Author: Thank you for reading. Most of my chapters will be longer on monday and tuesday due to my personal schedule. But I won’t make my other released chapter too short, I hate really short chapter too. I tend to look through previous chapters for any spelling errors or sentences worded odd so I don’t mind it being pointed out.

In the future there will be polls to help readers interact as well but for now just enjoy.

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When Shiro woke up she seemed a bit flustered, but things settled relatively quickly. Having some of the food the inn provided before we leave had us both feeling like we are in heaven. Shiro especially since she can’t pop into another realm and share snacks with a goddess. Thinking this left me a little guilty so I resolved to give her more delicious foods.

Maybe if I get a cooking proficiency…

My thoughts were cut off by some guy who already seems to be drunk and has lecherous look about him. Seemingly ignoring me, he approaches Shiro (*crack* to interrupt our meal). Her head is covered by the cloak, but like I mentioned to her she is a growing beauty and some things are hard to not notice.

The drunk creep visibly licks his lips and tries to get her attention with some type of noise that I think is him talking. Jeez is that the alcohol or how he really talks, it’s like listening to a bird squawking with a rod in it’s throat. I might just kill him to do the world a favor, and the way Shiro looks right now, I think she would agree.

But we need to use this inn for one more day so I proceeded to ‘gently’ knock him out and escort Shiro out of the building.

Getting back on track, me and Shiro came up with a simple list of things we needed before leaving. Transportation was out of the question but food, tools, weapons, a tent, and other such things were on the list. Checking around the prices of everything, I would have a few big copper left over.

We first went to get some simple weapons for defense. The blacksmith, which was unsurprisingly the only dwarf in town, seemed incredibly annoyed when we showed up. Seriously every merchant we meet seems to master the same [squint eyes] technique. We still managed to get a short copper sword and two simple copper daggers. I was teaching Shiro how to use the dagger before but only had one, now we both have weapons and backups just in case. The whole duel wield thing is impractical for beginners and I like having a free hand for versatility.

After the weapons were secured we went to get sturdy bags for the tents and other necessities to be held in, my sack can only do so much. As an added bonus, when people with less than pure eyes would look at Shiro now, they would shrink back when they saw we were armed.

As we were walking Shiro’s stomach rumbled and she tried to cover it up. Our breakfast was interrupted and I wouldn’t let her go hungry. Street venders are all over the place so buying some food wasn’t that hard. The money used was courtesy of a few passerby's that seemed like bad people. Some habits die hard I guess, and I’d rather have some extra funds after all this shopping.

When we were finally finished with everything we were heading back to the inn to leave the town at first light.

On the way there, we saw someone we truly felt glad to see for once. Abra was standing inside a building doing some work for a seamstress. But knowing the way things are and how we live, I bet she is being underpaid. I always admired how well she would stitch patches onto our clothes. She even taught me a few things that I’ve been practicing.

When she saw us, immediately she was warning us to leave town. As she did she smiled and wished us luck without minding if she will be in trouble for warning us.

...She shouldn’t be living a life like this, someone like her should have a better life. I tried to convince her to come with us, but she only shook her head replying, “Even if I don’t have a grand life, I’m in a position to help people have a chance to live long enough to do something with their lives. I’m not condoning the fact that you killed the other kids, but I’m not dumb enough to not see why. You two can do great things, and I’m getting too old for adventures. BUT YOU BETTER COME VISIT YA HEAR!” (Abra)

Saying that she just went back to work without uttering another word or giving a glance in our direction. When I get stronger I’ll be sure to give her a good home.

Shiro was shedding some tears but didn’t say anything. Tomorrow we will be leaving, and unexpectedly we have someone waiting for us. I can only hope nothing happens to her while we are gone.

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Waking up relatively early I gazed at the ceiling, I was now heading into unknown territory, this was the reality of my situation. It has been that way for a long time, but now it feels a lot more oppressive and real. But shrinking back and taking it easy here will get me nowhere. Shiro got up moments later and we both began to head out with our luggage.

We had a light breakfast to save time, but we didn’t even make it out the door before problems popped up. That drunk guy from yesterday brought two friends, this time though his attention is on me.

His companions started laughing at him for getting beat up by some brat and added fuel to the fire. This is getting really annoying, I try to walk by with Shiro but one of them cuts me off. *Crack* these fuckers need to take a hint.

They seem to be about to say something, but no doubt it’s gonna be retarded so I ignore them and just kicked in the knee of the guy that walked in front of me. To keep him from wasting his breath with his screams I proceed to use my sheathed copper dagger and slam it against his throat. Shiro is oddly in sync with me and already knocked out the other one with a quick round house kick to the temple...he didn’t have a chance.

We looked at the original drunk, who has already lost a few teeth from our first encounter, and he just pissed himself and ran away leaving his friends. The innkeeper looked pissed so we took whatever money they had and passed it over to him, he just gave a sigh and bid us off muttering to himself.

When we approached the gate I gave a look back towards the Lords estate. That bastard killed my new mom and left me to die, I guarantee that he is living on borrowed time and will pay.

With that we left the town and moved to our next destination.

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The trip takes about 5 days on foot so I reminded Shiro to be mindful of the surroundings and to always keep communication between us. One major rule I gave her was to never venture too far away from me. You never know what's out there with no one patrolling the roads and monster attacks increasing.

The only reason the town was still safe was because of the mercenaries hired by the Lord, but that only applied to when they ventured toward the town and not the farm lands. Even though the farmers had monster problems, they still had to pay taxes worth an arm and a leg. It’s unfortunate but the Lord will get what’s coming...eventually. *Sigh* The waiting will probably kill me before any strong person does.

As me and Shiro walked down this poorly paved road and entered the more forested area, we kept our conversations simple while I practiced controlling my magic and Shiro familiarized herself with her new daggers.

The [Magic Hands] skill allowed me to alter things, so I wondered if it was possible to enchant my blade with mana with it. There was no noticeable effect before but maybe it will work now that it is at rank 10. Yesterday’s treatment for Shiro finally pushed it to this level.

I kept thinking of the properties of copper and a more uniform composition of the underlying metal for a more sturdy blade. With a bit of focus some change finally happened..

[Identify] revealed:

Simple copper dagger:

A dagger made on the free time of a dwarf blacksmith with no effort put into its make leaving it less than average quality.

Grade: H → G

Durability up (very small)

Sharpness up (very small)

This could lead to some pretty good things, I tried working on the other equipment and got ‘Tensile strength up (very small)’ and ‘Softness up (very small)’ on anything to due with linen and cloth. The hard leather and metals only got a ‘Durability up (very small)’, with a ‘Sharpness up (very small)’ if it was a weapon. Shiro was happy with the extra comfort since these clothes tend to chafe after a while.

After that I decided I could also try circulating my mana around me, rather than within, with different elements. I have an idea of what might happen but so far nothing. Mana just doesn’t seem to work like those books were things happened immediately and instead take time to shape the way you want. So my training now had me circulate my mana regularly with breaks. Over training will have negative effects so I’ll be patient.

As I was practicing Shiro seemed to take a heavy interest since it wasn’t my usual regime, so I explained what I was doing. It ending up with me trying to teach her but I don’t know if her mana core formed yet or if she has the aptitude. I confirmed with Amare and the core forms at different speeds depending on the person and her injuries from her childhood delayed it. But she proved me wrong the next day when she got a slight reaction from her core. Her core seemed to be functioning properly so she can finally train in mana control.

Now I have her just repeatedly practice when we rest until she can move her mana freely. It should take a while but she is making progress.

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There wasn’t much else to the trip besides our feet getting sore. The surrounding forest got thicker and the sounds of animals was constantly heard in the distance.

Everything was going fine up until the fourth day when we met up with some trouble.

In the distance we spotted what seemed to be a damaged wagon that was being attacked by a hoard of {Gorcs} that is described to everyone due to their habits. Its this worlds version of goblins but have the physical strength and size of a 165 cm orc rather than that of a weak child. My current height is at 155 cm while Shiro’s is at 168 cm putting her as the tallest. These guys are nightmares for the populous with their insatiable desire to rape and pillage. They are also the only known creature that can overturn the breeding statistics and make it a 100% chance guarantee {Gorc} offspring. These creatures are so hated that when one is spotted subjugation raids are formed to wipe out any growing community. But that is as far as any unity this world has, and shows how much the {Gorc} race is despised.

Me and Shiro couldn’t tell who the victims were but it seems that the guards are putting up a decent fight but will most likely fall soon. I was about to head over to kill those {Gorcs} while they were distracted and gain some experience until I noticed the cargo when I got close.

It was seemed to be another slave trader wagon, and this one seemed to have only one slave, a seemingly young girl. When Shiro noticed she had a disgusted face and we both mentally agreed to jump in when the fighting revealed a winner.

It was no surprise later when the guards were killed and they started trying to pry open the wagon doors and also the cage the slave was in. It was then that me and Shiro acted.

Silently we snuck up on these monsters, their smell practically burned the hair in my nostrils so I switched to breathing through my mouth. The total was 6 remaining {Gorcs} and they were all too preoccupied to notice us. Using my dagger I jumped up and pierced the back of the closest {Gorc} striking close to his heart, and wrapped my arm around his throat to choke his voice down while I stabbed a few more holes in him as he bleed out. Shiro went straight for the eyes of the next one ending him quickly, her height advantage is something I’m starting to envy. My stats may seem high for my age but with this body it’s difficult to use them to their potential.

The other four noticed us and seemed to remind me of some people but I can't remember who, maybe it’s the expression they have on their faces. But it didn’t matter as me and Shiro moved in on the next two. Their instincts kicked in as they ran toward us screaming. These {Gorcs} were using some clubs and didn’t bother with the weapons on the floor. Most likely they love splattering people into paste.

They split off to fight us 2v1 each which didn’t seem to be planned. Each time their weapons smashed into something, it left debris flying everywhere. It was getting annoying to draw close to them so I grabbed some dirt off the ground and threw it into the nearest ones eyes. He wailed and swung the club around hitting his companion leading to the fighting each other. Shiro followed my lead and did the same. With them more disorganized and fighting themselves, finishing them off was pretty easy. I gain a few notifications for a level but ignored them since I was holding onto my stats for a huge boost. And gaining stats with training also has its merits since I have a better handle of my body's capabilities.

I approached the door to the wagon while Shiro went toward the cage. This wagon looked pretty big with an open back for cargo, and an entrance to a more than likely sleeping area or work place in the front, topped of with the coachman's seat with a cover for the rain. It was screaming custom made and I was left wondering why it had only one slave.

I got my answer when some portly looking guy poked his head out with confusion written all over it. He had snot and tears running down his face and gave off a naturally oily skinned type of person. He spotted me and was about to say something when until he saw Shiro.

“Hey don’t touch that...it’s mine! I paid for it!” (Portly man) His eyes wandered and seemed to gain a lecherous glint as he suddenly said, “Hey brat is she yours, *slurp haha*, I’ll pay you 1 gold for her *haha*, be grateful.” (disgusting man)

*Crack* my face contorted in disgust as this thing started panting in front of me as he looked at Shiro. The slave girl and Shiro seemed to have similar opinions of the guy as they made similar faces. Without hesitation I kicked his crotch and forced him onto the floor. He didn’t even seem to understand why I hit him as he fell in pain, and started making demands and spouting nonsense about being a noble.

His demands switched to begging when I struck him and crippled his limbs with hits toward the joints dislocating them. I continued on to slash away at him as he became a crying mess. All of my strikes meant to inflict pain. Slowly remove all the fat and make him a more presentable individual upon his death.

“To do…*slice*...such a horrible…*slice*...thing as to take…*slice*...people's freedom…*slice slice*..., to call yourself noble…*slice*..., and look at Shiro…*slice*...…*slice*...…*slice*...with such dirty eyes…*slice*, the world will be…*slice*...a better place…*slice*...…*slice*...…*slice*...…*slice*...…*slice*...…*slice*...without you…*stab*” (Kuro)

I left his begging unanswered, how many others begged for mercy under him, how many smiles taken…HOW MANY!...

When I collected myself I looked toward Shiro in fear of how I must look in her eyes, but she only smiled at me. I saw no hesitation, no fear, no disgust, just a genuine smile. Seeing it made me feel relieved and resolved to make sure that this smile will never disappear from her, I won't let it.

Gazing over toward the slave girl she seemed to panic and said, “B-be awed at your fortune f-for meeting the great me!” (Slave girl)

...Come again?

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A/N: thank you for reading, my schedule will allow me to do multiple releases Mondays and Tuesdays

But this should hold you over.