Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 53: Ordoxi Nigrum (Part 02)

{Author POV}

A forest of lush oak trees, moist shrubby soil and dewy grass. While pinching her two shoes, the blonde woman walked among the bushes anxiously. He did not care about his clothes and robes that were dirty and began to tear because of the bush, the two legs that began to blister also did not stop the woman in the green dress toska to immediately go to her son's place.

Time had passed for more than half an hour since Odo left Mavis, which was why the woman immediately rushed to the cave where the Minotaurs were located to ensure the safety of her son. Stepping fast barefoot, full of anxiety and his breathing began to pant because he did not have the stamina to run around like that.

Out of the forest and up to a rocky field in front of the monsters' nest, the blonde woman's eyes opened wide and her tote shoes dropped. Right reflected in the Light Witch's eyes, the corpses of the bull-headed monsters were strewn about, neatly cut and decapitated. Blood splattered and began to dry up on the rocky ground, at a glance the unpleasant scent of all the corpses made the woman nauseous and covered her mouth with her hands.

Gazing palely at the middle of the corpses, there was a young man with black hair who was squatting while picking up magic crystals on the ground. He rolled up the sleeves of the shirt, and on both hands the young man was seen filled with patches of blood that began to dry up. The young man was completely unharmed despite having fought many monsters alone, even the blood that existed was only dirtying his hands, while his body and clothes looked clean.

“Odo ...?” Mavis stepped among the corpses of monsters and called out to him, with an anxious voice and a slightly trembling body. The young man turned his head and stared lightly with a look that seemed sad, then in a slightly lazy voice replied, “Yes? Mommy hurry here, I need a container for all these crystals.”

The young man woke up carrying the crystals in his hands, let out a small sigh and waited for the blonde woman to take off her black robe. Mavis with a puzzled look halted in front of Odo, immediately rolling the black robe she was wearing onto the ground.

The young man of black hair dropped the magic crystals onto the cloak cloth that had been held, then crouched down and pressed against its surface with his right palm and activated dimensional magic. A glance emanated rays from the runes and magic circles on the black cloth, purplish-colored and engulfing the magic crystals that had been collected into the Dimensional Cloak.

“Are you okay, my son?” ask Mavis worriedly. He weaved his fingers in front of his chest, drew near to his son and stared with a deathly pale face.

The young man of black hair looked up at the woman before him, stared lightly and replied, “I'm fine, even better than before.”

“Better?”

Odo took out the sword from the storage dimension on the robe, then stood back up and took a deep breath. Turning his face away from his mother, the young man immediately turned around as he said, “In this monster comrade's nest there really is a magic nectar pond. The energy is abundant and it helps my magic structure recovery.” He stepped onto one of the Minotaurus and crouched down in front of it, then thrust a sword into the monster's head and cut off its horn.

Cratks!

The sound of the sword crushing the skull and cutting the horn rang out loud, until it made Mavis feel pained because of it. Closer to the back of the young man's black hair, doubtfully Mavis asked, “Mother is grateful you're okay .... But, what are you doing?”

“Hmm?” Odo turned his head towards his mother, while showing a piece of horn he said, “Minotaurus horns can be a tool material or magic artifacts, they are quite expensive because they are rare. It's a pity to just leave it alone, isn't it?”

“Be-True also ...” Mavis was a little reluctant when she saw the blood present, she turned her eyes and stepped back. The woman had absolutely no intention of helping her son for such a thing. In a soft voice he said, “If left like this, they may become more troublesome and dangerous undead. We better burn their bodies or be buried.”

“Eh?” Odo was startled, immediately standing up and facing towards Mavis. Both of his eyes stared intently and anxiously, as indeed the young man had absolutely no idea of a monster that could turn into an undead if their corpses were just left behind.

“Do you not know, my son? A corpse left alone can become an undead, Zombie. Well, that does not mean all corpses can be undead, the comparison is only a range of fifty to one.”

Odo's forehead scrunched up at a glance, he did not know that at all and from all the books he had read there was no mention of it. Turning his gaze and diluting deeply, the young man indeed had absolutely no information about the undead other than they were created with Necromancy magic.

Breathing heavily and trying to calm down, he hesitantly made sure, “Not only a human corpse can become an undead? Therefore, if dead people held a funeral to release their souls ..”

“You know, my son ...” Mavis put on a flat expression with a cold gaze, then pointed her index finger forward and explained, “Demi-humans also need a funeral ceremony, monsters also have souls. As long as it is a soul, when dead there must be left if their bodies are still shaped. From that, Ether can enter and damage occurs because life energy instead enters the body without a soul. This can make them move again, with a strong survival instinct left in the body. That's the undead, monsters born after death and are not aware that they are dead.”

Odo looks at a glance anxious, all this time he has never buried or burned monsters that have been hunted. Odo simply dumped their bodies into the bushes after taking their essential parts. Given the number of monsters he had killed in the Pando Forest, at first glance the young man felt guilty that there were only a few Goblins who had risen to the undead there.

“Lileian must have taken care of it, right?” muttered Odo anxiously.

“Hmm?” Mavis brought the face closer, at a glance heard the name called her son and asked, “You said what, my son?”

“It ...” With no intention of discussing anxiety, Odo Luke shows the Minosaurus horn he carried to make Mavis step back in disgust because the blood is still flowing fresh. The young man glanced lightly and asked, “Means not all monster corpses can be undead, ‘kan?”

“Yes, not all.” Mavis looked slightly irritated as almost blood dripped onto her clothes, then pouted explaining, “But still, the undead were extremely difficult to kill and her movements and physical abilities were irregular. What's worse, such monsters tend to be gluttonous and their mutation rate is high.”

“Mutation level?”

“You know that monsters can mutate, don't you? Like The White Bull earlier ..”.

“Ah, who was there,” said Odo while pointing to the white monster lying with a hole in his chest.

“You also killed him ..” Mavis stared flat at the monster. Sighing a small breath and looking back at Odo, the woman explained, “Odo, surely you are already with a mutation stage, right? Such as Early, Advanced, Early Mutant, and Late Aeneu Stages. At all these stages, ordinary monsters take a long time to mutate.”

“Hmm ...” Odo nodded, then faced towards The White Bull's corpse and casually said, “Examples of the white bull's advanced stage, according to their usual stage of magic or physical abilities also increased. There are also cases of monsters getting smarter when mutating, right?”

“Ya!” Mavis stared intently at her son and came back closer. On a lookout with blood-soaked horns held by Odo, the blonde woman again explained, “But for the undead, it was very fast because they were gluttonous. Eating monsters or other creatures without hesitation, accelerated the mutation by consuming Mana or the magic core of other creatures. The stages of achieving their mutation were indeed as simple as Zombies, Undead, and Ghouls. However when they reached the Early Mutant stage, they could become Vampires. Then the mutation stage will go back to the beginning because at that stage they just got a new life as a made creature, so they can develop into a superior creature.”

“Hmm ...”

Odo at a glance looked away, a little understood by the concept of the development of the undead that was indeed faster than monsters. Devouring or consuming the lives of other creatures was indeed one way to speed up the mutation process, it was almost the same as the cultivation method of absorbing energy from magic crystals that Odo often did.

Facing towards the Mavis next to him, the young man made sure, “When they become Vampires they are no longer considered monsters, huh?”

“Of course!” Mavis frantically stepped back as the blood on the horn splashed slightly and almost hit her clothes. Staring sharply and feeling that his son was doing that on purpose, he was at a glance speechless with class. Sighing and putting on a sullen face, he finally explained, “Vampir has high intelligence! They can use special magic and can also make subordinates use other creatures as media!”

Mavis resentfully slapped the back of Odo's hand, making the young man drop the horn to the side. At first glance the atmosphere turned silent, what he did really told the young man with black hair that his mother did not like blood. But when Mavis looked at his son's face, the young man smiled lightly as if he was happy to judge and made the blonde woman even more upset.

Snuggling small and turning his eyes away, Mavis resentfully said, “Indeed it is very rare there undead can reach that level! But! Still the undead must be prevented from awakening. The hunters in the Guild also understood that leaving a monster corpse just like that was a crime! At least cut them into pieces or bury their bodies!”

“Ma-Sorry ...” Odo smiled faintly as his mother puffed both cheeks. After picking up the fallen horns, the young man turned around and said, “After I take their horns, I will burn their corpses.”

“Hemp! Quickly do!”

As a mother, the blonde woman could not say directly that she did not like blood for some reason. It reminded her a little of the tragedy in the city of Gahon and the moment of giving birth to her son that scared her to death.

As the young man said, he took all the horns from every Minotaurus. Indeed there are other parts that can be taken from them such as skin that can be used as parchment or heart that can be used as magic ritual materials. But considering the existing storage magic, Odo did not take all of it.

The same goes for The White Bull, the young man just took his horn. After finishing inserting the horns into the storage dimension and re-dressing his black robe, Odo changed his abilities to the Magus Type and immediately burned the corpses with special Hariq Iliah magic, until their bodies had only bones left.

.

.

.

.

The sun began to rise, its rays entered through the leaves of the oak tree and illuminated the surface in the forest. The fog completely disappears at noon, the dew on the leaves evaporates and becomes the consumption of trees. As if cut into pieces by the lush green leaves, a little light that went all the way down revealed the body of the young man with black hair who walked in the middle of the forest while holding his mother. The blonde woman who was carrying the young man looked slightly pouted, carrying shoes while wrapping both arms around his son's neck.

Mavis wanted to put on her shoes and walk on her own. But because both women's legs were dirty because previously running barefoot and the terrain that was passed was not smooth, he was forced to be carried back by Odo during the trip. The woman's frown came from a mind that felt it was only a burden for her son, he put lips into his mouth and occasionally let out a light sigh.

Odo just stepped foot and did not care about it. He had obtained some refrigerated ingredients, it was enough for him and there was no other reason for him to complain about anything. If something does not make him calm, the expression of the woman he carried over time increasingly sullen since burning the corpses of the monsters and went from where the cave was.

“Mother, why frown?” ask Odo a little.

The young man's forehead shriveled, such an answer already signaled something was offending his mother. For a moment squinting and continuing to step on the road full of bushes, the young man sighed and said, “It doesn't feel good to come with me, ‘kan? I told you not to come.”

“Not it! Hemp!” The woman sniffed, while tightening her arms and resentfully said, “My son, you do need to learn a lot about women's feelings!”

Hearing that from his own mother even added a strange taste in Odo's mind. Ignoring this, he began to run lightly without telling the woman he was holding to hold. Mavis flinched and almost fell backwards, then the woman tightly wrapped both arms around her son in slight annoyance.

Slightly taking a breath and calming down, Mavis thought that her son was indeed angry because he was coming along. The ignorant and idle nature that the young man gave was one way for him to express his annoyance. With a small smile and a mouth to his ear, Mavis whispered, “My son, are we going to go straight to the store you built? Go to the city directly, ‘kan?”

“Hmm?” While still running Odo slightly turned his head and replied, “We are going to the city, but not to the store. I want to exchange magic crystals in the Guild and there are some items I want to take in the craftsman district. There are also some raw materials that still have to be purchased and there are many tools that are less than my store.”

“You're busy once, yes.” Mavis frowned again because she felt like a burden again.

“Indeed ...”

Their conversation stopped, no words were spoken and among them began to grow silence. Only the sounds of nature such as animals and the friction of leaves accompany the journey. Passing through the bushes, the rocky road until down the hill and crossing the shallow river with a swift current.

In the young man's sling, a warm feeling was felt in Mavis' mind. It reminded him so much of Dart, so much that it made him comfortable and wanted to momentarily close his eyes to forget all the problems that existed.

In the midst of such comfort, suddenly Odo's footsteps stopped and it made Mavis surprised. He tightened both of his coiled arms until it slightly choked the neck of the young man carrying him, then slightly irritatedly asked, “Why did it suddenly stop?”

“I just remembered ...”

“Hmm?”

“If Mommy comes along, instead of runningyam?”

“Runyap why?”

“Post important people, ‘kan? If people see you, they will surely kneel or prostrate indistinctly ... It's even free later, my plan.”

“Eng, true too.... Most people will do that if they see Mommy.”

The atmosphere turned silent, the two people were completely new to realizing it. Indeed, if a Marchioness comes to a public place will definitely attract attention and ultimately make a crowd. It could also affect the service where Odo will go later, ending with misunderstandings that could disrupt the company's performance when the young man's black hair wakes up.

“Keep how?” Odo slightly looked back, then reluctantly asked, “Mother I stay no problem?”

“Eh! No, dong!” Mavis slightly panicked, raised her face and tightly wrapped both hands around the young man's neck. In a loud voice he said, “Have arrived here instead left!”

His mother's embrace was so tight that Odo's neck was strangled and lost balance and nearly fell. Holding both of Mavis' arms and loosening the woman's arms, Odo said, “Te-Keep how?”

“Then, put it this way ...”

“Eng?”

Mavis came down from Odo's sling, stomping on the ground barefoot. The woman turned away from her son, then began to rearrange her appearance. Mavis took off both hairbands and combed them with fingers, then slightly fiddled with the makeup and completely changed her appearance. When he turned towards Odo, the young man was stunned to see his mother's appearance. The tie of the two forwards was replaced, the makeup was removed and the woman slightly changed her normally calm facial expression to full of cheerfulness.

“Who are you!!?” ask Odo firmly with a face of disbelief.

“I am your mother, who else .... Don't overdo it so, ah.”

“No! No! No! No!” Odo shook his head in disbelief, then pointed straight at the woman and said, “Indeed the Mother is young! But not until like a teenage teenager this year!”

Tie hair in a childish Twin-tail style, a makeup-free face that exudes natural and very young beauty, as well as the cheerful expression of a teenaged teenager. Added to the adult aura completely missing from her, Mavis does look like a different person just by changing her hairstyle and removing her makeup.

“Don't overdo it, already .... Is it weird that you look young like this?”

The woman's face was slightly flushed with embarrassment, looking reluctant to show the face without makeup on her son. It really made Odo stunned to see Mavis put on such an expression, not expecting that makeup really hid the unexpected.

“Serious?” Odo patted the eel, looked away and said, “Just remove the makeup and change the hairstyle only ...”

“Hmm, don't you know?” Mavis smiled faintly with her slightly flushed face, then confidently said, “The makeup is one of the women's weapons. Hows it? Maybe this is the first time you've seen Mommy without makeup, right?”

“So all this time Mommy wears makeup?” Odo stared flat and put on a surprised face, although in reality he was vaguely aware of it. With a flat tone as if he did not believe it, the young man with black hair said, “I am completely unconscious .... Original, whereas one home.”

“Of course, Mother never comes out of the room without makeup.”

The words slightly disturbed Odo, there were some strange things about it and made him remember the demon monster that had appeared in the city of Gahon. The young man wanted to ask Mavis that question. But when he saw his mother's slightly timid expression, the young man undoes his intention because he does not want to disturb the woman's happiness.

While smiling little the young man instead flattered, “Why? Better like this, you know. Without makeup it looks young. If you wear makeup even like mothers.”

“Mother is already a mother, know ...”

The flattery was instead arrested as satire. Turning his gaze and looking for another topic, the young man said, “Ah, I get it!” Odo looked straight at his mother, pointed his finger and guessed, “Because Mommy doesn't age, so the makeup is to make Mommy look a little older? So that if there are people from outside the Mansion visiting it is not surprising to see the face of the mother who is very young.”

“Tap .... “ Mavis glances sharply at a glance, aware that her son is shifting the subject and hiding something. Following the line of conversation that Odo made, the blonde woman again said, “If there is a meeting or a guest who comes, please, they will surely wonder why I always look young when I see the appearance of Mother like this. Initially it was only a few times, but because you like to give it finally Mother is addicted and always wear makeup whether it's at home or if you want to go out.”

Odo held his chin, pretending as if he was thinking about something when the conclusion was already in his head. With a light tone the young man argued, “If his appearance is like this I don't think it matters. But ...”

“But?”

“Why does Mother's holy aura also disappear? I mean, Mother's magic pressure .... Does makeup affect her too?”

“No, not that.” Mavis brought her face closer, looked at Odo up close and in a stern voice said, “Mother is just holding her back, like you sometimes suppress your own magic, my son. Especially the dragon aura you have ..”

“A—!” Odo pretended to be surprised when he already knew that his mother would say that. Turning his eyes away and acting like he was nervous, the young man anxiously said, “Yes, already! Ki-we continue the journey. I want to get there before noon.”

“Hmm, yes, yes, Mommy understands.”

Mavis realized that her son was pretending. But he did not know what Odo was acting like and what he was hiding. Whenever his son was shocked, stunned or showed a clear expression, it all felt like it was being contrived in Mavis' eyes.

After raising the Mavis on a sling, they continued on to the city. This time Odo increased his speed and ran as fast as he could. On the way they also occasionally chatted, but Mavis felt that there was something that his son was hiding. It was not about the world, reincarnation, or the plan he was working on, but about the young man in black hair himself.