[N POV]

As Claude casts the spell, he also creates a magic circle on the ground. At that time, he forgot everything else but the magic circle. Creating it took time. Oddly, Orsted patiently waited for Claude to finish his magic circle.

Orsted's time-frame took a long time, but his creation brought awe towards Orsted.

He had never seen a magic circle like that. Although he was expressionless, the shock was there in his mind.

He stopped himself from talking because he didn’t want to bother Claude on his way to creating the magic circle.

That magic circle isn’t one that’s created from any knowledge he received out of all his incarnations. It is something branded in his mind, one of his Miko’s powers.

It’s pretty obvious that even if Orsted didn’t understand the Miko, each and every one of them might have been known to him. However, one would appear only in that timeline.

As he finished the magic circle, Claude asked Orsted to get inside. Within, there is time-amplifying and projection magic. He obviously included them within the magic circle, since it’d take a long time for the story to be completed.

There, Orsted watched how the future differed from what he knew.

…

..

"Hey, Isolte, where does Claude go again? I’m starving here…" Eris said, while holding her stomach. Beside her, Nina Farion nodded her head.

Shaking her head, Isolte said, "You guys do realize he’s the boy and we’re the girls, right?"

"What the hell? You think there’s anyone here who can cook? " Eris retorted, while looking at Isolte incredulously.

Isolte said, "Fair point," sighing. She continued, "Wasn’t he left with Jino to deal with some matter? Nina should know more about it. "

"Oh crap..." Nina had a look of utter despair. She crouched on the ground and held her head while shouting, "Damn it, Jino! How dare you bring Claude with you? "

At another location, Jino and Claude have a bro-time where they converse with each other and talk about their experiences.

"This mission won’t be too boring with you here, Claude."

"Meh, you only want me to be your cook while having to finish the mission. right? " Claude said while stirring the pot in front of him.

"Not really..."

"Is there another purpose for it?"

"Yeah, I want to let the girls know how important we are. Seriously, they think I’m a lackey or something? You need to be stricter with the girls, Claude! " Jino said, trying to convince Claude about the situation he’s in.

"Well, I don’t care about the other. But, I do know that Lady Isolte thinks of me as a friend. Not a lackey or something... "

"Did she? What I see is a servant following her master. Did you realize the guys in the Holy Land think of you as Isolte’s servant? "

"And why would I care about them?"

"Fair point, you have a fetish for acting as a servant to your beloved girl. I know your quirk already," Jino said, having come to a conclusion.

"I don’t think of Lady Isolte as a romantic interest though." Claude looks puzzled and denies Jino’s statement.

"You don’t?" Jino asked back, unconvinced.

"Yes, I understand that I don’t see her the same way you see Nina. I also don’t have the same respect Eris had for Rudeus, nor do I yearn to stand beside Lady Isolte all this time. What I feel towards him is gratitude. Without her, I would be dead by now. "

"That's a story, huh… But you do realize that pampering Isolte like that will lead others to believe otherwise, right?"

"Huh? Why would they? "

"Who spoils a woman they don’t love? Especially the braindead girls in the holy land of swords. They all see that you took care of her as you see the beloved person. "

"Oh, I actually will start a journey on my own after this year. When I see that lady Isolte is good, I will leave and make a journey around the world. "

Jino looks astonished at what Claude said.

"When is this next year? This is the last month of the year…" Jino asked, counting the days.

"After we come back to the Holy Land, I will prepare the necessary things, say my goodbye and start my journey."

"Isn’t that too abrupt?"

"Nah, Mistress Reida had already learnt about it. So, Lady Isolte is the only one who doesn’t know about it"

Jino took a breath and received the bowl of soup Claude handed him. He looked quite shocked by what his best friend said to him. Amusingly, he couldn’t retort back since he knew that his best friend had a yearning in his eyes whenever he talked about travel.

"I can only wish you luck, my friend."

Claude smiled at Jino, slurping his soup. Claude thanked him and continued on to another conversation along the journey.

The mission is quite simple.

Jino and Claude just need to conquer the surrounding wild dungeon when they see it, and report it back to the office after they finish the mission.

Dungeons are something that comes without notice. However, they left behind tracks that allowed others to see what or where the dungeon is.

Dungeons were usually filled with low-level monsters like goblins, slimes, or kobolds. Immediately, as soon as the dungeon is created, those monsters will be attracted. As a result, the finder has an easy way to learn about the dungeon.

Some dungeons might go unnoticed and be further developed into labyrinths.

"Yo, this dungeon sure is big… what the hell is wrong with the previous person; they didn’t see something this big? " Jino said, while looking at the big structure in front of him.

"You sure this isn’t a labyrinth?"

"a hundred percent"

"Let’s be careful and go inside slowly." Claude said, holding his sword.

"After you, my friend," Jino said, allowing Claude to come inside first.

Claude stops in his track, and smacks Jino in the head. "Heck, I’m here to accompany you, not to be your meat shield." "Go, and I’ll follow you."

Patting his head, Jino grumbles and takes the lead.

Jino, as the stronger of the two, should be the first to enter.But he joked around the entrance to mess with Claude. He never expected Claude to hit him in the head though.

As they delve deeper, Claude and Jino take care of the low-level monster easily.

It can be seen that the dungeon was filled with low-level monsters, as Jino expected. The place was just big, but there was nothing noteworthy inside.

There’s nothing weird happening, and after destroying the core, They left the place and headed to investigate another area.

As it was deemed safe, they went back to the holy land.

When they arrived there,

"Claude! Makes some tasty food now! "

Eris demanded he make a dish. Jino left him there, and went to report the mission.

The girls went nuts when Claude started to cook, with Nina and Eris taking a note of what Claude used to make his dish.

"Uh, delish!" Nina said, and Eris nodded her head.

Isolte drank the soup in delight while enjoying the after taste in her mouth, "Thank you for the delicious dish like always, Claude."

Claude just nodded at the gesture and started cleaning up the wares he used to cook. There, based on the conversation of the girls, he learned that they had tried to make some dishes, but it ended up as poison.

"it’s all because Eris put a chocolate bar there!" Nina blames

Eris snorted and said, "No way! You must put some strange things there, right! "

Pinching her chin, Isolte said, "I add some colorful mushrooms there. It should be the thing that makes them tastier, right?"

At those words, they all looked towards Isolte and said,

"There! She’s the culprit! "

Then, they all laughed together. While Isolte stared at them dumbfoundedly, "What? It’s my fault the dish became poisonous. "

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