Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

"The looted mines were not in here. Three mines were looted with the same method this morning, not here but in Bordkly."

The atmosphere in the hall froze after Glenn's words were over. No one said anything for a few seconds, everyone was too shocked to say anything. They looked at each other in silence, then, everyone started to talk all at once.

"W-what? Where? Where did you say?"

"Bordkly?"

"Why there?"

"Are you sure about that?"

Glenn impatiently looked at his watch, tapping the ground with the tip of his foot.

"This is serious. I have to inform the team leader about this as soon as possible."

"Their meeting should be over by now-"

Ding

Elsie stopped talking and turned to the elevator where the sound came from. The elevator's door opened and two people exited it side by side.

"Hmm? Why are you all looking at us like that?"

Deputy team leader Bray tilted her head after noticing that all the people in the hall were staring at her and the team leader.

"They just arrived!"

"Team leader!"

Glenn called out the team leader and approached him hurriedly.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

Seeing the team leader's confused face, Glenn started explaining immediately.

"It's about the mascry mines. Three more mines were looted this morning."

Team leader Bray and the deputy team leader were shocked to hear that.

"Three more?"

"How, what were the guards doing the whole time?"

Glenn waved his hands in the air.

"That's not it. The mines here are all safe. The three looted mines were located in Bordkly."

Deputy team leader Bray's eyes widened and team leader Dains frowned upon hearing that.

The three of them didn't say anything else.

Team leader Dains looked at the other team members that each had a worried face and walked towards his office.

"We have to discuss this issue."

Glenn nodded his head.

"Yes, sir."

"Thea, you take care of the other preparations and meetings regarding the previous mission for now."

"Yes, sir."

Glenn followed the team leader to his office, while the deputy team leader went to her own office to do what she was assigned.

Click

The doors of the two offices closed after the three of them entered them.

"This is not fair, I wanted to hear things out as well."

Asa plopped down on the chair, nagging again as usual as soon as the three people left.

"What will happen now?"

"Nothing good, definitely."

"Sigh."

"Why do so many things happen these days? Did we used to be this busy before?"

"Why would a mere thief go so far to even loot the mines of another county?"

"They definitely aren't normal thieves."

"You think it's a group's work?"

"Who knows? There are just no traces of them."

The unit members started talking again. Unlike before, the atmosphere was tense, not even a little bit similar to the friendly atmosphere a few hours ago. Everyone looked worried and anxious. 

While listening to their conversation, Kairen leaned towards his two friends and asked his question from them in a whisper.

"Hey, why is everyone so worked out about this Bordkly thing?"

"Huh?"

"...Sigh."

Serria turned towards him with a huh, and Reyan sighed silently.

'Why does he sigh so much today? Don't make me feel bad, man.'

Kairen didn't like to ask Reyan to explain about this and that all the time, the thing is that the unit members' behaviors made him worried as well. 

He didn't get why they were acting like this only because some thieves stole some ores. Kairen didn't know much about that Bordkly to start with.

He only knew that Bordkly, their neighboring country, and Hainston had some problems with each other because of Philomns. However, the unit members were too worried that Kairen doubted that it was all.

'Man, you would know more than me even if I had all of Kairen 1's memories.'

As much as Kairen knew, Reyan was from a big family or something like that so Kairen thought that he would know about this thing as well. 

And he wasn't wrong.

Reyan looked around once to make sure that no one was listening to them before opening his mouth and starting to talk in a low voice.

"Well, I don't know all of the details as well. The information about Bordkly is protected. It's hard to get to know anything even for me. As much as I know, the situation hasn't been good at all recently."

"Not good at all? Why? Because of Philomns?"

"Not completely because of that, but it also plays a big role. The two countries didn't have good relations before. You must know that a lot of things happened in the history of these two countries that are still affecting the current relationship between two countries. And then Philomns popped up and just added up to things. It was still fine at first, but then things got out of control."

"Out of control?"

Reyan lowered his voice even more.

"Yeah. Diplomatic relations are getting worse and worse each day. There are problems in exporting and importing goods. Problems for people who want to travel to the other country. Banks also have problems sending and receiving money between the two countries. There are even some small conflicts in two countries' borders these days."

"WOAH!"

Serria's shocked voice was too loud. Loud enough for everyone in the hall to turn towards them. Serria placed her hands on her mouth and lowered her voice.

"Sorry I was just too surprised. I didn't know any of these."

She looked around secretly. Everyone else was busy talking among themselves. She then cautiously opened her mouth again.

"Small conflicts in borders? You mean, people are fighting each other out there?"

"It is not really a fight, but yeah. There are minor battles and such things. Some people even got killed, mostly innocent soldiers. The borders are not too safe these days."

Kairen scratched his chin after hearing those.

"Won't things get worse now? The mascry problem started in here, and now they've targeted Bordkly. Isn't it like how the problems with Philoms started between the two countries? Won't it make the matter worst?"

"That's right. There is a high possibility that Hainston will be blamed for this matter, or maybe more than blamed. It's just a small problem on the surface but it will greatly affect the two countries' relations."

Serria sighed and lowered her head.

"Boy, I didn't know anything about these things. I had no idea. There was nothing in the news or on the internet."

Reyan leaned against the back of his seat.

"Of course there wouldn't be. They are trying so hard to keep these things a secret. It won't be good if people get to know about these things, you know. Even my family doesn't get to know everything."

"Hmm..."

Serria suddenly slammed her knee with her hands and opened her mouth with an excited face, making both Kairen and Reyan flinch.

"Come to think of it. Reyan, your family seems super cool. Isn't that right, Kairen?"

Serria turned to Kairen, waiting for his answer.

"I don't know..."

Serria clicked her tongue.

"Tch! Of course, you don't know. You've fucking lost all of your fucking memories. But even if you don't remember, the Heartz family is really cool and powerful."

Reyan moved a little bit backward, taking some distance from Serria.

"Stop calling my family cool, can you?"

"Why? I mean, you know almost everything. Any kinds of secrets and hidden stuff. That seems super cool. You're also rich and all. Man, I sometimes envy you."

Reyan's serious expression changed to an irritated face.

"There is nothing cool in my family and nothing to envy for."

"Yeah yeah, you can say that Mr.FromAnImportantFamily! You won't get how I feel."

Reyan clenched his fists.

"You're starting to go on my nerves."

Serria scoffed in return.

"Oh, so scared."

Just like that, the two of them started arguing again.

"...."

Kairen silently watched them, wondering how they ended up arguing while they were supposed to have a serious talk. 

How did the conversation even reach this point?

'Well, whatever.'

He didn't interfere and let them argue till they got tired themselves. After all, there was something that he was more worried about than his friends fighting each other.

. . . . . .

"Hello."

Captain Neal glared at him while leaning against the wall with her arms folded. She frowned, her face looking a little bit tired and angry.

"You like to keep me waiting, huh?"

"I wasn't that late..."

"Go inside."

Kairen followed her silently and entered the gym. 

Just like the last time, everyone's gaze turned towards them the moment they entered and people started to talk about captain Neal. 

Kairen could hear them saying 'Who is that punk that comes here with captain Neal.' or 'Why is captain hanging out with that boy.' 

He could understand them though.

'I would probably be curious as well.'

The two of them just walked towards one of the corners of the gym, ignoring all the people around.

They walked towards the place where they trained the other day. It wasn't hard to find where it was as a big black burnt mark was left on the ground. 

Once they arrive at that spot, captain Neal told Kairen to cast the spell again and hit the targets.

Kairen stopped in front of the training targets. He had to cast the same spell he used the last time.