Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 17: The way each views (Part 02)

A few hours into the journey, Drake's wooden train and cart drove smoothly over snow-covered roads in the forest area. The snow fell not too heavy, only white grains that seemed to float down like cotton.

The expedition trip is quite interesting for them because it is filled with fun chatter and small jokes. Especially for the servants who did know Odo wrongly because of the complaints that Julia often uttered, they began to understand a little what kind of child who became their Young Master.

From small talk that seemed to have no boundaries between the employer and his subordinates, Odo became increasingly familiar with the Shieal in addition to what he knew about them through the data in the archive room.

They were just ordinary people in Odo's eyes, although the background that existed could probably be said to be unlucky. At first the boy did not want to include the servants in his grand plan, but after knowing their personalities, Odo reconsidered.

Their journey is quite long because the distance of the Pando Forest is indeed far and the road through various fields. They passed through the wooded area around the Luke Family residence and entered the vast snow-covered meadow.

After that, they would re-enter the forest and ascend to the mountainous area. On the first day of their journey, they reached the valley area of the foothills of the mountains that separated the Luke Family territory from the neighboring Rein Family as well as other noble families.

The day is getting dark and it will be dangerous if they continue the journey considering Drake who pulled the train and cart they do not have good eyesight. Looking for a large enough place in the valley area, they stopped and began to prepare a tent for the night.

Gariadin and Xua Lin first descended, they walked towards the cart behind to pick up the fabric and skeleton of the tent. Manda and Imania followed down from the carriage, then immediately prepared the land to set up a tent. Seeing them come out of the carriage window, Odo slightly smiled faintly and his gaze looked like it was relieved of something.

Seeing the figure she was serving put on such an expression, Julia felt a strange thing in her mind, a curiosity and wonder. Sighing lightly, he got off the train to help his comrades outside. “Don't go anywhere huh, Mr. Odo,” said the silvery furry cat girl.

“Ya ..” Odo replied in a non-serious tone. After waiting for Julia to completely step away from the carriage, the boy leaned his body against the back of the seat and began to put on a dark expression that a child should not have. He opened his right palm, then made a half meter diameter magic circle.

For a moment observing the magic circle created above his palm, he began writing the rune with the technique of light letters with the left forefinger. In his spare time, the black-haired boy made a structure with a complicated arrangement and began to experiment using his knowledge.

It didn't take long, and even before Julia and the others finished setting up the tent, Odo finished his experiment and made a magic circle with a very complicated magic structure. The magic circle shrunk to the size of a palm, having more than a hundred runes and magic circuits connecting the structure with each other to form a unity formula.

“Hmm, I think this is enough.” Odo clasped the magic-circle over his right palm, then the circle seeped into the skin and white smoke shot out. As he opened the palm, a magic circle like an oak-sized Rajah formed right in the middle of his right palm.

The magic circle is a structure to accelerate the rate of Mana supply when using magic especially if the magic used uses the right hand as the final execution medium.

“I guess with this my magic usage speed increased by about 20% .... Well, honestly useless since the increase was just like that, anyway. But ..., at least now ...”

Odo got out of the wooden carriage, then looked towards Julia and the others who were about to finish preparing a place to spend the night. The tent is already standing and the wooden papa chair and the city of groceries have been lowered, just stay to prepare a bonfire for heating and cooking food because it is the material that most raw materials carry.

Julia immediately approached Odo after the child came out, then took him into the tent and held his right hand continuously because of the anxiety of the black-haired child wandering alone. Sitting in a tan tent that can accommodate up to five people, the atmosphere between the two of them became very quiet.

From the door of the tent, Minda looked in and said, “Julia .., I and Lin want to find an additional twig, the firewood is not enough for the night .... Gariadin was preparing the ingredients. You ...” Seeing Julia sitting and holding Odo's hand so as not to run away and go alone, Mind immediately understood it. Staring at each other with Julia, Minda nodded in understanding and left immediately.

Seeing the level of communication the two of them had earlier, Odo was surprised at the thought of the two people being able to understand each other so well. “What are the two of them? Wear telepathy?” thought Odo while glancing flat at Julia. Looking at the cat girl, Odo gave a slightly sharp look and tried to let go of his grasp. However, at that time Julia also clasped tightly to Odo's right hand.

“Mbak ..?”

“What's up, Young Master?”

“Release ..!”

“Tak will ...”

Odo's gaze became flat. Sighing as he turned his face for a moment, the black-haired boy quickly leaned his body onto Julia. “Eh ..” Julia was surprised, but afterwards she didn't mind. Seeing Odo close his eyes and lean on him, in the mind of the cat girl felt a strange thing that he did not feel.

He knew the name of the strange feeling, but could not understand it fully and himself knew that there should not be such a feeling in the mind. Slightly putting on a sad face, Julia smiled faintly with a squinted look.

“Verily .., this feeling ..., indeed there cannot be .... Is it because of my body's development that this feeling can arise? Or because you spend a lot of time with him? An instinct? Honestly .. I don't know if this is indeed a happiness, but at least now I am satisfied now can say Young Master ...”

Revealing the boy's pony hair that covered her forehead, Julia's face began to look even sadder as she became aware of the feelings that were completely filling her. “I don't think I can feel something like this .... What a mystery,” murmured as she smiled.

Odo heard that, but pretended to be asleep and did not open his eyes. He did not understand what Julia said, but he knew it was something sensitive for the Demi-human because the tone he used was sad.

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A few tens of minutes passed, the maids who had gone looking for additional twigs had returned and started cooking food with a pot mounted on top of the campfire. Odo and Julia came out of the tent after smelling the scent of soup that was beginning to ripen.

Seeing the cooking steam coming out from the top of the pot and smelling the increasingly strong pleasant aroma, the, the black-haired boy immediately walked quickly towards the servants and Gariadin who were sitting on wooden chairs near the campfire.

Seeing their master coming, Minda and the others turned their heads towards him. “Not cooked, Young Master,” says Minda.

“Hmmm, already hungry ...” Odo crouched near the campfire, giving a starving look at the pot above the embers.

“Patience, Young Master. Later also cook for a while longer,” said Xua Lin who sat next to Minda. Immania who was standing near Gariadin nodded in agreement to these words.

Before the boy did what he had in mind, Julia raised him to her feet, and took him with her to sit on an elongated wooden board chair, next to Mind. The black-haired boy was sitting right on Julia's lap. Feeling strange about the position, Odo just put on a flat expression. But, he did not dodge and remained a henchman in his place.

A few minutes passed again, the day turned dark, and the cooked soup was ripe. The soup was very simple, just a slice of smoked beef mixed with vegetables boiled with milk. Mind and Immania took a wooden bowl, then filled it with soup using a wooden gravy spoon.

Sharing them in a twist from Odo, they all got their own share. Odo came down from Julia's lap, sat down on the snow and ate.

Under the starless night sky that was still gently lowering the snow, they gathered near the campfire and enjoyed their dinner in the wild. Odo did not really like soup because it was less strong, but because he was hungry, he even added three times and really spent the soup in the pot.

After enjoying dinner, the Shieal start their night vigil schedule. The first to stand guard was Imania and Minda, while Gariadin and Xua Lin took a small lantern from the wagon and went into the tent and slept to stand guard later in the middle of the night. Seeing the highly efficient division of tasks, Odo recalled some of the things about group work and the division of tasks he had learned in his previous life.

Thinking of something else, the boy sat down with Imania and Mind on a board seat after they took two oil lanterns for lighting enhancers, and of course Julia accompanied the child. “Tuan ..., let's get in the tent, sleep. It's night,” said Julia.

Hearing that, in Odo's mind thought of strange things because it was very mature soul and mind. He looked away, then breathed. Looking back at Julia with a flat gaze, Odo replied, “Let's ..., not yet sleepy.” Julia immediately seemed to mind hearing that.

Ignoring him, the black-haired boy had a conversation with Immania and Mind after they placed the lantern on a wooden box that had previously been used to store groceries. Because Imania could not speak, the servant girl only communicated with sign language.

Seeing that, Odo replied to his communication with sign language as well because he was a little bit able to with it. Imania and others were surprised Odo could use sign language.But after that, it became not strange because the child continued to talk.

It was dark and almost midnight. Julia increasingly looks sleepy, the short silvery-haired girl is tired of taking care of the collection of items and preparation for the expedition.

At midnight and the watch changed, Gariadin and Xua Lin who slept in the tent were awakened Mind to replace him and Imania who were on guard. Increasingly unable to resist sleepiness, Julia took Odo into the tent and slept with Mind and Immania inside. The inside of the tent is warm because the floor cloth is a bit of straw and on the wall of the tent has a magic circle that emits heat. The existing lighting is only a small lantern installed on the framework of the ceiling tent.

In the midst of the women who immediately fell asleep fast after entering the tent, Odo who was among them with open eyes could not sleep at all for biological and psychic reasons. “Sabar Jony ..., if you get out of control, you become trash! Junk society ...,” thought Odo with his eyes wide open.

Unable to sleep in the situation, Odo recalled what he had talked with Mind, Imania, and Julia earlier to eliminate negative thoughts in the head. In their small talk, Minda had told me about the Pando Forest which is the purpose of their expedition now. “From the fairy tale, I think it was more like the story ..” thought Odo.

The story, or rather a legend that Mind told about a witch who had lived for thousands of years, and had even been told before the time of the Great War. It is a small story about the love of a Witch who lived in the past hundreds of years, and is predicted to be the figure of one of the ancestors of magic scattered in the Michigan continent.

In a very distant land, came a knowledgeable person to a small village that is said to still be the forerunner of the Kingdom of Felixia. First the figure of the Witch came, He healed the sick who could not be healed by healers, bring rain, and even make barren fields become replanted.

So clever and knowledgeable of the person, the citizens who there consider everything he does is magic, the, and that's when she was called with Witch because her figure is always seen wearing seedy clothes and her hair is tangled and not styled like grandmothers.

However, his arrival that took the sympathy of the people up to the neighboring villages made the nobles who became the Landlords of the area envious, then gave false accusations that Witch that she was a messenger of the devil.

Brought to trial and without being able to defend directly convicted, the Witch was exiled to a place far from the settlement, where it was the Pando Forest, where it was located, a forest whose name is taken from the vegetation of trees in the place.

A very long time passed, the nobles who punished the Witch had changed and the place began to form a Kingdom. Seeing the development from within the forest, the Witch begins to be attracted back to the outside world and the people who live there. In the end, he violated the restrictions on the punishment given and came out of the forest. Despite being hundreds of years old, the Witch did not age at all. His skin was still tight, his face was still young, but his appearance and clothes still looked like loose and unkempt.

Walking in the middle of the city, he was immediately arrested by the guards and thrown into prison without anyone knowing who he really was. Years passed, the man who became the warden in the prison who locked him up realized that the tangled-haired woman did not age.

Then, one night the warden approached the Witch and asked about the cause out of curiosity. Witch answered without protest, with details and means, and the warden concluded it was magic.

Interested in this, Witch was released and taken by the warden to his residence in the corner of the city, then raised Witch and made her a family because she was very interested in mystical things. Witch lived with him, until the warden married someone else and had a grandchild.

At the end of the warden's life, Witch offers him immortality. However, he refused and eventually died following his wife who left first. That's when the Witch realized that she loved the warden's head and just wanted to be with him.

Sadness fills the Witch, what she does to the warden's head is because she loves him, and not because of a mere mutual relationship because the man gave her a place to live.

On the day of the funeral of the warden's head, the Witch remained sitting in front of the warden's grave even until relatives of the deceased figure he loved left the place. In times of rainstorms, snow, and scorching heat, Witch hugs the warden's headstone at a suburban public meal.

In the winter of the second year after the death of the warden, Witch realizes that love is indeed very happy but can be very painful for such a long-lived creature. Deciding not to re-engage with the people, Witch re-enters the woods where she was once convicted.

That's a little love story that is so sincere and needless to reply. Hidden in the darkness of the deep forest, and slowly the truth is covered with the dark trees.

It is said that every night of the full moon, there is a singing voice with a very deep sad tone in the Pando Forest. People say that it was the voice of the Witch who was still languishing and feeling lost, and it is still often heard today. At the end of the story, the Witch sits on a tree branch in the forest and says, “Ah, thank goodness I have felt this. I hope to see you back later. I wish I could be closer to you .... I want to hear your voice, hold your hand, and lean on that stiff body of yours Under the moon that shone brightly with the auraora in winter, Witch hummed again with a sad tone that reflected this of her heart.

Thinking back on the story, Odo really felt that it was not just a fairy tale. In a world where there is magic and things beyond reason are everywhere, immortality and such love stories are possible. Closing his eyes and rethinking, Odo sighed and went back to sleep.

“A very long wait and a sincere love that is so bitter,” muttered Odo while re-opening his eyes wide. The black-haired boy really felt that the story was a little familiar.

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Note: Arc 01 is still quite long .... Arc “This 101” number is less ¾ than the whole Arc length of this opening arc.

Btw, if the update usually there is a one-two day pause after being sent to the mangatoon party, so be patient yes:v