Intrigued, I decided to put the sword down near the river bank. With my senses augmented by [Absolute Awareness], I became keenly aware of the shift in the wind. The flow of the river seemed to curl towards my side.

The body of the hero, which I now observed to be a girl, was slowly moving towards me. Or more accurately, the sword.

It took about a couple of minutes, but the hero eventually washed up on the river bank, a few steps away from me.

"Is this... the absurdity of fate? How, no matter what, things will become the way things are?"

Seeing it in action almost made me laugh.

I was keenly aware of my own fate. After all, I had a gift that allowed me to sense it directly. In the first place, my role in this world had been inscribed upon an infinitely tall, grey wall of infinite vastness.

It was a wall that I saw every time I fell asleep.

On this wall were words written in Latin. Roughly translated, it read,

[ In the ethereal expanse of puny mortal consciousness, where every thought is a star in the boundless sky of existence, you shall strive for celestial clarity, beyond even that of the irreducible God. ]

It was cheesy, but I roughly understood.

[Omniscience].

Such was the pinnacle of my gift. A goal I had to achieve, or else I face an end worse than death.

"Now, what shall I do with this situation?"

I had the unconscious hero of Leisha at my feet, along with her fated sword.

"Uh, and a fire in the distance..?"

Ah, now I see how this would have played out.

Looking at the rising smoke just upstream, I was pretty sure of what was going on.

"For now, let's keep you alive."

I slung the sword on my waist, wore my backpack, and carried the unconscious hero with me. I could hear the distant footsteps, rapidly approaching. The sound of yells and battlecries rang incessantly in my ears.

They were still fighting, even as they fled, whoever they were.

[Absolute Awareness] flashed in my mind.

I guessed a few of their routes, and I took the one that they were least likely to take.

I doubted that I would be able to win in a fight.

***

The last thing Melia remembered was a blinding light and the cold embrace of the river. The next was the warmth of a fire and the smell of food as she stirred into consciousness.

"Urgh,"

Life had been happening so fast. First, she was admitted to the best school in the capital, then she was said to have the same mana attributes as the hero of Leisha, and then the caravan she had been a part of was attacked and raided.

The guards were slain, her future classmates died to a barrage of magic, and a bunch of beasts trampled on the carriages.

All of this in just under a week.

"W-Where am I?"

Melia looked around as she struggled to sit upright. The sight of a dark, damp cave appeared before her. The crackling fire just a few feet away was the only source of light. Sitting at the mouth of the cave was a man in weird green clothes. He had his eyes closed as if he was asleep.

Suddenly, Melia was on guard.

She sprang to her feet, but the sudden influx of pain made her stagger.

"Ah!"

Faceplanting onto the stone floor, Melia realized that there were makeshift bandages tied around her wounds.

"...You're awake. Avoid any unnecessary movements. My insufficient first aid abilities would begin to show if you did."

Melia heard the voice of the man. He sounded younger than she initially thought. Maybe only a few years older than she was.

However, his way of speaking was quite unique. His accent was different from what she was used to.

"A-Are you a foreigner?" Melia asked as she wiped the dirt off of her face.

She tried her best to hide her embarrassment, but it didn't seem like the man was even watching.

"Yeah. I guess you could say that. I hope you don't mind." The man spoke without opening his eyes. "I found you floating down the river. After hearing sounds of fighting, I decided to hide you here, just to be safe."

He paused.

"Did I make the right decision?"

Hearing these words, Melia realized that the man had just saved her life. Hurriedly, she bowed her head.

"T-thank you for helping me! I don't know what would've happened if I stayed in the river for so long... My name is Melia. I'm a commoner. M-may I ask for yours, Sir?"

"...Don't call me Sir." The man frowned, "My name is Aventine Tidea... though my surname no longer holds much meaning."

A fallen noble? Melia thought. Perhaps that was why he was here, venturing alone.

"Sir Aventine—"

"I said drop the Sir. I'm like, only a few years older than you. It feels weird."

"Ah, sorry Sir—"

"..."

Melia coughed.

"Then, Mr Aventine?"

"Just Aventine."

"Aventine... Thank you again for your help. Is there any way I can repay this debt?"

"Can I have this sword?" Aventine asked a weird question.

Melia didn't own any swords.

"Uhm..."

"I found it in the river where you were. I thought it was yours." Aventine replied, showing her the sword. It was simple and unadorned. Something that she could've owned indeed, but it wasn't hers.

"It's not mine. It also looks like a sword you can find anywhere. If it came from the caravan I was a part of, then it wouldn't be much of an issue for you to take ownership of it." Melia said after a brief moment of thought.

Sadness washed over her when she thought of her caravan.

"By any chance, Si- I mean, Aventine, were there any other survivors nearby when you found me?"

Aventine tilted his head.

"There were a few. They fought as they ran, so I believe that a few had been able to escape. I wouldn't be sure as to how they'll survive in this forest though." Aventine looked outside.

"There's something out there... and it's much more powerful than all of them combined."

Melia watched as a shudder coursed through Aventine's body. It seemed like what was out there was indeed a terrifying existence.

Suddenly, Melia's stomach growled.

"...It seems like you're hungry." Aventine chuckled, "Here, have some food. They're all from my homeland, so they taste pretty decent."

Blushing, Melia went over to the fire and sat down.

"Thanks,"