Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 594: What A Small World

After traveling for nearly two hours, Alex raised his hand and asked everyone to stop.

Due to the incident with the fairies, he had changed the settings of his map to show neutral forces along with hostile ones.

And for quite some time, he’d noticed a yellow blinking dot following them. At first, he had assumed that it was just another fairy. But after utilizing the map’s zoom in function, he realized that this creature was a Rank 4 Monster.

Well, calling it a monster was a stretch. Nonetheless, even if it was a neutral yellow dot now, that neutrality could disappear depending on the situation.

“How long do you plan to follow us?” Alex asked, looking at a tree that was at least a hundred meters away.

Fran immediately took a fighting stance, while the two fairies hid behind her.

Finn also took out his warhammer and followed Alex’s gaze. He wasn’t sure, but the young man might have sensed the same gaze that had been bothering him all time.

But Finn felt a sense of relief after learning that someone else had noticed the thing following them since the detour they had taken an hour ago.

“Be careful,” Alex said in a volume that only Fran and Finn could hear. “It’s a Rank 4 Dryad.”

Alex then summoned two magical shields to protect Poppy and Dewdrop. The last thing he wanted was for the two fairies to get hurt.

They had mustered their courage to guide them to their destination, and the least they could do was keep them away from their battles.

“So I’ve been discovered!”

A playful voice reached everyone’s ears. Moments later, a lady with green hair and eyes peeked out from the back of a tree.

Alex and Finn blinked at the same time. Even Fran couldn’t help but give the Dryad a good, long, hard look because she thought that she was just seeing things.

However, the view didn’t change.

Even Dim Dim had to raise its gangster sunglasses to take a better look at the dryad that had been stalking them.

Her hair and eye colors might not be the same, but they were certain of one thing.

The dryad, who seemed to be in her late teens, looked like a younger version of the elf, Medina, who had taken care of Fran in her past life.

“What gave me away?” the dryad asked. “I was doing my best to follow you guys stealthily, but I was still discovered.”

“It’s really simple,” Alex replied “I’ve smelled you from a mile away.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“… Dim?”

The dryad blinked before she sniffed her arm to confirm if she smelled or not. After smelling nothing, she looked at Finn anxiously.

“I-I bath regularly, okay?” the Dryad said defensively, looking very flustered. “I don’t smell!”

“Why are you looking at me?” Finn asked.

“It’s so that you don’t misunderstand!” the Dryad explained.

Alex looked at the Dryad, then at Finn, then back to the Dryad, then back at Finn.

“I see… so it’s like that.” Alex smirked like he had just chanced upon a scandalous bit of gossip.

Finn lowered his warhammer. If the Dryad could still banter with them, she obviously didn’t want to harm them. Still, he couldn’t help but stare at the creature who looked so similar to his sister’s beloved friend in her past life.

“Why are you following us?” Alex asked.

“I was just curious because it has been a while since I saw visitors enter the forest,” the Dryad replied.

“Is that the real reason?”

“Y-Yes?”

Alex fearlessly approached the Dryad and whispered something in her ear. In the span of a few seconds, a red tinge appeared on the Dryad’s face, seemingly confirming his suspicion.

“I-It’s not what you think!” The Dryad tried to defend herself, but Alex the Love Expert had already seen through it all.

Why was he a Love Expert?

Because anyone could declare that they were one!

“Are you sure?” Alex whispered. “If you’re honest with me, I’ll help you…”

The Dryad glanced at Finn, then at Alex, then back at Finn, then back at Alex.

“You will?” the Dryad asked.

“That depends. If he doesn’t want it, I can’t force him.”

“I-I see…”

Fran and Finn watched as the two continued to whisper at each other. This continued until Finn coughed loudly, trying to catch Alex’s attention.

“I just asked her if she could help us go to the grave without alerting her sisters,” Alex said. “She agreed to help. But she has a condition.”

“And that condition is?” Fran asked, trembling ever so slightly.

“She wanted to accompany us, just like what Poppy and Dewdrop are doing right now,” Alex answered.

Normally, Finn would shoot down the idea of having a stranger guide them. But for some reason, he didn’t voice out any opposition. He even sneaked glances at the Dryad from time to time.

“By the way, what’s your name?” Alex asked.

“Oh! Allow me to introduce myself. The name is Fran…”

Alex’s eyes widened in shock, as did Fran’s and Finn’s.

“…cesca. My name is Francesa. But my sisters are too lazy to use my full name, so they just call me Fran.”

“What a coincidence.” The corner of Alex’s lips twitched after hearing this. “Her name is also Fran.”

The young man pointed at his lover. Fran smiled stiffly, not knowing how to react to this revelation.

“Really?!” Francesca looked genuinely happy to know someone who had the same name as her. She even grabbed hold of Fran’s hand and shook it warmly.

Fran tried to smile politely. Despite the Dryad’s friendliness, Fran’s heart ached to see someone who looked like Medina but was not. It’s almost as if fate was taunting her.

Alex and Finn looked at her in worry, already sensing the flood of mixed emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

What they didn’t know was that Francesca had sensed Fran’s discomfort earlier and was doing her best to cheer up the young dwarf.

And so, the journey continued with one more magical creature joining their party. Still, nothing would prepare them for what was about to happen next.