A few minutes before...

"Next time Chirpy is chasing a squirrel"

Angelica blew the hair that fell on her face.

"I'm joining the hunt!"

Angelica looked sideways through the gaps between her hair. The bun on her head had come undone releasing the entirety of the hair on her face.

The squirrel was nowhere to be seen.

Following its inane survival instincts, it seemed to have disappeared into the wild after sensing the murderous aura emanating from her.

'Heh... Wait till I catch you' She laughed menacingly.

Having landed face-first in a state of confusion to minimize injury, Angelica was out cold for a few seconds before regaining consciousness.

"What the..."

Using her hands as a boost, Angelica hoisted herself up and looked at the scene before her eyes.

The grasslands were covered with bluish-green dust particles, which seemed like pollen that was produced by the grass as a result of her impact.

Angelica removed the handkerchief mask on her face as she sat up straight. The mist had completely engulfed the area up until her neck.

"Ahhh..."

Angelica groaned and shook her head to clear the haziness in her mind. She felt a stinging pain in her left temple.

Contrary to her initial assessment the grass did not seem to have any special effect other than its illuminating nature.

It was simply some glossy grass.

So aside from the hit on her head from the fall she didn't feel anything unusual.

"Well, that's a twist" Angelica muttered and crawled her way to the Golden Rosales plant like a toddler.

"Ok. Time to get to work"

But just before cutting the flowers, Angelica paused. She recalled reading the request pamphlet on the guild bulletin board.

'Needed - Golden Rosales Plant

Reward - One hundred gold coins'

The request was for the entire plant. Not just the flowers.

She felt conflicted.

It would be a waste in case she only brought the flowers back and the requester had no use for them.

'Let's just take everything'

Instead of removing the flowers alone, Angelica cut the plant from the bottom leaving only some of the roots behind. That way it can grow back to its previous state in a few months.

Thankfully the branch she was hanging from earlier, had fallen right next to the Golden Rosales plant than on top of it. So there was no particular damage to them.

Using the handkerchief as a handguard from the thorns, Angelica safely secured the plant to transport it without any problems.

Thus the job was done.

Now the only thing left was to safely transport the plant and submit it to the guild to collect the reward.

Dusting off the pollen on her clothes Angelica got to her feet and headed towards the end of the field to pick up her bag.

On the way out she stumbled on something. But there was nothing on the ground.

"Oops.."

When she tried to take another step, she stumbled falling to her knees again.

"Why is the ground so slippery? Is this an earthquake?" Angelica complained as she tried to get up. Then immediately changed her mind after realizing it wasn't going to work.

'Fine. I'll just crawl my way out of here' She rolled her eyes and got on all fours crawling her way out of the mist while being completely submerged in it.

However, there was a major flaw in the assessment.

What Angelica didn't know was that the ground was perfectly fine.

It was she who was tripping on the grass like a newborn calf due to the unsteadiness of her legs caused as a result of the side effects of inhaling a huge dose of concentrated hallucinogenic pollen.

Uncharacteristically, Angelica was feeling extremely relaxed. It felt like taking a hot bath in the cold winter or being wrapped up like a burrito in front of the fireplace while it was raining. But Angelica was too intoxicated to notice the change.

After reaching the edge of the plot, Angelica turned back to find that the mist had finally started to settle down in the grasslands restoring its former mystical appearance.

She carefully placed the plant in her bag so as to not damage it. Then picked up her sword belt and reattached it to her waist, having taken it off earlier to climb the tree.

Suddenly Angelica felt a peck on her shoulder.

"Hmm?"

A small ruby-throated hummingbird with iridescent feathers flew around her in circles while pecking at her shoulder as if to gain attention.

The bird had a mesmerizing glow to it similar to the luminesce nature of the grass.

*chirp* *chirp*

The bird landed on Angelica's finger and nuzzled its tiny head into her cheek. It blinked its round black eyes as it peered into her face.

"Where have I seen you before?" Angelica felt a strange sense of nostalgia on seeing the little bird.

It was like reconnecting with a long-lost friend after years of separation. A familiar yet unrecognizable warmth.

But when she tried to remember her head started throbbing again.

"Argh!" Angelica grimaced but quickly managed to control her facial expressions so as to not scare off the bird.

"Where is your home, birdy?"

The bird tilted its head at the question and started flapping its wings vigorously before flying off into the trees.

"Wait! Don't go!"

'Dammit! I shouldn't have asked that!'

Captivated by the bird, Angelica dropped her bag on the ground and followed it into the forest forgetting about the mission she was on.

The bird flew into the forest radiating a mysterious glow guiding Angelica through the darkness.

Up ahead in the distance peculiar rustling noises were heard.

'Don't birds avoid going in the direction of strange noises? Why are you going that way?'

"Stop! It's dangerous!"

Angelica reached out her hand to stop the bird from flying away. But it avoided her hand each and every time while maintaining a standard distance between them.

As the strange noises were getting closer and closer. The air in the atmosphere contained a musky metallic scent to it.

Just as Angelica was finally able to catch up to the little bird, her hands went right through its body as if the bird was nothing but a mirage.

Angelica blinked her eyes and stared at her empty hand, confused.

"What..."

She looked up to find herself in an unfamiliar place having completely lost memory of how she got there.

Soon a pair of fluffy white ears in the midst of an open ground surrounded by dead monsters came into vision.

'Is that?' Angelica took a step forward and tried to get a closer look. Her heart was beating fast at the sight of the person in front of her eyes.

"Hiyaaaah!"

Out of nowhere, a green goblin lunged at the white figure with a stone dagger in its hands.

And before she knew it, Angelica's body reached by instinct and reached for the sword in her waist.

*slash*

With a single strike, the goblin split into two pieces and fell to the ground allowing her to get a proper view of the person below.

"Baby?"

Angelica couldn't believe her eyes.

Chirpy was in front of her, looking as magnificent as ever.

Unknown emotions welled up when she saw herself being reflected in his grey eyes.

How? How is it possible? He was supposed to be home. He was supposed to be somewhere he was safe.

"Baby?" Eugene asked, confused.

And he was even talking. In the duration of their separation, Chirpy had learned how to talk.

Not knowing he was being mistaken for an entirely different species, Eugene thought,

'Is there a baby around here?'

He stood up as he checked behind him to see if there was someone else around other than him that the jungle woman was calling to.

There was no way she could be calling him. Since he was sure this was the first time he had ever seen her.

He for one never forgot a face.

"Anyway, thank you for the goblin"

Maybe she lost her baby somewhere and was looking for it? Or has she mistook him for someone else?

A series of questions and theories fired inside Eugene's brain.

But the emerald eyes fixed on him had tears at their ends threatening to fall any minute.

It was then he realized the meaning behind her restless look.

"Did you... perhaps... call... me?" Eugene pointed to himself.

Ignoring his questions, Angelica dropped her sword as she walked towards him peering into his face.

Without a warning, she caught him in her arms locked into a tight embrace much to the surprise of the stiff Eugene.

"I missed you" Angelica said, burying her face in his chest.

'How did he find me? Did he chase me all the way to this forest? How long has it been since we last saw each other?'

Angelica was lost in her own world oblivious of the rabbit that had turned to stone within her arms.

"Huh?"

By the time Eugene came back to his senses, it was too late.

He flushed red from the unexpected development and started flapping his hands like a baby bird not knowing where to place them.

But the movement only caused her to tighten her grip around him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you alone"

Eugene calmed down and listened when heard her voice speak in a sorrowful voice.

"Hmm?"

"But I can't. I had to let you go"

"..."

"So everything happens the way it was supposed to. You... You'll forgive me right?"

Though he didn't know who she was or what happened to her, Eugene understood that Angelica was talking from the bottom of her heart.

There was no malicious intent behind her words. Only longing for an unknown person.

"Won't you forgive me, baby?" Angelica asked again.

"Haah..." Eugene sighed and gently patted her head.

"Fine. I forgive you"

Eugene had heard when he was at the local tavern that a lot of mysterious events had been occurring lately. But he brushed it off as hearsay until it happened to him.

For the past fifteen minutes, he had been patting a strange woman who was glued to him like a spooked child while being locked in her arms. No matter how long it took, she didn't seem to have any intentions of letting go.

Being stranded in the middle of a forest while being squished by an unknown stranger surrounded by goblin corpses was not what Eugene had in mind for the day.

"What the hell is happening here!?" Eugene flinched at the sound of the high-pitched voice.

Oliver, a fox beastman and one of the members of the Nero mercenaries appeared from the trees in his beast form. And also the worst person Eugene could have anticipated to catch him.

Oliver stared blankly at Eugene with a flabbergasted expression. In an instant, a sly smirk came out of his mouth as if he had figured everything out.

"Guys. Look what I found!" Oliver yelled, calling out to his colleagues who were searching for Eugene.

"What? Did you find... Holy sh*t!"

Noah, Oliver's twin and the first person to answer his call stopped mid-sentence when he saw Eugene's state. His eyes were as wide as a football pool.

"You... Freakin' fur demon. Is this why you ran off without us?" Noah let out a scoff and covered his mouth.

One by one everyone assembled and witnessed what would later become the turning point in Eugene's life.

"Stop it" Eugene clicked his tongue.

While Jade blankly pointed at the two with a wide-open mouth, Raeden the leader of the group asked a sensible question,

"What happened?"

"I am as equally confused as you are" Eugene answered, raising his arms in the air.

"Umm... can you please let go. My friends are misunderstanding us"

He tapped on Angelica's shoulder only to get no response.

"Any bright ideas?" Eugene turned to his colleagues.

"We do actually" Noah whispered and passed something into his brother's hands.

"But it's gonna hurt"

"?"

Without notice, Oliver threw a stone aimed at the center of Eugene's forehead pitching like a professional baseball player.

"You idiot!" Eugene screamed in pain.

Only then did Angelica lift her head and looked behind her.

"See. Told you it'd work" Noah shrugged and held out his tongue.

At that moment, everyone including Eugene felt a chill run down their spine. The emerald green eyes looking at them were full of hostility.

"You..." Angelica let go of Eugene and stood in front of him.

With a single stomp of her feet, the sword that was on the ground came flying to her hand.

"How dare you hurt him" She spoke in a menacing voice as she shielded Eugene behind her.