Aberdeen City, 22 years prior
"Upgrade, upgrade!" A sweet milky voice chanted, excited, putting a small smile at the faces of the people around her.
They were currently in a small but colorful snack store. It was quite popular, as shown by the occupied tables even in the dead hours of early afternoon.
At this time, the young cashier chuckled at the hyper adorable little girl below the counter, waiting for her grande order of ice cream.
Although she and her brother were dressed a bit shabbily, they both had clean temperaments and good looks that people would think they were child actors wearing costumes.
Anyway, the clerk just felt she was adorable, and added a few more fries into her order. "Thank you for your patronage."
"Yay! Thank you Mister~"
The tray was dutifully taken by an older boy, very handsome, and the girl tottered to follow him to their seats. "Thank youuu Wanwan~"
Garan smiled as he placed the tray on the table, leaning down a bit. On cue, the little girl gave the older boy a slimy peck on the cheek which only made him happy.
He patted her head and served her her food, placing them neatly in front of her and easy to reach, leaving just a bit for himself.
The young Althea noticed this and frowned, placing more food on his plate "Wanwan is much bigger than Althea. Wanwan must eat more." She said with finality and the young Garan couldn't help but pinch her plump cheeks.
He did not reject her kindness. His angel had always been very kind.
"Ok, okay. Thank you Althea." He said, picking up a bite to eat under her stare.
Satisfied with his obedience, Althea cutely nodded in approval before eating her own food, happily chewing this rare treat.
Her already chubby cheeks puffed as she chewed and her bright eyes lit up brighter every bite.
Garan already felt full watching her satisfied. If he could afford treating her more, he would, sadly he was a kid and there was a limit to how much he could earn.
In any case, he thought cleaning up the mess hall everyday to get a few more bucks was too worth it.
….
_____
Guia Village, subsidiary village of Ferrol Town, Present
Garan looked through the scope, one of the few surviving tools during the transfer, and stared at the direction of the fog, trying to see if there were any changes whatsoever.
Seeing that there was none, his strong jawline tightened and his eyebrows furrowed deeply.
Garan frankly didn't know what to feel.
He couldn't eat well since he found out she could be in this place, perhaps getting chased by monsters, suffering from hunger.
The image itself made his heart hurt so much that he massacred an attacking mob of monsters by himself.
They were currently staying in a village called Guia Village, which was much closer to the fog along with others.
They chose this place because they could watch the fog through the scope any time they wished.
It was also the only village so close to it that survived the massive beast tide.
One reason for this was because of its relatively higher altitude and easy to defend state. The other was because it was built as a mining village subsidiary to Ferrol Town.
Because it was a mining town, it was also very tightly-protected. It therefore had much stronger manpower than the adjacent villages.
They were only allowed to rest for a few days thanks to Bart's connections, as non-residents were generally not allowed to stay in the place for long. They'd have to find another way to monitor the fog soon, as they hoped to stay indefinitely.
Gill saw his boss sigh, and he understood very well how he felt.
He, too, couldn't help but look at the fog every few hours, as if he could see his mother and his sister in there.
"That fog must be the protection. If we're correct, it should disappear in less than a month."
A month in this world was 32 days. Judging the explosion of the beast tide as the beginning of the countdown, they had already taken 7 days.
This meant they didn't have to be so near the entire time, they only had to get the timing right.
While uncomfortable, Garan knew he was right. He could at least make use of this time to strengthen himself and study this world even deeper, so he could protect Althea when they reunite.
"Boss, breakfast is ready." Another voice cut through their melancholic moods. They turned their heads to him.
It was a man with fair skin and aquiline features, aptly named Eagle. He was also the only surviving person from the logistics team.
These months they had gotten into the habit of discussing some investigations during meal times, because they were often up and about, busy, every other time.
Everyone was reporting their own tasks. They reported on various areas and aspects of their respective scope.
After all, they chose to investigate themselves rather than listen about everything rather than relying on the word of mouth from the locals, even from Gaudi whom they had just met.
For example, the time and distance to the next surviving territory. In which case, was tens of kilometers away.
For example, the level of monsters in the vicinity. Which was the average for villages, which was levels 5-10.
For example, how many territories around actually fell and what happened to them. Which, so far, based on the refugees outside, rose to about as high as 85%.
This damage was really big.
"I'm afraid people would blame the territories inside." Luis mumbled, not forgetting Gaudi's tragic story.
"Perhaps." Garan said, especially if someone deliberately targeted a territory, in which case that territory would have no choice but to face wars twice a month.
"This is why we have to be as strong as we could be, and this starts with understanding this world more."
The others nodded, and they continued their discussions, with a serious aim to prepare for whatever they may encounter.
After all, they had an entire civilization to protect.