The scent of nature filled their nostrils, ensuring the duo's liberation from the tomb. However, that reliance didn't last long, for what followed was a venomous cologne that only a certain person would wear.
Straight ahead was Kilian, his sly, irritating smirk dangling from his face.
"I know the test is coming up, but you two shouldn't push yourselves so diligently."
Hearing his infuriating voice, which contrasted with the soothing air, only made the duo even more tired than they already were, especially Haruo. Although he had rested, he was fighting the urge to sleep once again.
"Did you do this?!"
Kilian, hearing Ena's fatigued voice, only smiled.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb! Did you make us go through that tomb?"
"Now, why would I do that?"
"I don't know, maybe to mess with us?" Ena scoffed as she glared at the sly man.
As her words passed through his ears, Kilian couldn't help but slap his palm to his face and laugh heartily, incredibly amused by her remark.
"Why would I waste my time doing that? And do you even hear yourself? How could I even prepare such a thing when I just met you two just two days ago?"
Even after explaining himself, Kilian couldn't hold back the excess laughter and continued.
"You honestly think this is funny?! Although the tomb was hard, the rewards easily bypassed the difficulty of the tomb!"
After an entire minute of straight laughter, Kilian sighed a massive breath. Looking at the duo and their fatigued faces.
"Fine, since you're so persistent, how about this…" Placing his hand to his chest and looking at Ena dead in the eye with a serious face.
"I swear on the twelve-year contract, I had nothing to do with the tomb. As a matter of fact, I'll even provide you with a single question if you like."
After spitting those words, Ena bit her lip slightly while sighing to herself. Despite saying only a few words, the severity and burden behind them were genuine. Not because she trusted him—quite the opposite—but because there were rules behind the supernatural.
The supernatural in this example was the contract.
Swears hold an important meaning because they connect to a person's entire being, especially for people who use contracts. If a swear were ever broken, the consequences wouldn't be taken lightly.
And in this case, where Kilian, who had just made a swear on the contract, meant that his words held honesty beneath them. They could tell because the contract hadn't been severed.
Haruo, who had done nothing but spectate the entire time, opened his mouth and said:
"Even if you had nothing to do with the tomb, it doesn't mean you didn't know about it. Since you said I can ask you a question, why did you give it to us?"
His question caused Kilian's lips to curl even more upward, and despite the icy look in his gaze, Haruo could tell that Kilian found it quite amusing and somewhat satisfying.
A tense atmosphere formed between them until Kilian broke the silence.
"Why shouldn't I? Experience is very important, and through that, you reaped some substantial rewards."
His carefree tone contrasted with his resoluteness, and made it seem as if he were only joking. But from Haruo's perspective, he could tell that, along with his amused expression, there was something more serious.
Patting Haruo's shoulder, he continued. "Besides, it's an important treasure that you'll need in the future. You and your division alike."
A chill went down his spine as he heard Kilian's last sentence; there was no malice behind those words, yet the feeling of uneasiness made him raise his guard.
"Anyway, look at the time; the test is about to start, wouldn't want you two to miss it."
"Wait, what?" Ena questioned, being slightly drowsy from what she heard. "WAIT, HUH?!"
"What are you so surprised about? If space can be controlled there, so can time." Haruo said, who was still lying next to Ena, clutching the artifact between his sleeves.
Not long after, Haruo placed the artifact within his mana storage, placing both the decoy and the valued artifact within the same space. Ena was slightly envious, but having no mana storage herself, she had no stance on being angry and could only let Haruo carry all the valuables.
At least in this case, if they were to die, no one would take the artifact from their graves.
Kilian hastily grabbed the duo and wrapped his arms around them to carry both of them between his waist and arms, like when he first brought them to Marion's kingdom.
In one leap, Kilian was hundreds of meters off the ground and into the sky.
The speed at which he first did this was incomparable, blitzing through the sky like a meteor shooting through the atmosphere. Haruo could tell this was because the absence of his younger brother allowed Kilian to go faster.
Harsh winds blew past and into their faces. The force of the wind made them close their eyes to avoid their eyes getting crushed by the pressure.
In less than five minutes of traveling, Kilian saw a dense forest up ahead and dove into it at intense speed.
Rustle, rustle!
As he was about to touch the ground, Kilian touched the ground in perfect rhythm, landing safely without leaving a mark. Opening their eyes, they saw they had landed without chaos, not a single sound from their dive.
Now on the ground, Kilian didn't hesitate to toss the duo from his grasp. Both groaned as their bodies connected to the compact dirt, with only the green grass as their cushion upon impact.
"We got here just in time. Any second later, and I would've just thrown you two to the location."
Having heard his comment, Haruo and Ena felt both surprised and a strange calm that a person would gain after experiencing something multiple times. It was both disgustingly audacious and surprising that they got used to his antics in a short matter of time.
Ena sneered inwardly, picking herself up from the ground, with Haruo following suit soon after.
"Since you both can stand, I'm sure you two can do it. Just go straight from here, and you'll be there."
"Yeah, and what about you?" Ena scowled out of her lips.
"I have pretty massive responsibilities within Marion, one of them being the test. As much as I want to stay and watch you two fail, I still have things to do." He said, turning his back on the duo, before giving a slight glance. "Z-tier artifacts are very hard to come by. Make sure you take good care of it."
"It'll be important for the six of you."
Without another word, he transitioned with the leaves and disappeared once again.
Absent from his presence, the air around eased the tension and dropped enough for them to take a proper breath. Dropping their shoulders and softening their guard.
"What a bitch, how did someone like him even find a job…?"
Despite having recently exited the tomb, the lingering uneasiness persisted, trailing them out of the tomb. But, lying deep within their hearts, this profound uneasiness wasn't from the tomb, but from the sly man called Kilian.
Being near his presence felt like drowning in rough sand.
Whatever it was about him that made the duo so uneasy, they couldn't tell. They could tell that a person like him was much more threatening than the colossal serpent they had met.
Kilian wasn't someone they could oppose easily.
Scratching the back of his head, Haruo could only sigh inwardly and went straight without telling Ena.
Ena, witnessing his indifferent attitude, felt slightly annoyed, but hurriedly followed him.
In the far distance, a man sat near a cliff with a cup of tea in his hand while his other hand supported by the ground, staring at the two figures with a careful smirk.
Beside him was a cloaked person who stood with his back straight against the wind. The shadow of its hood covered the cloaked person's face.
"Which one do you like?"
"Remember our contract. I need protection, and if you think I'll leave my life to two children, you must be mistaken."
"They're both very interesting, if you ask me. And I can assure you, one of them is sufficient. Besides, do you really think I'll break a contract? You know how important those are to me; it's my entire trademark."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Well, one is born with heaven's blessings and the other… It is Seiji's investment. Or with more clarification, his disciple."
"…!"
Hearing a familiar name left the cloaked person speechless.
"… We'll discuss this later. I hope you aren't lying, you know the consequences of tricking someone like me!"
"You overthink too much. It's fine." Kilian took one last glance at the figure before his face darkened slightly. "And for someone relying on me for help, you sure have a tone."
"… You really are as infuriating as they said."
Not wanting to waste any more of his time, the cloaked person walked away from the scene and disappeared completely.
"Sigh… Some people are so slow these days, at least they're still entertaining to watch." Kilian sipped his tea as he watched the duo exit the forest.
"Let's see how they'll do in the test."
Having followed Kilian's directions, Haruo found the end of the bushy forest and entered a place filled with countless of people. Some attracted a lot of attention, some kept a low profile, and the rest were average Joes.
However, there was one key similarity everyone shared: they were all experienced.
While they had experiences, they varied from one person to another. Variety was important in many systems as they are producers, seeing as they were all gathered in the test.
Just being in the presence of so many people, Haruo remembered the words of Kilian as he guided them through his manor, a little before they went to the portal.
"The test isn't just for the division factions. They are made to evaluate each person's skills and expertise and send them to an organization most suitable for them."
"And what exactly are the other factions?" Ena asked.
"In the Marion kingdom, there are three organizations. One is the Division factions—or the government, second, the Marian tower alliance, and third, the Golden Sector."
"What about the process? I'm more curious about how it works." Haruo said, chiming in on the conversation, with his gaze still elsewhere.
"Adapting so fast, do you see Marion as your home now?" Kilian teased, but to no avail; he remained expressionless in response to the comment, only continuing with the explanation afterward.
"The very moment the first test starts, we will inject nanomachines into your bodies. We will then assign a survey for you two to complete. Once completed, three options will appear: the three organizations I mentioned."
"That doesn't answer my question."
Kilian only gave him a smile before continuing forward with them, completely ignoring his words.
Haruo had remembered his words, knowing that every piece of information he could get from the test. Ever since he learned about the verification test, he had tried to prepare for it. He thought about how it worked and what was needed to pass.
However, because of the tomb's sudden welcoming, preparation was massively delayed, and his thought process was focused on surviving the tomb. Not that he hadn't thought of it.
What he didn't expect, though, was the number of people present within the test—surpassing just 10,000 people.
The constant whispers and chatter collided with one another, and even though it wasn't loud, it was quite noisy.
Ena and Haruo were surprised by the number, but that surprise didn't last long enough for them to care. Ena and Haruo stuck near the trees, avoiding the enormous crowd.
And looking around, they realized they weren't the only ones who hated crowded places; at least 15 percent of the entire participants were loners, whether they were shy, scared, or introverted.
"If you happened to be a passerby, people might mistake this place for a festival or something." Ena sneered.
"You've been complaining for more than twenty hours now. Just what exactly makes you happy in life?"
"Not getting enslaved by a maniac. Do you expect me to be happy after knowing the next twelve years of my life are fixed on serving that bastard?"
"Can't you move on already? At least we have a job. It took me weeks just to become your butler."
Crossing her arms, she scoffed as she rolled her eyes.
Haruo sighed, his eyes slightly furrowed by her entitled demands.
"Just remember, we have to choose the division factions."
"Yeah, yeah."
Haruo nodded his head and continued to gaze at the dense amount of people ahead, chattering with one another. In a single blink, Haruo was transported to a mysterious room, with no one but himself in sight.
[First test start.]