"Why did that girl call you mother?" Nero asked with a curious look on his face.

The nun stood there in silence before taking a deep breath and opened her mouth to say something, "I—"

Before she could answer, the other children noticed the nun and started calling her.

"Mother! Mother! Mother!" All the children were calling her mother.

"Nevermind," Nero groaned.

The nun covered her mouth and laughed at Nero.

"Not now, later!" the nun replied to the kids.

Nero once again glanced at the children to count them. 

There were 23 kids who were under ten years old. And eight kids who looked under 15. Out of 31, 15 were girls, and 16 were boys.

Nero found it weird that there was no way a single nun could take care of 31 kids all by herself— without any funds or rations.

"My questions have increased," Nero asserted to the nun.

"Follow me." The nun turned around and began walking to the river.

Nero followed her, and they sat on the big stone near the bank of the river— sitting face to face with the nun.

"Let me tell you a story," the nun declared.

Nero glanced around, and looked at Emilia and Sophia, then nodded, "Go ahead."

The nun made herself comfortable on the stone and looked up at the sky, "Every sunset looks the same to me."

"Uhh… is that the title of the story?" Nero commented.

"No," the nun gazed at Nero and nodded, "But I guess it fits perfectly to the title."

Nero was trying to be sarcastic with his comment, but not only did he fail— he failed miserably.

"Long ago, a girl was living—"

Nero interrupted the nun and asked, "How long?"

The nun frowned her brows and tried to hide her anger with a forced smile.

"You can assume 20 years ago," said the nun.

Nero grinned and gestured to the nun to continue.

"Long ago, there was a girl living in the village near the river. The villagers were all kind, and everyone lived happily."

"As the time passed, the girl grew older, and when she was about ten years old, she started going to the forest with adventurers."

"She liked thrills and enjoyed risking her life for fun. But one day, everything went wrong," the nun tittered.

"That day, one of the party members was injured, so other members of the party offered to take him home for treatment."

"The party was of 12 members, by the way. So only ten remained— and that ten-year-old girl." the nun added.

"The quest was big, and it offered a handsome reward, so the party couldn't fall back and wait for another day."

"Because someone else might take the quest?" Nero uttered.

The nun shook her head and continued, "The quest was to kill the griffin that was camping deep in the forest. And the griffin was constantly attacking the nearby villages and abducting their animals, so the quest was requested to be completed as soon as possible."

"Sounds rough," Nero commented.

"The party member had warned the girl not to come with them as it may get dangerous, but the girl went with them otherwise."

"Later, after traveling for hours, the party reached the griffin camp at night."

"Do you know the specialties of the party members?" Nero asked.

"That is irrelevant to the story," the nun replied.

"How so? You have no idea how picky readers or listeners can be if you don't provide them with necessary details, you know?" 

"I believe you are one of them?" the nun remarked.

"Maybe," Nero shrugged.

"The party successfully killed the griffin after battling it for hours," the nun smiled.

"They celebrated their victory and ate the griffin. It was already late at night, so everyone decided to rest there and go back to the village at sunrise."

"Oh?!" Nero exclaimed.

"The girl woke up when she heard screams and felt as if her body was on fire. She opened her eyes and saw she was in the griffin's claws."

"There was another griffin, right?" Nero questioned as if it was obvious.

"Yes. There was another griffin."

"The party was stupid, in my opinion. They should have known that griffins are always in pairs," Nero asserted.

"The girl who was abducted wasn't stupid. She tried to free herself from the griffin and stabbed the knife she was carrying as a charm— to the griffin. But that made the griffin more furious."

"And I call that girl stupid," Nero commented.

The party members tried to fight the griffin, but they couldn't use spells or offensive attacks because the griffin was using the girl as a meatshield."

"Even the griffin is smarter than those dumb party members— especially the girl," Nero sneered.

The nun ignored all of Nero's comments and continued, "The fire spread all over the forest."

After a brief pause, she said, "Even if they had saved the girl, they would have still died by the fire because there was no way out of the forest."

Nero raised his hand and said, "I found a plot hole."

"If you are referring to 'someone could have just used water magic, or wind magic.', Then I have an answer to that. Although, I said that situation in an 'if'. And that's not what actually happened, so keep your plot and hole to yourself." 

The nun finally started reacting to Nero's comments.

"Continue," Nero chuckled.

"The griffin killed all the party members."

"Well, that escalated quickly. But go ahead, I smell something more."

"The party was able to injure the griffin, and it was exhausted after fighting for hours."

"So it was weakened, and that girl killed the griffin to avenge her dead party members?" Nero guessed.

"Something along those lines," the nun replied.

"Hmm~" Nero placed his hand on the chin as though he was pondering on something serious, then uttered, "I give that story 4 out of 10."

The nun started at Nero with a lifeless glare.

"Five out of ten," Nero corrected.

Nero glanced at Emilia and found her waving at him, so he waved back at her.

"So? Why did you tell me that story, and what does it have anything to do with what I want?"

"That was just the first part of the story. So let me tell you the last part too."