The so-called destined heroine looks just like a curious child from a remote place.
Li Ang isn't good at dealing with children, but looking at her clear, inquisitive red eyes and cautious demeanor, he couldn't bring himself to say anything to drive her away.
He shook his head, "If you want to chat, introduce yourself first."
Although Li Ang already knew the girl's name from the panel, it wasn't a real introduction until she said it herself.
"Ah, I forgot, I'm usually by myself, so..."
The young girl suddenly understood, as if she had learned something new.
Then, she bit her lip, struggling for a while before organizing her words stammeringly.
"I, I'm Zoe, 15 years old, 155 cm tall, weigh 42 kilograms, like to eat wild berries and roast rabbit, but I haven't been able to catch rabbits lately. My hobbies are, are, picking up small stones, reading storybooks, bathing on the hill, and..."
"No need to be that detailed... When introducing yourself, it's enough to mention your aspirations or so."
"Oh, my aspiration is to wait for my mom and dad to return. It's what they told me to do, and even though the time has passed, I'll obediently wait."
Is that so...
Li Ang knew nothing about those parents because the game plan didn't detail it, but now that he's in the real world, those two must exist.
According to the girls' meaning, her parents were supposed to return, but unforeseen circumstances seem to have prevented them from fulfilling their promise.
Li Ang introduced himself, "I am Li Ang. Li is the family name, Ang is the given name, but you have to read them together, which is different from the cultural custom in most parts of this world."
The ancient and diverse nature of Nebis means Li Ang doesn't have to change his name to something understandable in the otherworld; there are people whose appearance and culture are similar to his.
"Surname? I don't know..." Zoe blinked.
It seems she was too young when her parents left to have any concept of it.
"Let's not talk about it then."
With Zoe around, there's no time to advance the warrior profession to Tier Two.
Li Ang stepped forward, heading to the mine point he planned to visit yesterday. Zoe hopped along behind him.
"What about your dream? You haven't shared it yet." the young girl asked.
"My dream is to establish a strong Sky Knight Order and reach the pinnacle as an adventurer."
"Adventurer, Sky Knight, I know that!"
"You know?"
Zoe, who lacks much common knowledge, surprisingly knows this, which slightly astonished Li Ang.
"I have a storybook left by my mom, 'The Sword King's Adventure.'
Li Ang knew about this book because in the past when he had teammates who had families, this book, a classic fairy tale published by the Sky Knight Guild, was what they would buy for their children.
Zoe slightly tilted her head down, her cascading chestnut hair covering half her face, and her eyes peeked through the strands, occasionally glancing at Li Ang.
After pondering for a moment, she asked, "Is the adventure outside the island really as fun as in the book?"
Li Ang roughly recalled the content of The Sword King's Adventure, which, being adapted from the true story of one of the guild's founders, jogged his memory a bit.
The man with the Sword King title and his companions defeated the evil dragon entrenched in the kingdom, thwarted the conspiracies of the wicked civilization's remnants, vanquished demons coming from the Bloody Red Land, and finally brought happiness and joy to the people of the Holy Capital Vitas.
"Some parts are similar, but you have to become strong to encounter them. Most of the time, it's a lot of troublesome trivial matters."
The stories, of course, are refined.
"Since you want to establish a strong Sky Knight Order, you must have experienced such adventures, right?"
"Yeah."
Li Ang reminisced about his recent confrontation with the King of the Dark Night Ancient City.
Because of its appearance, the Moonlit Island, where the Dark Night Ancient City is located, constantly generated undead creatures. The miasma they emitted polluted the nearby aerial realm, causing losses in production on many islands and inciting demon havoc. Thus, the guild issued an SSS-level extermination commission.
The King of the Ancient City, worm-like, entrenched among the mold-covered brick walls, was a super magical beast formed from decay-laden ancient corpses and wailing spirits of resentment.
Its breath was a highly poisonous corruption of all things, and when its body slithered, filthy blood flowed chaotically, sprouting beautiful but deadly black blood flowers.
When the team was at a loss, Li Ang racked his brains to devise a strategy and finally discovered that although the runic devices of the ancient city were long malfunctioned, activating the internal spirituality could still enable them, ultimately finding a chance for victory.
Discussing the battle of the Dark Night Ancient City, Zoe listened intently.
After telling how victory was achieved, she immediately asked, "Then you must have close companions, right? The book says that companions are the key to successful adventures."
"My close ones have retired, and then I got kicked out by the not-so-close ones."
Before Rams had everything under control, it was the tacit teamwork in battles and the cheeky banter during adventures with his old group that made Li Ang more proactive in facing all challenges. That and the eventual traitorous backstabbing at the Soul Apex seemed like two different worlds.
The Dark Night Ancient City was likely a game dungeon, and perhaps the witch was an essential profession for that dungeon. Without it, it's questionable if they could even be conquered, and many might have lost their lives.
Li Ang's words plunged Zoe into silence, and as they moved forward, the only sounds were the rustling of their footsteps on the turf.
"It's okay..."
It was Zoe who spoke first.
"The people in my village don't like me either. I'm small, not as strong as them, and they think my running around is bad. My mom and dad didn't want me, that's why they left me here, but every time I tell myself to behave and practice my sword diligently, so they won't be disappointed when they return.
"If you're good to them and they aren't good to you, then they're bad, and you shouldn't mind them."
Li Ang touched his face, Zoe's clumsy comfort unconsciously brought out his first genuine smile in days.
He pulled his mouth back in place and asked:
"Why do you come looking for me every day?"
"There's no one else on the island, and I don't like playing with the people in the village. I want to see what people from outside are like."
"But you said it was for the house earlier."
"!"
A blush climbed onto Zoe's little face, and she hurriedly waved her hands.
"No, no, no, of course, it's because of that, but I... Ah, right, today I actually wanted to..."
The young girl's leather boots stomped on the ground.
"Yesterday's duel was unfair."
Turns out she wasn't dismissive of yesterday; she just forgot.
"How was it unfair?"
"I'm a sword wielder, and you used magic; I had no idea how to fight that. You should use swordplay too, so that we can have a fair match."
"By your logic, I could say that I'm a magic user, and why should you use a sword? You should use magic to compete with me."
As soon as Li Ang said that, Zoe was momentarily stuck.
The expression on her face seemed to read, "I've never considered this issue."
This girl is truly an idiot.
But a cute and kind-hearted idiot.
Li Ang kept walking, and after crossing a few small hills, he could see the edge of the island. There, the sprawling turf faded into sparse weedy sand and eventually turned into rocky terrain scattered with stones.
Among the mountain rocks, some shadows moved by creeping.
They were magical beasts.