Or it was supposed to.

It felt more like an awkward interaction with a distant relative rather than a border security interview.

"I was born and raised in Velven"

Ann continued to answer in a flat tone.

Since she had to survive this exchange without creating any suspicions she decided to maintain a neutral persona.

"Antarctica is such a unique name"

But sustaining it without breaking character was a difficulty on its own.

Tozier kept his eyes on the paper, while occasionally scribbling something in the thick ledger.

He was making entries with the information available in Ann's papers in the entry ledger.

"I get that a lot"

'Of course, it's unique. It's the name of a continent that doesn't exist in this world'

"Is it southern?"

"Yes. As southern as you can go"

"Hmm..."

Ann tried to read into Tozier's poker face. But not a single facial muscle on his face moved out of the ordinary, almost as if they were cemented together.

Tozier appeared to be in his late fifties with a salt and pepper look. His short beard had sprinkles of black in them, with veins visible on his forehead. His bear-like build and authoritative aura were enough to convince anyone about his stature among the guards without asking about it. Not to mention the obvious number of stars on his chest.

Ann recalled her Grandmother Maria's portrait in her home. Her armor did not contain any stars but was replaced by a silver eagle to show her position as Commander of the Eagle Knights, which was also the family crest of the Ashfords.

"Age twenty-six. Human. Marital status...... occupied"

Tozier muttered as he read the details mentioned in the paper before asking Ann,

"Occupied?"

"Is that a relevant question?" Ann's face started twitching, losing control of her neutral self.

Instead of answering, Ann frowned and faced Tozier, who was staring at her intently.

As the clock ticked, Tozier stayed silent waiting until she gave him the answer to his question.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Haah.." Ann sighed.

"I have someone I'm interested in. But he doesn't want to marry as of now. Hence occupied"

"Purpose of visit..... mercenary. You are escorting merchants, I see"

"..."

"Have you ever been to Orion before?"

"No. I have never stepped a foot outside my country. So you could say I'm very excited about my visit"

"Do you have any plans to harm the peace of this country?"

"Yeah. I'm planning on bombing a few cities"

"..."

Tozier raised his eyebrows, unamused by her answer. He had stopped right when he was about to stamp her paper approval when he heard her declare terrorism.

"That was a joke. Things like that are terrible. I'm against violence" Ann waved her hands.

"So do you have any plans to harm the peace of this country?" Tozier repeated his question, this time expecting a proper answer.

"No. I don't" Ann answered, looking him in the eye.

"How can I trust that you are telling the truth?" Tozier asked, leaning behind on the chair, stamp in hand.

"Sir, I can assure you that, I am the most honest person you have ever met in your life"

"..."

Tozier gazed at Ann with the corner of his lips curving into a minute smile hidden behind the greys.

He was wondering if the person before him, impatiently glaring at the ledger was real or just a phantasm.

It was as if he was hearing the young lady's voice through someone else.

'What are the odds?'







'Yaaay!' Ann rejoiced, raising her arms in the air.

The way Tozier kept staring her down made her rethink a few things. Instead of entering through the gates, the illegal mountain path would have been less cumbersome. That way she could have skipped the pointless interview as a whole.

"What took you so long?"

Oliver was leaning against a carriage when he saw Ann flail her arms back and forth doing her standard Egyptian mummy dance.

"I was starting to think you were going to be kicked out of the country" Noah scoffed, causing him to earn a punch to the gut.

The twins started complaining as soon as they saw Ann by the tower entrance and rushed towards her, followed by the others.

"I was questioned twice"

Ann leaned on Oliver's shoulder, feeling exhausted.

"Twice? Why?" Oliver asked, removing the dried leaf stuck on her head.

But before Ann could reply, her stomach started to rumble causing everyone to fall silent.

"..."

'Seriously? Now?' Ann gritted her teeth in embarrassment.

Her face turned red till her ears, when her stomach rumbled for the second time, rendering her unable to lift her face.

She did not have to look up to know that Oliver was laughing at her since could feel him trembling all over.

"Here" Eugene held out a peeled fire fruit while holding back his laughter.

Ann peeked at him once, before snatching the fruit of his hand like a hungry fox cub.

"I was asked if I was carrying something dangerous," He continued, thinking back to his interview.

The guard kept asking random questions before finally inquiring about the purpose of his visit. It was the same with the Tullus mercenaries, who frequented between Orion and Velven on a regular schedule.

This seemed to be the standard interview format for everyone.

"Ahem.... What did you say to that?" Oliver asked Eugene, whilst patting on Ann's head only to get hand slapped away.

"Hmm? I said yes. That's why we are escorting it"

"I told him that I'm gonna blast them" Ann said in the middle of chewing the fire fruit.

The nostalgic taste was enough to turn her mood around for the good. Once the food was in her system, the embarrassment she felt disappeared.

"Even my future mother-in-law wouldn't give that intense disapproving look the guard gave me"

"It's getting late. Let's leave"

Raeden looked at the time in his pocket watch. It was quarter past two and most of the people from the entourage had gone for lunch.

Earlier Gallahan had shown him the way to the inn they would be staying in for the night, along with recommendations for lunch.

Then he remembered the keys he got for the rooms.

"Ah...before I forget"

Raden tossed a key towards Noah.

"We got two rooms"

"Then what about me?" Ann tilted her head, pointing at herself.

"Where is my key?"

Since it was festival season most of the inns in the area were fully booked and they were able to get rooms purely due to Gallahans's connections. So getting another open one would be hard, leaving no choice but to share the rooms in two sets.

"What are you talking about sis?"

The twins smiled ominously looming over Ann.

"You are bunking with us"

"No!" Ann wailed in agony.

Although she was not happy about it, Ann and the twins were placed together since they usually bunk whenever the group stayed out. Hence it was nothing out of the norm.

"I don't want to be in the same room as them. I want to be with my baby...Eugene"

Ann whined as the twins dragged her away.





Noah, Oliver, and Ann had decided to get street food from the stalls arranged for the festival instead of going to the inn. And since Raeden, Jade and Eugene had business to talk with Gallahan regarding the traveling route to Parthellam, the group split.

The trio foxes roamed the buzzing streets crowded with people preparing for the festival.

The town square was being decorated with flowers and ribbons for the ceremonial dance.

Children were playing around while the adults were busy with the festival preparations, causing the town to have a cheerful atmosphere. Couples could be seen walking together hand-in-hand on every turn waiting for the festival to begin.

"There you go. Quite a lot of couples this year...hoho" The shopkeeper smiled as she handed them their orders.

"Yeah. It's just our luck"

Ann signed, remembering her non-existent dating life.

Nothing was worse than being a single person in a place filled with lovers and honeymooning couples. But it did not bother her much since she had been around her parents long enough to gain immunity to such things.

Out of her colleagues, only Jade had the gods helping him when it came to love. Everyone else was on their own.

'The woes of the eternal singles'

But who needs a lover when there are chicken skewers!

Chicken skewers are the answers to everything.

After buying a handful of food from different stalls, they decided to ignore the couples and took a seat on one of the benches on the town square to finish their meal.

Right when they finished eating and threw the disposables in the trash can, two familiar figures walked out of one of the stores in the square.

Kalan and Ezra had noticed the trio just as they noticed them and headed in their direction.

"Mr.Kalan" Ann called out to Kalan, her eyes darting on the box in his hand.

"Shopping?"

"Yes" Kalan answered, keeping the box in his inside coat pocket.

It was an obvious answer since the store that Kalan and Ezra had just come out of was an accessory store focused on female customers.

'A gift for his wife perhaps?'

Ann wondered, seeing him handle it with care.

Soon her attention turned to Ezra. He had a bunch of papers in his hand in a loosely bound binding that may fall apart any moment.

Ezra had purchased the binder at the store but did not have enough time to put it together because of a certain someone, who would remain unnamed. So instead he placed the papers in as a whole to fix later.

"Everyone settled for the day?" Kalan asked, bringing her attention to him.

"Yeah. They left for the inn but we just decided to explore the area"

"First time in Orion?"

"It's the first time for all three of us"

Suddenly a group of kids playing on the street crashed into Ezra causing him to drop a few of the papers from his binder on the ground.

Ezra hastily began to gather them with the help of one of the kids that stayed behind while the rest ran away. The little boy bolted away into the crowd after helping gather everything.

Ann picked up the paper near her feet and read out the name written in beautiful penmanship.

"Kalan Verglas"

'Crap! I read it out loud'

She belatedly realized her mistake and returned the paper to Ezra. It was the request letter for the relic transportation into Orion.

"Oh. Sorry for reading it without your permission. That was rude of me"

'I thought Kalan was his last name'

"There is no need to apologize. It's..." Kalan didn't finish his sentence.

"Then, we'll be on our way"

Ann awkwardly bid farewell to Kalan and Ezra, then left the place followed by her henchmen.

After coming to a safe distance Ann asked the twins with a serious expression,

"Did you find it?"

"Yes. There are four in this place" Noah pointed at the street up ahead of them.

The thing that Ann had asked the twins to find before she went for her interview was the locations of the information guilds present in Lorem. It was the real reason she decided not to return to the inn despite being tired.

There were three prominent information guilds present in Lorem along with a rundown building which was also considered as one.

But the place they were currently standing in front of was a book store opposite the rundown information guild.

The three entered the book store and browsed through the collections, each going off to a different section.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" The clerk asked Ann, who came to the billing counter empty-handed.

"Yup. Something better" Ann smiled, looking at the hidden insignia behind the clerk.

Because hidden in plain sight the bookstore was a front for the infamous information guild,

'The Third Eye'