"Can you give me a hand here?" Asta begs.

"No". Cold replies from Hego.

"Pretty pretty please! These bricks are heavy for a girl."

"It's your choice. Live with its consequences."

"Please."

"Nope."

"Please please please! I will let you do stuff..."

"No no no nope nope."

"..."

"I told you, did I not? Why the djiit you have to choose the old Hidden Brick Gate instead of the normal entrance like, you know, NORMAL PEOPLE?"

"...But it's more fun..." Asta's eyes sparkling at Hego.

"Stacking that wall again is fun, right? Enjoy it." Hego smirks.

Pico running around, pushing a few bricks back to Asta's feet.

"Thanks Pico, you are more of a gentleman that your boy overthere."

"Arf!" Says Pico, happy as ever to help his friend and master.

Hego shrugs. "You know what... If this was just about bricks, I would've helped by now. But this is about a lesson you oughta learn by now."

"We are Seekers. Seekers are supposed to embrace everythings we do as an adventure!"

"This isn't an adventure. Delusional is more like it."

Asta stares at Hego in disbelive.

"Look around, kid. This is all there is. A fallen brick wall, broken into pieces. There is nothing magical about it, just like there is nothing romantic about going on an adventure. Is it thrilling? Sure. But if you lose your sight on what is real and what is not, you are going to die. There are dangers in this line of work. Real, life threatening dangers. You gotta accept that if you wanna survive." Hego goes all out on lecturing Asta.

"Fine, fine, fine!" Asta fights back. "I will do this myself, I don't need your help!"

"Let it go."

"No."

"Stop being so stuborn."

"I am almost finished."

"That's what you said last n..."

"STOPPP! That's my character traits!"

"Hahaha."

"Gave me a lecture about not having fun, then process to make fun of me. You are so mean!"

"I didn't say you can't have fun. I was saying you need to have more realistic expectations in this line of works."

"Whatever, you meanie."

Just as Asta laying on the last brick, Hego quickly pulls her behind his back and cover her.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A loud bang exploded, the loosely connected bricks get blown away.

Hego assumes a defensive stance while still covering for Asta, looking at the culprit.

Or, culprits.

There are a group of people standing outside of what once Asta's brick wall.

"Dumbass. I told you not to blow the wall away like that, you can hurt people." A voice pierce through the remnants of the brick wall.

Hego looks at him, he appears to be a well dressed, well equipped seeker. Hego can see all kind of items that he has on his bell. Hego also notice a pair of curved daggers, the type assasins often prefer, hidden under the man's fancy cloak. His fists tighten.

"All you need to do is pull out one single brick, 3rd brick from the left, 4th row from the bottom up, and the wall should collapse easily." The man continues to scold his comrade.

"Seeeeeee?" Asta whispers to Hego.

"...There goes my lesson. Probably my credibilities, too..." Hego whispers to himself.

The other man, who is scolded, is not as well dressed. However, he strikes a much more impressive impression that the first man: his frame is almost as of a giant in the Northern Grass Sea. Hego has never seen anyone that huge.

"Ara ara, there ARE people behind the wall." Another voice lights up. A firery, yet playful female's voice this time. "Did our clumsy companion hurt you kids?"

Hego turns his head. Appear before him is a beautiful woman, may be the most beautiful he has ever seen. She is wearing a dress that Hego rarely seen before, too. It is definitely the traditional dress of the Island of the Rising Sun. He had seen it only once a long, long time ago.

An aristocrat with a hidden assasin job, a woman from the Island of the Rising Sun, a giant from the Northern Grass Sea. What a party. Hego thinks to himself. They are definitely not to be crossed, especially when his sword is not on his body.

"Thank you. It appears that we are fine." Hego carefully replies.

"Big headed. Say you are sorry!" The well dressed man turns to his companion again. "You really almost hurt other people this time! I will have to dock your next pay!"

"No, please don't." The giant man speaks. His voice is soft and airy. It feels almost ethereal. He turns to Hego and Asta. "I'm sorry. My hand slipped."

That blast cannot be a slip of hand, even with the giant's overwhelming stregth. Hego quickly analyzes. Based on the distance the bricks were blown off to, it must be a mana blast type of skill. A high level one, that is. But strangely enough, unlike the well dressed man, the giant seems not to have any equipment on him other than his oversized clothes. How did he manipulate mana to cast such a blast without any magiteks? That thought troubles Hego.

"It's alright, we are not hurt, after all. Please don't worry about it." Asta cheerfully replies. She has turned into the wellbehave Asta. Hego quickly rolls his eyes.

"Don't try to engage." Asta whispers to Hego. "They are the Crimson Lotus."

"Figured." Hego replies. Only the Crimson Lotus can operate with extraordinary parties like this one.

"Our sincere apology for this...inconvenient, kids." The well dressed man finally turns to Hego and Asta. "All and all, if you are fine, we would like not to drag this incident longer than it needs to be. We shall be on our way and let you be."

"It's totally fine. Please do not trouble yourself." Asta replies with a smile.

"Hey big headed. Stay here and clear up your mess. Dont let these 2 do it for you". The well dressed man orders the giant.

"...Alright. Asking the one with the biggest hands to do the small puzzle..." The giant groans.

The well dressed man and the woman turn around.

"Well, kids, have a nice day." The man says and starts walking into the Back Market.

The woman smile at Hego and Asta, quickly bow down, then follow the man.

And the giant starts to try picking up bricks scattered all around the ground.

"What a weird encounter." Asta says.

"Yeah."

"Hey, why do I feel like we has forgotten something?"

"Beat me."

"...Something rather important...". Asta squish her eyes, trying to remember.

"...Pico!" Hego suddenly realizes. "Where was he the whole inccident?"

"Arf!" Pico appears from around the corner, holding a link of sausages between his teeth.

"...What the..." Hego looks at Pico as he run pass Asta and him, straight out of the gate.

There is a chef chasing after Pico.

"He steals sauages again, didn't he?" Asta laughs.

"Pico! Stop! Wait!" Hego shouts but Pico does not stop.

"I'll kill him!" Chef yells out.

Pico disappears out of sight.

"Oh shit!...Run. Do you wanna get caught for your dog stealing sausages?"

They both laugh and run after the chef and Pico.