My Guardian System: The Trader

The trader has a point. He acquired a rare herb in that dungeon just now, which unlocked a new type of medicine in the Trader's Shop.

"I see." After saying it, he returned to where the girl and the others were.

Several seconds later, Meir's eyelids twitch. Then Hope noticed them deliberately opened.

When Meir opened her eyes, her vision was still blurry. But she could still recognize that face who was staring intently at her at the moment.

"H-Hope…?"

She called out her name in a weak feeble voice.

Hope's eyes slowly widened, and her mouth formed into a big smile. "Meir! Yes, it's me, Hope! You recognized me?" Hope raised her voice when she heard her name.

Meir slightly nodded her head in response. She wondered what Hope was talking about. Of course, she recognized that easy-going face of hers.

"Thank goodness." As she said it, Hope brushed away the tears at the corner of her eyes.

Then, suddenly, "Meir! Meir! Meir!" She called out her name repeatedly.

"Ugh, wait, Hope, I can't breathe." She revolted in a weak voice. Because of the happiness of seeing her friend's consciousness back again, she hugged her tightly, out of a sudden.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" She immediately loosened her embrace.

"Anyway, what happened?"

She wondered what happened and why she was in that state, why she felt exhausted beyond belief, as though she ran nonstop the whole day.

At that instance, there was a sudden influx of memories in her mind.

Those were the memories of what happened before she lost consciousness and the reason she fainted.

Beside her, Hope was looking at her with blinking eyes. Although she looked as tired as her, she was donning such a cheerful face. Maybe because she was happy to see her in a good state.

In Mier's mind, Hope was just that kind of person. 

Meir subconsciously touched her head as she was still a little dizzy. She shook her head slightly to get rid of the dizziness and blinked her eyes several times to clear her blurry vision.

After several blinks, her vision came back to normal finally.

Just then, "Eh?" She noticed a person standing beside her on the opposite side.

That person was not looking at her at the moment. He was looking around. However, the case is, he looked familiar to her.

After a little effort of trying to remember him, 'Right, it's him! He was the boy who leaped into the void.' She remembered somehow.

'He's alive?' It surprised her.

Before Meir could say something, Hope stood up and faced him.

"Uh, erm, I'm Leanne Hope, and this is my friend Desiree Meir. Uhm, what is your name?" Hope said timidly.

"Eh?" Meir gawked at the sudden introduction.

Leanne Hope's introduction seemingly took the boy's attention. He shifted his gaze to Hope, then to her, Meir. Then back to Hope again.

"Jem Hansen."

For some reason, his voice resonates in Hope's mind. Meir blinked her eyes in wonder. She failed to hear it as her hearing was also unstable at the moment. 

Since his voice wasn't loud enough, only Hope heard it.

"It's my name."

There was a smile on her face when she heard it.

After saying it, his attention was back to the lying objects around. They were the monster cores. He was sure about it.

However, something was bugging him. Why did the bodies disappear, leaving only the monster cores?

A while ago, the bodies turned into something like black smoke.

It was the first time he saw something like that.

<It must be because they lost their source of existence, host.>

'Source of existence? What is that?'

<The dungeon.>

While Jem was talking with the trader, Meir called Hope and asked why he was there. Isn't he the guy who went inside the dungeon?

Hope then explained to her what happened after she lost consciousness.

"What! He cleared the dungeon, and he's the one who healed me?!" She asked in disbelief.

She looked at her friend's face and noticed she was serious.

Besides that, "She's telling the truth." The aged man interjected. They finally noticed their existence. Beside him was the sobbing kid. Right, they came here to rescue these two.

When she realized something, she hastily tried to reach her back. She could not feel any pain, however. Her face suddenly became red.

Noticing her weird behavior, "Don't worry, it's already healed. The wound is gone without leaving a scar--" Leanne Hope tried to ease her, but. "Eh?" She noticed that it seemed Meir's worry was not in the wound.

She also noticed Meir Desiree's beet-red face.

Just then, she realized where her friend's worries were coming from.

Right, she must be worried about her exposed back. Her dress was cut, revealing her back's bare skin.

She must be so embarrassed that a boy of probably the same age saw her bare skin. Since they needed to apply the medicine to her entire wound, they needed to tear a big portion of her dress. Thus, revealing more skin.

However, the person in question was already gone in that place.

He already confirmed the effectiveness of the new medicine. So there was no longer a reason to stay in this place for long.

When Hope and Meir looked at where he, Jem Hansen, was standing supposedly, they could not find him anymore.

As though his whole figure popped up like a bubble.

"Eh? Where'd he go?" Hope asked in puzzlement.

Hope sighed regretfully as she wasn't able to say their thanks for helping them.

Regardless, he was so mysterious. Leanne Hope thought so.

"Jem Hansen…" she whispered his name. 

"Did you say something?" Meir asked her.

Hope shook her head slightly, "N-No."

"I see."

After Jem Hansen left, a few minutes later, some people who were wearing attires that could only be comprehended as battle-ready attires arrived at the site.

There were 10 of them, and each of them was holding different kinds of weapons.

Since Hope and Desiree were yet to recover, the two of them, along with the aged man and the kid, rested for a bit, waiting for help to come.

"My name is Gino and they are my teammates. We are members of the Red Falcon Guild. A legal guild under the Clearing Association."

They introduced themselves as members of the guild licensed by the Clearing Association.

They asked them about the dungeon.

Hope and the others were quite surprised upon hearing Gino's introduction.

The Red Falcon Guild was famous in the East District of the Stella Federation.

They already achieved many feats. Their guild even once received a Medal of Honor when they helped to subjugate the Monster Tide in the neighboring city.

Beside her, Meir had gleaming eyes. She was a fan of them. Especially to the only woman in their team.

Meir felt her stamina had suddenly refueled upon seeing her.

Without a second delay, she approached her. "Uhm, you're Miss Valerie, right?" She asked the beauty who was wearing a white suit topped with a black shoulder pad and black chainmail armor, covering her upper torso. On her back was a modified bow, known as Zero Degree! The popular bow that already killed thousands of enemies.

"Ahaha… yes, yes." Valerie laughed wryly as she nodded.

After that, the cheerful girl with a pale face, in front of her, bombarded her with questions. Valerie had to repeatedly nod her head.

Regardless, upon hearing Gino's question, "The dungeon, is it? It's gone," Hope replied.

"Eh? Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"Yes, Je—"

Hope was about to tell him about Jem Hansen but decided against it at the last second.

"Ah, I mean a mysterious boy came and cleared it."

"What?"