Chapter 114: The Mountain

It had been a long time since Hiro died. He had thought that as long as his hosts were safe, his core inside their wombs would be protected. He had sacrificed several cores before when his girls were conquering the dungeon to distract monsters, but it was the first time he had died from a curse.

Rebecca turned to her stomach, sensing a strange emptiness there. Hiro’s death had left her empty. She felt a strange sense of loss.

“Hiro?” she called. Almost panicking.

“Rebecca, are you okay?” Cecile came to her as the soldiers gathered themselves.

Hiro used the chance to create another core and slipped inside Rebecca.

“Hiro!!” Rebecca cried out as a familiar bulge slipped into her womb. She then hugged him tightly. She was worried. She was just a mediocre mage. She wasn’t worthy of wielding Hiro. All she had was him. Even then, she felt she lagged behind compared to others.

It was different from before, when she thought Marissa had stolen Hiro away from her. This time, she felt an emptiness within. She knew that Hiro had gone albeit just for a few minutes.

“What happened? Why are you crying?” Cecile asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Rebecca sobbed. She couldn’t articulate it.

Hiro nudged her cheek, calming her down.

Rebecca looked around at her surroundings. She understood. She was a symbiote user. She couldn’t cry. Their reputation was at stake.

“Are you okay?” Leafa approached her.

“Yes. I just got dirt in my eyes.” Rebecca took a few deep breaths and turned to Hiro. “Thanks, Hiro. You saved me.”

Hiro patted her head with his tentacles.

“Alright. Form up! Nana, Cecile, check if there are any wounded our healer can’t handle. Serge, how many did we lose?”

“Yes. We’ve lost four soldiers. One from the river and three to the spiders. Two of them were taken, while one died from curses.”

“...” Leafa frowned. It looked like a small loss compared to the war, sure. But for an expedition of this size, it was a huge loss. They still needed to build a village after this. According to the cartographer, they were only a third of the way there. After crossing the mountain, they still needed to brave whatever lay beyond it and secure the area against unexpected monsters.

“Let’s go. Watch your backs. Serge, write down their characteristics. We will ask the Adventurer Guild to hunt these monsters later.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The soldier saluted.

The group marched on. Then, through the mountain pass, they found a gentle, narrow slope.

“I can feel we will be ambushed again on this path,” Rebecca said as she held onto Hiro’s tentacle, fearing he would be gone again. “Hiro feels different somehow.”

“Hm…” Cecile observed him. Even though all the tentacles were Hiro, the girls knew the difference.

“Hm… The path narrows further. This path is unusable,” Leafa muttered as the trail became so narrow that only one person could slip through. Since they were looking to build a road for caravans, a path this narrow couldn’t be used. So, they reluctantly returned to headquarters.

When Leafa returned, a new, fancy carriage was waiting at the base. Cylia was there.

“Leaving me behind, aren’t you?” Her eyes glowed purple.

Rebecca and the girls immediately stood at attention, including Hiro.

Fear washed over him like a wave. It came quickly, then vanished as if it had never existed, leaving him and the girls with confusion and dread.

“Well. The kingdom wanted to show that they weren’t discriminating by only sending Hiro. But you don’t really need to come. Our enemies are mostly monsters, not humans.”

“My skills work on monsters as well, Leafa. As long as they are alive, my skills will work on them,” she said, her tone challenging.

Hiro tilted his tentacle. Were they secretly enemies?

“Anyway, let’s go down the other path tomorrow,” Leafa said.

“Sure. I have asked around. Your incompetence cost us four soldiers,” Cylia said.

“What?” Leafa turned to her.

“Isn’t that right?”

“Please watch your words, Lady Cylia. I am still the leader of this expedition. Just like you, I am also a symbiote user. Please follow my orders.”

“Understood. But like always, I will prioritize my own safety, understand? I will not follow your orders if they endanger me.”

With the passage in the west too small to travel through, Leafa headed to the gentle slope in the east the next morning.

“Start working. We need to secure this gentle slope so carriages can pass through. In fact, we have the perfect carriage here.” She eyed Cylia. “Surely the almighty symbiote user won’t be scared of her carriage flipping over, right?”

“Rebecca, is it just me, or do these two have a bad relationship?” Cecile whispered.

Hiro had sensed it the moment they met. If even Cecile could sense it, Rebecca should too. Yet she stayed silent instead. Was it intentional? Did she know about their relationship?

“Yeah, but I don’t want to ask. I don’t want to get involved in their dispute,” Rebecca said. “Usually, these kinds of attitudes originate from a bloodbath or some sort of jealousy.”

Rebecca was an ex-noble from Litmus. Being a mediocre mage, she had been scorned. When she got engaged to Alex, her sisters turned their demeaning attitude into full-blown jealousy. She had suspected that her father was influenced by them when he decided to steal Hiro after she asked him for support.

And so, the awkward atmosphere hung in the air. When they reached the gentle slope, it seemed fine to them, which made them wonder why the scout had marked this path as risky. The ground was just a little muddy. Carriages should be able to pass through here as long as it wasn’t raining.

However, just as the scout had reported, the ground wasn’t stable. Cylia’s carriage became trapped in the soft ground for the third time as they ascended the mountain. The sun had set by the time they passed the slope and entered the mountains.

“We will use this path,” Leafa said. “But we can’t use it as it is. We need workers to lay blocks of stone and wood to stabilize the path. There are still carriages behind us that will use this route.”

“Understood. We will work on the path,” the foremen said.

“I will leave two squads here. We will continue our way through the mountains. Once we pass them, we will return here. Expect us to be back in the evening or tomorrow at the latest,” Leafa said.

“I will stay here,” Cylia said.

Leafa glanced at her and nodded.

“Understood. You will command these squads. Please protect them and the workers. I will go with the rest of the soldiers and the cartographers to scout a route. Please finish reinforcing the path as soon as possible. Within three days, if possible.”

Hiro, who couldn’t take it anymore, extended his tentacle, nudging Leafa before pointing at Cylia.

“Hah… I guess you want to ask about Cylia?” Leafa said, and Hiro nodded.

“What happened? We worked with Cylia before in Latvin. She seemed like a good girl,” Cecile said. “That was a bit unlike her.”

“The animosity goes back to our parents,” Leafa sighed. “My mother wanted her symbiote, yet it chose Cylia’s mother instead.”

“I see. That’s a shame,” Rebecca said curtly, more out of politeness than genuine concern. She turned her head, seemingly not wanting to hear about Leafa’s circumstances. Her behavior told them everything. She didn’t want any noble business falling into her lap.

Hiro indulged her by covering her ears with his tentacles.

“Hm? But why was she the one hostile to you?” Cecile asked.

“Her mother was poisoned to death ten years ago. Several cooks and butlers were hanged, but they never found the real mastermind. She thinks my mother and I were the ones behind the assassination,” Leafa said.

“I see.” Cecile nodded. She knew that being a symbiote user didn’t mean you were invincible. But only now did she feel the reality dawn on her. Poison. That meant civilians were the most likely culprits behind the assassination.

“Was it true?” Nana asked.

“No. We did not assassinate her. Her mother was a bitch, though. She had many enemies. Ever since she got her symbiote, she had been bragging about it for years. She was just a baroness elevated to a countess, yet she wanted to become a duchess. That’s why I personally wasn’t surprised someone poisoned her,” Leafa said.

“Marissa didn’t tell me about your history.”

“Well, Daneswald’s territory is on the other side of the country. That’s why,” Leafa said.

“Do you know who killed her mother? If you tell her, maybe she would be nicer to you.”

“I’m not sure. Just as I said before, she had many enemies. My mother and our territory were among the suspects. Basically every noble in the north and east wanted her dead. She was a bit too ambitious and vain. Her skills weren’t up to snuff either,” Leafa shrugged.

“I see,” Cecile said.

“Well, at the very least, Cylia seemed to love her,” Leafa sighed.

“We are here,” the cartographer said. “After we go past that hill, we should be able to see our destination.”

As the horses climbed through the mountain pass, the sea shone like a blue sapphire before their eyes. Litmus had always been landlocked. Few of its citizens had ever seen the sea. Rebecca and the girls hadn’t seen it either since Latvin was similarly landlocked.

“That’s the sea!” Cecile pointed. She jumped off her horse, hopping in excitement.

“Yes, yes. Stop getting excited like a country bumpkin, Cecile. Let’s figure out a way to climb down the mountain.”

“Climbing down will be simple. The path doesn’t seem too difficult,” the cartographer said as she pointed to a gentle slope.

Leafa smiled. The hard part seemed to be behind them until the cartographer continued.

“However…”

Before they could ask, several gigantic birds of prey swooped in, snatching a helpless goat from the mountainside and carrying it away.

“This territory seems to be the hunting ground of those birds. I saw several more gliding nearby,” the cartographer said.

“Ugh…” Leafa groaned at the new challenge that lay before them.