The Girl Who Looted Tomorrow

Freya opened her eyes and stopped using Mind Sense.

Her lovely green eyes looked toward the man ahead, while she did her best to empty her mind and think about other things to keep her attention scattered.

Just like that, the two of them followed him in broad daylight.

Along the way, Euphemia even said, “See? I told you something good would happen if we went shopping today. My divination was pretty accurate, wasn’t it?”

Freya nodded.

“It really was.”

Who could have expected this?

She had spent a whole week patrolling the city at full intensity and found nothing, yet the moment she came out to relax, she ran right into the target.

Time slowly passed.

For the entire afternoon, Jerome wandered around like a man with nothing better to do. He stopped here, strolled there, and no one could tell what he was actually up to.

Only when the sky began to darken did he finally walk into a roadside inn and check in for the night.

Euphemia, who had been tailing him from behind, looked as if a row of question marks had appeared over her head.

“Wait. What is this guy doing?”

Freya blinked and thought for a moment.

“Could he… have noticed us?”

“He shouldn’t have,” Euphemia said. “If he noticed us, why wouldn’t he just kill us outright? So… is he being cautious about something?”

Euphemia quickly thought back to her performance at the flatbread stall.

The only possible moment where she might have slipped up was then.

“No way,” she muttered. “Is this guy really that careful?”

After a helpless sigh, Euphemia said in irritation, “Fine. Then we’ll just see who has more patience, us or that old bastard.”

As she spoke, she pulled Freya into the inn and looked around.

Fortunately, the lobby had a sofa.

The two of them quickly walked over and sat down.

Freya seemed to guess what Euphemia was planning. She asked in disbelief, “You’re not planning to sit here all night until tomorrow morning, then keep following him, are you?”

“What else am I supposed to do?” Euphemia said. “I refuse to believe he’ll keep staying at inns forever. If he stays again tomorrow, I’ll wait until the third day, then the fourth, all the way until he finally returns to his base.”

After a short pause, she continued, “If you don’t want to wait, Faye, I can send you home first. I’ll keep watch by myself, and as soon as I get any information, I’ll come tell you.”

Freya shook her head.

“No. I’ll stay with you. At least this way, you’ll have someone to talk to and pass the time with.”

Otherwise, staking out a place alone would be far too boring.

Hearing that, Euphemia could not help hugging Freya.

“Mmm. Faye, you really are too sweet.”

Even so, as the night deepened, Freya slowly grew sleepy despite their steady conversation.

At some point, she leaned against Euphemia’s shoulder and drifted off.

Euphemia listened to the soft, even breathing by her ear.

She turned her head and looked at Freya’s adorable sleeping face. A faint smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

She gently poked Freya’s cheek and whispered, “Good night.”

Then she took a book out of her satchel and began reading.

The next morning, Freya was gently woken by Euphemia rubbing her face.

She opened her eyes in a daze and saw Euphemia pinching both her cheeks, kneading them back and forth.

Euphemia said softly, “No more sleeping. Wake up.”

Freya came fully awake at once and looked around.

“What happened? Did that guy start moving?”

“Not yet,” Euphemia said. “But my grandfather wrote back. Let’s leave first and find somewhere quiet to read the letter.”

The two quickly left the inn under the Invisibility Cloak and found a quiet corner.

Euphemia raised her right hand and extended her index finger.

Normally, the little dove should have appeared directly and landed on her finger.

Then Euphemia saw that her messenger had indeed appeared.

But after fluttering its wings twice, it landed on Freya’s head instead.

Euphemia stared at it.

Her mouth twitched slightly.

Still, she reached over and took the folded envelope from the little dove’s beak, then opened it with practiced hands.

Freya leaned in as well, and their heads lightly touched as they read together.

The first line on the letter read,

[This is not someone you can afford to provoke. Stop investigating him. Run as far away as you can.]

Seeing that, Euphemia frowned with clear dissatisfaction.

Even so, she held back and continued reading.

[That said, I know I cannot control what you decide. You have been like this since you were little. Once you make up your mind, you will keep going even if you crack your head open against a wall. Sigh.]

[Based on your description, that man is most likely General Jerome of the Kingdom of Tarapaca’s Third Vanguard Corps. I heard that he had some kind of argument with His Majesty not long ago, and he was temporarily suspended and sent home to rest.]

After that, the letter gave a detailed account of the general.

Seven or eight years ago, the Kingdom of Tarapaca had not yet possessed the War Path.

That path was the official mainstream path of the neighboring country, the Pentagram Alliance.

Because the two countries shared a border, small clashes happened often.

They had also fought several battles of varying scale.

In order to better understand such a powerful neighbor, Tarapaca had sent spies to infiltrate the enemy and steal part of the War Path potion formulas.

Afterward, a group led by Jerome was the first to take those potions, test methods of digestion, and study the abilities they granted.

Only by understanding your enemy could you better fight that enemy.

Of course, Jerome had not been a general seven or eight years ago.

He had only been an ordinary foot soldier, a volunteer test subject who stepped forward on his own.

In the letter, Euphemia’s grandfather even described him like this.

[That man is, without question, a patriot. He once abandoned his family, his wife, and his child for the sake of the Kingdom of Tarapaca. He threw himself onto the front lines and fought with outstanding bravery. His Third Vanguard Corps is also famous for its courage among all the corps.]

[Based on your description, although I do not know why he wants to create a disaster in Auxerre City, there must be some reason behind it. You may hand this letter to Special Affairs and have them try to communicate with Jerome.]

[If the worst comes to pass and you truly have to fight him, never fight him while he is prepared. You must reduce the number of soldiers around him as much as possible. That is because he has an extraordinary ability called Battle Formation. It can proportionally add the strength of every soldier around him to everyone present, including Jerome himself and all those soldiers.]

Besides [Battle Formation], Euphemia’s grandfather also introduced the other abilities of the War Path.

At Rank One, the War Path granted an overall increase in physical ability.

At Rank Two, it granted two extraordinary abilities called [Intuition] and [Reset Stance].

Euphemia had already explained [Intuition].

As for [Reset Stance], it allowed a War Path practitioner to instantly restore their battle posture to peak condition in combat.

For example, during a clash, a War Path practitioner might throw out a heavy strike with all their strength, or even more than all of it.

A normal person would definitely be left weakened for a short time afterward.

There would always be that gap where the old strength had faded and the new strength had not yet risen.

But with [Reset Stance], they could immediately follow up with another full-power strike.

If they were sent flying by an enemy, they could also use [Reset Stance] to regain balance at once.

They could even pull off something like a second jump in midair.

It was, in truth, an extremely powerful ability.

In a direct exchange, it could produce astonishing results.

Next came Rank Three of the War Path.

At that stage, practitioners gained [Battle Continuation] and [Blood Fury].

The former allowed a War Path practitioner to keep living for a short time even after taking a fatal blow, almost like their life had been locked at the last sliver.

If their heart was pierced, they could probably still live for more than a minute.

Even if their head was blown off and only their body remained, they could still survive for another ten seconds.

[Blood Fury], meanwhile, made them stronger the worse their condition became.

The heavier their injuries, the more their physical ability increased in proportion.

Especially when [Battle Continuation] had been triggered, this life-locking ability could double their overall physical strength on the spot.

Seeing this, Freya’s small mouth parted slightly.

“Wait… what…?”

She thought about the abilities of the Earth Path at Rank Two and Rank Three.

Compared with the War Path in front of her, wasn’t the difference a little too large?

That combat power was absurd.

If a War Path practitioner and an Earth Path practitioner of the same Rank Three met head-on, the Earth Path practitioner might be torn into several pieces.

As for what abilities a general gained after changing class into Rank Four and Rank Five of the War Path, Euphemia’s grandfather did not know in as much detail.

A Rank Four general gained abilities called [Adjutant] and [One-Man Army], though their exact effects were unknown.

At Rank Five, they gained [Battle Formation] and one other unknown ability.

After finishing the letter, Euphemia also fell silent for a while.

Clearly, she had been startled by those almost unreasonable abilities as well.

Only after a moment did she say, “I knew War Path practitioners were all muscle, but I didn’t know they were this ridiculous.”

Just then, footsteps sounded nearby.

Jerome walked out of the inn.