On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

"Pfft…! What is with that look? You look like a husband caught cheating by his wife." Gabriela cackles as I pull her up.

"You haven't changed, have you?" Abigail smiles. "You still don't see us as love interests."

"Well…there is a friendship between a man and a woman. It doesn't always have to be about romance, does it?" I respond calmly.

"You are right," Abigail agrees; Gabriela is chuckling still.

When they are all standing, I hand them two Middle-Grade potions. They gulp the potions at once and their injuries—minor burn scars, cuts, and fractured bones—are immediately healing at a rapid pace.

As I look at the two girls, I recall the information Crystal gave me. He was very sure a Hero or two would pass by Ziehara Desert. He knows Abigail and Gabriela were summoned but he doesn't know they are not Heroes. From the looks of it, he also doesn't know if they are hunted by the other Heroes.

It seems to me the Kingdom wants to make everything hush-hush. They want to keep that their 'Unfortunate Heroes' have gone rogue—they hide any information about the two—but they don't care about what the rest of the Heroes will do to the two.

Had it not been the case, I believe Abigail and Gabriela would have died by now. Black Merchants have already figured out their identity and it is already enough clue to track them and create the perfect opportunity to kill them.

"Have you ever introduced yourselves to anyone outside the castle with your real name?" I ask.

"No. Not even the people in the castle know our name…at least, not our full name," Gabriela answers. "I mean, it was kinda off-putting staying there. We felt strong distrust toward the people there, so we always used fake names to refer to ourselves."

"That is smart."

The fact that doesn't happen yet means the "investigation" is solely carried out by the Heroes. They don't know the right 'keywords,' which is why they will never get the information they want.

Abigail Myers and Gabriela Chavez don't exist in this world; these two people are whom the Heroes looking for. The coverup the Kingdom did perfectly hides any information about the two. Black Merchants don't have anything about them—they only have the information about the suspected-to-be-Heroes Full Armored Duo.

"Well, I want to introduce you guys to my company…if you don't mind, that is."

"Of course, we don't mind. Your friends are our friends," Gabriela says as she wiggles her hand lightly.

"Friends…? I guess I can only call one of them that. The others are…" I wonder what I consider Lunea and Winerva as. I guess…, "Subordinates. Yeah…we are still at that level."

"You haven't changed, have you?" Abigail remarks with a small smile.

Shrugging lightly, I turn around and then snap my fingers. A thick, black gaseous substance appears in the air; gradually gets thicker and bigger until it assumes the shape of a 20 feet tall hawk. The substance solidifies and turns into a real hawk. Quickly enough, the hawk opens his wings.

Three girls are revealed as soon as the wings are opened. The hawk turns into a small crow, flies toward me, and perches on my shoulder.

The girls, who have been watching me talking with Abigail and Gabriela without hearing anything inside Teanosvera's Sub-dimension, look at the two and me alternatingly before walking forward. They must be wondering if I spared the two because they are women—their judgmental gaze says it all.

Millonia arrived first. She immediately hands me Genelos, who is in his little lizard form, and then says, "Do you want to create an empire or something? You have been collecting girls—in case you haven't realized it."

"It is just a coincidence. You don't have to read too deep into this and make things weird," I retort. Turning around, I gesture my hand at Millonia and say, "Girls, this is Millonia Trelova. She may look normal but she is a crazy bitch."

"What have I done to you, asshole? Why did you have to throw shade at me?" Millonia rebukes, irate.

"You have done a lot."

"…touché."

"I am surprised that you know how to use it."

I guess that managed to bloat her ego—so much to the point she forgot about the way I introduced her. She is smirking at me before extending her hand to shake hands with Abigail.

"Nice to meet you…"

"Ah, Abigail Myers. Layland's friend from…the academy." As expected of her, she remains careful even though I didn't tell her to.

"So, you are from that place, huh?" Millonia understands what that means. She nods her head in acknowledgment, prompting Abigail to turn to me in surprise. "Well, regardless, nice to meet you, Abby. I am Millonia, Layland's number two."

Smack!

I slapped the back of Millonia's head.

"What the fuck, bitch!?"

"You just threw shade at me."

"Well, you did too."

"I told them something that they are bound to know."

"I did too."

"…."

"Shit! That was weird. A complete loss for me!"

Grumbling to herself for a few seconds, Millonia turns to Gabriela and introduces herself. They instantly hit off as they shake their hands; they found a lot in common just by smirking at each other.

"Well, Layland, I approve," Gabriela says. "This girl is sick. I like her."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't mind sharing you with her." She shrugs.

Dismissing her remark, I introduce Lunea and Winerva who have been a distance away from us. They step forward and then shake hands with the girls one by one.

In the background, watching them interact with each other, makes me realize why Millonia thought that way about me: I have too many girls on my side. 'Well, it is only weird when you think it is; I don't, so it's normal. I mean, I have many male friends. They are just not here.'

Since it sounds like me rationalizing things, I discard the thought entirely. There is no need for me to justify my circumstance because nothing is strange about it.

'Millonia managed to gaslight me, didn't she?' Shaking my head faintly, I open my mouth when the girls have finished their small talk. "Now that you two already know I am whom you are looking for, what are you going to do next?"

"…well, we don't know, to be honest," Abigail answers with a light frown. "What do you think?"

"Can I take that as you willing to be under my wings?"

"Yes," Abigail and Gabriela answer in unison.

"Are you sure you are capable of killing your fellow humans?"

"That has been our job. Changing sides don't change things," Gabriela replies, shrugging as she does. "We don't know what your end goal is but we believe you won't disappoint us. We are betting on our understanding of you."

"Very well…" I nod my head lightly. "I am going to head to the Black Merchant's headquarters. I don't know where it is, so I need your help."

"What are you going to do there?" Abigail asks in wonder.

"I want to take my fair share of my bounty."

"Just so you know, the Arsonist doesn't worth that much," Gabriela comments.

"I am talking about the Shadow."

"That is you too!?" Gabriela and Abigail both exclaim.

"I have told you, haven't I? I liberate territories for future purpose." I shrug lightly.

When Abigail and Gabriela recover from their shock, I ask them if they want to ride Genelos with me and the girls. I am aware it will be packed but it is better rather than telling them to run to our destination—it will waste too much time.

They reveal to me, however, that they still have their carriage. I know that, so I reason by telling them how slow their horse is. They then tell me that their carriage is not dragged by a Wild Beast resembling a horse but a Yellow Rank Relic resembling a horse. It is powered by Mana and runs fast.

As I guide Abigail and Gabriela to their carriage, they whisper as they get closer to me, "Millonia is the friend you are talking about, isn't she?"

"As unbelievable as it, yes, she is," I affirm.

"She genuinely cares for you, though. I could barely detect it but I was sure she was figuring us out the moment you introduced her to us," Gabriela comments.

"I wonder how it all started—your friendship," Abigail remarks.

"Nah, you don't want to know."

Millonia and I—our friendship is…unique, to say the least. We were trying to kill each other for the first month of our meeting. I doubt she ever hated me but I used to hate her to my core. Heck, I even felt good when I bashed her head onto the ground.

Both of us are twisted; because of that, we understand each other after all the crazy things we have done to each other. We rarely have heartwarming times—we both hate getting sentimental—but I can tell we care about each other.

No one will understand our friendship but I won't hesitate to call her my friend.

"We will follow right behind you," I say to Abigail and Gabriela when they are inside their carriage. "Just keep moving as if you have no one behind you. When you want to rest, just rest; we'll be resting, too, somewhere you don't see."

"Understood."

As the carriage dashes away, Genelos assumes his true form. We get on him and he immediately takes off.

Two minutes into the flight, Millonia who sits right behind me, leans on me, hugs my waist, and then whispers, "Those two are really your friends. They were figuring me out when I said I was your number 2. They were making sure whether I was worthy."

Happy to know that I have good friends.