It had been two days since they arrived back in Forfoza.

“HIYAAAAH!” With a loud roar, Atilia struck forward, pushing her body and holding her sword high. She brought the weapon down on Mimiyat’s spear, its silver surface reflecting the incoming sunlight. Clang. The two weapons let out a loud sound as they struck each other. Mimiyat spun her spear, taking Atilia off balance, and with great precision, stabbed the tip of her weapon straight for Atilia’s blade. The force was so strong that it pushed Atilia backward.

Atilia planted her foot down on the ground and pushed forward. Mimiyat readied her defenses, taking a defensive stance as she accepted Atilia’s horizontal strike to the side. The two traded blow by blow, while Remy watched from the sides, his sniper case leaning onto the wall.

Eventually, the two stopped. Atilia wiped her sweat off her forehead and took a drink. Mimiyat, meanwhile, just used magic to create water and drink it. She then began her lecture, commenting about Atilia’s mistake and what she did incorrectly.

“I’m done.” Barett’s voice came from behind Remy, prompting him to turn around.

“That was quick.”

“Magic hammer. A couple of hits did the job.” Barett sat down next to him, looking at the two girls. “I should probably pick up a skill sometime.”

“Yeah…” Remy agreed, thinking of a way to continue the conversation. “You… haven’t learned something new in your time here?”

“I’m quite busy in the time after I arrived.” Barett looked toward Mimiyat. The two girls resumed their training. This time, it was Mimiyat’s turn to attack. Atilia readied her defensive stance. Mimiyat prepared her spear, then she struck forward. Like lightning, she plunged toward Atilia, forcing Atilia to counter her relentless attacks. Mimiyat jabbed her spear several times, Atilia deflecting them with her blade.

As he watched, Remy thought about some things to say to Barett.

“Umm… How long have you been together?” Remy awkwardly asked. Barett didn’t seem to notice the awkwardness in Remy’s tone and spoke normally.

“Not long.” It sounded cold. Remy knew that it was simply his way of speaking, so he continued.

“... A year?”

“Less than that. Around six months.”

“Six?” It was surprisingly short. He didn’t feel like he had the right to comment, as he only knew Atilia for half of a month at this point, but at the same time, he felt curious about their relationship. Mimiyat looked like someone who would stay alone, a lone wolf, but it didn’t seem that was the case when she was with Barett.

“Do you know about what happened to Mimiyat? When she left the knights?” Barett asked.

“... Yeah? Atilia told me.”

“It was the lowest part of her life.” Barett looked up at the cloudy skies. “Even though she didn’t show it, she still regretted the death of all those people. I guess I just happened to be the one accompanying her during that time.”

“I see… How was she like back then?”

He opened his mouth, but a screeching sound of the swordfight cut him off. He looked toward the battle happening in the center of the training field.

“She acted strong, guarding the village, protecting its inhabitants from all the monsters. To us, she’s still a hero, even after that thing happened. But I was returning from a quest one night, heading to her mother’s room to deliver an item she requested, when I heard a cry coming out of Mimiyat’s room.”

“And you comforted her?”

Barett nodded. “I tried, at least.”

“Tried?”

“I don’t understand emotions too much, so I don’t understand why she felt guilty about it. I can only repeat the fact that it isn’t her fault, but it didn’t help too much.”

Based on the story, Remy could understand the feeling. Mimiyat’s leaving led to the death of two thousand men. Even if it wasn’t her fault, even if it happened after she was dishonorably discharged, it still weighs a lot on her. It wasn’t her responsibility, she was no longer a part of the knights at that point. Still, he could understand the wish to be there. Had she didn’t leave, there may have been a chance to avoid all that bloodshed.

“I still have a lot to learn.”

“Me too.”

The two continued watching the girls fight. A few more minutes later, their training session ended. Atilia walked up to Remy, a bright grin on her face.

“What do you think?”

“You did great,” Remy replied, patting her head. Mimiyat walked up to Barett. She was about to use her magic when Barett handed over a bottle of water.

“I can use magic.”

“You should save it.” Barett pushed the bottle.

She gave him a side eye, before taking the bottle anyway. She chugged down the water, almost finishing the entire six hundred milliliter water inside. Remy thought the idea of using the metric system in another world was weird, but considering the number of outworlders in this world, it shouldn’t be surprising.

Atilia drank from a bottle of water as well. After she finished, she tossed the bottle back into her bag. All of a sudden, the door behind them creaked open. A familiar face appeared behind it.

“Hello everyone.” Cathirina’s voice came from the doors. She stepped out into the field. She wore casual clothes, not the uniform she usually wore when she was in the guild.

“Hello.” Atilia greeted. “Been a while.”

“It’s been a while, Atilia, Remy.” Cathirina smiled. Her eyes went from the two to Barett. “Ah, Mr. Barett, you’re back.”

“Sorry, but do I know you?”

“I’m Cathirina, the guild captain of Purwa’s branch of the Outworlders’ Guild. I never met you, but we posted your missing person poster in our guild.”

“Sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s alright. I’m glad to see you’re doing alright.” Cathirina’s eyes then floated toward the girl next to Barett. She was looking away, pretending not to see her.

“Urgh… If you’re trying to pretend to not know me, at least put more effort into it.”

Mimiyat glanced her way, and was about to say something, when she yawned all of a sudden.

“Practicing makes me tired.”

“And you have no trouble practicing during the night?”

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“Yes.”

“Well, you’re no longer a part of the guild anymore, so I don’t really care.”

“... Yeah…”

Cathirina looked toward Remy and Atilia. “You four a party now?”

“Yes,” Atilia answered. Cathirina glanced Mimiyat's way but didn’t say anything.

“What are you doing here? Got something to do in Forfoza?” Atilia asked in return.

“Guild business, but I arrived ahead of schedule. Thought I would take a chance to relax before the meeting, but then I heard about your feats.”

“Feats?”

“Sailing straight for the demon territory, recovering a missing person then coming back after a fierce battle. A story that will definitely inspire a lot of people, so I’m taking that.” Cathirina winked.

“Just don’t embellish it too much,” Remy said with a wry smile.

“Gotcha. Anyway, one of the people inside told me that your reward had already been transferred. You can check it.”

Remy pulled out his card and checked the rear of the device. The magic screen appeared, along with the updated balance and the points they had. All of the quests they completed, that benefitted Juskon and the war effort, gave them points. The more points they got, the closer they were to owning the Urkon Maria.

Recovering Barett gave them fifteen and a half points, while the four short quests Barett took after returning gave them two extra points. Remy didn’t intend on letting Barett do all the work for them, though, so he committed to looking for better quests in the future, especially since the demon strike raised all of their levels. Remy and Atilia were class Cs. Barett, the support member of the group, remained at the lowest in F class, while Mimiyat was the highest in S. It would take a long while before Remy and Atilia could come up to Mimiyat’s level, but they committed to trying their best. They didn’t want to let Mimiyat hoard all the glory.

“I won’t hold you longer. I’ll see you around.”

“See you.”

Cathirina waved and headed back inside.

“We should get going.”

Using a towel to dry themselves up, the rest of the group headed up back to their rooms. They decided to take a quick one-hour break before grabbing a quest later.

“What should we do?” Remy asked after the pair entered the room. Atilia sat down on the bed.

“Let me transfer money to Mimiyat first.”

The payment from Barett’s case was massive, and since they would be traveling together, the four of them, she didn’t need to worry about money as much anymore. She had bought several things since that day, including several different sets of clothes. She did use Mimiyat’s money for it, and now, she was returning them. After she was done, she stood back up and headed toward a suitcase placed next to the wardrobe.

She took a shirt along with jeans out. Remy wanted to know whether jeans existed before outworlders came or after, but the seller, who happened to be an outworlder as well, didn’t know.

“I’m taking a quick shower.” Atilia brought out some soap and a towel.

“Not going to take a bath here?” Remy joked. The existence of magic allowed them to actually do that. They could take any container that can contain water, pour water in using magic, then heat it up with fire or cool it down with ice.

“I would, had we had enough time. You know what will happen if you let me do that.” She grinned. “You’re not going to take one yourself?”

“I hardly did anything.”

“Well, alright then.” Atilia stepped out, leaving the room. Remy slid onto the bed, lying down and staring up toward the ceiling. The fangs of boredom once again clenched him. Had this been back on Earth, he would be spending his time gaming, ranking up, and fighting demons in the virtual world. Now, he fought them for real.

He took out his Outworlders’ Card and navigated through the magic screen, looking at his kill log. His most recent kills were made up of mostly demons, with a long list of them going all the way down. He tapped the name, and it showed him the total amount. Fifty-seven. After Atilia gained her powers, it was an easy task from there. Atilia could recharge his sniper while keeping her shield up, thus making it easy for him to pick out targets. The handgun came in handy as well, as he could continuously fire.

He really needed to learn to use magic, though. That way, he could free up some of her burdens. Among the list were also names of other things. Animostori. He never heard about it before, but he did remember seeing some non-demon silhouettes mixed in. He killed three of them. There were some more marked with ???, and he killed two of them.

Below there, there was not much. It listed the cows he killed and the demons he killed back in Kilotakia, but it didn’t provide him with much more information. He closed the screen, switching to another screen. He fiddled around with the card’s settings, looking at the available options, although he didn’t change anything. After he was done, he set the card down.

What to do… what to do…

He tried closing his eyes, letting his mind relax. It had been less than a month ever since he departed Earth, never to return. He arrived here, in this world. A lot more had happened, a whole lot compared to the years he spent there. He couldn’t help but feel grateful he died and met Atilia. Atilia would probably wake him up once they were ready to go.

He heard a knock. Atilia had only left a couple of minutes earlier. The walk to the washing stalls for the guild’s inn wasn’t far, but it shouldn’t be this quick for her to return. Atilia didn’t normally knock, either. He stood up, making his way to the door. Instead of his wife, he found Cathirina standing there, a note in hand.

“You’re not with Barett?” she asked, handing over the note.

“We’re going out again within an hour, I think.” Remy looked down on the piece of paper before him. It didn’t look like the normal requests they could see down on the quest board.

“What is this? If you don’t mind me asking…”

“Just a normal… maybe not so normal quest? Basically a quest for Barett. The thing is, he probably needs a party. Feel free to read the contents.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” Cathirina waved and walked off, heading down the stairs to the guild on the first floor. Remy pulled the door shut and decided to read it with Atilia. He set the paper down on the bedside table, resting his head on the pillow. Boredom once again took over him. He thought about reading the quest, especially since it didn’t look like a normal one.

That was to be expected, though. Barett’s cheat allowed him to fix anything, so naturally, his services were in high demand. But the thing about Barett needing a party intrigued him.

Must be something serious.

He rose up, unable to hold his curiosity, and reached out for the paper. Before he could begin reading it, though, he heard another knock on the door. He got off the bed, expecting Cathirina to be there to add some extra information regarding the quest. He opened the door, finding two different people standing there.

“You’re ready to go?” Barett asked. Remy pulled out his card to check the clock, but Mimiyat’s answer stopped him.

“It hasn’t been one hour yet, we know.”

Remy silently returned the card to his pocket.

“Umm… Sorry, but Atilia’s still out taking a bath.”

“Why didn’t she just do it here?” Mimiyat raised an eyebrow. Remy decided against answering that particular question. “Want to come in? There’s-”

“Something’s up?” Atilia’s voice came from behind them. She wore her new set of clothes, a towel over her head.

“That’s quick.”

“I just need a quick refresher. So?”

“We thought about departing early if you have nothing else to do.”

“Ah, let me dry my hair first,” she said, squeezing through them and passing the door, heading toward Remy. Remy motioned them to come in. Atilia sat on the bedside, noticing the quest paper and picked it up, while Mimiyat and Barett stood across her next to the wall. Remy got on the bed and kneeled behind Atilia, before rubbing her hair with the towel.

“What’s this?” Atilia asked.

“A quest from Cathirina.”

Atilia began reading the letter, following the long list of words.

“Something interesting?” Mimiyat folded her arm, resting her back against the wall.

“It’s a quest for the four of us.” Atilia handed over the paper, Remy continued rubbing her hair.

“...”

Mimiyat read it, then gave it to Barett.

“So… what is it?”

Remy was the last on the list. He accepted the paper, reading through it.

“We handled far worse. This won’t be a problem.”

“Don’t set up a flag like that.”

“You outworlders are always talking about flag this and flag that. I don’t get it.” Mimiyat sighed. “We’ll start preparing. Should be a quick trip.”

“I think I'll get some instant noodles,” Barett murmured.

“Sigh… really now?”

Mimiyat grabbed Barett’s hand and dragged him out of the room, with Barett still thinking about the food they would bring. The door closed with a clank, the room once again falling into silence.

“We should prepare as well,” Remy said, lifting the towel off.

“Alrighty. Hopefully, this one won’t be as bad as the previous one.”

“Not sure anything can top going deep behind enemy lines.”

Remy put the towel down on the bed, picking up his sniper and his handgun. Atilia took her sword and attached it to her back.

“Let’s get going. We got some demons to blast.”