"Grandma, I will be leaving the town for a few days."

  Bella Noll raised her eyebrows in surprise. Eric had never left Ringwood Town since arriving at her orphanage as a toddler. Even during horseback riding lessons, he'd never ventured beyond the town—or rather, just within the orphanage grounds.

  She wondered what he was planning.

  "No problem. Where are you going?"

  Eric answered without hiding anything, "I am planning to travel directly south, then to the southeast."

  Bella Noll was fine with Eric's few-day trip, but she still decided to ask in case she could help with whatever he was attempting.

  "If it's fine, then tell me the reason. Maybe I can help you with my knowledge."

  Eric thought for a brief moment.

  He wouldn’t hide anything from Bella Noll—well, except for his past life, which had no significance to anyone.

  "To be honest, there are two goals. First, I simply wish to experience wildlife for a few days before I leave this town in the future. Second, I’d like to find that butler who brought me here, even if it’s just his corpse. Maybe I can salvage some wealth from his rot—ahem, dead body. I always had a feeling that he might have left something for me—perhaps information related to my background or maybe some resources."

  Bella Noll laughed at Eric's open declaration of corpse looting.

  She shook her head in amusement. "I didn’t mention this earlier. All high-Rank Mana Wielders' corpses are very dangerous to mortals. In fact, chances are high that even if he had died, he wouldn’t have left his corpse here to protect this town. But what you said is also possible—he might have prepared something that only you can sense, probably hidden from others. I don’t have much understanding of Mana Wielders above Apprentice Rank and their capabilities, so be extremely careful. Don’t underestimate the dangers of the world. Okay, I’ve warned all three of you enough about this. Let me think..."

  Bella Noll thought deeply and glanced back up at Eric in surprise. "So, you’ve thought through where he might have left his body in case he died, huh? Pretty smart. I guess you plan to head directly north while leaving this town? That’s also a good option—if you’ve already become a Mana Wielder by then. In fact, I arrived at Ringwood Town that way."

  She suddenly felt very nostalgic. She actually didn’t know if there was a town, a city, or any village—she had simply kept traveling. She’d arrived at Batley City with an Animal Handler’s newborn Rank 1 Eldertalon bird, and now that she recalled, she wondered what had happened to that bird. She’d just handed it over to the Animal Handlers of Batley City—had it returned to its home, or was it still stuck there?

  Bella Noll chuckled and shook her head. Many other memories floated in her mind, and now that she recalled, it had been more than a decade since she’d arrived at Ringwood and never left.

  She thought some more and suggested, "You can just head toward the southeast. Anywhere directly south—well-hidden and safe—is at least dozen kilometers away. Going that far without many human settlements, as a mortal, is basically asking for an accident. The southeast forest is a much more valid possibility to find what you seek."

  She paused, then stared at Eric pensively and reminded him, "I’ll warn you again—the world is dangerous, and trouble can appear without warning. As long as there are trees and obstacles, with your current balance and agility, you could even survive an encounter with an early-stage Rank 1 Warrior or Mage—as long as they’re not too skilled in maneuvering within forests, and you’re not in a wide-open area. But you three all share a major weakness—though it’s not your fault. You’re all quite helpless if a Mana Wielder, a beast, or a trained person sneak-attacks you. So, take extra caution of your surroundings."

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  "I’d suggest taking Lyria and Livy with you, but it could also increase the danger if you all separate. Sigh... If only you children had become Mana Wielders, then I wouldn’t have to worry so much. Alright, be careful."

  Eric nodded, grateful for Bella Noll’s suggestion, which had helped him narrow down to one direction.

  "Then I’ll go purchase a few things from town and leave early tomorrow morning. I’ll probably return within three to four days, so don’t worry."

  Eric left Bella Noll’s room with excitement about returning to being a caveman.

  He thought four days might not be enough to enjoy the forest, but he’d return within a week anyway, so he didn’t care too much.

  Eric smoothly left the orphanage and went outside to do some shopping. Bella Noll had made sure they had enough money ever since they’d turned twelve and Hannah no longer tagged along with them. So, all three had one hundred gold coins each in savings—enough that they couldn’t spend it all even if they bought a reasonably good-sized shop in town.

  Eric had already prepared most of the necessities for this trip—all while making sure Lyria and Livy remained unaware, as he was certain both girls would forcefully tag along.

  Lyria and Livy’s emotions toward him were becoming volatile with each passing year, and Eric deeply feared that one day they would explode into nuclear fusion and completely engulf him, with him being tied down to a bed, helpless.

  So, Eric planned to escape Ringwood Town in the future even before Lyria and Livy came close to realizing their feelings.

  In fact, even the workers within the orphanage had started to notice Lyria and Livy’s emotions, which earlier used to be quite innocent and cute, were becoming more and more bloodthirsty toward him with each passing year.

  It gave Eric chills every night. For safety reasons, he had also started locking his door at night—ahem, that was a bit of an exaggeration—after all, Lyria and Livy were still just kids, even though their heights and figures said otherwise. And they were also less than a year from becoming proper adults in this world.

  Riya gave some 'honest' suggestions, which she had suggested countless times already: “You know, Eric, you don’t need to live the same way you used to back on Earth. You can go into a relationship with both Ly and Liv. You’ve surely noticed they don’t even compete with each other for you. Well, they haven’t even realized their longing for you, so I don’t know how it’ll turn out. But you probably won’t find such honest and genuine emotions from girls toward you in the future.”

  Eric rolled his eyes. How did Riya know he wouldn’t find such 'genuine' emotions from a girl toward him? But leaving that aside, he was completely fine being single for life. And even if he took both Lyria and Livy as adventure companions, that didn’t mean he’d go into a genital, ahem, love relationship with them. Not to mention, they hadn’t even confessed anything to him.

  Although he had good feelings for both Lyria and Livy, he just didn’t want to go into any love relationship for the time being.

  He was just an innocent kid! Leave his poor underage ass alone!

  Riya rolled her eyes in exasperation and no longer spoke. She was still pissed with Eric’s attitude about being a single ass.

  Eric ignored thinking about all those things and focused on his current task.

  Currently, he just needed some bandages and food. There was a shop that sold packaged foods that stopped the food inside from rotting for a week. It was perfect, and what he mostly needed was lots of nuts, a bottle of honey, and, of course, fruit—that he could grab from the orphanage kitchen early in the morning before leaving.

  It didn’t take Eric long, and he was done.

  He quickly went back to the orphanage, took a bath, and had an early dinner. Lyria and Livy were still training or perhaps bathing, so he smoothly avoided seeing them.

  After dinner was over, Eric informed a worker in the canteen to tell Livy and Lyria that he had already gone to sleep, so they wouldn’t disturb him after this.

  After that, Eric went back to his room and did a thorough recheck to see if he had missed anything.

  After confirming everything was good to go, he lay down on his giant-sized bed.

  “Riya, wake me up at 3 AM.”

  Riya didn’t need to sleep, so she was perfect as an alarm clock.

  “Alright…” A despondent voice sounded inside Eric’s head.

  With a wary smile, Eric asked, “What happened to you? Why are you so downhearted?” Though he already had an idea why.

  “Sigh, never mind. I just hoped you could take my sisters with you or at least inform them of your departure.”

  “Informing them is suicide. They’d definitely tag along. Although this could make the journey a lot easier—and perhaps even fun, but since it’s my first time entering this world’s jungle, I want to go alone.”

  Eric then sighed with some bad memories from his past life: “And if they don’t share my passion, then they’ll keep nagging me like a mother and keep telling me not to do this or that, or not to go there because it’s too dangerous, and so on…” He had terrible memories of this kind of friend from his past life—who were too overprotective and didn’t let him freely seek his own death.

  “How would you know if they share your passion or not? Why don’t you come clean with them about it?” Riya also sighed. She could imagine how heartbroken Lyria and Livy would be after learning Eric had left without even taking them. In a sense, Eric wasn’t wrong; those girls would definitely follow him, even to an enemy camp.

  “Fine, I get it. I’ll come clean with them after this trip.”

  Riya rolled her pretty eyes. “What if they tried to search for you and fell into some danger and died?”

  Eric answered with a sigh, “Then it’s their fate and choice. I can only do what I can; more is beyond the current me. I can also die on this trip. Anyway, let’s not talk about this. Wake me up. Good night!”

  Eric blew out the candle and went to sleep.