The Author's POV

"There's nothing here."

Smallsnake shouted as he stabbed the head of one of the wolves on the ground.

"I've also got nothing."

"Nothing here too."

Disappointment flashed Ava and Hein's faces as they also found nothing on the corpses of the wolves.

"Nothing on my side as well."

Leopold also added.

"..."

Looking at them from a distance, sitting on a rock and leaning forward, I fell in thought.

With over thirty wolves dying at my hands, everyone was now trying to see if they could find a core.

The process was relatively slow and tedious; however, the rewards more than made up for it as each core was precious.

Unfortunately, lady luck was not on our side as no one found anything.

This was a given, though.

The chances of finding a core were the same as winning the lottery. Miniscule.

"Huaam."

When I struggled to hold my yawn back, someone sat down next to me and tapped on my shoulder.

"What do we do now?"

Without the need to look back, I could tell who it was by his voice.

It was Smallsnake.

Still sitting on the rock, I turned my head and looked up at smallsnake.

His expression was severe, and with his hand on his chin, he had a pensive look on his face.

"If the chip has indeed started tracking our moves, we should probably not waste time here."

Smallsnake suddenly turned his head and looked at me.

"I think we should stop wasting time over here, and we should get going. According to my estimates, if they send someone to track you, within a week or month, they'll soon catch up to us."

Listening to Smallsnake and patting my pants, I silently stood up.

Scratching the side of my neck and staring towards the direction of where Dromeda city was, my brows furrowed tightly.

"You're not necessarily wrong."

"...Yes, that's why I'm suggesting for us to immediately go right now. The more distance we cover, the harder it is for them to find us."

Closing my eyes slightly, for the next few seconds, I didn't speak.

Then, opening my mouth, I said.

"We proceed at our own pace."

"What?!"

His eyes widened. Standing up, he walked to me.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"...I heard what you said loud and clear."

"Then why did you say that we should go at our own pace?"

"Haa.."

Without answering Smallsnake, I brushed my hair to the side and let out a troubled sigh.

What Smallsnake said wasn't necessarily wrong.

Now that the tracking device was on, the Monolith and possibly even the Union would start hunting me.

On a good note, we weren't in the human domain, which made it harder for them to track me down directly.

Even then, it would only delay their search by at most a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

Still.

Putting my sword back into my dimensional space, I turned my head and looked towards the distance.

"We're going to continue going at our own pace."

My current goal was to travel to the dwarven domain.

The road was a treacherous one. One that was riddled with dangers.

Not only did I have to watch out for dangerous beasts, but I also had to watch out for demons.

Although not exactly close, the demon domain was not that far.

situation prudently was the best way to go about

Plus.

my eyes, I

the hunted when we can just as well be the

"h..huh?"

what if they could

that they were supposed to

***

the same time, Ashton

Amanda had completed her day's

the busy streets of Ashton city, Amanda

"Au.."

couple of times, Amanda found that her eyelids were becoming

She was tired.

working and working out, Amanda was

for ten minutes, her assistant, Maxwell, opened his mouth

miss, we're

"Mhm."

Amanda faintly nodded.

Amanda tried to wake herself up.

looking at Maxwell, Amanda

long till we get

"We're already here."

replied with a

in front of a familiar building that Amanda had seen

moved towards Amanda's side

"Youg miss."

"Thank you."

Maxwell, Amanda got

stunning. Holding onto a small black handbag in her right hand,

in the past, wherever she walked, she attracted the gazes of the

ignored the stares and walked towards the building entrance where a relatively older lady

was the care

"Good Evening."

Amanda greeted.

familiar figure, the

Amanda. It's you

"Mhm."

smiled at the care

frequent visitor, Amanda got along

small talk with each other

you

the building, exchanging subtle

seen you last week.

to fit a bit of free time

will be quite

visited Nola, she would instantly brighten up

had become a common occurrence at the

scene of the two ladies together looked as though they came straight out

age, you don't look older than twenty. Working so much at your age is not

"...I hope so."

tired smile appeared

couldn't afford to

have

she knew that she didn't have much

she was forced to push herself even harder than ever

was also why she couldn't pick up Nola last

her schedule today and decided to surprise her by

"We're here."

Amanda soon arrived before a particular classroom where a young girl with glossy black hair and

with her fingers at the classroom entrance and wearing a white and blue one-piece dress, the young girl

is here for

Amanda, her complexion instantly became brighter

"Sister!"

"Nola."

extended her hands. Soon Nola jumped into

"Sister!"

see me,

"Um!"

lifted her head and looked at

Nola

with a smile, the care lady

ever since that gentleman came to pick her up last time,

"Gentleman?"

Amanda titled her head.

Nola up not too long ago.

up on that day, but she had to cancel a week

since that gentleman came, Nola seemed to have become

"...Is that so?"

"Yes."

The care lady replied.

Her

who could have made Nola so much more

ask, how did he

"The gentleman?"

"Yes."

something? He seemed to be someone who

"I see."

to the care lady's words, the

idea who the individual was, as long as Nola was happy, so didn't care who

back to Nola, who was in her arms,