Understand.

"I have this skill called "Sneak". It lets me be undetectable for about sixty percent…I think."

"W-What!!?" this surprised voice came from none other than Serena who was as paranoid as ever.

"Hmm…" I couldn't really say anything to their reactions since I find it a hassle to react surprised by this since all she had than last night gave me nothing but doubts with my skill... I mean I was surprise knowing that I would disappear from someone's sight if I did use my sneak skill…but in all matters of morality, I shouldn't really be scared of this since this is a part of me. I don't intend to use it in a harming way to the people of this world, so I shouldn't worry in the least.

And I should let the two of them know that. To let them know that I am no longer a thief or a criminal, but instead I am now nothing but a man who's honest to his life to live well in this second chance given to me.

Before I could finish with my fishing, I had to pull out my dagger from my pockets and began to gut out the fishes one by one and clean them at the river. With my hand holding nothing but five fishes which I caught by the river, I smiled in an honest way and simply approached them with no malice intent.

"Here, the fish I caught." I said as I passed the three fishes to Shirley."

"...Who are you…Shay?" asked Shirley in a rather hesitant tone, as she was ready to attack with her obviously trained body. Her once silent character was now replaced with a vigilant guard who is willing to protect her escort.

"I'm a farmer…Or I plan to at least." I said as I picked a stick from one of the piles and calmly roasted the fish by the fire.

Simply put, I did nothing but wait as the fire roasted the fish. I did not want to say anything until Serena would calm her guard down by her request.

"..."

"..."

The two sat by and simply watched as the fish continued to cook by the fire. With their hungry state, they were in the essence of the sweet delicacy of freshly caught and cooked fish.

"...Shirley, can you start cooking the fish?" asked Serena.

"But-"

"Shirley, I don't think he has any harmful intent. If he did, he wouldn't have helped us last night. He even gave you one of the most holy blessings, the Hail-Mary leaf." said Serena as she tries to persuade Shirley from doing anything drastic to the simple me in front of them.

"..." Shirley went and stared at the fish, seeing if there were any possible chances of it being poisoned…but when she raised her head, she saw nothing but the calm gaze of a person who felt like he meant no harm to either of them.

"..." with a bit of a hesitation, she went to reach for a clean stick and started to prepare for roasting it.

"So…is it weird that I know a skill?" I asked.

"Ah...haha, no not at all. Its just that… not a lot of people actually have the ability to do what you do. Its rare you see…you know, disappearing like a ghost and all that." said Serena as she tries to answer my question with an honest tone.

"Hmm, I see. So I guess I should try not to use it then." I said, taking her words into consideration.

"That would be great…if you did that in front of the public, they would take it the wrong way…hahaha." she said as she laughed nervously.

After a while, when the fishes has been cooked, we proceeded to eat it. I took the first bite and thought that without any seasoning, this roasted fish would be nothing but a bland taste to the pallet.

*munch*

But after sinking my teeth down the fish, an explosion of juices came out like never before in my entire life. It had this fresh, tangy, elevating flavor behind it.

"...Woah." I could not say any other words then the truth of my own experience here and now.

When taking another bite, it was just as explosive as ever…

Although it was not salty nor flavored with pepper and such, it was great even on its own.

"..." After looking at my expression, Shirley was surprised to see me create such a blessed face. It made her curious as to why I was acting like this over a bite on a fish. Looking at me and then looking at her fish on hand, she gulped in envy and jealousy over her curiosity of the flavors beyond the inside of the fish. Her hands shook in craving the fish…so as slowly and as hesitant as she was, she took a bite on the fish.

"...!!" and just like that, an explosion of a fresh flavor came from the fish and swam down her tongue. The very image of her view towards this fish was nothing but gratitude. And when she came to see me still munching on the fish on my own hand, she came to understand that the person before her was probably never dangerous in the first place. Just a man enjoying his meal ass if it was his first.

"...Shirley?" suddenly she was caught off guard by the call of her Lady.

"Y-yes?" she answered quite fumbled-like, but soon gathered her composure.

"Is the fish good?" asked Serena.

"Yes My lady, it is very delicious." she said as she gave her approval over the food.

"...I see." Serena simply smiled as she saw the accepting face of Shirley as she ate her share of the fish.

*..munch*

As she bite into the fish, she smiled and gave her thanks to me.

"...Thank you Shay, for the meal." she said.

"Oh, It's great isn't it?" I asked as I continued to enjoy the fish.

"Yes, it is." she replied.

After an hour…we finally packed up a few things like a pair fish for the night and a few wood for the fire. Seeing as how it will take another day and a half to reach the Dragon Empire, we needed to be prepared for anything.

When we started continuing our way across the Flat Bioma, immediately after we departed, I was again asked about a lot of questions. Mainly from Serena who was as curious as ever.

"So, where do you stay?" she asked.

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean, since you said that you were planning to be a farmer, you must have had a plot of land somewhere right?"

"Oh yeah…I found a great place in a forest somewhere." I said.

"Oh, I see…and is this forest a part of the Dragon Empire?" she asked.

"Hmm, I don't know. Why do you ask?"

"Usually when a part of a land is ruled over by a country, it usually involves taxes for them to be safely applied to the records of that kingdom. Mainly speaking, if you have any plans of starting a farm under the territory of the Dragon Empire, you will have to pay taxes." she explained.

"Oh…I see." having understood that taxes were being enforced in this world, I had this blatant expression of annoyance inside me as I continued to ride on the road.

"So…is the part of your land a part of the Dragon Empire?" she asked.

"Hmm…I don't really know."

"You don't know?"

"No, all I know is that I'm near a lake somewhere in the forest. I don't know its name at all." I said as I

"Hmm, a lake huh? That's a pretty convenient place for fishing."

"I know…a lot of animals go there a lot to drink." I said.

"Hmm, Well if we do make it to the Dragon Empire, we can try to see if we can find a forest with a lake somewhere in a map. My Family has a collection of maps of all the known places on Astra." she said as she offers to try to invite me to her home.

"Oh, you don't reallly have to do that." I said as I try not to involve myself under a family of nobles.

"I don't really mind though. After all, you saved us from last night and also gave us a ride to the Dragon Empire. It's the least I could do to in return for your help." she said.

Looking at her, I was a bit hesitant to accept. But it wouldn't really be a bother to simply accept a gift from gratitude, isn't it? I'm not a thief anymore, so there wouldn't be any bad implifications behind this exchange of offers from simply helping her in the road…and who knows, maybe they can help me find a person who is willing to buy the sword handle hidden under my wagon.

"Okay, then, I'll accept your offer." I said as I agreed to her invitation.

"Wonderful." she said.

After a few hours of riding, the day came and went and we rested at the night.

In that time, we still haven't completely exited the Flat Bioma land. So it was simply another process to put out the barrier artifacts and make a fire before the sun would set down.

As I set up the artifacts, Lady Serena could not help but look to me as I drew the same barrier symbol on the ground. This weird drawing was something I did not understand, but looking at her expression, it must have been quite a fancy to see someone just write some doodles on the ground and then after, a blue transparent shield comes out of nowhere to protect us in the night. I didn't understood the science behind it, but I was interested in the concept behind it. I have to ask AK about the principle behind this, if I have the chance to do so.

Lady Serena was a bit of a curious and over hyper person. Seeing as how she sometimes overreacts to the ignorance behind my statements. But I understood that she was just this hyper, the things that I showed and told her, knowing that it was all probably common sense, I too might have reacted the same if someone acted strange.

When the next day came, we continued on the way.

And just like before, Serena was just as a heavy sleeper as ever and when she came to wake up, we were on our way out of the Flat Bioma.

"...Ohh, looks like we're finally getting out of the Flatlands. This is great!" she said as she could see a change of environment up ahead. As up ahead, a wall made of trees were seen. It was blocking off the change of environment from the Flat Bioma to the other side of the place beyond it.

It was weird seeing that type of tree from my perspective as I have never seen such an architecture back in my world. So to my curiosity, I had to ask AK about it.

[THAT IS THE GREAT EDEN WALL. A WALL PLANTED BY THE GREAT MAGE ARJEVO, IN THE PURPOSE OF OFFERING TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT PEOPLE FROM THE GREAT DANGERS OF THE FLAT BIOMA. IT PROTECTS THEM FROM THE NIGHT'S COLD AND THE NIGHT'S FANGS OF THE GREAT BEAST FROM BEYOND THE BIOMA.]

As the AK explained, I was simply taken aback by its fantasy.

As we got closer and closer to it, we came to a sight of a giant gate that blocks the path.

"Hmm, looks like the exit is finally near." said Serena as she couldn't help but smile for this journey to be finally over.

We speed up our way to the gate and when we finally arrived at the gate, we were meet with but an empty crowd. Not a single one person was on the other side of the gate to manage it from opening and closing.

"Hmm...Looks like no one is watching over the gate." I said.

"That's because no one actually has the common sense to cross the Flat Bioma."

"Except for us." I said.

"Yeah…except for us."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Serena.