Strongest Grimoire Of The Gods

Everyone continued speaking for a few more minutes about how things were going.

From what Hanzo explained, Tyr understood that Noa had been a friend of Hanzo's for a few years now.

He met her first around 5 years ago when he first visited Rock Saelfine.

He had to free himself of a seal, and she was coincidentally the perfect person to meet during that time.

He learned about her backstory through his time spent at Imbu village, and in the end, he and Noa came to know more about each other.

He hadn't met her much but was still thankful to her up until now.

In their current conversation, Noa explained that there truly was no hope for her people other than her potential seal-breaking technique.

Even if they were to get good crops and have a better Hunter team, the lord of their area would simply raise the property taxes so that what everyone made would still not be enough.

This was apparently to wipe out Imbu from the map, as different plans were being set forth by the nobles about what to do with the Imbu village land.

And of course, those plans couldn't proceed without Imbu being fully wiped out.

It was indeed a corrupt system, but no one cared about random people in the boonies to do anything about it.

The only way to counteract this was to make an absurd amount of money so that no lord would want to disturb Imbu village for any reason.

After the entire conversation, Tyr was noticeably annoyed.

"Tsk! Isn't there a single good person in power in an empire ruled by humans who sees what's going on and wants to end the corruption? I mean seriously... it's hysterical at this point." He exclaimed, shaking his head.

Noa chuckled slightly on seeing Tyr's reaction, "I'm sorry Tyr, I shouldn't make others worry about my own situations. It isn't right."

Tyr exhaled, "No... you're the last person that should be saying sorry. You're the one suffering, after all." He looked into her eyes, "It's okay to ask for help sometimes, you know. Not everyone out there wants to take advantage of you."

Noa was taken aback by this statement, her eyes widening with awe.

She sighed, looking down: "Thank you... just those words mean a lot to me, Tyr. However, this is something I must deal with on my own. Even if you want to help, it isn't your place to do so."

Tyr furrowed his eyebrows, thrown off by this, "Hmm... alright. That's your choice to make." He said in a serious tone.

'But... why refuse? It doesn't make much sense.' He thought to himself.

Noa also mused inwardly: 'I know he wants to help, but he's being foolish. I mean... what can they do here? The only thing that would help our cause would be to interfere against nobles and the army of Rock Saelfine. It would spell certain death for them. No...

instead, I'll just have to master Raya's Seal Breaking Technique. If I can do that, I can save this village from ruin surely.'

After this little encounter, Tyr and the others stayed for dinner. They hadn't eaten good food or taken well-needed rest in a long time, and before they headed into the real cities, they decided staying here was a better idea.

It was also because everyone in the village persuaded them to stay by guilt-tripping:

"You want to leave!? You cant! You just got here!"

"At least eat and get some sleep before you leave! You are our guest!"

It felt like everyone in the village was family, which was amusing to see for Tyr.

Everyone enjoyed warm meals by a campfire at the very heart of the village as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Afterward, the trio spent the night sleeping on Noa's floor.

Despite being hard stone flooring, it was still somehow more comfortable than the jungle bush. Maybe because it was indoors...

Tyr slept soundly until the next morning. That's when he felt a sudden and immense pain spawn at his nose and spread all across his body.

His eyes flew open, 'Do I have to use disappear!?' He thought to himself in shock as he noticed a small black dog's maw chomped onto his nose.

"AHHH!" He screamed, causing a few birds on a nearby roof to fly away.

Malon and Hanzo also jerked up from their sleep, their guard instantly raised.

They arose with fighting positions, only to see Tyr with a swollen red nose.

The two stared at Tyr for a few seconds before laughing their asses off. Spen seemed to have already disappeared.

Tyr shook his head, "That dog... is truly a demon." He said under his breath, his nose still throbbing.

The three washed their faces using a bucket of water. As they left, they noted that Noa was already gone.

"She probably woke up a while ago and went to tend to her village. She cares about her people a lot..." Hanzo said, scratching the back of his head.

Malon and Hanzo proceeded to leave the small shack. Tyr was the last one to finish getting ready.

Before he left, however, he noticed a picture on Noa's bedside table that caught him off guard.

It was ripped in half, but from what he could see, Noa as a child no older than nine sat with two people who looked to be her parents.

They wore very pristine and luxurious garments. Noa herself also looked to be adorned in a large dress with a golden lining. The background was of a grand balcony view overlooking a city of millions.

'Thinking now... doesn't she have parents? I assumed that they died or something here in this village, but now that I look at this picture... she seems to come from a completely different place.'

He noticed a small note beside the picture: "Find them-" Tyr read the note out loud. The rest of the letter was also torn, but he made out the words: "In Ti--"

He thought about this for a split second.

'A place beginning with the letters Ti huh... so she still wants to find her parents it seems. How did she end up in this random village?'

He knew it wasn't his place to interfere with her belongings, so he left the shack soon after.

The trio said goodbye to everyone, including Noa who kindly waved to them with a grin on her face.

Before they knew it, the grand, transparent gates of the largest Human domain within the continent were upon them.