Chapter 137

Chapter 137

I was lost. I didn’t know where I was anymore. I wandered aimlessly— without any sense of direction. Everything was so alien to me. I didn’t recognize this place. I couldn’t find my way back.

I couldn’t find my way home.

Oh, and I didn’t mean it in a figurative sense. Nor did I mean it in a metaphorical sense. I was, quite literally, lost. As in, I didn’t know where I was right now.

I raised my head as I took in my surroundings. I stood in the middle of a dense forest, surrounded by thickets of towering trees. This was Briar Glenn. It was a vast forest that expanded dozens of miles, hiding many dangerous monsters.

Well... so-called ‘dangerous’ monsters. For an ordinary person living in Vacuos, encountering even a single one of the creatures lurking this region would mean instant death. But as for me? They literally weren’t a threat.

I had come to this world from the Fractured Realm. Which was a bit complicated since the Fractured Realm was technically still a part of this world— just not in the same plane of space. It was... isolated from the rest of Vacuos.

And for good reason. Because it contained the Voidgod and all its twisted creation hidden within. I had been summoned there from Earth, before being forced to fight voidlings and voidbeasts for my survival. Eventually, I grew strong enough to break out and that was how I ended up here.

That was how I ended up in this situation.

The strongest in all of Vacuos, and somehow still lost in some forest.

I sighed as I turned back to face the elf accompanying me. “We’re lost.”

“We’re not lost,” he snorted. “I told you— we’re heading the right way. Just follow me.”

He was Jax the Forsaken Archer. An elf. An SS-ranked adventurer now. When I met him, he was still only an S-ranked adventurer. But then he went away for a few months, before coming back stronger.

And he had sought me out to warn me— to tell me that the [Hero King] Kallistus Kal was coming after me.

I... didn’t really care about that. But I was concerned about those around me who were affected by the [Hero King]’s actions. Especially those in Windrip. Like Guildmaster Evan.

I wasn’t really close with Evan. I would consider him a friendly acquaintance— he had helped me out at times, and I was grateful to him for it. When I learned from Jax that I had endangered Evan’s life because the [Hero King] was after me, I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.

I had to act. So I left Wolfwater. I abandoned the farming village that I had made my home. I had spent months setting up a restaurant back there— Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant, also known as Bucky’s.

With the help of Xakor— a world-famous [Chef] and an otherworlder like me— we had managed to turn the restaurant into a success. And we turned it into even more of a success when we... recruited the help of an angel in our staff.

He was called Guardian Angel Z357, but I called him Z. He was helpful at times, and other times, he was honestly quite a pain in the ass to deal with. But he was nothing like the mindless drone of the World System I thought he’d be.

He could think for himself, which was how he caused problems for me. Anyways, I tolerated it because I found him to be quite interesting... and because he was a very good employee. He did his job well while attracting large crowds to my restaurant.

But unfortunately for me, he resigned the night before I left Wolfwater. So I was going to be leaving my restaurant understaffed in the hands of Xakor.

...and while Xakor did have four hands, it was still a lot of work for him on such short notice.

“What about them?” I repeated after him, crossing my arms.

“You can’t carry all of them back to Windrip,” the elf said.

I stared at the ragged figures fussing over Guildmaster Evan, before shaking my head. “Firstly, yes I can. And secondly— I literally don’t care about any of them. I was here for Evan, not them.”

I didn’t even know who they were. Apparently, they were a group of mercenaries hired by the Adventurer’s Guild to rescue Evan. But they weren’t very good at their job because they got their asses kicked and I had to save them from being slaughtered.

Their leader— a tanned man named Giles— stepped forward. “Don’t worry, we can take care of Evan.”

“No,” I said simply. “I don’t know what you guys want from him, so go away.”

“We can’t!” he protested. “The Adventurer’s Guild—”

I glared at him. “I don’t care.”

Giles flinched, and I turned away from him. I swept my gaze past the group, looking at a young woman trailing further behind from us.

“And you—” I pointed at her. “Why are you even following us?”

Eloise the Dark Wizard blinked. Jax, Evan, Giles, and the group of mercenaries turned to face her. She shifted back uncomfortably.

She was a mercenary that had been hired by the Kingdom of Kal to transport Evan out of Windrip. I had given her a chance to surrender, and she did. But since then, she had just been following us like a lost puppy.

“I...” She hesitated.

I shook my head and looked towards Giles and his team. “Are you guys seriously fine with her just following us? Didn’t she try to kill you just half an hour ago?”

“It is just business.” He shrugged back at me. A young woman nodded in agreement next to him as he continued. “We’re mercenaries— we hold no grudges. We understand that it’s all a part of our contracts.”

“Are you guys serious?” I stared at the mercenaries in disbelief.

And Jax cut me off as he clapped his hands together. “Look— if we just stop arguing, we’d already have reached Windrip by now!”

“We’re literally heading the wrong way,” I retorted. “We’re never getting to Windrip if we listen to you.”

“You’re never getting back to Windrip if you keep arguing.” The Forsaken Archer crossed his arms.

I stared at him. I opened my mouth. “I’m just going to—”

But I didn’t even finish. I leapt into the air by myself as Jax watched with wide eyes. Evan, the mercenaries, and Eloise looked on as I flew up high into the sky, getting a good survey of my surroundings. I narrowed my eyes as I caught sight of Windrip in the distance.

“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath. “Jax was right... we aren’t lost— we are heading the right way.”