*Ding!*

[Congratulations on completing the quest "Protect"!]

[You've received 20,000 exp, 6 free attribute points, and 3 skill points!]

[You've level up!]

[Strength attributes have increased by 15!]

[Agility, Dexterity, Vitality, and Intelligence attributes have increased by 10!]

[You've received 2 free attribute points!]

[You've received 1 free skill point!]

Souta looked at the system prompts that he received. He already finished the quest since this unknown girl already killed all the assassins. But to think that not even five minutes have passed before the helper arrived.

He also found that he levels up from the exp that he received from this quest. He was level 24 right now and it will take a long time before he level up once again. After a few more levels, his level will reach the middle level of the version 2.

Well, right now Souta has 11 skill points in total. It was enough to level up his [Shadow Bind] spell to level 10. If he does that then he would be promoted to Rank 2 Mage. His strength would increase once again.

Souta shook his head and put all these thoughts in the back of his mind. Right now, he wanted to go back to his house and rest. This day was pretty tiring even to him.

"Argh!"

He gritted his teeth and tried to move his body out of the walls. In the end, he didn't manage to get out of the walls. His body was still embedded deep in the walls.

"Damn! This is hard!"

Souta cursed as he loosened his muscles and lay there comfortably. He closed his eyes and clear his mind.

"This is not bad... I'm sure the city guard will come here later." He muttered.

He then heard a sound that someone was talking to each other. Opening his eyes, he found Lumilia, Brando, and Cluster. They were talking something while observing the unknown girl.

'These people are now comfortably talking to each other while I'm here stuck in the walls. Damn! After all the things I did to protect them.' Souta thought while looking at the three of them. He opened his mouth and said, "Oi! Can you guys help me get out of here?"

Lumilia, Cluster, and Brando turned their heads when they heard his voice. They found him stuck in the walls.

"Brother Souta!!" Cluster broke free from Lumilia's arms and rushed towards Souta with a concerned look on her face.

Brando also rushed towards Souta when he saw his condition. It was worse than he imagined.

Cluster arrived in front of Souta and tried to pull him out.

"Argh!! Brother!! I'll pull you out!!" She tried her best but she couldn't do it with her strength.

"I'll handle this," Brando said with a smile as he patted Cluster's head.

Suddenly, a voice sounded beside his ears.

"What are you doing to m-my... S-Sou- him?"

"Ehhh...!!"

Brando subconsciously took a step backward. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "I-I'm just helping my friend."

He was nervous as he was talking to the number one student of the Ladro Institute. He didn't know why she was here but she helped them in this crisis.

Cluster hid behind Brando when Yanagi appeared. She didn't know this woman, so she was quite wary of him. Actually, she was wary of Brando too but he saved her this time.

Yanagi knitted her brows and said, "Don't worry about him, I will take care of him."

Souta who heard this opened his mouth, "Oi! Brando, don't listen to her. Just help me get out of here."

"Eh?" Brando didn't know what to do as Yanagi was emitting a fierce aura. He didn't know what she would do if he didn't follow her. He looked at Souta and said, "I'm sorry, Souta. I will let her take care of you."

"Oi! I'm your friend, right? At least help me get out of here." Souta looked at Brando with wide eyes.

"Good." Yanagi looked at Brando and she flashed a beautiful smile at Brando.

"Um... M-Miss Shina, what will you do to Souta?" Brando carefully asked Yanagi.

"Don't call me that! Use "lady" when you're talking to me!" Yanagi said with an annoyed tone. "Only Souta can say my name directly..." She said in a low voice that only she could hear.

"Okay, Lady Shina..." Brando nodded at her.

'Shina... It feels familiar... Don't tell me she's Yanagi Shina.' Souta thought and was stunned when he realized that this girl was Yanagi Shina of the Ladro Institute.

Her appearance was different from what he knew in the game. In the game, Yanagi Shina was a famous NPC in this kingdom. She lost her left eye in the demon invasion and because of some unknown skill, her lilac-colored hair turned into silver color. Her appearance when he saw her in the game was really different when she was still in the Ladro Institute.

The players of the Hebrei Kingdom called her Goddess of Hebrei. She created her own group that only consist of a powerful woman. The king of the kingdom permitted her, so she led her group to roam around the kingdom to help kill the demons.

In the end, she fell in the event where the Zodiac, one of the Three Bringers of Calamity, attacked the whole continent. It was really tragic at that time when the Zodiac attack the continent. Several large countries and kingdoms fell in that event. Even the Three Great Countries suffered heavy casualties at that time.

The Zodiac only have twelve members but each one of them possessed power rivaling that of a God.

Souta stared at Yanagi Shina as he recalled what happened in the game.

...

Souta and the rest heard several footsteps coming towards their direction. All of them turned their heads and saw people wearing silver plate armor and helmet. They were the city guards of Ladros City.

The city guards looked at them before they approached them. They recognized Yanagi Shina as the most precious student of the Ladro Institute.

"What happened here, Lady Shina?" The captain of this squad asked Yanagi in a polite tone.

"Hmph! It's just some insects that tried to kill my Souta." Yanagi snorted and replied to the captain.

The captain smiled wryly and understood that he would not get any information from her.

"Um..."

The captain turned around and saw a petite girl with blue hair and blue eyes. The girl was Lumilia.

"Sir, I'm Lumilia Von Asvares from Asvares Family. I will recount what happened here to you." Lumilia introduced herself first as she wanted the captain to know that she was a noble lineage so that he wouldn't doubt her.

There's another reason why she did that. It was because she doesn't want these city guards to bother Souta and the rest for information.

Lumilia started to recount what happened here without missing a single detail. The captain listened to every word that came out of her mouth.

While Lumilia was talking with the captain, Souta was having a hard time as Yanagi kept looking at him.

Yanagi sat down in front of him and started on his face. This action made Souta uncomfortable.

'Damn! What's wrong with this girl?!' Souta cursed inside his mind.

After a few minutes, Yanagi stood up and patted her clothes. She clasped his cheeks and said, "I'll go now. If I stay here anymore, close to you. Then, I think I wouldn't be able to hold myself back. I might devour you."

"Right, just go now," Souta said as he ignored the second part of her words. It's better to ignore the words coming out of this crazy girl.

Yanagi turned around and disappeared like a bubble. Her presence also disappeared, so Souta was sure that she already left.

He sighed in relief and called Brando to help him. This time, Brando help him quickly.

The city guards asked them a few questions before they let them leave. But Souta, Brando, Lumilia, and Cluster didn't leave immediately as they knew that Bryan was buried underground.

They waited for the city guards to clear the place and they found the unconscious Bryan. They went to healers with Bryan to get some first aid.

...

"Damn! Who's that girl? She's so powerful. I thought I would die this time." Bryan said in a loud voice. His body was covered in bandages as he was the one who received heavy injuries among them.

"That's the most powerful student of the Ladro Institute," Souta said with a tired expression.

"Really." Bryan looked at him.

"Yeah, yeah, she's the one," Souta said.

After walking for a few minutes, the group arrived in Souta's house. They entered there and rest for a while. They didn't have the energy to play because of what happened.

Really... What a bad day, yet good at the same time.

It was bad because Souta was tired enough because he drained his mana and stamina. It was good because he received a lot of skill points in just a single day.