Adopted Soldier

Once Matthew escaped from Cromer City alongside Emily and Kyle, he immediately headed out to meet his master Arthur who came to support Berdonia. Upon meeting Arthur, his master told him that he should do what he wants.

"If you want to fight for Berdonia, then do so. If you want to go back to the Southern Union then do so. If you want to do something else the do it. No need to ask this old master of yours what you need to do."

After saying that to Matthew, Arthur left and headed out towards the front lines, Matthew could only bow in front of his master until he could no longer see his back. Once his master was gone, Matthew started to stretch his body. He looked at the bright blue sky and smiled.

"Thanks for everything master... I guess it's time to repay that favor I owe Alex." Matthew started to make his move. A few minutes later he would receive a message from Kyle telling him Alex got kidnapped.

That was a year ago, even now Matthew is still wandering around the battlefield trying his best to get any information regarding Alex.

...

In a secured location unknown to anyone, a girl wearing a gothic lolita dress was typing hard on her keyboard. This was none other than Emily Hunt. After escaping from Cromer City with her brother and Matthew, Emily learned from Niel that Alex had been kidnapped by his supposed grandfather.

So the first thing Emily did upon learning this, was looked at Niel dumbfounded. The story of how Alex was kidnapped even with Lyner and Dan with him was unexpected. If that wasn't surprising enough, even Kei suddenly disappeared and left her behind. The timid Kei who only knew how to gather information, was out there right in the middle of the front lines, were death was everyone's companion.

So now Emily was using all her resources to try and track down Kei, but no matter how much she tried she just couldn't pin point his exact location. Kei was even doing that bizarre radio show, which should make it easier for her to find him. Yet the first time she found a trace of him, he quickly changed locations, and from then on, every time she found him it got even more difficult to locate him.

At this point it was obvious to Emily that Kei was actively avoiding detection, or to be more precise he was actively avoiding Emily. This made the gothic lolita girl angrier than before.

"What the hell are you doing Kei! What kind of man runs away from such a cute girl like myself! If you're going to do something fun like going out in the front lines, doing a radio show, you should've brought me as well! We could even upgrade it into a televised show, and we could have been co-hosts! Damn it! Why am I even thinking about that guy anyway?! Shouldn't I be more worried about Alex? Damn it! It's all that guy's fault for making me confused."

Emily who kept on typing on her keyboard got angrier as time passed by.

...

In an underground bunker filled with Berdonian soldiers and Mercenaries an ordinary looking teenage boy, that looked like he wasn't suppose to be there suddenly felt a shiver down his spine. This boy was none other than Kei Kaido.

'Is she perhaps cursing at me again?' Kei suddenly thought about that mischievous girl. Of course she was going to curse at him, since he was actively avoiding her at the moment.

'It's not yet time to meet up, so I'll be avoiding you some more.' Kei then suddenly thought of Emily's angry expression and chuckled.

...

Oliver and Specter had successfully infiltrated the Granado Empire, and it took them a whole year to find the last known location of the hidden base of the Shadow Mercenaries. Yet when they got there, as Specter expected the base was no longer there.

Still Specter was able to find some clues which indicated the general direction the base was heading to. Though it was weird direction to head to, but the base seems to be heading outside of the Granado Empire, towards the little nations outside its borders.

As Specter was thinking about what the Shadow Mercenaries were going to do there, he saw Oliver looking at the sky a bit frustrated. In this past year, Oliver had been getting stronger and stronger than before. He was now at the very least in the peak of what it means to be an S rank merc, he was practically banging at the door to the SS rank.

Specter was a bit worried, since the more strength Oliver gained, the less emotion he had, well outside of anger, which felt constant within Oliver. Still when Specter talks about the people in the Mercenary Club, he noticed Oliver's expression would always soften.

'As long as he isn't fully invested in revenge, then he could still be saved.'

...

In a forest somewhere near the northern border of Berdonia that has been recently occupied by Granado Empire Soldiers, a beautiful young girl wearing a black tank top and black bike pants was running. Her black hair flowed gracefully in the wind, as she jumped towards a tree branch.

This girl was Rachel Regius, a recently registered merc, current rank C. Like most of the Mercenary club members, Rachel was trying her hardest to gain any information she could about Alex and the Shadow Mercenaries; but as expected of the legendary group that is considered nothing more than a fairy tale, it was hard to track them down.

Yet a few days ago Rachel had heard rumors that members of the elusive group were hanging around the forest near the city of Rinto. Rachel kept circling around the area avoiding the eyes of the soldiers present. It was a good thing that the Granado Empire didn't really care much for this location that's the reason for the lacking personnel. Even the soldiers present weren't that good, which made Rachel's job easier.

'I wonder if you're doing well... Of course you aren't. Don't worry, I'll find you no matter what, and I will rescue you... Alex...' Rachel felt her heart tighten a bit, this happens whenever she thinks of Alex, which was almost always.

...

In the residential district of Regon, a man with a prosthetic leg was carrying two babies. He gently smiled at the twins, who seem to be smiling back at him. He then handed the twins to their mother. The little girl who was sitting beside her mother looked at her father curiously as he handed her siblings to her mother.

"Michel take care of our children." Carlo smiled at his wife who looked so beautiful holding the twins, while Lilitth sat beside her.

"Of course, leave them to me. As long as I'm here no one will be able to harm even a single hair on them." Carlo nodded his head and then looked at Lilitth.

"My little Lilitth come give your tou-chan a hug goodbye." Lilitth stood up and pounced at Carlo who hugged her tightly.

"Promise me that you'll come back tou-chan, of course with onii-sama by your side."

"I promise, so you better be a good girl and wait for me. Also take care of your little brother and sister." Carlo gently patted his daughter's head. Lilitth looked at him with a confident smile and answered.

"Of course I will take care of them. Mirai and Yuuki are my precious little sister and little brother. Like how onii-sama protected me, I will protect them as their nee-sama."

Hearing his daughter's answer made Carlo laugh. "Good girl..." Carlo then turned around and was about ready to leave, but before he stepped out Lilitth and Michel spoke in unison.

"Have a safe trip.." When Carlo heard them say this, he smiled as he stepped out.