System's POV

"Maple, Cinnamon, you should let that poor little piglet go," Stella said as she crouched down to give her two sisters a hug.

As soon as the opportunity arrived, the little piglet ran away as fast as it could, making Sherry giggle due to how pitiful it looked.

"Sister!" Maple hugged Stella back. "I missed you!"

"Cinnamon also missed sister!" Cinnamon said as she, too, hugged her sister.

Stella lovingly kissed their cheeks, feeling very happy to reunite with them.

Cynthia, who also found the two little girls quite adorable, was doing her best to hold back from pinching their chubby cheeks, which looked so smooth and squishy.

"Did the two of you sneak away from home again?" Thirteen asked with a smile.

"No comment!" Maple replied.

"Cinnamon also wants to say no comment," Cinnamon replied. "Big Brother can talk to our lawyer."

"Do you even have a lawyer?" Thirteen inquired in an amused tone.

"We do!" Cinnamon replied. "Her name is Mama Ephemera. She's the Virtue of Justice, you know?"

Thirteen chuckled and decided to drop the subject for the time being. Knowing that the two girls' grandfather would pick them up sooner or later, it wouldn't be a bad idea for Maple and Cinnamon to tag along with their group for the time being.

"Since we're already here, look for something to pet," Thirteen urged Sherry, who nodded her head in agreement.

She then walked towards a chubby marmot, which was standing and chewing on a biscuit.

Sherry petted the docile animal, who seemed to be already used to people petting it without a care in the world.

"Oh! Little ducky, how are you?" Maple lightly patted a little duckling, who seemed to have been frozen due to fear.

"Fufufu, Cinnamon finds you cute," Cinnamon said. "Don't worry. We won't eat you… for now."

The baby animals seemed to understand that they were under the watch of two Apex Predators, so they didn't dare to move in the slightest.

Those who had better control of their emotions made themselves scarce, distancing themselves from the two adorable girls who, in their eyes, were similar to a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Of course, Stella already knew that her sisters had this kind of impact on animals, monsters, and other beasts.

She even believed that if the two girls somehow found themselves in the middle of a Monster Outbreak or a Jinn Invasion, the two of them would be perfectly fine.

In fact, the ones who would be running away would be those fierce monsters, who would usually not bat an eye in devouring little kids like them.

Since the ladies were occupied, Cynthia decided to take this opportunity to approach the teenage boy and ask him a question.

"Zion, what do you think of that girl, Stella?" Cynthia asked.

"A pain," Thirteen replied in a heartbeat, making sure that his answer was only loud enough for Cynthia to hear.

Hearing his unexpected answer, Cynthia couldn't help but ask him to explain why he felt that way.

"Let's just say that if it's only me and her left in the world, I won't touch her even with a twelve-foot pole," Thirteen replied.

"I see." Cynthia felt a lot better. Although Stella didn't show any strong reactions toward the teenage boy, whenever she looked at him, some vague emotions would appear in her eyes that even Cynthia couldn't comprehend.

After a while, she then asked the question that was on her mind.

"Then how about Erica?" Cynthia asked. "What do you feel about her?"

"Her?" Thirteen pondered a bit. "I guess she's a passable hug pillow."

"Um? A hug pillow?" Cynthia asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, her body is soft and warm," Thirteen replied. "Hugging her at night feels good. Also, she smells good."

"… You hug her at night?" Cynthia asked in disbelief. "The two of you normally sleep together?"

"Sherry joins us as well," Thirteen answered because he felt that if he didn't add Sherry's name to the conversation, things might get out of hand really fast.

Cynthia's gaze softened a bit after hearing that Sherry would also join them on the bed. However, a few seconds later, her face turned beet red after realizing something.

'No. I might be just overthinking things,' Cynthia thought. 'Zion is still young, so he can't be doing that, right? But the kids of these generations mature faster due to the dangers in their surroundings. It is not unheard of for them to develop an attraction to girls during their First Wandering.'

Cynthia was also a Wanderer, so she understood that it was easy to fall in love when you were with someone, especially when the two of you were facing a dangerous situation.

Fondness and affection could grow fast because everyone tended to look for someone to rely on for support, especially when facing the challenges they'd uncontrollably find themselves in.

Even Cynthia had fallen in love with her husband, Tristan, in that manner.

Fortunately, Tristan loved her so much that he even went as far as to marry into her family, allowing her daughters to have the surname Summers instead of his surname, Seaton.

Cynthia thought of herself as a good judge of people. This was why she liked Thirteen very much.

He was still young, but he already achieved feats that no one had done before.

From her point of view, the young man was capable and oozed with confidence, which was certainly fatal to the young ladies who were on the lookout for someone strong to protect them.

This was why she was testing the waters if it was possible to play matchmaker for her daughters while the teenage boy was still in the Sirius Continent.

"Then, do you have someone you like right now?" Cynthia asked. "I'm talking about a romantic feeling for someone."

"Having a romantic relationship with someone?" Thirteen shook his head. "That is not part of my short-term and long-term plans."

He was tempted to say that he planned to be single all his life, but he had a feeling that if he really said something like that, Cynthia would try to convince him otherwise.

Since that was the case, he decided to not say anything and simply let the beautiful woman assume things on her own.

"Do you really not have someone you like?" Cynthia decided to pry a little deeper because although she didn't sense any lies in Thirteen's words, she felt that asking this question might give her a different answer.

"Well, does Tiona count?" Thirteen asked back. "I really like her."

The black snake coiled on Thirteen's neck nuzzled his cheek as if telling him that she liked him too.

A chuckle escaped Cynthia's lips. "Fine. I won't ask. Sorry for being a gossipy Auntie."

Thirteen smiled back as he remembered the dream he had the night before.

In his dreams, his former Host, Tiona, was with him.

She was humming a lullaby, while Zion lay on her lap.

He didn't know why, but he had been dreaming of a lot of his previous hosts as of late.

The teenage boy would dream about Tiona one day, then Vincent the other day. Of course, while he didn't dream on a daily basis, he still found the experience of dreaming quite interesting.
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As a system, he never had dreams. But as a human, they come and go like the fleeting clouds in the sky.

Little did he know that somewhere in the Sirius Continent, a handsome young man with long blonde hair and red eyes was making his way to the territory of the Ashford Clan, intending to register for the tournament as a Seeded Candidate of the Osborn Family.

Fate liked to toy with people, and perhaps, this, too, was part of her arrangement.

As to what kind of consequences this meeting would have on Thirteen in the future, the System God, who was looking down on his son from the heavens, was also looking forward to when two life-long friends finally met at this point in time.