Thanks to the good looks of Zenith and Paul, the entire Greyrat family had inherited remarkable appearances.
However, after using Fire Magic during the battle against the Hydra, Wood's once dazzling blonde hair had been completely burned off, leaving him with a shiny bald head. Despite Zenith's healing, half of his body was covered in red burn scars from the intense heat.
Zenith was worried about this, as it reminded her of Rudy, who was very vain as a child, always checking himself out in the mirror (since Rudy had been a shut-in in his previous life).
Zenith feared Wood might be just as concerned about his appearance, worried he wouldn't be able to accept the scars. Hair would eventually grow back, but burn scars were much harder to heal.
"Don't worry, we're on our way to the capital of the Holy Kingdom of Millis. If His Holiness, the Pope, gets involved, there's no doubt he can remove those burn scars," Zenith reassured him.
Zenith came from a noble family, the Latreia house, in the Holy Kingdom of Millis. She had been hailed as the ideal noblewoman in her youth. However, after an argument with her mother, she ran away from home and was nearly sold into slavery by swindlers.
Fortunately, she met Paul and his party, becoming a member of the Black Wolf's Fang adventurer group, which allowed her to escape that fate. Since then, she hadn't returned to the Holy Kingdom, not even after marrying Paul and having Wood and Rudy. She never contacted the Latreia family.
This revealed a strong-willed side that Zenith shared with Paul. Both were remarkably stubborn in their own ways.
Wood didn't know the full extent of the rift between Zenith and her mother, but the fact that she never mentioned her mother spoke volumes. Clearly, Zenith was determined to never yield to her.
But for Wood's sake, Zenith had finally compromised and decided to return home, willing to humble herself before her mother for his treatment.
There was no other choice. The Holy Kingdom of Millis was a theocracy, where the Pope held more power than the king. In order to get the Pope to treat Wood, Zenith would need the influence of the Latreia family.
"It's really not that big a deal," Wood said. "Now that I look different from Rudy, at least I won't have to keep taking the blame for his antics. And once I master King-level Healing Magic, I'll be able to heal these scars myself."
With his recent increase in magic power, Wood felt confident he could eventually learn King-level Healing Magic. Mastering King-level magic was simply a matter of time, given how his magic had grown.
Before, Wood only had King-level Fire and Water magic, but after the recent battle, he sensed his magic power had surged.
For a mage, when the magic power is there, mastery of new spells often follows naturally. Just as a Saint-level Water Mage could, in theory, learn a beginner-level fire spell, Wood knew he could expand his magical repertoire with his newfound strength.
If Wood had said this before, Zenith might have thought he was just being stubborn. But after seeing him in action in the moving labyrinth, she had come to realize that her son was a prodigy. He had already mastered King-level Fire and Water Magic, so learning King-level Healing Magic didn't seem that far-fetched.
What Zenith didn't know was that during his final battle with the Hydra, Wood had even used an Emperor-level Fire Spell—something she had missed because she was unconscious at the time.
Even Norn and Aisha, who had witnessed it, didn't realize its significance. All they knew was that their brother had cast an immensely powerful spell.
Upon hearing that Wood could potentially heal himself with King-level Healing Magic, Zenith immediately rushed outside the carriage, ready to turn the wagon around.
"Zenith, what are you doing? Weren't we going to see Grandmother in the Holy Kingdom?" Wood asked, curious.
Although this world was just part of a system-driven simulation, each life felt real to Wood. He had been born into this world, lived here for eleven years, and his family—Paul, Zenith, and the others—were his true family.
So he couldn't help but feel a bit curious about his grandmother, whom he had never met.
"What grandmother? Our main priority is to find Paul and Lilia. The rest can wait until later," Zenith replied curtly.
It was obvious that Zenith's earlier decision to return home had been solely for Wood's treatment. Now that she knew he could heal himself, her stubbornness kicked in again, and she wasn't about to bow to her mother.
"If we're going to find Paul and Lilia as soon as possible, then heading to the Holy Kingdom is still the right move," Wood countered. "This world is vast, with countless kingdoms and regions. Relying on just ourselves to find them would take forever. But with the resources of your noble family in the Holy Kingdom, we could get the information we need to locate them much faster."
Wood's reasoning finally broke through Zenith's stubbornness, and they decided to continue on to the Holy Kingdom.
After all, he wasn't wrong. Finding Paul and Lilia would require more than just luck. They needed information and manpower, resources they couldn't obtain alone.
As they traveled toward the Holy Kingdom of Millis, Wood and his family turned quite a few heads.
In this medieval world, long-distance travel usually meant horse-drawn carriages. However, Wood's carriage was pulled not by horses, but by rare, powerful wolf-like magical beasts.
The massive Demon Wolf that accompanied their carriage was even bigger than the wagon itself, catching the attention of everyone they passed.
If it weren't for the fact that two cheerful little girls were playing on the giant wolf's back, many of the travelers they encountered would have assumed they were facing some kind of terrifying magical beast leader.
Seeing how easily they controlled such powerful creatures, it wasn't hard for the onlookers to guess that the passengers inside the carriage were either incredibly powerful adventurers or nobles of great importance.
As a result, quite a few people approached them along the way, hoping to strike up a conversation or even offer their services as guards.
Zenith, however, responded to these people with cool indifference—until someone in one of the groups caught her attention.
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P/S: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 400+ at p@treon.com/Betek and change @ to a