Sovereign of the Ashes-Chapter 983: Girl

After the flash of lightning, rain began pouring from the sky.

At first, it was a steady downpour, but as the night deepened, it intensified into a torrential storm!

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The cabin where Sein lay had been built from subpar materials.

Through the broken glass window, cold rainwater—driven by howling winds—splattered harshly against his face.

As the storm raged on, water flooded the entire room.

The bed beneath him felt as though it had begun to float, lifted by the rising water.

He even felt a strange rocking sensation, as if he were adrift on a boat.

The young girl, who had been kneeling beside his bed, now climbed in next to him.

Beneath the tattered quilt, Sein felt her cold skin and trembling, frail body against his.

He could not fully comprehend the chaos around him; all he could do was pray the water would not rise high enough to reach their bodies.

The storm could not drown him outright, but in his current weakened state, he wanted to be spared any further suffering.

Under the suppression of unfamiliar planar laws, his weakened body felt even more vulnerable.

With the little mental focus he had left, Sein considered conjuring a basic air barrier to keep the water at bay.

Yet, since the bed was not fully submerged, he abandoned the idea.

If the ceiling collapsed under the storm’s assault, he would not have enough mana to protect them from being crushed if he wasted it now.

Resolved to face each moment as it came, he closed his eyes and slipped into a shallow meditative state.

Only by regaining his power—and quickly—could he hope to escape this predicament.

Still, his instincts warned him that the true threat was not the storm or the shabby cabin but rather the girl beside him.

He sensed a faint trace of necromantic energy emanating from her. The moment he recognized it, his brow furrowed in worry.

***

The rain had finally passed, and golden sunlight streamed through the broken windows.

Sein could hardly believe the shabby wooden cabin survived the storm’s relentless assault.

Weakened and severely debilitated, he felt relieved as the warm sunlight touched his skin.

The girl who had been in his arms was long gone.

While he meditated, she had done her best to clear away the filthy water that had flooded the room.

Though the place remained dilapidated and reeked of decay, he could tell she was making an effort to make it livable.

A full night’s rest had done Sein some good—he could finally lift his arms, and his mental focus had been replenished enough that casting a few protective spells was now possible.

Still, he chose to remain in place, knowing he should find out about the situation in this unfamiliar place first.

The Silver Spider Ring he wore had lost its glow.

He could not even access his space ring or summon Yuri, let alone activate the spider ring.

A strange layer of energy clung to all his magic equipment, but it was weak enough that he expected to break it after a few more days of recovery.

He suspected this was a unique power of the world—a force designed to suppress him, exploiting his current frailty.

A fully healthy Rank One mage would barely be affected by such interference.

No wonder knights and mages from the Magus World were only sent to interplanar wars after reaching Rank One.

Without that threshold of power, they would lack the resilience needed to endure foreign planar laws and survive the harsh environments of distant planes.

Before long, the girl returned with a bundle of wet wood.

It took considerable effort to start a fire with them, and soon, the room was filled with thick, choking blue smoke.

From within the haze, Sein heard the girl’s muffled coughing and saw her moving about.

After about half an hour, she reappeared before Sein with a bowl of green, sticky soup.

A strange, fishy odor wafted up, and a fish bone peeked out from the thick, viscous surface—an unsettling detail that made the soup all the more suspicious.

With his sharp eyesight, Sein could immediately tell that the soup was slightly poisonous.

He knew the girl had not poisoned it on purpose—she just... was not in her right mind.

Otherwise, she would not have called him “Big Brother” the moment she saw him.

Subtle clues in her behavior also hinted at deeper psychological trauma, likely triggered by some past event.

Sein’s gaze wandered to the back of her head.

Among her thinning hair, a small white flower was trembling slightly. It was a blossom that sprouted from her very soul.

Sein considered it a fine necromantic ingredient, but harvesting it would surely kill the girl since it was intertwined with her soul.

The girl had shown him only kindness, so he had no intention of harming her.

Besides, he was curious about how this flower of death had sprouted on her—and what sort of world he had landed in.

“Big Brother, drink...” she said, slowly lifting the bowl to his lips.

Though her hands shook and her eyes revealed an unstable state of mind, she managed not to spill a single drop.

Sein sighed softly and drank the green soup.

Even in his weakened state, his constitution and digestive powers were still far from ordinary.

This mild toxin posed little threat to him, and he genuinely needed the nourishment.

The world’s rejection of his presence left him desperate to regain his strength by any means necessary.

Seeing that he had swallowed the fish soup, the girl’s lips curved into a small smile.

***

Three days later, Sein—who had regained some of his strength—was able to get out of bed and move around.

Of course, two bowls of green fish soup a day could not account for such a rapid recovery; the true reason lay in his meditation.

A Rank Two mage could convert elemental energy into strength, but Sein had only just reclaimed the power of a Rank One mage.

Even so, his foundation as a Rank Three Grand Mage remained intact. With time, his strength would return all the more swiftly.

As soon as he regained his ability to walk, Sein wasted no time in exploring his surroundings.

The wooden cabin where he stayed stood on a beach, not far from a small fishing village.

From what he had observed, the people in this world appeared to be humanoid—at least the villagers were.

The girl, however, was clearly shunned by everyone else.

They kept their distance, unaware that Sein, cloaked by his Aura Restraint spell, was observing them from the shadows.

For someone of Sein’s caliber, concealing his presence from ordinary folk proved easy.

He overheard hushed voices among the locals.

“That unfortunate girl brought home another stranger a few days ago. I wonder how long he’ll last.”

“When will this misery finally end? Could she turn on us?”

“Why didn’t the templars from Blackwater City just take her away last time?”

“Maybe we should leave this place...”

Sein’s interest was piqued at the mention of templars and Blackwater City.

Glancing west, he spotted the shadowy silhouette of a massive city.

It was not far from the fishing village—connected, in fact, by a foul-smelling sewer.

Out on the ocean, ships glided smoothly across the waves.

Sein could not help but wonder about the cultivation system of this large-sized plane.

Yet his body, still weakened from his injuries, demanded patience. For now, he chose neither to explore the waters nor venture into Blackwater City.

Instead, he waited for his wounds to mend and for certain changes to take place.

He spotted the girl in the distance, gathering wet firewood, water plants, and dead fish.

Without a sound, he slipped back into the cabin.