The Author's POV

"Woahhh."

Taking a step out of the portal, Emma looked at the scene presented before her with amazement.

Wearing a white baseball hat along with a simple shirt and shorts, Emma's curiosity piqued as she looked around the place with an excited gaze.

"Curb your excitement."

Exiting the portal after her was Melissa. Squinting her eyes and taking out her glasses, she glared in the direction of the sun.

"If only that damned bastard didn't force me to come here…"

She muttered out loud, obviously not hiding the displeasure in her voice.

Overhearing Melissa's comments, Emma turned around and asked, "What's wrong about coming here?"

"I would've much rather spent my time finishing my project.

"And what's fun about that? You never go out. Just look at you, you remind me of a vampire."

Pausing, Emma pointed at the sun.

"The first thing you did as soon as you got out was glare at the sun!"

"Shut up."

Rolling her eyes, Melissa put her glasses back on.

As the two of them were bickering, not far from them, the other group members were slowly coming out of the portal.

It wasn't long before eight more people exited the portal. Once the last person came out, an elf came to greet them and led them to an area outside of the portal where there were others waiting.

As they were headed towards the larger group, Emma was instantly able to spot Amanda.

"Amanda, you're already here."

This part wasn't hard since she stood out quite a bit.

The fact that most of the males' gazes were directed at her also didn't help since it only made it easier for Emma to spot her.

Walking up to her, Emma tried to hug her, but Amanda swiftly dodged, prompting Emma to pout.

"Hey!"

"Save that stuff for Kevin."

"Hey!"

Emma shouted even louder as her cheeks turned rosy.

"How long have you been waiting here?" Emma asked, in hopes of trying to switch the topic.

Fortunately for her, Amanda had tact. Pretending to have not seen anything, she casually answered, "It's been about three hours since we arrived."

Lifting her head and staring into the distance, toward the direction of where Emma came from, Amanda continued.

"Besides you, we should be waiting for one more group before they will bring us to the city."

"Another group?"

Emma turned her head and stared in the same direction as Amanda.

"Any idea who it is?"

"They are from another city."

"Oh? Which one?"

not too

already here." Melissa said from the side, gazing into the distance where another group was slowly headed in

a young man with black hair and blue eyes. He may have been the youngest of the group, but his demeanour was unmatched as it contained

"Aaron… so it's him."

rare of solemnity appeared on everyone's

was. After all, it was hard for them to not have heard of him when he had been a thorn on their

eyes soon paused on their group, and a surprised look flashed across his face. It wasn't long

since I've seen

His brows

we maybe briefly met during your first year. It was unfortunate that you left after and we were unable to

Amanda replied with a short and indifferent acceptance of

expecting such a reaction from Amanda, Aaron's smile froze for a very short second before he

seems like Miss Stern isn't too keen on talking to me, so I will take

Aaron

from behind, Emma

are you sure you want to treat him like that? His guild is pretty

"No."

head as she stared at Aaron's

Aaron had. He was the heir of the most powerful guild in Lutwig city, one of the four

great as hers, but in terms of influence, it was very powerful. They were not someone that the current Amanda could deal with if they truly decided

and staring at Emma, Amanda softly said, "The reason I'm doing this

"He is?"

flashed in Emma's eyes

reach out for

"Because they are greedy."

replied, her voice taking a

spread wide, and not just the guilds in Ashton

obviously enraged by this, but she was also helpless at the same

coming all of the way here

thoughts was a crisp and melodious voice that came from the

her head, Amanda's eyes paused on an

addressed them, he seemed to

I will escort you to the main city. So,

the elf started to walked along

he left, one by one, the other people present slowly started

"Let's go."

of the three girls was Emma

across her

"Here, take this."

grabbing her shoulder, Melissa

well be useful and advertise this as well. The better the

speaking, Melissa

Melissa in confusion, lowering her head, Amanda stared at her hand where several different cards of

couple of times, her lips tugged upwards ever so

***

Clank—!

small room as a broadsword

from the point of contact between the blades as the two individuals distanced

holding onto

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

none other than Kevin and

domain and meeting up together, they decided to spend most of their time sparring against

they had been doing this for the past two years back at the Lock, both of them were quite familiar with the way the other fought, hence why they were able to fight against

of them were still quite familiar with each other's styles. Hence, they were able to

one thing that was different about the two, it was that Jin was

had been training harder than ever. The reason for his current rank was that he had acquired

was now more focused on improving his dagger art, the time he spent on improving his rank

was because of this that he

the sweat that had accumulated on his

for today, the others will be coming here

"Okay."