When two days passed by like nothing after enjoying the event, a system message appeared at 9AM.
[Stage #11 is about to begin in an hour!]
[Please proceed to the grassland!]
"Captain, here's the items that you have requested from me." Mirai spoke, handing me the objects.
"Thank you, Mimi." I gave her a refreshing smile after having a look at the items which I had requested from her.
As I was confirming the quality of the items, I found HwanGi walking up to me with Mya holding his hand once again.
When they got close, Mya moved her head up, staring at me before lowering down her gaze.
'If Mya can't prove to her father that she is capable on her own, I might have to force her to go.'
Despite thinking that way, I hoped for that possible ending to not come true, wishing for Mya to do her best to win her father's approval.
"Mya, I got a gift for you." I crouched down, giving her the clothing that Mirai had made.
Mya glanced at the new clothing she got before looking at me in the eyes and said. "T-Thank you.. I'll do my best from now on.."
I ruffled her head with a grin on my face before suddenly hearing HwanGi talking to me. "JoonChul-ssi, I don't think this is right for her to go into dangerous places.."
I told Mya to get herself changed, watching her leaving the area before I started talking to HwanGi. "A player must go to wherever the system tells them to."
"But she's just a 12 years old child! You can't just teach her how to fight and defend for herself in a hostile environment!"
"What? For your information, I'm doing this for her future." I got up, standing in front of HwanGi and locking my gaze on him.
HwanGi startled a little when I suddenly stood, but he kept on saying what he thought. "What kind of future is it that a child like her gets shoved into a life-threatening situation?!"
As I listened to his stupid rants, I gritted my teeth and spoke while trying to keep a cool head. "It's a player's future, HwanGi-ssi. A player's future."
"A player's.. what?"
"Do you wish to see her get killed? Or get burned to death? Or in another higher possibility, she may get frozen to death."
"I can protect her, myself!"
"You mean that time you tried to save a random player but instead got saved by Mya? It's pointless if you can't even defend yourself, let alone Mya."
"I.." HwanGi bit his lower lip after what I said.
"Eh.. N-Now now. You two should stop arguing! We got a message to go to the grassland, so why not go there quickly before the 'Helpers' appears, okay? Okay!"
Alaine pushed me and HwanGi away from each other before seeming nervous around us.
Not long after, Mya arrived back to HwanGi's side with her new attire as she showed me how she looked.
It was archer clothing with a hood. It was designed to be compatible for her body, making certainty that it wouldn't affect her performance while in battle.
Not only that, I had advised Mirai to use pliable silks for Mya's archer attire which would be helpful for Mya in the future once she gets used to her Hidden Skill.
'Ah, one final touch.' As I remembered, I took out the quiver and bow in my inventory that I had bought from the weapon store in town.
I said before handing her those items. "Take this quiver and recurve bow."
In spite of Mya being hesitant of me for a while now, she was faintly getting used to having me around and talking to her.
And so, she picked up the quiver and bow, wearing the quiver filled with arrows on her back and holding the bow.
"Give it a try, Mya." Alaine being excited by the gifts I have given to Mya, eagerly convinced Mya.
"O-Oh, okay.." Mya timidly spoke, taking an arrow out of the quiver before drawing her bow with the arrow.
As she was preparing to aim, it appeared as though she didn't know where to aim.
'She doesn't have a target to shoot at.' I thought as I was taking notes of how she was using her how.
With everyone watching her, including her father who had his eyes on Mya the whole time while he was at the counter, It must have put a load of weight on Mya's shoulders to have everyone witness her every movement.
Even after a short time had passed, Mya couldn't find a target she could shoot at, it was because she was getting tense to even focus with all the attention she was having.
I thought I should try to help her but it seemed like someone got to it first. I grinned when I saw who it was that was giving a boost to Mya's confidence.
———
'Can I really do this..? Everyone is watching me right now..! I can't fail..!' Mya mused while shutting her eyes.
During this, unexpected hands were placed on Mya's shoulders, hearing a voice and sensing the encouragement coming from that soft voice.
"You can do this. Ignore all eyes and focus on what's in front of you. Once you find your target, take your aim." Mya looked over to find it was Mirai who was encouraging her.
And to think JoonChul's friend who Mya didn't know much of, was supporting her. It was enough to make Mya listen to Mirai's encouragement.
That was when an apple was thrown upward, catching the attention of Mya.
She locked her sight on the target, gulping down her saliva before releasing her arrow to precisely pierce the apple.
Mya shot while the apple was falling, making it much harder to shoot and yet, she didn't expect herself to manage to hit the apple completely.
"I d-did..it?" She panted for a moment, watching the apple dropping into the hands of JoonChul.
As he examined the apple and arrow, he removed the arrow and gave it back to Mya.
The words that came out of JoonChul's mouth, almost made Mya's eyes well up. "You did a perfect job on handling the precision and the bow, Mya."
Hearing JoonChul's praise caused Mya to become shy all of a sudden, even Mirai joined in on praising Mya.
"For a sweetie like you to exceed my expectations, you're really a talented archer."
"T-Thank you, miss.." Mya felt shy and couldn't help but smile from the praises she was getting from everybody around her.
JoonChul, Mirai, Alaine, HwanGi, even her own sisters complimented Mya, however, there was one person she wished to be praised from. It was her dad.
'Is this not enough for dad to even praise me..?' Mya frowned after seeing her father staying at the counter without walking toward her and applauded her.
"Mya, why are you sad? You should be proud of yourself, silly." Alaine cupping Mya's cheeks with a delightful smile, cheered up Mya.
"Also, you don't want to miss your first time being in a Stage, right? So let's hurry there." With Alaine holding onto Mya's hand and pulling her outside of the tavern, Mya couldn't even have the chance to say anything to Alaine.
———
As every player moved toward the designated location, it was only a matter of time before we reached it.
As a matter of fact, the grassland was an unforgettable place, since it was the first ever place where everyone suddenly transported into this world.
For anyone to forget something like this could only be a forgetful person.
Moving toward the grassland, me and my team crossed a newly built bridge as a shortcut to get closer to our destination.
Once I laid my eyes on the bridge, it reminded me of the time when HwanGi and the original JoonChul ran over the wooden bridge.
'The former JoonChul was right when he said this was a shortcut.. Even without my memories, he was able to figure this out in that moment.' I thought, chuckling while remembering the past.
Alaine, being curious as she was, asked the question to HwanGi. "Why are we taking the bridge instead of the normal route..?"
Mya, having heard Alaine's question, gave her the answer. "Aunty, the 'Kingless' kingdom is in the shape of a flower. With two leaves on either sides for the commoners, the top being the flower acts as the place for the nobles and in the middle is where the royal family live."
"Ohh! That's fascinating but that doesn't explain why we're taking this bridge.."
"The stem is the long and large path that we were walking on earlier.. if we were going to leave by the left side, we would need to walk longer while entering the forest."
"Hmmmm. Uh.. ah! I got it. Entering the forest would have delayed us much longer with monsters blocking our way, but since we're taking the bridge where the end of the stem is.."
"We'll encounter less monsters and can get close to our location quickly.."
"Ah, you're a clever girl, Mya!" Alaine clapped her hands.
'I wonder why Alaine didn't even know about the kingdom when she was already living there for about 10 Stages?' Having pondered that, I was curious to see if HwanGi knew more about the kingdom much more than Alaine.
Thus when I looked at HwanGi, his expression was telling me something was definitely not right.
At that moment, I felt disappointment and speechlessness at the same time. 'Don't tell me he didn't even know about this information? I.. I have no words to say to this.'