A Girl With Crinum Flowers

Ignoring my tiredness and bloodied body, I ran towards the source of the scream.

Activating my Detection skill, I saw what was happening from where the sound originated. I saw a young black-haired girl fighting against a pack of silver-colored wolves. There were about ten wolves surrounding her, cornering her.

It seemed to be the pack of wolves that had escaped from my previous battle. I recalled around twenty wolves fleeing due to my intimidation skill, and it's possible that these ten wolves had scattered and coincidentally encountered the girl. If that's the case, I had a responsibility to help her because I allowed some wolves to escape, which could potentially attack someone they encountered. I should have eliminated all the wolves if this was going to be the result, which was beyond my prediction. At the very least, I needed to apologize to the girl after beheading all the remaining wolf heads.

My leg movements now felt more agile and faster, perhaps due to my level increase.

*Slash!

*Slash!

With two surprise slashes from behind, my sword strikes directly aimed at their necks, cleanly severing the heads of four wolves. The other six wolves immediately shifted their gaze towards me, diverting their focus from the girl who was still sitting there, trembling, with her hands covering her face and her back pressed against a large tree behind her. She was truly in a cornered position.

However, for some reason, the remaining six wolves only stared at me and didn't attack directly. It seemed like their wolf instincts still sensed the effects of my previous intimidation skill. Now, the wolves were cautious of me. It was as if a weaker entity could sense a stronger entity.

*Slash!

*Slash!

Without wasting any more time before they fled in fear, I swiftly unleashed consecutive sword strikes, targeting their necks. Three normal-speed sword strikes instantly brought down the six wolves, their heads neatly severed. It was clearly a one-sided battle with a clean sweep, without any counterattacks.

I shifted my gaze and approached the girl who was still frozen in fear beneath the tree.

"Hey, now you can open your eyes," I called out to her as she continued to bury her head in her knees, hands covering her face.

"M-mother... forgive me,"

I couldn't understand; now she was babbling incoherently.

"Hey... it's over," I shouted a little louder to snap her out of it.

Still in her sitting position, she slowly opened her eyes and looked in my direction.

"Aaah... please, ple-please don't kill me!" Why did the situation turn out like this? I didn't even activate my intimidation skill or emit a killing aura.

"Ah... wait, you've misunderstood," I said to her to clarify the situation.

Perhaps it was because of my current appearance, wearing torn shorts, my body covered in fresh red wolf blood, and dual swords in my hands, from someone else's perspective, I probably looked like a cruel killer, especially with a scared girl in front of me as evidence.

"I won't kill you," I said as I sheathed both of my swords into the dimensional storage.

"On the contrary, I saved you. Look, all the wolves that attacked you are dead," I said to reassure her.

Now she seemed calmer and shifted her gaze towards the place where all the dead wolves lay.

"Thank you for saving me, and I apologize for the misunderstanding," she said, lowering her head slightly.

"It's okay."

With her long black hair tied in a ponytail, she appeared to be around fifteen to seventeen years old, similar to my age. Her amber-brown eyes and serene face, coupled with her fair skin, made her quite beautiful in my eyes. Additionally, her tall and proportionate figure, dressed in black pants and a white puff-sleeved t-shirt, gave off a simple and pretty impression. If I were a modeling agency, I would recruit her right away.

"Um... Hello."

"Ah, sorry, I was daydreaming."

"It's fine."

"I'm Vans. May I know your name?" I asked to lighten the mood a bit.

"My name is Livia, but people usually call me Livi."

"Ah! my flower... the flowers I gathered," she suddenly ran towards the scattered flowers.

It seemed like she was here to gather flowers. I noticed several flowers damaged and strewn around the area where I fought the wolves. Not far from there, I saw a broken sword. It seemed she had also broken her sword while fighting off the attacking wolves.

"Livi, I apologize. It's probably because of me that those wolves attacked you and damaged the flowers you were collecting."

At least I was prepared to compensate her if she asked, including providing a replacement for her broken sword.

"Why would that be your fault? Weren't you the one who saved me? And it was my own fault for venturing too deep into the forest."

I explained the previous battle against the pack of wolves and how some of them had escaped and eventually attacked her.

"Is that so... Well, it doesn't matter. In the end, you still helped me," she replied briefly without dwelling on it further.

"By the way, why does your appearance look like that? It's a bit intimidating. Is it because of the wolves? And how did you end up in this place?" She asked in succession while looking at my body.

It was a bit difficult to answer. At least I would come up with some lies.

"Maybe I'm experiencing amnesia right now."

"Amnesia... what's that?"

It seemed there was no medical term like "amnesia" here.

"Memory loss... I suddenly woke up in this forest. I don't know why I'm here or remember anything before I was here."

At least it was the best answer I could come up with. I couldn't tell the truth, and it was impossible to make up a location-based reason when I didn't know where this forest was.

She seemed unable to digest my explanation well and remained silent without asking further questions.

"Alright... let's not think about it. It's better if you can help me now."

I interrupted to prevent her from dwelling on my previous explanation and to avoid more troublesome questions. Besides, I really needed her help at the moment.

"What do you need help with?"

"First, please tell me where the nearest river or lake is. I want to clean up the dirt and blood on my body."

"There's a river not far from here. I'll take you there."

"Alright, let's go now."

"Wait, are you planning to leave all these wolf carcasses here? It could attract other monsters to this place," she said, pointing toward the scattered wolf carcasses.

"Oh, right... I forgot. Let's store them for now," I said as I stored the wolf carcasses in my storage magic. Maybe I'll share them with Livi later.

"Ehh..." She was surprised to see me using my storage magic.

Ignoring her surprise, I asked her to quickly show me the way to the nearest river.

After walking for about two hundred meters, we reached a large river with crystal-clear water. It was a pristine and untouched river, free from any pollution or industrial waste.

"I'll wait over there," Livi said, pointing to a big tree not far from the river.

It wouldn't be appropriate for her, a woman, to wait for a man bathing.

"Instead of waiting here, can I ask for your help again? Please, I beg you. You're the only one who can help me at the moment. There's no one else," I said. Indeed, she was the only one who could assist me now.

"What is it?"

"Is the distance from here to the city quite far?" I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be too inconvenient if the city was too distant.

"No, it's about a half-hour walk from here to get back to the city," she replied. It would take about an hour to come back here on foot.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, but can I ask you to buy some clothes for me in the city?"

I would probably be considered insane if I entered the city with my current appearance.

I took out three silver coins from my storage. It seemed that the god had converted my previous currency into these coins. I handed her three silver coins, each with a face value of one thousand.

"Wait... this amount of money..."

"Is it not enough?" I worried that it might not be sufficient since I didn't know the value of money in this world.

"No... actually, it's too much. Even just one coin is more than enough."

I didn't mind if it was a lot of money. It was better to have more than less.

"Here, I'll give you back two coins. One is enough," she said, returning two coins to me.

"You can wait here. I'll come back as soon as possible."

"Thank you. Are you okay going back to the city alone?" I was a little worried in case there were wolves or other monsters.

"It's fine. Even if there are monsters, they probably only appear in certain conditions like earlier."

After that, she left, and I continued my task of cleaning myself in the river.

When I saw my reflection in the water, it was evident that the god had regenerated this body to be better. A muscular and fair body, combined with a cool and handsome face, white hair, and sapphire-blue eyes.

I hoped the original owner of this body wouldn't be angry with me for taking over his body and memories. After all, it wasn't entirely my fault. It was clearly god's fault for sending me to this world.

I felt refreshed after bathing, and the stickiness and the smell of blood were gone from my body.

After almost an hour, Livi finally returned, holding a set of clothes for me. I was grateful that she genuinely helped me and didn't deceive me.

I quickly got out of the river and walked towards Livi.

But for some reason, she immediately handed me the clothes and left without saying a word, her face turning red.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Ah... damn, I forgot," I forgot to cover up my "Excalibur". I had just apologized to her, but now I made an even bigger mistake.

I hurriedly put on my clothes and went to where Livi was waiting.

"Shall we go to the city now?" I asked Livi, who still had her head down.

"Ah... y-yes, here's your change," she said, handing me a bunch of coins.

"It's fine. Keep it for yourself."

"The money is too much for me."

"Consider it as my gratitude to you, and also because I might need your help again in the future. So, you can keep the money for yourself."

"Alright, I'll accept it."

I still had plenty of coins in my storage. One coin wouldn't affect my finances. In fact, I would give her more coins if she asked for them, but I didn't think she was the type of girl who was greedy.

"Oh, by the way, Vans, what about the wolf carcasses?"

"Why? Do you want them?"

I could give her half of the wolves I had killed, which were currently stored in my storage.

"No... not that. I'm not asking for them. Maybe I can help in dismantling and dissecting the flesh. There are magic crystals inside the wolf carcasses. You can get a better price if you sell them with the crystals extracted and the monster materials dissected separately." She explained briefly to me. Still, there were things that I didn't quite understand. In games, when you finish killing a monster, it automatically drops items.

"Alright... I'll take them out."

I only took out a few wolf carcasses. It would take a lot of time if she had to work on all of them.

I sat beside her, watching her work. It truly was her expertise, seeing how quickly she dissected the wolf carcasses.

"Livi, why do you collect flowers in the forest alone? Is it a hobby of yours?"

Usually, girls or women tend to enjoy collecting flowers.

"The ones I collect are called Crinum flowers. I gather them for my mother," she replied.

"Did your mother ask you to?"

Wasn't it excessive to ask a child to gather a specific flower alone in a dangerous forest?

"Crinum flowers have numerous benefits and uses. The petals are commonly used to make energy recovery potions and high-level healing potions. The essence of the flower can be used to heal internal organ diseases. And if they are sold, Crinum flowers have a high value. Unfortunately, Crinum flowers only bloom once a year, during one season, and they can only be used when they're in full bloom. Usually, they have a time limit of just one day and one night. Sadly, I lost the flowers today."

I didn't know how to respond since it had touched on a very sensitive topic. I stayed silent without asking any further questions.

"Don't think too much about it. What's done is done," she spoke while I was still lost in thought.

"Well, it's done now," she said, showing me her completed work. It seemed to be done quite quickly.

There were several magic crystals, pieces of flesh, and neatly separated skin. I immediately stored them all in my storage.

"Alright, everything is done, right?"

I stood up and stretched my body.

"Yes, we can go back to the city now."

I walked alongside Livi, with her as my guide. We talked about many things, especially about the first city I would visit in this world.