“Alright then, let me come first, and you just follow my example,” Alnea said, nodding at his teammates with a smile. “I am Alnea… Tresting. Son of Raun Tresting. As for my clan… Most of you should have guessed already, so there is no need for me to hide. I do not belong to any clan. And yes, I do have a grudge with the Lotus clan. But you should already know that. After all, we have never tried to hide our confrontations. Yet you chose to team up with me anyway.

“You should know that by joining Star Seekers… by teaming up with me, you have inevitably offended the Lotus clan, and might even suffer from their calculations in the recent future. Who knows, they might even rope in other clans to plot against us. As people who have grown up in Orthodoxies though, you should have expected such results from the moment you chose to become Star Seekers. Yet you still chose to team up with me. Maybe it was because you had no other places to go, or maybe you just had something to prove. It does not matter.

“The truth is that I have pulled you into a dangerous situation by just letting your join Star Seekers. I will not apologise to you though. We are not kids anymore. We are Wanderers, and we must be responsible for all decisions. Still, for the trust you showed in by joining Star Seekers, I promise you that until you are a Star Seeker, I will never betray or abandon you. At the same time, I will try to help you chase after the stars you are seeking with all my abilities.”

“…Fool.”

Alnea immediately felt two glares land on him the moment he made his promise. Fortunately, with so many people around them, Cecilia and Yuri chose to restrain themselves for the moment, just warning him not to make any more promises. But they made sure to let him know that the matter was not over. Before he could think of a way to handle them though, or continue with his introduction, Vestia stepped in with a solemn tone.

“…Like you said, we are not kids,” Vestia said, staring right into his eyes. “We are Wanderers. And we are all responsible for our own decisions. So why should you be responsible for everyone else?”

“…This is what I should do.”

“What we should do,” Yuri said, allowing Alnea to see one of her rare moments of supporting Vestia. “We are Star Seekers. The emphasis here is not just on Star Seekers, but also on ‘we’. The only reason we came together to form a team is to help each other. Whether it is to enter the inner city, to chase after stars, or to fight off our enemies, we will do it together. As a team. As Star Seekers.”

“…You people are talking too much nonsense,” Cecilia said, deciding to make her presence known as well. “The only thing we need to know that is that we are a team, and all those who are against us are our enemies. As long as we beat all our enemies, we will naturally complete all our goals.”

Silence spread for a few moments as everyone digested Cecilia’s words.

“…I cannot argue with that,” Ralph said, only for Zain to sneer at him.

“You still wish to argue with her? It is true that you will not recognise death until you face it…”

“…I mean, she is not wrong,” Karl said, ignoring Zain’s remark. “As long as we beat all our enemies, we will indeed be closer to our goals.”

“…I do not even know who my enemies are…”

“…Let us deal with the enemies in front of us, before searching for new enemies.”

“…Anyways,” Alnea said, using his Aspects to hide his embarrassment. “I am glad that you joined Star Seekers. And I will make sure that you do not regret your decision.”

“…I hope you are right,” Fran said in his gloomy voice.

“…Next, let me tell you a bit more about myself,” Alnea said, trying not to mind his new gloomy teammate. “I am an Intermediate Stage False Wanderer, walking on all three paths at the same time. As a Warrior, I am proficient in all kinds of Martial Styles, while specialising in using a sword. As an Arcanist, I am proficient in suppressive and field control Arcanas. When it comes to being a Scholar though…

“You must have guessed already that I am not too old. As such, I have not had much time to delve deeper on the path of Scholars, so I am not too proficient in the usage of Glyphs. But rest assured, I have enough experience on the other two paths to match even Peak Stage Wanderers in a one-on-one fight. And I will only get better with time.”

“…You are also an Arcanist?”

“That is why I said that you should not trust information about other Wanderers,” Alnea said. “Especially the information that they deliberately reveal. Who knows, maybe what I am telling you is still not the complete truth.”

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“…Hiding your strength is best way to survive,” Karl said, nodding solemnly at his words. “That is the most essential truth of life.”

“…I do not know about the truth of life… Forget it. Everyone interprets life in their own way. In any case, that was it from my side. Which one of you will go next?”

“Let me do it,” Yuri said, taking the lead before everyone else. “After all, I have the greatest amount of secret to keep. It would not be fair to everyone else if they share all their secrets, and I do not.”

“But you have a reason—

“The reasons do not matter,” Yuri said, shaking her head. “What matters is that I am keeping my secrets from everyone else in the team… Let them hear what I have to say first, and then they can decide for themselves how much they want to share.”

“…That sounds fair,” Vestia said, nodding in agreement. These two… when did they become so supportive of each other?

“Due to some reasons, I cannot tell you much about myself. All I can say is… that you can call me Yuri. Like Alnea, I too walk on all three paths. And I am proficient in all three of them. Unlike Alnea though, my field control, and enemy suppressive skills are focussed on the path of Scholars. As an Arcanists, my skills are biased more towards group attacks. As for the path of Warriors… that should be self-evident. I hope that should tell you a bit about myself.”

“…Although I would like to know more about you, I also know that all Wanderers have their own secrets,” Ralph said, nodding with a solemn face. “Besides, from what you have shared, we can already see your sincerity. There is no need for you to worry…”

…What was the irritation that he was feeling in his chest? And why was the brown robed idiot talking so much? Could he not see that he was delaying important matters?

“…Then next—

“My turn,” Cecilia said with a grin, not willing to be left behind him and Yuri. “I am Cecilia Serpia. Daughter of Ionia Serpia—

“Ionia Serpia,” Norren said with a hint of excitement in his voice. “You mean the Serpent Monarch?”

“…That’s right.”

“The same Serpent Monarch who killed a Grand Thrall while she was just a Mystic Wanderer?”

“…She did kill a few Grand Thralls…”

“So, Serena Serpia is your sister?”

“…You even know my sister?”

“Know your sister? Who does not know Serena Serpia. Especially after what she did a month ago…”

“…What did she do?”

“…You do not know?”

“…We have been training in other Forbidden Areas for a while, so we have been out of touch with the rest of the world…”

“…You should at least know about the hunt she led in Rianra over half a year ago, right?”

“…I did hear some news…”

“Alright, Norren, stop teasing us, and tell us the news already,” Alnea said, just as eager as Cecilia to know about big sis Serena. “What did big sis Serena do?”

“You—How can you call her big sis?”

“…Do you know the news about big sis Serena, Vestia?” Alnea said, shifting his focus to the sole Wanderer specialising in gathering information in their team.

“I do know about the things that she has done recently… but I did not know that you were so close with her. Or that Cecilia is the second in line to the Serpent Throne.”

“…Just tell us the news already!”

“So impatient,” Vestia said, clicking her tongue, while smiling at them. “It is said that some Heterodox Wanderers attacked the city that Serena Serpia was supervising around half a year ago. Fortunately, the casualty amongst the civilians was not much, but the same cannot be said about the local branch of the Lotus clan. Apparently, the attack was so sudden, that even with the help of her guards, Serena Serpia could save only a dozen or so Seeds of the branch.”

“We know that already. What happened next?”

“…Although, the life and death of the Lotus clan’s Wanderers does not have much to do with Serpia clan’s heir, the city that the Heterodox Wanderers attacked was still nominally under her control. As such, the deaths of those Wanderers should also fall on her shoulders. Of course, the Lotus clan would not dare to trouble the Serpia clan too much for their loss. Going against the Serpia clan for just a few True Wanderers is not worth it. Besides, losing a remote branch did not hurt them much anyway.

“Still, even if they could not trouble her directly, they could at least spread word about her incompetence. They probably intended to just shame her and make her lose some face. But for Serpians, nothing enrages them more than being looked down upon. So, when Serena Serpia heard of the Lotus clan’s rumours, she began a nationwide hunt in Rianra to wash her shame with blood. Literally.

“I do not know the details, but according to some rumours, she killed around a hundred True Wanderers, and more than a thousand False Wanderers in the hunt. She even clashed with a Mystic Wanderer and managed to force him out of Rianra. With the help of her guards, of course. No matter how strong she is, she was just a Fourth Stage True Wanderer when she began the hunt.

“Even considering her failure to kill the Mystic Heterodox Wanderer though, foiling countless ploys of Heterodox Wanderers, washing the entire country in their blood, and also alerting all the nearby countries about the sudden increase in the number of Heterodox Wanderers, all at such a young age, is enough for her to be recognised as the Wanderer with greatest potential in the entire Fifth Sector of the Lighting Region.”

“…These are all the things that she did more than half a year ago. What about the things she did a month ago?”

“…A month ago, Serena Serpia led her team into the depths of the Grand Chasm, and personally killed a Chaeon Lord, earning herself the title of True Black Serpent,” Norren said, with slightly flushed cheeks, and dazed eyes. “At the same time, she was recognised by everyone to be one of the greatest genius of the entire Lightning Region, and the one most likely to reach the Supreme Rank.”