Chapter 14

Assassin Pov

They were all proceeding towards the destination told by the mistress. Just 30 kilometers away but they could reach there in at most 20 minutes. Then as if a volcano had erupted or some, the Assassins could see a hill having its top blown off by a column of fire despite being so far away. The fire pillar then transformed into a bird-like figure and disappeared. The Assassins stopped for a minute then looked at each other. Judging by where the flames had erupted from and estimating their distance, it could be roughly seen that the point of origin was where Theta had been. And when they could see it vividly from this far away, surely even other could see it.

This.....This was getting troublesome already. They have to tread carefully, otherwise they would be discovered. Didn't the mistress know that there were still some Assassins left in the Lord's manor in Aron? Why they had to journey this far away? They even had to use a precious teleport scroll to minimize the distance.

Lord Pov

A fat man in his thirties could be seen shuffling the paper work on his desk. He had no one that he could transfer his works to. Besides the guards outside his door was enough. The maids and butlers regularly cleaned the mansion and prepared food for him but that was it. The [Cult] had isolated him from the rest of his town and no one would be willing to work for a Lord in management as he had such a bad reputation despite the development work conducted by him. It did hurt him a little bit yet he could do nothing. His daughter was held hostage and he did not know what they would do to her.

His hand trembled in rage as well as his inability to deal with it as well as the children he had to send to the [Cult] periodically. It stabbed his heart to think that he was willingly committing crimes for the sake of his daughter. At least he was able to go to the town in disguise with at least 3 other [Cult] members to observe him. Then he would observe what the town needed to be developed in before doing so. Then suddenly the ground shook a little. A minor vibration in fact but the Lord was surprised. It lasted for a second before receding. Luckily he had all the things within his grasp so as not to let them fall.

'An earthquake? This is a first.'

Then from the window he could see torrents of flame flooding out of a hill. It was huge and few seconds later it formed a phoenix before the flames died away. He was surprised and so was the Assassins hidden in the shadows. He could tell it was not the usual dangerous one that kept him company. At least that Assassin could hide from his sense even though he used to be a high-ranking Adventurer, not these riff-raff Assassins that he could feel from 100 of meters away. But now was not the time for that.

"Guards!"

The guards entered. The Lord quickly gave orders.

"Contact the captain of the Garrison. Have him mobilize as many soldiers as he can without leaving the Garrison unguarded! Patrol the wall as well! Double the amount of soldiers in patrol! Tighten security! Contact the Guild for information regarding this event! Have some soldiers scout the activity area!"

He methodically gave orders to the guards. He could feel the respect shown by their eyes for his quick response. Hope this was nothing too troublesome. He has enough of it on his plate already.

Kimiko Pov

Kimiko just looked at the girl whose name revealed to be now, Mira. It seemed that due to the mind control hax of the [Cult], she had forgotten her name. It was wiped away from her mind. Like Kimiko had said, the mind was the things that kept the information of the soul in the body. Now Mira was being carried in a bridal style by one of the maids. Kimiko said softly.

"You all need to leave before the others show up. I will pretend to be unaware of the event as well. Take this key and back to the inn I showed you all in my memory. I will deal it from here."

The maids nodded in response, and then Kimiko and the maids jumped high to escape using the hole Kimiko had created up above. It was an easy feat for them. The Adventurers looked at them in awe before realizing their predicament; they were still stuck in the pit and their equipment were trashed when they had crashed down! Kimiko then teleported to the marker she had placed earlier at the end of the passageway to the underground city. She changed her dress back to her original dress and brought out ropes from her storage box. She shouted out.

"Anyone out there!"

The Adventurers could feel their hope blossom. Martin shouted.

"Yeah! Who are you?"

"Kimiko, Adventurer rank F, the one who got teleported!"

Martin sounded suspicious.

"How the hell did you get here with all the rubbles outside?"

Kimiko spun a story for her convenience and she wasn't a long talker as well,

"Got teleported outside near the entrance. A masked man with 5 strange looking people got inside the ruin. The guild staffs were unconscious but unharmed. They used powerful spell to clear the rubble. Since it was a long way down, brought some ropes."

Martin sighed.

"Indeed thanks for the update, could use a little rope though. Out of 25 Adventurer 12 died and one got kidnapped by the masked man. Well Dr. Isaac is here so he can explain better.......I feel like I have forgotten someone very important."

He looked around to see a mangled corpse who had the same armor worn by Wallace, one of the beloved sons of the Marshal.

"Well fuck me in the balls......This is going to be a hassle......"

After few hours

The A-Ranked Adventurer of Aron city had arrived with groups of Adventurer as well as Lord's Soldier Scouts. Even some Guild staff had arrived. By then almost everyone had made it out of the pit. Some magician had used some spells to lighten their weight causing relief to the Adventurer Party. The A-rank Adventurer who went by the name Eva was given a report by Isaac. She knew a headache was coming and it was coming in the form of the Grand Marshal. After all, she knew him on the personal level. She sighed and kept her hands in front of her face to hide the frustration of the event. She recounted the records in front of the remains off the Exploration Party.

"So you all went inside the cave."

All of them nodded.

"There were no enemies on sight?"

Nodded again.

"Then that dead womanizer caused it to collapse but not before you all figuring out that it was a mass grave."

They all nodded.

"Then the ruin collapsed by someone and this mass of malice revived a skeleton with fuck ton of [Legendary Tier equipment]?"

Nodded with someone even trembling at the despair they all felt. She then looked at the girl that was the most suspicious.

"Then one mysterious entity transported you to the other place?"

Kimiko nodded and said.

"It was targeting Dr. Isaac, maybe with intent to kill him with sneak attack because he was the strongest one among us."

Then Eva narrowed her eyes at Kimiko in suspicion.

"Is that so?"

Kimiko nodded without breaking a sweat. Eva looked at her for some time, then continuing again.

"This monster then proceeded to eliminate you all with extreme prejudice before one of you went bat-shit insane and battled him? Is it here that the brat died?"

Nodded once again.

"Then ANOTHER figure come down and whoops both of their asses before leaving with the insane girl?"

They nodded hesitatingly.

"Was he the one with the crazy power of fire?"

All of them nodded. Eva just rubbed her temple in exasperation.

"It can be concluded as a death during Exploration Quest. Ok, you all may proceed to the town. I am tired of this shit, maybe I will even retire. The Grand Marshal won't chew my head out, I hope. Dr. Isaac, stay behind to give the description of the man and his gang of Misfits. What were they called again?"

They all started walking and thinking of the Quest this time while Dr. Isaac remained there. Dr. Isaac coughed politely before saying.

"I believe they called themselves, The Guardian of Order."

Kimiko stumbled then and there. The others were worried.

"Are you ok?"

Kimiko nodded.

"Just stepped and stumbled on something called Pride."

The Adventurer looked confused.

"ok?"

Kimiko got to her senses as she replied.

"Oh! Don't mind me."

"If you say so."

Then they all walked towards Aron. They could see soldiers and Adventurers walking towards the ruins, no doubt investigating it. Kimiko sighed and muttered to herself.

"I didn't even search for treasure..... maybe I should."

And she vanished.

With Dr. Isaac

Isaac just sighed. There was no one eavesdropping on them.

"So what is it?"

Eva sighed.

"I just notified the guild headquarters about that man just now. He is S-rank at least."

Isaac whistled.

"Anything more?"

"Yeah, he is designated to be a criminal."

Isaac looked surprised. He then asked her.

"What? Are you bat-shit insane? What would we gain from doing that?"

Eva didn't look surprised as if expecting the outburst.

"Just because he says he is from a 'new' secret organization doesn't mean he is from that organization. Maybe he wanted us to think that he is a friendly one as well. With the shit happening in the capital, they wouldn't take any chances so he is neutral at best or enemy at worst."

Isaac looked surprised.

"What is happening in the Capital?"

Eva stood up and looked up the sky while clenching her fist.

"......Bodies have been reported to be found floating down the river that cuts straight through the capital. Bodies of....... small children. But we all know where the body comes from, don't we?"

Isaac looked disgusted. He remembered the report given to him.

"From this place and other orphanages opened by the Lord."

" Correct. All of them had no signs of cuts but they had their bloods drained."

Isaac frowned.

"It is not the work of the vampires. They'd never work with the [Cult] because they are ‘Oh we are so superior’.....So what is happening?"

Eva said neutrally.

"One of the priests of Temple conducted a ritual for their souls to pass on. Luckily he had a rare skill that allowed him to check the affinity of people without using the rare stone. He had found that all of them had above average holy affinity. The Temple is outraged."

Isaac exclaimed in surprise.

"Holy affinity? No wonder they'd be outraged. It is already rare and the children with the affinity are being slaughtered. But not all of those kids should come from this place only right? Do the Temple even know that the [Cult] is behind it?"

Eva sighed.

"I don’t know if they know or not. But this is a national issue so the Kingdom is handling it quite carefully. And yes, many were from other villages far away as well. Therefore, the Adventurer Guild is to remain vigilant. We will be sending our own quest to these far away villages frequently. The pay is good and it is coming out of the coffers of Royal Treasury itself. The King is starting to take this threat seriously. He has already started to send his personal [Royal Magician] to faraway places as his agents. They will investigate soon."

Isaac nodded.

"Good. The Kingdom is getting complacent just because it has the Artifact left by Grand Magic King and his Servant being here. The Artifact is only as good as someone who wields it. In the hands of Magic King, it could have been peerless but now? And that Servant is one of the Guild's founding members. He will not be able to move until something dire is happening and even that may have some repercussions as well."

Eva nodded and replied.

"I will send spies all over the manor. I don't care if it is even B or A-rank Adventurers like me. But I won't accept anything below than that. This farce has gone long enough. As I had thought, the Lord's daughter is being held hostage in the faraway place near the border, from this letter from the Headquarter. As long as she is there, the Lord's hands are tied. We cannot do anything except search for evidences to convict the Lord into resigning. The [Cult] is far more troublesome than I thought."

Isaac asked. It was no surprise to anyone in the higher echelon that the Duke wants more power.

"Then why won't the King do something?"

Eva looked sad as she remembered her uncle.

"They would but now their hands are tied. You see the Adventurer who kidnapped the Duke's daughter was an agent of the Grand Marshal as well. Under his majesty's order he was sent to rescue the daughter of the Duke who was to be sent to the [Cult]. Who would have thought that the carefully hidden Adventurer and his daughter would be found so soon by the Duke? Likely with the help of the [Cult]. Now the Duke has evidence that the Emperor was the one behind the kidnapping of his Daughter and if he revealed to the world then the reputation of the Royal family would be at stake. Other noble who most likely don't know about it will be suspicious of the Emperor if they are likely to pull the same stunt to their family members."

Isaac sighed.

"The [Cult]......"

Eva nodded.

"Right......Only the upper echelon like us knows about this matter now. Keep your lips sealed."

Isaac nodded.

"I will. So the only thing that is keeping the Duke safe from the Empire is the physical evidence of the Kidnapping and how the Royal Family likes to keep its reputation clean."

Eva nodded.

"Yes the Duke isn't stupid enough to spout that to the whole world. However, he may have planted seed of doubts to the other Nobles. The effect is minimized by the continuous and extensive work of the Prime Minister."

Eva made a face when talking about the Prime Minister. But they didn't know that Kimiko had somewhat entered in the middle of the conversation for her hunt for treasure.

'Oh that's it. But really? Politics is such a bitch sometimes.'

They Adventurer and others had still not entered the inner region of the graveyard. She looked around at the bottom of the pit. There was nothing really there now. Just many many coffins were there but she wasn't that greedy. She intently looked at the only thing that remained unharmed despite her fight with Eleazar. It was the throne that was currently upside down at the side. She looked at it intently and checked it out. There she could see an inscription or something. She touched it and it glowed brightly before fading away. It revealed to be a golden parchment but she could feel power radiating from it. Her eyes narrowed.

'No way.'

[Check Status]

[Successful

Name: Divine Parchment

Description: A parchment containing some Divine Language researched by the Ancient Atlantis Empire. ]

Kimiko's eye twitched. That Demonic spawn did leave something suspicious for her all right.

No way is she carrying this Parchment! She quickly burnt it without leaving a speck of it. But she could feel something coming from above and quickly decided to leave. Just as she had left, an unknown circle glowed to life before a figure got out of it. A man who was 7 feet tall with wild long black hair and red slit eyes appeared from it. He had a fierce looking face and had one long eyebrow that was formed by joining of his both eyebrows. He was wearing a black sleeveless karate-gi. He had some scales on his open arms and his whole body was radiating powerful aura. He sniffed the air.

"hmmm....must be my mistake....the warning of the sister Fate did make me paranoid or something."

Before he disappeared using the same circle.

At that time Kimiko had already reached the Aron city. Her first quest didn't even last for half a day. And she had not found any loot as well as had a close encounter with a Divine being. It just was not truly her day. At least she hoped nothing went wrong in the Merchant Association. She prayed to whatever higher power there that there wasn't any trouble brewing down there. She trudged towards the Merchant Association instead of Adventure Guild. She had to secure some funds because she had nothing more than a few bronze pieces now.

Luckily her transaction went smooth and she was suddenly 1,300,000 gold richer from the Auction as people tried to out-bid each other. They took 150,000 as a commission as well as 50,000 for exchanging into Silvers and Bronzes. The receptionist smiled at her and bowed.

"Thank you for your patronage."

Kimiko then moved towards the Adventure Guild. It was crowded and she sat alone at the bar. She just sat and kept her head on the cool surface. Now that she thought about it, she was more mentally exhausted than physically at what had transpired in just few hours.

'Usually it is time when some low-life Adventurer who thinks of themselves as hotshot usually appears and approaches a woman. It will get troublesome'

[Presence Concealment++ Lvl Max]

Maybe Kimiko was the only one who would use such skill in such ways. As the crowd started to get smaller she lined up at the counter of her receptionist. Rosalind smiled the usual way.

"Yes?"

"Trouble at Exploration Quest. Is it considered complete?"

Rosalind just nodded.

"Oh the earlier one? Of course, it can be counted as a complete quest. Martin and the others have verified themselves so it can be considered as one. I will add it in your completion quest in the Guild Databank. Oh I won't keep you longer, you look terribly tired already."

Kimiko muttered half-heartedly.

"Thank you."

Then she directly went to the inn and right into her room without stopping. The maids were inside but they seemed to stop asking about anything after they saw her state. The room was a bit cramped with all of them inside and on the bed there was the girl who was sleeping already. Kimiko did not mind and just as she touched the bed she went to sleep.

The next morning

Kimiko got up and all the maids greeted her. After all Golems do not sleep after all.

"""""Good morning Mistress."""""

"Good morning to all of you."

Kimiko greeted back. But they needed a bigger space though as the place was getting cramped. Kimiko wondered about something.

'How about buying a big mansion?'

Yeah she'd do that as well. But where would the place be? Somewhere quiet would do as well. Not that far away from civilization but close to it. Remote could do as well but the facilities provided would be one of the important factors as well. She wanted to live comfortably after all. Now that she thinks about it.

'What will happen to my parents? Knowing that their daughter is in some faraway place?'

She loved her family so maybe she could try to experiment on how to go back but that would mean she'd have to fight against God due to the fact that the God of Space and God of Time was the one who gave the [Summoning Ritual] to the humans ..... Then she will have to prepare things for it. She was still not powerful enough to challenge the Gods because she still had not seen one for herself. After all her party avoided them like a plague after finding out some truths about them.

'Ah such irony that I was supposed to be the Hero summoned by the Gods and I was the one who did not give a damn about them.....'

She could feel a smirk coming on her face. One of the maids finally asked.

"Mistress, what are you thinking about?"

Kimiko shrugged her head to clear up her thoughts.

"Nothing really. Just to buy a bigger house."

The maid Annie nodded.

"Yes, Mistress. It is an excellent idea. We cannot serve you properly in such......confined space. So where will we buy a big house? Not in this place I suppose. It is far away from the capital and sometimes places with easy to get information and facility is important."

Kimiko nodded. She remembered her conversation with Sheila.

"I was thinking about Adventurer City. It's close to the capital and there is Arthur as well. He will help us with the information part as he IS one of the founders of the Adventurer Guild, one of the prominent Guilds in Vesperia.......But I still can't believe it...."

The maids were also curious about it. After all they were the predecessors of the Golem Solomon had made with the help of Kimiko and Terza. They had wanted to meet up with him as he was the only one who was left behind in this World while they were inside the [Dimensional Storage] of their Mistress. Leticia asked curiously.

"What is it Mistress?"

Kimiko answered.

"Well, I told him about the concept of Adventurer Guild from Fantasy games and novels but I can't believe it that he actually did it. After all there was no concept of Adventurer before. All the people either joined the army or were hoarded by Nobles in case of Demon invasion. But that’s about it. So how about the sleeping princess over here? Does she show any sign of awakening?"

Leticia fidgeted.

"Anooo....she is awake and is looking at you for some time."

"What...."

Kimiko looked back to see the girl who was sitting up in the bed behind her. She looked at Kimiko before tilting her head, causing one of the cat ears to flop down in a cute way. All the maids as well as Kimiko was dead silent but inside?

They were all squealing at the cute sight.

'KAWAIIIII'

The cat girl looked puzzled before asking.

"Who am I?"

Kimiko sighed. It was one of the effects of her skill.

Amnesia.

But it was one of the positive side-effect. It meant that she still had her former level as the mind was not destroyed completely. The worst one? It left them a drooling mess never to return back to their former self, just like the victims of her former enemy who she stole the [Skill] from. Kimiko replied.

"Your name is Mira."

The cat- no Mira looked as if in wonder before in satisfaction.

"Mira? Mira, Mira .... I like it."

But Kimiko had promised they'd protect her. Annie asked with her eyes shining for some reason.

"Mistress, can we teach her?"

Kimiko turned to look at her suspiciously.

"Teach her what exactly?"

Annie just adjusted her glasses with her finger and said.

"To be a maid....."

Kimiko quirked an eyebrow at that one.

"........ and why exactly?"

Annie just nodded.

"Every one of us here served you for the longest time. We all have neither senior nor junior as we were all created almost at the same time with some days in between. I'd just want to know how it felt to have a 'kouhai' as you have talked about it before."

The other maids looked at each other and nodded. Then Annie further replied, looking serious.

"Beside we don't need those who don't work......"

Kimiko looked at the girl who looked around confused.

'Well it wouldn't hurt to teach so why not?'

Kimiko caved in to their demand.

"Well, then teach her. I will be going outside for carriage or something so we can all leave today."

But she was ignored when all the maids took Mira away. Kimiko blinked and voila, suddenly Mira was in a maid dress. Kimiko blinked once again to see if it was real or not but it didn't change. Kimiko suddenly realized.

'They all had been planning this before already!'

Kimiko sighed and left the inn with Gabby who didn't want to leave Kimiko alone for the outing. Kimiko then asked where she could buy the carriage and horses from the helpful passerby and got the destination place. As she was walking down the road with the maid behind her, a small girl roughly of age 6 who came out of nowhere slammed into Kimiko. She could hear some people behind the little girl, who looked a lot like guards but wore even more clothing over their armor, indicating their higher status. They all looked at the small girl in distress hoping she was not hurt. The onlookers were looking at the spectacle happening right in the busiest streets of Aron city. The maid behind her was getting ready for a fight but something unexpected happened.

"Ojou-sama! Are you-"

As the guards were about to say something, the little girl looked at Kimiko and blurted out with some tears in those cute eyes as the little girl began to cling onto her leg.

"Mama!"

Kimiko was stunned but so were the guards behind the little girl while the Gabby who was behind her began to snicker. All the while Kimiko was thinking.

'Wut?'

Was she a magnet for little girls?