What Drives That Woman

Two weeks had passed since the banquet at the Lunareth mansion.

The carriage wheels rattled over the stone road, yet Aurellia merely closed her eyes as if unbothered. Her head rested on her left hand, elbow propped against the armrest of the seat, her expression thoughtful for a moment before she drew a blue crystal from her pocket.

The crystal flared with light as she poured magic into it, and with a sharp squeeze, it shattered.

Crack.

In an instant, the carriage interior dissolved into a dense forest canopy. She had been transported to the depths of Fenlareth Forest.

So… this time the marker came with a seat as well. Needless fuss.

Aurellia glanced down at the stump of a felled tree beneath her, her remark a quiet admission that the teleportation point changed each time.

…Hn. Let’s see how many this time.

Closing her eyes, she focused her mind on a single point. Within her subconscious, she began to feel the wind of the forest—gentle currents flowing back and forth, brushing against countless living beings with every shift.

Each breath of life she sensed carried warmth and tranquility, but hidden among them was something utterly opposed. A chill, foul presence, reeking of decay and rebellion against life itself. The sickening sensation forced Aurellia’s eyes open.

Found it.

Zzap! Her body vanished, leaving only a crackle of bluish lightning in the air.

From afar, monstrous fanged beasts loomed, their bodies cloaked in an aura of darkness. Their forms were grotesque fusions—mammalian bodies sprouting insectoid limbs or reptilian tails.

Though scattered across the forest, Aurellia’s single movement cleaved three, four of them in half.

The same monsters that once had Ayato reeling were reduced to ash in the blink of an eye. Their carcasses burst into flames on impact, leaving not a trace behind.

She slid her sword back into its scabbard without even wiping it down—no blood had been allowed to touch its edge.

So many still remain. Are these remnants… or have new ones already been bred?

Her hunt stretched on for hours, the number of slain climbing into the dozens. Yet amid her pursuit, she caught sight of something unexpected—

Him? Out hunting here again?

Ayato stood locked in combat with two wolves. His movements were sharp, efficient, brimming with confidence.

Aurellia trailed him quietly from the shadows until he felled his prey and departed for the city.

Arms crossed, a faint smile tugged at her lips as she watched him leave Fenlareth unscathed. She knew well that the forest was far from normal now—twisted by abnormally strong monsters, deadly even for seasoned warriors. For someone like Ayato, such encounters would have meant certain death.

And yet… perhaps he’s not so ordinary after all. Very well.

With that, Aurellia pressed deeper into the forest, hunting down the remaining abominations—and sweeping away the last of Tenneth’s stragglers—before slipping back into Lunareth’s slums for a different kind of hunt.

...

At present, Aurellia stood opposed to King Veyric of Lanteracia. His reckless decree banning the use of magical communication devices, along with his bizarre rule requiring every territory to report its annual agenda directly to the royal capital without intermediaries, had only worsened matters.

Even in times of disaster, no aid could be dispatched without first undergoing evaluation by the capital—crippling the response time of every region.

After years of service, Aurellia had long since reached the point where she wanted to punch Veyric in the face. But she restrained herself; such an act would only create more problems without solving any.

It was a sudden message from her most trusted ally that prompted Aurellia to embark on a tour across Lanteracia. Using it as an excuse, she gained the freedom to travel through the kingdom’s territories over the course of six months before returning to the capital.

Her contact in Fenlareth Forest had reported troubling news: unnatural monster activity, and Tenneth troops setting up camps near the forest’s southern entrance on their side of the border.

Thanks to markers placed by her ally within the forest, Aurellia was able to move swiftly from place to place, concealing her movements by doing so only in private moments—within a carriage, or inside a locked chamber where no eyes could pry.

Two months passed, and strange signs began to emerge near the city of Lunareth. Aurellia redirected her tour southward, arriving at Lunareth with prior knowledge already in hand. While hunting anomalous monsters, she had stumbled upon Tenneth soldiers within Fenlareth, trespassing across Lunareth’s borders.

The forest was vast, but Tenneth’s presence so close to Lanteracia’s frontier city was alarming. More so when Aurellia witnessed a tightly guarded carriage maneuvering from the southern border toward Lunareth.

Her suspicions against the Lunareth nobility grew heavier. After all, Lunareth was the kingdom’s final outpost; to move southward without reporting to the capital was a direct violation of King Veyric’s decree. Simply put—Baron Lunareth was hiding something.

Her instincts proved right. During an unannounced inspection of Baron Elgodo, Aurellia’s doubts crystallized into certainty. The Baron’s panicked demeanor, the anxious faces of his retainers—it all reeked of a concealed agenda. Perhaps even treason.

That day, Aurellia was in no mood for patience. Anger had piled upon anger: her loathing for Veyric, the stench of anomalous monsters, Baron Elgodo’s clumsy attempts to cover his tracks, and, worst of all—the all-too-familiar scent clinging to his daughter, Selphira Lunareth.

Her fury nearly cost Selphira her life. It was only the desperate intervention of Selphira’s personal guard that stopped her hand.

Realizing her intent to kill, and recognizing that she had uncovered far too many of Baron Elgodo’s secrets, Ayato stepped in and managed to douse Aurellia’s wrath at the brink.

Yet Aurellia understood what this meant. After such a revelation, Ayato’s safety within Lunareth was all but doomed. She considered recruiting him to her side—removing him from that peril altogether—but circumstances made it impossible to act.

In the days that followed, Aurellia searched for him, only to find no trace. And then, by chance, she caught sight of him again—this time surrounded by children of the slums, a fleeting smile on his face as though he had found peace among them.

“…How unfortunate. But perhaps there will be another chance.”

...

A week later, Aurellia was still pacing between her carriage, the depths of Fenlareth Forest, and the slums of Lunareth.

Today, her tour had kept her so occupied that she only managed to finish her hunt in Fenlareth once night had already fallen.

As she wandered through the slums under the cover of darkness, that repulsive stench suddenly reached her nose.

This smell… there’s no mistaking it!

In a blur of speed, she darted through one alley after another, drawing ever closer to the source of the foul odor she so despised.

There!

Her silver eyes gleamed as they locked onto a ragged figure staggering forward in the shadows.

Aurellia closed the distance in an instant, standing face-to-face with the cloaked form.

An imperfect ghoul… undead, huh.

Its eyes glowed a deep crimson, but its body swayed as if the slightest touch would topple it.

In the next instant, the creature was cleaved clean in two, its body bursting into flames and reduced to ash.

A strike faster than thought, followed by fire that consumed all—swift, efficient, and absolute.

Another one… Without question, this is their handiwork. But Cielle should have already…

Aurellia shook her head, cutting off the speculation before it spiraled further.

Night had fallen. Perhaps I should eat something before returning… Hm? This presence…

Sensing a familiar aura, Aurellia dashed into a narrow alley. Her eyes confirmed the figure she had suspected, and she came to a sudden halt right before him.

“Hm?”

Ayato blinked in confusion as Aurellia appeared before him, as though he had been stopped by a stranger.

Ah, that’s right. This cloak carries a concealment effect…

Aurellia slowly pulled back her hood, letting her face be revealed.

“Y-You… Aurellia Kraise?!”

****

I planned to show only a little of Aurellia's POV, and ended up makes the whole character about her lol.