"There's nothing here."

Smallsnake shouted as he stabbed the head of one of the wolves on the ground.

"I've also got nothing."

"Nothing here too."

Disappointment flashed Ava and Hein's faces as they also found nothing on the corpses of the wolves.

"Nothing on my side as well."

Leopold also added.

"..."

Looking at them from a distance, sitting on a rock and leaning forward, I fell in thought.

With over thirty wolves dying at my hands, everyone was now trying to see if they could find a core.

The process was relatively slow and tedious; however, the rewards more than made up for it as each core was precious.

Unfortunately, lady luck was not on our side as no one found anything.

This was a given, though.

The chances of finding a core were the same as winning the lottery. Miniscule.

"Huaam."

When I struggled to hold my yawn back, someone sat down next to me and tapped on my shoulder.

"What do we do now?"

Without the need to look back, I could tell who it was by his voice.

It was Smallsnake.

Still sitting on the rock, I turned my head and looked up at smallsnake.

His expression was severe, and with his hand on his chin, he had a pensive look on his face.

"If the chip has indeed started tracking our moves, we should probably not waste time here."

Smallsnake suddenly turned his head and looked at me.

"I think we should stop wasting time over here, and we should get going. According to my estimates, if they send someone to track you, within a week or month, they'll soon catch up to us."

Listening to Smallsnake and patting my pants, I silently stood up.

Scratching the side of my neck and staring towards the direction of where Dromeda city was, my brows furrowed tightly.

"You're not necessarily wrong."

"...Yes, that's why I'm suggesting for us to immediately go right now. The more distance we cover, the harder it is for them to find us."

Closing my eyes slightly, for the next few seconds, I didn't speak.

Then, opening my mouth, I said.

"We proceed at our own pace."

"What?!"

His eyes widened. Standing up, he walked to me.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"...I heard what you said loud and clear."

"Then why did you say that we should go at our own pace?"

"Haa.."

Without answering Smallsnake, I brushed my hair to the side and let out a troubled sigh.

What Smallsnake said wasn't necessarily wrong.

Now that the tracking device was on, the Monolith and possibly even the Union would start hunting me.

On a good note, we weren't in the human domain, which made it harder for them to track me down directly.

Even then, it would only delay their search by at most a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

Still.

Putting my sword back into my dimensional space, I turned my head and looked towards the distance.

"We're going to continue going at our own pace."

My current goal was to travel to the dwarven domain.

The road was a treacherous one. One that was riddled with dangers.

Not only did I have to watch out for dangerous beasts, but I also had to watch out for demons.

Although not exactly close, the demon domain was not that far.

Approaching the situation prudently was the best way to go about things.

Plus.

Squinting my eyes, I muttered.

"Why should we be the hunted when we can just as well be the hunters?"

"h..huh?"

So what if they could track my location?

Who said that they were supposed to be the only ones hunting?

***

At the same time, Ashton city.

By the time Amanda had completed her day's work, the sky was already beginning to darken.

Sitting inside of a black car that was quietly driving through the busy streets of Ashton city, Amanda calmly looked at the ever-changing scenery outside of the window.

"Au.."

Blinking a couple of times, Amanda found that her eyelids were becoming heavier with each passing second.

She was tired.

Having spent most of the day working and working out, Amanda was utterly exhausted.

Quietly driving the car for ten minutes, her assistant, Maxwell, opened his mouth and reminded her.

"Young miss, we're almost there."

"Mhm."

Amanda faintly nodded.

Pulling onto her right cheek, Amanda tried to wake herself up. Right now, she couldn't afford to look tired.

Turning her head and looking at Maxwell, Amanda asked.

"How long till we get there?"

"We're already here."

Maxwell replied with a smile.

Once his words faded, the car soon stopped in front of a familiar building that Amanda had seen multiple times before.

Getting out of the car's driver seat, Maxwell moved towards Amanda's side and suavely opened the door for her.

"Youg miss."

"Thank you."

Thanking Maxwell, Amanda got out of the car.

Wearing a cyan-coloured blouse that was neatly tucked in between her skinny dark pants, Amanda looked stunning. Holding onto a small black handbag in her right hand, Amanda walked towards the building in the distance.

Like in the past, wherever she walked, she attracted the gazes of the nearby people.

Used to this, she promptly ignored the stares and walked towards the building entrance where a relatively older lady was waiting.

She was the care lady.

"Good Evening."

Amanda greeted.

Spotting a familiar figure, the care lady gently laughed.

"Ah, Amanda. It's you today."

"Mhm."

Amanda smiled at the care lady.

Being a frequent visitor, Amanda got along with her quite well.

They were both comfortable making small talk with each other at this point.

"I'll bring you to Nola."

The care lady soon walked into the building, exchanging subtle pleasantries with Amanda.

"I haven't seen you last week. Busy with work?"

"Yes. I've only managed to fit a bit of free time today."

"How wonderful. Nola will be quite excited to see you."

Whenever Amanda visited Nola, she would instantly brighten up and throw herself in her arms.

Such scene had become a common occurrence at the Preschool.

Especially since the scene of the two ladies together looked as though they came straight out of a painting.

"Still, do try to look after yourself. Although I don't know your exact age, you don't look older than twenty. Working so much at your age is not good."

"...I hope so."

A tired smile appeared on Amanda's face.

If possible, she also wanted to work less; however, Amanda couldn't afford to take it easy with her responsibilities increasing each week.

Rumours about her father's absence have slowly started circulating the world.

Fortunately, she was able to keep those rumours in check, but she knew that she didn't have much time left at her disposal.

As such, she was forced to push herself even harder than ever before.

This was also why she couldn't pick up Nola last week.

She felt guilty about this hence why she cleared up her schedule today and decided to surprise her by showing up today.

"We're here."

Walking through the corridors of the building, the care lady and Amanda soon arrived before a particular classroom where a young girl with glossy black hair and deep blue eyes was patiently waiting outside.

Fiddling with her fingers at the classroom entrance and wearing a white and blue one-piece dress, the young girl looked extremely cute.

"Nola, someone is here for you."

Raising her little head, the moment Nola spotted Amanda, her complexion instantly became brighter as she ran up to her and called out.

"Sister!"

"Nola."

Bending down, Amanda extended her hands. Soon Nola jumped into her arms and hooked her arms around her neck.

"Sister!"

"Happy to see me, Nola?"

"Um!"

Hugging Nola back, Amanda lifted her head and looked at the care lady.

"How has Nola been doing?"

Looking at the two with a smile, the care lady responded.

"Good actually, ever since that gentleman came to pick her up last time, she has been a lot more cheerful?"

"Gentleman?"

Amanda titled her head.

"Ah, yes. He came to pick Nola up not too long ago. On the day that you were busy."

Originally Amanda was supposed to pick Nola up on that day, but she had to cancel a week prior due to an emergency board meeting.

"I have to say, ever since that gentleman came, Nola seemed to have become a lot more cheerful."

"...Is that so?"

"Yes."

The care lady replied.

Hesitating, Amanda asked. Her voice filled with curiosity.

Just who could have made Nola so much more cheerful?

"If I may ask, how did he look like?"

"The gentleman?"

"Yes."

"...Well, he looked to be in his forties or something? He seemed to be someone who worked for Nola's parents. So I'm guessing he must be an employee? I'm not sure, though."

"I see."

Listening to the care lady's words, the edges of Amanda's lips curled upward.

Although she had no idea who the individual was, as long as Nola was happy, so didn't care who he was.

Turning her attention back to Nola, who was in her arms, Amanda patted her head.

"Come, it's time to go back."

"Um."

"Thank you for today; I will see you next week."

Standing up and giving a slight nod to the care lady, Amanda took Nola by the hand and brought her back to her car under everyone's stare.

Once they exited the building, Maxwell could be seen waiting in front of the car. Upon spotting Amanda and Nola, he opened the passenger's side door and greeted the two ladies.

"Young miss, little Nola."

"Hello."

"Isn't this our cute little Nola?"

Nola waved her little hand at Maxwell, who gently smiled in response and tapped on her nose resulting in a small giggle escaping from the little girl's mouth.

"Hehe."

Nola reminded Maxwell of his daughter a lot.

She was about the same age as his daughter, and whenever he saw her, he couldn't help but want to tease her a little bit.

Clank!

Once Amanda and Nola entered the car, Maxwell followed suit. Then, pressing on the gas pedal with his toes, the vehicle soon picked up speed and entered the busy streets of Ashton city.

As they were driving, Amanda turned her head and looked at Nola, who was sitting next to her.

"How was your day?"

"Um, good."

Nola cheerfully responded.

"Did something good happen, Nola?"

"Um."

At first, she didn't believe in the care lady's words, but seeing how cheerful Nola was, Amanda became curious.

Just what made her so happy?

"Care to share with me why you are so happy?"

"Hehehe, I met big bwaddar!"

Nola excitedly shouted with a cute smile appearing on her face.

"..."

However, Amanda did not find Nola's smile cute at all.

Once her words faded, silence descended as Amanda's face paled slightly.

Staring at Nola, Amanda's voice shook slightly.

"...Y-you met your big brother?"

"Um!"

A worried look appeared on Amanda's face.

Was Nola still unable to come to terms with the fact that Ren had died? Did it reach the point where she started imagining him?

The more she thought about it, the more her face became worried.

"What did you do with your brother?"

Repeatedly nodding her head, Nola exaggeratedly waved her hands in the air.

"Um. He bring me to eat candy and ice cream. Delicious. And then he also bring me to the park where play with..."

Listening to Nola's words, Amanda limps trembled from time to time.

"Is that so? was it fun?"

Putting on a brave smile, Amanda continued to show interest in Nola's words. But, unfortunately, she could not muster the courage to tell her that Ren had died.

Despite her attempts, the words that she wanted to say remained stuck inside her mouth.

It was then that she realized.

She, too, had still not come to terms with his death.

This was why the more Nola spoke, the stronger the pain in her heart became.

"Um! Um! Swuper fun!"

"...When was this?"

Amanda asked.

Raising her small hand, a troubled frown appeared on Nola's face.

"One...two...thee...four."

Opening the palm of her hand, she slowly tapped on each finger and started to count. Finally, once she paused on her fourth finger, lifting her head she said.

"Fwour days ago!"

"Four days ago?"

"Um."

'Wasn't this on the same day that I was supposed to pick Nola up?' Amanda wondered as the confusion in her mind grew.

Was Nola's situation perhaps due to her not showing up four days ago?

If so, staring at Nola who was still happily counting with her fingers, Amanda's face became troubled.

Slowly, guilt crept up in her heart.

Next chap in an hour.