The Author's POV-Novel

"Are you fine with going with me? Is your father okay with it?"

"There should be no problem..."

Amanda delicately carried the dishes over to the expansive table, which was elegantly adorned with a nice cloth that featured a floral pattern in shades of purple.

"Going where?"

Speak of the devil.

Edward appeared out of nowhere behind the two of us like a hawk before we could even finish setting the table with the dishes.

Amanda calmly looked at him.

"We're going on a short trip."

"Where exactly?"

"I'm not sure myself."

Amanda shrugged, and Edward looked at me.

I looked back at him and also shrugged.

"Don't look at me. My lips are sealed."

"...Is it dangerous?"

"Very."

I seriously nodded my head, and Edward's face slowly darkened.

Taking note of his darkening face, I quickly added.

"If you're worried about her safety, you shouldn't be. I'm also going with her. With me there, nothing's going to happen to her."

"...That makes me even more worried."

Edward commented, prompting my brows to furrow.

"I'm stronger than you."

"Are you now?"

Edward moved forward, crackling his fist in front of me.

Not wanting to be outdone, I also took a step forward. Natasha, however, intervened between the two of us and smiled at Edward before I had the chance to take any action.

"Now, now...how about you stop causing trouble. The whole reason we're having this dinner is because they'll be leaving soon. Let's be honest now; staying in the human domain is not really that safe either."

"But I'm here. I can protect―"

Edward grumbled, but he cut himself off in the middle of his sentence. After observing that Natasha's face was becoming darker, he decided to keep his mouth shut and take a seat.

The top executives of the Demon Hunter guild had their own opulent apartment built within the territory of the guild, which we were currently occupying.

Edward did not decide to live in the mercenary headquarters as my parents did, as he was capable of providing for his own safety and because he was responsible for running a guild.

"Stop fighting, you two; the food is ready."

My mother emerged from the kitchen carrying what appeared to be a large hot tray that held a large chicken. On the tray was also something that looked like a large knife.

"We're here to see Amanda and Ren off before they leave; let's not sour the mood."

She was very careful as she placed the chicken on the table and patted her hands on the apron that she was wearing.

"Are you fine with them leaving for so long?"

Edward asked, seated opposite my mother.

"I am certainly not happy, but it's not like I can stop him. For as long as he tells me that he's leaving, then I'm mostly fine with it."

"Well...fine."

Edward sat back in his chair and relaxed while pouring a glass of wine for himself.

After he had finished filling his cup, he looked over at my father, who had sneakily taken a seat at the table next to my mother, and he extended the wine glass to him.

"Do you want some?"

"No, thank you."

My father politely refused with a smile on his face.

Before Edward could insist, I chimed in.

"He can't take alcohol."

"Huh?"

Edward looked stunned for a moment as he pointed at the bottle in his hand.

"But this is wine. I'm sure he won't get drunk off of this..."

"You'll be surprised..."

I cast a sidelong glance in the direction of my father but paid no attention to the change in expression that appeared on his face and continued.

"He can even get drunk off of beer. It won't ma―"

"Ren."

I stopped speaking the moment that I heard my father's voice.

Without looking at him, I picked up my fork and leaned toward where the chicken was, trying to get a piece of it.

At the same time, I tried to change the topic.

'I spoke too much.'

"This chicken looks very ni―"

Slap―!

"Ow."

I wasn't even close to getting to the chicken when someone smacked me in the hand.

It turned out that my own mother was to blame, and she gave me a stern look in response.

"Who told you to go ahead and eat first? Wait for everyone to sit down first before taking the food."

"But―"

"No buts. I didn't raise you to be this rude. Now that we're at it, you'll be the last one to eat."

"Pfttt..."

The instant I heard a laugh coming from my right side, my face darkened, and my head snapped in that direction immediately afterwards.

The only problem was that Amanda had a blank expression on her face as she sat quietly with her posture correct and her eyes focused on the food.

She was clearly feigning ignorance.

"You thought it was funny, didn't you?"

I asked, leaning closer to her. My eyes squinting.

"No."

Amanda looked back at me, her face expressionless.

My eyes furrowed tightly.

"You think I wouldn't be able to hear your laugh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Amanda continued to feign ignorance, and my eyes turned into thin slits.

"I see... I see..."

I slowly nodded my head and took my eyes away from her.

'So be it. Pretend that you don't know. I'll see how you deal with you later.'

As if I would let something like this slide.

There was also the matter regarding the black eye that I needed to pay her back for. Well, that was mainly my fault...but I wasn't going to let that slide.

"Come, Nola, sit next to your brother."

Nola, who was preoccupied with her phone when she arrived, was the last person to take a seat at the table.

At this point, I had no choice but to admit that she was a full-fledged addict. It seemed like every time I saw her; she had her face buried in her phone.

...But I couldn't really blame her.

Her addiction was understandable, given that she did not have any friends with whom she could play in light of our current circumstances.

'I probably would've been no different from her had I been in her circumstances.'

In any case, she was apparently raising a 'pet', and she needed to take care of it constantly.

"Noooo, ma! noo!"

Nola immediately began to object when our mother took the phone away from her hands.

"We're about to have dinner. I'll give the phone back to you later."

"No, but I didn't feed Ren yet."

"Hm?"

I turned my head to look at Nola. What did she mean by feeding Ren?

Was she afraid that I would not get anything to eat since I would be the last one to eat?

I could feel the edges of my lips curl upward.

'How sweet of her.'

"You can feed him later. Eat first."

"No, bu―"

"No buts!"

The moment my mother raised her voice, Nola's mood immediately took a turn for the worse, and she stomped her way over to the seat next to mine, grumbling the whole way.

'Why does this scene look familiar?'

For some odd reason, it reminded me of the scene that occurred a couple of minutes ago with the chicken and me.

...I was probably overthinking things.

With a large pouty face, Nola fiddled with the utensils in front of her.

'Cute.'

Her current appearance was nothing short of cute.

Leaning my body over to her, I smiled.

"Nola, you don't have to worry about feeding me. There will definitely be food for me later. Though I do appreciate the fact that you're thinking about me."

I patted her gently on the head, only to have my hand shoved back a little.

Nola gave me a sulky look while muttering to herself and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Her appearance was nothing short of adorable.

"Who wants to feed you?"

"What do you mean? Didn't you just say that you wanted to feed me?"

"No?"

Nola looked at me, confused.

I looked back at her, also confused.

"No, I think I clearly remember you saying that you wanted to feed me."

"No?"

Nola shook her head, her expression even more confused than before.

"Wait, what? Did I mishear?"

"She was referring to her pet.. its name is Ren."

I heard my mother's voice coming from across me before I could say anything else.

"Eh..."

"Pfttt.."

My face froze, and I heard another muffled laugh coming from beside me.

My lips twitched ever so slightly, and I moved away from Nola.

'It looks like she finally reached her rebellious phase.'

Nola changed.

She was no longer the sweet little sister of the past.

The thought that Nola was no longer the same adorable little girl who had been so attached to me in the past caused an immense amount of pain in my chest.

In the midst of my despair, I didn't forget to look at Amanda, who was beside me.

"...Don't think for a second that I didn't notice your laugh."

"..."

She possessed the same expressionless look that she had previously displayed throughout all of our interactions.

She then cocked her head to the side to look at me, her fine brow raising slightly.

"Yes?"

"Hahaha."

I laughed.

Of course, it wasn't a laugh out of joy but one filled with spite.

'This...I'm definitely remembering this...'

***

Alliance headquarters, Monday.

"Huaam...hurry up, I've got a lot of work to do."

Kevin yawned while his eyes wandered about the room, finally pausing on Ren and a couple of other people.

He shifted his attention to Ren.

"How did you manage to convince them to follow you?"

"Well..."

Ren scratched the inside of his cheek before looking behind him, specifically in the direction of Jin and Melissa, who both wore similar expressions.

In short, they weren't very pleased.

"Keum."

Ren coughed, immediately shifting the topic of conversation away.

"So, are you ready? Cus I'm ready to go, and so are the others. Let's just go."

He waved his hand and tossed a small yellow orb in Kevin's direction.

Catching it with his hand, Kevin looked at it and secretly sighed.

"Alright, I'll start the portal. You guys get ready."

Kevin already knew beforehand that Ren had bribed Jin's grandfather and used some sort of bribe to convince the likes of Jin and Melissa to follow him.

'He's probably regretting his past decisions about kidnapping Jin...'

By now, he would probably know that making him come was as easy as convincing his grandfather, which wasn't all that hard.

Still. it was no longer any of his business anymore.

"Get ready."

Kevin gave a heads up to the others present before he crushed the orb in his hand, and a familiar scene materialized in front of all of them.

The mana in the room started to become more concentrated, and thin threads of various colours began to form in the space directly in front of him.

Within the space of a minute, the threads came together to form a massive portal that loomed over the expansive room that they were in.

Making sure that everything was working properly and the coordinates to the portal were indeed set to Melandoir, Kevin took a step back and looked at the others, extending his hand.

"My job is done; your turn."