After passing through Witzlarn and a few villages we still haven't seen a trace of the Empire Corps. Could they have given up after being saved? Nah, considering how crazy the Emperor is for me it's a no brainer...

They were probably wary of the •Crescent• that I had used because up till now it is on a grander scale than the one in Pilapil, they are most likely planning on how to counter it. Well, not that I care I will just use it as a bluff to scare them again.

Although I would like to say that in order to save them I wasted a high-quality magic crystal... If I hadn't used it till breaking point I could've utilized •Crescent• at least ten to fifteen times on normal usage before the crystal needed to recharge.

Currently, we are eating out while camping in the wilderness. Jody made a soup out of the spiked boar that I had taken down earlier.

"Open your mouth..." [Angelica]

...

"Say, ah..." [Angelica]

The person whom I was speaking to is Matthew. After I had made that dumb move at Witzlarn he has refused to talk to me for days.

"C'mon, you wouldn't want your stomach to come growling now, won't you?" [Angelica]

"?!" [Matthew]

His face flushed, he was going to refute what I had just said but, bit his lips in the last minute.

During the past few days, we shared the same bowl when eating in the wilderness. It was due to when the ghouls chased us out that we began to notice we were missing a few things in the wagon.

Before we eat it was somewhat in sequence that Jody distributes the bowls to Spencer then he, in turn, passes it over to me and I to Matthew. So you get the drill, because of that he either has to wait for me to finish or find an alternative to do it on his own. I had suggested that we share the bowl and eat at the same time, but then he ignored me. It was only when I heard his stomach growl that I began teasing him about it. Being unable to talk back, I felt like teasing him to get him to open up.

"Aah..." [Matthew]

Oh! Finally, he opened his mouth, his face is still beet red though... I gave him a spoonful and he chewed whilst staring away at least this is a good sign.

After finishing our supper and cleaning up we all slept by the campfire. The place we are at is known to be inhabited by harmless fauna so there's no need for a lookout, although it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye out just in case. I created a perimeter fence that was made of mud and has been enchanted with my earth crystal, although what came out seemed like a birdcage lol, at least it would prevent the entry of anything bigger than a toddler.

Spencer and Jody shared a blanket while Matthew and I slept opposite of each other. I was staring at the stars and wondering about what I should do. Then I noticed Matthew who was moving around in his blanket. I stood up and took a glance at him and noticed that he was still sleeping. It's quite chilly tonight so he might have been cold... I picked up my blanket and huddled right next to him and placed my hand over his blanket. In a mere second, tiny flames sprouted all over erasing the chill.

The next thing that happened is he clung to me with his arms wrapped around my waist and because of his small stature, his face was now directly at the level of my chest.

(Pomf...)

His little head made a sound as it l sandwiched itself in between my chest. I could feel every ounce of his breath that escaped from his mouth... If for some reason someone were to see us like this, they would most likely think of us as siblings sleeping right next to each other.

"Mom..." [Matthew]

When he finished, a small tear traced down his face... I had almost forgotten how rough things are for him, being at a young age I could only feel sorry for him. I hugged and stroked his head as he slept. When I did that his expression lightened up a bit.

Next day...

"Mmnm." [Matthew]

I woke up from Matthew's movements, he was snuggling at my chest lol. Not that I would mind if it were Maria's I'd probably do the same while asleep.

"Eh?" [Matthew]

He released his embrace and jumped back the moment he realized that he was clinging onto me.

"Wha-wha-wha?!" [Matthew]

"Slept well?" [Angelica]

While he's still flustered I asked, he could barely look at me in the eye due to his embarrassment.

"Y-yeah..." [Matthew]

I have to admit that his reply made me smile because I wasn't expecting it. I outstretched my hand and helped him stand, slowly but surely, we are making up.

Stolen novel; please report.

We packed up our stuff and continued with our journey. It seems that the next destination is Gorkow. Which is a town and as per Spencer, there isn't anything particularly interesting since it's similar to all the other places we've been to except that this one has a small adventurers guild.

When we got there Matthew and I stopped by the guild.

"Hello, good day, how may I help you?"

Earlier the female receptionist was slouching at the desk and upon seeing me walk up to her she quickly perked herself up asked in a polite tone.

"Hi, I hope that you could help me with something." [Angelica]

"If it is within the guild regulations I would be happy to." [Receptionist]

She seemed quite helpful which made me feel at ease.

"I have recently lost my adventurers card when fighting a monster." [Angelica]

"May I know your name is to clarify things?" [Receptionist]

"Angelica." [Angelica]

I told her my name, she probably requires it as a standard procedure. I haven't really delved into what I needed to be done if I had lost my adventurers card so this is quite new to me.

"Do you remember where you had lost it? Ms. Angelica?" [Receptionist]

"I lost it while fleeing the city of Pilapil as it began to collapse." [Angelica]

"Pilapil? ... ... PILAPIL?!" [Receptionist]

When she let out a shout the few adventurers who heard it glanced towards our direction.

"Can you tone it down a bit?" [Angelica]

I cupped my hand and whispered to her.

"Ah, my apologies. Should I prepare a room?" [Receptionist]

"Aren't those only reserved for high ranked adventurers? I don't have anything to pay you with right now." [Angelica]

"It's alright, this is a very important matter after all." [Receptionist]

She led us to a room at the end of the corridor and gestured us to enter.

(Click!)

"Now, then..." [Receptionist]

Upon hearing the door lock from behind I quickly turned and saw the receptionist showing a wide smile.

"Sorry, did that startle you?" [Receptionist]

She questioned me when she noticed that I was holding onto the hilt of the sword tightly. Then, suddenly... she lunges at me.

Shit! She's fast! Before I could do anything else she had already gotten a hold of my dominant hand. Has the Emperor issued a capture quest on me?!

"Please! Tell me the details about the battle with the wyvern!" [Receptionist]

I relaxed my grip when I saw the glitter in her eyes as she held my hand.

Fast forward, I told her what had happened. It turns out that she was only curious about the events on Pilapil but goddamn! Hearing the door lock so suddenly scared the living hell out of me. I needed to give credit to that fucking mofo for giving me PTSD!

"Wonderful... good thing that you've passed through our town, stories like that are hard to come by." [Receptionist]

"Really? Didn't information such as this get circulated around the other branches?" [Angelica]

"Bits and pieces only, sometimes we rely on other adventurers on the news." [Receptionist]

The receptionist heaved a sigh. It must've been very boring to stay in such a small town with nothing much to do...

"Uh... about my adventurer's card..." [Angelica]

"Oh, about that. Shed a drop of blood and apply a bit of energy as you put your hand over this parchment." [Receptionist]

She presented me with a rolled paper which she had undone, it was colored green and had these weird writings on it.

"Can I ask what this is for?" [Angelica]

"This is a request form for the reissuing of a lost card which we will send to the main branch. It uses your blood and handprint so that we can find you in our database in order to retrieve your rank and stored money within the card, it also serves to make sure that there are no forgeries." [Receptionist]

"Ah! I remember now, when I first signed up I let them take a sample of my blood in order to process my card. So by that time was I being registered at the database?" [Angelica]

"That is correct." [Receptionist]

"I never knew that it was so convenient." [Angelica]

"Heheh, you should thank the guild administrator for that." [Receptionist]

"Administrator?" [Angelica]

"The guild administrator is the one who manages all the adventurer guilds." [Receptionist]

"I see..." [Angelica]

Ah, so it is equal to the position of a president/ceo.

"Are you going to be staying here for a while?" [Receptionist]

"I planned to keep on moving because as you know, my residence is within the Republic." [Angelica]

I don't want to tell her that I couldn't stay for long since the Emperor has the hots for me lol.

"I figured as much..." [Receptionist]

She put her hand on the side of her face as she looks away.

"Is there a problem?" [Angelica]

"It takes a while for the reissuing to be processed. Even if I sent it now, it might take about a month or a half for you to get your card back..." [Receptionist]

Crap...

"Could you use any other alternative?" [Angelica]

"Mmn... ... ... Ah!" [Receptionist]

She tapped her fingers on the table and clapped when an idea had struck her.

"I can send it over to the next branch that is along your path." [Receptionist]

"That would be great!" [Angelica]

The receptionist rolled a large map which covered the whole table. It is very detailed compared to the one in Herxheim, heck, it even shows the location of some monsters. As expected from the adventurers guild, it's giving me RPG vibes just by looking at it.

"So, where do you want it to be sent?" [Receptionist]

"Hmn." [Angelica]

There is so much stuff in here that it is making it hard for me to choose...

"How about this one?" [Angelica]

"The port city of Wimbern, good choice. You can hop on the ships going to the island of Troizin which is a neutral territory, then hitch another ride to the port city of Cavite which is within the Republic." [Receptionist]

She has a good understanding of the transportation in the area. I wonder if this is the result of good training from their management.

"Ms. Angelica, would you want to notify your party members and parents about your location and status? because if you are currently missing they may be delighted to hear about it." [Receptionist]

I felt Matthew pulling my sleeve so I glanced at him and he shook his head.

"No need, I will go and see them myself." [Angelica]

It is the last thing that I would want them to do... I don't like the idea of them coming here in order to search for me. So as long as they are safe back home it would keep my mind at ease. Matthew may have come to the same conclusion earlier hence he tried to warn me.

"Alright, it's done." [Receptionist]

"Thanks, it would help out a lot." [Angelica]

"Angelica, wait!" [Receptionist]

"Er, yes?" [Angelica]

"Here is a temporary card. This will set your rank as a default AR1 so you cannot undertake any quest higher unless your rank is confirmed, it can, however store the current quests that you've fulfilled and also your money. Which will carry over to your reissued card once it is verified." [Receptionist]

I took the card with both of my hands and presented a bow. Soon, Matthew and I left the adventurers guild. I also wanted to get Matthew an adventurers card, but in order to raise his adventurer rank (AR) we have to stay in the same place because you needed to report at the same branch where you undertook the quest and that would be counter-intuitive...

When we met up with Jody and Spencer I thanked them and said that we will separate at the next place which is the city of Gaushorn.