System's POV
chapter-532

When Thirteen opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Sherry looking down on him.

At first, he was confused as to why the young lady was the one that he saw the moment he opened his eyes.

However, it didn't take long for him to realize that he was actually lying on her lap.

He couldn't remember how he found himself in such a place since he was sure he slept at the corner of the wagon, letting Erica and Sherry sleep together.

"You were crying in your sleep," Sherry said softly as she gently used her finger to wipe the tear stains on Thirteen's face. "But I felt like waking you up was a bad choice, so I decided to let you sleep on my lap, thinking that maybe it would make you feel better."

"I see…" Thirteen replied.

A second later, Erica also wiped the other side of his face with a handkerchief, looking a bit worried.

"What kind of dream did you have?" Erica asked. "Although you weren't saying anything, you looked very sad in your sleep."

"I… I dreamed about a very dear friend of mine," Thirteen replied, still feeling the sadness of that last scene that was imprinted in his mind.

"Are you talking about Cristopher?" Erica asked. "Or that sleazy guy named Colbert? Shana told me you have two subordinates. She likes Cristopher because he's hardworking. As for Colbert, he apparently seems like a sly fox, so she doesn't like him much."

Thirteen smiled faintly because Shana's description of his left and right-hand men were on point.

"It's not them," Thirteen replied. "It's someone else."

"Now, I'm curious," Erica narrowed her eyes. "This is the first time I see you cry. That person must be really important to you for you to cry like that. But it's a sad dream, right?"

"Yes…" Thirteen replied as he closed his eyes in order to regain his composure.

He knew that they would be entering the portal soon, so he needed to return to his normal self to prevent others from being worried.

Perhaps Erica and Sherry knew what Zion was about to do, which made him look endearing in their eyes, especially since they saw an extremely rare case where they saw his vulnerability.

For them, the teenage boy was someone who could do almost anything.

Although he wasn't perfect, being with him made them feel like everything was going to be alright.

There were times when he seemed too good to be true because he didn't show any weakness to anyone.

Whether he was facing strong monsters or the members of the Monarch and Prestigious Families, he was always the one who had the initiative.

So seeing a side he hadn't shown to others made him look more human in their eyes.

A few minutes later, the young man finally regained his composure. He thanked the two girls, who had just finished touching him up so that there would be no tear stains visible on his face.

"Let's have breakfast," Thirteen said. "After that, we will have one last meeting before we enter the portal."

Erica and Sherry both nodded in understanding and followed Thirteen out of the wagon.

The other Wanderers were already busy cooking their meals and making their last-minute preparations to enter the portal.

Some were sharpening their weapons, others were meditating, while the rest were doing a bit of exercise.

Drazzat, who was waiting for Thirteen to wake up, gave the teenage boy a brief nod, which the latter returned with a smile.

An hour later, Thirteen stood in front of the Wanderers and scanned their faces.

"David and his team will first enter the portal, as per our agreement," Thirteen said. "They will be accompanied by Lord Drazzat, and they will hold the perimeter on the other side of the teleportation portal.

"Two minutes later, Team 2 will follow suit. Every team will enter the portal within a two-minute grace period. This will allow everyone on the other side to get into position to welcome the new arrivals.

"My team will be the last to enter to ensure that everyone will not be left behind. Now, before the first team starts to enter, do any of you have questions?"

Thirteen waited for a full minute but no one spoke up. All of them knew that discussions could be continued once everyone had safely entered the portal.

Seeing that no one wanted to ask any questions, the teenage boy gave David a brief nod.

"Team 1, get ready to enter," Thirteen ordered. "See you all on the other side!"

"""Yes!"""

David and his team, which consisted of twenty people and Drazzat, lined up in front of the portal properly.

One by one, they entered the portal and disappeared with a flash of light.

Two minutes later, the second team entered the portal with a determined look on their faces.

When all the teams had entered the portal, Thirteen faced the Lizardmen who had accompanied them on the journey and gave them a deep bow.

"Thank you for everything," Thirteen said. "If fate wills it, Drazzat will return to share his story based on what he saw on the other side of the portal."

The Lizardmen bid the teenage boy well wishes and told him that he would be welcomed as their special guest if he were to return to their tribe.

Just as he was about to enter the portal, Erica held his left hand while Sherry held onto his right.

"I don't know if we will get separated on the other side or not," Erica said. "But it might be better if we went hand in hand together."

"I agree," Sherry commented.

"Okay," Thirteen replied and held the hands of the two girls firmly before all three of them took a step into the unknown.

When the teenage boy regained his vision, he found himself right at the center of a defensive formation of Wanderers, which made him frown.

This was the formation they practiced beforehand if they were to happen to encounter a threat on the other side of the portal that couldn't be handled by a single team.

Erica and Sherry, who were still holding hands with him, scanned the surroundings and understood what was happening.

The Wanderers, who numbered over six hundred, were in some kind of closed-off area.

High walls surrounded them, and on top of those walls, humans and demi-humans who were holding bows and crossbows aimed in their direction, flanking them from all sides.

Some of the humans were in their late teens, and a single glance was enough to tell Thirteen that all of them were Wanderers just like him.