Zoan was a very strange little girl. That was Alissa’s first thought when she saw this white-haired 12 year old that was probably the extreme opposite of the excitable Clara.

  She was composed, constantly showing an impassive interest, and barely spoke. However, she does show a frown or two whenever the otherworlders do anything of note.

  However, that wasn’t all. It was also the way they treated her in return. She didn’t want to pry into their business since it wasn’t her job to do so. Her job was to ensure that her guests were well-fitted for the mission Cronus sent them to do. But the way they often put her aside and only focused on Clara honestly rubbed her the wrong way.

  If they were twins, why was the older sister constantly pampering Clara and ignoring Zoan? For a girl like that who supposedly focuses on family, it certainly didn’t seem like it.

  But that perspective changed entirely when the otherworlders were taking longer than average to get their gear from the blacksmith just nearby. Alissa was just writing her reports as usual, carefully composing each event the otherworlders had done in accordance with her duties.

  Zoan was reading books by the side, shocking the older woman at how she seemingly took an interest in the most obscure books in her shelves. Even Alissa often forgot she had them, considering how it writes about magical theory at some remote era at some distant location that had nothing to do with the magic of this country. Just when Alissa was about to ask what she found so fascinating about the book, Zoan’s eyes suddenly glowed.

  At that moment, what Alissa saw was not a little girl, but a woman. A fully grown woman, garbed in pristine silver armor that covered her entire body. Long hair that radiated silver streams flowed with serenity and peace.

  But what truly spoke out was the two giant feathery wings that spread across her back, enough to possibly destroy the entire house from the sheer size.

  But that was the weird part. What Alissa saw was just a vision, an image that only showed up the moment Zoan’s eyes glowed. In that instant, Alissa was already on her feet, ready to strike with a spell forming in her hands.

  The power that exuded off the girl was… immense. Too much even for Alissa’s experienced Journeyman senses. However, Zoan completely ignored her as she instead turned her head to the side, as though looking at a direction Alissa had no clue on.

  “Clara, go and find Mikella at the store, now!” Zoan suddenly shouted. “Zeke is in trouble. Brucey, follow my will as instructed.”

  Zoan continued to speak like that, to the air and having a discussion as though she was directly speaking with Clara through some communication Alissa can’t see. The words brought her heart to race, not even knowing exactly what was going on.

  This went on for a few minutes to which Zoan finally ceased. Then just when Alissa was about to start asking a ton of questions, the door suddenly slammed open and Clara came back. Her eyes were puffy red and brimming with tears, running–no, flying with literal bat wings straight at Alissa.

  She tackled her into a hug to which Clara grasped onto Alissa’s waist, her cries echoing across.

  “I did it. I did it, but I’m still worried!”

  “You did great, Clara. Now all we need to do is wait.”

  The little bat that Clara always had on her back suddenly popped his head out the pack, resting on top of Clara’s shoulder as though trying to ease her worries.

  Finally, Alissa had enough. As she kept rubbing Clara's back to calm her down, she glared at Zoan, the clearly not twin sister of Clara.

  “...Who are you?” She asked, glaring in the mixture of being cautious and fearful at the little girl.

  …..

  Zeke watched with relief to see Mikella rubbing Clara’s head, resting on her shoulder with a content smile. After seeing the two appear with no issues whatsoever, Clara practically scrambled in joy and tears. Thanks to that, she was now resting her eyes, thankful that nothing really bad happened. Of course, Zeke made sure not to mention any silly old poison that almost killed him. That would ruin the good vibes going on here.

  On the other hand, Zeke had to face the clearly distraught Alissa, her elbows propped on the table with her head resting on her tangled fingers in deep, deep thought.

  After the angel was out of the bag, so to speak, Zeke explained the entire situation from beginning to end, and soon explained the only thing the otherworlders hadn't said to their superiors. After all, it was extremely hard to explain in the first place, and would probably only make things worse.

  And according to her reaction, it clearly did. Though as for how bad it got, even Zeke can’t tell.

  Alissa had been like this for the next ten minutes, completely silent in her thoughts before finally lifting her head up and facing Zeke with a tired, but composed expression.

  “...Okay, I get the picture now,” Ali said, her voice sounding as if she had reached full understanding.

  “You’re… sure?” Zeke added with a raised brow. He had taken a lot longer to take in this business the first time Zoan came into their lives.

  “Seeing as how you two came into this world and how it was some gods’ business, it’s no surprise that an angel would come and supervise you all, much like how I am doing with Cronus. I can also understand why it’d be difficult to explain her current situation in the form she had now, so it made sense why you decided to stick with the story of being twin sisters… however, there’s one thing I have an issue with.”

  “And that is?”

  “You never told this to Cronus, am I correct?”

  Zeke hesitated for a solid moment, then nodded to her question. Ali lowered her head again, exhaling what felt like her entire life’s frustration out of her system.

  “That… is an issue. This means that this became a religious situation. Normally, an angel appearing in this world would mean that the churches that worshiped the angel’s deity would receive a divine message, or perhaps a warning of a natural disaster just like in the olden times. If any of the clergy were to realize Zoan’s existence, they would lose their heads and begin some type of inquisition.”

  “...So don’t tell them?” Zeke asked what felt like an obvious answer.

  “You honestly believe that not telling the churches about an angel is a good idea?” Ali asked incredulously. “In fact, not telling this to Cronus would be the same as blasphemy. Religion has a good grasp on the country as a whole, and is probably one of the leading forces of the country in terms of magical might. In other words, having them be an enemy of any kind would likely bring some calamity on all of our heads!”

  Alissa finished her rant, burying her head into her palms in disbelief. However, Zeke turned to Mikella who watched the whole thing with a raised brow herself. Hell, Zeke even turned to Zoan who just… stayed staring at the scene with disinterest. At least she wasn’t reading her books so she wasn’t ignoring them.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Zoan,” Zeke asked, figuring he can put aside Ali for now. “You’re the one that noticed I was in trouble and notified Clara, right?”

  “Of course,” Zoan said without any doubt. “For a moment, I sensed your life in danger, and when I saw that your connection was farther away from Mikella, I notified Clara and saw her recent memories. There, I was able to relay her to Mikella for assistance.”

  “You can do all that?” Mikella asked incredulously. “I thought your power was gone.”

  “My power has been returning steadily over time, though only marginally. That’s the reason why I’m still in this form.”

  Zoan looked back at herself, her form still being Clara in every possible way. However, unlike before, she didn’t seem to glare at it as much anymore.

  Despite his feelings, what she did saved Zeke’s life. Even if they have their issues, at the very least, she deserved recognition.

  “Thank you,” Zeke said, catching Zoan’s attention fully. “I know it’s your job and all… but thanks. You really saved me.”

  “That is my duty. Do not think much of it.”

  Zoan said those words like how a programmed AI bot would. Though, ever so slowly, Zeke could tell that her expression softened just a bit.

  “It still weirds me out how you read Clara’s memories like that… but I’ll thank you too,” Mikella said. “It doesn’t look like it hurt her, though I don’t like the idea that she could have been in danger if I was also being attacked.”

  “Endangering her and hurting her would only make my job more difficult. As I said–my duty is to ensure the safety of all three of you, not just you two. If your life was in any danger, I wouldn’t have sent her there at all.”

  Mikella nodded in approval to that, though that got Clara’s attention as her eyes widened.

  “Couldn’t you like, you know, possess me like you did before to help out?”

  “That’s impossible,” Zoan shook her head. “And even if I could, I still wouldn't do it. Without the system, you’re just a target for them.”

  “Ooh…”

  “Sorry, honey,” Mikela said, trying to console the damepened Clara. “But Zoan’s got a point. It’s better this way.”

  “It’s always better this way…”

  Clara placed her head back to Mikella’s shoulder, pouting at the situation. Zeke, however, was glad that she was pouting and not fighting against assassins, so he was fine like this.

  “So, Zoan–what do you think? Should we have notified Cronus and the church?”

  While they have discussed this beforehand, it was better to get another insight into the situation now that Ali explained the utter ridiculousness of keeping an angel in secret. To their surprise, her answer left them bewildered.

  “Of course not,” Zoan said immediately. “While I believe Cronus himself would be fine, the church is out of the question. This entire situation has nothing to do with them.”

  “What?”

  Ali finally got out of her stupor, looking back at the former strange twin sister with widened eyes.

  “As I said, my mission is to ensure the safety of the three in front of you,” Zoan said, pointing at the otherworlders in question. “As for our purpose, that much is clear–to go after the towers and attain new strength to empower themselves. Perhaps find some otherworlders to join us in the cause for the trials to come.”

  “I-Is that it?” Ali asked, turning to the two. “Is that all you need to do?”

  “There should be a lot more, but Zoan refuses to tell us what else is there. Apparently it’s not something we need to know ‘yet’” Zeke said in exasperation, raising his hands to make air quote gestures.

  “That’s because it’s too soon to say.”

  Zoan responded, which only got Zeke to roll his eyes and then point at her while staring at Ali, stating that this was what he meant.

  “We already reached the first thing–get to Journeymen within the two years available to us. After that, though, all she keeps saying is to find and clear the towers as much as we can.”

  Mikella answered, leaving Ali to stare at the table in front of her again. This time, however, there was a frown on her face as she entered into deep thought. Instead of being frustrated with the situation, she was now considering the new information with enlightened eyes.

  Rubbing her chin in thought, she bit her lip. A moment after, she nodded, resolution on her face.

  “Then that’s that. I’ll notify Cronus of this situation, and the reason why you kept it a secret. This way, Cronus won’t think you two have something against him. Still, I implore that you two share more of what you know, regardless of making it more complicated.”

  “You’re sure?” Mikella asked. “You didn’t seem to be able to handle it just a few minutes ago.”

  “I… admit, I didn’t react as well as I should,” A hint of a blush flashed over her cheeks, looking away. However, she still glared at her like the usual. “But this doesn’t change our mission. For now, just relay any kind of information that might pop up.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Mikella did a fake salute, her face the stunning image of placid.

  “And as for the assassin… that is also an issue, especially since you have apparently made a lot of noise. While it was deep in the night, it shouldn’t have been possible for anyone to not have noticed it. So I believe that someone must have contacted the Assassin’s guild.”

  “...The what now?” Zeke asked dumbfounded.

  “The assassin’s guild,” Alissa repeated.

  “No, we know that,” Mikella said, shaking her head. “He means why is there a fucking Assassin’s Guild in the city?!”

  “It’s not a recognized guild, of course,” Alissa’s head tilted in annoyance. “However, that’s what the people call them whenever they are sent to handle their targets. The thing is, it’s considered a secret that barely a quarter of the city knows of their existence, and that’s just in the form of rumors. As for how I know it–because I dealt with them.”

  “Wait, you mean you got targeted too?” Zeke asked, raising his brows.

  “No, I asked for their aid several times, actually.”

  “You what?!”

  Mikella shouted in alarm. Clara got startled and looked back at Mikella and Ali with widened eyes.

  “You mean you actually contacted the Assassin’s guild?! Then… but, but why!?”

  Alissa shrugged, as though it was a simple question. “It’s my duty as Cronus’ point of contact. My official duties are basically reconnaissance, relaying classified information, and contacting others to get several jobs done. I’m something of a manager for Cronus’ off-hand projects.”

  “So… you mean to say that Cronus asked you to contact the Assassin’s guild to take out a target?” Zeke asked, now recognizing what she meant. “And Cronus is okay with this?”

  “Sometimes, dirty jobs need to be done, and Cronus knows this more than anyone. That’s why the Assassin’s guild has been continuing on for this long. There are several branches throughout the country, but one thing is clear–whoever sent that assassin after you is clearly going against Cronus’ wishes. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just wasn’t notified yet.”

  “And that’s where you come in, right?” Mikella added. Alissa nodded in response.

  “I don’t think you have to worry about any other attacks… but it’s better to be safe than sorry. For now, make sure you two never separate. Especially considering that they even went as far as to use illegal poison that counters your skills.”

  “That’s illegal?” Mikella asked. “I figured that would be basic for taking down annoying enemies.”

  “It is, so it’s heavily monopolized by the military of Arcelot. It shouldn’t be in the Assassin’s guild’s hands for that very purpose. Even if they did keep it a secret from Cronus, why would they use such potent poison on a single Runist? Those would normally be left for the near-max Journeymen.”

  “Near-max Journeymen… those are the folks that are over level 90, right?”

  Zeke recalled, reminding himself of the small titles Journeymen get for each level range. From 60 to 70, where they are now, it’s Low Journey. 70 to 80 is Mid Journey, and 80 to 90 is High Journey. Near-max Journey are considered ancient monsters that are close enough to reach Master stage, at least according to Ali and the stuff he looked up while he was here.

  “Right, so you can see why using that kind of poison just because you pissed off the Alchemist’s Guild doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Wouldn’t the Alchemist Guild make up that poison, considering that they deal in potions and stuff?” Mikella asked.

  “The Alchemist guild is constantly under watch for that as well. Then again, the question is the same–why bother using such a high grade poison for a Low Journey?”

  “Feels like there’s a lot of oversight considering how potent this poison is,” Mikella said dubiously, narrowing her eyes.

  “You try to keep an eye on the guilds that have lasted for more than several of your lifetimes put together. See what happens.”

  Mikella instantly raised her hands in defeat after Ali pointed that out with crossed arms. Zeke could only chuckle at the scene despite having his life nearly taken away just hours earlier.

  It just proved that this was just another event stacked on top of another in his crazy life in this new world. Once everything was settled and the group turned in for the night, even Zeke couldn't help but fall asleep, his thoughts on the situation only becoming background to everything else he was involved in.