Lemeric trudged on with all the dignity of a condemned man, his fine indoor clothes—silk vest and cravat now wilted and filthy—utterly unsuited for mud and brambles. Shoulders slumped and boots dragging, he looked flat, tired, and vaguely offended by the gleeful cub walking beside him.
Sol bounded with uncontainable glee. Naming the Lupinara had been, in retrospect, a tactical error—ever since, the beast carried itself like an emperor in fur, staking claim over every tree, rock, and suspicious-looking bush as though the world were its kingdom.
It was almost cruel how lightly he lived; as if the pyre smoke of his mother's body that morning had already drifted from memory. But then, magical beasts were built differently—they thrived only in the present, where grief had no place.
Its ears twitching here and there as if it could hear something
Lemeric sighed. "Where are you going now?"
The cub was adamant, barking as if to say they were getting closer.
"I should've left you in the forest," Lemeric muttered, stumbling over a tree root. If Sol hadn't flicked his tail and unlocked the chains his kidnappers bound him with, he wouldn't have kept him.
Still, Sol pranced ahead like a general leading an army, until he stopped before a towering wall, barking triumphantly.
"A wall?" Lemeric said unimpressed. "Well, walls usually mean gates, gates mean towns. We should find the gate and - "
Before he could finish, Sol barreled headfirst into the wall, only to yelp when his snout smacked an invisible barrier. He hissed furiously, as if the wall had attacked first.
"Idiot," Lemeric sighed, pressing a hand to the shimmer. "This is a barrier—better than Montclair's. Probably A-rank and takes months to put up. Hard as stone. You could charge all day and—"
He rapped his knuckles against it, as if to demonstrate his point of how unbreakable the barrier was. But the entire thing shattered like brittle glass.
"...Well." He stared at the crumbling shards. "That shouldn't have happened."
He rubbed his neck. "Perfect. Now we owe whoever built this thing."
Sol gave a smug little shimmy before bounding over the wall in one leap.
"You could've carried me!" Lemeric sighed, hauling himself up the wall.
He rehearsed the inevitable conversation under his breath. "Hello, I broke your wall and climbed over it because my dog ran off. Also, I was kidnapped—could you send a letter to Montclair? And, while we're at it, perhaps a meal?"
"Yes... flawless first impression," his stomach rumbled loudly.
On the far side of the wall, a different rumble was heard.
Baron Edrien and Baroness Elowen was at the eastern gates, overseeing the eastern defenses.
Baron Edrien hefted rubble ten times heavier than necessary, shirt tossed aside, every flex of muscle performed with the subtlety of a parade. Each stone landed with a thud that all but shouted, "My wife, did you see that! I've cleared all the rubble as you asked!"
The guards and servants paused mid-task, mouths agape, some whispering in blushing tones.
Baroness Elowen, utterly immune to her husband's theatrics, didn't so much as glance up. She was hunched over her special parchment, ink quill gliding in precise arcs as she drew a glowing mana circle. If her husband's shirtless display was a performance, hers was an exercise in pretending the stage didn't exist.
This was her own invention: transfer-script paper. A thin sheet of paper made from manalara trees. A spell drawn into it absorbed her mana as ink, storing the circle until it could be pressed against stone, metal, or fabric. With it, she could reinforce barriers without being physically present—a marvel invention even among high mages.
But it required delicate precision. Too much mana, and the circle burst. Too little, and it faded to nothing.
Which is why, when a thunderous shatter split the air, her hand jolted. The circle on the page flared and combusted into flame, burning away in an instant.
"My lady!" a guard came sprinting, breath ragged. "The barrier near the manor walls—it's shattered!"
"Impossible!" barked another. "The manor walls are shielded by the baroness's own circles. Not even an A-rank Skroothling could break through!"
Before she could reply, a second squad arrived, adventurers in tow. "My lady!" one shouted. "The Skroothling near the South Gate—it's dead. We tracked it east of the whispering forest beyond the Caerwyn walls, but when we found it, the beast was already torn apart. Bloodied. Clawed. Whatever killed it... was far stronger."
Baroness Elowen's blood turned cold. She almost never used her husband's name in public, but this time her voice broke.
"Ed—! The children!"
Baron Edrien's jaw tightened, though his gaze softened at the sight of her stricken face.
"Do not fear, my love. I'll secure the walls and track the creature that breached them. Go to the manor and see to the children."
He swung onto his horse in one fluid motion and bellowed,
"Men! Sound the alarm, raise the tower horns and arms ready to your stations!"
"Yes, my lord!"
"Squad A with me to the wall!"
The bells began to toll. Baroness Elowen gathered her staff, wings of mana flaring as she shot into the air toward the manor. Every beat of distance between the East Gate and home pressed heavier on her chest.
She could not help but remember—years ago, the Goblin King had slipped past their defenses, wreaking havoc in their home. Her eldest, Eluer, barely more than a boy then, had shielded his brother and struck the monster down. He had lived—but with a scar on his face. Edrien had convinced him to wear it proudly, as a badge of honor. Since that day, the twins had learned never to stray beyond the barrier.
But Evie... Evie did not know. Elowen had kept the truth hidden, locking her youngest away within the manor's walls. And yet, curious and mischievous, Evie always found ways to slip past watchful eyes.
Now, as the towers rang and the horns howled, Elowen's heart sank. She had rebuilt and restored every gate, sworn that her barriers would hold. But if even her strongest wall had shattered... what beast waited beyond?
*****
"Hey... hey!" Evie tapped the silver-haired boy's shoulder with her stick, tilting her head as her braid slipped forward. "Are you asleep, or pretending?"
Before this moment, Evie had snuck past Hetty with all the stealth of a mischievous cat and slipped into the forest behind the manor. The trees here were tall and their leaves hiding her as though in on her secret. She scrambled up the crooked trunk of her favorite tree, skirts hitched and braid bouncing, until she found a sturdy perch. From here, she could peek at the manor rooftops in the distance, yet remain hidden from the sharp eyes of the staff.
"Perfect," she whispered, hugging her knees. High above the ground, tucked away in her leafy fortress, Evie opened her glowing system with a triumphant grin—finally free to explore it without a single scolding voice hovering over her shoulder.
She first claimed [System Purse Unlocked!]
A glowing panel unfolded before Evie, the neat script dancing across its surface:
System Purse – Holds and withdraws money directly.
Her jaw dropped as the numbers blinked to life: 10 gold coins.
"Whaaa—? Ten gold coins?!" Evie nearly toppled backward. "That's enough to feed the manor for an entire month! Or we can get a new gate for the Manor! I feel sorry for our crumbling estate and the baron and baroness seem to be always worried about food. I'm sure this could go a long way."
Curious, she took out her remaining copper coins from her shopping trip and them into the shimmering purse icon. The numbers shifted 10 Gold Coins | 3 copper coins . The she imagined taking out a gold coin and there it was in her palm one Gold coin.
Her eyes went wide, "So I can spend it in this world!"
She happily opened the next reward [System Shop Unlocked!]
Another window fanned open beside the purse tab was now a basket, revealing neat little shelves lined with glowing icons—spells, clothes, tools, trinkets. But what made Evie's heart practically leap out of her chest was a whole row sparkling with food: steaming bread loaves, wheels of cheese, all types of grain, herbs, fruit, spices and so many more.
"Food! Actual food!" Evie pressed her face so close to the panel her nose nearly smudged the light. "Finally! Do you know how much one meat pie costs in Caerwyn's territory?" She hugged herself with a squeal. "Oh with this I can slowly stock the kitchen - I wonder how else I can earn some coins? "
She flicked the window back to her quest tab, where glowing letters reminded her:
[ System ]
🌟Quest: Meet the World's Hero
Condition: Bump into the World's Hero
Reward: Rebate System
"And what's this 'rebate system' supposed to be?" Evie prodded at the panel with both hands, pouting.
She was still fussing over the glowing box when a sharp bark split the silence. Evie's head shot up just in time to see a boy tumble spectacularly over a tree root, arms flailing before he landed flat on his back. His white, fluffy dog didn't even glance at him—it just bounded off toward the manor as though it had better places to be.
[ System Notification ]
🌟 Quest [Completed]: Meet the World's Hero
Condition: Bump into the World's Hero
Reward: [Unlocked] Rebate System
And so here she was now, peering down at the motionless figure sprawled beneath her tree. "This pipsqueak's the world's hero? I can't let him die here if he's suppose to be the world's hero..." she muttered, prodding at her system window trying to find something helpful.
But then his eyes snapped open.
In Lemeric's view, the first thing he saw was a hazy blue box shimmering in the air—someone was meddling with it. Instinct took over. In a blur, his hand shot out, gripping a slender wrist. Before she could even squeak, Evie found herself pinned onto the mossy ground, her breath caught, the boy's figure on top of her.
Golden eyes, sharp as tempered steel, met sapphire blue ones wide with shock. For a suspended moment, the forest itself seemed to hush. Sunlight dappled through the canopy, catching in his silver hair, and her chest gave the tiniest flutter. It was like stumbling into a fairy tale by accident.
"Who are you? Which territory is this?" His voice was urgent, commanding—then froze as realization dawned. He was pinning down a girl! It was a girl and his hand was pressed in a place it absolutely should not have been.
SLAP!
The sound cracked like thunder through the forest. His head snapped to the side, eyes wide.
"I—I'm sorry! I thought it was your—your shoulder—since it was flat and —"
SLAP!
"Idiot!" Evie's cheeks burned as she scrambled to sit upright, glaring at him. "Shoulder or not, don't just go grabbing people like that!"
And yet—curse her heart—even as she huffed, she caught herself noticing the way his silver hair gleamed in the light, as though a dreamy prince had crash-landed straight into her forest.
"Anyway," she snapped, half to cover her fluster, "I should be asking who you are. You came barreling in here with your dog!"
"Sol..." Lemeric's voice faltered, panic flickering across his face. "Where did he—? That blasted mutt!" He tried to stand, but his knees wobbled—and then his stomach gave a ferocious growl.
Evie's lips twitched, a laugh escaping before she could stop it. With a little huff, she pulled up her system, bought a soft fluffy bread for one copper and a waterskin for two copper coins held it out. "Here have something to eat and drink first. You look like you're about to faint again."
Lemeric eyed it warily. "What kind of magic is this? I've never seen mana square before." Still, curiosity won, and he sniffed the bread for poison.
"You can see this - really?" Evie leaned forward, eyes lighting up. "Here in this part, can you read it?"
He frowned. "Read it? It's just a square isn't it?"
Her excitement flickered into disappointment. "So you only see a square..." she murmured. "I thought maybe—finally—someone could see it." For a moment, her voice was smaller, as though confessing a secret she'd never been able to share.
And then—
[ System Notification ]
🌟 Rebate: 100x Copper Coins
Details: For Aiding the Hero
Evie's eyes went round as saucers. He'd eaten the entire soft roll, every last fluffy crumb, and the system had rewarded her for it. Her pulse raced—this boy wasn't just a stranger, he was practically a walking piggy bank!
b... and now he tipped back her waterskin, draining it in long gulps. His Adam's apple bobbed with each swallow until at last he lowered it, exhaling like a man who'd crossed a desert.
"Haah... finally." His golden eyes softened, relief breaking through his stoic mask. "Water... actual water."
Evie's jaw dropped. The system just rewarded her again.
[ System Notification ]
🌟 Rebate: 200x Copper Coins
Details: For Aiding the Hero
"This is it!" she whispered dramatically, clutching her chest. He's the solution to the estate's crumbling finances!
Before she could think twice, she grabbed both his hands with a radiant smile. "Hey! Are you still hungry? Why don't you come home with me!"
Lemeric blinked, blushing like a tomato . He was looking for refuge, but he hadn't expected to be manhandled by a tiny whirlwind in braids. "I actually... do need—"
But then—WHAM! Sol bounded out of the bushes, tail wagging wildly, planting himself behind Lemeric and In his mouth, was a carved wooden wolf-whistle.
"Hey! That's mine!" Eleur came charging after him.
"Eleur! Come back! Didn't you hear the alarm? That means we should retreat to the manor!" Elsan thundered behind him, panting.
"Men! Over here—I hear my sons!" Baron Edrien's voice boomed like a war horn, a full retinue of guards and adventurers storming through the trees.
And swooping down on her staff, skirts snapping in the wind—Baroness Elowen. "Evie! What in sweet Serendale are you doing here?!"
The entire family (and quarter of the garrison) stared at the boy who was holding Evie's hand. In perfect unison they all asked. "Who's that?"
Evie, beaming ear to ear, tugged Lemeric along like he was a prize stuffed toy. "Everyone! I'm taking this boy home! Let's go!"
"My sweet girl you - you can't" her father bellowed.
"Young lady return at once!" her mother shrieked.
"Don't drag strangers!" the twins shouted together.
And from the center of the chaos, Lemeric let out the faintest sigh, his tone perfectly stoic as if bunch of strangers did not jus descended upon him:
"...wait I haven't even introduce myself"