Chapter 151: Leftover Troubles
Auren’s jaw slacked at the sight of the strange info Ugha had just shown him. He could not help but let out a quiet chuckle, though it was more out of disbelief than amusement.
It’s unusual indeed... but something tells me this information will prove useful later on, he thought, curiosity stirring beneath his calm expression.
"I guess,Thaasa is truly my next goal. But I don’t think it’s easier said than done."
Ugha gave him a sidelong glance, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. "You bet it will. But let me tell you this, boy... a journey to Thaasa is no small feat. Alone, it would take at least three months, and at your current state?"
His tone grew dry, almost pitying.
"You would not survive even a week crossing the Kugaw Wastelands or the Banthaya Marshes. And that’s before you even face the Dragon Mountains! Crossing them is forbidden unless you are part of an adventurer team or a merchant caravan with guards. Strict law. Strict punishments."
His eyes swept over Auren with sharp precision, lingering as if dissecting every weakness. "And from what I see... you don’t even carry an adventurer’s badge!"
Auren smiled helplessly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "You’re right. I don’t. Then, should I just join one?"
"I strongly recommend it if you wanted to survive crossing those wretched place," Ugha said without hesitation.
"I know you have the Awakened Blood of the Phoenix but don’t ever think you can depend on it all the time, especially the downtime after using Divine Form, you are basically a sitting duck. "
Auren’s face smiled with embarassement, after all, everything he said was on point. But he’s yet done,
"And since your aim is Thaasa, the wisest choice would be to find a seasoned adventurer party in the Khodian Kingdom. A strong one if you can. Only then will you stand a chance of surviving what lies ahead. Trust me."
"I see. I will heed your advice. Thank you." Auren smiled again, though this time his gratitude was genuine.
He paused, gathering courage before asking, "One last question... if you don’t mind."
"Go ahead."
"Why are you helping me?"
The question landed like a stone dropped into still water.
Ugha’s eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed thoughtfully. His silence stretched long enough to stir unease in Auren’s chest.
"..."
Finally, the Primordial’s lips curved into a mysterious smile.
"Three reasons."
He raised one thick finger.
"First, every time I’ve found you, its always after you’ve foufht enemies far greater and more powerful than yourself. Yet somehow, you always survive. You stumble, you bleed, but you endure. That kind of courage from a human... I admire it."
Auren felt an unexpected warm on his heart hearing those. It was quite rewarding, perhaps.
He lifted a second finger.
"Second, your Spiritual Beast is a Holy Phoenix. One of the three holy beasts I personally created long ago. In other words..." Ugha’s grin widened.
"You are like a grandchild to me, boy."
Auren’s chest heaved at the words, despite his best efforts to remain composed. The thought of being indirectly tied to a being as powerful as Ugha filled him with both pride and unease.
Ugha raised a third finger.
"And lastly... your unusual condition reminds me of another crazy fool from three hundred years ago."
Auren tilted his head. "Unusual condition? You mean the fact I lack a Divine Frame?"
Ugha nodded solemnly.
"Exactly. You reminded me of a man who called himself... Naruto."
Auren blinked, stunned. "No way..."
Ugha chuckled at his reaction.
"Odd name, isn’t it? He was the founding emperor of the Thaasa Nation. The current ruler’s lineage traces directly back to him."
Auren’s heart thumped. He knew he had just stumbled on possible information about another reincarnator just like him.
"And... his descendants? Did they inherit his lack of Divine Frame as well?" he was genuinely curious.
"They did not. Only he and you share this... peculiarity."
Auren’s suspicion grew sharper, almost electric.
’Then it’s true. There’s a high chance the founding emperor of Thaasa was just like me... a reincarnator from Earth.’
He didn’t bother hiding the thought. Primordials could read minds as easily as open scrolls.
"Earth?" Ugha echoed, arching a brow.
"My original world," Auren said. His voice came quieter than expected, almost reverent.
"Where I came from before being brought here."
"Ah, yes. That makes sense." Ugha gazed into the horizon as if peering beyond realms.
"Back when he was alive, Naruto spoke of such things too. He shared to me of being summoned here, of wanting to change this world. But his story ended abruptly."
"Abruptly?"
Ugha nodded, "That weirdo, he died mysteriously, not long after turning thirty. Fortunate, at least, that he had wives and children to carry on his legacy and to rule the very nation he build, though a very closed one."
Auren’s brows furrowed. His lips parted, then closed again. The weight of it sat heavy on him.
"Aren’t you surprised?" he asked finally.
"About me being from another world?"
"Does it make a difference?" Ugha shrugged.
"To me, mortals are mortals, whether they fall from the heavens or crawl from the earth. We Primordials know that the gods above us still play games we cannot see. After all..."
He looked up into the blinding desert sky.
"There is always a higher ceiling above our own."
Auren let out a slow breath.
"I see... Thank you."
For reasons he couldn’t name, he felt closer to Ugha than ever before.
"Don’t mention it."
Soon, the two continued through the barren expanse.
The desert sun blazed mercilessly above, the air dry enough to crack lips and parch throats. To ordinary men, it would be a death march.
But for Auren and Ugha, both with deep affinity to fire, it was little more than a warm stroll.
Still, Auren’s mind wandered.
He thought back to the night before this day, to the people who mattered most. Robert and Austaire.
His only remaining family.
Inside the warm wooden room somewhere in Austerra.
He remembered Robert’s kind, steady eyes, the faint smile that carried both pride and worry as he sat on the other end of the table.
"If that’s your decision, son, then I won’t stand in your way. I know you are big and quite powerful enough to defend yourself." Robert had said.
His voice carried gentleness, yet there was iron beneath it. He believed in Auren’s strength. Believed he would rise even higher.
But neither of them knew then that Auren would be facing the Emperor the very next day.
Auren remembered Austaire too, bowing her head to him in guilt.
"Don’t worry, I will take care of Uncle Robert. I owe you both for saving Austerra and for my position now as the Queen. But I must apologize. You’ve carried the burden of every achievement that truly belongs to you. And worse, you took the stab and faked your death, just so the glory would fall on me."
Her voice had trembled, her pride clashing with her shame.
"For that, brother, I thank you."
Auren had only smiled, reaching out to place a hand gently on her shoulder.
"What are you apologizing for, sister? It was I who proposed it in the first place."
His smile and encouragement was enough to bring the warm smile back on queen Austaire.
Then he turned to Robert, speaking with a steady voice that carried far more weight than his years.
"I’m entrusting Father to you."
"You can rest easy," Austaire had promised. "I’ve prepared a place for him in the kingdom that would keep him safe from those greedy nobles."
"And I will help Austerra return to its former glory," Robert added, his face glowing with pride.
"I look forward to a stronger Austerra then." Auren had said before turning away. Both Austaire and Robert waved their farewell as they watched his form swallowed by the night ;and the last words they heard from him was,
"I shall return."
That memory lingered like smoke in his mind.
Back in the present, Auren blinked, shaking himself free of thought. "May I know where we are going?"
Ugha gave him a sly smile. "You’ll know soon enough."
Then he stopped walking.
Auren nearly bumped into him. "What’s the matter—"
He froze.
Before them stretched a massive column of knights, mages, archers, and nobles marching across the sands.
Their armor clanked dully beneath the sun, faces lined with exhaustion and grit. They looked like men who had not known rest in weeks.
Auren’s heart lurched.
Without hesitation, he shifted into the form of his herbalist disguise, Herbon.
His features blurred, skin roughening, posture changing until not a trace of the Frameless Freak remained.
Ugha, however, only smiled like a host greeting guests at a feast. His Divine Frame shimmered, shifting from ’Ugha’ into a far more ordinary guise. The text above him now read:
Name: Carlos
Level: 35
Title: Desert Wanderer
Class: Ranger
He raised a hand cheerfully. "Hello, friends! I see you’ve traveled far!"
"Carlos?!" A grizzled knight in dazzling silver armor at the front nearly dropped his weapon.
"Y-you’re still alive?"
Auren’s eyes narrowed.
The speaker was none other than Betthon, the founding father of the Soulfang family, and commander of the combined noble armies that Bonbon had transported. And ultimately, the nemesis of the Austaire’s katana family.
Before them were at least ten thousand soldiers, marching across the desert, moving into the same direction.
Auren swallowed, keeping his fake smile plastered on.
He could see war banners from half a dozen houses flapped in the desert wind. Their eyes burned with suspicion, hunger, and ambition.
If they discover who I really am... His pulse quickened.
A fight against ten thousand soldiers sounds like a bad day. Not to mention, my greatest weapon is currently in cooldown.
Sweat slid down his temple as he rushed as close to Ugha as possible. He knew, one wrong move or words might spell another massive fight today.
And he is tired of it... for now.
"He-hello!," he muttered under his breath, faking a smile behind Ugha.
Behind the suspicious gazes of the Austerran army, one thing is clear to Auren right now.
Now, it was all in Ugha’s hands.
Whether they would talk their way out... or be forced to fight an army.