It…worked…it really worked.

A smile of relief spread out across my face as a slight chuckle of disbelief escaped my lips…I genuinely couldn’t believe it. I had made it outside.

​​

Last time, I had been trapped for three years till I eventually died, my surroundings solely consisting of men in lab coats, a bloody laboratory, and my own bloody insides…but this time was different, I had…I had really broken free…and within less than half a day at that!

As the adrenaline faded, I sat up and looked around, I saw that the hole had collapsed into a crater, forming a wide dip in the road…before my sights were met by piles of white-clad corpses.

Wait, wasn’t this…the exact same place we had been in before we were kidnapped? Yeah, it was…we were back on the road to Goldway.

So, this whole time…we had literally been just a few dozen meters below the same spot we had last been in?

I’m…not sure how that makes me feel.

Wait, who had pulled me out? One of the other three? Yeah, obviously.

I mean, who else could it-?

I stared wide-eyed at the figure standing before me.

“Persi-,” I began to stand up, cutting myself off as I unexpectedly slumped back down.

Huh…?

Oh, right…I need to regrow my right leg. Wait, forget about that right now!

She got down on her knees and locked her gaze with mine, her eyes watering.

“H-hey, what’s with that expression, I-,” Before I could finish talking, she cut me off as she wrapped her arms around my tightly, pulling me into a firm hug.

“I…I was afraid that I’d never see you again. I’m…so glad that you’re okay,” She whispered with a sniffle, hugging me tighter.

I felt a wave of emotions wash over me, hitting me like a truck. There were so many feelings welling up inside me, something I had never experienced to this extent.

I had never expected to hear something like that from, well…anyone. And to hear it from her…meant the world to me.

“Y-you’re being dramatic, Cat Girl…it’s been less than ten hours, a-after all! I…I…,” I trailed off as tears of relief trickled down my face, and I found myself hugging her back, “I’m glad I was able to escape and…see you again.”

I was…crying.

Sure, I wasn’t exactly bawling, but…when was the last time I had actually shed a tear?

I genuinely couldn’t remember.

…

…

A few minutes later, as I regained my composure…

“Wait, hold on a second…I’m confused, why are you here?” I asked, as we awkwardly pulled out of the hug.

I was fully back to my senses now, and…I’m pretty sure my face was bright red.

I took a quick glance around, and saw that everyone else was heading this way from ahead of us. Huh, looks like they had set up camp a little ways ahead of the battleground…I honestly assumed that they’d have kept going forward.

The other three who’d been trapped down with me were either sprawled or seated on the ground, looking utterly exhausted and drained.

“Uh, well…after you all disappeared, we took out the remaining enemies and questioned them on where they took you, but none of them seemed to know. We found a spot further up to set up camp, and we’ve been searching the area from there. Azyl recovered his Mana…and then used it all up again by using his Water Mapping for hours, but he couldn’t find anything. And then, just now…we saw a massive flash of lightning burst out from the ground. I had a feeling it was you, so I, u-um…came running back as fast as I could, I saw these three pop out of that hole, and a few seconds later, I spotted you making your way out of it too. And…here we are,” She finished explaining, leaning forward with a sigh and resting her forehead on my chest, “D-do you mind if I stay like this for a bit? I’m so relieved that I feel kinda drained.”

“S-sure, I don’t mind,” I mumbled in reply, tentatively placing a hand on top of her head and stroking her hair.

She could almost definitely hear, and probably feel, how fast my heart was beating…

Before long, the rest of the group reached us, looking surprised when they saw the other three and myself. 

…

…

About an hour later, we had all regrouped by the current campsite, as Instructor Trocuelo relayed everything that had happened and what we had found out while we’d been chained up.

As he neared the end of his explanation…

“…we definitely wouldn’t have been able to break free if it wasn’t for Kuro. He…”

He proceeded to explain how the Pain Amplifier hadn’t been able to stop me, and how I’d dealt with our captors, heaping praise towards me while he was at it.

Honestly…this felt really embarrassing.

I was the center of attention right now, with everyone staring at me. They all began talking as he finished, multiple glances thrown my way.

“That was impressive resolve to have, especially in such a hopeless situation. You have my respect,” Nodded Ekai, patting my shoulder.

“Uh, thanks,” I replied awkwardly.

Honestly, no lie…insults are so much easier to deal with than compliments.

I would go on to repeat that awkward ‘uh, thanks’ multiple times over the next ten minutes, as nearly everyone came up to me to say something, even the representatives.

I can’t deny than a part of me was pretty appreciative of the praise and validation, something I wasn’t used to receiving in my old world, but a bigger of me just felt incredibly awkward and embarrassed.

“Oh, it finally wore off,” I mumbled to myself in relief, as my body returned to normal, with the effects of the Pain Amplifier finally fading.

It’s about time, that stuff was seriously slowing me down, I’d have probably been able to climb out of the collapsing hole a lot faster it it wasn’t for that.

“Wait, do you mean that…you’ve been bearing all that pain till just now!?” Came a surprised voice from behind me.

How careless…even if I was exhausted, I still should know better than to drop my guard and let someone come up behind me.

“Oh it’s you, Vi. Uh…yeah, I suppose you could say that. Don’t make a big deal out of it or anything,” I replied sheepishly.

“Okay…if you say so. Anyway, I wanted to thank you, I don’t even want to imagine what could have happened if you weren’t there to save us. Seriously, I can’t express how grateful I am…thank you so much, Kuro!”

…this might be even more awkward to deal with than compliments.

“D-don’t worry about it…seriously, if you want to thank me, just don’t make a big deal out of it, it’s kinda embarrassing to have everyone’s attention on me like this.”

Eventually, things calmed down, and it almost felt like the last twelve hours had been nothing but a brief detour.

The other three who had been down there with me didn’t seem too badly traumatized, which was a relief.

I was still having trouble believing it…

Our odds of getting away had been absolutely terrible, and it felt like the stars must have aligned for us to have been able to get away. All things considered, we probably had a better chance of winning the lottery…it was nothing short of a miracle that we’d escaped from that situation.

“I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“You sure are enjoying the spotlight, aren’t you?” Came a voice that made me groan.

“And now it’s a nightmare.”

“Tsk, how rude. I have to say, though…I am genuinely surprised, and…admittedly impressed, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that you pulled off the impossible,” Replied Misen, his voice noticeably less condescending than usual.

Huh? Was he…not being a dick for once?

“…thanks…I think? This is…weird,” Came my confused reply.

“Well, whatever our personal grudges may be, we are both still fellow countrymen of the same nation, I suppose.”

“Okay, this is starting to get kinda creepy…just be a cunt like usual, it’s annoying but…this is just plain unsettling.”

“Tch…well, I suppose if there’s one thing I can be certain of…it’s that you and I will never get along.”

“You’re only just figuring that out?”

As nightfall arrived, we held a meeting to discuss our plans from here on. Instructor Uensh had to take charge for once, since Instructor Trocuelo was asleep.

“Alright, we were delayed today, but so long as we don’t run into any more trouble, we’ll reach Goldway by tomorrow evening or late afternoon. Though if you ask me, we should turn back and-.”

“Instructor, please take this seriously,” Interrupted Fuo, looking irritated.

“Tsk, stupid goody two-shoes,” I heard her mumble under her breath, before continuing, “Right well, uh…where was I? Oh yeah, about tonight’s shifts for keeping watch. Uh…I guess we should let the four who got kidnapped rest tonight-.”

“Actually, I’d prefer it I can stick with my usual shift. I’m not being noble or whatever, just kinda paranoid after what happened today,” I chimed in.

She stopped and stared at me, before squinting and carefully examining my face. Uh…what’s going on?

I feel familiarly uncomfortable.

“Hey, I know you…you’re that waiter I hit o-! I mean, uh…,” She trailed off, trying to think of a cover.

…why was this idiot chosen to be a part of such an important Quest?

Anyway, long story short, we got back to the discussion, after which we decided that Vi and Instructor Trocuelo would be excluded from tonight’s guard duties. Just as I had done, Gela volunteered to keep watch too.

So, they readjusted the subsequent shifts, while the first shift was the same as always.

Azyl approached me as the others began to head into the tents and carts.

“Thanks for attracting everyone’s attention. There was an uncomfortable amount of focus on me while you were gone,” He remarked, letting out a typical yawn.

“Yeah, well…I don’t exactly love the limelight myself. On another note, did all this really happen in a single day? I felt like I got at least a week’s worth of experience today,” I sighed in reply.

“Agreed, it was a very long day. I’ve never used up all my Mana like that before, twice no less…that fatigue was something else.”

“Oh yeah, you put in a lot of effort today. It was quite the sight, seeing you strain with your veins popping and whatnot. You’re always so laid-back that it was a pretty jarring contrast,” I grinned, lightly slapping him on the back.

“That was enough effort to last me for the whole year. I’m going to take it extra easy for a while after this. Well, see you tomorrow, Kuro…glad you’re okay.”

“Oh, uh…thanks, dude. See you tomorrow, Az!”

“Don’t shorten- …never mind, I guess.”

Alright then, time to begin keeping watch.

Okay, fine…I had an ulterior motive for volunteering to keep watch.

I spotted Persia and took a deep breath to stay calm, before walking over to her.

“H-hey,” I greeted nervously.

She looked up at me as I spoke, her cheeks turning a bit red.

“Y-yeah, what i-is it?”

“You, uh…want to, um…keep watch with me?” I stuttered nervously, nearly biting my tongue.

I was a bit more awkward than usual tonight…my nerves were killing me.

“S-sure…I’d like that-,” She began to reply.

“Hey, you two…am I interrupting something?” Chimed in Gela, appearing between us.

Goddammit…

“I want to push you off a cliff so bad…,” Growled Persia, the hairs on her tail standing up.

“Sure, be my guest…after all, I can fly!”

Enough already…I’m tired of continually putting this off. I don’t care if we’re hit by a meteor shower tonight…nothing is going stop me this time!

“Actually, as a matter of fact…you are definitely, most certainly, very, very much interrupting something! Speaking of flying, why don’t you keep watch from the sky, get a literal eagle’s eye view. After all, your Anima is an eagle, isn’t it?” I said in a cold, emotionless voice, with a blank smile.

“A-actually it’s a hawk-.”

“Same difference! Now shoo.”

“…”

“…”

“Well, you did save me, so I suppose I’ll do as you say…just this once,” She shrugged with a smirk, before flying up to the night sky, circling the camp from above.

I sighed in relief as she left, glad that she hadn’t put up much of a fuss. I felt a small tug on my sleeve, and turned to face a deeply blushing Persia.

W-wait, what did I just say?

“…you are definitely, most certainly, very, very much interrupting something!”

I felt my face heat up as I realized the implications of my statement.

“U-uh, about wh-what I said-,” I began.

“D-did you mean it?” She asked, staring into my eyes bashfully.

My heart skipped a beat. I started to think of a way to dodge the question, before snapping myself out of it.

No…just be direct, forget about how awkward it is! Maybe this’ll be a bit easier if we were more comfortable.

To that end, we found a spot where we could sit down, a few meters away from the camp. We sat next to each other, as I steeled myself and opened my mouth.

“W-well, I…um, how to put this? The, uh…last few days…I-I didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t able to talk to you, I guess. A-and, I want to…make up for that lost time,” I stammered, this time actually biting my tongue.

Okay, I guess that had technically been direct…I totally messed up the delivery though.

“Yeah…me too. I-I’m…really sorry, Kuro,” She responded, her voice cracking a bit.

“N-no, there’s nothing to apologize for-!”

“Yes, there is. When that stupid bird kissed you, I just felt really bitter and, um…jealous. It wasn’t your fault, but I took my anger out on you and kept my distance out of petty spite…so, I’m sorry, I-.”

“I-it’s fine, I’m just glad that…w-wait, did you just say that…you were jealous?”

My head was starting to spin as my face continued to heat up and my heart rate climbed rapidly, it almost felt like a fever that was getting more and more intense.

“Y-yeah, I…I-I, um…” She trailed off, burying her face in her hands as she turned red.

You could cut the awkward tension around us with a butter knife, I felt like the pressure was choking me. I pinched my leg and bit the inside of my cheek, trying to force myself to calm down, even a little.

I…won’t get a better opportunity than this.

I took a deep breath and placed my hands on her shoulders, turning her towards me. Her hands were still covering her face, as she slowly parted her fingers and her eyes peered up towards mine from behind her hands.

Okay…here goes nothing.

“I-I’ve been, um…meaning to tell you s-something for a while now. I-I’m just gonna come out and say it,” I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, before opening them and staring into her eyes with determination, “Persia…I’m in love with you.”

She slowly lowered her hands from her face, her expression one of surprise.

“D-do you really mean that? You’re not just saying that, r-right- ow!”

“Idiot…of course I wouldn’t just say something like that without meaning it, do you have any idea how hard that was for me,” I mumbled, gently yet firmly landing a hand chop to the top of her head.

“I-I’m sort of…speechless right now, it’s not quite sinking in…,” She admitted, averting her gaze, “C-could you say it again, just so that I can make sure I didn’t hear you wrong or something?”

“S-seriously? Now that’s just cruel, Cat Girl. But…okay. I’ll leave no room for any misunderstandings. I’m just going to stop thinking and say the first things that come to mind…

…I love you! Seriously, I’m absolutely crazy about you, I love spending time with you, my heart starts racing whenever you’re near me, and…”

“A-alright, I-I get it, th-that’s enou-.”

“…and you’re easily the most important person I’ve ever had in my life, even the most trivial conversation feels precious when it’s with you…huh, that came off a lot cheesier than I had intended. Oh, and…!”

“K-Kuro, you can s-stop now-!”

“…you’re just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, I mean, where do I even start-!”

“Y-you really d-don’t have to, I’m begging you to stop!” She interrupted, headbutting my chest.

“S-sorry, it was like I opened a tap that wouldn’t shut off, once I started I just couldn’t stop,” I apologized sheepishly, “I-I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, sorry-.”

“No, that’s not it at all! Well, I guess I was technically uncomfortable, but…not in a bad way, more like in a ‘my heart can’t handle anymore’ kind of way.”

W-wait, what was she trying to imply? Was this going better than I had expected?

Could I possibly…not get rejected!?

“O-oh…I-I’m glad to hear that,” I stammered, as my heart rate spiked again.

This day had started off so poorly, and now…

“Everything you said tonight…has made me feel so, incredibly happy. You…mean a lot to me. I always look forward to seeing you during classes and our sparring sessions, and when I’m down I always feel better when I see you. I even enjoy arguing with you, though you can be a little annoying and childish sometimes, but…I don’t hate that side of you either. A-and, as a b-bonus, you can be pretty cool sometimes, plus your face and body are really ni…w-wait, what a-am I s-saying!? H-hold on, forget about that last part! Uh…w-wait just a sec, my mind is kinda blanking…,” She stuttered, before taking a deep breath and staring into my eyes, “I sort of got lost in my rant for a second there, but what it all boils down to is that…I love you too, Kuro, I’ve been in love with you since…well, I’m not really sure when it started, but I realized it after the night I asked you to, uh, you know…p-play with my ears.”

I began to respond but I just couldn’t find the words to adequately describe how I felt, internally I was celebrating like a spoiled rich kid on their sixteenth birthday, and the emotions welling up inside me felt incredibly overwhelming, like they were about to burst out…my body didn’t feel big enough to contain all these emotions.

“I can’t even begin to describe all the feelings going through me right now. This had better not turn out to be a dream!” I exclaimed, just barely containing myself.

I felt a strong urge to jump, run around and yell at the moon in triumph all night.

“W-well, maybe we should prove that it isn’t a dream,” She suggested, her cheeks turning a bit red.

“What, you mean like pinch ourselves or something?”

“N-no…not that. I-I was thinking, m-maybe we c-could…,” She trailed off, as her entire face turned bright red.

“Hmm?”

“F-f-forget it, I c-can’t say it, it’s too embarrassing!” She blurted out.

Okay, now I was curious.

“Well, if it’s hard to say, I won’t push you. But…you really don’t have to feel embarrassed anymore…whatever it is, it can’t be any more embarrassing than confessing, right? Because that was the most nerve-wracking moment of my life.”

“W-well, I don’t know…this might be a bit more embarrassing. I-I’ll just blurt it out. I want you to…k-kiss me!”

“…”

“…Kuro? H-hey, are you okay, your face almost looks like it’s been painted red!”

“H-huh…y-yeah, I’m f-fine! I-I’m, uh, not sure I heard you right. C-could you…repeat that?”

“Wh-wha-! B-but that’s…”

“H-hey, you made me repeat my confession.”

“…I g-guess you have a point. Alright, f-fine. Kiss me.”

As her face turned into a bright shade of crimson, she scooted closer towards me and closed her eyes, tilting her head slightly upwards towards me.

My brain had stopped working. My heart was beating faster than it ever had before. My body felt like it was getting warmer and warmer.

I slowly placed a hand on her cheek and began leaning in towards her. The distance between our faces shrunk till it was almost non-existent, and I closed my eyes as my lips brushed against hers, before I gently pressed forward and kissed her.

My emotions internally exploded upon contact.

It felt like…I’m not really sure how to put it into words…nothing I had previously experienced could compare. Her lips were plump and soft, her scent was so comforting, my body felt like it was heating up like an oven.

The physical sensation was pleasant on its own, but the whirlpool of emotions inside me just shot me straight up to cloud nine.

As we slowly pulled back and opened our eyes, the instant they met…both of us immediately averted our gazes, before we could stop ourselves.

I was way too flustered to look her in the eye.

“Th-that was…,” I began.

“…really, really nice,” She whispered, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

“What’re you- mfph…mmm,” I started to say, before she cut me off with another kiss, getting a lot closer to me this time.

She had scooted onto my lap, her chest was pressed up against mine, and her lips were caressing mine a bit more firmly than before.

I found myself wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her even closer towards me. There wasn’t so much as a millimeter of space between us. I felt her tail softly curling against my waist, as I gently moved one of my hands to the back of her neck.

We finally pulled back as we ran out of breath, the two of us gasping for air with deeply blushing faces.

“Oh, wow…you two were really going at it, huh?” A familiar voice interrupted, sounding amused.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, that really startled me…I had completely forgotten where we were.

“Wha- how long have you been there!?” Exclaimed Persia in surprise, which quickly turned to an angry glare.

“Oh, I was watching from the sky, just like you guys told me to…okay, so I came down to get a closer look, so what? I wasn’t hiding or anything, you know…it’s not my fault you two were too focused on each other to notice-!” Replied Gela, with an amused expression.

“Leave…now,” I interrupted, beginning to charge up lightning.

“Leaving!” She flew away with a laugh, before I could fire.

Smart choice.

Still…that had somewhat ruined the mood.

“Stupid bird bitch…just when things were getting good too,” Mumbled Persia irritably, kicking away a stray pebble.

“Heh, you’re cute even when you’re angry,” I grinned, stroking her head.

“H-hey, don’t treat me like a little kid,” She grumbled lightly.

“O-oh, my bad!” I replied, taking my hand off.

Okay, note to self, no touching when she’s in a bad mood.

“W-wait…I didn’t exactly say stop,” She muttered, grabbing my hand and putting it back on the top of her head.

Note to self…disregard the previous note to self.

You know that ‘Awww’ feeling when you see something cute? I might just overdose on that feeling at this rate.

“I’m so glad I met you,” I smiled while rubbing her head.

“Yeah, so am I…hey, I meant to ask you…are you doing okay? I mean, today had to be at least a little traumatic for you. You were captured by the same organization for the second time, and-.”

Oh, right…my backstory. The version I’d given her had been a lie, it may have been based on the truth, but it was still somewhat false.

“Actually…about that. Well…it’s kind of a long story. Where do I begin? Uh…this might all sound really farfetched, but it’s the honest truth about my past. So…”

I proceeded to explain the truth about myself.

I started with the fact that I had only been in this world for a little over six months, and that I had requested to start with a grown body and retain my memories upon reincarnating here from another world. I then went into my old life.

How I’d been human trafficked across the world till I was five, then trained as an assassin till I was ten, along with heaps of therapy and PTSD treatment till I was nine, and then my life as a professional assassin till I was sixteen, and finally, the last three years of my previous life, as a tortured lab rat.

I didn’t go into too much detail, but I didn’t leave out anything important.

“…and that’s everything. I know it’s hard to believe-.”

“Huh…so this was why you’re sometimes so clueless about things that should be common knowledge. Like the thing with the Identification Card, and then there was the fact that you didn’t know about how most of the other countries indulge in slavery, amongst other examples. I mean…I am having a little trouble wrapping my head around the concepts of reincarnation and alternate worlds, but…when I think about it, it does explain a lot. Hm, what’s with that look?”

“Nothing, just…I was expecting that I’d have to try harder to convince you, and-,” I cut off as our surroundings suddenly disappeared, replaced by nothing but pure white all around us, in the blink of an eye.

What the-!?

Hold on a sec, this is…

“H-huh, what’s going on!?”

“This looks like…where I was before I reincarnated,” I recognized, my eyes widening.

Wait, did we just die or something!?

“No, you are both alive.”

“What was that, it spoke inside my head!” Cried Persia, looking disconcerted.

“Hey, don’t panic, everything’s fine, just calm down and stay close, okay? As for you, didn’t I say last time that talking telepathically is annoying? Just say what you want to say vocally, not-God! Before that though…what is going on!?” I snapped.

“Yes, allow me to explain. This is not something that happens very often…I suppose you could consider it divine intervention.”

“Divine? You insisted you weren’t God, though. Whatever, mind telling me why you’re divine intervening on the best night of my lives?”

“Speaking about the process of reincarnation after retaining memories of it is a great taboo-.”

Uh-huh, I’d figured as much.

“Yeah, well, you never mentioned that the last time we met, remember? Besides…I speak about my old world with Rai all the time, I never faced any ‘divine intervention’ during any of those instances. Also, didn’t you say that you exist with no concept of time, so why didn’t you just intervene before I started talking about my past? Or you could have just interrupted me with some kind of warning, you know, like in Re:Z-.”

“It is not that simple, even a being such as myself cannot concurrently keep track of everything that happens in every single reality. I may exist outside of the constraints of time and space, however even I can be ‘too late’ in reacting to certain events, once something has happened it cannot be undone. After all, directly intervening in a living world is something that is not supposed to happen, this is a rare exception. As for your conversations with your friend Rai, I made an exception since you both were in similar situations where reincarnation and memory retention were concerned.”

“Huh? That’s the most half-assed contradictory BS I’ve ever heard. Anyway, it wouldn’t be fair to penalize me in this situation. I’ll promise not to talk about my past with anyone else, well…unless I run into someone else who shows obvious signs that they reincarnated from a similar world to mine. It’s not like I was going to announce my past to the entire world or something, anyway. You should already know that…can’t you read my mind?”

“Yes, that will suffice. Warning you not to carelessly talk about reincarnation was in fact my main intention with this intervention.”

Apparently, divine intervention isn’t as grand as you might imagine.

“Huh, seriously…that’s it? So…why’d you bring Persia here too?”

Was he going to-?

“Rest assured, I will not erase her memory or any such thing. I simply wished to warn her as well, to not discuss your reincarnation or past with anyone else,” Came the reply, upon reading my mind.

“Y-yeah, I w-won’t say a word!” She replied immediately, clearly nervous.

“Mind sending us back now? I think we’re done here.”

“Very well…do not forget what I said.”

In the blink of an eye, we were back at the campsite.

“That was…an experience,” Said Persia, slumping against my shoulder, her face slightly pale.

It had turned out to be nothing, but I guess it was still pretty surreal for someone who hadn’t been through it before.

“I’m sorry…that was probably my fault,” I apologized.

“No…I’m really happy you trusted me with your past,” She smiled, kissing my cheek.

“Th-this is gonna take some getting used to. Well, I guess I should make it official. Would you be my girlfriend?”

“Mhm, I’d love to! Though, I kinda thought that went without saying.”

Our shift ended before I knew it, the time passing by in the blink of an eye.

Admittedly, we didn’t do a whole lot of keeping watch.

That night, I was way too pumped up and happy to fall asleep, my thoughts kept me up all night…and the next thing I knew, the sun had begun to rise.

As we packed up the tents and got the carts ready to move out, with about half of day of traveling left before we’d reach our destination, I found myself in an incredibly good mood, the lack of sleep hardly bothering me.

“H-hey, good morning,” Greeted Persia, with a blushing smile.

“G-good morning…so, I guess last night wasn’t a dream after all,” I replied, unable to stop a goofy grin from spreading across my face.

“Yeah…I’m glad it wasn’t.”

Not long after that, we continued to make our way to Goldway. We were attacked by groups of Cyclops’, as well as another type of monster known simply as Giants, they were about seven to eight meters tall on average, and looked like humans in almost every way except that they had blood-red colored skin.

They were pretty resilient and taking them down was a bit tough since it’s hard to inflict deep or fatal wounds with a single hack or slash, given their size.

They didn’t seem to attack in groups though, at most we only had to face three of them at once. They were pretty fun to take down, though that might just be the fact that I’m in an incredibly good mood today.

We took a short break when we were about an hour away from our destination, as the representatives insisted on sprucing up the carts and ourselves before reaching Goldway. I guess it made sense, they wanted us to look presentable since we would probably face Goldway’s royal family once we reach there.

I changed into my last remaining set of battle gear, as we headed into the final stretch of our journey. I was inside the front-most cart with Persia, as our shift ended with a bit of distance left to travel.

“Now that we’re almost there…I’m getting a bit nervous. I haven’t been back here since I escaped the slave traders,” Sighed Persia, a hint of anxiety showing on her face.

“Hey, whatever you feel when we reach there, don’t hold it back, because…well, this is going to come off kinda cheesy, but….I’ll be right there beside you the whole time, I’ll do everything I can to ease your worries. S-so, you k-know, uh-.”

Wow, I suck at this. That was so not smooth.

“Thanks, that means a lot to me…I love you,” She hugged me, letting out a happy sigh.

“D-don’t mention i-it!” I stuttered, caught off-guard by her sudden, warm embrace.

Yeah…this was going to take some getting used to, my heart still goes crazy when she’s around.

A few minutes later, we heard a shout from above us…

“We’re almost there! The walls of Goldway just came into view!”

I peered out of the cart with curiosity, seeing a vast wall ahead of us. It was taller than the Rustlands’ wall, and appeared to be smoother too.

So…that was our destination, the nation of Goldway.

We had finally reached it…

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don’t forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.