I met with Cynthia the next day, we walked around town and just had fun. This is something I should be doing with Alissa but she was too busy with her study on magic, I stopped thinking about it and focused on my day with Cynthia because tomorrow will be another grueling day

"Something bothering you?" Cynthia asked

"Hm? why would you say that?" I asked

"Because when you're worried about something, you always have this weird mannerism of tightly gripping your sword" Cynthia pointed at my arm, I really was gripping Azazel who was hanging on my waist

This is something I developed when I went on missions, whenever I was unsure of something, I always had my right arm on Azazel. Danger lurked everywhere in the past so I had to be alert.

"Please tell me what's bothering you" Cynthia spoke out as we walked in the center of the city where a small fountain was built

"This is something too dangerous, I don't want you to get involved" I don't want anyone I know to die

"Why would you shoulder the burden all by yourself?"

"...Because...as of now, only I can fight them..." I don't mean to be arrogant but I don't know anyone strong enough to help me or maybe I'm just too scared to ask for help when I know that it might be the cause of their deaths...

"Your lover, she's a failure" Cynthia blankly spoke as she sat by the chair that was in front of the fountain

"What?" I asked as I sat beside her

"What kind of a woman is she if she lets the man she loves feel alone in the world"

I could only stay quiet

"She's a failure of a woman, I won't ask you to leave her because I know you won't but at least... let me share your burden, you may be the only person who can fight those things but I can try to use magic" Cynthia asked as she looked at the fountain

"...Thank you Cynthia" I had the Guardians to help me fight but the having the company of another person is strangely as comforting as the protection the Guardians provide

"We are partners after all"

"Tomorrow, meet me at the guild hall"

"Alright"

Cynthia has already seen the bugs, it's actually amazing that she still wishes to be with me after seeing what those things are capable of

Cynthia and I walked back to the guild, Cynthia went straight to her room while I headed for Lea's office. I knocked on her door and only entered when she called me in

"Zeno? what brings you here?" Lea asked

"Are you free tomorrow?" I asked

"You want to ask me out on a date?" Lea joked

"No, I want to show you something but please be prepared for battle" I don't know just how much the bugs have progressed in their infestation of this world but I do know that I am in desperate need of allies

"Alright, I'll free up my schedule for tomorrow, this better not be a joke"

"Please meet up with us tomorrow"

"Morning?"

"Yeah"

"Okay"

"I'll take my leave then"

I left the room and headed for the ship and as expected, Alissa was too busy with her research to even notice me enter

"Alissa, you hungry?" I asked, I got some food earlier when Cynthia and I was out

"I could eat" She replied as she kept staring at the monitor in front of her

I placed the basket on the table and brought out a plate before putting the food on it and serving it to Alissa, I want to warm it up but sadly, there's no microwave. She looked at the food before looking back at the monitor

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"Thanks" She spoke as she started writing down on a hologram notepad

"You're welcome" I know men must be tough and stoic but... hey we also need some love, this is really disheartening

I stopped thinking about it and just checked Guardian 2's condition

"Everything good?" I asked Guardian 2

"No problems found"

"Good" It was all I could say

I looked around and it felt like saddened, I brought out the pillow and blanket I bought and placed them on the chair beside Alissa, Alissa has a room inside the transport ship where she can rest but I'm guessing that the stuff inside is military standards

I left the ship and just went to my room back at the dorm, I need to rest for tomorrow

I woke up and washed my face before heading for the Guildhall, Lea, and Cynthia was right there waiting for me. We all ate breakfast together and I led them to the place where I would meet up with Guardian 2

"Officer Zeno" Guardian 2 saluted

"What's this?" Lea asked

"A golem from our land but we call them Robot there" I replied

"Robot? Your robots seem to be more advanced than ours" Lea kept sizing up Guardian 2

"Where are we going?" Cynthia asked

"I heard that there was a wreckage somewhere south of here, there's a high chance that it's a part of the ship that came from our land"

"Oh? but why did you call me?" Lea asked

"Like I said, I want to show you something" I have a feeling that we'll be encountering some bugs, I want to show Lea just what they'll be up against in the future

"Alright" Lea nodded

I gave Guardian 2 a robe to cover himself with, we all hired horses and started heading south. It took us 2 hours before finally arriving at a thick and dense forest, this forest was called Blue spirit Forest due to the frequent appearance of Blue lights in the middle of the night. We all stuck close to each other as we headed deeper and deeper into the forest, we met a few wolves but most of them seem malnourished and terrified which made us wonder what has been happening inside this forest.

"Are there too many adventurers entering this forest?" Lea wondered

"Have there been requests of subjugation within this place?" I asked

"No, no missions popped up but the fear and malnourishment from the wolves could only mean one thing"

"The appearance of an even stronger monster" I spoke out

"Indeed, let's keep our guard up" Lea announced

After half an hour of walking, we finally found the crashed transport ship. I didn't hit the ground and left a trail but instead just crashed and left a deep pit with it as the center, we all slid down and carefully approached the ship. I opened it but sadly, all I found were food rations, no weapons.

"Are there parts we can salvage?" I asked Guardian 2

"The ship can be dismantled" Guardian 2 took off the robe and started looking inside the ship

"So this is a ship from where you came from?" Lea asked

"Yeah" I nodded

"They look strange" Lea place her arm on the ship and started inspecting it but

'Zeno! Hostiles at your 6!' Lilith alerted me

"Something's coming!" I announced and turned around

'Lilith, what is it?!'

'Bug number 20... Formars, the parasite bug, these bugs are the size of a grown man's head. They look like a scorpion, they will pounce on your head before stabbing their stinger at your brain. That's how they gain control of your body and after that, they will soon start to reshape the body'

Formars was just as Lilith explained. They are disgusting and terrifying creatures

A wolf soon appeared in front of us but it's was split in half and you could notice the brain being stabbed by a scorpion's stinger, its back had it's bone protruding and pointing at the sky. You could also notice that its neck has opened up and now has sharp fangs in it.

"What is that?!" Lea was shocked at the appearance of the wolf

"That's a monster from my land" I unsheathed Azazel and prepared my stance

"That wolf?!" Lea looked at me

"No, whatever is controlling it" I ran forward as the wolf dove down the pit

The mouth on its neck opened wide and the wolf's intestines shot out, I cut through the intestines and jumped up. The wolf spun and tried to stab me by hitting me with the protruding bones on its back, too bad Azazel's reach was longer than the bones on its back. I cut the wolf in half before the bone could even reach me, I landed on the ground and looked at the corpse of the wolf before gutting its head. I pulled out a dead Formar and showed it to Lea

"This is the monster that I was talking about" I threw it on the ground

"...What are they?" Lea was disgusted

"We call them Formars, they will kill you by using this stinger to stab you in the head before taking control of your body and deforming it to any shape that they like, that wolf over there is an example of what they can do" I explained

"You've been fighting monsters like these?" Lea was shocked

"Soon you'll be too"

"Why?"

"You see one of these, then you can expect that there's an entire hive of these bugs"

"Oh no... we have to report this!" Lea took out a bag and put the dead Formar inside before taking out another larger bag and putting the dead wolf inside it.

'There's more incoming!' Lilith warned me

'Where?!'

'At your 12, there's 6 of them!'

"Guardian 2, prepare for battle!" I called out and Guardian 2 came out of the ship before taking out a small rod and pressing a button, the energy sword soon formed itself. It looked like a lightsaber from a movie in my timeline

Guardian 2 stood beside me while Cynthia and Lea were holding their weapons behind us, they're responsible for watching our backs. 6 deformed wolves popped up from the bushes and dove down in the pit, I aimed my pistol and started shooting them down. 2 wolves died after getting hit in the head while the others had a missing limb or holes on their bodies, they were injured so killing them was easy. We tied down one infested wolf and let Cynthia try to cast a spell on it, she used [Lightning] and the wolf was roasted along with the Formar inside

Guardian 2 made a cart out the wrecked transport ship while placing all the usable parts and rations inside it before pulling it up the pit, the forest was a bit thick and the cart was a bit large so I had to cut down the tree that got in the way.

We soon got out of the forest and Guardian 2 hooked up his horse and mine to the cart, We went on our way back to the city

"Listen, about us... could you please keep it a secret?" I requested Lea

"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret, I'll also ask the others" Lea nodded

"Thanks"