The morning sun rose above the town of Agrona. I wandered my eyes towards the massive open space in front of the main gate of the town. What could be seen ahead was the vast forest surrounding the entire place.

As I stood in front of the huge crowd, their eyes full of determination darted at me. Each of the people standing in front of me was wearing their armor while holding their weapons of choice in their hands. Their faces were blazing in passion while clad with their gray set of thick armors.

As my eyes traveled through the massive crowd, I saw a familiar massive image blending in. It was Rumble, unlike the recent battle, this time, he was wearing gray full-body armor made of high-quality metal.

He's standing there like a fucking juggernaut while holding an equally gigantic war hammer in his hands.

Man, I don't want to get hit by that.

I veered my gaze towards the massive tree of Erela from afar.

That place will be our destination. Welp, this is it.

"We're ready to go, Boss," Leo announced as he emerged from behind. He had a huge smile on his face as he stood beside me.

"I see." I walked towards the gate and found two people standing behind Leo.

Kuro bowed her head at me, on the other hand, Leal stared at me while conveying a stoic expression on his face.

For some reason, Kuro decided to go with us and Leal agreed with it even though I had been hearing Leal saying words about not letting Kuro go back to that kingdom no matter what.

Welp, maybe they had a little talk about it, and how that talk played out is what I'm seeing right now.

I smiled at them. "Be sure to tour us around your kingdom, huh. And I won't take a shabby room for my stay... I will only take a five-star room at worst."

Leal chuckled. "I will keep that in mind."

I walked past them and veered my gaze toward Tanya, Misha, Karoon, and Mehrad, standing next to the stone arc of the town.

"Take care and don't ever let your guard down... And you should close this while you're away." Tanya said while closing the zipper of Karoon's blazer hiding her always exposed black bra and white stomach.

"Ehh? Why, though? I'm used to wearing it like that."

"There's a lot of mosquitoes in the forest, if I'm not around to drive them away they will come for you and try to bite you, especially when you don't mind getting bitten by them," Tanya said to Karoon but her narrowed eyes were on Mehrad standing a meter away from them.

Mehrad just laughed while scratching the back of his head.

"I have no problem with mosquitoes though," Karoon replied while furrowing her eyebrows.

On the other hand, Misha ran toward me and hugged my waists. She raised her head at me and expressed an adorable smile. "Take care, Big bro Casimir!"

I smiled and patted her head. "Of course, I will. This mission won't be long, before you know it, I'm already home."

"Bring home some souvenirs for me."

I chuckled. "I will."

"I'm ready to go, Mister Casimir! Let's go!" Karoon walked past me and joined the crowd behind me.

I just chuckled and veered my gaze towards Tanya who was just staring at me.

"Hmph." She crossed her arms. "Don't come crying at me for help once you have realized that you can't do it without my help."

I smiled. "Let's just hope that won't happen."

She paused for a few seconds, then stared directly into my eyes. "Take care."

I felt a heavy arm land on my shoulder along with a loud laugh near my right ear. "Boss, that place we're going to go is full of narcissistic, blonde women. Knowing you... you'll definitely love that place."

Uhh... What's that supposed to mean?

"Although I agree with whatever you've just said-" I stared back at Tanya and found her narrowing eyes darted at Leo. I cleared my throat. "We're not going there for that reason."

Leo laughed. "Right, right."

"Anyway, we should start the journey now, we need to arrive at the kingdom of Erela before any battle gets started or we will end up in a very awkward situation."

"You're right, Casimir. We should go now before anyone changes their mind." Mehrad passed through me while expressing a gentle but at the same time puzzling smile on his face.

"Mehrad," Tanya called for him.

Mehrad looked back and both of them just stared at each other as if they were talking using only their eyes.

After a few moments, Mehrad chuckled and nodded. "Alright, alright, I get it. However... you owe me this one." Almost immediately, his eyes darted at me, and half of his lips rose before continuing to walk away.

What the fuck are these two up to?

"Take care, Casimir. And don't worry about Misha. I will make sure that she's safe here and so the town while you're away... and... I'll be waiting for you." Tanya said while expressing a gentle smile.

I shifted my head to my right side upon hearing a restrained chuckle and found Leo staring at us as if we were some kind of entertaining show while standing beside me. Upon seeing me staring at him, he just shrugged.

I just shook my head and stared back at Tanya. "Thanks, Tanya." I shifted my gaze to Misha who was looking up at me while smiling. I patted her head and smiled. "Don't cause any trouble for your Big sis Tanya. I'm expecting you to be a good girl while I'm away."

"I'm always a good girl." She replied while pouting her lips.

I chuckled. "Yeah... indeed you are." I slowly exhaled and turned my back to them. I walked towards the massive crowd in front of me. Walking beside me was Leo expressing a huge grin on his face.

Everyone's eyes were on me as I walked towards the route of our expedition, in the northwestern direction of the town of Agrona. Right in the center of the great forest of Fiora.

I put my index finger next to my right ear and stared at the massive tree from afar. "Now, let's start our expedition... towards the elven kingdom of Erela."

The thunderous roar of the people in front of me resonated throughout the area as they raised their weapons in the air.

Let the journey begin.