The Author's POV

"That..."

Feeling Edward's gaze on me and staring at Amanda who was closely staring at me, I was left speechless and silently glared in Amanda's direction.

'Do something.'

I urged her with my eyes.

Turning around, Amanda looked at her father.

"Yes?"

"Ehhh..."

Alternating his gaze between Amanda and I, Edward looked to be at a loss for words. He eventually managed to speak.

"A..are you trying to take revenge for what happened this morning?"

Unexpectedly, and much to my confusion, Edward talked about something else entirely.

I glanced at Amanda who gazed at me from the corner of her eyes, and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"You finally understand?"

"Ugh."

A difficult look appeared on Edward's face. Soon, his shoulders slumped.

"Alright, I'm sorry."

After that, he proceeded to walk all the way toward the elevator.

The sudden turn of events left me dumbfounded as I pointed in his direction.

"What's up with him?"

"...Nothing."

Amanda gazed at her father's back.

"Mh~"

Stretching her body a bit she hummed in joy.

"Let's just say I took a little revenge for what he did this morning."

"At my expense?"

Without answering, Amanda flashed a small smile.

Taking a small step forward, she followed her father toward the elevator.

"I'll see you soon."

She whispered as she got into the elevator. The elevator doors soon started to close, and the last thing I heard was Edward's faint whispering voice.

"Hey, Amanda, that was a prank, right? There's nothing really going on between you two, right?"

"Maybe?"

"Ey, Amanda. This is not f—"

Clank—!

***

"This should be all."

With a satisfied smile on his face, Kevin clapped his hands together. In front of him were two large bags filled to the brim with goods.

With a wave of his hands, the two bags magically disappeared.

After that, Kevin tapped the air with his finger. A translucent blue screen formed in front of him.

[Quest.]

Information : Stop the Demon King from consuming this planet.

Location : Cassaria.

Goal : Stop the demon corruption of the planet.

Rank : <A-> +

Requirement for transportation : <A> ranked core.

Total people : Three.

Reward : [Demon King Ascension + 1 year.] [Minor realm rank up.] [Synchronisation + 15%]

Penalty : [Demon King Ascension - 1 year.]

===

"...I hope I'm not too late."

He had been delaying this quest for quite a while now, and he was finally going to embark on this new trip.

"Phew."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, it doesn't look like the delay has caused the mission to become harder."

Kevin feared that his delay in the mission would've increased the mission's difficulty.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a needless worry since the system prompt remained the same.

"I better get going."

Turning his wrist to glance at his watch, Kevin headed out of the door.

"Ah, right."

When he was about to leave, his feet slowed. As he turned around, he glanced at a picture frame positioned on top of one of his desks.

There were two people in the picture. Both bear a striking resemblance to Kevin.

Moving to the picture frame, he slowly caressed it and his face softened.

"Mom, Dad, I'll be leaving for a bit now..."

The faint sound of his voice echoed through the room.

"...It's going to be a dangerous mission. One that might force me to leave this place for quite a long time, but strangely enough, I don't think there will be much trouble. I've got two reliable people coming with me..."

A faint smile spread across his face as he scratched the side of his nose.

"They both are weird in their own way, but I trust them, so...I'll be coming back soon."

Touching the frame, Kevin slowly closed his eyes.

"I hope you don't miss me too much while I'm gone."

***

"Haaa…"

After parking my car and getting out, I gazed at the distant warehouse.

Closing the car door and heading there, I sighed.

'What a headache.'

The mere thought of what had happened not too long ago caused my head to hurt.

Recalling Edward's last words, I involuntarily let out another sigh.

"He definitely suspects that something happened..."

This was going to be troublesome.

Beep—!

By pressing my hand against the wall, the metallic door that led to the warehouse automatically opened.

"Who are you guys again?"

I heard a familiar voice in the distance as I entered the warehouse. It was shortly after followed by more voices.

"Oh god."

"Just how bad must your memory be if you can't even remember what someone told you ten minutes ago?"

"Hein, do something."

"Me? What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, maybe try knocking your shield against his head. That should knock some sense into him."

"…But it'll get dirty."

As I was far, I couldn't quite understand what they were arguing about. But without a doubt, it was probably something annoying.

Walking toward the main lobby and opening the door, I spoke up.

"What's going on?"

My words immediately ended the argument, and everyone turned their attention to me.

"Ren!"

"You're finally here!"

"Finally!"

To my surprise, the moment I arrived, the rest of the group rushed toward me with bright looks on their faces. They looked like children who had just found their parents.

'What's going on?'

Their reaction instantly raised alarm bells inside my head. When had any one of them ever greeted me like this?

There was definitely something fishy about the situation.

"Ren I've been trying to contact you since last night. Why didn't you answer my calls?"

Smallsnake was the first to complain, looking rather haggard. Staring at him, my eyes flashed with pity.

'He must have gone through a lot.'

"Did you just pity me?"

"Just your imagination."

After taking out my phone and checking it, my brows raised slightly. This was because I had noticed that I had over 20 missing calls.

"Ah, you're right. You really did call me several times."

"You think?"

Smallsnake rubbed his forehead.

"I know that you're busy with a lot of stuff, but what do you think will happen during an emergency if you don't answer?"

Scratching the side of my head, I apologized.

"…You're right."

To be honest, I had never experienced stuff like this in the past as I always tended to check my phone.

Yesterday was the only exception, and for so much to happen on the exact day that I did not check my phone, I could only blame my bad luck.

Really.

"I'll make sure to pay close attention to your call next time."

After putting the phone away, I looked around the room. I wanted to see exactly what was causing Smallsnake to be so distressed.

My confusion grew as I looked around and saw nothing.

"Mhh, what is the emergency? Everything looks fin—"

My eyes locked in a certain direction halfway through my sentence, and I suddenly stopped speaking.

"Lightning Dragon?

It was there that I spotted a familiar face. With his long hair falling down his shoulder and signature yellow eyes, Lightning Dragon leaned against one of the tables.

Similarly spotting me, he greeted.

"Yo."

"…Yeah, I just arri—"

"Hold on."

I was cut off by Smallsnake, who alternated his gaze with Lightning Dragon and me.

It was then that he looked straight into my eyes.

"He actually remembers you?"

"Hm? Yeah."

What kind of question was that?

Of course he remembered me. It'd be weird if he didn't recognize me.

"Ah!"

But it was at that moment that I suddenly recalled something.

Raising my hand to cover my forehead, I gazed at the others and finally understood what was happening.

A wry smile spread across my face as I turned my attention back to Smallsnake.

"He has memory problems."

"No shit."

Smallsnake answered as he glared in my direction.

Shifting my head a little I silently muttered.

"...kind of rude."

"As if you were never rude..."

Smallsnake grumbled with his arms closed.

"I don't think you understand how much trouble he caused the moment he walked in."

"...I don't."

I wasn't exactly there to see it. However, Smallsnake's words sounded rather ominous as I suddenly felt an ominous promotion.

Glaring in lightning Dragon's direction, Smallsnake raised his voice.

"The first thing he did as soon as he came into the warehouse was attack us!"

"Attack you?"

I dumbfoundedly stared at Lightning Dragon.

'Seriously?'

"Yes! Not just me, but everyone else in here!"

'Oh god.

While staring in Lightning Dragon's direction, I couldn't help but feel a massive migraine coming my way.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Smallsnake.

"Everyone seems to be fine at the moment. It was probably a short fight, right?"

"Do you see Leopold and Angelica anywhere?"

Smallsnake suddenly asked.

Glancing around the room, I shook my head.

"Now that I think about it, I don't see either of them."

"Obviously not! The two of them are injured upstairs. What's with the monster you brought?"

Smallsnake stared at Lightning Dragon with lingering fear in his eyes.

The same could be said for the remaining others in the room. He was clearly reminiscing the vents that happened not too long ago.

"Hm? What about Han Yufei?"

Then I noticed one person was missing. It was Han Yufei. "

"Him?"

Famously known as the babysitter of the group[, Smallsnake was quick to answer.

"He's gone to the place you told him to go. He should be back by noon."

"Ah, I see."

'He's a lot faster than I expected.'

After I gave him the Gravar-style location, he immediately rushed there without wasting a moment.

As expected of him. He was efficient.

Scratching the back of my head, my eyes became serious.

"How badly injured are Angelica and Leopold?"

"Fortunately, not by much."

Smallsnake sighed in relief.

"We were somehow able to calm him down after one of us shouted your name. From there we were able to figure one thing."

"Oh?"

My curiosity was piqued.

"What did you figure out?"

"...That everything is your fault."

"Oy."

"No need to deny the truth."

After staring at Smallsnake for a few seconds, I shook my head.

"...All right, fine."

It was indeed my fault. When I decided to have him come directly to me, I probably should have thought more carefully.

'Maybe I should've written in the letter 'Don't beat people up'. Not sure...'

"Let me handle the situation from now on."

In any case, I was glad the situation didn't escalate any further. Given Lightning Dragon's strength, he could've most likely beat everyone present apart from maybe Angelica who strangely seemed to have lost.

'I'll have to check up on that.'

After patting Smallsnake on the shoulder, I walked toward Lightning Dragon.

"Lightning Drago—."

"It's Liam."

Lightning Dragon suddenly interrupted me.

I was taken aback for a moment.

"Scuse me?"

"I'm Liam, not Lightning Dragon."

"Ah, right."

Indeed. Lightning Dragon was just a made-up nickname for the arena.

Now that he was no longer there, there was no need for me to call him by his nickname.

Stopping in front of him, I pointed toward myself.

"You remember me, right?"

"I do."

Liam's answer was fast and quick. Surprising me and the others in the room.

"That's great."

I nodded my head in satisfaction. I was glad he remembered me. Now things would be much easier.

Unfortunately, my joy was a bit premature, as his next words almost knocked me over.

"I do remember who you are, but I don't know why I'm here."

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah."

My lips smacked together.

I had already lost count of how many times I wanted to facepalm my face by now.

Turning around, I waved my hand at Liam and urged him to follow.

"Follow me for now. I'll tell you the details soon. I think I know of a way to solve your memory problems."

"...Ehh, okay."

Nodding his head, Liam complied and followed me into my office.

Just as I was about to leave the lobby, I turned to look at Smallsnake.

"Ah right, before I forget, a couple of people will come soon. Notify me when they come."

"Who is c—"

I had already left before Smallsnake could finish his words.

I was in a bit of a hurry. Solving Liam's memory problems was the current priority.