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

gazing into the distance where

eyes. He may have been the youngest of the group, but his demeanour was unmatched as it contained this rare elegance

"Aaron… so it's him."

on everyone's faces as their eyes paused

to not have heard of him when he had been a thorn on their side during their first year.

strides, Aaron's eyes soon paused on their group, and a surprised look flashed across his

a while since I've seen

His brows knit for

Stern. I think we maybe briefly met during your first year. It was unfortunate that you left after and we were

with a short and indifferent acceptance

a reaction from Amanda, Aaron's smile froze for

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

at Amanda, Aaron turned around and

back from behind, Emma turned to look

treat him like that? His guild is pretty

"No."

as she

knew very well what type of background Aaron had. He was the heir of the most powerful guild in Lutwig city, one

as hers, but in terms of influence, it was very powerful. They were not someone

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

"He is?"

Emma's eyes

out for the other

"Because they are greedy."

her voice

dissapearance had now spread wide, and not just the guilds in Ashton city, but even the other guilds from

obviously enraged by this, but she

of the way here

a crisp and melodious

her head, Amanda's eyes paused on an elf standing far ahead of

them, he seemed to be

the long wait. Now that everyone has gathered, I will escort you to the main city. So, if

around, the elf started to walked along a pathway that led to the

by one, the other people present slowly started

"Let's go."

out of the three girls was Emma who quickly lined up and followed the

across her

"Here, take this."

follow Emma, grabbing

talent to everyone, you might as well be useful and advertise this as well. The better the performance, the richer

speaking, Melissa

at Melissa in confusion, lowering her head, Amanda stared at

times, her lips tugged upwards ever

***

Clank—!

ring sounded throughout a small room as

point of contact between the blades as the two

the distance, the individual holding onto the broadsword lowered it and complimented his sparring

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

were none other than

and meeting up together, they

been doing this for the past two years back at the Lock, both of them were quite familiar with the way the other fought,

since leaving the Lock, the both of them were still quite familiar with each other's styles. Hence, they were able to make the most out of

two, it was that Jin was now a rank lower than Kevin, at

a lack of training, however. Jin had been training harder than ever. The reason for his current rank was that he

his dagger art,

was because of this that he lagged

on his forehead, Kevin put away his

enough for today, the others will be coming

"Okay."