Alex, looking a lot younger, was playing in a backyard of what seemed to be his home.

The boy was playing around with a couple of toys as he was just minding his own business.

As he played, he heard a voice call out to him as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

He turned around and looked up to see a tall woman smiling down at him.

Alex was a little confused as he couldn't see her face properly but he still smiled as he already knew who this was.

Before he could respond, the young Alex saw a dark, ominous shadow come up from behind the woman.

The boy tried to scream and warn her, but nothing was coming out from his mouth.

He kept trying to speak, but no words were being spoken.

Alex kept trying to warn her as the figure approached closer and closer.

At the last second, the figure stood directly behind the woman as Alex finally got to shout what he wanted to say as his field of vision went completely white.

"MOM!" Shouted Alex as he sat up in bed with a cold sweat.

He panted heavily, his heart beating extremely fast as his hand reached out to nothing.

Eventually he began to collect himself as his breathing and heartbeat began to slow and calm down.

The boy held a hand up to his face with a somber expression as he sighed.

'Why now? I'm tired of seeing that dream in my head over and over again.' Thought Alex.

He swung his legs over and sat on the edge of the bed as he got up and walked to the window to see outside.

The moon was out and shining.

It was a clear night sky with multiple stars shining brightly.

Alex pulled out his phone to check the time which read, "1:47 A.M."

The boy sighed as he knew he need to go back to sleep soon he could be fully rested for work.

However with that dream lingering in his head, he couldn't find it in him to go back to sleep.

Alex decided that it was best to go for a walk around the Basilicom and clear his head.

With that, he left his room and went for a walk around the mansion.

There wasn't anything to do at this hour, but Alex didn't mind so long as this walk alone was enough for him to collect his thoughts.

As he walked around the mansion's hallways with the sound of his footsteps as the only thing he could her, Alex suddenly heard a voice shout out loud.

"Focus on the enemy ahead of you!"

Alex's attention was immediately caught as he turned his head around, noticing that the voice was coming from a room just a few feet ahead from a door that was slightly open.

'Hm? The light's on. Is someone really awake this late?' Thought Alex as the voice was heard again.

"Hold on for as long as you can! Reinforcements are on their way!"

After hearing the voice again, he realized it was Vert's voice it sure didn't sound like she was doing paperwork.

'V-Vert? Why would she be up this late?' He thought.

Out of curiosity, Alex approached the door and slowly opened it to peek inside.

When he looked inside, he saw Vert sitting in front of her PC as she was wearing headphones, completely focused on the three monitors in front of her.

At first it was hard to discern due to the brightness, but after his eyes got used to it, he saw the images showing on the monitors were a videogame.

"Cover the left flank! They're focusing on the left!" She shouted into the microphone on her headset.

Wanting to take a closer look, he entered the room and got a little closer to her.

"Uh, Vert?" Asked Alex.

Vert didn't seem to hear him as she was completely focused on the game, pressing the buttons of her controller at frenetical speeds that only real pros could handle and only stopping to take a quick sip from a cup every few minutes or so.

Alex assumed it was coffee, since she seemed completely awake despite the hour.

'Hmm.......best not to interrupt her.' Thought Alex as he turned to walk away.

Right as he did however, that was when Vert had now noticed his presence.

"Oh Alex. What're you doing here?" Asked the CPU as she covered her microphone.

"Hm? O-Oh. Um, no reason really." He said as he turned around and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "I just heard a lot of noise coming from this room and decided to check what it was."

"I see. Um, what time is it?" Asked Vert.

"It's nearing 2 AM." Replied Alex.

"Oh my. Is it still that early?"

"E-Early?"

'EARLY!? SHE THINKS THAT'S EARLY!?' Thought the boy.

"I thought I played all night and morning long and that it was already the afternoon, but I guess things have been going slow due to the raid." She said while looking down and seeming to be thoughtful about it.

"A-Anyway..........um, how long have you been playing Vert?" He asked.

"Since Chika took you to your room." She replied which shocked the boy.

"W-Wait what? What about work?"

"Work? What are you talking about?"

"Before me and Chika left, you said you had some work to do."

"I never said I had work to do. Just that I had important matters to attend to."

Alex looked at her and sweat dropped as in hindsight, she was right.

Vert never said outright said that she had "work" to do.

Vert suddenly turned her head to look at the game and panicked.

"Oh no! I forgot about healing!" She said while looking at the monitor and quickly picking up the controller with both hands.

Seeing she had gotten absorbed into the game once again, Alex turned around to walkout of Vert's room again.

Before he fully left the room, Vert called out to his attention once more.

"Are, you okay Alex? I didn't expect you to be up this late and, I noticed you had a somber expression just now. Everything alright?" She asked with concern.

Alex simply shrugged her off as he forced a smile and looked back at her.

"I'm, fine Vert. Really I am. See ya." He said as he left the room, walking back to his as he got back in bed and slept the rest of the night.

[Later That Day]

Due to waking up in the middle of the night, Alex wound up oversleeping a little bit but regardless, he was now well rested.

Currently, Chika guided Alex through the town showing him some of the most attractive spots and explaining to him various things about Leanbox, mostly how to move around town without getting lost.

He felt a little inclined to ask about Vert, but figured that she was probably sleeping after pulling an all-nighter playing that game.

"Well, that's pretty much everything there is to see for the moment" Said Chika as she stopped and turned around to face him.

After a moment or two, the oracle lowered her head slightly and let out a sigh.

Just like yesterday, she seemed bothered about something, but this time it seemed to be eating at her even harder than before.

"You okay Ms. Chika?" Asked Alex.

"Hm? Ah...Nothing, it's just...." She said before raising her head and looking at him "Big Sister spends all the time playing games, and if she isn't playing games then she's visiting another nation. She wouldn't even come with us today!" She said.

It seemed the reason Chika was on low spirits again was because of how little attention Vert gave to her as of late, and it probably affected her really badly if she was willing to talk about it with a boy she just met yesterday.

"W-Well, It's just a given she'd need to sleep after pulling that all-nighter" Said Alex trying to lighten her mood as he remembered about what happened last night.

"Actually, she's still playing..." Replied Chika.

".....................Huh?" Was all Alex could muster as he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Big Sister can do more than spend a few all-nighters. She can spend entire days playing games before even needing to sleep." Explained Chika.

"I-Isn't that a bit of an obsession already?" Said Alex while sweat dropping, being concerned for Vert's well being.

"I think obsession is a severe understatement" replied the Oracle while sweat dropping as well as a short moment of silence went by.

It wasn't hard to imagine Vert liked games a lot if she was willing to spend the entire afternoon playing them, but Alex never could've thought someone like her had such a strong addiction to it.

Seeing the talk was going south, Chika took a moment to think what to do until her cellphone began ringing.

"Oh, excuse me for a moment." She said before turning around and answering the call. "Hello?"

Alex did nothing but simply look while she held the phone close to her ear and spoke to whoever it was on the other end.

"Ah, I see. How's the situation?" Asked the Oracle before taking a pause. "All right, I'll see what I can do."

Chika then hanged up the phone and turned around to face Alex once more with a much more stern expression than before.

"Alex, I'm sorry for asking you this out of the blue, but I need your help with something. Consider this, your first mercenary request." She said.

Alex simply smiled as he gave Chika a confident expression.

"No worries. I'll help out with anything. Let's go."

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Chapter 6: Complete