"With trusted friends and comrades huh?" questioned Mocha.

"Val... what's wrong?" Layla inquired, worried that something happened.

The others expected a gloomy face but what they got was a face filled with determination.

"Nothing haha but I happened to trigger a grade SS world quest... and for now apparently I'm to talk to the elder of Linto."

After convincing the others that there's nothing to worry about, the group set off to find the elder. An elder of a region wasn't the easiest to approach but for Mocha who was already known in Linto due to the previous scene, it wasn't the hardest, all he had to do was ask for the elder and the citizens gladly guided him.

Usually, a person with the status like the elder would try and be as safe as possible and remain inside and send his/her workers to do their bidding, unless it was absolutely important people of high status rarely stepped out.

At least, that's how it usually was but what Mocha and his group were witnessing was pretty interesting, the elder was drunk and fallen asleep on the sidewalk and for some reason, people showed their respects regardless of whether he was conscious or not.

According to Mocha, this could mean two things, either the elder was a carefree dummy who wasn't responsible or he was an absolute monster of a person.

"Wise elder, we're travelers from the kingdom of Aeternum," Mocha said while bowing down, the rest of the group followed him and bowed as well.

The person who guided them there informed them that, regardless of whether the elder was conscious or not, they could talk to him.

"Urgh, damn my headaches...Eh? from Aeternum you say....interesting, tell me pawns what do you need from this old soul?" the elder said while trying to sit up.

He was a typical elder, bald in the center with patches of hair in the sides, he was a thin old man, with a stick thrown beside him, nobody seemed to want to take him home even though he was drunk and on the road, perhaps it was on his orders.

"Ah" Mocha said before stepping forward and helping the elder to sit properly.

"Kind pawn aren't you? hehe anyway go on"

"Well you see elder... the thing is....."

Mocha proceeded to explain what happened, the elder had mixed emotions on his face, initially, he was glad that someone who could free the spirits of his old friends was finally here but then he started to tear up and blame himself for not being able to protect his friends as well as the independent region of Linto.

After the elder calmed down, Mocha with his newly acquired information about the incident-thanks to the Ghosts-was determined to prepare properly for the quest.

Though the quest mentioned that he was to seek the elder out for more information, all they got was that a rogue magician named Damianos was responsible for the monster wave, and Mocha's best bet to find out more about this rogue mage would be to go to the kingdom of Vraun and look for the Oracle there.

"Thank you elder," Mocha said with a smile, he didn't feel like asking too much about the lack of information and just accepted the fact that they had only a name and a new region to visit.

"*Sigh* looks like we'll need to head to Vraun, we'll need to leave now, we have a lot of ground to cover, thankfully from Linto we just need to cross the Forest of Kriol and we're in but that's still a lot of work, Kriol was way bigger than Verdin and the forest of Silence put together...aaah.. well let's leave then?"

// // //

"Shade, I feel kinda weird, I feel like there's danger approaching," Night said as he looked into the sun.

For a second Shade was overwhelmed by Night's appearance under the sun, the sunlight highlighting his chiseled face and purple eyes. Shade felt proud to serve a master with such looks.

[Bond with subject 'Shade' deepens]

"Mmh?" Night wondered what caused the sudden notification but before he could think about it too much Shade reassured him.

"Not to worry master, no matter what, I shall protect you."

"Haha, don't worry so much, your master is extremely skilled as well," Night said while pointing his thumb finger to himself and grinning.