Masa and I left the guild after bidding Daryl and Crystie farewell. We were going to check on the Singapore portal site. If a permanent portal had been made, we would gladly return, but if not, we would have no choice but to think up another solution. Frankly, I was starting to think about telling my parents the truth once I saw them again. I didn't like lying to them in the first place, and considering how we ended up stuck here this time, I didn't want them to worry about me going missing from time to time.

Well, they might have a different sort of worry when they learnt about this world though. In the worst case situation, they could just ground me and my dreams of studying in Japan would go up in smoke. On the other hand, maybe they might want to come over too? I reckoned my dad might be interested, but my mom was far more practical. Perhaps I could convince her that being an adventurer was a valid occupation once I showed her how much I earned? Maybe we could even rent a house here and sell things from Earth? That would be a safer job than being an adventurer, right?

This town seemed quite safe and peaceful. No monsters were allowed entrance due to the protective wards embedded in the ground around the village, according to the guild staff. I wasn't going to judge the world situation by looking at just one town, but if things weren't as safe as they appeared, we could always retreat to the old mansion. And with teleports, we would never need passports to travel. Now there was a nice thought. Wait, it might be dangerous if bad people knew the locations of the portals, so we still had to keep some secrets.

The more I contemplated things, the more doable it seemed. "Hey Masa, what do you think about telling my parents about this?" I suddenly said.

He gave me a wary look. "About what, exactly?"

"All this, of course," I answered, gesturing around me. "Shyi'eld, Levels, teleports, everything."

"Huh. Do you think they are likely to believe you?" he asked, tilting his head. "I doubt my parents would, even if I told them the truth. They would just laugh it off as an overactive imagination from reading too many light novels."

He paused and rubbed his chin. "Come to think of it, that was how they reacted to my brother when he came home telling them that he was involved in making a game that spanned worlds," he said, giving a derisive snort. "I mean, he's always been interested in stuff like that, so even I dismissed it as mere fantasy, but now that I'm actually here..."

"Yeah, I get what you mean, but I kinda have a feeling they might know more than what they're letting on," I said, shaking my head slowly. "My grandma was Level 9X after all, so—“

"Wait, what!?"

"Yeah, I was really shocked to see her status too. All in the four digits and stuff. I mean, I know we're getting there too, but still—huh? Masa?" I turned around when I realised that he had stopped walking beside me. The Japanese boy was standing a few steps behind, with the most surprised expression I had ever seen on his face. We stood there staring at each other for a moment before I realised—“Oh yeah, I never got around to telling you that, did I?"

Masa closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing his forehead slightly. "Maybe I really should have gone to meet her," he muttered, walking forward again.

I perked up. "Yes, you still have a chance, since we're going back to Singapore. Ah, but she only understands Hokkien, so I'll need my parents to translate…which will probably work out once we tell them about Shyi'eld."

"I hope so," was all Masa said.

We arrived at the Nevda Town teleport and linked the new teleports we just bought before coming here. We did have a bit more leeway to buy items now, so I bought another potion and two more teleports. Why would I buy a potion when I could heal, you ask? Well, I wasn't proficient enough to heal with my eyes open, for one thing, and secondly, potions acted more quickly. Both reasons made it more sensible to have potions when in battle. Maybe when I became good enough to heal both quickly and without shutting my eyes, I could forgo potions. That would certainly save us some money. Yes, us. I was obviously going to heal Masa if he got hurt, as well as any other party members who joined us in the future.

Stepping on the town's teleport, I thought about the grassland with the unfinished portal. Apparently the town's teleport could be used by more than one person at a time, so I glimpsed Masa disappearing from beside me just before my own view changed.

It was now late afternoon and the sunlight was starting to turn golden. As I blinked to adjust to the view, someone pulled my hand downwards. Masa was crouching there, putting a finger to his lips. I quickly crouched too, looking in the direction the portal had been. Or now was. Three figures in long, hooded robes were standing beside it, fiddling with something while a fourth person was walking in and out of it, presumably to test it.

Wow! We had actually caught them in the act! Would they run away again if we tried to approach them? But why? Were they not allowed to interact with "players" like us? I squinted to see if Feyril was among them, and strained my ears to see if I could catch anything of what they were saying. All I could hear was “…portal's stable…no problems…” and “…now work on…Aussie one…overtime pay…”

Huh. Sounded pretty banal to me. As we watched, a fifth person flashed into view and he seemed pretty upset, waving his arms at them and gesticulating wildly. Wait, was he pointing in our direction?