...

Shin felt really troubled due to the news that he received. Fortunately, they already had taken care of the most urgent task that they currently had. So, right now, all they had to do was put their focus on the current problem they were facing.

"Is that all that you need to say?" asked Shin as released a heavy breath to prepare himself for whatever problem Owen was going to add.

Good thing that Owen had nothing to add anymore which made Shin have a sigh of relief. And when the latter heard that, he quickly nodded his head and gave his instructions. "Alright, that should be it for now. But I need you to gather as much information as you can from both Kingdoms."

"I know that is going to be hard with just the two of you, so you are free to ask for some assistance from the information merchants of those places. Don't worry about that cost, I will handle it later," he added in a nonchalant manner.

Owen and Charlotte were both taken aback after hearing those words. Especially the latter because this was supposedly her personal quest. "Wait! You can't do that. I-…"

She was still in the middle of talking when Shin suddenly cut her words off by asking back. "So, do you have a better solution then? Even though we are not in a hurry as before, we are still pressed on time since we need to solve the issue regarding the Royal Family of the Elven Kingdom as soon as possible."

"If you feel uncomfortable about that, then just pay me back later when we are done with everything," he added to further silence Charlotte.

After that, Shin continued to discuss a few things with Owen before finally ending the call. "Remember, you are not to engage in any conflict until we are done with everything. Just focus on gathering the information that we need."

"Alright, alright! I know that already. You don't have to repeat it," said Owen while waving his hand and ending the call.

In the meantime, Charlotte was currently glaring at Shin while waiting for him to finish his discussion with Owen. And when they were done, she immediately jumped in front of him and quickly snarled at him. "Hey! Do you think this is your quest? Why are you treating yourself to be in charge of the situation?"

"Ah!?"

Hearing that, Shin finally came back to his senses and seemed to remember that this was supposedly not his quest. "Sorry about that. It is just a habit of mine to take command in every operation that I am in since that role has always been given to me."

"So, what do you want me to do? Should I let you take over and leave everything to you then?" he added.

"You-…!" Charlotte didn't know how she was going to respond when she heard his tone. She didn't know if he was just being skeptical with his words or there was something else behind it, but those words definitely sounded provoking to her ears.

She wanted to say something to refute those words but she still couldn't find a way to win against Shin in an argument. If it was a fight, then she could at least give it a try and battle it out. But right now, fighting Shin with words was not an option given the previous experiences that she had with him so far.

So, she could only release a helpless sigh before nodding her head in submission while answering. "Then please help me with this quest."

Hearing that tone of her voice, Shin suddenly felt a chill that ran through his spine. He got goosebumps from hearing her talk to him in a polite manner. 'I prefer her to act coldly rather than talk to me this way. What she is showing me right now is really giving me a spook.'

"T-there is no need to act like that. You already shared your quest with me so it is natural for me to help," said Shin rather stiffly while waving his hand at her. And afraid that she was going to say something similar earlier, he quickly opened his mouth and spoke. "For now, we need to decide what we are going to do next."

Hearing that, Charlotte immediately forgot what she was going to say before asking. "Decide? What do you mean?"

"I am talking about which course of action that we are going to take," replied Shin in an instant before quickly adding. "Right now, we currently have three paths that we can take to solve our problem."

"First, we can go with our original plans and ask for some assistance from the two neighboring kingdoms. But before we can do that, we need to solve their respective problems first before they can help us."

"For the Beast Glades Kingdom, we need to propose a good strategy to them so that they can lure the believers of the Corrupted Cult hiding within their Kingdom. And since the Kingdom itself is quite big, I know that you are aware that finding those guys are going to be troublesome."

"As for the Dwarf Kingdom, the situation over there is slightly easier since it was only Racial Unlocking Quest. But that one will take some time. After all, it was still a high-ranking quest nevertheless."

Then Shin paused for a few moments before continuing. "Or we can just scrap everything we planned earlier and just handle everything by ourselves. Though, we still need to look for some reliable teammates that we can invite in this quest."

'And we can just join the fun on the other Kingdoms when we are done with our problems in this place,' he added inside his mind.

Reaching this point, Shin suddenly took yet another pause as he remembered something before quickly asking. "Oh! That's right! This is a good chance to call those 'friends' of yours to help us out. What do you think?"

Hearing that, the corner of Charlotte's mouth suddenly twitched as she could tell that Shin was clearly sneering at her. Then she immediately said to defend herself. "They were quite busy these days."

"Oh~! Is that so? Then it is quite unfortunate," said Shin skeptically.

This time, Charlotte couldn't hold it any longer and asked. "Then how about calling that party of yours? I'm pretty sure that those guys are going to be pretty helpful."

"Well, they are also pretty busy too," answered Shin outside while thinking differently inside. 'I really want to call them to help us out with this quest. But I can't just keep teaming up with them while using this identity since it will arouse more suspicions for the others, especially that sharp big sister of mine.'

********

In the meantime, in one of the cities at the border of the Elven Kingdom, a pair of hooded players just arrived at the main gate. And based on how they dragged themselves to enter the city, both of them looked like a pair of soldiers who came back from joining the war.

"D*mn you, Alucard! Look at what you have done. Now, we are too exhausted to even fight an average player now," cursed Akailu as he entered the city.

Compared to him, Alucard was rather composed and just replied to him in a rather relaxed manner. "Heh! These guys? They are not even enough to give me a warm-up."

He put more emphasis on the last part of his words as he pointed at every player that was passing by. From time to time, he was able to spot a couple of players who seemed to have a decent strength among the crowd which piqued his interest a little.

"Anyways, aren't we supposedly heading to the Dwarf Kingdom, then how come we ended up in the Elven Kingdom instead?" asked Alucard after some time of looking around.

On the other hand, Akailu suddenly glared at him when he heard those words and asked sharply. "And whose fault do you think that is? Because of you, I lost track of our way and happened to end up in the borders of the Elven Kingdom instead."

"Tsk! How come it is my fault? You are the one who got carried away and challenged me in a duel," snarled Alucard back after hearing those words.

"And from what I remember, it is your fault why we can't use any Teleportation Hall within the Beast Glazes Kingdom," he added with a sneering tone.

"F*ck! That is because I accidentally fell on the trap that those b*st*rds laid for me," refuted Akailu as he cursed out loud.

Hearing that, Alucard suddenly laughed from the side and said. "Accidentally, my *ss! Just admit that you tried to brute force your way while chasing after that dude. And if not for me, then you are already locked within the prison of the Chief's Palace."

Due to that, the two started arguing once again and seemingly forgot about the players in the surroundings. And since they were too engrossed in their argument, Akailu failed to notice the player in front of him and accidentally bumped into her.

"Ah! Sorry about that!" he said while turning his head towards her and trying to help her to stand up.

But before he could even extend his hand, another player immediately picked the female player up before glaring at him. "What the hell, man? Are you blind or something?"

Hearing the aggression from the other side, Akailu couldn't help but frown his brows and looked aggressively at the other guy, planning to vent his frustration at him. But before he could even open his mouth, he suddenly discovered that the man in front of him was somewhat familiar. "Aren't you-…?"

On the other hand, Alucard suddenly smirked from the side and commented. "This place is really becoming more interesting."

...…