Seven days later, in the territory of the Eisenhart Kingdom.
The city of Graustein stood firm at the edge of the Grauzwald Forest, serving as the main gateway for anyone brave enough to enter the most dangerous forest on the northern continent. The streets were packed with hunters from various countries, merchants selling hunting gear, and cheap inns that were always full every night.
In the middle of the bustling city, a bar called "The Red Horn" was the hunters' favorite spot to unwind. The smell of alcohol mixed with cigarette smoke filled the room. Loud laughter, drunken shouts, and the sound of clinking glasses echoed from every corner.
Or at least, that's how it used to be.
Now, the bar looked like a battlefield after a storm had passed.
Tables were flipped over, broken chairs scattered everywhere, shards of glass and beer bottles covered the wooden floor. More than twenty men lay unconscious in various corners of the room. Their faces were swollen, bloody, and some had even lost teeth.
In the middle of the chaos, a beautiful woman with long white hair sat alone in one of the few chairs still intact. Her face was flushed red, her eyes glazed, and beer foam stuck to her upper lip like a tiny mustache.
SLAM!
Ash slammed her empty glass onto the table hard.
"DAMN IT!" she yelled, her voice slightly slurred. Her cheeks were bright red from being drunk. "You know how annoying this is, Karl?!"
Behind the bar counter, Karl the bald bartender stood with his body trembling. His face was pale as a ghost, cold sweat dripping down his temples. His hands gripped a dirty rag tightly, as if it was the only thing keeping him upright.
"W-what do you mean, Miss?" his voice shook.
Karl had just witnessed something he would never be able to forget. This beautiful woman in front of him, who looked soft and fragile, had just beaten up every single customer in the bar. Alone.
It all started when a drunk hunter hit on her. Then others joined in. They thought a pretty woman alone in a bar full of men was easy prey.
They were dead wrong.
"MISS MY ASS!" Ash pointed at her own chest with a shaky finger. "THIS! These damn—Hic!—boobs! They're heavy! And they keep... they keep bouncing every time I walk! It's—Hic!—distracting as hell!"
Karl could only swallow hard. He didn't dare comment on anything.
"And the men! Those—Hic!—bastards!" Ash slammed her hand on the table again, but missed slightly because of her blurred vision. "They keep looking at me like I'm a... a piece of ham! Do I look like ham to you, Karl?! Answer me!—Hic!"
"N-no, Miss... definitely not ham," Karl stammered, taking another step back.
Ash grabbed another glass still on her table and downed it. "One of those assholes even grabbed my hand by force! He said, 'Come on, babe, play with me for a bit.' PLAY MY ASS!"
Karl took a step back, his memory replaying what happened earlier.
That poor guy got kicked right in the crotch by Ash. When he fell down whimpering in pain, Ash pulled out her sword and cut off his balls without a second thought.
Screams of agony filled the entire bar.
Then his friends attacked. Dozens of angry hunters charged at Ash all at once.
The result? They were all now sprawled out with faces that weren't even recognizable anymore.
"You're... you're terrifying, Miss..." Karl whispered without thinking.
Ash let out a long sigh, holding her throbbing head. "Ugh... so frustrating."
Her eyes glanced at the empty glasses in front of her. Four glasses. Just four glasses of beer, and she was already this drunk.
'Damn it.'
Back in the day, Ash could drink a hundred glasses of beer without getting drunk at all. Now? Four glasses and she was already dizzy and losing her balance.
But that wasn't her worst problem.
Ever since her body changed into a woman's, something was wrong inside her. Ash could feel it clearly. The Energy flow in her body was blocked. Like there was a massive dam stopping her power from flowing freely.
She'd tried using her power several times over the past week. The result? Only ten percent of her original strength could be released.
Ten percent.
Ash von Krieger, the strongest person in the world, could now only use ten percent of her power.
'I need to do something.'
Actually, that was the reason why Ash came to Graustein City. She came to find someone.
Aldric the Knowledge Seeker. An old wizard known as the man who had read one million books in his lifetime. There was no knowledge he didn't know, no secret of the world that escaped his reading.
Aldric used to be one of the best wizards in the Kingdom of Valtheron, where Ash had once been the most feared knight. But twenty years ago, Aldric was declared dead on a secret mission to the south.
Everyone believed he died.
But Ash knew the real truth. Aldric was still alive. He faked his death and disguised himself as an old bookshop keeper in a border town like Graustein. Ash only knew this because she accidentally ran into him five years ago while hunting in this forest.
The old wizard with the white beard chose a quiet life, far from kingdom politics and wars between nations. He just wanted to read books and live out the rest of his days in peace.
And today, Ash planned to meet Aldric. She wanted to ask about things she never imagined she would ask before.
About gods. About beings beyond human understanding. About dark magic that could completely change someone's form.
But the result was nothing.
When Ash arrived at the bookstore "Forgotten Pages" in the corner of town, she was only greeted by a young girl minding the shop.
"Sorry, Miss," the girl said politely. "Master Aldric is traveling. He left three days ago and hasn't returned yet."
Ash felt incredibly frustrated. Of all times, why now? Why when she really needed answers?
Annoyed, she decided to wait in this town while occasionally returning to her cabin in the forest for supplies. And damn it, when she was trying to forget her problems with beer at the Red Horn bar, some bastards started hitting on her.
One hit on her. Then others joined in. And the end result? The bar ended up like this.
"Karl," Ash called softly, her voice losing its angry and drunk tone. This time it sounded serious and scary.
"Y-yes?" Karl answered, his body shaking.
"Give me five more glasses of beer."
"But you've already—"
"FIVE GLASSES!" Ash snapped. "I need to get way more drunk than this so I can sleep tonight."
Karl didn't dare refuse. With trembling hands, he poured beer into five new glasses and placed them in front of Ash one by one, keeping as safe a distance as possible.
Ash grabbed the first glass and downed it in one gulp. Then the second. Third. Fourth. And fifth.
Her head got heavier. Her vision blurred more. Her body swayed.
"Damn it..." Ash muttered before her head dropped onto the table with a loud thud.
Her breathing was steady. She was fast asleep.
Karl stared at the beautiful woman now sleeping at his table, then glanced around the completely trashed bar. Over twenty grown men, muscular and experienced hunters, all beaten to a pulp just because of one pretty woman.
He let out a long, shaky breath.
"What a long day..."
***
Time passed, who knows how long.
Ash felt something shaking her body. Constant vibrations that made her head throb even more. The sound of horse hooves and creaking wheels could be faintly heard in her ears.
Her eyes slowly opened.
Her vision was blurry. She tried to move her hands, but couldn't.
'What...?'
Ash's consciousness slowly returned. Her head still felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer, the aftereffect of last night's heavy drinking. But there was something more worrying.
She couldn't move.
Ash tried again. Her hands were tied behind her back. Her legs were also tightly bound. And worse, there was a strange sensation pressing down on her entire body. Like a heavy weight locking every cell inside her.
Her eyes opened fully.
She was inside a moving horse-drawn carriage. Not a fancy carriage, but a simple wooden cart with a thick cloth canopy overhead to protect from the weather. No bars, just ropes tying everyone inside.
Ash looked around. She wasn't alone. There were nine other people in the same wagon. All tied with similar ropes.
In the right corner, a middle-aged man sat with his head down. His face was covered in fresh cuts, dried blood stuck to his cheeks. His eyes were empty, like he'd already lost all hope.
Next to him, a wrinkled old man sat trembling. His body was skinny and frail, his white hair a mess, and his tied hands wouldn't stop shaking. He kept muttering something unclear, like talking to himself.
The others weren't much different. There was a young woman sobbing quietly, a young man with swollen eyes, and several others who looked resigned to their fate. They were all shivering, their bodies curled up as if trying to keep warm.
'Great. Just great.'
Ash grumbled sarcastically in her mind.
'Now I'm stuck with a bunch of idiots.'
Ash looked at her hands. Thick rope coiled tightly around her wrists. The surface of the rope was covered with small letters carved neatly, glowing faintly with a bluish light.
High-level binding rope. Could hold at least a mid-level swordmaster. Under normal conditions, Ash could tear this rope apart easily. But now? With her body still dizzy, her power blocked down to just ten percent, and the lingering effects of whatever drug might still be in her system, she couldn't do anything.
At least not for now.
"Damn it..." she muttered quietly, her head still pounding.
She could feel it. Something foreign flowing through her veins. Not just the alcohol from last night. Something else. A substance that made her body feel heavy and sluggish. Poison. Or some kind of sedative.
'That bastard really did drug me.'
The realization made her blood boil, but she forced herself to stay calm. Getting angry wouldn't help her escape.
Ash lifted her head and peeked out through a gap in the carriage canopy. The sight that greeted her made her freeze.
Snow.
Heavy snow falling, blanketing the entire land in white. Trees covered in ice, ground buried under thick snow, and the piercing cold wind felt even from inside the carriage.
'Snow?'
Ash frowned. This was weird. Really weird.
Graustein City never had snow. Not even during the worst winter. That city was in the lowlands with a moderate climate.
She peeked outside again, observing the terrain around her. The road was sloping upward, large rock cliffs on both sides, and the air was getting thinner and colder.
'Don't tell me...'
Ash felt her heart racing.
'Don't tell me I'm in the Valthor mountain range?'
She immediately rejected that thought herself.
'No way. That doesn't make sense.'
The Valthor mountains were at the northern edge of the continent, hundreds of kilometers from Graustein. A distance that would take at least four days of non-stop travel by horse-drawn carriage.
'If that's really true, that means I've been asleep for four days?!'