![[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World](https://pub-808a39b4257a4970ba241a999948d404.r2.dev/-silver-ash----become-the-strongest-in-another-world.webp)
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"This room is a complete mess. You should clean it often."
Lucia Khora's already refined voice was increasingly inaudible in the middle of the room that had a pile of books as a silencer.
His interlocutor, Colyn who was checking his own closet seemed to hear that, but there was a considerable time lag until a response was successfully given.
"I tidy it up every summer. Soon winter, they'll all be playing a role in warming the floor."
Even if the reason was absurd, Lucia still accepted it. He then painstakingly walked past the pile of books, and arrived at an area that was completely messy.
There was a large wooden shelf, but it seemed that it was unable to withstand the weight of all the books it contained, so the shelf spewed all the books onto the floor.
This whole room is a complete mess. Although it was quite spacious, all the books lying and piling up on the floor made it look very narrow.
When viewed, there are hundreds of books, with dozens of them open with marker folds, and a few more having outdated marker papers on one of the pages.
Actually, this scene made Lucia very eager to clean it up. However, he realized that the time was not that much.
He was in a treehouse that Colyn had made a permanent home, and he came here just to help Colyn get ready.
A few days ago, both of them had reported on the success of Souris Noelle in completing her mission.
Recruiting three people in a very short period of time was no easy feat, but Souris completed it much faster than expected. This actually makes other members more rushed even though they are not actually being chased for time.
That's Lucia's situation now. He had to help with Colyn's preparations that didn't know when she was done.
To his annoyance, Colyn was too lazy to move so it was only today that she could make preparations.
Lucia shook her head softly as she sighed, making the little bell that became her earring sound a little loud.
His gaze was then fixed on the pile of books around.
He picked up one of the books, and then placed it on a shelf. The same thing happened again to some books, until half the shelves were almost filled.
However, his hand stopped moving as it touched one of the books.
It looks ordinary. Thin picture books, with plain covers that are worn out. However, that was not what attracted Lucia's attention, but rather the water droplets that were clearly printed on the cover.
It seemed like it was a tear, and dripping in the same place repeatedly so as to be able to leave marks on the actual cover quite hard.
Once opened, what Lucia saw was a distinctive graffiti belonging to the children, depicting a whole family; there was a father, mother, older sister, and younger sister.
Only four people, and they were all drawn very simply, without any details.
Lucia flips to the next page, and finds the same collection of figures, doing something she suspects to be 'gardening'.
The next page, describing the four figures was happily reading a book amidst an endless pile of books.
Lucia who continued to look at the pictures inevitably asked, "Who are they? "
He did not expect any answer, because in fact the question was only shown to himself.
However, Colyn who was not far from him calmly replied, "Say, it's me and my whole family."
Although it sounded relaxed, Lucia could clearly feel a trace of uneasiness and sadness in Colyn's voice. His hands also stopped lying down, and he stared at an old photo showing the figure of four people.
The photo was taken with a magic tool, and the quality was also not how much. However, seeing those four blurry figures every heart was enough to make Colyn feel happy.
"Are they gone? " ask Lucia blatantly.
" ……… Ms."
Colyn simply nodded, and resumed her activities unperturbed.
Lucia also realized that there was no point in asking further. That's also disrespectful. Therefore, he chose to remain silent and continue his activities in tidying up Colyn's book collection.
Again, his attention was on one of the books.
His eyes that could see anything even though it was covered in black cloth made him able to see something different from the book.
Lucia was about to open the first page and read it, but her concentration broke as a tiny, cold hand grabbed her shoulder from behind.
His presence was so thin, and made Lucia suddenly turn around with caution to him.
"I'm done preparing. Let's go right now, or we'll run out of room at the inn."
Colyn who got the reaction just laughed and went towards the door while dragging a lazy pillow Souris gave.
"What can I do."
Lucia sighed resignedly and stored the book into her spatial warehouse. He intends to save it for later reading.
It was not an easy matter to contact that candidate named Arcal. At the very least, she and Colyn would spend a few days or even weeks just interacting with him.
Therefore, Lucia plans to bring one or two reading materials that can accompany her when bored.
"Let's go now."
After exiting the room, Lucia went down the stairs, and found Colyn who was already lying casually on her lazy pillow.
The morning sun's light infiltrating through the cracks of leaves and wood made Colyn sleepy for a moment, but she tried to hold it in and pulled Lucia's arm to leave immediately.
...****************...
The journey from Colyn tree house to the Imperial capital took quite a long time, which was about four days.
Even so, those who could reach the center of a country from a remote area at such speed were already quite amazing.
Their method of transportation was nothing but flying. Lucia was riding on Colyn's pillow, which she used to fly.
Arriving at the capital, the first thing they did was to look for lodging.
The Empire has a unique tradition that is always carried out for a whole month leading up to winter, it was performing offerings and rituals on the True Sun God Qulhod to ask for blessings from Him so that they could survive the cruel winter.
The rituals included food offerings, animal sacrifices, and dances that were thought to please the god.
In other words, in the Empire, there was a festival that lasted for an entire month.
Because of this, Colyn and Lucia became quite worried because at a time like this the capital city was very crowded. But fortunately, they managed to get a room in the inn even though it took a hard struggle.
Colyn did not hesitate in the slightest when showing her fatigue in the garden chair that was not far from the lodging area.
Even in a place that he considered calm itself also did not escape the crowd. There were dozens of people passing by without a care for the exhausted moans from Colyn.
"Are you this weak? Or are you just lazy? "
Lucia approached Colyn with two apple sticks coated in melted sugar in her hand.
"Both," Colyn replied without further ado.
But that was indeed true, the magic that Colyn used to fly her pillow consumed quite a lot of concentration. With his usual strength, he could only control it for at most up to six hours.
More than that would be exhausting..
In addition, Colyn was also not at all powerful in both physical and magic. If pitted against a low-level goblin, Colyn would instantly lose if she was not allowed to use the power of her 'Absolute Area.
Lucia wasn't too surprised by that, so she just smiled kindly then sat down after handing the apple stick to Colyn.
They just kept quiet while observing the people who kept passing by, and unknowingly a lot of time had passed.
The sugar apple in Colyn and Lucia's hands was gone, and now they just kept quiet while playing the wooden stick that was used to stick the apple.
"Is this just my feeling, or is there indeed a lot of attention staring at us from earlier? "
After quite a while of silence, Lucia finally spoke. His voice clearly indicated discomfort, and Colyn was aware of it.
"just ignore. The people of the Empire are indeed quite closed to foreigners like us. Especially, they're very religious, so they feel uncomfortable when they see your pastor's dress."
Colyn glanced at the priestess's clothes that were already attached to Lucia's body like her own skin.
Although she had never interacted with them at all, Colyn knew how the form of robes or clothes were commonly used by each church, especially the True Sun God Qulhod Church, the majority religion in the country. Naturally, he knew that Lucia's clothing was not at all the priestly clothing of the religion he knew.
"What religion do you follow? I'm not religious at all, so I know very little about it."
"Ahh, this? "
Lucia then looked at her own clothes. The priest's robe or dress she used had a three-color blend; black, white, and ivory. In addition, there were some additional accessories such as her necklace, bracelet and bell earrings that were pale gold in color, making one wonder if it was real gold or not.
"This is the old dress of the Church of the Goddess Ereshkigal."
"Ereshkigal's? "
Names that Colyn has never heard of. He immediately tilted his head in question while waiting for Lucia to answer.
"Goddess who rules the underworld, Goddess of the Underworld Ereshkigal. It's not very well known, but it's my religion, and I'm the pastor of that church. Though actually the butterfly is The Merciful One."
"Is there a difference between the two? " Colyn asked with half an interest in her voice.
"The goddess Ereshkigal was not long ago the ruler of the underworld. Before gaining power against it, 'He' was a figure called 'The Merciful One'. Though essentially the same existence, the meaning and essence of names and their existence are different."
"Why do you adore him? "
Colyn was not very religious, and it was even right to say that she had no religion at all. What makes him still worthy of being called a devotee of the True Sun God Qulhod is a habit that has been rooted since he was a child.
(Compared to gods, I believe more and depend on myself.)
The thought was formed because he was aware of one thing; that no one would save him even if he shouted loudly. Just himself.
Lucia looked puzzled for a moment as she accepted the question. But it didn't take long for him to answer.
"Say ... This is penance? "
...****************...
After resting, Lucia and Colyn end up traveling around the city to determine where they will look for Arcal.
Arcal was a fairly famous adventurer, so to look for him they could start from the guild first.
However, guilds were international associations that were not too attached to the rules of the country they were residing in. There are many strict rules, especially with regard to confidentiality and privacy of a person.
Guilds would maintain the privacy of each member of the spelling, making it difficult for anyone to scrape detailed information regarding a person, unless that person indeed needed to be investigated.
Moreover, Arcal was a high-leveled adventurer, thus obtaining special services from the guild. Naturally, they must have kept Arcal's secrecy very well.
Despite knowing that, the two still did not mind.
The first one they would visit was the guild, and from there they would start to pry for information.
Not being told by the receptionist was okay, as Lucia only needed to be there to see the truth.
Not without reason its ability is referred to as《Mata Lord》. It is very useful in situations like this.
"This may be the first time I've entered a place like this, so I'm a little nervous" Lucia said as she forced a smile.
As always, it was difficult for anyone to know what expression he made if his eyes were closed like that. Just by raising the corner of the lips feels a little dubious to be called a smile.
Colyn beside him did not say much, and immediately opened the door.
"There is always a first for everything. I remember Souris once said that."
The door opened, and a sickening crowd instantly appeared before the two.
The place is almost full. Fortunately, there was still room to walk there.
The two of them carefully stepped in without bumping into anyone, yet their steps instantly came to a halt as a loud voice emerged from the side.
"Ohh! Isn't that you, Colyn! Long time no see! "
A young woman advanced through the crowd, and she immediately hugged Colyn as soon as she confirmed her presence.
Lucia could not understand the situation and could only remain silent, while Colyn was already drowning in the woman's arms, given no room to breathe.
"Wait around! Let go of me, who are you?! "
Colyn tried to separate herself from the woman, but what could a girl with a weaker physique do than a goblin? His hands couldn't even push the woman.
"Eh? Did you forget about me? "
Thanks to Colyn's words earlier, the woman finally let go of her embrace, and she perplexedly looked at Colyn's equally bewildered face.
"Wait a minute, I'm sure I've seen your face before …. Ohhh! Aren't you Milfa? "
"That's right! Glad you can remember me! "
The woman named Milfa re-hugged Colyn, and completely ignored Lucia's presence.
"Excuse me .. If you don't mind, can you step aside? We still have business …."
It wasn't Lucia's hobby to interrupt the reunion, but she was aware of the limited time she had here.
Lucia had no way of restraining the strength of her eyes. Even when he was covered in cloth, his eyes were still trying to read and know everything in front of him.
Being in the crowd was a troublesome thing for Lucia as she could not control as much as what information could enter through her eyes. Therefore, he planned to finish this as quickly as possible without having to overload his own brain.
He did not want to fate the same as the people whose heads exploded as he injected millions of information into their brains.
"Hm? Whoareyou? Colyn, is he your acquaintance? "
"Yes, that is," Colyn replied calmly as she tried to separate herself from Milfa.
"Lucia, her name is Milfa, she's the one who helped me a lot when I was a beginner here." Colyn who knew the limitations of Lucia's power immediately introduced Milfa, and intended to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
However, Milfa was definitely not the one who could finish the conversation in two dialogues.
"Ohh! Greetings! Call me as you like! So you've been looking after Colyn, yeah .. I have to thank you. She's been like a sister to me, so you should always take care of her."
(He really talks a lot.)
Lucia subconsciously thought of that, and tried to hold her mouth so that the thought would not leak in the form of words. Meanwhile, Colyn had already returned to talking to Milfa.
Their conversation was completely inaudible, but it seemed that Colyn was upset about something, while Milfa just kept smiling at her.
Lucia smiled, but her eyes were staring very coldly at the point between the two. The surrounding voices had already faded, and his eyes involuntarily focused on something that either existed or did not.
A cold and itchy sensation immediately ran down her back, and Lucia was trembling from it.
Something very scary is moving. He realized that without even having to stare directly at her.
To be sure, it was sourced from behind, and it kept moving.
Lucia had involuntarily been speechless and broke out in cold sweat, and her stiff neck slowly twisted to look at the source of that terrifying aura.
He knew it was a stupid act. Too much knowing something is not a good thing, especially for someone with eye power like her.
If he greedily scratches out information that he should not know, then the chance to get out of control and experience berserk conditions is one hundred percent.
Even so, Lucia kept looking.
This was not his desire, but a natural curiosity as a human being.
What he saw behind the door instantly caused him to fall to the floor, and feel an overwhelming nausea. If only he did not control himself, then he would have immediately vomited on the spot.
Standing not far behind him, blocked by a pair of doors, was a man, wearing the typical clothes and robes of the Church of the Lumine Goddess.
The man paid no attention to Lucia, and continued to walk without problems accompanied by several Templar Knights whose uniforms he had seen several times from Tristan Asher.
Despite being blocked by the door, Lucia could clearly see them, and see what was terrible there.
That terrifying aura was not from 'defilement', but from his own strength that was beyond reason. Moreover, there was a completely unknown pool of energy Lucia enveloped the man.
Although he had often seen people with an amount of strength and mana beyond reason, he was completely frightened when he saw the figure of the man.
His strength and amount of mana were limitless. There is no other way to explain it than with that sentence.
Aside from her absurd amount of power, Lucia also saw the existence of other things that humans should not have.
There were several holes, which were wide open in the space around the man. All of the unknown energy and mana he had spewed out from each of those holes continuously in large quantities, as if his capacity was indeed infinite.
Colyn, Milfa, and a few people nearby began to approach with worry, but Lucia did not even care about their presence.
His mind was focused on analyzing what he had just seen.
Within each of those open holes, there was a terrifying absolute emptiness. However, there was one figure that stood still without any sense of presence in it.
It seemed like all the power that the hole spewed out came from him, and the figure remained silent without doing anything.
However, when peered at by Lucia, the figure looked back at her, as if he was looking at something very foreign.
A gripping, frightening, and nervous feeling instantly filled Lucia as she looked into the figure for a split second.
There's no way he could forget it. A humanoid figure with a large head, having two round eyes that are wide open with one additional large eye on the forehead. It had no legs, but rather dozens of slimy black tentacles that twitched at any given interval.
It was difficult to know its size, as the figure stood in the middle of the gripping void. However, no matter the size, that presence had already instilled a very deep fear towards anyone who saw it, including Lucia.
Although it was only a glimpse, Lucia could clearly remember every detail she witnessed.
His entire body was black except for those three completely white eyes. And with one of his hands, the figure hugged a stone board with a carved inscription on its surface.
It was written in a language that Lucia was not familiar with, but somehow she was able to read even without relying on the strength of her eyes.
On the stone, engraved one word: 'ARCHIVE'.
Lucia almost lost consciousness, but she slowly recovered as the figure of the man in the Lumine Church robes went away among the crowd.
With a heavy breath, he managed to call out a single sentence.
"I ... I have to report this! "
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