I wanted Wilkon or that woman to take care of Mika, but strangely, she wanted to stay with me.

Logically, she should have chosen to stay with them since I was all but a stranger to her. In fact, this was the only second time we saw each other and the first time we talked.

But god knew what was going in her mind and I couldn’t really refuse a grieving child, right? So, I became stuck with her.

As we walked in the Village Plaza, I saw Luna waving toward me from the crowd. I went to her.

She looked at Mika, then glanced at me with a questioning look.

I just sighed and nodded. This was enough for her to understand Mika had become an orphan and her expression became one of pity and sadness.

She knelt in front of her, and hugged her, "It’ll be alright, Mika. Big Sister is here with you."

Finally, Mika reacted when she heard her, "...Big Sister Luna?"

"Yes, it’s me. I’m right here." Luna pulled back and smiled at her, her eyes also wet with tears.

Tears welled up in Mika’s eyes.

Luna hugged her tightly, stroked her back and urged, "Yes, cry if you want, Mika. Don’t keep your emotions bottled up. Remember I also lost my parents when I was young. I also cried then. But be strong, okay?"

"Mm." Mika nodded while sobbing, "I miss them Big Sister. I miss them so much that my chest hurts."

"I understand, Mika. I do. But I’m here for you, Big Brother Eren, Uncle Joshua and others are also here. You are not alone."

I nodded to myself seeing this. ’She is really good.’

...

"Before we leave, let me say something first." Joshua stood on the platform with the help of his spear.

"You all are aware this journey won’t be easy and some of us might die. So, before we leave, I want you all to be mentally prepared so when it does happen, you won’t panic. Because if you did, it may result in more deaths.

Second, all of you will listen to my, Randy, John, Carl and Eren’s orders. If you don’t, you’ll be expelled from the group. Is that understood?"

"..Yes." No one argued or showed dissatisfaction.

"Alright. Eren and John, you’ll bring the rear and we three will stay at the front." Joshua said while glancing at me and John.

I nodded in understanding.

John walked over.

I nodded at him before I crouched in front of Mika, who had once again grabbed my wrist and said, "You stay with Big Sister Luna, alright? But if you need me, I’ll be back at the group."

Mika glanced at Luna and reluctantly let off my wrist and murmured, "Stay safe, Big Brother."

"I will." I smiled and patted her head.

Then, I walked to the back of the group with John.

"Let’s depart!" Joshua announced and led the way with Randy and the other Awakened, Carl.

As we left from the southern gate, I swept my gaze across the group.

There were a total of 148 people and over a hundred of them were children, elderly and women.

And among the remaining, many of them were injured, so they couldn’t really fight, at least not at their full potential.

So, there were just 20-30 men who could really fight at the moment.

But in a battle, be it against the Beasts or Bandits, non-awakened wouldn’t make much of a difference, so all the pressure was on six of us.

However...

’Joshua and Randy are seriously injured, and Carl is injured too. So, they won’t be able to use their full strength.’ I thought. ’Though the Healing Potion healed John, he hasn’t recovered completely.’

My brows furrowed.

This journey would be incredibly perilous indeed.

"Are you afraid?" I heard John ask.

"I’m afraid that not many of them will be able to survive the journey if it’s really as dangerous as everyone says." I said.

"Yeah." John nodded, "That’s why everyone is so tense. But I hope we won’t encounter any danger, especially the bandits."

I nodded.

The chances of Beasts attacking in a large group was very low, so the beasts that would attack them would be the smaller group which we might be able to handle without suffering too many casualties.

However, if we encountered bandits, most of us, if not everyone, would end up dying because they didn’t just loot, but kill too. Worse, they would capture the women and exploit them in every way possible before either killing them or selling them as sex slaves.

...

[Return Countdown: 00:00:59]

It had been over an hour since we left the village, but save for a few lone beasts that didn’t dare approach the group, we didn’t encounter anyone which helped gradually relax the people.

On another note, Mika had come back to see me, stayed with me for a few moments before returning to Luna’s side.

Now, my return time was fast approaching.

After thinking for a moment, I told John, "I’ll be back in a bit." and entered the group.

I didn’t know how much time passed when I went back to Earth and until I returned. If the gap was noticeable, entering the group was better since my disappearance wouldn’t be noticeable.

[Return Countdown: 00:00:25]

[Return Countdown: 00:00:12]

[Return Countdown: 00:00:03]

When the countdown was about to hit zero, I put my daggers into the back of a hand-pulled carriage of a family of three. I had tried storing them into system inventory, but a system messaged flashed.

[You can’t store any non-system item in the inventory yet.]

...

I then glanced around. There were a few people around me, but they weren’t paying attention, save for a kid.

I glanced at him and smiled.

The kid hurriedly lowered his head.

Right at that moment, everything turned dark around me before light returned and I found myself back in my room on Earth, sitting in the same position on my bed as I had been when I went to the other world.

The only difference was—I was butt naked at this moment.

I ignored this for the time being and gleaned at my digital table clock.

07:14:39 P.M.

When I went there, the time was 07:14:37 P.M. Given the fact that I needed a moment to orient myself, I was gone for just one second or maybe even less.

"That’s a relief." I muttered, then with a thought, summoned the system screen.