System's POV
chapter-476-1

Two weeks had passed since Thirteen had been sent to Solterra and arrived at the place called Fractured Heaven.

The number of Wanderers that were currently in the valley numbered fifty and was divided into two factions.

Zion's Faction, and the Cygni Faction.

The two groups steered clear of each other's side of the valley and did their best to not antagonize each other.

However, this was only possible because Zion was leading the First Group of Wanderers.

If it were anyone else, Sean and the members of his Faction wouldn't have qualms about using force to make all the other Wanderers submit to them.

"Boss, those guys have come again," a pretty teenage girl named Sherry said as she entered the location where Zion was sleeping.

She looked like a delicate-looking boy with short blonde hair and blue eyes. But in reality, she was actually a girl.

Although both of her parents loved her very much, her father would sometimes say that he wished he had a son to take over their business, implying that Sherry was not suitable to become the leader of a Mercenary Group.

Unfortunately, after going through hard labor to give birth to Sherry, her mother was no longer capable of birthing another child.

Because of this, Sherry did her best to become the 'son' that her father always wanted. Under her delicate exterior was a battle-hardened teenage girl.

The palms of her hands weren't soft like the daughters of wealthy families. It was hard and had calluses from wielding short swords since she started her training.

This was why those who mistake her as a delicate and soft lady due to her appearance would often find themselves on the opposite end of her blade.

The Wanderers in Zion's group learned this the hard way when they tried to flirt with her, thinking that she was a delicate flower.

When Thirteen asked who among the Wanderers was capable of fighting, she didn't raise her hands because she wanted to better understand Thirteen's leadership abilities.

She had read stories and news articles, and had watched his battle in the Rigel Continent.

But she didn't always trust what was shown by the media.

Even as a teenage girl, she believed that everyone had two faces.

A face they showed to the public, and another face that they showed whenever no one was looking.

She had wanted to unmask the real Zion, so she pretended to be one of the ten useless Wanderers who didn't have any specialties whatsoever.

It was also because of this that a few of the Wanderers thought that she was looking for someone to depend on, and they were more than happy to "flirt" with her.

Naturally, Sherry asked them to stop politely and told them that she wasn't interested.

Of course, the boys, thinking that she was only playing hard to get, didn't back down and continued to get on her nerves.

Although they were just thirteen-year-old teenagers, the people of Pangea and the mentality of the children of Pangea matured faster due to the dangers that they had to face during the Jinn Invasions.

It was perfectly normal for teenagers to develop a crush on the people who were sent to Solterra alongside them.

In fact, most couples would start this way, similar to what happened to Gerald and Alessia during their First Wandering.

The Wanderers even had a term for this.

"Love at first fight"

Unfortunately, the happy endings that the teenage boys thought would happen didn't happen.

The only thing they got was a one-sided beating from the delicate-looking tomboy who was stronger than she looked.

Seeing that their "Boss" was still asleep, Sherry crouched down and lightly shook his body.

Tiona glanced at the teenage girl but didn't make any move to attack her.

Right now, Sherry was Thirteen's right-hand man.

After learning about her background, he decided that, since she wished to become the leader of a Mercenary Group in the future, starting her training with the Wanderers of his group was a good opportunity for her.

Because of this, he had assigned her the task of assisting him in handling the affairs of their party, which was given the name Little Rascals.

Of course, the Wanderers didn't like this name, so Thirteen compromised and simply called them Rascals.

Many were still unwilling to have such a name, but their Boss gave them a choice—either they let themselves be called Rascals or My Little Ponies.

Naturally, they chose the lesser evil, and from here on, the Rascal Wandering Party was born.

"Boss, wake up." Sherry shook Thirteen a little harder. "If you don't wake up, they might steal one of the Wagons we've been building for our trip."

The teenage boy finally opened his eyes and looked at the pretty girl who had a frown on her face.

"You should have told them to scram, Sherry," Thirteen replied before slowly propping himself up on his makeshift bed.

"You know I can't do that," Sherry stated. "They won't listen to me, plus they have more capable fighters than us. If I really told them anything similar to that, they might use it as an excuse to attack our members. You're the only deterrent who can make them stay their hand, Boss."

Thirteen listened while doing some light stretches.

"I'll handle this for now. But in the future, you better man up and do it yourself, okay?" Thirteen said after he was done with his stretching. "The more you bend to their will, the more they will push their weight around."

"That's easy for you to say, Boss." Sherry smiled bitterly. "I'm not a member of a Prestigious Family like you."

"Then do better in your next life, okay?" Thirteen chuckled before lightly patting her shoulder. "Let's go."

The teenage boy then walked toward the entrance of the cave.

Sherry followed behind him and didn't think much of what her Boss said earlier.

She might be the second strongest Wanderer in Zion's party, but compared to the Scions of the Monarch Clans and Prestigious Families, her fighting prowess was only average at best.

When Thirteen stepped out of the cave, he could already feel the tension between his group and the Cygni Faction's group.

Fortunately, they were still in a standoff. At least they still knew that a fight would not benefit either group.

Seeing their Boss appear, the Rascals breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

Thirteen might look like a harmless teenager, but they had seen firsthand how he single-handedly wiped the floor with one of Sean's retainers who thought that he could get away with harassing his members.

"So what's up?" Thirteen asked. "You guys disturbed my beauty sleep."

Sean looked long and hard at Zion before saying the reason why he came.

"We would like to trade for three of your wagons," Sean declared. "We will give you proper compensation."

Thirteen tilted his head to the side and glanced at the wooden wagons that his party had built since they arrived in Solterra.

They had just finished building their third wagon yesterday, and now, Sean and his Faction wanted to take them all so that they could start their journey toward the Stronghold of Wenpolis.

"They're not for trade," Thirteen replied. "If you want wagons, you can build ones yourselves. I can trade for nails, wood shaving tools, and hammers. I can even teach you how it's done, but the wagons here belong to our group."

The Rascals, who heard their Boss' reply, all nodded their heads in agreement.

They had worked hard to build their wagons, so they wouldn't allow anyone to take them so easily.

Sean eyed Zion and pondered for a while.

He was half tempted to just take the wagons by force. However, there was one problem.

Zion was a Rookie, while they were all Rankless.

Also, there was also the matter of him being the Commander of the Alliance.

They still needed his help when it was the Cygni Continent's turn to fight against the Jinn Invasion.

For short, they couldn't afford to antagonize him even if they wanted to.

"Fine," Sean replied. "Nails, hammers, and the knowledge on how to build them."

"Good." Thirteen nodded. "In return, you will help my party kill Beasts, and give them the last hit. Let's see… a dozen Dark Bison will be good."

Dark Bisons were one of the common Monsters that could be found in the valley they were currently at.

They range anywhere from Rank 1 and Rank 2 Monsters.

Although it would take time to hunt those who weren't part of a herd, they could still be killed by the members of the Cygni Faction, especially since they already gained a few items during the past two weeks.

Even so, they were still dissatisfied with this arrangement because they believed that Zion was taking advantage of them.