“I have been waiting for this for a long time,” Cecilia said, cracking her knuckles, as she glanced at the forest around them. “Should I just pick a random direction?”

  “It is all the same…” Alnea said, trailing off towards the end, as he glanced around the forest, pausing for a moment, before quickly grabbing Cecilia’s hand, stopping her from rushing out. “Wait, I forgot something.”

  “What is it?” Cecilia said, staring at Alnea with a pout. “Didn’t you say that we should start exploring the Final World?”

  “Before we start, let us make a few things clear,” Alnea said, ignoring Cecilia’s dissatisfaction, as he let go of her hand. “Our objective this time is not to fight, but to check our surroundings for any potential dangers, and clear them away in as little time as possible. At least, before the Final Trial starts, we need to have our own territory. A safe territory, which can act as our base in the Final World, and where we can fall back in case of emergencies.”

  Alnea paused, and glanced at the swamp behind him, before turning around to continue his words.

  “Since we have already taken care of the Phantom Frog, let us just use this area as our temporary base.”

  “This area?” Cecilia said, blinking her eyes, and pointing to the swamp behind him. “You mean this swamp?”

  “Not exactly,” Alnea said. “The swamp is just a part of the Phantom Frog’s territory. I am talking about all the area within a thousand metres of this swamp.”

  “That is indeed a good idea,” Vestia said, nodding pensively. “The Phantom Frog has already completed half of our work by deterring most of the Oren Beasts away from its territory. Those that remain are just some Initial and Intermediate phase beasts. And after the ruckus you made earlier, most of them should have chosen to flee for their lives. We just have to deal with the ones that are still stubbornly holing down in this area, and we would have secured a base in no time.”

  “Still, a swamp…”

  “…Swamps have their own advantages. And no one is asking you to go take a dip in them… Unless necessary…”

  “What did you say at the end?”

  “I said, this is just a temporary base we are preparing in case of emergencies. Let us first secure this area, and then we can expand outwards to look for a better base.”

  “…I guess, that is fine too,” Cecilia mumbled, letting go of her disgust towards the swamp. Putting on a grin, she squatted down to Forne’s side, and scratched her back. “Let’s go, Forne. You want to leave this damp forest too, right? Let’s go look for a new base.”

  “After securing this base,” Alnea reminded, to which, Cecilia responded by waving her hands.

  “It is the same thing. Anyways, we are leaving this swamp behind us.”

  “…Why are you so disgusted by the swamp?”

  “…Bad memories, I guess?”

  “You have been to a swamp before?”

  “Do you think I had been living in a hut before meeting you?”

  “…A mansion, perhaps?”

  “…Anyways, I just do not like swamps.”

  “Understood. We will try to find a base camp that is not near a swamp,” Alnea said, before glancing at the rest of his teammates. “Does everyone remember their position?”

  “I am the scout,” Cecilia said. “And the vanguard.”

  “One of the vanguards,” Norren added, twirling the twin swords in his hands. “Do not forget about me.”

  “Fran and I will take care of our defence,” Vestia said. “And of course, I will always be ready to switch with Cecilia in case we need to investigate water bodies.”

  “Aren and I will provide support to our vanguards by interfering with our enemies,” Ralph said with a grin, forgetting the unpleasant position he had been put in by Yuri a few moments ago.

  “And hold back any enemies that might pop out unexpectedly,” Aren added, rolling his eyes at Ralph.

  “They are the same things,” Ralph said sheepishly, deliberately avoiding Yuri’s gaze.

  “Look, how you have scared him,” Alnea said, trying to hold in his laugh, but was not able to fool Yuri.

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  “Focus on the discussion, or do you want me to scare you too?”

  “…As long as you remember your duties,” Alnea said, easing Ralph out of his embarrassment.

  “It’s fine,” Zain said, letting out a confident laugh. “You can leave your backs to me. Even if you make some mistakes, as long as I am there, I will take care of everything.”

  “…Learn how to take care of yourself first.”

  “What do you mean by that? Do you still not recognise who I am?”

  “…An idiot?”

  “Huh, ignorant fool. Look closely, for I am the emergency scout of our team. The only person who has solutions to handle all situations.”

  “…Anyways, this idiot and I will be the rear guard of our team, and provide support according to the situation.”

  “That only leaves you two…”

  “I will be acting as the vanguard with Norren and Lia, and will take up the role of the team’s scout when necessary,” Alnea said, and glanced towards Yuri. “Other than that, I will also be directing our movements, but as we discussed earlier, I might not have the leisure to direct everyone when in battle, so Yuri will be acting as our commander in battles. It is also for this reason, that she will not have any fixed position, and will move as the situation demands. Does anyone have any questions?”

  While everyone shook their heads, Cecilia hesitantly raised her hand, and said, “Which direction should we explore first?”

  “It does not matter. Anyway, we will have to cover all the directions if we want to clear everything within a radius of a thousand meters, so just pick any direction, and let’s begin with it,” Alnea said to Cecilia, before glancing at his other teammates. “What about the rest of you? Do you have any other questions.”

  This time, everyone shook their heads.

  “Good, then everyone, assume your position.”

  Cecilia took a brief glance at their surroundings, before asking Forne to pick a direction. Smart choice. Alnea wondered why he had never thought of it before, only to suppress that thought the very next moment, and Clear right it away. Like Yuri had said, it was best not to rely too much on the favour of Fortune, or it might backfire against him one day. Maybe, it was a Fortune in itself, for him to have never relied on the cat’s innate affinity.

  Regardless, the Final World was not exactly the kind of place where he could indulge in his thoughts. There were still many potential dangers lurking around them, waiting to be cleared. So, Alnea tore his eyes away from the cat, and glanced at his teammates. They were all looking at Cecilia with weird expressions, but did not question her choice. Instead, they chose to make their own preparations, beginning with putting their weapons away.

  The only reason they even had their weapons out, was because they had been looking for their Captain till just a while ago, and often had to move independently, thus necessitating their guard against unexpected attacks. The same reason why they had come to the Final World baring their weapons. But that was in the past. Since they were going to begin moving as a team, there was no need to wave their weapons around at imaginary enemies.

  All things aside, running with their weapons bared was bound to slow them down, and might even delay their reaction, not to mention the extra burden it would put on their bodies. Alnea had trained his body with the Blood Forging Style to a relatively high level, enough to compete with most peak phase Oren Beast in just physical strength alone. Even then, he still had to keep his sword sheathed when he was not swinging it around to not affect his movements.

  Besides, most of the Star Seekers were not even good at using weapons in the first place. And with the position they were going to hold, they would not have much use for their weapons either. As such, except for Norren, Fran and Vestia, everyone put away their weapons, and took out their Glyph Tools. Or at least those who were going to use their Glyphs did.

  After putting his staff away, Zain just sifted his hands through his hair, making all kinds of poses, while staring into the depths of the forest. Even when no one was watching him, he still could not let go of any chances to make himself appear enigmatic. As if that would support his claim of being the most talented Arcanist. Though the way Norren kept twirling his twin swords in his hands, and sliding them smoothly into their new sheaths tied to his waist, only to take them back out in the very next moment and repeat the process, was not any better than Zain’s pompous show.

  Vestia, on the other hand, was much better than the two. At least she did not deliberately play with her weapons to draw attention to herself. The fact that everyone still could not help themselves from glancing her way was just a testament to how mesmerising she looked with her bow. A long bow, almost half as long as her height, and blue in shade, just like her robe. And just like her features, the figures and Glyphs on the bow were also carved exquisitely, making it look more like a work of art than a weapon.

  Yet, anyone who had dared to underestimate either the bow, or the girl holding the bow, had paid dearly. Many a times with even their lives. Especially the Oren Beasts and Wanderers who had gone after her in the desert. For the moment though, Vestia just hung her bow on her shoulders, ready to use it at a moment’s notice, before turning towards him with her mesmerising smile…

  Alnea hurriedly suppressed his loud heart, and shifted his focus from Vestia to Fran. In contrast to his flamboyant teammates, Fran preferred to keep himself restrained. Though his outburst of emotions a few days ago did affect his mood, he had returned to his normal self after taking the treasures Alnea had suggested. As such, while a few of his teammates were showing themselves off, Fran just hung his shield, almost as long as his arms, and half as wide, on his back, before shifting his focus to their scout.

  The green robed girl, squatting next to the black cat, was enticing it to choose a direction for them to explore. The cat, in return, was demanding rewards for its hard work. After some back and forth, the two finally came to an agreement, with both of them nodding in satisfaction. The cat then glanced around the forest, and sniffed a little, before lifting up its right paw and pointing in a random direction. Cecilia, in turn, caressed the cat’s head with satisfaction, before standing up, and stretching out her limbs.

  Meanwhile, the Star Seekers just watched the ridiculous interaction between the two in silence. Had Cecilia not proven herself as an excellent scout in the time they had spent exploring the Black Desert, they might not have been able to hold themselves back from speaking out their doubts. Since they were a team though, and trusted their Captain’s decision, they could only do their best in their roles, and hope that others did the same.