instinctively feel that the white weasel's ability could potentially be dangerous to Ara.
Eun:Know your place, foolish beast!
White Weasel:GRRR!
The white weasel flinched in response to Eun's threatening display of power and slowly stepped backwards, before it turned around and ran to the back of the shrine.
Eun:I feel a strange aura from that young weasel. I'm not sure what it is.
Ara:Is that so? In any case, did you notice how it was moving? I think it hurt its leg.
Ara:For now... We should go back and inform the villagers that it's not a monster.
Strange Beast and the Girl 1
