Zed

Gin quickly circulated his physique scripture and calmed his madly beating heart. He soon recovered from the weariness and noticed Yirene is walking towards him with the middle-aged man.

"Uncle meet my friends - Gin, Hammer, and Astro. This is my uncle, Zed" Yirene introduced.

"No, I am just a young lady Yirene's servant. I heard you young lads are going on an adventure, please take care of my lady." Uncle Zed politely spoke.

"No problem, Yirene is our friend, no one can hurt her with us around," Hammer spoke in upright tone.

'You blockhead!' Gin cursed Hammer's ignorance in his mind. But the middle-aged man Zed's words further increased his curiosity towards Yirene's background.

"Haha, It's good to be young and spirited. Young man, I am counting on you." Uncle Zed patted Hammer's shoulder and said.

Meanwhile, Emeera and her team were completely astounded and begin to wonder, what kind of team they recruited as an escort.

"So, you are Gin, the young lady told many things about you. Continue working hard!" Uncle Zed spoke but inwardly amazed by Gin's willpower.

As only he knows, what the young man before him experienced a few seconds ago. It also increased his curiosity towards Gin and began to anticipate his future.

"Young lady, please be safe on your trip. I will take my leave." Uncle Zed spoke. He soon hopped on the hovercar and disappeared from their view.

Only after the Middle-aged man Zed left, Gin relaxed. 'He's too scary'

Gin knows what he witnessed is a kind of warning to him but he couldn't discern the purpose of it.

He wanted to know more about Yirene's uncle, Zed, but he quickly suppressed his curiosity as it's not the right time to ask.

----

"Okay," Gin spoke to his team. "Since everyone has arrived, we need to set off as soon as possible and reach the District 12 before noon."

"Miss Emeera, if your team is ready, we can begin our trip." Gin said.

"Yes, we can depart."

"Good!"

Soon, team Sunshine and Emeera's group left the area and walked to the nearest Ultra-fast rail station. From there, they boarded the rail traveling towards District 12.

Emeera's team of four settled in one cabin while Gin's team took the cabin next to Emeera's.

Like District 13 and 14, District 11 and 12 are border regions of Darkwood Wildlands.

Darkwood Wildlands is several times more popular and dangerous than the Northern wasteland.

According to the information Gin gathered from the Ranker site, Wildlands is divided into an outer region and Inner region.

The outer region is fairly safe as most of Wild beast in there range from Rank 1 to Rank 6, but if your luck is bad, you may encounter Rank-7 - Advanced class wild beast.

But the inner Region is different, even supreme rankers will lose their lives if they try to venture deeper; The wildlands get more dangerous, the deeper one travel.

It doesn't stop others from coming here, as many professional Rankers, researchers, merchants, treasure seekers, herb pickers and robbers visit this place despite knowing the risk involved.

So, it's a dangerous place for some ordinary and weaker peoples to go there without an expert.

At the same time, District 11 and 12 are considered as influential Districts in the Silver Mist region as it entertains many black markets, auction houses, illegal shops, etc.

Many Rankers sell their spoils here such as the wild beast carcasses they kill, herbs they find on their mission, etc.

Gin already planned everything from start to end like direction, where they should rest, which area is suitable for the client's research, etc.

Gin stepped into Emeera's cabin and displayed the holographic map of Darkwood Wildlands in front of everyone's view.

"Miss Emeera, did you have any particular place that you planned to visit in the outer region?" Gin asked since he has to modify the plan according to his client.

Normally, Ranker teams who take on Escort missions will only give protection to the team they are accompanying.

But, this is Gin's first mission so he wanted to make sure everything is perfect on their trip and complete the mission with a higher rating.

Emeera pointed her finger at a specific area on the map and said, "One of my friends is a ranker with special status, she informed me about this place which is filled with different kinds of herbs and magical fruits."

"But, this area is a territory of Crimson-tailed wolf pack. According to what my friend has witnessed, the wolf pack is very strong led by two Rank-6 wolfs."

"Miss Emeera, true, our mission is to safeguard you from the wild beasts we may encounter on our trip. But, if you plan on traveling to a dangerous area knowing the risk, then my team won't be responsible for your safety." Gin firmly said.

Combating two Rank-6 wild beasts isn't a problem for Gin's team but he could sense Emeera is hiding something from him, as she has a clear idea about what she wants and where she's going.

Gin observed the area pointed by Emeera and recalled the information he read about this place on Ranker site but he couldn't pinpoint what's wrong.

"Your job is just to escort us, don't ask unnecessary questions, ok?" The rich man, Clog, grumbled at Gin.

"Oh! are you sure? Then, if you encounter any Rank-7 or above wild beast, we won't help you in any way." Gin coldly uttered.

"What?"

"Because in the mission details, we were told at most we will face Rank-6 wild beast on our trip."

"If not, we have the right to reject the mission, considering the incorrect details provided and a sudden increase in the difficulty of the mission. What do you say, Miss Emeera?" Gin asked.

"Mister Clog, they are respected Rankers so please speak with some courtesy. Mister Gin, if you have any doubt please ask?" Emeera calmly spoke.

From the simple words, Gin could perceive that man Clog is someone that even Emeera has to speak in a polite attitude.

"Miss Emeera, I don't care about your purpose for going there but if you plan to achieve that by risking my team's safety, then I won't show mercy." Gin coldly spoke and left the cabin.

"Gin, What happened?" asked Yirene, who was waiting outside the cabin.

"Let's go inside and talk."

Once they entered the cabin, Gin spoke, "That lady Emeera is hiding something from us!"

"Are you sure?" Hammer asked, doubtful. Astro also looked at Gin, wondering what's wrong.

Gin sighed, then narrated the entire conversation that happened between him and Emeera's team.

"What do you think?" Gin asked Yirene. Apart from him, she's the cleverest and most intelligent among them, capable of discerning the problem hidden from normal people's eyes.

"She's surely hiding something, something big," Yirene said and looked at Gin.

"You guys, don't speak with yourself—tell me about it," Hammer spoke, furious.

"First, why did she choose our rookie team? When she could have chosen some experienced Ranker team at the same expense."

"Second, they have a clear direction and purpose for venturing into the wildlands but didn't inform anything in the mission details, keeping the Ranker Division and us in the dark. It's suspicious."

"If my guess is right, they are not here for some research but seeking something in the wildlands."

"So, what do think we should do, brother Gin?" Astro asked.

"It's our first mission, we can't make any rash decisions. Otherwise, it will affect our reputation in the future. For now, we can only continue our mission." Gin said.

"Yirene, if possible try to contact someone and find out if anything major has been going on in the Darkwood wildland's outer region."

Yirene nodded and called someone to ask. After 2 mins, Yirene ended the call and spoke, "There's nothing worth mentioning, but there's been constant unrest among the wild beast in the outer region and it's common in wildlands."

"Unrest among the wild beasts?" Gin mumbled.

"You worry too much if there's any problem we will face it at that time," Yirene said.

Gin inwardly thought, 'Yes, I worry too much.'