~43 / Moon of Fire / 175~
As Lily opens her eyes, the only thing she can see on the ceiling of someone's house as the last thing she remembers is getting eaten by a pack of Inferno Wolf. As she sits down on the bed, Lily looks at her injured body or what it was supposed to be. Not only was the wound caused by the Inferno wolf, but all her old scars also disappear from her body.
While looking at her body, Lily then feels a pulse of mana. She looks to her side and sees a man sitting on the chair and surrounded by many magic circles. While she is not a magic-user, Lily knows that only a master of magic can use multiple magic circles at the same time. Magic-user that can make two magic circles at the same time can be considered as a Journeyman. The man in front of her uses seven magic circles at the same time, and the only one that can handle that kind of magic is a person that has a job, at least Enchanter with a ranking of Grand Master in magic casting.
Lily looks at the man in amazement as he 'reads' the book and uses both hands to write something inside the parchment that is floating near him. The man also controls two more quills and makes it write on the parchment without him touching the quills.
She also sees him practice some spells; the reason she knows him practicing is that he only uses the spell for a few seconds before deactivating it and beginning to write once again. He continued doing this activity for at least a few minutes before all the books closed and sigh before placing down all the books on the bookshelf. He then turns back and sees her already wake up. She can see the man in front of her surprised a little before he smiles at her kindly.
"Hello, My name is Gabriel. How are you?"
"Mmmmm, My name is Lily, and I'm feeling great."
"Good Good. Also, could you please stand up? I need to check a few things."
The man then pulled up staff from his bag. Lily slowly pushes herself from the comfortable bed and stands up. Gabriel then points his staff at her and sees the staff glow a little before he puts it away and nods at himself.
"You are good to go."
After Gabriel says that, Lily bows at him and says.
"Thank you for helping me, Sir Gabriel."
"Gabriel will do. Also, don't mind it. I'm happy to help people in trouble."
Lily blushes a little seeing the brilliant smile that Gabriel has, and not only Gabriel has a beautiful smile. He also has a soothing aura around him that makes him comfortable. However, the comfortable silence is interrupted by a roar of her stomach, making her face become a tomato.
Lily hears Gabriel chuckle a little before saying.
"Come on. I will make us some food."
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Gabriel walks to the kitchen and leaves Lily sitting on the chair inside the dining room. At first, Lily tries to help him cook, but he insists on doing it alone as he doesn't want her to know where he got all the ingredients. While he knows there is a magic that can summon or store many things inside a personal pocket dimension, he cannot explain some ingredient that comes from his previous world. The ingredient is coming from the passive ability of the Authority that he used earlier. For example, after he uses one of the authorities of Hestia, Gabriel gains an ability to cook any kind of food and summon or create (He is not sure about this one) any ingredient he needs, including meat or fish. The only thing he cannot summon or create is a living creature like a living chicken or an egg that can still be hatched. Another example is when he uses one of the Authority of Saint George, Gabriel gets passive ability in the form of Gentle Aura of the Saint and Ascalon itself. At the same time, he still needs to use Aria if he wants to active Ascalon full ability, he can use the sword to fight any monster that coming at him as he explores the forest.
After cooking all the food, Gabriel then brings it to the table where Lily looks around the house curiously.
"Come on, let's eat."
He saw Lily hesitated a little bit, but after seeing him eating the food, she grabbed the food using the spoon and then placed it inside her mouth.
"Mmmmmm~."
Gabriel chuckled a little as it was the same reaction when he ate his cooking for the first time after using Hestia authority. Hestia is the Goddess of Hearth, the hearth essential for warmth, food preparation, and the completion of sacrificial offerings to deities, making her a minor goddess of food. This means all the food in front of them can be said to be the most delicious thing mortals ever taste or at least close to it.
Lily continues to devour the food in front of her in a fast manner making him wonder if she has not eaten for at least two days. After a few minutes, the whole food disappears from the table, and the only thing that is still on the table is the plate and a cup.
He then uses his magic to do the dishes for him and looks at Lily's shocked face after seeing his use of magic.
"So Lily, Why do you venturing inside the forest alone?"
"Ummm, I'm on a quest to kill some Goblin on the East side of the forest."
"Then why are you in the northern forest?"
"Ummm, I want to search for some herb for making extra money as there is an emergency quest for D-rank adventurers."
"And you go too deep into the forest and get ambushed by a pack of Inferno Wolf, huh?"
"Emmm, Not really?"
"Oh?"
"I attack them first."
"Alone? You know that a pack of Inferno Wolf can kill even a C-rank adventurer, right?"
"No, there are only two of them, and one of them is already injured by something, so I thought I could kill them easily."
"And unfortunate for you, their packmate is nearby and hears their cry."
"Yes"
"Then, it was lucky that I was nearby and able to hear your distress call."
"Un. Ahhh, can I ask you something?"
"Sure"
"Where are we?"
"We are inside my house."
"No, I mean the location."
"Oh, we are on the edge of the capital barrier. My house is also inside the northern forest, where many herbs are located. Sadly there is no more medical herb around here as many people already take it in large numbers lately."
"Northern Forest… On the edge of the barrier… Master of Magic… Master of Healing arts…"
Lily keeps muttering something in a low voice that he can't hear. After mumbling something for at least a minute, Lily looks at him with widened eyes and points her finger at him.
"You are the Forest Sage!!!"
"Hmm?"
"You are the forest sage, right? The Master of Magic, The Master of Healing arts, and the patron of the orphanages in the city!"
"I'm not Forest Sage."
"Are you the one that helps a group of adventurers dying after fighting a pack of Mad Ants?"
"Hmmm, Yes, I recall helping some group of an adventurer, not too long ago."
"Are you the one that blesses the orphanages in the city with your magic, making the land around the orphanage more fertile? And also the one that repairs the building making it more like a mansion rather than orphanages?"
"Why yes, I cannot let the children suffer. Also, some of the people that lived there demanded some 'protection taxes' to the orphanage's matron, and I can't let that happen."
"You make the man traumatize, and even until now, he afraid to go to the forest, too afraid meeting you."
"That's good then."
"Then you are the Forest Sage!!!"
"That's what people call me?"
"Yes! Many people are very grateful to you after you heal them from their injuries. Especially the one that lived in the slums."
"Huh"