Michael and Hao are currently inside an army tent, and before him is the stern looking Captain with other soldiers inside who are busy with their work on the machines inside.
"Michael Grey? So the rumors were true huh, you're that guy with that very cute Beast Spirit on your shoulders and very popular among the women in the TA" said the Captain of the company of one hundred thirty soldiers, who were sent here to the mountains to secure the small rift dungeon.
Scratching the back of his head from being a little embarrassed, Michael replied saying, "Haha, yes sir"
"And I heard you're also pretty close with the Summer Queen?" asked the Captain after a little hesitation, and when he uttered those words, the soldiers working on the machines around him pricked their ears up in all seriousness.
Michael didn't think that there was any underlying meaning beneath the man's words, so he just replied to him with a smile saying, "Yeah, we grew up together. Why..why are you bringing her up?"
"Well, nothing in particular. I just want an autograph from her" said the Captain casually, like it wasn't a big deal at all, but anyone with eyes could clearly see the embarrassed look on his face as he tried to play it cool.
"Huh? What?"
Michael couldn't help but be dumbfounded as he wasn't expecting those words from him at all.
"You know, we hadn't "secured" a proper perimeter earlier, if you know what I mean" said the Captain with that knowing look and smile on his face.
Michael could only softly groan inside as he knows that the soldier before him is forcing him to bribe him with Summer's autograph, and in exchange, he would turn a blind eye at what he did earlier of trespassing on military grounds.
"Alright, I'll get one for you, but you need to give me time to get it" answered Michael helplessly as he knows that he doesn't have any other choice but to agree to his request because he knows that the recently discovered dungeon outside the tent is not open to the public yet, and he would certainly get into trouble for this even though it would only be a minor problem with his current status.
But Michael doesn't want a black mark on his clean personal record as he is...a law abiding citizen!
Sort of!
So you want an autograph? Then an autograph you'll get!
The Captain's face suddenly beamed in delight and couldn't help but exclaim in happiness, "Alright! Lez get it boy~!"
Michael and the rest of the soldiers inside the tent were all dumbfounded as they looked at their Captain who was usually so stern to them, now acting like a little kid who had just gotten his wish come true!
Then the Captain finally realized the blunder he made, and so he just tried to cough it off and resumed his stern expression.
"I mean, if it isn't a bother, why not right? Hahaha~!"
And then the people around him couldn't help but burst into laughter, including Michael who was on the verge of tears trying to hold it in!
"Hahaha, I told you guys before that our Captain's a real fanboy!"
"We had long known about it! He's Summer Queen's number one fan!"
Hearing the chatter around him, the Captain's face couldn't help but flushed red in anger and embarrassment!
"Ya! All of you are to run five laps around the mountain...this instant!"
Hearing his order, the eyes of all the soldiers inside the tent bulged out in an instant and all of them groaned in distress.
"Captain! This…"
The Captain looked at them with eyes flaring in anger and yelled, "Are you disobeying my orders!?"
"Sir! No, sir!"
All of them quickly stood up in attention and called out in indignation before running out of the tent and started their journey down and around the mountain.
Michael looked at the seven soldiers running through the path down the mountain and couldn't help but ask out loud, "Are they gonna be fine?"
"It's fine, they've faced far worse" said the Captain with a laugh.
Michael just smiled at what the man said, "Anyway, I'll get going then...Captain?"
The Captain hurriedly stopped him and said, "Don't be in a hurry. My men will accompany you down the mountain"
Startled, Michael hurriedly said while waving his hands before him, "W-what!? No, it's fine. Me and Hao can go down by ourselves. It's not like we're kids or something"
Snap!
The Captain snapped his fingers with a serious expression on his face saying, "You're absolutely right! But let me finish, I'm sending my men down with you because we also need to inform your village chief about the dungeon that appeared on this mountain. So it would be more convenient if you ride with them on our army jeep"
'This soldier has too much of a humorous side to him' Michael had that thought when he finally realized the kind of personality of the person before him.
"I see, but I'll have to disembark when we reach the foot of the mountain as I left my bike there" Michael said as he didn't want to argue with the soldier before him as he just wanted to leave this place, fast!
"Good!" The Captain smiled as he then picked the soldiers who would go with Michael.
"Captain, before I leave. I just want to ask, when will the dungeon here be available to us?' asked Michael the moment the Captain came back to the tent.
The soldier thought for a second before saying, "Around two to three days, I think. I'm not sure though as it would depend on when the dungeon break would happen, so we'll have to observe its pattern before we can make a conclusion"
"I see, then...have there been any Supers who tried going inside those rifts before?" Michael asked as he was genuinely curious about it.
After all, the government may be hiding some information from the general public, so he wanted to ask about it.
Hearing Michael's question, the Captain just smiled and didn't bother answering him.
But his silence was enough as Michael already got the answer he wanted.
'So, there were attempts to go inside. I wonder what they saw on the other side?'
Without further ado, Michael and Hao, who had been silent since the beginning left with three soldiers on an army jeep.
When Michael and company left, the Captain looked at the softly glowing rift in the middle of the camp deep in thought.
'Yeah, but no one came back'