"With all the noise that thing made, we'd better start walking," Oliver explained.

Katherine nodded again at what the boy said. But something had been bothering her the entire time. She was grateful for being saved, but the way the boy spoke was informal, something she had never experienced before. She didn’t dislike it, but she couldn’t understand why he spoke like that.

"We weren’t in the river for long, maybe 5 to 10 minutes. We must be just a few miles away from the combat area," Oliver continued, pointing toward the top of the river.

He moved to the center of what could be called their camp and used his boots to extinguish the remaining embers. Meanwhile, Katherine picked up her clothes, which were almost dry by now.

She was at an impasse. It would be important to wear her clothes before returning to camp, but she'd have to deactivate her armor and be left in her underwear again. Oliver noticed the girl staring intently at her clothes.

"Um," he cleared his throat softly before continuing, "I'll go check ahead while you get ready."

The boy didn’t know how long he should keep walking, but exploring was important either way. Following the riverbank, he walked for a few seconds. When he finally felt he’d given her enough privacy, he started looking around. The forest didn’t seem to get denser, but its canopy and leaves spread even more overhead, blocking most of the sunlight. The ground was littered with dead leaves and scattered branches, and with every step, he could feel the ground give slightly under the pressure of his boots.

After a few more minutes, he heard the girl’s footsteps approaching.

“Shall we go?” she asked cheerfully.

“Yes,” he nodded and began to take the first steps.

The two walked carefully through the forest, trying to stay close to the riverbank and avoiding making noise that could attract monsters. The battle with the Carrion had been more than enough.

Once again, silence hung between them.

“I don’t mean to be ungrateful, but why did you jump in to save me?” Katherine was still confused about that part. In her reality, no one did something without expecting something in return. Of course, she was someone important, but she couldn’t understand what the boy expected to gain from it.

“It might sound pretty stupid,” the boy paused, gathering his thoughts. “We were in the first group when we arrived to take the tests. For some reason, watching your combat inspired me. It gave me another goal of what I wanted to achieve.”

The girl thought about his response while looking at Oliver’s face. She could understand what he was describing, but not with the same empathy. Katherine couldn't imagine jumping in to save any of her teachers who had inspired her when she was younger.

“Um,” he cleared his throat again before continuing, “then we ended up in the same Ranger Weapon Combat class, and I finally got to test myself. Even though it was one-sided, I saw you as a rival. When I saw you jump into the water… I can’t give you a logical explanation. I just felt like I had to jump in, too,” Oliver continued walking, his eyes ahead, avoiding looking at the girl’s reaction.

Katherine kept walking, following Oliver’s footsteps, but at the same time paying close attention to his facial expressions, trying to find some flaw, some lie in what he was saying.

“Like I said, it was stupid. I’d never done anything like that, but… it was pretty cool to say that I saved someone,” he smiled proudly. “I never imagined I’d say something like that.”

“I see. Well, thank you very much for saving me.” Katherine replied.

They kept walking for a bit longer until the girl stopped. She scratched her head, seeming to want to say something but was holding back.

“Huff…” Katherine exhaled. “Something is still bothering me. Who are you? Which House do you belong to?”

“House? Well, none. I don’t have a surname; I’m what you’d call Nameless,” he turned to answer her.

“Oh! … sorry.” Finally, it felt like a puzzle piece had clicked into place for her. “Usually, there are many people trying to get close to the Great House York, so it’s hard to know who is who or what they’re after,” Katherine explained, a bit ashamed of being so direct.

Stolen novel; please report.

She started walking again, following the boy.

‘He has enough talent to be in the First Battalion, but he’s in the Second. Is it because he’s Nameless?’ She thought. While others might pity Oliver’s situation, she saw it as an opportunity.

‘The Second Battalion must have other talents ignored simply because they were Nameless.’ Oliver couldn’t see, but Katherine smiled slightly while greedily analyzing the Second Battalion.

“Sorry for being so direct. I’m just not used to people talking to me without all the pomp and ceremony, at least not outside the family.”

“I understand, but what are the Houses? I’ve heard people in the Second Battalion talk about them, but we never had any lessons on that,” Oliver took his turn to ask.

However, the answer was quite different from what he expected. This time, Katherine looked at him with disbelief.

“Are you serious? You don’t know what the Houses or Grand Houses are? What do they teach in schools?!” she started firing off question after question, breaking the image of a calm girl.

“Maybe they do teach it. But I stopped going to school after I was eleven.” Oliver explained.

“Still, why they don’t teach that in Middle School?!” Katherine complained, unaware of what they were teaching in an ordinary school. But Oliver's Middle School had been a hundred years in the past when the concept of a House didn’t even exist yet.

“Humm… where should I start?” She used one hand to support her head as she thought. “The first Wave was the world’s greatest shock but wasn’t the greatest devastation. The attack was only from a reconnaissance Ork ship.”

Oliver could understand, though it was hard to believe that a ship capable of devastating a city was just for surveillance.

“It was from the second Wave onward that things began to change. Many countries couldn’t sustain themselves, especially with so many cities destroyed and refugees everywhere,” Katherine tried to recall everything she had learned long ago.

Oliver began to see an area in the forest with fewer trees, though it was still a few minutes’ walk. He was too interested in understanding what had happened while he was in the VAT.

“Between the second and third waves, governments worldwide were collapsing. To survive the next battle, they formed New Earth, a centralized government that oversees all countries. However, each region still had influential military and political families, which became even more powerful with the discovery of Z-Crystal.”

The boy glanced at his gauntlet. He had heard a lot about the crystal but still didn’t know much about how it worked or was created.

“To maintain their power, these families started converting into organizations. Each of them has a different focus, but the main one is Z-Crystal extraction and combatant development. That’s how they maintain political power within the empire. Houses and Grand Houses are just a way to differentiate the organizations by power, and a Grand House is expected to supply at least 1,000 rangers during a Wave.”

Oliver nodded, absorbing the critical information despite the amount of detail. But one thing still puzzled him.

“I understand that you come from a Grand House and, therefore, must have a lot of power, but I remember other cadets also coming from them,” he recalled hearing other boys talk about some of the other Grand Houses.

“Still, you seemed to react as if you were more important. I’m guessing you don’t have an inflated ego, so what makes York so special?”

She smiled and scratched her head. “It’s really different having someone who doesn’t know my House, so I forgot to introduce us.”

“Well, some Houses work with other things besides Z-Crystal extraction and soldier training. There are some that manage prisons or casinos. In our case, we are one of the few responsible for planetary management.”

She chose not to give all the reasons but felt this was enough to explain the level of the Grand House.

“… like an entire planet is yours?”

“Yes and no, we pay the empire to have control over the planet.”

“That’s awesome!” the boy said, his eyes shining. On the other hand, Katherine didn’t share the same enthusiasm. It was an enormous responsibility, and at any moment, New Earth could take away their powers.

“Do all Grand Houses have duties of that size?” Oliver asked, trying to understand more about the world he was now a part of.

“Not really. Each House tends to focus on what they’re best at, but many specialize in some industry. You’ve probably seen brands managed by them.”

Finally, they were emerging from the forest. On the other side of the river, they could see the area where the battle had taken place. Thousands of Crabit carcasses were still scattered around, but no one remained there.

“They’re probably still figuring out which students are missing so they can form a search and rescue team,” the girl confidently stated what the Academy’s next steps would be.

“We can’t cross the river here. If we go in, we’ll be swept away by the current again and likely end up on this side of the bank.” Oliver commented.

Looking further upstream, they saw the river climb a hill near the horizon.

“Let’s keep going uphill. There must be a calmer spot up there where we can cross to the other side.” Katherine proposed.

They continued moving forward, now out of the forest, facing an open field similar to the opposite bank.

They stopped talking momentarily as they observed the scenery around them, at least until Oliver's curiosity resurfaced again.

“What planet does your House manage?” he turned to the girl as he asked.

She kept looking ahead and answered, “Mars.”