Chapter 9: Magic Stone(3)

The next day, Avalli’s daily routine wasn’t much different from usual.

In the morning, she played with the village children, returned home around lunchtime, ate, and then helped Envel with chores.
When she had some free time, she visited the house next door to tease Hans and went to Bern’s house to receive a few of his belongings in advance.

Bern looked at Avalli, who was calmly sweeping up snacks, with a ‘What is this kid doing?’ look in his eyes—

‘It’s cheap considering it’s the price of a life.’

Avalli thought this level of compensation was only natural, considering she was saving a person’s life.

Anyway, just like any other day, the day ended.
But from now on, the unusual would begin.

Returning to her room in a hurry after dinner, Avalli closed her eyes tightly and used ‘magic’.
The sun would soon set and the full moon would rise, so she needed to create a substitute before that.

‘Clone. Clone. Clone. Clone. Clone.’

Avalli’s ‘magic’ succeeded once again.
A girl with dull brown hair and freckles appeared before Avalli with a pop.

“Master.”
“…Phew, it’s not the type that replicates a personality too.”

The dreadful situation of both claiming to be the original didn’t occur.
It was clear that Avalli’s ‘magic’ had properly interpreted her wishes once again.

“Will you give me my orders?”
“Just lie in this bed and pretend to be asleep. Until I come back. Got it?”
“Understood. I will carry out Master’s orders.”

An attitude closer to a machine than a clone.
After confirming that the clone had lain down in bed and covered itself with the blanket, Avalli carefully opened the window and slipped out of the house.

‘…Going through the front door would be too conspicuous.’

Avalli avoided people’s eyes as she moved towards Bern’s house.
Perhaps because the evening glow was sinking below the horizon, there wasn’t a soul in sight.

“…My…life…Uwaaaaah… Damn…brat—!”

A strange sound came from inside Bern’s house as she passed by.

‘He must be having a hard time.’

Avalli resolved to do her best for the poor man.
Or rather, to earn the ginger cookies she had taken in abundance.

By the time she had exited the village through the secret door Bern had made and crossed the river, the red glow of the sunset had finally disappeared, and darkness had fallen.
The moon, faintly visible behind the sun’s light, now revealed its full form to the world.

The moment the moonlight, dimly illuminating the earth, touched Avalli’s hair—

‘This feeling is really strange.’

A strange energy, like a bursting dam, seeped out from Avalli’s body.

That power, which Avalli recognized as ‘magic power’, instantly tore through the thin disguise and revealed her true form to the world.

Beautiful silver hair shimmered, reflecting the moonlight.
A faint joy flickered in her green eyes, which seemed more vibrant than usual.

“I brought this along just in case.”

Avalli began to tie her hair into a single braid using a string she had prepared beforehand.
Tying her own hair was harder than she expected, but after struggling for a while, she managed a somewhat presentable look.

‘Now, then.’

Avalli moved to the shack where Hans had been attacked by the demonic beast.
She was worried Hans might be there again, but fortunately, there was no sign of him.
Hans, who had been relentlessly scolded by Karls’s wife recently, didn’t dare to sneak out of the village at night.

The pool of blood where Hans had collapsed had vanished without a trace.
The ‘magic’ Avalli had used that day had restored Hans to his original state, as if rewinding time, and the same went for the blood that had pooled on the ground.

Avalli took a few more steps and examined the spot where Kyle had cut off the demonic beast’s arm.
The severed arm was already gone, probably taken by wild animals, but the soil where the demonic beast’s blood had splattered was discolored a strange hue.

‘So, this is miasma.’

As Bern had said, it was a strange and unsettling energy.

‘……If the beasts I fought in that forest were actually all demonic beasts, that means I was surrounded by this stuff for two weeks.’

But why was she completely fine, unaffected?
Avalli paused and pondered for a moment, but soon concluded that she couldn’t deduce the answer with her current knowledge.

‘Well, it’s easy mode.’

To be precise, she had chosen ‘Very Easy’, a level below ‘Easy’.
It wouldn’t be strange for her character to have high resistance in Very Easy mode.

Avalli, who had almost no information about the ‘Sword and Magic’ series, came to that rough conclusion and stood up.
But as she jumped over the contaminated soil, its color instantly returned to normal, matching the surrounding earth.
Unaware of this strange phenomenon, Avalli focused her mind again.

‘Let’s try what Kyle taught me.’

Kyle had told Avalli various things during his stay.
Although she hadn’t understood a single thing about the principles of using divine power, she had memorized the hand signs and prayers perfectly.

“May the Goddess’s grace reach all corners of this world.”

Avalli clasped her hands together, facing the ground, and recited the prayer.
The first divine magic of the atheist, who didn’t have an ounce of reverence for any god—

‘There it is.’

Succeeded flawlessly.
It would have been a sight to shatter the common sense of Kyle, who could be considered her teacher, but fortunately, he was busy with other matters right now.

In any case, Avalli had successfully used divine magic to pinpoint the demonic beast.
It was 7 kilometers northeast, a distance that would have taken her two or three hours if she had been in her ordinary, disguised form.

‘Not now, though.’

During character creation, she had invested heavily in talents specializing in magic power and magic.
But she also didn’t want physical strength to be a weakness, so she had picked two specific traits.
This was possible because Very Easy mode provided a generous amount of points for trait selection.

[Trait: Blessed Body]
[Your body is blessed. Your growth in all areas related to physical prowess will be steep.]
[300% bonus to physical ability growth]
[+20 bonus to Stamina, Strength, and Agility]
[Your body will not age from its ‘peak condition’.]

[Trait: Mana-Infused Body]
[The mana flowing through your body also affects your physical form. Your physical abilities will be enhanced in proportion to your mana.]
[Stamina, Strength, and Agility increase by 0.2 times your mana stat.]
[You can temporarily enhance your body using mana.]

‘…It’s amazing that I remember this.’

She usually wasn’t good at remembering such trivial details when playing games.
But the moment she recalled character creation, the exact details replayed in her mind.

This was a bit disconcerting for Avalli, but since it wasn’t something to dwell on, she quickly dismissed it.
Instead, Avalli imagined ‘magic power’ circulating through her body—

“Whoa!”

She began to sprint through the midnight Great Forest at a speed that surprised even herself.
It had been a couple of months since she had used this power, so the sensation was incredibly strange.

But her bewilderment was short-lived.
Quickly adapting to the speed, Avalli widened her eyes, focusing on what lay ahead.

At that moment, the obstacle blocking her path vanished from her sight, revealing the target far beyond.

Clairvoyance.

It was one of the few ‘magic’ spells Avalli had given a specific name.
It was also the reason she had been able to reach the west without losing her way in the depths of the Eastern Great Forest.
Although she couldn’t accurately gauge the distance, she could at least see signs of human activity to the west.

‘…I’m a little nervous.’

During her time in Asha Village, she had heard enough about the dangers of demonic beasts to make her ears ring.
Even in Very Easy mode, with all those cheat-like traits, all she could do was handle ordinary beasts.
So, it was only natural for her to be afraid of demonic beasts, said to be several times more dangerous than those beasts.

Of course, after hearing the truth from Kyle recently, that fear had lessened considerably—

‘…But the demonic beasts I defeated might have been particularly weak.’

She couldn’t help but feel tense in this situation, venturing from the edge of civilization back into the wilderness.

Anyway, with such thoughts, Avalli quickly closed the distance.

-Kririgirik?

The strange cry of a demonic beast reached her magic-enhanced ears.
The creepy, chilling cry sent shivers down Avalli’s spine.

And finally, the demonic beast in question came into view.
The demonic beast with purple fur and a long snout that had attacked Hans.

“…Gasp.”

Seeing it, Avalli instantly regretted coming.
The arm that Kyle had severed had already regenerated, and it looked incredibly ferocious, perhaps from days of hunger.

-Kirigiiiiik—!

Moreover, while Avalli hesitated, the demonic beast didn’t give her a moment’s respite and charged straight at her.
Considering its size, which appeared to be about that of a small truck, even a glancing blow would result in serious injury…!

“Kyaaaak!”

Avalli let out a shriek and swung her hand at the charging demonic beast—

“…Huh?”

—and the moment Avalli’s hand made contact, the demonic beast’s skull shattered.