The trio was walking through the town, but the unrest Keith felt in his mind did not lessen. The people of this town were still looking at him with their unnerving eyes and trying to decide what Keith was worth.

No one had ever looked at Keith this intently before. And someone Keith got the feeling that these people were not behaving like they usually would have.

Amelia seemed not to have noticed this abnormality yet but Clair had. And Clair had gone on instant alert as soon as she realized what was going on around her.

"This is not normal. All the townspeople are under a charm spell so strong that there is no physical evidence for it. I cannot tell you where the spell is coming from."

Clair's voice was frustrated. She looked left and right to ensure she had not missed anything. 

But no matter how much she looked, all she could feel were the lasting signs of oppression magic and frustration. Her senses were not picking up anything else from these people.

On the other hand, the stench of this divine magic felt familiar to Keith. He was sure he had felt this magic before. 

But his brain was not able to think back on where he had felt this oppressive magic before. 

"Hey, there is Master Shinzou. Let's hurry up and catch up with him. Master, we are here."

Amelia called out to Shinzou but the redhead did not hear her. He continued to examine the sword in front of him and did not look at anything else.

"That's weird. Did Master Shinzou not hear me calling for him? Well, no problem. I will go and call him over now."

Amelia was annoyed when her greeting was ignored by Master Shinzou. But she was not one to give up so easily. She quickly walked toward Master Shinzou and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Nothing happened for a solid second. Master Shinzou did not even turn to look at Amelia. He continued to look at the sword in front of him.

"Master, are you ignoring me on purpose? This is not funny."

Amelia called out once more, this time shaking the red-haired master. And finally, Shinzou moved to look at Amelia. Her eyes were fuzzy with sleep and his voice sounded a little tired as well.

But overall, what coloured his voice the most was surprised.

"Huh? Amelia? Grandmaster? What are you both doing here? No, what am I doing here? I do not remember walking toward this shop or even this town. It's so weird."

Shinzou's sounded lost when he tried to remember what had happened to him. No matter how much pressure he put on his brain, nothing came to his mind. 

"Don't worry about remembering what happened. Something weird is going on in this town so I don't think it was your fault you walked toward this side."

Clair explained this topic with haunting eyes. She looked uncomfortable with the air in this town and her magic was clashing with the other divinity in the air.

Clair was a goddess for sure, but she was also powerless. Her magic had been sealed a long time ago and she was cursed to walk the human lands and serve them.

She did not remember who did that to her and why that happened either. She just knew that the outcome had devastated her and she was out looking for revenge.

"Huh? I know what you say makes sense. But the more I try to remember, the more it escaped my mind. In the end, I cannot figure out why I am here and what happened to make me come here either. I am sorry for not being any help to you."

Master Shinzou did sound sorry, but only toward the grandmaster. He even rubbed his numb arms to get some feeling back.

Another wave of strong magic washed over him and Master Shinzou almost collapsed. That strong magic was asking Master Shinzou to surrender to it. It was luring Master Shinzou into its false sense of security.

But Master Shinzou was not going to fall for it this time. Since he knew this magic existed, Master Shinzou was going to fight tooth and nail against it.

"Oh, so there are still humans out there who can fight the divine magic? It's nice to know. In that case, why don't you allow me and my companion to help you out?"

Keith looked up once the familiar voice called out to his group. The caller was a familiar cloaked man.

Keith remembered this man since he had left a lasting impression on him. He had offered to take the annoying goddess of fate Veera out of his hands. 

The goddess of fate currently floated behind this man and her eyes looked worried. The goddess knew what was going on in this town for sure. But she refused to say anything.

Then the goddess looked at Amelia and her eyes widened. The goddess looked enthralled by Amelia's presence and recognized her as another protagonist. 

It all happened faster than Keith could keep track of. But he was now sure that this goddess of fate was special and she was also the powerful being that travelled with the chosen protagonist to reach the 'true' ending.

"You want to help us? Why would you do that? And first, introduce yourself so that we have a ground to look into you."

Shinzou did not trust this cloaked figure. But since the grandmaster was keeping quiet for now, he chose not to act as well.

This man was alone in the street and there was a distorted air adjacent to him. Shinzou was sure that something was occupying the space adjacent to this man but he could not see what it was.

And since he could not see it, it made Shinzou nervous. He did not want to deal with any surprise attacks and other similar things in his current state.

"You want to know my name? It's Adrian. Adrian Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Keith felt all his senses freeze in shock once he heard that name. Adrian Smith was another protagonist of this novel.

And as soon as the hooded figure, that familiar face shocked Keith. The grey hair and silver eyes made such a bright contrast to the dark background of the building. It left a lasting impression on any on-looker.

"Adrian Smith? The name does not ring a bell in my mind. Give me more information about where you are from and why we should trust you."

Unlike Keith, no one else recognized this name. Adrian Smith was not a famous person after all. He had been the least remarkable person throughout the story. He was a low-key figure who liked to stay back and relax most of the time.

If you took his route, you were guaranteed to remain undercover and not get discovered by anyone until the end.

For such a figure to come out and tell their identity was a big deal. But it worried Keith more than ever. 

Especially since Adrian Smith was shown to be a calculative and manipulative person in the original game. He was ruthless to those who opposed him. But he was also very affectionate to his allies.

"Grandmaster, I think this man is suspicious. Allow me to get rid of him here and now."

Shinzou asked as he took out his divine sword. He was ready to kill this weird man in front of him when the air surrounding this man tensed. 

Shinzou could not see what was happening, but he could feel something rising in the air and getting ready to attack him. 

As a result, Shinzou raised his sword and blocked the incoming attack. He did not know how much force he would require to stop the incoming attack. But Shinzou was willing to try anything at this point.

"Shinzou, stand back. I know this man so there is no need for you to attack him."

Keith had noticed the goddess's desire to attack Shinzou and he decided to stop them before anything could happen. He did not want to lose Shinzou to her after all.

Not to mention, Clair was also signalling for Keith to stop this clash before it could happen. It seemed like she knew something he did not.

Shinzou did not look happy with the order to stand back. But he did not contradict Keith's words either and put his sword down. All his time, he continued to look at Adrian with a look full of disbelief and distrust.

"You people are so fierce that I cannot even say anything. But I can help you out a lot. Especially since I know more about your world than anyone else. So, do we have a deal of cooperation or not?"

Adrian Smith held his hand out and Keith was hesitant to take it. He could feel the binding vow magic in Adrian's hand.

But before he could take the hand, Amelia decided to take the risk.