Nyra slowly lowered her leg, adjusting her posture, while looking towards the spiky-haired boy in front of her.
'He really isn't Oolong?... Then why did he break down the door to Pocawatha's house?' She thought, confused.
The boy had a confused look on his face "My name is Goku, I have no idea who Oolong is"
"Wait, it's all a misunderstanding!" The girl who was next to her said hurriedly "We were looking for something that must be in this village, so we wanted to talk to the villagers, but this boy is very rude and broke the door, I'm so sorry!"
The village leader, who was still on his knees, opened his eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and relief "So it wasn't Oolong!"
Nyra turned her gaze to the girl, then scratched her chin "How old are you?"
The girl with blue hair was visibly confused, but replied "I'm 18 years old, why?" [1]
A smile appeared on Nyra's face 'Oh, she's quite young, but she has a very pretty face and a nice body...'
It wasn't possible to see much of her upper body, since she was wearing a loose, closed jacket, but on the bottom she was only wearing shorts, which exposed practically her entire thigh.
"Nothing, I just thought you were pretty" She said, with a somewhat suggestive smile.
The girl with blue hair seemed to grow more confused, not understanding the situation "Uh... Thank you? I guess..."
At the broken door, the bald man stood up from the ground and said "We shouldn't be talking out here, Oolong could arrive at any moment!"
He then made room, gesturing for the others to enter his house.
Nyra took her eyes off the girl and then looked towards her house, where she could see her aunt standing in the doorway, looking at her with concern.
"Don't worry, everything's fine! Go back inside, aunt, I'll talk to them!" She said loudly, so she could be heard even from that distance.
Giving a farewell wave, she also went inside the house and closed the broken door.
Looking inside, he could see Pocawatha, a girl slightly taller than the spiky-haired boy, with a worried, childlike face.
It was noticeable that although the girl had heard everything that happened outside, and even seen a good part of it, she still didn't fully trust the pair of strangers, seeming quite hesitant to approach them.
Nyra went straight to the girl and placed her hand on her head "There's no need to be afraid, none of them are Oolong"
The little girl looked up, staring at the young woman in surprise "Nyra? Are you feeling better? It's been so long since I've seen you!"
The little girl smiled happily and hugged her.
Nyra returns the hug with a gentle smile 'How long has it been since anyone hugged me with such enthusiasm?'
Some distant memories surface in her mind, from when she was still part of the mercenary group, more than a decade ago. The scene of a man with a patchy beard lifting her into his arms and embracing her, while around them people laughed cheerfully.
While this was happening in her mind, another conversation was taking place in parallel.
"I'm truly sorry for attacking you, I really thought it would be Oolong coming after my daughter" The middle-aged man apologized, completely forgetting the fact that the boy had broken down his door first.
"If I had been the one hit, I could be dead, you know that" The blue-haired girl said with her arms crossed, but she quickly softened her posture and tone "But who is this Oolong and why would he be after your daughter?"
The man then explained about the fearsome Oolong, how he assumes various forms, and how he has taken other little girls from this village.
He also recounted the previous day, when Oolong appeared in the form of a hideous creature and said he would take his daughter as his bride because he found her beautiful, and that he would return today to fetch her.
While the explanation was unfolding, Nyra had already calmed the little girl, who was now helping the boy treat the wound on his forehead.
It was just a swelling; even if it had been attacked with a blade, there was no cut.
While Pocawatha was tending to the boy's injury with a first-aid kit, Nyra stared at him curiously.
'He has a lot of mana in his body, even someone at the peak of rank 1 wouldn't have that much, but he doesn't even have a mana core...'
'He also doesn't seem to know how to control mana; if he did, he wouldn't have suffered any damage from that attack... He probably doesn't have any training in controlling mana, but how could he have so much mana without knowing the basics? The mana must be different here, perhaps because it's naturally denser...'
"Your name is Goku, right? You seem pretty strong, how do you train?" She asked curiously.
"Huh?" The boy looked up "I just lift heavy things and practice the movements my grandfather taught me"
Nyra nodded slightly "I see... Do you know anything about mana?"
"Mana? What is that?" The boy asked, completely ignorant about it.
"Forget it. By the way, what's your pretty friend's name?" The young woman quickly changed the subject.
At that moment, the middle-aged man's explanation had come to an end, and the girl heard Nyra's question "My name is Bulma, it's a pleasure" She replied.
Nyra turned, smiling, and looked at her and said "Likewise, sweetheart. And my name is Nyra"
Bulma seemed confused as to why the other young woman was smiling differently at her, but she didn't comment on it.
Goku, who managed to hear most of the explanation despite his conversation with Nyra, said "If this monster is so evil, why haven't they finished it off yet?"
The little girl beside him replied "You say that because you've never seen him... Oolong can transform into enormous creatures; it would be impossible for us to deal with him..."
Bulma seemed to become thoughtful, then she took the backpack off her back and pulled out a small orange sphere from inside it.
"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" She asked, looking at the middle-aged man and then at Nyra.
"I've never seen anything like it, is it some kind of ornament?" He said.
Nyra raised an eyebrow "Actually, my aunt has one very similar to this at home"
"Seriously?!" Bulma's blue eyes seemed to sparkle with happiness "What do you think about giving us that sphere and in return we'll deal with this Oolong guy? A good deal, isn't it?"
Nyra's expression grew more intrigued 'My aunt never showed much attachment or value to that, she even dropped it a few times, it's just some random ornament, but this girl is so excited, it must be very valuable'
"I can ask my aunt, but do you really think they can handle this? I know this boy is strong, but will it be enough to defeat Oolong? I've never seen him in person, so I don't know his true strength"
'If it's just a simple transformation spell, even a rank 1 could do it, so there's a chance this kid could win, but if it's a rank 2, it'll be impossible, since this kid doesn't even know how to manipulate mana, and this Oolong guy knows the bare minimum to be able to transform'
Nyra couldn't help but be pessimistic; the odds were against her.
"Don't worry, I can finish him off!" The boy said confidently.
The middle-aged man seemed incredulous, but at the same time he was thinking about the axe breaking on the boy's head "Maybe you can do it... But if you really manage to beat him, don't kill him, we need to find out where he hid the other girls!"
Nyra let out a low sigh 'Could they still be alive? It's highly unlikely, and perhaps it's for the best...'
As a mercenary, she had rescued girls from bandits, and she could still remember their broken-spirited faces; it filled her with sadness and anger.
Bulma became thoughtful, she bit the tip of her thumb and began tapping her foot, until "I had an idea!"
"What if Goku wears some of your daughter's clothes? He'll pretend to be the girl, then Oolong will take him to his hideout, where Goku will defeat him and return with the girls!" She explained her plan very excitedly.
Nyra sighed again, this time with disappointment "For such a beautiful girl, your plans are pretty bad... There's no way to confuse their faces or their voices, do you think Oolong wouldn't notice the difference?"
A blush spread across Bulma's face, and she said somewhat hastily "He could wear a hat and stay quiet..."
"That would be too suspicious, even if it worked initially, he'd notice it on the way to the hideout. The chances of that working are almost nil" Nyra shook her head.
'If I were going to trick him, the right thing to do would be to let him take Pocawatha and follow him stealthily, but I'm not going to put her in danger' She glanced briefly at the little girl and looked back at Bulma.
Nyra took a deep breath and said "Just don't kill him. I'll interrogate him myself afterward, and he'll eventually confess everything"
Bulma felt a chill, she could feel the cutting coldness in the young woman's voice in front of her.
"Let's wait for him to come then, and when he arrives, Goku will face him, okay?" Nyra explained.
With everyone in agreement, the young woman sat down on the floor. The house was small, like all the others in the village, and the living room was next to the dining room; she sat on the imaginary partition.
Her meditative pose and closed eyes caught everyone's attention, but she didn't mind, focusing instead on emptying her mind.
She knew it would be impossible to significantly increase her strength until Oolong arrived, and that she would be unlikely to be of any use in a fight alongside Goku, but she wasn't just going to wait anxiously.
She began absorbing mana into her core, where this stored energy was allowed to expand until it reached its maximum capacity. When this happened, the mana that was being drawn in from the outside squeezed its way into the full core.
Most of the mana returned to the environment in this process, but a fleeting portion managed to enter, making the mana in the core denser.
Because the mana in this universe is naturally denser than that in Hilda's universe, the process ended up being much faster.
In that world, mana manipulators ranged from rank 0 to 9. Rank 0 was for those who created a mana core, the first step in doing anything related to mana; this was Nyra's current level.
Within each rank, there are three stages represented in the core's appearance: Black, Gray, and White.
The mana core is like a small black sphere, but as the mana inside it becomes denser, it begins to lighten, until it looks like a sphere of white light.
It was impossible for Nyra to reach rank 1 now, even with the denser mana and all her experience; it would still take her at least a few days to reach that level.
But it was possible for it to reach the gray stage in a few hours. This was possible because of how much denser the mana was in that universe; simply filling its core with mana was enough to lighten it slightly, making it feasible to reach the next stage.
'If I reach the gray stage, and the boy manages to drain enough of Oolong's mana, then I can finish the job...' She thought, without interrupting her meditation.
All his planning would only work if Oolong's strength was comparable to Goku's; if he were much stronger, there would be nothing he could do.
"Where is my fiancée?!" A loud voice rang out from outside the house, drawing everyone's attention.
Nyra clicked her tongue "It's here!" She then stood up and went to Pocawatha, who began to tremble subtly.
"Don't worry, Goku will take care of that pervert" She patted the little girl's hand and gave a gentle smile.
"He's finally here! I want to see if he's really as strong as they say!" Goku said excitedly, walking towards the door.
Bulma and the village leader wished the boy good luck and stayed away from the door so they wouldn't be noticed when he opened it.
Nyra followed him, letting go of the little girl's hand "Come on, boy, I won't be useful fighting, but I'll help you find openings"
So, the two left the house, leaving everyone else behind. As soon as they stepped outside, they both noticed a huge red creature, similar to an ogre with red skin and horns on its head, wearing a suit and holding a bouquet of flowers.
The pair stared at the monster, and vice versa. It was quite noticeable that the ogre's gaze fell on Nyra's breasts, and a lecherous expression appeared on his face.
Nyra, for her part, had a disappointed expression, but not because of the monster's gaze, but because of what she had perceived.
'Is that Oolong? A rank 0, probably didn't even reach the gray stage...' She placed her hand on Goku's shoulder, who was standing in front of her. "Boy, there's no need to get involved" Her voice came out low and somewhat cold.
"I came to get that girl from yesterday, but I see there's something much bigger here!" Oolong said, letting out a sly laugh, never taking his eyes off her breasts.
Upon hearing Nyra's words, Goku gave a slight nod and moved to the side. It was noticeable that somehow he also knew that his opponent was weak, perhaps instinctively, so he no longer had any interest in fighting him.
She walked towards the ogre "Did you like my breasts? Too bad, since you're too ugly for my taste..." She continued walking without haste.
"You didn't like it? I can change it to something more pleasant, see!" With a burst of smoke, the enormous ogre vanished, and in its place emerged a man, of mature appearance, with a thick mustache.
If Nyra searched deep into her memories, she would recognize that figure as a famous soap opera actor, but she didn't bother to recognize him, knowing that any such figure would simply be a fabrication.
She got as far as to be within a step of him, then said "Mustaches aren't my type, you jerk!" Then her right foot rose with all the speed and force it possessed.
Goku groaned in pain, even though he hadn't been touched; the scene was enough to affect him with imaginary pain.
Nyra's foot was embedded in Oolong's groin, who couldn't even make a sound as his body slowly fell forward.
Before collapsing to the ground, Oolong's body transformed from that of an ordinary man into that of an anthropomorphic pig. Nyra knew instantly that this was his true form.
"You can't even maintain your charade after a single blow?!" Her voice was filled with rage.
She grabbed Oolong by his large ear, slowly lifting him off the ground. He could be heard groaning in pain, his eyes filled with fear.
As soon as his face was completely lifted off the ground, she punched him hard. A little blood spurted from his nose, staining her wrist.
As he fell to the ground once more, she crouched down in front of him "You're going to tell me what you did to the girls and where they are... Until you tell me everything, I'm going to break every single one of your fingers"
[1] No need to correct me, I changed it on purpose and the reason is quite obvious.