After 4 more days of staying inside the Kilrun Duchy, Ryker and his group, with the addition of Hylla were about to leave. After they send the crying uncle back to his mansion.
"Take me with you," the man pleaded, making Ryker question the man's identity as the Duke of Kilrun Duchy and a Noble expert, even though he confirmed the former while he was present during the latter.
"Uncle, please let go and do your job leading the Duchy," Hylla told the man, pushing him away while the three main subordinates pulled their lord, all asking him the same thing.
Soon, he released her, but not before giving her another hug, one she returned as tears fell from her eyes as well.
"Uncle, you can let me go now,"
"...."
"Huh, Ryker, grabbed the stick,"
-x-
After the rather embarrassing scene they had made, it was a good thing only a few people were present less they would question the credibility of the Duke, Hylla turned to look at him, "So, what is our plan?" she asked.
"We are going to the core of Birak Kingdom, that is our goal for the near future. We will also take the chance to see if there are any treasure areas or hidden realms along the way," Ryker answered her.
The woman nodded before turning her head back to the road. The Duke had given them new steads to replace their old ones, though he still kept Terrablitz even if his strength was low.
The Duke decided not to push giving them new steads as he could see how close they were, courtesies of being his horse for the entirety of their travel.
As of now, they are heading towards a nearby County, Ryker hoping to find any treasured area and claim any resources he found. Even if the harvest is not as great as what he received from the Duke, one given due to his contribution, it still helps him a lot as he still is a 7th Stage Genesis Source expert.
-x-
"And that's another one," Hylla exclaimed, killing another bandit. The bandit's group's strongest fighters were only at the Genesis Source so he let Hylla handle it while his other lovers handled the rest, one that they could take on, anyway.
"Even outside of Kilrun Duchy, the bandits still roamed the land, huh?" Hylla asked.
"Yes, except they are less bold compared to the one in the Duchy," Ryker replied, the woman accepting his answer.
"Let's get going then,"
-x-
"Here are your adventurer tokens, the sign of you being an Adventurer. If you want, you can take a look at the list of missions you can take," the receptionist told her, Hylla gave the man a hum before she walked to the mission room, eager to get her hand on some mission.
Ryker followed her, already having his token upgraded to be the same with his current realms though it still did not depict his true strength.
-x-
"Looks like this is the last of them," Hylla exclaimed, her hammer smashing down the last of the turtle beast. Similar to her uncle, she mainly used brute force though instead of using her fist, she used a hammer as her weapon.
"The rest seemed to be finishing the job as well," she said to herself before flying towards the other. Ryker joined her first, followed by Mashia, who recently just ascended to the Genesis Core, being the third person to be able to fly in their group, if one excluded the bandit-turned-slave.
Hylla was disturbed by the fact when Ryker told her at first but soon realized having someone powerful who is not his lover increased their chance of survival and made them less of a target for some opportunists and bandits.
She gets the name of the bandit, Brea, from the bandit herself as Ryker did not ask the bandit her name, though it seems to be the result of forgetfulness.
She shook her head. With all of the missions completed, and in less than a day at that, they could finally return and receive their rewards.
-x-
"Looks like we found another good treasure," Ryker exclaimed, looking at the silver flower with a smile. He had read about the flower before so he knew the flower was called Moonlight Flower.
It is merely a Grade 6 Genesis Herb but it contains energy from two different Paths, the Law of Light and the Law of Yin. He also happened to have a pill recipe that make use of the herb.
He walked towards the herbs before picking them, and putting them inside a specialized box, one that would prevent the efficiencies of the herbs from dissipating over time.
It is one of the few good things left behind inside the Hidden Ancient Mansion, apart from the books and some other artifacts.
After putting it, he casually walked away, before turning around and yelled, "Hylla, you can finish that oversized snake. I am already done with the herb picking,"
Hylla, who was busy fighting a large snake with strength equal to a Genesis Source expert, nodded before using the handle of the hammer and piercing the snake's head with it.
After finishing the snake, she put the body inside another container, though it is similar to the one Ryker has, except it could hold bigger things, essentially a spatial tool.
"Let us go back, the other must be waiting for us. I wonder if snake meat is edible or not," Ryker mused, Hylla shook her head in amusement.
-x-
As they opened their eyes, they could see the entrance of the mansion, Hylla still a bit disoriented from the teleportation.
"No matter how many times you brought me here, I still cannot believe this place existed," Hylla said, looking at her back and seeing the yard that bordered what is best described as either a cloud or mist.
"Let's see the other and see if they could make something out of the snake," seemingly not hearing what Hylla said, Ryker stepped inside the mansion, Hylla following suit.
Inside, the rest greeted the two people, who had been the ones to come out and travel outside. Now that they are not anywhere near any settlements, it is decided that both Hylla and Ryker would be the ones to travel, as flying is way faster than horseback riding, the only downside being the others have to cope inside the Mansion.
Then again, it was not much of an issue as the mansion is humongous and could likely hold more than a hundred people, and that is still with restriction. When he unlocked all its capabilities and restrictions, he had no doubt it could hold even a hundred thousand people.
But that is for the future, for now, "Hey, can you cook some snake Hylla killed?"