Chapter 5 - Chirenth Empire

“Ok, good work y’all, let’s finish up the decorations. And by let’s, I mean you guys. Here’s some stuff you guys can use.” Kindred grabbed out a bag full of antiques and other decor. “Meanwhile, I’ll be visiting the Empire.”

“...”

“Aii, look, when you guys get things done, you guys can go to the nearby Kingdom and do some work there. Look, I got a great idea. We should make the two wage war and I’ll do some things to save the day and the whole Empire will worship me. Then, we conquer the Kingdom and you guys did some kind of awesome stuff to make them worship you, and boom, two countries under the belt.”

“K-kun, have fun!” Pandora gave an incredibly fake smile.

In an equally sarcastic way, Kindred answered, “You too! As well as you, Seth!”

“Aii, screw you Captain.”

Though the whole team, other than Diabolos, complained, they still stayed with their task.

“Aight, uhh… I’ll be going.” Kindred vanished to the direction of the traders’ path.

[Message [Ruby of Mordekor: Are you at Chirret Empire?] ]

[Message [Kindred of Mordekor: Yes, Dred-sama. My apologies if I’m being presumptuous, but I have been informed that it is called Chirenth Empire.] ]

[Message [Ruby of Mordekor: No...haha... Anyway, meet me at the entrance led by the traders’ path. Wear impoverished clothes.] ]

[Message [Kindred of Mordekor: Yes, Dred-sama.] ]

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[Change [Gender: Female; Age: 12; Clothing: Third Class] ]

Kindred had already complained why he couldn’t just speed past the guards. Pandora simply admonished him, saying how the borders may have anti-intruder methods and could alert powerful entities, therefore creating unnecessary enemies. So, this was his way of getting in.

He forced himself to cry. “Mommy!” He began running towards the entrance full of border guards. There, Ruby was waiting for him. Ruby, who was also crying, called out, “Arya, what are you doing outside of the border? You could have died out there. Y’know, there are scary undead and goblins that can kill you. You’ve been worrying me sick since this morning!”

Ruby began to run towards him. Suddenly, a man walked in-between them. “My condolences, however, I have suspicions with a child someho---”

[Cast [Absolute Control; Tier 1] ]

[Cast [Mind Oblivion; Tier 1] ]

(AN: To those who don’t know - Absolute Control takes control of the body but not the mind. Mind Oblivion complements Absolute Control so that the target will not remember losing control of its body.

“You remember me sitting on a traveler’s wagon this morning.”

The man paused his long strides before frowning, “Little girl, don’t ride with strangers. You had me thinking you belonged with them this morning. Come on, join with your mother who is worried sick about you.”

Kindred nodded and ran towards Ruby, jumping into her bosom before being carried off into the kingdom.

[Uncast [Mind Oblivion] ]

Once out of eye-sight, Ruby immediately let go of Kindred.

“My sincerest apologies, Dred-sama. How dare I be so atro---”

“Ha… no worries, Ruby. You did it on orders, just on orders. Anyway, why are there so many patrols at the border? It doesn’t seem very ordinary.”

“Dred-sama, there has been heightened security due to your order towards Dream-dono to openly feed on human subjects. A rumor has been created, identifying Dream-dono as a Soul Wraith. They had first seen her walking through the border so they wanted to make sure that there weren’t more out there since Soul Wraiths hunt in groups.”

“Aight, give me all the updates you have.”

“Yes, Dred-sama.” Ruby handed the little girl a blue file. It disappeared and various information on the Empire appeared in Kindred’s mind.

Ok, looking for the location of the Adventurer’s guild...the village chief said...there it is.

“Okay, let’s go to the Adventurer’s guild and register as adventurers! Also, let’s look relatively nice.”

“Yes, Dred-sama.”

[Change [Gender: Male; Age: 25; Clothing: Second Class] ] (Kindred)

[Change [Clothing: Second Class] ] (Ruby)

“I’m not going to accidentally show off these fangs while talking. Ruby, give me the overlord mask.” Kindred touched the tip of one of his sharpened teeth.

“Yes, Dred-sama.”

Ruby brandished a mask with three pitch black feathers protruding from each sid. The mask itself was white and full of engraved patterns.

“And, also, from now on, pretend we are partners. So, call me...uh...Goren. Just Goren.”

“Yes, Dre---Goren.”

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Kindred slammed the door of the Adventurer’s guild open to see a pub-like interior full of adventurers drinking and chatting. The sudden noise caught the attention of many of those people, turning away from their drinks to look at the newcomers.

The first glance went to Kindred. The second went to Ruby. The third stayed with Ruby.

Damn, the redhead is so hot. How strong are they? Rank 4? This was what pretty much everyone was thinking.

Their question of “strength” was answered when everybody wandered their eyes to the duo’s missing adventurers’ rings. All adventurers would wear rings at all times to show others their rank. Ranks were signified by the colors on the rings. White was the lowest with red being the second lowest, going up all the way to rank 9 which was signified by the a rainbow. The specific order was white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, indigo, rainbow.

(AN: This is what happens when you aren’t creative. Colors. Lol.)

New adventurers? Why is she hanging out with that new guy? He looks hella cocky with that mask on his face too.

Completely ignoring the eyes on them, Kindred and Ruby went straight to the desk.

“Hello, I would like to register to be an adventurer with my partner over here.” Kindred wrapped one arm over Ruby’s shoulders.

The desk lady was as nonchalant as ever, repeating the same sentences she had said hundreds of time: “Okay, please read the terms and sign here. You will start at white rank and will increase in rank accordingly to how well you do.”

Kindred took the pen and signed his paper before passing it to Ruby who did the same.

“Would you like to start on a quest today?” The desk lady passed out their white rings.

“Yes.”

“Look at the board of quests over there. When you find one you like, just grab it and bring it here. Find one with your level. With enough difficult missions done, you will be able to move on to the next rank. You will also be required to take a test of strength.”

“Thank you.”

Kindred and Ruby walked over to the board. The first thing they noticed was the mission that was put under the Emergency Mission section. Kindred smiled. It wrote:

Recently, 114 men have been killed by a Soul Wraith. Witnesses have seen the Wraith take the form of a blonde woman who seduce men into kissing her before have their souls violently torn away from their bodies. Wraiths can transform when around rank 60, so we would assume its level to be at least there.

Mission: Kill the Soul Wraith. Take its soul core as evidence of killing it.

Rank: At least Orange.

Reward: Soul core from Soul Wraith, 500 gold, and honor award presented by His Majesty publically.

“Hey, Ruby, how much is 500 gold?”

“3000 gold is enough for a whole family to live lavishly for a whole year, Dre---Goren.”

“Alright, let’s do this one anyway.”

“Yes. This Soul Wraith is Silent Dream, right, Goren?”

“Indeed.”

Kindred grabbed it off the board and brought it to the desk lady.

“I would like to do this one.”

“I’m sorry, you can only do missions of your own level. This would be for your own safety.”

“But I know I can do it.”

“I’m sorry, we’ve set regulations in order to protect adventurers’ safety. Regardless of your confidence, I cannot allow you to do this quest.”

“Listen, I’ve already signed that waiver form, so it shouldn’t matter if I’m about to put myself in danger. You will not be affected in any way legally.”

“I’m sorry, guild regulations will not allow this to happen.”

“...Fine. Can you give me all the hardest missions I can do?”

“Yes, please wait a moment.” The desk lady walked around the desk to the mission board and grabbed around 15 missions. “Here you go, you can submit one at a time, or all of them at the same time.”

Kindred browsed through all of them. Killing goblins? Undead in the Adventurer’s Plains? These are all so easy. He passed them all to Ruby before muttering, “Do them all and give it to them next week.”

“Yes, Goren,” Ruby whispered back. They began to leave. However, before they reached the door, a squad of four men blocked them. Everybody once again gave the duo their attention.

“Woah, woah, why is such a hurry? Ai, look, we’re good guys. I’m the Captain of the Winged Horsemen. Here’s the deal. Join us. We’ve got your back. What do you say?”

“Haha, how kind of you, however we aren’t interested. Ruby, let’s go.”

“Ruby? That’s a beautiful name that goes perfectly with your beautiful face. Hey, Ruby, join us, not that newbie adventurer next to you. Our squad is orange level and we’ll definitely protect your beautiful face.” The man winked at her.

“My apologies, I do not have any interest in joining your squad. It’ll be a no.” Ruby replied immediately without hesitation. She would sooner kill herself than leave Dred-sama.

“I’m not taking no for an answer.” The man still feigned a grin.