"We are burying Cynthia's husband as well as the other people that have died!"

"...I see."

​​

"What do you mean I see!? You're coming with me!"

Gil almost pulled out his hair in frustration as Van just continued to nod his head nonchalantly.

"...Why do I need to be there?"

"Come on!" If Gil continued to talk to Van about this, he was sure that it would take him hours to convince him. And so, he did the most sensible thing to do, he grabbed his wrist and pulled him away.

"..."

Gil continued to drag Van out of the Village until they reached a part with a lot of stones… gravestones scattered equally everywhere. The two continued to walk deeper, however. And soon, they saw the new corpses lined up neatly on the ground.

The Locals and Prisoners were there, but were far away from each other for obvious reasons-- still, both were burying and paying their respects to their dead.

A burial… Van has never seen anything like this before. Death was an everyday thing in the Relic Graveyard. If someone dies, and if no one knew the dead, they would just leave them there to rot or be thrown along with the mountains of trash.

Life had no meaning there.

"...Sorry, I had to wait for Van to come out."

Gil finally let go of Van's hand as they reached Nisha and Cynthia, who were standing beside the corpse of Cynthia's husband.

"It's just starting now," Nisha whispered.

Van could not help but look around. Why exactly are they doing this? He thought. He was going to ask, but he noticed that everyone was keeping silent.

"..."

"..."

Some of the other corpses were already being swallowed by the earth. It would seem that the Mage-types were the ones responsible for actually burying them.

"...Would you like to say something to your husband, Cynthia?" Gil said as the earth beneath them started to tremble.

"...Wait for me on the other side, Felix," Cynthia said as she stood up and wiped the single tear that trailed on her face.

And soon, her husband's body slowly fell through the depths of the earth, never to walk or return again.

'So... his name was Felix...' Van slowly closed his eyes as he let out a long and deep breath.

And so, with all their dead now returned to earth, the people slowly started dispersing; perhaps signaling the start of the new life of the ones left behind.

***

"F… finally! This is the 35th one, isn't it?"

"Y… you're keeping count? I don't even know how many I have killed…

...But I do know I have killed more than Edward."

"I do not think so, Harvey."

"..."

A flickering yellow light flickered onto the backs of 4 people as the Portal behind them slowly disappeared. Harvey, Beatrice, Victoria and her brother, Edward, all let out deep and heavy breaths as they tried to catch their breaths from clearing yet another Portal.

"So, are we going to eat ye--"

"What took you children so long to clear just a puny low-rank Portal!?"

Before the 4 could even celebrate their victory, a loud voice caused them to flinch and shut their mouths. They could feel the earth beneath their feet tremble as Charlotte, the strongest Enhancer-type in the world, stomped her way towards them.

"All of you still seem to be full of energy, come! It's time for your training with me!"

"A… already!? But we just got out of the Portal!" Harvey was the only one stupid-- courageous enough to complain.

"Do I look like I care!? Come on, ready yourselves!"

"M… mother-in-law, don't you think this is becoming too excessive?"

A loud but comforting sigh then entered Harvey and the others' ears as Paris, Victoria's mother, appeared from behind Charlotte. "You made them drop out from the Academy just to do this?"

"I told you already. The Academy is no more!"

"You keep telling that, but I heard from some of my friends that their children are still attending the Academy!"

"Stop contacting everyone!" Charlotte could not help but click her tongue as she heard her daughter-in-law's words, "All of you will soon understand. But for now, you all need to get stronger!"

Paris could only close her eyes and sigh as a cloud of dust burst across her face; Charlotte disappeared from her spot, only leaving her footprints that were embedded deeply into the ground where she stood.

"Eep!" Harvey quickly stretched his hand as Charlotte suddenly appeared in front of him. But before the tip of his fingers could even reach her, she once again disappeared, returning beside Paris' side.

"Ack, I almost had you, granny!"

"...Far from it," Charlotte could only shake her head in disappointment as she looked at the four, "How do you guys expect to rescue my grandson-in-law when you're this slow?"

"..."

"Again!"

"Y… yes!" The four could only nod as the fire in their eyes once again lit up. They were already tired from clearing the dungeon, but Charlotte was right… they were too weak.

Paris, who was watching from the side, could only let out a sigh as she watched as her daughter and her friends tried to catch Charlotte, but failed over and over again.

Charlotte was too afraid to even touch her grandchildren, but now she is training them. Although she is still not touching them, this kind of change was truly enough to baffle Paris.

...Just what is happening for Charlotte to suddenly change this much?

***

Inside a long and vast hallway, brightly lit up by the lights that were plastered all over the ceiling, 5 people were walking and talking to each other. All of them were wearing colorful robes, similar to the restaurant that Van and Andrea frequented to in the market.

"Really… Why were we the ones sent in this backwater of a country? I kept hearing that this place was the best before the Portal Calamity happened, but all I saw when we arrived was a wasteland."

The complaints of one of them were loud enough to echo through the halls, "Seriously, they called us just to deal with an old woman?"

"...Learn to shut your mouth, Feng. The one they are asking us to subdue is known to be the strongest Enhancer-type in the world. Have some respect." The one leading them on the front let out a long and deep breath as he looked at the man called Feng.

"Tch, strongest my ass. That's because she hasn't met Hao, isn't that right, Hao?" Feng continued to let out his disdain.

"..."

"That's enough, Feng. If you wish to talk trash in an unknown territory, at least do it in our language."

"Pft, maybe I want them to hear?" Feng scoffed, "Did you know their normal citizens don't even have access to phones?"

"Every country that the Circle has touched are the sa--"

"We do, we just prefer our information… intimate."

"!!!"

The group all turned around at the same time as they heard a voice suddenly whispering from behind them. And there, they saw an orange-haired man smiling at them, wearing a white suit with the mark of a Circle on his right chest.

"Hello there, my slint eye friends," the man said as he clasped both his hands together and bowed, "My name is Ronald…

...And welcome to the Land of the Free."