Now you guys might be wondering what I talked about with Samuel, but that is best expanded on when the person in question is present. I will not betray my newfound friendship for the sake of my narration...! Instead, let's go back to the main plot.

There's a part of me that wants to narrate the events the happened in the morning on the first day, but my instincts as a narrator tells me that it doesn't really matter. It's similar to a skippable cutscene in a video game. Very inconsequential.

There's also no need to go into detail on the group of friends since their 'META' is already there.

I mean... you readers already know that Alex had gathered his five-man band by now, right?

Truthfully, I didn't have the patience to narrate the happy-go-lucky slice-of-life moment that started after Alex decided to do all he could to... 'stop' Arthur from seeking out the Mirror Cult.

Mostly by distracting him a whole bunch.

The five of them DID get closer and eventually succeeding in making the Sword Warrior forget his previous priorities with their last resort of using delicious food, but such a nice and relaxing scene is irritating to talk when I know too much context.

After all, if they don't properly band together fast enough, then no matter what I do, they will end up dead or injured when the ten days are up. That's why I choose to narrate them as a five-man band before they have even officially became one.

No one character is the most important in a five-man band, unless it's just for a singular chapter.

To focus on the person that is most definitely leader makes it hard to really see them as a cohesive unit rather than Alex and his mere misfit helpers. Though I'm having a bit of a problem categorising characters into which band position...

Alex is 'The Leader', he has enough charm to get the others to listen to him and is well-rounded as a fighter for the most part. It may be so obvious which mould he would fit into in the five-man band.

However, the fact that he only had Arthur, who was barely willing to listen to his orders, left much to be desired. It's even doubtful if they would be willing to listen to someone who can be just as much of a short-tempered idiot as Arthur occasionally is.

Arthur fit into the specific mould of 'The Lancer', contrasting 'The Leader' perfectly. He always had a different opinion than Alex most the time. However, his body size made him just as eligible to be 'The Big Guy' as the largest person among the group.

He looked similar your western action hero with his brawny appearance and sculpted muscles that make you wonder what it would look like if he decided to flex. There was no one else physically as big as this youth, which caused the confusion.

Lily would probably fit into being 'The Smart Guy' despite being a girl, but so would Alex as well considering both of them were experts in the arts of magic. Even Vhalen had the chance to fit into this mould as the one with more practical wisdom.

And speaking of which: Would that midget be considered 'The Chick' (Aka 'The Heart') with his mellow personality and aversion for conflict? He seemed like exactly the kind of guy who avoided all the bad stuff while keeping the team together.

Though I may have spoke too soon though. After all, despite Fear's own 'heart' being in the wrong place, she could fulfil the role of The Chick pretty well as a calculating person who NEEDED them.

In fact, behind the happy-go-lucky moments on the first day, it was actually Fear who was making the most efforts in gluing them together... despite not caring for any of them except Vhalen.

Even going as far as to put herself out there despite being someone of the shadows.

Normally, she liked being a background character until it mattered...

The five-man band is like a hand: The Leader is the index finger, The Lancer is third finger in the middle area, The Heart is the ring finger, The Smart Guy is the pinkie finger, and The Big Guy is the thumb.

Together they can form a fist that break through any obstacles... If they worked together, at least.

If not, even someone like Alex couldn't do everything alone. Though he needed to learn that himself.... After all, he was arrogant enough to believe he was at fault for the chaos on Gaia even though Ascenders already existed before him.

Now I know you readers will scoff at me if I was to write the scholarly freak off as 'normal' in any sense of the word. He was an overpowered badass who was even able to beat sense into Arthur after he was empowered by the Wrath Demon's 'taint'.

Seeing him as someone who can handle a fight wouldn't be wrong, but it would also be giving him too much credit if one was to say that he could handle every situation with competence and grace.

He wasn't that badass...

Arthur wouldn't have literally 'blown up' in the first place if Alex had at least some range of empathy for his old friend... Though perhaps it was thanks to regaining memories of his past life that his whole dynamic with Arthur became so... 'volatile'.

It'a to the point that writing it off as 'The Leader arguing with The Lancer' would be inaccurate.

In fact, now that I think about it, Fear's efforts weren't wasted at all. Her stalking was paying off!

On the roof of the mansion was the masked girl's shadow. She secretly spied on the other four members of the five-man band I self-proclaim to be... ahem... 'a thing', all while paying attention to detail. Observation was the first step to insight.

Well, instead of calling them by a trope name, let's go with calling them... 'friends', I think...?

I know it shouldn't have came out like a question but quantifying relationship levels are hard.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

This is especially true when there's one buffoon who befriends people wholeheartedly just because they gave him something to eat amongst them. It was way too easy to read someone so simplistic.

The eyes of the masked girl couldn't help but fall on Arthur.

He was casually sitting down with the other two guys outside to talk about something.

Truthfully , she felt the brawny youth was a mystery..,

She couldn't understand people who would befriend others just because they gave him food.

This lead her to think back about the morning when Alex was trying his best to persuade the brawny youth to stay over at his home for a while instead of living in a Inn...

…all the way to how the scholarly youth tried to 'reset' his memory using cake, which unfortunately ended up failing, and how she suggested a cooking contest, which everyone joined so 'that incident' didn't happen again.

This was especially true for Vhalen...

As someone who sucked at cooking but was great at concocting medicines and potions, he even went as far as 'cooking' a Memory Vaguer...

This 'meal' had ended being thrown out the window by Arthur himself.

Even HE wasn't going to eat something so suspicious.

Arthur's simple mind appreciated the prince's hard work though. It made him happy.

As for Fear herself, she ended up just boiling an egg for him since she wasn't really the best at cooking... Those who knew her also were aware that her food were all poisonous substances!

She couldn't comprehend Arthur, and inwardly felt a little bit fearful towards him despite her friendly exterior. None of them (except Alex) judged her for wearing a mask, but she couldn't feel comfortable in this place despite how peaceful it was...

As a Ninja with the Class Skill of Espionage, she had always been the infiltrator who spied and assassinated others for her Cult. Compared to everyone else, she felt quite alienated as the only real 'bad person' among these innocent goofs.

She thought of them as meat shields she could cut herself away from if the going got tough... at least that's what she would've felt if the kind shorty, who had protected her, wasn't part of this ensemble.

Even though the rest of them were disposable in her eyes, she actually cared about Vhalen's safety.

If she really had no choice but to escape once her meat shields were gone, then she would definitely take that handsome shorty along with her rather than escaping by herself. She might call herself Fear, but she wasn't THAT fearful of the world.

In fact, she would be onboard with being a loyal team member if Alex desired to kill her 'Lord'.

Little did she know that despite her thinking she was invisible thanks to her mastery in Espionage and hiding herself, Alex was somewhat keeping an eye on her using his Runic Insight suspiciously.

The scholarly freak was the only one who was mostly aware of the identities of everyone around him, with Lily being the only one who didn't know about Vhalen's royal status. That, and both her along with Arthur didn't know who Fear was...

The girl was aware of the inherent distrust that hiding her identity would cause, but she wasn't going to show it off for no good reason. Who knew what they'd do if they found out she is a former Priestess of the Mirror Cult they so despised...?

Anyway...

...Alex turned his head to look at the two guys in front of him, then asked the two of them outright:

"Aren't you curious about Fear's identity?" And the answers he got from them was a not-so-alarmed:

"No."

"Not really."

Both his brawny friend and the handsome shorty shook their heads without even thinking about it.

"She is really suspicious."

"As a Humanoid Beast?" Vhalen stared at him.

"You knew?" He wasn't exactly accurate, but the implications were the same for a normal person.

Humanoid Beasts weren't welcome in the Human Empire. Especially due to the animosity Noble Rankers had towards them. As people who were fighting Beasts all the time, this was only natural.

"She doesn't seem like a bad person."

"The scarier one are the people who look innocent." Alex responded as Arthur gaped:

"W-what? She was a Humanoid Beast?"

"You didn't notice at all? Weren't you the most experienced in fighting Beasts out of all of us?" A brow was lifted... Alex was speechless by his good friend's general ignorance to the Beast girl.

"She doesn't smell bad."

"Phrasing."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" The shorty moved himself a little farther from the Warrior.

Vhalen's mood was a little like this: (-_-|||)

A sweat dropped down his forehead. He wasn't aware that this simpleton had such a... 'hobby'.

"He acts like he can 'smell' a person's evil intent sometimes. He wasn't talking about body odour."

"Phew... I was worried for a second." Though he said that, he still kept his distance just in case.

"Anyway, trusting your gut is illogical."

"Don't you ever trust your nose occasionally?"

"I'm not an animal like you are. Still, keep an eye on her... just in case she does anything suspicious."

"Aren't you being a little too prejudice?" The Prince who loved equality felt this was a little too harsh.

Although the Ruling Kingdom and The Church both rejected Humanoid Beasts, the movement of the Radiant Sword Mirror Cult had been making the future of coexistence with Beasts a more realistic hope to have. Though he was sure not to mention them specifically in case Arthur remembered they were here in Lancia and 'blew up' again.

He was amazed by Arthur's weird way of forgetting things, but didn't look down on someone who almost became a Wrath Demon. The scholarly freak also felt a thump in his heart. The Second Prince's gaze gave him much to think about.

Realistically, his brawny friend almost turning into a Demon was more of a reason to discriminate than being a Humanoid Beast. This was because Arthur wasn't necessarily a 'victim' like he hoped...

Underneath his friend's goofy exterior was a Sword Warrior. Even having flames of hatred burning within his heart on a regular basis. He might try to hide it from others, but Alex could sense the flame within his friend's heart burning ferociously...

Perhaps it wasn't just his brawny friend being dumb, but a conscious choice to bury the memory of his hatred towards the Mirror Cult that allowed him to talk so freely right now. This thought made his face darken as he started thinking deeply.

Ten days... There was only two options he had in these ten days.

He must destroy the Mirror Cult in this short span of time or take Arthur out of the Ruling Kingdom.

The latter would be harder to do since Arthur wasn't a toddler who did whatever he told him to. Staying at his mansion also wouldn't work well, as a Sword Warrior couldn't stay idle forever.

Unless there was a good reason for him to stay, it was impossible for anyone to hold him there...

There was also the fact that Alex had yet to repay Vhalen for healing him when he was near death.

"I'll think of this as repaying a favour and won't inquire about her identity, but I'm still going to keep an eye on her regardless. Arthur, can you come with me for a bit? I've got a lot to show you."

"Thank you for your understanding." The shorty was fine with this particular arrangement.

"Oh yeah, did you upgrade those crossbows!?" A glint of curiosity finally appeared in Arthur's eyes.

"I told you they were called 'Pistols'. Also, stop being so bloody loud! Lily is studying in peace..."

"Oops, sorry~ I forgot she likes quiet places." The brawny youth 'shushed' himself by putting his index finger on his lips. His head turned to look at the window where Lily was studying Alex's Runes.

The scholarly freak was open about this research;

He knew not many could hope to replicate it.

Vhalen also took a look at that window... before deciding to give the duo some time to themselves.

He walked back into the mansion and was about to go out to sell some more medicines he had concocted. He was worried about his cart, which had been left unattended for quite a while.

If someone decided to steal his potions, he would only be able to cry for not being able to stop them.

That was his pocket money getting stolen...!

After walking out the front door, he was met by the scene of four young ladies being chased by a bunch of Holy Knights clad in purple armour. This was definitely the personal squad of the Grand Hero, people the prince had zero influence over...

He wondered what exactly was going on as the young ladies with bloodied backs ran towards him.

These girls almost collided with his body!