“I really think it would be best if I made a short detour home, just for a moment to tell my wife where I’m going. She’s going to be worried sick.”

  “We’ll try to have you home again before it’s time for breakfast tomorrow morning in Gimleh. How about that?” Eik suggested.

  The last thing Sireal wanted to do right now was disappoint Eik Magnasen the first time they met but he couldn’t just leave his sweet wife in the dark. “But she’s expecting me home by dinner at the latest… She’s already afraid that something bad will happen to me since I decided to suddenly abandon my safe career just to throw myself into this new adventure.”

  Eik pursed his lips as he looked at the cartographer but never stopped moving. They had a fracture to catch. “Your wife worries too, huh? Well, so does mine. Or, I should say, my girlfriend worries. We’re not married yet. All right, I understand, but I’m sorry to say that we really do have to move quickly here. So how about this instead? You gave Robert your address as well back there, right?”

  “I did, yes.”

  “Perfect. Would you be satisfied if we sent someone to your house to inform your wife in your stead? They’ll explain to her exactly what you’re doing—no secrets. Totally open cards, I promise. Otherwise, I won’t force you to come, of course, but then we can’t bring you along this time. Maybe we’ll contact you next time, but given the nature of our work, I can’t promise that we won’t find somebody else in the meantime.”

  That familiar clump of anxiety formed heavily in his stomach and throat. That fucking anxiety. Was there anything he hated more than that in this world? Had he come this far just to back out now? Hell no he hadn’t!

  Clenching his fist so tightly that the joints creaked audibly, he met Eik’s eyes. “Of course I’m coming along with you, Mr. Magnasen. It is an honor.”

  “That’s great to hear,” Eik laughed.

  Suddenly struck by a thought that he should probably have considered before accepting, Sireal had to ask. “I understand that my task will be to make maps of the spawning ground but… will I even be able to survive?”

  “Don’t worry about that,” the S-ranker said. “You will be kept safe under a strong barrier from the moment you exit the fracture and until the moment you emerge back in Gimleh. We are not taking any chances with your safety.”

  “Yes, okay.”

  “Have you seen an S-ranked monster before?”

  “Well, I’ve been to the Crucible tests a few times in the past with a few of my friends, we’re we saw a couple of high-ranked offensive tests, so yes. But not in the wild, so to speak.”

  The Monarch grinned. “Well, you’re going to today.”

  ***

  “I want a perimeter set up the moment we come through,” Eik commanded as they gathered in front of the fracture that would take them to one of the worlds near the Chasm on which a site of extremely dense Ak’ki was expected to be spawning high-ranking monsters uncontrollably.

  All members of EGG(G)’s field squad were in attendance, their expressions hard and determined. Although, as Sireal understood it, EGG(G) still only had a few official members, so Eik had pulled in people from outside. Faces like Gul Ougi, the leader of the Ougi clan as well as Andihar Dayarunar of the house Dayarunar, whose massive estate had played host to the EGG(G) tryouts, were unmistakable. This was a gathering of giants.

  Even a single glance at their heroic figures left no doubt of their skills. Toughened by years of survival on a battlefield that cared little for their wishes to go home to see their loved ones, there were no people Sireal would rather trust his fate to than them and their leader, Eik Magnasen.

  And then there was himself…

  Sireal was standing shoulder to shoulder with the strongest men and women in the Alliance and feeling very ill at ease. He made maps for a living, for crying out loud! He wasn’t supposed to be here!

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  But, now that he was thinking about it…

  Doing everything he could to not move his head even a single centimeter, he side-eyed a man standing right next to him that looked so old that he might well have turned to ash in a nice summer breeze.

  Appearing to be in no better condition, the handle of his sword in its sheath was ragged, the bindings coming of in torn strips of fabric while the pommel and guard were stained and matte, as if it hadn’t been polished in a hundred years. The sheath itself was no better, a crack halfway down its length revealing a blade in just as bad a shape held within.

  What was this man a specialist in for him too to come along on such a perilous mission? A scholar, perhaps? One with a lifetime’s worth of study about monsters would surely be a boon when fighting S-ranked hordes.

  Or maybe he was a trader there to assess the value of loot and decide what was worth bringing home.

  Well, regardless of what kind of specialist he turned out to be, Sireal immediately felt a kind of kinship with him. Here they stood together, in a place where none of them truly belonged but thrust into it by circumstance nonetheless. No matter how surreal it felt at the moment, they were comrades in arms!

  Eik was making hushed conversation with some of the other members of EGG(G), eyes finding him a couple of times. They had to be talking about him.

  Worried and wanting something else to focus on, Sireal leaned down and spoke to the frail, old man. “This is quite a nerve-racking experience, isn’t it?” he said with a nervous smile.

  Glancing up at him with an expression of boredom that told Sireal that he must be an expert in hiding his nerves, the old man spoke, his voice slightly raspy with age. “Is it? Frankly, young man, I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”

  Sireal chuckled, relieved to have someone at his own level with whom to share this ordeal. “I know exactly what you mean. It has all happened so fast that I can barely recall how I even ended up here. Is this your first time going to battle with Eik Magnasen?”

  The old man gave it some thought, pursing his lips. “You know, I suppose it is. Although I don’t think I’ll be coming along for this one.”

  “Another beginner, is it? Me too. But Eik Magnasen—that’s him right there—personally promised me that they would keep us alive, so try not to worry. I think this is going to be the experience of a lifetime for people like us.”

  The old man just raised both eyebrows and stared at him, his face a picture of confusion.

  “Chop,” Eik said, the old man reacting to the word. Was that his name? Chop? What a strange name.

  “What?”

  “Are you running solo or staying with us?” Eik asked.

  Solo? Why would he ever leave the safety of EGG(G)’s barriers?

  “Neither. I’m not coming along. Did I forget to tell you?”

  Eik’s brows furrowed with dissatisfaction. How brave was this old timer to speak like that to the Eik Magnasen? “You know, I think you did. What happened to our deal? Pills for your assistance. Remember?”

  “No, our deal was that I help fight the Lord of the Moon, not some scrap mobs. Your dad invited me to eat at his restaurant. You want me to leave him hanging when I already said yes?”

  Eik rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he’ll understand that you have to save the world and be more than happy to have you for dinner tomorrow instead. The Lord of the Moon might show up where we’re going. He’ll be looking to grow stronger from his weakened state, after all. This is part of the deal.”

  “Contact me if he shows up and I’ll even drop my fork mid-bite to come to the rescue,” the old man named Chop huffed.

  Okay… What the hell was going on here? Why did it feel like Eik was the one asking for help from Chop? No, wait a minute. Wasn’t there also that other piece of news that was nearly as big as the news about the mission to thwart Moon Shall Swallow’s plan? The sudden appearance of that X-ranker…

  And if Sireal wasn’t mistaken, that X-ranker called himself…

  With movements so slow and mechanical that it might have looked comical if not for the situation suddenly turning deadly, Sireal turned his head, wide eyes boring into the old man. His mouth bobbed open and closed wordless as the old man named Chop looked at him askance.

  “What’s up with you?”

  “I-I…” Sireal managed but got no further, simply returning to a senseless, gaping stare. Had he actually been having a casual conversation with possibly the greatest, most legendary warrior to ever live just now? What was his life?

  “I-I-Ice cream? I-I-Island gigantism? What?” the old man barked snarkily.

  “Dude, he’s shocked. Let him process for a moment,” Eik chastised.

  Sireal could only nod at the interpretation. Chop gave him another handful of seconds before he shrugged. “Leave me a message then. Eik, I’m outta here. Call me if the guy shows up in the end.”

  And with that, he was gone, vanished in a moment.

  “Is he okay?” Andihar wondered out loud, watching Sireal.

  “Well, he looks more or less how you looked the first time you met Chop, so,” Eik said with a grin.

  “True.”

  “All right, gang, no time to waste!” Eik declared and clapped his hands. “Let’s get going!”

  “Wait… right now?” Sireal gasped.

  Eik grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and lifted him effortlessly. “Yep! Are you scared?”

  “Of course! Aren’t you, Mr. Magnasen?”

  “Call me Eik, please. We’re friends now.”

  “Friends?”

  “What else would we be if we fight side by side? Well, you’ll be fighting in principle, but it still counts. And to answer your question, I would have been scared a couple of years ago, but now… It’s mostly excitement.”

  “I must say, I don’t think that’s a very healthy mentality to haa-aaaaaaaaaaaaa—!” Sireal’s answer was cut short rather abruptly as Eik wound him back over his shoulder and hurled him bodily through the fracture, trailing the rest of the crew who had already gone through, Andihar taking up the vanguard.

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