"Some of you might know, but Travellers are forming groups under the pretext of forming a 'Guild'. This is slightly different from our Adventurer's guild where people can register and build their own career by fulfilling the mission given by the city. Instead of having fame and gold as your usual reward, these nobles hand out independency."

"What do you mean by that, king?"

One of the lords raised her hand. After getting permission to speak, she wanted clarification for what Isaac just said.

"Even though they are blessed by the Gods, they can't do anything without the help of the cities."

"Isn't it that bad if we lost power over them?"

"As we said, they're too weak to pose a problem for us. If they show any signs of opposing the kingdom, I'll give everyone here the permission to intervene… Is there any more you want to share, Smiley?"

Isaac directed the turn back to Smiley since he seems to have not been done with his report yet. Smiley has never lost his attentive state and went on to say what he wants to say.

"There's another thing I found strange. It might have gone under the radar since their population is through the roof, but some Travellers just vanish from this world for a good period of time."

My ears perked up when I heard a possible topic that may interest me. I have not gathered any information about this yet, and I did not notice it back then when I went outside.

Isaac seems to be the same and has not heard this piece of information. Perhaps this is going to be a sensitive subject to tackle in front of him, but he has already given out permission to discuss it. So Smiley did not hesitate and continue his report.

"I observed some of them for a few days. It is inconsistent, but Travellers always disappear any time of the day-- It's like they return to where they came from."

"I see…"

Just like that, Smiley's report ends there.

It is already a miracle Isaac did not stop Smiley from talking. I really want to hear more of it, but the topic is already long gone. Smiley also knows his boundaries, so he sat down after saying the last word. Meanwhile, Isaac has moved on to the next problem we need to discuss smoothy, and probably the most important one to tackle now.

"How many encounters this time?"

Three Lords and a dozen of Guardians started raising their hands. This seems out of the blue yet everyone here knows what he is talking about.

For the past few years, one of the main task given out to the Children who roam Astrea is to report back any evidence of the Gate showing on our kingdom. This task is one of the reasons why they are being sent out in the first place.

Entrance to the Netherworld, or Gate as we simply call it is something that has been showing ever since we start living here. The first thing we have been taught is the existence of another world besides ours. I am not talking about the place we were before we came here, but rather a world where only monsters of unexplained origin exist.

The previous king does not seem to care about this much before Isaac took his position, but more and more problems are being reported because of the appearances of these Gates. To be more exact, the creatures that come out of these Gates were the one causing troubles on our land.

"I was able to destroy two Gates near Eurus City. Besides some unfortunate travellers that got wiped by the beasts that ran away from our cleanup, minor casualty and damages reported."

"Small demons have rampaged in small villages in Salix City. I cleared all of them, but I wasn't able to find the source."

"Destroyed three premature Gates. No casualty in Solstice."

…

Those who raised their hands reported one by one until the last person gave his side. It was a lot compared to the previous times we did this. Maybe it is because we are complete today, but this is not a good sign, nonetheless.

These were the causes of why we have so many abandoned villages and even towns. Repairing those affected places is bad for managing our resources because once a Gate appears, most likely it will open again on the same exact location in the future.

It took a minute before Isaac process the whole thing. He was in deep thought as seen by his habit which was tapping the table in a rhythmic pattern.

"William, any progress in tracking the Devil."

"We might corner him soon, but I need more forces to make sure he won't be able to escape once again."

"Go with Galileo and Nina-- Twilight's army will be useless, and we can't send a lot of you because others would be busy. Not only that, it seems like they want to hide the fact a Devil was summoned from their territory. I'll turn a blind eye this time since we still need their power."

"Got it, King."

"This Devil might have been dormant for these years, but I hope you don't underestimate it. The shreds of evidence show that it is much weaker than the one we have previously fought, but I don't want someone to be cursed again because we don't take it seriously."

Bad memory flashed back to every person present here. A part of our past that we do not want to remember, but it is there to haunt us for our carelessness and mistakes.

It was no time to be filled with regret and Isaac knows this more than else, that is why he slams the table lightly to put us back to what is in front of us. He was not mad or anything, it was just his way to recover the atmosphere.

"Ahem! Anyway, I hope everything goes well for the three of you... While the rest, maintain what you are doing and make sure to double time checking these Gates. The number is already twice compared to last year."

"Yes!"

"I guess that is everything. Times are changing and I am not gonna lie, it is difficult for me to handle all at once. I'll trust you guys to handle whatever situations you meet accordingly. We might not gather like this in the future, so I wish you all God's grace."

"Yes!!!"

A melancholic way to end today's gathering, but instead of being depressed, everyone has responded vigorously to shows their resolution. Even I hate the fact that Isaac thinks it will not be the same in the future for us.

Glancing over the window, it is already late in the afternoon. Usually, after this, they head straight towards the fanciest restaurant to release all formality during the meetings. I always skip those, so I do not know what usually happens.

However, since we did it yesterday, almost all the Children will probably be heading back to their stationed cities by later. It will be the first time this to happens.

When no one has any questions or violent reaction, he stood up, then we stood up before he dismissed us and bid our farewells.

"Vaughn and Jackson, I need you two to stay for a while."