In his empty bedroom, Kevin took off his clothes and wiped off the sweat with a towel. He walked over to the window and stared at the bright moss on the cavern ceiling. 

 

Still early.

 

His daily routine ended quickly, and now a lot of free time was at hand. Kevin smiled knowing his previous gaming experience turned out to be useful, it was a far-fetched gamble, but it turned out well for the man stuck in a different world.

 

Then his smile vanished as a blank look replaced it. Deep in his thought, he pondered about his family, were his parents doing well? He hoped they didn’t grieve terribly after knowing about his death. But would his corpse still be there by the side of the street? He knew he was dead, but a question bothered him. Did his corpse on earth disappear since he was here? Or was the corpse was there, and here he existed in a different but identical body? It was a strange question to ask, considering it was useless to think about it in the present time.

 

He might as well thought a better plan in how to prepare himself for the future in this brand new world. Shaking his head, he turned around and stopped. His eyes were shaking as his whole body froze.

 

“Do not be alarmed,” said a voice. “It is I.”

 

The shadow standing in front of the door came forward as it revealed itself.

 

“It’s been a while, Queen Qirien,” said Kevin. The rapid beating heart slowed down as he returned to his usual calmness.

 

“Likewise,” said Queen Qirien. “I hope I am not being a bother to you.”

 

“No, not at all,” said Kevin as he grabbed a new tunic and wore it quickly. Although he was calm, having the Queen here all of a sudden took him by surprise.

 

“It’s your castle to begin with, so you don’t need to mind it,” said Kevin.

 

“You are wrong there, Kevin. Although we currently reside here, this city is not our home,” said Queen Qirien as she walked around the room, caressing the wall with her gentle fingers.

 

“This city is once a great place of ancient heritage owned by a great lineage of zwerg. Or dwarf in your words,” said Queen Qirien as she turned her head to Kevin with a beautiful small smile.

 

Kevin awkwardly smiled as he was still clueless about why the Queen was here, in his bedroom of all places.

 

“You must be wondering why am I here?” said Queen Qirien as she hit the nail.

 

“If I did anything wrong, please tell me,” said Kevin. In his mind, there were only two things why a leader like her came to visit him. Either to congratulate him or he did something wrong, and the latter sounds more plausible at the moment.

 

“Again, you are wrong Kevin,” said Queen Qirien with the gentle smile still hanging on her face.

 

“Something intriguing caught my interest, “ the Queen walked around the room until she finally stood in front of Kevin.

 

Both stood at the same height glancing at one another. The Queen was curious. Kevin, on the other hand, was barely smiling with no teeth showing. He was in an awkward position, anxious about the current situation. Kevin’s eyes kept shifting around, not daring to look up straight at the Queen’s eyes. For some reason, he felt the Queen was a bit overbearing today.

 

“It is interesting in how Dunia acknowledged you,” Queen Qirien’s voice seeped into Kevin’s eardrums.

 

His shifting eyes fixed back to those golden eyes of Qirien. Deep down, he wondered how did she know about him receiving the acknowledgement. 

 

Did Yaereene tell her? But if she didn’t, then could it be? Can she see through my status or something?  

 

“Pivorn’s Vison,” she pointed at her eye. “One of my abilities, a sight that can evaluate one’s worth.”

 

“One’s worth?” he echoed her words back.

 

“In this perilous time, it is a worthless ability to have. In a way, this vision of mine can evaluate the price of a person or a thing in relevance to gold,” said Queen Qirien. She revealed quite a sensitive information to a person belonging not from her race, even if she deemed her ability was useless.

 

“So, how did you know I received Dunia’s Acknowledgement?” he asked. Her explanation didn’t correlate with what he had, which bothered him.

 

“In the past, I once saw a person glowing brightly, just like you. A bit of talking with that said person, and I came to knew that it was because of Dunia’s Acknowledgement,” said Queen Qirien. 

 

“And nothing glows brighter than Dunia’s Acknowledgement,” she continued.

 

“Then…” Kevin told her everything about how he got the Acknowledgement. He didn’t hide anything since Yaereene already knew about it, and it wasn’t that much of importance since it was only a step to another step.

 

“I see,” Queen Qirien deep in her thought with her fingers rubbing her chin. Then she gazed back at him with a heart filled with curiosity.

 

“You have been planning this the whole time? You have only been here for a week, but how do you know the method in receiving Dunia’s Acknowledgement?” a bombardment of questions hurled at Kevin. 

 

Yet he responded with the simplest thing. He shrugged both of his shoulders and shaking his head.

 

The Queen responded with a half-smile, gazing at the person in front of her with incredible attention. 

 

“A person has secrets, and my words went beyond what I can ask. Forgive me for my rudeness Kevin,” said the Queen. She lightly bowed her head, ill-befitting of someone of her status, but she did it with utmost sincerity.

 

Kevin’s hands were sweaty as he didn’t think he made the Queen bowed. If those elders saw this, he would have gotten hounded more than just mockery.

 

“I will take my leave Kevin,” said the Queen as she walked with a posh elegant gait to the door. 

 

“I thank you for giving me such a good experience,” she said as she opened the door. She walked out while saying, “and let it not be the last.” 

 

She left, leaving Kevin staring at the opened door of his bedroom. He swallowed a mouthful of his saliva as he said.

 

“That was nerve-wracking.”

 

Unknown to the man, the Queen’s impromptu trip turned out to be a good thing. Her wavering heart had been appeased, she vowed to herself to be more sincere and trustful. At this point onwards, she believed she did make the right choice in putting her faith to this man known as Kevin Wang.

 

The hanging moss turned dim, and it was time for dinner. Kevin went out of his room and sat in the dining hall. An empty hall like always. He grew numb to the unfriendly treatment. In a way, it was a justified cause. If he was in the same position as them, he might have done the same thing. Family and friends killed by a bunch of invading aliens was not something to be scoff at.

 

He took a seat in front of the prepared meal. It was cold like always. Half of the plate was a salad and the other half a cold oven-baked bread. No salt or any proper seasoning to kick-up the bland taste. Nonetheless, he ate as he was hungry, and a starving stomach could do wondrous things.

 

Then the sound of a door caught his ears. He turned and saw a figure entering the dining hall. It was a surprise since he never had any other company during dinner. A woman who looked in her early thirties, dashingly beautiful in her white chemise. It was none other than Lautiria. He had never seen this woman before, but the woman definitely heard a lot of things about Kevin.

 

She took a seat at the far end, opposite of Kevin. She placed her plate with a scant amount of leaves and nuts. Not enough if you were asking Kevin.

 

She didn’t greet nor say anything to Kevin. She quietly ate her dinner while Kevin was stealing a few looks over to Lautiria. In a week, he learned quite a lot of things, and one of them was that things happened for a reason, and Lautiria being here was a reason itself.

 

“I heard a lot of things about you,” her voice suddenly echoed out in this silent dining hall.

 

Kevin stopped eating as he looked at the source of the voice. 

 

“Are you… talking to me?” he asked while turning his head side to side, hoping that there was another person. Unfortunately, there was none.

 

“My disciple has learned something precious from you, and I too inadvertently learned from her from what she spoke about,” said Lautiria. She still didn’t look at Kevin as she talked while staring at her plate.

 

What is this woman saying? And who the hell is her disciple? 

 

Cocking his head to the side, he wondered what was this woman talking about?

 

“Never in my whole life would I learned something pertaining to Dunia’s Acknowledgement,” said Lautiria, “to that I give you my gratitude.”

 

The light bulb brightened as Kevin finally realized who this disciple was.

 

It’s Yaereene’s master. I should have known. Well, I’d expect her to tell this matter to others, but I didn’t know it would spread this fast.

 

“It’s fine, Yaereene helped me a lot. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gotten it,” said Kevin as he scratched the back of his head.

 

The mention of her disciple made Lautiria peeked a bit at Kevin. Seeing that awkward smile on him made her turned her eyes as fast as lightning. 

 

Why did he taint himself with that dumb look on his face? 

 

She shook her head and returned to her calm and original state. She came here with a mission and a mission needed to be accomplished.

 

“For your action of bestowing us master and disciple with a precious knowledge, it’s in my dignity and pride as the second elder to bestow upon you a gift that you desire,” said Lautiria.

 

Kevin had hit the jackpot. His jaw was wide open, and it took him a couple of seconds before snapping back to the current situation. Yet before he could express his desires, Lautiria spoke up.

 

“In my opinion, a defensive accessory would be a perfect choice considering your fugitive situation. Having one would at least guarantee you to survive from at least a single strike from a powerful opponent. If I remember this correctly, I do think I have some left,” said Lautiria as she gave out a few more suggestions, and yet Kevin was sitting there with his eyes wide open. A single word from her caught his attention. 

 

Fugitive? I’m a fugitive?

 

The deep frown on his forehead was enough to show his concern about his current predicament. Out of the blues, this person told him he was in a fugitive situation. He started scratching the top of his head while trying to think about it. But he couldn’t think about anything in regards to being a fugitive.

 

He stood up as the chair screeched behind him. His gaze fell upon Lautiria.

 

“Please, Yaereene’s master, please tell me what do you mean by me being in a fugitive situation?” he asked as his heart was beating louder.

 

Lautiria glanced at him before closing her eyes shut. 

 

“It seems the Queen did not tell you,” said Lautiria.

 

Her words only agitated Kevin even more. He could feel his hands becoming sweatier by the second. The memories of the Queen smiling and being friendly with him resurfaced as a thought flashed by.

 

Is she the same like any leader back on earth? What else that she didn't she tell me?

 

“The Queen has her own reasons, but I owe you for your knowledge,” said Lautiria. “You are being hunted.”

 

The word hunt did not sit well for Kevin as it only made him more nervous. 

 

“By who?” he asked.

 

“The Alliance of Humans scumbags, the heroes are searching for you,” said Lautiria. “I was informed in the elder’s meeting, that you and Tyeria had confronted a Boulder Troll.”

 

His memories rewound as he remembered the time he was handling the horse on behalf of Tyeria the archer. A massive troll hurling pieces of earth at him, an act of trying to kill him.

 

“What’s the relation between the heroes and the troll?” Kevin asked.

 

“Your arrival had been anticipated by both us and them, the Transmigration Art is nothing but the flashiest of karamic arts. Our Queen’s action of using the art had lured the attention of the heroes,” said Lautiria, “they had sent someone for you while the one we sent, Tyeria, found you first. After you and Tyeria escaped, our forces fought a valiant battle, and the troll was defeated. One of them discovered a jewel core embedded on the back of the troll’s neck,” said Lautiria.

 

Jewel Core? Isn’t that one of the requirements in building a golem for the Artificer class?

 

“Assuming that you do not know, a jewel core is an item that is usually known as the heart and brain of a golem. Our forces recognized the glyph and runes that were engraved on the jewel core. A damnable insignia, that is only used by a certain human,” Lautiria stopped as her face contorted to a degree, it was enough for Kevin to tell that she bore extreme hate for this man.

 

“One of the High Heroes, Controller of Titan Golems known to many as GingerStar,” said Lautiria. Her fists clenched tight to the point of digging into her palms. A bit of blood trickled from her palm.

 

Meanwhile, Kevin mumbled the name of that man as he definitely recognized it from somewhere.

 

GingerStar? Is it that guy? But it can’t be…