Gardenia’s Heart

Having finally finished what she deemed to be her cleanest fight yet, Lily began to savor the gentle sound of the rain.

“That’s seven down. Well done, Nia~”

As she praised her beloved companion, however, a detail Nia had mentioned earlier surfaced in her memory, nearly making her jump in surprise.

“Wait, weren’t there nine of them?”

One of Nia’s tentacles pointed toward a denser part of the forest, where the trees, despite their large leafy canopies, were now soaked by the rain.

(The last two haven’t moved. One of them doesn’t have developed mana to be considered a mage, while the other seems to be in a very fragile state.)

“I can’t imagine a bandit group bringing non-combatants into the forest. Could they be victims, perhaps?”

Following Nia’s direction, and holding an ice sword just in case, Lily approached a large, camouflaged tent. The structure was about six meters high and circular. However, despite its careful assembly, what truly caught her attention was something else.

“Ivory herb, huh?”

Around the tent, small white flowers emitted a faint green glow. They were planted at specific distances, and their strong aroma was noticeable even in the rain.

(What are those, Lily?)

“A type of plant that repels smaller monsters. They’re quite rare.” Kneeling, Lily picked one of the flowers. “I’ve only encountered them once, when a merchant brought some to our village, saying he’d found them by chance. It’s a mana-based herb, so it can’t be cultivated just by planting seeds; you have to find and harvest it.”

Surveying the tent’s perimeter, Lily noted that at least ten of these plants were positioned around it. It wasn’t hard for her to conclude that this was how they managed to camp in the forest for long stretches while waiting for victims. The amount of money they must have poured into this operation genuinely surprised her.

(They are rather uncomfortable.)

A slightly sticky voice echoed in her mind, prompting Lily to quickly distance herself from the flowers.

“I’m so sorry! Are you alright, Nia? Do you feel unwell anywhere!?” Her torrent of desperate questions made the metamorph chuckle softly before replying.

(I’m fine. It’s similar to a physical discomfort—it doesn’t truly hinder me, but it’s unpleasant to get too close. That effect likely deters monsters from approaching this area.)

Breathing a sigh of relief at Nia’s response, Lily quickly conjured ice crystals and destroyed all the flowers.

(Aren’t they better kept due to their rarity? Even if it’s slightly uncomfortable, I can endure it.)

“Just knowing they hurt you, even a little, makes me lose all interest in keeping them around. Besides, unlike subspecies, mana herbs die quickly if not replanted within a few days. These would only last until the city at best, so to prevent them from being used for something bad in the future, it’s best to get rid of them.”

After destroying the last flower, Lily gave a gentle kiss to the tentacle at her back and entered the tent. Due to the heavy rain and mist, the tent, which lacked a torch, was shrouded in darkness. Although this posed no issue for Lily, who could see in the dark, she created a small, glowing ice crystal to serve as a light source.

The damp interior exuded the same smell as the flowers outside, and aside from one specific detail, it appeared to be just an ordinary camping tent.

Beside a wooden table and several piled sleeping bags, two women were chained, with thick shackles binding their wrists and ankles. Each shackle, as thick as a fist, was linked to an iron stake driven into the ground to prevent them from moving far.

Without approaching, Lily studied the two women, focusing dark mana in her eyes. The woman who possessed developed mana gave off the aura of a soldier. With tan skin and short brown hair reaching her ears, her most prominent feature was a toned physique beneath torn leather clothing. Her attire suggested she was accustomed to wearing armor daily. Due to her sharp features and faint, old scars still marking her face, she would have been hard to distinguish from a man had she not been nearly stripped. She appeared to be around twenty-five, likely still in her prime if she hadn’t been covered in poorly treated wounds.

Her heavy breathing was erratic, and she appeared unconscious, showing no signs of recognizing the presence of the silver-haired girl.

”Excuse me, could you please tell us what you intend to do with us?”

A soft, lyrical voice came from the woman sitting on the ground next to the knight. Unlike her companion, she bore few significant injuries.

Taking her time to study the woman, Lily estimated she was older—perhaps over thirty. Despite this, her black hair was neatly braided, falling over her right shoulder. Both thin obsidian eyes were framed by delicately pink-tinted lashes. The torn brown cloak covering her body exposed a simple white dress cinched with a corset that accentuated her ample figure. Even with visible signs of dehydration and bloodstains on her body and clothes, the woman exuded a beauty that could easily unbalance both men and women.

”I’ll be the one asking questions here.”

Crouching down, Lily took the woman’s shackled hands in hers, lightly tracing her fingers from their tips to her wrists.

”What’s a noblewoman doing on a common route with so little protection?”

At Lily’s remark, the woman’s expression tightened for less than a second before her face returned to a blank stare.

”I’m just a simple villager from a nearby town.”

Letting go of her hand, Lily stood up and perched on the wooden table, her gaze wandering to the raindrops slipping through the tent’s entrance.

”What’s your occupation?”

”With all due respect, aren’t you part of these men’s group? What do my answers have to do with what will happen to us from now on?”

With an exasperated sigh, Lily reached inside her cloak. Out of the woman’s sight, she muttered something barely audible, and from within the cloak, the severed head of the bandit leader appeared in her hand, tossed to the woman’s feet.

”I’m not part of his group—they’re all dead.”

”Ah?!”

Seeing the man’s head, contorted in a clear expression of agony, was enough to make the woman begin to tremble. Swallowing hard, she looked up at Lily sitting on the table, her voice catching in her throat.

“The mages from the Caligo army are here?”

“No, it’s just me.”

Lily’s answer made the woman doubt what she’d just heard.

“You killed all of them… alone?”

“I simply dealt with the trash while passing through. Now answer my question—what is a noblewoman doing here?”

The black-haired woman looked away, her composure finally cracking, though she still spoke with determination.

“I truly am not a noble, but please, help us! My friend won’t survive without treatment soon! I saw they kept healing potions in the chest on that shelf—at least give her one, please!”

Ignoring her question yet again, Lily crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

“You bear the bearing of nobility, yet instead of using that to secure a promise of freedom in exchange for a reward, you chose to pose as a civilian from one of the countless nameless villages. So, may I assume you have a reason to hide the fact that you’re a noble?”

Standing up and stretching leisurely, Lily continued in a casual tone.

“Despite your age, your fingers show no calluses, scars, or injuries linked to manual or domestic labor. Your skin has only recent wounds, meaning you’re no fighter. A medic, perhaps? No, it’s still difficult for us women to work in that field. You wouldn’t be able to practice unless in an illegal clinic, but people like that don’t tend to have knights as friends. All I see before me is a noble inexperienced with the world, who thought she could go on an adventure with her knight and ended up captured without any ability to resist.”

Lily might not consider herself skilled at interacting with people, but she prides herself on her ability to assess character. As she shared her thoughts, her mana-enhanced gaze didn’t miss the slight tremors in the woman’s body or the cold sweat that began to bead on her face.

After a few seconds of silence with her head bowed, the black-haired woman looked Lily in the eyes once more before speaking.

“Is it money you want?”

Squatting down to meet the woman’s gaze, Lily leveled her eyes with hers. While she couldn’t deny she had a liking for money, that wasn’t what she was after.

“Look, ma’am, my encounters with nobles so far haven’t exactly been pleasant. I have no reason not to save you, but I also have no reason to do it out of pure goodwill. If you don’t want to tell me why you’re here, that’s fine, but don’t expect me to help you out of the kindness of my heart.”

Though people might think that helping others indiscriminately is ideal, Lily had long understood that the society they lived in wasn’t so kind. This reality only sharpened as one gained more social power. She had always heard how nobles could kill civilians in broad daylight without facing proportional consequences. Despite having taken many lives herself, Lily was mindful of never attacking innocents.

If helping this woman would put her in danger or, more importantly, risk Nia’s safety, Lily would simply turn around and walk away. Sensing that she was serious, the woman took a few seconds to think before her lips parted slightly.

“You’re right. I am a noble from outside the Mist Territory. I came to Caligo with my children. However, a few days ago, my daughter went missing, and I’ve been unable to find her. My son separated from us weeks ago and headed toward the Star Dust Spring, so I thought to go there to ask for help. Please, allow me to keep my family name and house private—they don’t know we’re here.”

Lily noticed tears starting to form on the black-haired woman’s face.

“Couldn’t you contact them through the town hall? Even if it is a feudal city, they probably have communication equipment,” Lily asked.

“Without revealing our noble status, it’s impossible to gain access to it. I admit it was foolish to travel with just one knight to the city, but the next army-protected caravan won’t leave for weeks—by then, it’ll be too late!” As her tears intensified, her voice began to falter. “We were ambushed on our way, and my friend was injured protecting us—that was about half a day ago. I knew I’d have no choice but to endure their treatment once night fell, but then you appeared.”

After hearing her story, Lily had no choice but to let out a heavy sigh. The fact that this woman was determined to hide her noble house to the extent of being ready to be used by those people revealed that there was much more to her story than she was sharing.

(What do you want to do, Lily? I know you already know, but I’ll support whatever decision you make.) Nia’s cheerful voice in her mind felt like an oasis in the desert.

Taking some time to think deeply about her next move, Lily closed her eyes as she deliberated. Minutes passed, the only sounds being the raindrops and the knight’s labored breathing.

Slowly opening her eyes, a dark red-purple aura appeared around Lily’s hands. Not knowing what decision the girl had made, the noblewoman could only tremble as she watched those fingers—capable of easily tearing her heart out—draw near.

Inside the tent, a sharp metallic screech rang out as metal shattered. The black-haired woman’s eyes widened as she saw the broken shackle lying on the ground.

Before she could say anything, Lily moved away and freed the knight as well. She walked over to the chest at the edge of the tent, grabbed some intermediate healing potions, and poured them into the injured woman’s mouth. In seconds, a green glow enveloped her wounds, and her breathing finally stabilized.

Turning to the black-haired woman, who was about to speak, Lily interrupted her.

“First, I can take you to Caligo, but I’m not obligated to help you reach your son.”

Though she could easily teleport both women to the Star Dust Spring using Nia’s magic, Lily wasn’t about to risk letting anyone know she possessed a type of magic that even Nox deemed powerful. The fact that that one-star mage had survived and knew about this was already problematic enough for her.

“Second, if at any point I determine that you lied to manipulate me and it puts me at risk, I’ll kill you both. Understand that this is the price of asking for help with so many details conveniently left out.”

“S-So, does that mean you’ll help us?!”

With a slight stammer in her voice, the woman asked, astonished.

“Yes, I’ll help you find your daughter.”