Jin began to speak.
"The Predecessor, Adriana Barbora Tsetse, stayed in the demon territory—though it wasn't called that back then, it seems—for a total of five years. After that, she said goodbye to the people who were sad to see her go and traveled by land through the Pazdext Great Isthmus, eventually reaching the Klein Kingdom."
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"To fulfill the dream Father sought for so long..."
With those words in her heart, Adriana Barbora Tsetse crossed mountain after mountain, traversed rivers, and climbed over passes alongside F-002, 003, M-002, and 003. At last, she looked down upon a village.
"Ah, we’ve finally reached a human settlement. I'm exhausted..."
Adriana Barbora Tsetse sat down for a moment.
A small cluster of houses was visible below. Though tiny, it had fields; they seemed to be self-sufficient.
"I wonder if they'll let me stay the night..."
Since the sun was still high, Adriana decided to rest for a while, lying down on the fresh, spring grass.
"...A blue sky... The sky is the same above every country, isn't it?"
Adriana ordered her four companions not to disturb her rest and closed her eyes.
"...Cold!"
Though she had intended to nap for only a bit, more than two hours had passed. The sun was beginning to set, and the wind was chilly.
"...They didn't wake me, of course."
She was the one who had ordered them not to disturb her rest.
"At times like this, it would be nice if they could look after their master with a bit more flexibility."
While it might have sounded like the grumbling of someone lazy, it was actually her speaking as a researcher.
"One day, I’ll show everyone I can make a golem like that."
Rising to her feet, Adriana began the descent toward the settlement.
"W-Waaah! A magical beast is coming down from the mountain!"
The sight of the four golems threw the settlement into a panic.
To the people of this remote village, four golems approaching through the twilight were objects of pure terror.
"U-Um!"
Adriana hurriedly tried to calm them.
"N-No, you’re wrong! These are golems I built! They aren't magical beasts!"
Seeing Adriana desperately pleading with them while the golems simply stood still, the villagers eventually began to regain their composure.
"...Are they really not magical beasts?"
"Who on earth are you...?"
"Wait, are you a witch?"
"N-No, I'm not!"
Adriana denied it frantically, but the people, gripped by suspicion, were not convinced.
"If you aren't a witch, then get out of here at once!"
"What...?"
She had finally reached civilization and hoped to rest under a roof; those words were a heavy blow.
"I... understand."
Managing only that reply, Adriana led her four golems and trudged away from the settlement.
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"What?! That’s too cruel!"
Hearing the story, Sion cried out in anger.
"Adriana-sama is far too pitiful!"
"Calm down. This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you."
Jin soothed Sion. Nearby, Marikka was sobbing softly, and Elsa was comforting her.
"Ah, geez, this won't do... Let’s stop this story here."
When Jin said that, Sion pleaded the opposite.
"No, please, keep going. I want to hear what kind of path the Adriana-sama I respect had to walk."
She added that hearing only half of it and being stopped would just make her more curious.
Understanding that feeling, Jin decided to explain things a bit more concisely.
However, having told stories to the younger children at the facility for years, his explanations naturally drifted into a narrative style before he knew it.
"After leaving that settlement, Adriana continued south. But perhaps because of that nap, she ended up catching a cold."
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"...My body feels so heavy... My joints ache, too. It seems I’ve caught a cold. Father would scold me, telling me I should be able to manage my own health as an adult..."
Night was fast approaching, but she found a suitable cave at the foot of a mountain a safe distance from the settlement and decided to take shelter there.
Since the golems were carrying all the travel supplies and food, she had everything she needed.
Whipping her sluggish body and hazy head into action, she cast Cleanup and Deodorant magic inside the cave.
Next, she laid out blankets to make a bed.
She leaned tree branches with leaves against the entrance, ordering M-002 and M-003 to stand guard against attacks from wild beasts.
She then instructed F-002 to warm the cave with Heat magic.
After preparing some barley porridge for herself, she finished her meal and collapsed onto the blankets, falling fast asleep.
When she opened her eyes, it was bright outside the cave.
"My body still feels a bit heavy..."
After making and eating more barley porridge, Adriana lay back down and closed her eyes again.
The exhaustion from her journey thus far seemed to have caught up with her all at once, and she slept like the dead.
When she woke again, it was pitch black.
"Ah, I slept well."
The temperature inside the cave was kept at a comfortable level.
Adriana stretched. Some lethargy remained, but her fever had broken, and the pain in her joints was gone.
"Since I'm already here, I might as well stay one more day."
After finishing her third bowl of barley porridge, Adriana let out a quiet sigh.
"I only have enough barley for two more meals... I’ll have to leave here after breakfast tomorrow."
Once the barley was gone, only her emergency rations of hardtack would be left.
With her destination still unclear, she wanted to avoid dipping into her emergency supplies if at all possible.
"I hope I can reach another village tomorrow..."
Muttering to herself, Adriana lay down on the blankets once more.
＊ ＊ ＊
"And then? What happened to Adriana-sama?" Sion asked impatiently.
"Right. The next morning, she left the cave and headed south. She safely reached another village."
Jin added that this time, perhaps because it was broad daylight, the people weren't frightened by the golems and even shared their food with her, hoping to reassure the girls.
"Then the Predecessor continued her journey further south. Eventually, she settled down for a while near what is now either the Town of Charles or the Town of Rakham."
"Was there something there?"
"Yeah. It isn't written in great detail, but it seems a lord took a liking to her, and she ended up working as a tutor for his daughter."
Jin explained that, for some reason, the level of detail in Adriana’s diary became inconsistent around that point.
"It doesn't seem like she was just avoiding writing about the hard times, though."
That was something only she herself would know, Jin told Sion before continuing.
"It seems the Predecessor spent about a year there..."
Jin continued his tale.