"That was a great meal," Barren said, rubbing his belly. "How was the omurice?"

"It's very delicious," said Kathleen.

"You guys need to eat more. Order something else, man. At this rate, I'll feel bad," Barren added.

Kathleen looked at Barren, shocked, and said, "Let me finish this first."

Kathleen was very hungry because she hadn't eaten the previous day, but even so, she couldn't finish one plate.

Not only Kathleen, but Theo was also struggling to finish his dish.

When Theo and Kathleen finally finished, Theo exclaimed, "How did you manage to finish all those dishes? Here we are, struggling to finish one plate, and we're already full to the brim!"

"Waiter!" Barren shouted.

The cat girl came running to their table.

"We're ready to order our desserts," Barren said, smiling.

"Sure, what will it be?" the cat girl asked, swinging her fake tail from left to right.

This time, not only Kathleen and Theo, but even Eddy was looking at Barren in shock.

Then Barren proceeded to order a large number of desserts as well.

"What is this guy made of? After eating that much food, he still has room for more?" Kathleen thought to herself.

"Is that going to be it, sir?" the waitress asked.

"Hey, what are you guys looking at me so shocked for? Order some desserts, will you!" Barren said.

"No, thank you, I'm good," Eddy said.

As soon as Eddy said that, Theo and Kathleen both shouted, "We're full!" Then, realizing they didn't need to shout, they looked at each other, embarrassed.

"Okay, then, I'll be back with your order soon," the waitress said as she walked away from the table with a smile on her face.

"Okay, then. Let's continue where we left off," Barren said, changing his expression to a more serious one.

"What are you going to do now?" Barren asked Kathleen.

"I don't know. A lot of things happened in the last two days. My village got attacked, and I've been chased for my life. I don't know what's happening anymore."

"I don't think I would have even survived if it wasn't for Eddy," Kathleen said, glancing at Eddy's direction.

"That's it!" Barren shouted.

"It keeps getting interesting."

"Eddy, why did you go to the jungle today?" Barren asked impatiently.

"We were coming to Luminas City because of a letter we received four days ago." Eddy handed over the letter to Barren.

"My God."

"If I'm understanding correctly, this was pre-planned by someone."

"Hi, can you guys talk in English?" Theo said, scratching his head.

For the first time, Kathleen was also confused by what Barren was pointing at, so she asked, "What? I didn't understand either."

"Okay, let's do it like this," Barren said, explaining with the toothpicks on the table.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Suppose this toothpick is you, in Ashfall Village, and this toothpick on the far east is me. And these two on the north are Eddy and Theo. And in the center, this flowerpot is Luminas City."

"Now notice something: Just four days ago, we were very far from each other and also from Luminas City. Then suddenly, Eddy got a letter from someone. Let me read out the content of the letter for you guys," Barren said as he started reading.

"By the light and darkness that pierces the veil, reveal what lies beyond the matter. Show me the mirror of existence—Gate of the null room, open my sight!"

"That's it," Barren said, putting down the letter.

"This spell brings back a lot of bad memories, doesn't it, Eddy?"

"Yes. When I got the letter, I was shocked to see this spell. We thought we had completely destroyed anything and everything related to this cursed spell," Eddy frowned angrily.

"Let's check the sender's address on this letter. Oh, look at that. It came from the guild of Luminas City. That means someone from the guild or an adventurer sent this to you."

"That's the reason I started my journey to Luminas City."

"Then why didn't you use your Gate spell?" Kathleen asked Eddy.

"My Gate spell isn't infinite. It has a range of only 1 km around me, so I was using my Gate spell. But as you know, sentient magic doesn't cost mana—it varies from person to person. For me, it uses your stamina as the power source, exactly the amount I would burn from running to that distance," Eddy said.

"That's why you were so exhausted when you used the Gate to teleport us to the city gate," Kathleen said.

"That's why I was resting at that time. Then we started hearing footsteps. That's when I met her," Eddy said, looking at Barren.

"On the other hand, I was on a quest four days ago when a boy suddenly gave this to me out of nowhere and said, 'I have a message for you, come to Luminas City,' and ran off. When I opened the letter, I was shocked."

"Look at this," Barren showed the letter.

Inside the letter, Kathleen read the same spell written as before:

"By the light and darkness that pierces the veil, reveal what lies beyond the matter. Show me the mirror of existence—Gate of the null room, open my sight!"

The same letter, sent from the same place as it was for Eddy.

"That's why I completed my quest as soon as possible and then came to Luminas City. Then I met you guys at the city gate."

"As for you, Kathleen, you were living a peaceful life in Ashfall Village, and then out of the blue, the village got attacked. You were blamed for the attack and then pursued in the forest by a horde of soldiers."

"Here's why I think this is bullshit," Barren said confidently.

"First of all, for the village attack, my theory is that they only knew you lived in Ashfall Village but didn't know where, so they started destroying the homes, forcing everyone to come out without a choice. This served a purpose. Then, when they finally found you at the orphanage, they ignored everyone else and focused on you. They made you believe you were the reason your loved ones were suffering, so you ran to the forest in hopes they'd follow you and leave the orphanage alone. They used your fear against you. They made you believe that you were the one making the choice by sacrificing yourself, but the actual plan was from someone else entirely."

"Then there's the one-day chase. The Scarlet we knew and heard of was very gentle and kind, but also a beast of an adventurer, an expert of her own blade magic."

"That's why I don't think Scarlet was actually trying to lead you to Eddy in the jungle. Their goal wasn't to kill you, but the union of Eddy and you," Barren said as the waiter brought a lot of desserts—ice cream, parfaits, everything.

"Do you remember the adventurers you met at the gate?" Barren asked as he started digging into the desserts.

"Yes, what about them?" Theo asked this time.

"Rumor has it that in the jungle, there's a cult operating that targets innocent adventurers and brainwashes them to join their cult. The only identifying feature about them is an emblem. The emblem features a half lion and half human person."

"When I was about to enter the city, I noticed you guys getting surrounded by them. I didn't think much of it at first. Truth be told, I was going to ignore you guys, but then I noticed the emblem on their hands. So I rushed over because I thought they were about to brainwash you into joining their cult, and it would be pretty much undeniable proof of their crime. And then, the rest of what happened, you already know. I thought that if I budged in, they would've attacked me or something, but they just ran away."

"Now, what if that was also a setup? What if those guys were there just to get me to meet you?"

Kathleen was listening intently, then she suddenly shouted, "I remember now!"

"You don't have to shout. We're sitting very close," Barren said, looking around.

The customers in the restaurant were now looking at them.

"Sorry about that, but the emblem—I've seen it on the woman who was following me."

"That's it! We've got our proof too!" Barren said, puffing his chest as his theory was confirmed.

Kathleen thought to herself, What is with this guy? He seems so childish yet so cunning.

"Okay, here's the gist for Theo," Barren said as he finished all the desserts.

Then Kathleen noticed Theo.

He was staring blankly, as if the life had been shocked out of his body.

"Four people met in front of the city gate—it wasn't a coincidence because it was preplanned."

"Okay, that means someone set us up!" Theo exclaimed as the life returned to his body.

"I finally understand! Why didn't you say that before?" Theo said happily.

"Okay, here's the plan: we're going to stay at the inn together, and then we'll investigate tomorrow," Barren said decisively.

To be continued...