Although the old madam had told him not to stress himself, Andrew disregarded her advice and after watching her leave continued with his warm-ups. He can’t ever be too relaxed after all, he needs to be more powerful.

After a few minutes of doing warm-ups, he stops seeing that the day was getting brighter. He walks inside the house where he saw Marian running down to him. He was shocked by this behaviour and couldn’t help wondering what could be the issue. He even went as far as staring behind her but couldn’t find anything. The thought of the old madam causing issues for her even flashed past his head on which his face always turns ugly.

It was at this moment that Marian finally gets to him and hugs him tightly. His wounds has healed enough, so he was able to withstand such a forceful hug albeit with a little grunt.

Hugging her back while patting her hair, he asks, “What happened?”. After a bit of time being in his embrace, she replies, “I thought you had left me”.

To this reply of hers, Andrew didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. He did understand her worries though, hence he just says, “I told you I won’t be leaving anytime soon. So why were you worried?”. “I didn’t see you when I woke up and no matter how hard I searched for you, I couldn’t even see your shadow”, to which Marian replies, although she has calmed down a bit compared to before.

After a bit of silence, Andrew says, “I would probably stay by your side until I find someone good enough to take care of you. And you know I am hard to please, so it could take forever”.

“What if there is no one who could take care of me as much as you do?”, raising her face she asks Andrew. Andrew replies almost immediately, “Then I would have no choice but to stay with you forever”. She blushes before burying her head deep in his chest while murmuring in a low tone, “I wish there is never anyone good enough for me so that you can always be by my side”.

Although it was a murmur, Andrew still heard everything clearly and just smiled while shaking his head.

“Okay then, go and take your bath before we go take our breakfast”, Andrew says a moment later. Marian grumbles while removing herself from his embrace. Andrew smiles while walking towards his room in order to take his bath. Walking away, he could hear footsteps behind him and on turning behind to see the appearance of the person, it happens to still be Marian.

“Isn’t your room the other way?”, he couldn’t help asking. “I want to share your bath with you”, she replies. “Huh”, Andrew was shocked speechless by what he has just heard. “Not like I haven’t seen everything there is to see”, she says in a murmur while her head faces downward not daring to stare at him.

On hearing what came out of the mouth of Marian, Andrew’s head almost flew over the roof. This girl was beginning to get too bold. More bold enough for his liking. He was sure that if he allowed her actions, she would do worse eventually.

He shakes his head sideways while saying, “No way. We can’t ever bathe together”. After saying his piece, he used his utmost speed to run towards his room, after which he shuts the door close. Marian just stamps her foot on the floor before storming in the direction of her room.

They both got freshened up, then met up while coming down to the dining hall. On entering the dining hall, the old madam could be seen in the head seat with a smile on her face, Olivia was also present in the dining hall. The meals have all been set up, seems they were waiting for the duo before they started eating. Andrew just behaves normally as if his previous conversation with the old madam hasn’t occurred at all and he drew a chair for Marian to sit on, after which he sits next to her. “Okay then, let’s eat”, the old madam says after seeing that everybody needed was present.

The meals were opened and a variety of food could be seen, ranging from well-cooked beef which from just its looks alone would make a person want to dig in directly, to vegetables to soup. Andrew’s eyes brighten on the food laid out before him and he gulps hard, obviously salivating. Yesterday night, his mind has always been in deep thought and thus he couldn’t fully focus on the meal, but today is an entirely different case.

Their meal was always silent, no talks were usually allowed and the food eaten was different for everyone. For the likes of Andrew and Olivia, they ate heavy and sumptuous. They needed the meal since their energy consumption was way higher than the average man's. And they consumed such energy to carry out daily tasks and to carry out various bodily functions. While Marian and the old madam took light meals although they would seem heavy to normal humans, they were filled with the perfect nutrients to both strengthen their cells and body and always keep it in the perfect shape it also delays the appearance of wrinkles, and the uniqueness of them was that they wouldn’t increase their fats.

“I want to go register at the bank”, Andrew says at this moment after slurping down some beef into his stomach. The oily contents of the meat could even be seen in his mouth. The way he was eating was anything but cultured. He could use a spoon at a moment, and at the very least chopsticks, but he didn’t make use of either of them. He was making use of his bare hands to pick the food into his mouth. Although it was quicker that way, it was unhygienic. There was nothing of the sort like table manners for him, the way Marian ate was the total opposite of him.

“You won’t be able to get anywhere due to your age”, Olivia replies while staring at this boy who was eating in a voracious manner. But no matter how much he ate in that manner, there was no sign of food being stuck in his throat. He seems like a total master in that regard. “Huh”, Andrew was somewhat shocked by Olivia’s response, but he quickly asks, “Why is that? Does age matter in owning an account in the bank?”.

“Unfortunately, yes it does”, replies Olivia, after which she wipes off her mouth with a napkin. “What to do then?”, Andrew sounds off, asking no one in particular. “Can’t this discussion be postponed?”, asks the old madam. She was displeased that they were talking while eating. “Ohh, sure”, Andrew replies shortly after staring at her.

The silence which was previously erased by Andrew was now regained. Apart from the sound of the cutleries hitting the plates or the sound of beef being sliced, no other sound was registered in the hall. Andrew was the first to finish eating, without waiting, he starts walking out of the dining hall. About stepping out, a voice sounds out from behind him, “I can stand as your guardian if you want to open an account now though, but you won’t have full access to the account. You could change it when you get to the appropriate age”. The voice came from Olivia, he turns in her direction, staring at her in shock, before replying, “I would come by after you are through with your meal then”.

Although he was inquisitive about why she would choose to help him, he doesn’t seem bothered about it. As long as it would solve one of the issues bothering him, then there was nothing else to be said. He steps out towards his room without waiting.

After they were through with their meal, as promised, Andrew came to find Olivia, on which they quickly left the house towards the bank which seem to be the greatest powerhouse in this world.

This time around, Marian did not tag along with them. Andrew carries his signature wine jar strapped to his waist, together with the case containing the money he formerly gave to Marian. Olivia just stares at this boy and ignores him, she knows that any trial at convincing him was invalid. He won’t listen to her, thus she ignored him and allowed him to do as it pleases him while they got into their carriage and move towards the bank.

While in the carriage, Olivia was looking through a document in her hands. It was the current report of the ongoings of the war in the eastern part of the kingdom. Wars were being waged at two fronts of the kingdom, which was the eastern and northern side. This kingdom has it easy off than other kingdoms, hence they could continue their ruling without much dispute. The war in the eastern part was the heaviest since they both had to protect themselves against the siege of both humans and beasts. Although beast tides happen once in a while, it was still something terrifying and was way more dangerous than kingdoms waging war against them since beasts had no fear of death and they just attacked randomly. And since they had increased intelligence, they were more difficult to kill.

The beasts in this case are invaders who both seem to be natives of the forest and don’t seem to be that way. Both natives of this world and the mutated species from earth were involved in this beast tide. The reason that the kingdom was just taking damages from these two sides was due to the fact that they were surrounded on the south and western sides by the forest. Not like, soldiers couldn’t be deployed through the forest as there were other entrances to the forest, but the losses sustained won’t be worth it as the beasts in the forest hate trespassers and won’t hesitate to attack them at a moment's notice. If they were eventually survivors, which would seem almost impossible, they won’t be enough to even pick the teeth of the kingdom’s army. So that was actually out of any kingdom’s tactic and it was also the reason why some kingdoms has their eyes on the land occupied by this kingdom in particular. The name of this kingdom happens to be Ösgárd.

Reading through the reports, Olivia just frowns, they were taking heavy damage this time around and the space left behind by the death of many soldiers during the fight against the joker hasn’t been filled. After all, they had been special troops whom have been to a lot of wars and had bathed in blood, only for them to die in their kingdom, a place far away from the battlefield.

It was at this moment that Andrew asks, “Why did you volunteer to help me out?”. Although he didn’t want to ask formerly, he still couldn’t help himself.

Andrew’s question takes her mind off the war a bit, before she says in reply, “You helped some of my soldiers, so doing this much isn’t anything”.

Although Andrew doesn’t believe such an excuse, he just accepts it like that. The silence pervades the carriage until they got to the bank, with just the occasional sound of Andrew drinking from his wine jar being heard once in a while. The bank was huge, almost as huge as the compound of Olivia. Carriages were parked inside with some of the coachmen dozing off while waiting for their masters. The bank was busy and people come in and out at different intervals.

Apart from its majestic gates which had the image of money imprinted on it, there were various sculptures which attracts great attention left and right. This place could even be treated as a tourist centre with the atmosphere that prevails around it and its decorations. The bank seems to be painted in gold, it seems like gold was melted to make the painting but that was far from the truth as it was just a colour gotten after various mixtures and techniques were used. But knowing that doesn’t decrease the grandeur of the bank even a tiny bit, as it still seems impressive without a single fault.