At the silent and deserted long corridor in the second floor of the Cathedral where non-personal people were forbidden to enter, a wooden counter is placed in the spacious corner.

There are two long wooden benches placed against the opposite wall in front of the counter and there is a wall with a door at the back of the counter. Only a small space, enough for a chair and to operate in short range, is left between the counter and the wall for someone to stay.

At that time, a young woman in white priest uniform was reading a book peacefully on the wooden chair behind the counter. She thought it would be another peaceful day as yesterday. However, a calm voice suddenly broke into her ears and woke her up from the story in the book.

“Hello, I heard that we can apply to become a mercenary here. Is that true?”

Unknowingly, there were two more men standing in front of the counter. Both of them looked tall and strong. The handsome guy standing at the left was with slightly lean muscles but the one next to him was simply with bulging muscles with thick arms and legs.

They dressed up almost the same way; same jeans pants at the bottom and the same fleece jackets at the top. The color of handsome guy’s jacket was white while the muscular man’s jacket at the right was gray. Their presence added up a little lively vitality into the quiet place.

“Excuse me. I don’t know how the two gentlemen got the news about it. May I know the name of introducer?”

Although she heard the inquiry clearly, the young female priest chose to ask back for the confirmation according to the rules. In fact, as soon as she saw them or exactly their burly and strong figures, she realized that they were here for that. After all, only strong or special people would come to apply for that risky job.

The muscular man put his hands on the counter and said, “It’s Truman from Falcon team. We had a nice talk with him when we met several days ago. He introduced us about this place and advised us to come here.”

The young female priest closed the book, which she was reading, and took out a paper from the drawer. She smiled softly and asked, “Are you alone or with a team?”

The muscular man said, “With a big team.”

She chose team option and asked again, “How many people?”

The man opened his mouth to say but he found out that he forgot the exact number. So, he turned his head and looked at his companion. The latter rolled his eyes and took out a small notebook from his jacket’s inner pocket. He flipped the book for several seconds before replying, “65 people, all men.”

The muscular man nodded and said, “65 people, all men.”

The young female priest chuckled and said, “I will just ask the other questions to this gentleman if you’re okay with that.”

The muscular man nodded and said, “No problem. Go ahead please.”

She asked, “So, do you have any name for your mercenary group?”

“Guardian Spirits”

She took out a tablet and started searching. It took a few seconds before she told them, “The name is valid. Do you have any recommender?”

“No.”

“No recommender, okay. Well, have you experienced solving any mysterious thing or do you have special ability?”

“Actually, we are the survivors of Cerriro Town.” ,said the handsome man.

The young female priest covered her mouth and exclaimed, “Oh, you are the survivors of this year’s first level three case. I am so sorry to bring back your memories. Please don’t mind me, it is necessary checkup for your background. After all, normal people can’t get into this job, ya know.”

The handsome man with golden ratio body shrugged his shoulders, blinked his deep blue eyes and said calmly, “It’s understandable. You don’t have to react too much.”

The young female priest relaxed and murmured as she wrote swiftly on the paper, “Level three abyss invasion survivors. Clean background. Normal. Experienced.”

Then, she pushed the paper and the fountain pen to the handsome guy and said, “You can sign here. By the way, you can draw your team badge in this place if you have prepared a badge design. Of course, if you haven’t yet, we have a lot of recommendations here and we also undertake the orders. But if you do so, you have to wait for it ranging from several minutes to an hour.”

The young female priest suddenly reached out her hand and said with a bright smile, “I am Cathy, an idle white robe priest. What’s your name, handsome?”

She introduced herself and looked at the handsome man with expectations. The man talked happily, “I am Peter. This buddy is called Chester. And by the way, ma’am, I have a girlfriend and I also really love her. So, you better don’t hit on me. But this buddy here is still single. Although he looks cold, he is actually a warm man. Moreover, if you look carefully, you will find him being attractive. What’s that. It’s attractiveness of mature man. Trust me. You can consider him if you’re looking for a stable love. First, you can try to date him a few times and proceed to the next step if you found him suitable. But I’m quite sure that he will not disappoint you. Don’t look at him being tough like a gangster, he is actually a retired SWAT and he is a good man. How about it?”

The scene suddenly fell into silence as Peter talked like a professional dating agent. Cathy looked really awkward. Chester is a cold guy who speaks less unless it is necessary. Peter didn’t want to provoke other girls since he already got a girlfriend. So, he had no choice but to bring someone else into water.

Moreover, Chester was really not that bad. He was still single because he was so busy with his job and also found love being troublesome.

On the other hand, Cathy was surprised by their names when she overcame the embarrassment. At first, she thought that these two men were just normal survivors.

However, after knowing that they were actually Peter and Chester in the recent popular book, her mentality had a quiet change. Her thoughts about asking out the handsome guy also disappeared.

Moreover, she didn’t like to have a force love. She had always believed that love should come natural and unconditionally.

About Chester, Cathy felt that he could be the second main character although Peter was the most popular one in their group. Soon, she smiled sweetly to Chester and reached out a hand. “Hello, Chester. Can I have a chance to invite you to dinner?”

Chester shook her hand gently and said after he released it quickly, “I don’t know. I need to check my daily schedule. I am very busy lately since I suddenly have a bunch of kids to take care of.”

Cathy’s sweet smiled was solidified. But she became lively again as she heard what Peter said.

“Actually, he wanted to say that he was busy training the brothers in the guild. Thanks to him, many people survived the disaster in Cerriro Town. And that is also why we got a lot of people joining us.”

Cathy’s pale green eyes shone with strange luster and she looked Chester with admiration. After looking carefully, she felt that this muscular tough looking man could be the prince in her fantasy. This is a man who can shield away the dangers from her and be her safe heaven.

She secretly decided on him. Cathy swore to pursue her love. She is just a pure girl who has been raised by the Church, immersing in study or reading stories in Church’s library, and serving the Church while doing boring things daily.

She is just like a lively young bird who can’t wait to fly out of the nest and seek the vast sky and endless horizon. All she wants in the deepest part of her heart is a man who is like a prince or a hero in the stories she has read of.

Although she got good friends and people who took good care of her, she had been feeling lonely. Her enthusiasm surged greatly after knowing that the two greatest men in the recent popular story were standing in front of her. Although she doesn’t usually go out of the Church, she knows a lot about outside world through the forum and books.

“I heard Cerriro accident was a very tragic one. Is that true?”

“Yes, it is true.”

“So, Chester, how did you lead other people to survive through it?”

“We gathered all survivors as best as we could and fought back a bloody battle.”

“Are those abyss creatures really scary?”

“Their appearance don’t look good but they are actually not that scary. You can easily kill them with a gun.”

“Do you want me to be your recommender?”

“Yep, can you?”

“So, how about having a dinner together tonight?”

“I told you that I would have to look at my schedule.”

The cold conversation was then interrupted by Peter who finished drawing the badge. He coughed and handed over the paper to Cathy. The badge is just a very simple badge; a round shield as background and two knight swords crossing in front of it.

“His schedule is only about training by himself or training other people. And, he would have already forgotten about you when we stepped out of the church. So, come along with us together if you really want to chase him. Be our recommender, I will let him go to the dinner with you. How about it?”

Under the stare of Chester, Cathy smiled brightly and said as she took the paper, “Deal.”

Then, she pointed at the benches at the opposite and said, “You can sit there and wait for me because it is going to take some time.”

As Cathy opened the door behind her and walked in, Peter and Chester also walked towards the benches.

The two men sat on a bench while leaning against the wall and waited.

Chester asked, “Why you doing this?”

Peter took out his phone and started to text while answering to the somewhat annoyed big man beside him, “I just felt that you look lonely. And besides, isn’t she beautiful? Come on, man. You gotta take initiate on pursuing the beautiful women. If I am not with Tina right now, I would have pursued her and it would not be your turn.”

Chester calmed down and said, “Even if she is beautiful, it is not right to do like that.”

Peter freed one hand to pat Chester’s arm and said, “Pursue her. Marry her. Make children with her. Get a good life.”

“It is really hard to meet someone like her. Think about it. After all, we are going to face dangerous things and nobody knows when one would die suddenly in the hands of which strange creatures.”

“Moreover, rare resources are treasured and opportunities are hard to come by. You are already in your thirty and you are still single. I know a lot of guys at your age, man. They have wives and children.”

“Oh yep, I haven’t asked yet. Have you ever been in a relationship?”

Chester was flustered by the sudden question. He looked somewhat unnatural and said dully, “No.”

Peter turned his head to look at him in surprise and asked, “Have you ever loved someone?”

Chester hugged arms and said while staring at the opposite wall, “Yep, had one during high school. My family was really poor at that time and I was a tall thin boy. I wasn’t quite popular with my classmates and she got on with a bully who drove Chevrolet Corsa to school.”

“I decided to focus more on myself and to do something good for our city. Actually, she didn’t even give me answer to my confession. Later, I heard that she had an abortion and went to somewhere else.”

Peter tapped the sent button and asked with interests, “So, you became a cop just like that?”

Chester didn’t reply and just nodded. Peter put away the phone, leaned back on the backrest and said, “Let’s take Cathy as your old crush. But the difference is that Cathy might like you. Imagine her being poached by a bad guy. You know, most women like bad guys. They are willing to fall in sweet lies. I don’t know why that happens but it does happen. Just imagine that you guys are rabbits. So, a cute little rabbit like Cathy would be eaten by a big bad wolf in one bite. You’re the old rabbit who lives nearby. Do you want to let it happen?”

“No. You don’t wanna let it happen, right? So, hold that chance tightly when you can. Take her home and make little rabbits. There would be no next stop after this.”

Chester had several black lines on his forehead. That dude was so embarrassing although he sounded true. At this time, Chester’s iron defense line was greatly shaken. He started to compare Cathy with his high school crush and fell into thoughts.

The scene fell into quietness. When Peter saw that Chester had something in his mind, he smirked and opened his phone again. Like that, two men fell into silence tactically as one was thinking hard and another one was using his phone.

When Cathy came back after nearly twenty minutes later, she was already in a different outfit; a simple jeans trousers and hoodie on top. She was holding a small metal badge and a handbag.

She handed over the metal badge to Chester with a sweet smile and said, “It took some time because of this metal badge. And I took advantage of the waiting time to change the clothes by the way.”

Then, Cathy narrowed her eyes slightly and asked sternly, “You are not going to refuse my invitation to the dinner, right?”

Chester put the badge into the pocket and said with a wary smile, “Of course not. It would be my pleasure to dine with a beautiful lady like you.”

Only then, Cathy smiled and said, “Let’s go. As a recommender, I have other things to introduce you. Trust me, you would be glad to have me after a while.”

Chester patted Peter and stood up. He and Cathy walked side by side towards the stairs while talking. Mainly, he was answering her various questions. Peter put away the phone and hurriedly followed them. He felt that this wave might be stable and he helped his newly made brother greatly.

After all, although Chester didn’t look handsome, his maturity and muscular body could still attract a lot of young women. Not to mention, he got a pair of deep blue eyes, thick eyebrows and thick lips. Neatly trimmed military style short brown hairs and light stubble on his angular chin made Cathy gave Chester a few more points in her heart silently. Moreover, his seriousness cultivated by him for years had already slightly intoxicated her.