After the invasion, we - the adventurers - have lost our city. Now, we have set up a temporary...possibly permanent residency at the port Delta Town. New quests have been updated and rumors spread aplenty in the tavern. An unfortunate event occurred yesterday...Princess Emelelyn had disappeared. Her whereabouts unknown. I worry for her safety...after all, she was recently under emergency and intensive care - having suffered heavy injuries and disfigurements.

As I had promised her brother - the current king of Oakenlake Kingdom - King Thorhil that I would take care of her...it is my responsibility to bring him the bad news. *SIGH!*...This is going to be tough. I decided that I will go visit Oakenlake Kingdom today - better late than never right? Since I'm going out anyways, I might as well take some quests as well. I visit our branch guild and looked at the quests. Hmm...might as well do a few "Gather Information" quests. After choosing three quests, I headed out.

Quest 1 talked about rumors of a potential threat occurring near Delta Town. My mission is to go and authenticate these rumors. Upon exiting the guild, I started to patrol around the town. Nothing seems to be amiss until I caught sight of a suspicious character sneaking into an alley. I decided to follow the person. I sneaked towards the person and caught him talking with another person. I pulled out my Ghost Mask and turned invisible. Then, I moved closer to hear in on their conversation.

"When will the Pirate King be here?" Character A asked.

"The Pirate King won't be here. However, he will send one of his generals along with a 100 ships each ship with 100 pirates to attack this town. They will arrive in about a month. I don't know the details of who he will send but you know how his generals are...every one of them can contend an A ranker." Character B answered.

"You know, I've always wondered...why did the Pirate King set his eyes on this measly little town? Isn't our goal to search for the 1st generation Pirate King's buried treasure?"

"It's because those damned adventurers keep getting in our way and killing off our men. Just a few weeks ago, some adventurer wiped out the group of pirates we had stationed in Treacherous Ports and killed Elwell the Mad."

"Oh you mean Khaos that weird freak of nature?"

"Weird freak of nature eh?" I asked them abruptly.

"Yea...he is ugly and creepy looking t-?!" Character A continued but paused when he realized that Character B was looking at him funny. Immediately, they turned around and saw me standing there, my mask taken off so they could see me. They cursed and tried to reach for their weapons, but I jabbed at their Death Points causing them to bleed out of every pore of their bodies.

"Hmm...so the pirates have made their move eh? Good thing we still have a month left to prepare."

Having discovered that there were some truths to the rumors of potential threat to Delta Town, I decided to proceed towards my next destination - Adventurer's City.

..........

After half an hour of traveling, I can see Adventurer's City...or what's left of it. It seemed my Wrath Bomb did a number on this place. The whole place was leveled completely to the ground. There weren't anything salvageable...ash everywhere. Rummaging around, I see that there were no survivors...all dragons that are caught in the blast were either disintegrated or burned to death. Nothing else to see here. As I turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of a blood trail. What?? Did someone manage to survive through the explosion? Incredible! I followed the trail to a small cave in the borders of the Verdant Forest. Judging from the drag marks, it has to be a dragon. Approaching the cave, I could see signs of death. Whoever dragged itself into this cave has long died. But, just to make sure, I entered the cave to confirm.

Traveling deeper into the cave, I finally arrived at a huge pile of blood and rotting flesh. The stench was terrible...but I've smelled worse. Wrinkling my nose, I surveyed the damages. The dragon is long dead...however what caused all these blood and gore? I kicked some guts away and saw...on the ground...a magic circle! Looking at the language and the symbols used, it seems like the dragon reported back to Morian before it died. That's unsettling. It seems Morian knows that the invasion failed and though Adventurer's City is gone, the adventurers have re-positioned themselves to another place - Delta Town. Hopefully, Morian won't attack us soon.

..........

After confirming the condition of the ruined Adventurer's City, I got ready to venture towards Oakenlake Kingdom in the Rainforest Vale. After a hour of traveling, I arrived at Rainforest Vale. I feel extremely wary since all of Rainforest Vale was Morian's territory. Just be entering the forest, Morian will immediately be notified of my presence. Hopefully, he is too tired to care after summoning all those Guardian level Dragons. Anyways, I think that is the case since Morian hasn't made any move against me so far. Upon reaching the castle, I requested an audience with the king. Once I was granted, I was led to the main hall where King Thorhil sat on the throne.

"Welcome Khaos! It is good to see you! I had heard of the Dragon Invasion to your city. I hope nothing severe had happened to your guild." King Thorhil greeted.

"No...though we lost the city as well as many citizens, we were still able to fight off the dragons so it wasn't entirely a loss."

"That's good. So, what brings you here? Do you require assistance? Need help rebuilding or resources?"

"That...." I hesitated...then proceeded to reply, "I'm afraid there is some bad news."

King Thorhil immediately frowned, "Bad news? Why are you telling me this?...No...no no no no no no no no...it can't be...did something happened to my little sister?"

"I...your sister was...your sister received severe injuries during the invasion."

"How bad? Tell me!" King Thorhil roared as he stood up in anticipation and worry.

"She...her limbs were crippled and she suffered burns all over her body and half her body was melted by acid."

"This!" King Thorhil, upon hearing the news, staggered and collapsed back to his chair. "Where?"

"Um...."

"WHERE?!" King Thorhil roared, "Where is my sister?"

"We couldn't find her. She...ran away." I answered apologetically, "I'm truly sorry."

"You-!" King Thorhil tried to say but blood welled up in his mouth forcing him to spit out a mouthful.

"King Thorhil! Are you alright?" A minister asked.

"King Thorhil...don't worry, we will find her. We-" I tried to assure him.

"No." King Thorhil dismissed, "I trusted you...I placed my sister's life in your hands hoping that she will be safe...but...you...you let me down."

"I-."

"Leave me. I see that it was wrong of me to place so much trust in you adventurers. I want to withdraw from this alliance."

"King Thorhil, please reconsider!"

"No. That is final. Minister...see him out." King Thorhil replied as he ordered the minister to send me out.

Once out of the main hall, I turned towards the minister, "Please persuade King Thorhil to reconsider."

"I think it's for the best if we become neutral. Besides, the monster army has retreated so we won't be in much trouble. Don't worry about finding Princess Emelelyn, we will handle it. The door is that way, please see yourself out."

*SIGH!* I grimaced and left the castle. It's unfortunate we lost an ally...hopefully we can renew our alliance in the future. It is a good thing for the Oakenlake Kingdom to be finally in a period of peace. The Monster army retreated but that doesn't mean they won't come back. Maybe at that time, we will be able to become allies again. With another sigh, I headed back to town.