“Humans!” Maria exclaimed when she saw 5 people huddled around a campfire.

Celaine was also rather surprised that they encountered humans as well. Seeing how they’ve spent close to a year already in this Secret Realm without encountering another human, she was starting to think they might not run into one until they left.

There were 5 people surrounding the fire, 3 male and 2 female and all 5 of them wore the same multi-colored clothes, seemingly from the same Sect.

Celaine started searching through her memory if she’s ever seen these robes before and soon came to the realization that these people were probably from the 8 Profound Elements Sect from Lunar Fox City.

Thinking even further, she tried to remember the rank their Sect got in the Inter-Sect Tournament and realized that they ranked 9th which gave them a 5 person quota.

This made her feel a bit better about meeting knowing that they hadn’t killed or betrayed each other over their own greed or desperation, but something inside her was telling her not to trust them too easily.

It was like the devil, Mira, was whispering in her ear reminding her that this could be a trap, maybe these 5 aren’t even from the 8 Profound Elements Sect and were instead their killers, or these five might be terrible that has killed anyone they come across.

Naturally, these ideas weren’t very probable, but they were possible which caused Celaine to put on a serious expression.

To greet or not to greet? Part of her wanted to greet these people since she hasn’t had any human interaction besides Maria and the beatings she got from Mira. On the other hand, her instincts were telling her that this group was weak, or at least even all 5 of them couldn’t beat her in a fight, and hanging out with them would probably only be a waste of time.

But before they did anything, she needed to warn Maria not to do something stupid.

“Maria, I know you probably want to go say hi, but I think we should stay cautious. We don’t know this group of people nor do we know their motives. Don’t mention anything about our journey in detail and only reveal basic information.” Celaine said with concern.

“Got it! Let’s go!” Maria answered half-heartedly and was already walking towards them.

Celaine could only sigh and follow after her all the while hoping Maria doesn’t ** things up for them.

*Rustle* *Rustle*

Maria didn’t even bother hiding her presence at all and walked straight through the shrubs into the people’s sight.

“!!!”

Alarmed, the 5 of them immediately drew their weapons while creating some distance between Maria and Celaine.

Maria completely ignored their actions and started talking, walking towards the food being cooked.

“Ah! That smells amazing! Would you mind if I have some of your food? Seeing how you all jumped away from the food like scared cats, I suppose it’s fine if I take a few bites! Can’t let any food go to waste, can I? Hehe~” Maria had already grabbed a piece of cooked meat as soon as she finished speaking.

Meanwhile, the group of 5 were dumbfounded seeing how everything was playing out.

‘What the ** is going on and what’s wrong with this beautiful lady?! Does she have a screw loose or something?!’ was the only thing going through their minds.

Celaine also stood there, facepalming, seeing how Maria just shamelessly took their food. She should’ve known that Maria would do something stupid, but she forgot that this is how she normally acts when she’s not around Mira.

Nobody can really blame her though, Mira seriously hates that **. Maria doesn’t like to talk about her punishment for acting like that in front of Mira, but from what she understands Mira trapped her in an ice cube until she started suffocating, lost consciousness, and almost died.

Just thinking about it sends shivers down her spine and now Maria doesn’t act like this in front of Mira anymore because of what happened.

The six of them just silently watched as Maria wolfed down all of their food like a starving beast only then did someone from the group of 5 come back to their senses.

“Oi! You bastard! What the hell are you doing?! That was our food! You can’t just walk up and steal someone’s food like that!” One of the males, who seems to be the leader, yelled.

Maria stopped eating for a second and looked at him like she was looking at an idiot.

“Huh? You clearly hopped away from this ‘nasty’ food *munch* and even drew your weapons at it *munch*. Why would you blame me *munch* for eating food that you were too scared to eat *munch*?” Maria spoke while continuing to eat their ‘nasty’ food with a delightful expression on her face.

The six of them were all astounded at how shameless Maria was when she blatantly stole their food right in front of them! It was clearly her that they are wary of! Why does she keep thinking they are scared of their own food?!

Another wave of silence descended upon the campfire as Maria finished eating everything that was being cooked.

Maria then got up, turned towards the group of 5, and spoke with an excited expression.

“Okay! Now that I have removed the enemy, why don’t you five some join me? I was just thinking about cooking some food!” Maria exclaimed while taking out a dead Rank 4 magical beast she and Celaine killed earlier.

Once again swept up in her pace, the six of them just stared at Maria with complicated expressions.

Celaine finally decided to try and mediate the situation a bit seeing how the other group’s faces were starting to turn various shades of red with very displeased expressions. She walked up to them and stopped a few meters away, clapped her fists, and slightly bowed.

“I apologize for my friend. She’s kind of a childish idiot who has a… unique personality, but we mean no harm. We saw smoke rising in the air and smelled something good not too long ago so we decided to check it out. We didn’t expect to run into any humans. We haven’t encountered anyone from the Western Continent at all during our journey.” Celaine humbly said which seemed to pacify them a bit.

After hearing Celaine, the group started to calm down, and realizing that Maria and Celaine seem to hold no ill-intent, at least for now, they started to calmly assess the situation.

“Wait you two are from the Western Continen-AH! I think I remember you two! You both are from the Battle Maiden Sect, right? But wait, I remember there being three of you when you entered the Secret Realm. What happened to the third? Mira, I think her name was.” One of the females in the group asked in a surprised voice.

“Correct. We are both from the Battle Maiden Sect and… yeah, Mira is part of our group. Anyways, are you guys from the Paragon Sect from Gale City? What happened to the rest of your group? Have you guys come across anyone else from the Western Continent?” Celaine lied knowing full well what Sect they’re from and how many people from their Sect entered the Secret Realm. She just wanted to make sure these people are actually from the 8 Profound Elements Sect.

“Ahaha! We are actually from the 8 Profound Elements Sect and believe it or not, but since we came in 9th during the tournament, our quota only allowed 5 of us to enter this Secret Realm. And no, we haven’t come across anyone else since we entered.” The woman chuckled awkwardly seeing Celaine probe them like that, but there was nothing they could.

The two were going to continue talking but were interrupted by Maria.

“Alright alright! We can talk more over dinner! Right now I need to borrow your spices in order to show you guys how to properly use them! Hehe~” Maria giggled innocently.