System's POV
chapter-267

"Welcome back, Brother!" Kane excitedly greeted the moment he saw Thirteen riding on top of Giga, followed by dozens of Wanderers, heading toward their camp.

Herman, who heard Kane's bootlicking, smirked because he had already expected to see something like this happen.

It wasn't a secret that one of the Scions of the Stallard Family was smitten with Shasha Leventis.

He could understand why many were attracted to her. Not only was she beautiful, but she was very talented as well.

There had been a small tournament held at one of the gatherings of the Monarch Clans, and Shasha participated in them.

To everyone's surprise, she defeated all her opponents, including the teenagers from the Monarch Clans.

The Stallard Clan also recognized her strength, which was the reason why they weren't getting in the way of Kane's attempt to woo Shasha.

In fact, if Herman didn't already have a fiancee, the Patriarch of the Nightshade Family might have asked him to also try and seduce the young lady, whom everyone recognized as one of the strongest Rookies of the young generation.

Thirteen ignored Kane and walked past him.

The person he wanted to see was Shasha, but his sister was inside the cave and meditating.

Kane, who had been ignored, scratched his head before glancing in the direction of the newcomers.

He recognized a few faces, and he even smiled when he saw Herman from the crowd.

"Herman, it's good to see you here," Kane said as he approached his acquaintance. "How have you been for the past few weeks?"

"Just fine," Herman replied after seeing that Kane was being friendly with him.

Herman had above average looks, but Kane didn't see him as a threat for Shasha's affection because the former already had a fiance.

"How did Brother Zion convince all of you to follow him?" Kane inquired. "Did something happen?"

As someone who was raised by the Monarch Clan, Kane believed that Herman wasn't the type to become someone else's subordinate.

If he weren't head over heels with Zion's sister, Shasha, he would have refused to merge their group together.

However, after knowing that they were up against two Rank 8 Sovereigns, Kane decided that it was wise to hug Thirteen's thigh. He felt that he'd have a higher chance of surviving if he stuck to him.

"Things happened," Herman replied, not planning to elaborate. "How about you? How did he convince you?"

"He didn't convince me," Kane replied. "I just thought that cooperating with Shasha's team was a good decision."

Herman scoffed. "Look at me when you answer, fool. It's very obvious that you're not telling me everything."

Kane pretended not to hear what he had just said and approached some of his acquaintances who were part of Herman's group.

Phoebe and her team came from Military Families, so they didn't have any interaction with the Monarch Clans and the Ten Prestigious Families.

All of them mostly stayed within the circle of the Military Families, which only strengthened their will to cooperate with each other.

When the two groups finally settled in, Shasha's right-hand woman, Miriam, served food so that everyone could eat.

While Thirteen went to the Third Island, all the Wanderers on the Second Island started to hunt monsters in earnest.

They made sure that their territory was safe from monsters who might attack them when they were least prepared.

Poca and Vassago had already scouted the island, and Thirteen made a makeshift map in accordance with their report. He told the leaders of the group to stay away from certain landmarks because they were the territory of lower-ranked Overlords and Sovereigns.

The Wanderers might be able to defeat a Rank 3 Monster if they worked together, but fighting against Overlords and Sovereigns still required more manpower.

Also, only those who had been trained to fight could handle such monsters. The rest could only play a support role from the back.

Not all Wanderers were born from well-off families, so the majority of them didn't have any survival skills.

Even so, they had no choice but to learn how to fight if they wished to survive their first mission in Solterra.

"You're back, Zion," Shasha said as soon as she sensed her brother's presence. "How did your trip go?"

She was currently meditating at the deepest part of the cave, and she knew that the only one who would dare to disturb her was her brother.

Even Kane didn't dare to offend Shasha while she was meditating.

Of course, there was another reason why no one could approach her. Taiga was blocking the path, while staying a hundred meters away from her.

Taiga naturally didn't dare to stop his Master, so Thirteen walked past him easily.

"I brought all the Wanderers from the Third Island here," Thirteen replied. "They are led by Herman Nightshade, and a girl named Phoebe. You can meet them later."

Shasha nodded. "I know who Herman is, but I don't know anyone named Phoebe."

"She's from the military."

"I see."

Shasha hadn't interacted with any teenager from the Military Families since her grandfather, Arthur, only brought her to the parties of the Monarch Clans and the Ten Prestigious Families.

"Are you going to visit the First Island next?" Shasha inquired.

"Yes," Thirteen answered. "Compared to the Beholder, I'm hoping that the Unicorn will be more sociable."

"Are you planning to talk to it?" Shasha arched an eyebrow.

"No." Thirteen shook his head. "There's a higher chance that it would want to talk if you were there."

Unable to understand what her brother meant, Shasha tilted her head in confusion.

Thirteen only smiled, not planning to tell her one of the quirks of the Unicorns.

They only interacted with maidens, especially chaste maidens.

If Thirteen were to talk to the Unicorn, there was a high chance that it would either stomp him, kick him, or stab him with its horn to oblivion.

Also, Thirteen didn't believe that the Unicorn was unaware of the presence of humans in its territory.

Because of this, he planned to first approach the Wanderers living on the First Island cautiously.

They might have already entered into an agreement with the Rank 8 Sovereign. If that were the case and he did something reckless, there was a chance that both the Wanderers and the Rank 8 Monster would team up against him.