Livia's Childhood

They say that childhood experiences greatly influence a person's character. Even if the memories from a time when one's head was still wet behind the ears are faint, a fragment of those lingering memories becomes a 'recollection' that changes a person.

The same was true for 3rd Branch Leader Livia. Honestly, she thought the colors of her life weren't very diverse. But if she had to pick the time when her life was most vibrant... it was definitely her childhood.

She felt so many emotions back then. It was before she joined Lemegeton, and there was a rather special person at the orphanage where she grew up.

She was too young to remember his name or face clearly, but she remembered he had black hair and amber eyes. She quite liked him at the time.

“He”s handsome!’

What first caught her attention was, without a doubt, his appearance. Even though her baby teeth hadn't all fallen out yet, his looks were striking enough to stand out even in the Orphanage. For a child's heart, that alone was enough to spark affection.

But the real reason she came to like him wasn't just his looks. At first, she simply approached him wanting to be friends, but the more time they spent together, the more she noticed other qualities. For instance, he had a mature side, unlike that of a typical child.

Ugh, I told you not to run. You might fall... Are you okay?

Crying again? You said you'd call me *Big Sister*, and now this. Stop crying and blow your nose here.

No, you're scared of the dark? ...Alright, come sleep next to me.

He was two years younger than her, but he looked after her like an older brother or a guardian. He looked after not just her, but all the children around them. His way of speaking might have been a bit rough for a child, but Livia seemed to rely on that side of him a lot.

Thanks to him, that black-haired boy quickly burrowed into her young heart. And as time passed, the boy who had burrowed in expanded his Domain. In her youth, she often thought things like:

One day, when she grew up, she would definitely marry him. She wanted to live happily ever after with him in a giant gingerbread house that never ran out of sweets.

She often even told him, 'Let's get married when we grow up!' Of course, the boy would just laugh it off.

Looking back now, it was a rather cute memory... but unfortunately, the ending wasn't as cute, because an incident occurred when she was twelve, on his birthday.

She remembered that day clearly: the small tattoo that appeared above the boy's collarbone, the startled teachers, and even the scary women in armor who stormed into the Orphanage. She would only learn later that those women were Knights.

When the Knights took away the boy, who was struggling desperately, she also clearly remembered what the Nun at the Orphanage had explained:

That child... he's going far away. He has a very bad illness and needs to go far away for treatment. So, everyone, forget him.

As a child, she didn't know exactly what that illness was. She hadn't even been taught that such a thing could appear in her orphanage. But seeing the nun's sad face, she had an ominous intuition that she might never see it again.

‘I’ll find him.’

So, in her young heart, Livia secretly slipped out of the Orphanage. She thought that if she went to find him now, she might be able to catch up before it was too late. Perhaps, if she were lucky, she could even travel with him.

And so, she ended up wandering the world harshly, and at the age of 14, she joined Lemegeton. And that brings her to the present.

Looking back now, it was a truly laughable thought.

“······.”

Now she knew. The child from her youth had truly crossed the river of no return. The probability of the child being alive, taken by the Knights, converged to zero.

She sometimes ruminated on the faint memories of her childhood and on the choice that had completely changed her life.

And she would occasionally wish to go back to her childhood, to meet him again, the one whose face she no longer remembered.

*

“The mountain is quite high, isn’t it?”

After preparing for battle, I stared blankly at the mountain before me and muttered. It wasn't *Himalayan*-level high, not by a long shot.

But still, for something called a “mountain,” it looked quite tall.

Just estimating its altitude, I'd say it might be around 1 to 1.5 kilometers. The reason these numbers are so erratic is that I have no idea how to measure something this massive. Who would’ve thought I’d be climbing a mountain?

In any case, it was incredibly huge. I was feeling the insignificance of a mere human before grand nature.

Wow! Look at the scenery. It's beautiful You guys just came to sightsee, right? Right? We're just here to sightsee, lol Haha, the Streamer's gonna do all the hard work

Even Yu Chaerin, the Otherworlder next to me, was just staring blankly ahead. These bastards are going to lose if they try to climb a place like this.

The silver lining was that the slope itself was gentler than expected. Even if it took stamina to climb, it didn't seem like we'd roll down.

“Alright, let’s go.”

With that, I began climbing the mountain, following the Knight Order. The initial ascent was smooth, as there were no enemies.

Attacks began to rain down when we were about halfway up.

“Arrows! Block them!”

Suddenly, attacks started coming from the sky. I glanced ahead and saw enemies firing arrows from a distance. Since they were shooting from above, the arrows flew quite far.

Of course, the Knights reacted quickly. Each raised his Iron Shield to the Sky and blocked the arrows.

*Ting-! Tiding-!* The sound of metal arrowheads deflecting off Iron Shields echoed. It felt like listening to heavy rain.

I was safely tucked inside the shield umbrella formed by the front line. Last time, facing them was a hellish setup, but being inside it now, there was nothing more comfortable.

We continued forward without stopping.

After we walked for a few more minutes, obstacles began to appear one by one before us.

“These guys have already set up defenses this far.”

Wooden barricades, pits created by breaking the ground, and traps with ropes strung between them—I don't know how these guys managed to get wood on a stone mountain where not a single blade of grass grows.

For now, we proceeded, dismantling even those.

[Smoother than expected]

[Yu Chaerin, that bastard, sure has good Dexterity—must be because she's a rogue]

[Someone's just smashing everything and moving forward...?]

Up to this point, it was good. The arrows were blocked without any damage, and the obstacles ahead were annoying but not insurmountable.

However, that didn't mean everything was fine. Rather, this was probably their ploy.

“Haa··· haa···.”

“Hoo, hoo···.”

With every step forward, people's stamina was slowly being depleted. Climbing a mountain already consumed double the stamina, and on top of that, they were forced into additional actions.

Even knights and adventurers with good physical conditioning couldn't help but be out of breath.

“This isn’t good···.”

“Damn it··· this is how we got hit last time.”

It was after a few more minutes of walking. Some Adventurers voiced their anxiety.

“Magic! Everyone, defend properly!” “Mages, Barrier! Activate Barrier!” “No, water! Water Magic!”

Suddenly, a light appeared, a brilliant fiery light, bright enough to pierce through the dense shield umbrella.

*Clack, crackle.*

At the same time, something exploded. Very small, very fast. Like sparks flying from a bonfire, or gunpowder igniting.

Soon, firecrackers exploded before their eyes.

*KWAANG-!* Colorful orange, red, and yellow flames embroidered their vision. Small, glowing embers scattered everywhere.

At first glance, the scene even looked beautiful, but the results were not.

“Kuaaaak!”

“Put it out! Someone put this out right now!!”

Every human touched by the embers burst into flames. As if they had been hit by an incendiary bomb, the embers lingered, burning their skin.

Those who somehow managed to block the Attack seemed fine, but all the Humans whose skin was touched by the small embers were grimacing in pain.

The Defense, which hadn't been breached by countless arrows, was broken by a single Magic spell. Its power was surprising, but I was more disturbed by the Chaos unfolding before my eyes.

I looked ahead to identify the Caster.

“Ugh, you’re back again, aren’t you? Is it really that hard to break through this defense? Alright, I’ve opened it up for you, Charge, Charge!”

She was a rather slender-looking woman with thin limbs, pure white hair, and a smiling face, wearing red sunglasses. Her beauty was certainly refined and outstanding, but unfortunately, her actions weren't as graceful.

The Lemegeton members, each armed with weapons, charged towards This Place. Behind them, that woman and other Mages were preparing Magic again.

“Wounded, fall back for Healing! Those who are unharmed, buy us time with me! Reorganize your formation in the meantime!”

Knight Commander Serena gave a cool-headed command.

I, too, drew my weapon and stepped forward. They must have placed me at the front to be used in situations like this.

It was time to test the performance of my newly made weapon.

I lightly pulled my arm back, then thrust it forward.

“Ugh!”

A Lemegeton Follower in front of me collapsed, still in a defensive stance.

*“The grip feels good, at least.”*

It was light, sturdy, and sharp. But the new weapon's performance wasn't limited to just that. The spear shaft, made of Mithril Alloy, was said to have resistance to magic.

It was time to find out what that meant.

*Swoosh-!* Just then, Magic, a blue arrow made of mana, was flying towards me. It wasn't an Attack from the woman in sunglasses. It was an Attack from another Mage behind her.

I swiftly swung the spear shaft towards the incoming magic arrow. Then, a strange phenomenon occurred. It was as if the metal itself possessed bulletproof properties, pushing the magic itself away.

Thanks to that, deflecting the magic arrow was even easier.

*Kaang-!* With a clear sound, the arrow embedded in the ground vanished.

“Huh?”

A glint appeared in the white-haired woman’s eyes. I hadn't noticed because of the red sunglasses, but now I saw that her eyes beneath them were also red.

“Oh, look, there’s someone here I haven’t seen before. And he’s even a man?”

In an instant, she approached me.

“And his hair and eye color··· hmm.”

Then she stared intently at my face for a moment. As if deep in thought. But that was only for a moment, and soon, the woman, wearing an unpleasant smile again, continued.

“Well, never mind. Nice to meet you. I’m 3rd Branch Leader Livia.”

Livia. I chewed on the name.

It was another Branch Leader I hadn’t seen before.

“I feel like I”ve heard that name somewhere before···.’

...Perhaps it's just because of the title “Branch Leader”? Only the somewhat famous ones become Branch Leaders, after all. That's what I thought.

Of course, it didn't matter much right now. Unless it was Sephiroth, with whom I had some connection, I had no intention of holding back against others.

So, I charged towards her.

“Wait a minute, this man’s hands are a bit rough.”

A Branch Leader would have considerable Skill. I could tell just from the Fireball she cast earlier. So, I used my abilities without reservation. I unleashed Blood Power Art through the wounds I had already sustained on my body.

My spear, coated in red, surged towards her body.

“Oh?”

Seeing that, she scattered Red Firecrackers. Flashiness can sometimes obscure the target. Moreover, I had already confirmed that her firecrackers were quite dangerous. Therefore, I had no choice but to pull back for now.

As a brief standoff ensued, without fail, she opened her mouth.

“Wow, you’re using some interesting abilities. Where did you learn that? No, it smells somewhat similar to what the Lord Demons use.”

To that, I replied appropriately.

“Well, that’s because I’m the Manifestor you’ve all been looking for.”

“Ah-ha~ So you’re the one Sephiroth has been trying to recruit for months without success?”

Thinking about it now, I felt that my Opponent had a very lively personality: her innocent smile, her constantly moving mouth. The atmosphere was completely unsuited for Battle, making it all the more unnatural.

“How curious. Black hair, amber eyes, and a Manifestor at that···.”

But that was only for a moment.

“It seems like you have a lot in common with a child I once knew··· Oh.”

Her smile abruptly froze.

“Oh, wait.”

Her eyes suddenly widened.