The sun appeared from the east, enlightening the whole village. The flowers and plants welcomed the sunlight, and the moon gradually disappeared from the sky.

The laborers woke up early in the morning and the vendors opened their store for their customers. People started to dominate the street as usual. ​​

In the village hall, the employees entered and went to their designated stations. A stout guy who wasn't part of the group quickly went to the reception area.

His name was Ubert Ngetoo. One of the village guards high officials and the childhood friend of Zamor Camelia. He's wearing a village guard uniform of the Neue Fiona Village.

The beautiful receptionist with a cap on her head and sharp eyeglasses noticed his presence.

She adjusted her glasses and lowered her head to greet him.

"Where is the chief, Ilona?" he asked.

She hung her head, "Mr. Ngetoo, I would like to apologize. The chief hasn't arrived yet. As of now, I don't know where he is."

"For real?" he sighed. He scratched his hair and leaned his back on the table.

"Yes, the chief might be at his house and he is doting his cute children in this morning. It's just my speculation," she firmly assumed.

Ubert clicked his tongue.

"Ilona, I checked his house before I come here. He's not even there," he said.

Ilona raised her eyebrows and she commented inside her mind, 'For real?'

"Are you sure? Hmm, that is weird. It's already 8:30 in the morning. He should be here before eight. Somethin' ain't right," she guessed.

"Well, I'm not sure if this is the right answer though. He might be really with his kids. You know, they have a family business," he stated.

Ilona realized it.

She agreed, "Ah, yeah. Every Monday, the family of Camelia will gather some supplies of different herbs in the forest. I wonder why he didn't even tell me about this."

Ubert whistled.

"Why would he need to inform you first, huh? It's already part of their tradition though. Unless you guys have some sort of special relationship. Don't you know that we've got a rules here? You'd better stay away from my buddy, lady."

One of the rules in the village was, "Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife or husband."

Ilona knew it but she didn't care about it.

She flicked his forehead.

"Shut it, fatass. What do you want from the chief?" she asked abruptly.

He shrugged off and simpered with teeth. Ilona was infuriated.

"Well, you know, the same topic as usual. A new case of murder has been reported in our office. This time is very intrigued. There's another corpse found in the riverside of district 1. Sir Uno asked for immediate assistance. I've come here to inform him about this matter since he's our leader though," he replied as he rubbed the part he got hit.

"Oh, really?" she folded her arms across her chest. "That's really unfortunate. The victim's family will cry after they learned about the sad news. Any idea who the person is?"

Ubert answered, "No idea. I'm not even in the area yet, so I don't know what's the gender of the corpse too."

She flicked his forehead for a second time. The stout guy stepped back from the impact.

"Ouch, there's a limit for my tolerance, Ilona," he badgered.

Her eyes turned sharp, a terrifying gaze.

Ubert shut his mouth with cold sweat.

She vowed, "The chief ain't here right now. I propose for you to write down in this paper everything about the case. You're not allowed to disagree because you're not authorized to refuse. I'm the secretary of the chief. All details must be included. No ifs. No buts. I want your full cooperation here, Ubert. Now then, since you're a useless fatass, what about you start to study how properly handle the ladies here? You're clearly out of shape and if we are talking about the best man between you and the chief here, I won't literally hesitate to choose him."

"Man, are you his wife? Nevermind. Here," he grabbed the pen and wrote down a short message for the chief. "Done, make sure to give this to him. Oh, I almost forgot. Don't let anyone see this, okay? The corpse is only known by us."

Her mood changed from mad to cheerful receptionist. She adjusted her eyeglasses again and picked up the paper.

"Thank you, dear customer. I will make sure to give this to our beloved chief. Anyway, try to call Captain Francesco. He must be opened today. Have fun," she bid her farewell.

"Man, this chick is too complicated to talk with. So be it. Alright, I will call Captain Francesco to send help immediately. Good day, Lady Ilona," he exited the building thereafter.

He tucked in his hands in his pocket and walked in the street with a bored face.

Ilona's eyes turned sharp and she muttered aside, "You should already use that word earlier." She grabbed the paper on the table and read the content. "I see. So, they're making a move now. Hmm, what now? I guess I should probably do the same too. Interesting. Fufu~, what kind of fun will they show right now? I wonder."

There were two high-ranking officials on the riverside of the first district's main water source. Four village guards created a perimeter and no one was allowed to come closer.

The officials were Rafel Uno and Chief Zamor. Both of them were in their own uniform and a jacket with a logo of a goddess. The goddess illustration symbolized the flag of their village.

"Chief, the body was a little girl. According to my autopsy, the corpse was already dead for two to three days. Damn, her skins were rotten to the core, and her organs and some of her flesh meat are already eaten by the worms."

The chief observed the body as he walked in a circle while looking at it. He pointed his nose at the center of the upper body of the corpse.

"What happened to that, the cut in her ribs?" he asked.

Rafel replied, "Oh, that? That body part is clearly stabbed in the heart. The cut also served as proof that she died because of blood loss too. Take a look at her hands and feet. There is a sign of resistance that means she's trying to release herself from the grip of the rope."

The chief covered his mouth in dismay and he pitied the corpse. His eyes diverted at the river and he commented, "How savage."

"Indeed. Anyway, this is just the body but there's more. Please come with me. Let me show you something." Rafel asked.

The chief followed him in the wagon, and Rafel picked something behind it. He handed it over to the chief thereafter.

"What's this?" the chief, confused, questioned.

"These are the photos of the corpse found here in the same place for the past few years." Rafel answered.

The chief's body trembled after he heard the statement. His face couldn't hide his fear and he wiped out his sweat quickly thereof.

He condemned, "This is insane. This is an inhumane act of terror. Who on earth would do this kind of brutal murder?" With his farce comment, Rafel shook his head, "That's something I cannot understand either. Why would they keep murdering innocent lives especially girls? This is clearly an act of terrifying activity within this village. The criminals who kept doing this are truly more dangerous than we ever heard before."

"Did anyone know about this ever since you started to investigate it? Please, tell me." Chief Zamor insisted.

Rafel sighed and he replied, "Thankfully, my men and I are the only people who know about this case for the past four years. I've been trying to track down the criminals who are doing these disgusting acts. But I'm still far away from catching these maniacs."

"Thank, God." The chief heaved a sigh of relief, and he leaned his back against the wagon. He added, "If the Godfather learns about this or one of the powerful warring mafia Donnas near this island, this will put us in a high risk. They'll get a chance to justify a war against us. With this, not only the village will be in a bad position but also, this'll put the new Don of Archnemesis in a difficult spot."

Rafel commented, "An intervention of war to confine our island."

"Exactly," the chief seconded.

"Do you think the head of the Archnemesis involved with this murder?" Rafel croaked.

The chief answered, "I don't know. But if he is, the hatred of the village will increase again. I don't know. Where exactly this river connected anyway?" With a simple question, Rafel chuckled, "This is connected at the mountain of Seerside of Dark Scily Forest, chief."

The chief's eyes opened wide.

"What did you say?"

Rafel blinked his eyes twice and his left eyebrows raised up with unease tone, "Seerside of Dark Scily Forest, sir. What's wrong?"

The chief's eyes turned blank and he realized something. He said, "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this."

Ubert appeared with Nicolo Francesco before Rafel said something.

"Hey, chief. Good morning," Uber greeted.

The chief recognized him and he shook their hands together. "Oh, Ubert. Good morning, pal."

"Oh, my old friend, what do we have here?" He pointed his nose at the corpse.

"Well, a new murder case this morning. Why are you here anyway?" the chief answered.

"I'm here to assist Rafel with this. I asked Captain Nicolo Francesco to help us too," said Ubert.

Captain Nicolo Francesco, the new Caption of the whole village. His short blonde hair covered with his cap, and he wore a brown collar with his uniform that symbolized his position in the place.

He approached them and he turned his gaze at his leader, "Hello, chief. Francesco here. You too, Sir Uno. Good morning, sir."

The two shook hands thereafter. He did the same with Rafel after he greeted him too.

"Glad to meet ya," Rafel smiled back.

"May I see the victim's body, sir?" asked Nicolo.

Rafel guided them to the location of the corpse, and the two men were surprised by what they saw.

The veins in the forehead appeared in their foreheads.

"Oh, man. What kind of monster would do this to a little girl?" Ubert condemned, clenching his fist in anger.

Nicolo commented, "Pedophiles nowadays would surely do this kind of inhumane act. God damn, pedos."

The chief tapped their shoulders and he covered the corpse with a blanket. Everyone turned their gaze at their leader.

"Okay, " he clasped his arms together, and he spoke, "I know everyone is mad right now. But don't forget that we need to stay calm and set aside our emotions in this case. Right now, we don't know who the motherfucking pedos did this to this pitiful victim, but I can assure you that we won't let this happened again."

"Chief, do we have any leads?" asked Ubert.

Rafel coughed once and he drawled, "According to my investigation, there is a secret organization that is hiding within our border. I still didn't know where and when they began to submerge here, but to the truth, I often failed to track down their hideout."

The chief flinched after he heard the word, 'secret organization.'

Nicolo followed, "Sir, I've been heard the rumors about that secret organization who were the suspects for kidnapping here for the past five years. Former Caption, Captain Mattia tried to find those assholes, but we failed as well. Do you think they are the bastards we're looking for?"

"Well, we've got a lot of common interest but there are still some differences between our group," Rafel answered and he suggested. "Anyways, we need to remove the corpse and bring this to the clinic."

"Why do we need to bring this to the clinic?" Ubert asked.

"Because we need to examine the corpse through autopsy. Despite the limited set of equipment of the clinic, the people there are professionals for that job. With their help, we could identify her name and tell the kid's parents about this bad news," Rafel explained briefly.

Ubert tucked in his hands in his pocket and kicked the rock on his shoes, "Man, we really need to invest our money for the forensic facility. Should we ask our newly found friend in the third district?"

"Negative. He's on the mission," the chief replied.

Ubert asked, "Oh, what kind of mission?"

He answered, "I asked him to escort my children to the forest."

"Oh, I thought you were together with your children. I guess I was wrong. Damn that lady is too useless for information," Ubert chuckled.

Nicolo asked, "Is there something wrong, chief? You don't look good when he mentioned your kids."

"I'm fine. There is just a matter of things that I believe connected in this case, but I don't know if it is or not," he vacillated.

Ubert shrugged off and he said, "C'mon, chief. Share something, will ya."

The chief heaved a sigh and he commanded, "Ubert, enough of jokes. Call Richarde and tell him to meet me in the village hall. There's an important thing I want him to do."

Ubert's smile disappeared and his eyes turned serious after he noticed the change of the mood of his leader.

"May I know what it is?"

The chief croaked, "It's confidential. I'm sorry, Ubert."

Ubert tapped his shoulder and thumbed up, "Don't worry. We are friends so I understand it."

"Friends, huh," the chief simpered with a fake smile.

Ubert noticed it and he asked, "What? We're not?"

"Yes, we're friends. Buddies for life. Now, do your task," the chief giggled and he gradually removed his hand from his shoulder.

Ubert stepped backward and saluted. He bid his farewell, "Affirmative. I'll take my leave. See ya around, fellas."

The chief turned at the leader of the village guards and he called his rank, "Caption."

"Captain Francesco here, sir," he saluted.

"As the new Caption, a high rank for captains, I want you to support Sir Uno for this case," the chief ordered and he pointed his index at Rafel.

"Yes, sir," he stood firm as his answer.

Rafel realized that something was off with the chief, and he queried, "Chief, is there somethin' wrong?" The chief shook his head and he answered, "Rafel, there isn't. Now, excuse me. I've got some business to take care of. Good luck with this. Good day."

"Good day, chief," Rafel saluted and gave way to his leader.

Meanwhile, the clinging priestess and the masked kid Hermes were alone in the river. Mambo and the kids were together on the other side.

The young Don assisted the beautiful girl to clean up the mess on the surface. With his presence, the priestess couldn't hide her delight.

The moment the cold breeze hit their location, Venus sneezed in a cute tone like a cat.

She covered herself with her arms, "Oh, this ain't good. It's so cold."

"Good grief. It's your fault for wearing something like that. Why are you even wearing a summer outfit in this cold season?"

"Because, because I want to wear it. I thought it would turn out a picnic though. And, I really, really, really want to impress someone here," she shook her hands up and down vice versa as she explained it.

Hermes tilted her head on the side and he asked, "Who?"

She pouted, "Are you dense?"

"No, I'm a human. Snap out of it. Oh, here," he handed over the folded blanket and he avowed, "You need to be honest to your feelings if you want to impress someone here. I'm impressed that you're not hiring a maid to help you out here."

"How rude," she raised her eyebrows when she heard it. "I can do it myself though. I don't need a maid."

"At least, you won't get tired of doing this. Nevermind. By the way, what's wrong with your face?"

The priestess who was looking at his mask got surprised and she covered her mouth to hide her smile.

"You'll get old so quickly with that kind of personality. Anyway, I'm interested in how you express your emotion despite the fact you're hiding your face. May I ask you to show me how you smile?" she asked.

Hermes nodded and he used his fingers to create a smiling lip, "Like this?"

The priestess giggled after she saw it, "That's a little bit scary."

"Why are you laughing now if I'm that kind of scary?" asked Hermes in a bad mood.

She removed her tears from her eyes with her handkerchief and she replied, "Oh, my goodness, my apologies. I didn't realize that you've got a sense of humor."

"Thanks for the compliment, but that's not even funny though," Hermes folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't know. But it's funny that you' can still look intimidating with a mask on your face," she hit his chest with a light punch and she said, "Relax. You're not even scary though."

"Oh, really? Hmm, I guess, I need to customize this mask again," Hermes murmured.

The priestess had finally done with the clean up, and she returned her things inside her dimensional pocket, "Hey, please don't get mad about what I'm going to ask, okay. I'm just curious. Why are you hiding your face, Sir Aljen?"

"For protection," Hermes answered in an instant.

Venus tilted her head on the side and pressed her index at her lips, "Is that the reason?"

The young Don replied in one word, "Yes."

"Hey, why are you interested in the village?" she quizzed.

"Secret," he pressed his index on his mask.

She teased him, "Come on, spill it out."

"Venus, I don't want to," he flicked her forehead when she tried to grab him.

She rubbed the part where she got hit and she dared, "God of fate will punish you if you don't say it."

"Do you think I will believe something like that would even happen to me?" Hermes sighed and walked away from her. He spotted the kids and he decided to join them.

She pouted her cheeks again, "Hmph."

She chased him and outrun him as her revenge.

Hermes noticed her trembling body. She's rubbing her arms to increase her body temperature. He realized that her body won't last if he didn't do something about it, so he removed his jacket and grabbed her wrists.

"Hey, hold up. Take this," said the young Don in a proper tone.

"What? ― huh?"

The moment their eyes met, the time had slow down. As the fallen leaves fell down, the glances of the two heated up. The young maiden's face turned red as she could feel the body heat from the jacket.

Her pupils and lips trembled after the young Don lent it to her.

"Y, y, your smooth move won't work for me. Hmph," she turned around and walked faster while she's covering her embarrassed face from her crush.

She's screaming inside her mind, 'Kyaaaa, I can feel his body from this jacket. I won't remove this forever. Kyaaaa!'

The young Don scratched his cheeks and he commented, "What the heck is wrong with her? I just gave her a jacket though."

Hermes got hit a thin material. A piece of terrifying music entered his mind after he saw the material.

'No, no, no, no. This can't be happening right now!' He exploded.

"Newspaper!" he hissed.

[Mission objective: Protect the children from the Rooters hiding in the Cave of Seerside. Make sure to never let anyone of them captured by thugs. Failure is not an option. The user will receive a heavy penalty. Reputation is at risk.]

"Seerside? That's the place we are heading to."

[Mission objective: Upgrade the Demon Box to level 2 and the Slime Armor to level 10. Requirements: Souls of the sinners and blood of the warlock. Failure to achieve it within one day will punish the user severely.]

"No, fuckin' way!" He covered his head in surprise.

He checked the headlines.

[Mission Objective: Make the Priestess love affection increased from 50 to 100. Failure to complete it within five days will punish the user.]

"Bullshit. This is insane!" he denounced.