“The trees… don’t belong here?”
The rest of the crew as well as Charlotte and the others all looked around the place as they heard the host’s words. Some of these plants do not grow in Africa? What does that mean?
“How would you know something like that?” Adia asked the host.
“Ah, Princess,” the host quickly bowed as Adia approached him, “Please, let me introduce myself. I am called Eli. Part-time host, part-time historian… and also a Silver-ranked Explorer.”
“You… were a Silver-ranked Explorer?” It was evident on Adia’s face that she was pleasantly surprised. Of course, the camera crew that would come with them to the Darkzone wouldn’t be a normal team, it made sense, she thought.
“Does that mean we… were teleported to another place?” Adia followed, “Maybe Va-an was right, and that we’re inside a Portal?”
“Afraid not, Princess,” Eli then grabbed something from his pocket and presented it to Adia, “My map says that we’re still in the country.”
“Hm.”
The group then went into silence as they all thought of what could have happened. Charlotte, however, let out a short sigh before returning back to the truck.
“Thinking about this now wouldn’t get us anywhere,” she said to the group, “Portals have always been unpredictable. Even after a thousand years, even a country such as yours does not know where they came from. Who knows, this might just be the effect of a monster…”
Charlotte then slowly turned her eyes towards Van, who quickly returned her gaze, “…or perhaps someone. We don’t have to worry about the monsters as well since none of them are attacking us, it will be better to keep it that way.”
“It is as you say, White Imvubu,” Adia bowed before ordering her new team to get back on the truck. The camera crew, along with the standby unit, as well, returned to their vehicles as they continued their journey. Besides everything else that had happened, there wasn’t anything strange going on. The colossal bird that roamed the skies continued to fly unabated, not even landing to the ground even for a second to rest its wings.
Besides watching their group, it didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking. Angela also asked Van if the Stymphalian was saying something, but Van only shook his head, saying that the bird didn’t seem to be talking.
“Watch out, we got a Portal coming in about 4 kilometers to the West.”
After a few minutes, the direction that the car traveled to suddenly changed. One of the tasks that Charlotte accepted in exchange for letting them into the Darkzone was to clear any Portals that they would happen to run through– and they were about to run through their first one.
“…How do you know there’s a Portal?” Van could not help but ask. There was also the thing that Eli showed Adia, proving that they were indeed in Africa. Could their so-called map actually see where Portals are?
And he was right, Adia took out something from her pocket and showed it towards Van. It was some sort of small television, Van thought. It looked like an aerial view of the area they were in, and it showed a red light towards the direction they were currently heading to.
“…Oh,” once again, Van could not help but be impressed. If their country had even a percent of this country’s so-called technologies, then maybe their life could have been different.
“We’re approaching the perimeter of the Portal, ETA 30 seconds!”
As soon as they heard the driver’s words, the Royal Explorer team quickly readied their weapons, taking them off from their bags. Van could not help but furrow his eyes as he saw all of them taking out what seemed to be artifacts from the Portal.
The Gold-rank Explorer, Kamia, took out a long bronze staff from her bag. While the three Silver-ranked Explorers brought out different kinds of swords. This was probably the most number of artifacts that Van had seen in one place.
“Surprised?” As if hearing his thoughts… No, hearing his thoughts, Angela turned her head towards Van, “Artifacts in our country are regulated by the Circle, anything you get out needs to go through them first… and they usually don’t return it to you, instead, they give you Crystals.”
“I… see,” Van nodded before once again looking at the weapons. This time, he was looking at Adia’s weapon, two golden gauntlets shaped like the head of a lion, with the fists’ of the gauntlet almost as big as Angela’s head. He then looked at Charlotte, who just had her arms crossed, and was not getting ready.
“You don’t have a weapon?” Van curiously asked. He was looking forward to what kind of weapon a Platinum-rank Explorer like her could have.
“I am the weapon,” Charlotte casually said as she let out a small yawn.
Adia, who heard Charlotte’s words, could not help but let out a light gasp before her eyes started to sparkle in admiration. She was about to return her gauntlets inside her bag, but Kamia stopped her before she could do so.
“You’re not the White Imvubu,” she said. Adia furrowed her eyebrows at first, but after a while, the only thing she could do was sigh before putting on her gauntlets.
The truck finally stopped, and as soon as it did so, the Standby unit that was on another vehicle quickly got off the truck to check if there was anything of note. After signaling that everything was alright, the Royal team quickly got off the truck and once again did their final preparations before going inside the Blue Portal that presented itself to them.
“It’s a C-rank Portal,” the leader of the Standby unit approached the team. Van then saw someone going inside the Portal, before going back out in less than a few seconds. The man then approached the leader of the Standby unit, giving what seemed to be a small screen to him. The Standby unit leader scanned the screen for a few seconds before returning his attention back to the group.
“The objective this time is a Mage-type King Satyr, the weather is Cold, so it’s best if you bring out your coats with you. There are also…”
Van could not help but look back and forth between the leader of the standby unit and the Royal team. Was this how it usually goes? When they had an excursion, the Standby Unit already had everything checked, all Van and his class had to do were go inside. Their excursion was looking more and more like a field trip compared to the real thing.
A bit of excitement slowly brewed inside Van as he listened in on the Standby Unit leader. It felt as if he was actually finally an Explorer, a real one. But of course, he was not letting himself forget why he was really here, but still, a small smile could not help but slowly form on his face.
After killing almost more than a hundred people, it was finally time to kill some monsters.
Angela, who was watching Van, also let out a small smile on her face. If only things were normal; if only she was just a normal instructor in the Academy; if only Van was just… a boy.
Then Angela could imagine herself still teaching Van back in the Academy, honing him into what he really wanted to be.
Back when she first met Van, Angela read his mind. He was the son of Evangeline, after all. Angela needed to know what he knew.
But what Angela saw… was just a boy.
A boy that wanted only one thing– a normal life. Live as an Explorer so he could live day-to-day without worrying.
Angela could see that the dream still lived inside him. But alas, it was too far away… drowned by a heavy destiny that was set for him by the universe.
“One more thing,” the Standby unit leader continued giving information to the group, “Like with the rest of the monsters that we have passed by, the monsters inside the Portal seemed to have no hostility against us.”
“Alright,” Adia clapped her hand as she faced the Royal team, “Let’s not do anything unnecessary. Since the monsters remain docile, we stick to the Objective and nothing more. Do not attack any of the other monsters unless you sense they would attack…
…Let’s go!”
The Royal team all nodded their heads, even Van couldn’t help himself, also nodding towards Adia as they all made their way to the Blue Portal.
‘Finally!’ Van thought. His first Portal as an official Explorer.
Although the situation inside might be a bit different than normal, at least he would finally step inside the world of Explorers.
“…White Imvubu?” Adia then stopped walking as she noticed that Charlotte was standing in front of the Portal, “You don’t need to come with us, we can handle–“
But before Adia could finish her words, Charlotte suddenly raised her fist, the veins trailing around her arms almost popping out as they wriggled. And then, with a slight release of breath, she suddenly kneeled down, her arm disappearing as she slammed her fist into the Portal.
“!!!”
The people all slightly backed away. However, there was not even a sound, not even a tremble of the ground. Charlotte just slowly stood back up, removing her hand from the Portal and patting off the dirt and moisture that stuck onto it.
And slowly, the Portal in front of her started to disappear. As if a smoke just slowly fading into the skies, and with it, Van’s first experience as an actual Explorer.
Like the Portal lighting up its last ember, the fire of Van’s excitement also turned into ash.
***
“No!”
Inside a certain Portal, the colossal green-haired woman that just woke up from her slumber roared. Her screams, enough to shake the entirety of the Portal itself.
“Stop…” her roars then turned into a whisper. Her remaining arm, trying to cover her ears from the noise that only she could seem to hear,
“…Enough… no more killing…
…please.”
