The north entrance was placed into lockdown until further instructions were given by the town’s mayor. As a result, they took a detour through the west gate and went north until they found the road.

They travelled uphill, keeping their eyes peeled and strain their ears for running water. All around there were trees, ivy and hanging vines, forming a ceiling over them. Roots and unpaved roads began to become a challenge as they walked beside shallow babbling brooks.

They were informed Blobs migrated near waterways flowing down the mountain. The quest was to clear the creek, so fishes can do their seasonal migration upstream before winter arrived.

Through this terrain, three figures marched in a single file line. Davin hacked away protruding branches and lead the way. Neila kept her eye on the map. Simonn played around with a stick and probed anything in his reach.

“Davin. Hello? Hey. Yo!”

“I can hear you.”

“Why were you ignoring me?”

“It’s not that I’m ignoring you. I’m angry you gave away a stamina potion without asking for compensation. Those things were expensive!”

“You’re too selfish.”

“Look here. I’m only saying that because we’re tight on money and we can’t give away things.”

Davin sighed as he marched forward, chopping branches in the way until their path opened beside a stream. He took a sip from his waterskin and turned to Neila who had her face glued to the map.

“Anyways, how far are we from the mines?”

“The mines are on the other side of this mountain.” She ran her finger across a map while maintaining a dissatisfied pouty expression.

“What’s with her?”

“Elizabeth.” Simonn shrugged.

“They never get along, do they?”

Davin swung his sword in a careless manner and cut a path to where Neila pointed. He led the other two deeper into the forest per Neila’s instructions as the navigator. The ground became muddy at one point, making this march more difficult than just a hiking trip.

It felt like his feet were sinking into the ground because of his weight. As the tank of the team, his equipment was almost twice as heavy as the other two’s. His shield, that was his lifeline, was the heaviest. Although it was mostly wood, it had a thick ring of metal to hold the shape.

“Hey… can we take a break? I feel like I’m going to suffocate.”

“Well, yeah. You’re wearing a thick cotton jacket.” Simonn commented.

“This saved me more times than I can count. I don’t want to take it off where I could be ambushed.”

Davin fanned himself with his hand, taking the last sip out of his canteen. When he turned to refill his container, he then noticed something odd about the water flowing downstream.

“Wasn’t there supposed to be more water flowing down?

“Those blobs might be more trouble than we thought.” Neila said, rolling up the map.

“That means we’re going have to climb more.” Simonn looked at a batch of wild berries growing on some branches. “Also, don’t lean too far out. You’ll fall.”

“We should be saying that to you-. Why are you trying to eat something that could potentially be poisonous?!” Davin retorted.

“I wanted a snack for later.”

“We have rations for that! It’s not like we’re low on food. We’re only a few steps from Syi.”

“Whoops, you’re right. My habits are showing again.”

“I’m guessing they don’t feed you enough in the army.”

“They don’t.”

“Enough talking you two. We still have a long way up.”

They decided to walk along the low-level waters to the source of the blockage.

The path came to an end of what seems to be a dam. Wooden sticks woven together to form a wall with very little leakage.

“It’s not blobs, but this?” Davin jabbed the wooden structure with his cutlass. “What now? Do we tear it down?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t want to go for a swim back downstream.” Neila pulled Davin aside. “Stop that. Simonn, check it out.”

Simonn stepped forward, inspecting the ground and the clog. He leaned in closer, almost pushing his face against the wooden sticks when he noticed a transparent like substance oozing form the crevices.

“Hey, there’s something here.”

“I don’t see it.”

“It’s there. This thing-.”

“Simonn, get back!”

A transparent rope like object suddenly lashed out and grazed his shoulder. Few more swept around seconds after the one that hit Simonn.

Fortunately, he managed avoid any form of damage thanks to his shoulder guard. After knocking him back, they violently splash mud, water and pebbles all around in a frenzy. The instant things were thrown from the stream, everyone ran back. They saw the blobs’ tentacles could not reach farther than a meter and the protruding limbs slithered back into the crack moments later.

“That was too close!”

“Yeah, right. How are we supposed to fight them when they’re bunkered like that?”

“We could smoke them out.” Neila suggested. “I once read a book that said blobs breath by exchanging air through their membranes. We can set the dam on fire and hope they’ll come out.”

“It’d be hard to start fire in an area this wet.”

“That’s why I learned magic. I’ll take care of the blockade, but let’s get to higher ground in case it breaks down.”

Neila pulled down her goggles over her eyes. She flipped her pen out and exchanged the green cartridge of magic ink for a red one, then carved symbols onto the shaft of an arrow.

Sei, Pik, Ulos, Gruk, Nalus, Jeltz. O’Elementals, enchant this arrow with the power of flames!

A ribbon of fire spiraled from the shaft of the arrow, cloaking everything behind the bud tip as she took her aiming stance.

The arrow combusted in midair as the magic words transformed it into [Fire Bolt].

The fiery arrow anchored into the wooden structure, quickly drying the wet wood then engulfed the structure in magical flames. In a blink of an eye, the structure built to reduce waterflow was engulfed in fire but continued standing strong.

Five ball-like creatures rolled out of the wooden structure, evacuating from the flames.

“They’re out! Leave one alive, I need materials!”

“They look bigger than usual, don’t you think?”

“I just want to get this over with and get my reward. I have a rent to pay.” For the sake of money, Davin lunged forward without a minute’s hesitation.

“Ha? Did you spend it all on drinking again?”

“Hey, you did too!”

“I’m not the one complaining.”

“Focus you two!”

Davin pursued the closest blob then swung his sword downwards accordingly. Blob one was cut in half, but the two parts squirmed around. One side was a distraction while the other carried its real body. At first glance it’s hard to tell because of other trash its body picked up. However, if you pay close attention, you could see a glinting marble heart.

“There!” Davin stomped blob one. The impact crushed the gem, causing the monster to shudder and introduced a mess of ectoplasm downstream. “One down!”

In the corner of his eye, he barely caught wind of his next foe flying at him. Knowing he had little time to react, he instinctively dug his heel into the ground and braced himself. When blob two smashed its entire body into his shield, it felt like a child swinging a baseball bat at full power, leaving him and blob two temporarily stunned.

A third blob positioned itself for a pincer attack, shrinking in size. It was building pressure to launch a tentacle spear at his side.

That was when a Simonn intercepted with his hatchet. After overcoming one blob, he tossed his weapon to cut off blob three’s tentacle. He ran over to blob two with his sword in reverse grip and spiked the core.

“One ale.” Simonn demanded.

“What?”

“You owe me a drink.”

“And now you ask for compensations?! Why do you always think about food?” Davin sighed. “Fine, but there’s two more.”

“Leave them to me!”

From the distance where Neila stood, she was confident with her shot. Her arrow did not hit a mark, but it landed between blobs four and five.

The air expanded and made a loud pop followed by a small explosion of water, stunning the last two blobs.

Neila hurriedly drew syringes from her satchel and siphoned samples of the blob’s membrane before they regain consciousness.

Spells were expensive to create but provide devastating effects to change the tide of battle and support teammates. In Neila’s case, she wasn’t experienced enough to cast magic that could annihilate multiple foes in one blow. She disabled monsters to give Simonn and Davin a small window of opportunity to defeat them.

Capturing a blob would be ideal if she wanted to maximize the most material she could harvest. Unfortunately, they lack the equipment and blobs were known to be crafty escapers, capable of slipping away in gaps their core could fit through.

“Yes! I got what I need.”

“We’ll take care of the rest.”

Five years ago, an oracle from the Creator was passed onto the rulers of four major kingdoms. These rulers were assigned to come together in an alliance against an evil that would rise to invade world peace and search for the ancient relic to prepare themselves against this disaster.

That relic was the Astropolis Memorandum, two actually. Both provided everchanging riddles that challenged the most creative thinkers to decrypt its other-worldly language. These messages gave vague insights to help them combat invaders. The counterattack began by searching for a suitable vessel to bear the Crest of Heroics which would be held by Vassal Vincent Feloranna.

Then finally, on the 40th day of Libra, year 17XX. A long decade after, the world was deemed freed from the Shadow Lord’s malice.

The message; “The heroes have triumphed against the Shadow Lord!” led to the beginning of a new reckoning era. But no one had thought one war would lead to another in such a short duration of peace.

During the celebration ceremony, Vassal demanded to be given the Memorandums as his reward. The wish could not be granted due to an interruption of another oracle given by the creator.

The four kingdoms heeded the Creator’s instructions as a precaution to disallow such important artifact be wandering around the world.

If he could not take them by request, he forced them by violence. Vassal disappeared for a year before remerging to raise a revolution.

At the beginning of the new era, the royal couple of Zarathous and its people slaughtered. Vassal forcibly conquered one of the kingdoms leading a new army of nearly immortal monsters and plotted to conquer the world with his companions that fought beside him.

Although Vassal was close to taking custody of the Memorandums by force, one of the Acolytes betrayed him at the last moment. That Acolyte quickly went into hiding with one of the ancient book and vanished from the rest of the world. The other was hidden either within Yilan, Sivaria or Lizurin.

Thus, Vassal began his conquest in search of the Memorandums. But for what purpose?

Next morning came in a blink of an eye. Her day started early with an earful of voices from downstairs.

Neila groped around thinking it was her alarm clock.

“Ow.”

She accidently ended up slapping her hand on a face. She woke to the sunlight that that pierced her eye. It was followed by a couple of twists and turns over the hay bedding. After a few annoyed groans, she pried her eyelids opened just slightly.

“Morning.”

She was greeted by Simonn.

“Hm.”

In order to avoid sunlight, Neila closed back her eyes and dug her head into his chest. She clutched on his body, using his warmth to fight off the morning cold.

“5 more minutes.”

“That’s what you said 10 minutes ago.” Simonn sighed as he examined their room.

It felt claustrophobic. It was a small room that was two by three meters. They got what they paid for as bigger rooms cost more. They were lucky the inn had enough rooms and enough space to set their belongings. Besides, it was better than sleeping in the stables.

Simonn found Neila’s spell crafting equipment cluttered across the floor. From last night after she extracted ingredients from blobs, she worked hard on her promotional assignment. The fruits of her labor shined where he spotted a strange hardened chunk of something in a beaker. Standing in sunlight was a small blue crystal, a product her examiner requested.

“Alright get up. As much as I’d like to laze around with you for the whole day, we can’t. We need to get back for you to pass your class advancement assignment.”

Simonn crawled over to the edge making room to sit Neila upright. He reached for a box sitting on a cabinet and handed it to her.

“Wow. You’re really bad at waking up.”

“Wat dis?”

“Your assignment.”

Simonn carefully boxed it in a container not before letting Neila examine the product gleefully one more time. After numerous exhausting attempts, she had finally done it. This gem was a person’s worth as an Artificer. Although Neila’s attempt was successful, the rarity of the product was the lowest.

Not only for reputation, these magic gems were used for their engravers. One of the reasons why these gems weren’t sold in market was because engravers could only be activated by the individual who synthesis the crystal. They channel magic ink through a pipe in their pen allowing Artificers to write words of magic, also known as Alchemia symbols, on any solid surface. The higher grade of the crystal plus the clearer the words of magic can form and communicate with the elementals to cast stronger spells.

Though Neila had completed the hardest part of the assignment, she had one last step. To fully complete her assignment, she was tasked to bring it to a processor, and have it sharpened to fit her engraver, or she could do it herself. After presenting the finished product it was then she can earn her Artificer emblem.

“Hehe. I did it.” She fell back on the bed as she cheered.

“Sure did. Now get up.”

*knock knock

“Who is it?”

“It’s Davin. I’m going down to eat first.”

“We’ll be out in a minute. You can grab a table.”

“Alright. See you guys down there.”

As Simonn buckled his gear, Neila stretched across the ground, sweeping her equipment in her bag.

“Simonn, you can go down first. I’ll take a moment.”

“Don’t take too long.” Simonn said as he left the room.

The waste was sealed in its own container waiting to be properly disposed. She found her bow against the wall, plucked the strings gently to check it. The string was a bit loose, but she tightened it the best she could. Its arcs were wearing down and was beginning to worry to soon look for a new one.

It took a while to pack as for all Artificers- not that she was a full-fledged Artificer but an apprentice until she passed. They generally needed to bring ample amount of supplies to recreate catalysts for spellcasting since humans inherently do not possess magic circuits like Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.

There were chances adventurers would have to finding lodging from villages, camping the night during a trip. Staying out of town weren’t uncommon for adventurers. In times where Artificers could not set up a base, they required their teammates to keep watch as they restocked their supplies.

No sooner later, Neila dragged her baggage into the hallway. She locked the door then saw a boy standing across the hall, reading a book. It was red decorated in fancy gold lines that looked expensive and emitted a strange aura. When their eyes met, he shoved the tome back into its holster and offered her a gentle smile.

“Yo.” He waved.

“I thought you’re going to find Davin.”

“I’m here in case you decide to go back to sleep or something.”

“I’m awake.”

“I couldn’t be sure after you kept telling me 5 more minutes. You could’ve gone back to sleep.”

“No way.” Neila shook her head as she brought held the box. “Anyways, look what I’ve made last night. I’ve finally did it! I’m finally going to be an Artificer!”

“Yeah. I know. Looks like I was wrong about you. Congrats.”

“You were serious?! You’re mean!” She puffed her cheeks and waited for him to turn his back, so she could punch him.

She wasn’t going to hurt him but this time, it was unexpected find Simonn dodge. Usually he would take it and laugh it off. He dodged and countered with a flick on her forehead.

“Gotcha~.” He smirked.

“Uggghhh…” Neila frowned. She really wanted to hit him back, but she was exhausted from hauling her luggage and she wasn’t exactly a morning person.

The tavern was alive with adventurers and miners starting their morning. The place was crammed with people, plus moving around was a nuisance. The owner often hired extra hands on daily basis to help serve customers. Even so, they barely kept up against the gathering of miners, merchants and adventurers.

Davin already had a helping and his next dish was being brought up. He was the shield of the party, a swordsman aspiring to become a knight to protect others. He ate double the amount of a magic caster and an archer would. If he didn’t eat that much, wouldn’t have the energy to be able to play his role in the party. He was still a growing boy.

But that quickly became irrelevant when Simonn’s order landed on the table.

“Is it me or does it smell? I think it’s coming from your drink.”

“S-Simonn…” Neila said pursing her lips displeasingly. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of his choice he picked from the menu.

At first, Simonn’s drink seemed harmless. It had three colors; a layer of foamed milk on top, pale yellowish white fruits diced on the bottom sandwiching green liquid. The fruits had revealed their true colors after he drank half of its contents. The notorious rotten odor ascended and forced Neila and Davin to cover their nose. Adventurers who sat around them had gone up and moved away. The miners on the other hand, cheered at Simonn’s bravery on ordering the town’s most infamous drink.

“Of all the choices, you ordered ‘that’ one!?” She plugged her nose. “It stinks!”

“They had it on the menu. I wanted to know what Durian was and why no one ordered it.”

“Because it stinks!” Daivn shouted.

“But it’s really good. If you two insist, I’ll eat a mint after.” He said as he examined their dishes they ordered.

Neila ordered a grilled cheese sandwich sliced into two halves and a small cup of milk. She had already finished them and held the cup in her hands to warm herself.

Davin started his second plateful of scramble eggs, bacon and hard bread. He dutifully munched on them knowing he needed his stomach filled. It’s just- the foul smell made it hard for him to continue taking bites from his dish.

“I’d thought you’d eat a bit more. I doubt that bowl of oatmeal’s enough.” Davin waved his fork at Simonn. “Weren’t you the one going on about food yesterday?”

“This is enough for me. I don’t feel hungry in the morning.”

“But you turn into a glutton during dinner.”

“It equals out. Stop judging me.”

“I’ll judge you all I want.”

“Sure, I’ll be merciless when I judge you.”

All finished, they stacked their dishes into one pile and grabbed their belongings. On their way out, Simonn gave the chef a thumbs up from the drink that was served to him.

He made a second gesture pointing to Neila and Davin while waving the air by his nose. There was a big grin on the chef’s face as he understood the meaning. He dug into the bowl and threw some wrapped candy into Simonn’s hand.

“Simonn, eat a mint. Now.” Neila demanded.

“Is it that bad?” He plopped one in his mouth as promised. “So, when’s our ride?”

“In a few moments. We have time to-.”

Davin stopped suddenly; eyes turned towards the south path towards a foreign object descending from the skies.

Neila followed his gaze, finding a large shadow looming over the south gate. She noticed banners representing a magic organization branded on a huge vehicle peeking above the walls. It remained afloat, anchored to the earth by giant steel chains connected to weights to keep the wind from blowing it away.

An airship.

Airships were uncommonly sighted near mountainous regions due to the fact they are initially slow to set sail and exposed themselves to danger in every direction once they take flight. In the skies, terrible winged monsters dominated aerospace until they could fly above their territory. As grounded wingless people take flight, monsters take offence to their sanctuary being breached and would attack with no hesitation.

“It’s my first time seeing one of those this close.” She had thought the design of boats were meant to be sailing in water, not air. “What’s an airship doing here?”

“That banner doesn’t seem to belong to the guild or any city. I don’t recognize it.” Davin ran off, following curious people alike. “I’m going to check it out.”

After Davin left, Neila caught Simonn snarling in the corner of her eye.

“It’s the Magic Research Council…” Simonn growled and made a fist as he whispered. “What the hell are they doing here?”

She managed to catch a rare tone from him. This brought a series of blinks. She didn’t think much other than the soldiers of the war having leftover animosity against researchers of the Magic Research Council, MRC, when they fought against the Demons. She somewhat sympathized with his emotions. Rumors about the MRC described they were harbingers of disasters. The places they visited were foretold to befall to disasters.

A small group of wizards escorted by chivalrous knights were being received by the mayor. After a heartful greeting, one of the knights spoke with Elizabeth’s group. He then posted a notice on the public billboard. The instant the knight vacated the area, a swarm of people crowded around to read the poster.

The Magic Research Council instigated an expedition to slay the Kobold Chieftain.

The town gave their attention and went back to their duties but Simonn was fixated on researchers. If he had racial features of a beastkin, Neila could imagine his tail and ears standing.

“We need to go get our tickets.” Neila snapped her fingers in front of Simonn. She then leaned in, speaking in a low quiet voice. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh… I-I’m fine, I think.” Simonn answered hesitantly.

He’s not. I can tell from his eyes he’s lying. She thought. “Want to talk about it?”

“I couldn’t lie to you, could I? I got some unpleasant flashbacks, but I got over it.”

“Alright, but don’t force yourself. I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”

“Well… there’s this girl who’s always throwing punches at me. She gets mad even if I tease her a little bit.”

“Hey. It’s your fault for making me angry in the first place.”

Neila turned eyes back on the line to find familiar figures leaving the billboard area. One human spearwoman, one human heavy warrior, one beastkin gunslinger and one halfling spellcaster. The four of them were well equipped with gears that Neila’s party were unable to afford. Their backpacks were loaded with every imaginable item for cave exploration.

Is that… that’s Elizabeth and her party. Eep! She saw me!

The time she saw Elizabeth’s unpleasant gaze was when Elizabeth pushed her way through the street, coming over to her direction. Neila didn’t want anything else to do with her. Unfortunately, Elizabeth moved faster, leaving Neila not enough time to move away.

“Here, this is for yesterday. I don’t want to owe you anymore since I still owe Neila.”

Elizabeth brushed past Neila reaching something from her satchel, giving it to Simonn. It was a stamina potion, but of a higher quality.

“I wasn’t going to hold it against you, but sure.” Said Simonn as he neatly tucked it into his bag. “Say, do you know why the MRC is here?”

“Maybe something piqued their interest. I sent a request back to the guild for reinforcements, but they turned up instead and began recruiting adventurers. My team already accepted to join the expedition and it’d be nice if you’re there who my team’s acquainted with.”

“I’d like to, but Neila’s got to hand in her assignment. I promised to see through her progress.” He tried saying it in the most merrily voice he could. “I was curious to what no good thing those researchers are up to.”

He really didn’t want to do anything with the Magic Research Council. The mere thought of cooperating with them would make his stomach turn.

The only one who noticed was Neila.

“I see. That’s too bad.” Elizabeth replied with a shake of her head. There was a long pause before she turned away with her parting words. “Stay safe on the way back and good luck with your assignment.”

“Y-yeah. Good luck to your team too?” Neila nodded and answered with an ambiguous smile.

“Guys, I’m back and you won’t believe this!”

Neila found Davin trotting back with a paper in his hand. There was a high-spirited grin on his face, waving a flyer ripped off the public board.

“What did you find out?”

“Heh, heh!” He held the paper out. “Look, look! It’s a quest and they’re hiring adventurers from any rank to take down the Kobold Chieftain! The reward for joining is 100 silver each member and extra the more Kobolds we slay! Plus, whichever party defeats the chieftain gets a 2000 silver bonus!” He pointed at the mob of adventurers lining up in front of a stall attended by knights.

“Weren’t you going to ask why they’re here?”

“I forgot, but the money, look! For each Kobold we take down, we get an extra 15 silver! Since there are lots of them, we could easily rack up hundreds for ourselves!”

“That’s really generous of them. Too generous.” Simonn emphasized.

Neila had the same thought of doubt, but the reward was tempting. She was faced with a choice to join the expedition and advance her class to become an Artificer later. If she participated, she could probably afford better equipment. She was left a few more days before the due date of the assignment and there might not be another chance for a rare occurrence like this.

Of course, she couldn’t help to think the expedition was unsettling.

Sure, a chieftain was considered an abnormality that needed to be taken care quickly, but there were many monsters far stronger than a Kobold Chieftain. Many pressing matters such as the Hero and mainly the legendary dungeons roaming the world. Yet, the Magic Research Guild would spend time and resource to rally adventurers to exterminate mere Kobolds.

“So? Are we going to join?” Davin’s eyes glinted with full expectations.

Simonn would normally have some choice words, but he quietly walked to the direction of the carriages. He said nothing. He briefly looked at the rowdy group of adventurers that have taken the task the researchers requested.

“Sorry, Davin. I’d like to get my Artificer’s emblem.”

“But…!” He then let out a sigh. “Never mind. I understand I might’ve gotten ahead of myself. It wouldn’t be fair since you two waited for me to get my Swordsman emblem, right?”

Davin went ahead to find the group transportation back home.

They didn’t get far when they caught the attention of an old scholar. Wearing a robe etched with the same symbol from the banner on the airship, this person was a researcher. When Simonn moved aside to pass him, he was stopped by two knights crossing their swords.

“You, that badge.” The Scholar asked with a rasp voice. “You’re with the army?”

“Was. I resigned.”

Neila saw Simonn reaching for the handle of his hatchet and quickly held onto his hand to stop Simonn from causing unnecessary trouble.

“Simonn, clam now. We don’t want to cause any problems. Let me handle this.” She whispered and put on a smile for the researcher who stopped them. “Sorry, we’re in a hurry to go back to the guild and turn in a quest.”

“You’re an adventurer after all that fighting?” The knight gave an unpleasant snort. “Well, you are young, a lucky survivor. You might’ve spent all your money after that war-.”

“Our rides leaving soon. Please excuse us.”

Neila interrupted and steered themselves away, but the swords continue to stand in their path.

“Please wait. I would like to hire your team to help with the Kobold extermination.”

“I have something else better to do.” Simonn grunted, putting himself between Neila and the knights.

He put his hand on the tip of the crossed swords, overpowering the knights by gently pushing it down.

“I’ll not waste much of your time. Have you heard about one of the missing of the Astropolis? The magical signature we’ve detected is similar to the book of prophies her highness locked away in the royal vault. The source may be the one stolen from the Hero.”

Simonn glared daggers at the Scholar. With a grunt, he turned back towards the researcher with his arms crossed. The Scholar, knowing he piqued Simonn’s interest returned his expression with a sincere smile.

“Tell me how I know what you’re saying is true.”

“You have the truth right in front of your eyes. We, the Magic Research Guild, are here investigating this anomaly. Our research organization would not send field researchers to study this if it were anything less.”

“I see.” There was a slight pause. “Would this area be safe after you interact with whatever thing that is you’re searching?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ten years ago. Crea.”

The Scholar took his words heavily and frown shortly after. There was a long pause of silence between them until the old man’s exhale broke the awkward atmosphere.

“The Demons were not our fault.”

“But you knew about it. You knew the forest of fae was growing out of control.”

“Ah, what a reminiscent word. The fabled forest. Only a few believed its existence.” The old man brushed his beard. “I’m curious. Your concern with Crea seems genuine. I’ve heard the entire village was destroyed with no survivors. Don’t tell me with a stroke of luck, you were away from Crea before the Demons attacked?”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“Then, young lady.” The old man turned to Neila. “Tell me, what do you think of Syi and its residents?”

“It’s a lively town?” Neila answered.

“I think it’s a productive town. Many beginners come here to start their careers. They get through their first hardships by honing and improving their skills. It’s a great town to raise future craftsman.”

“That too, I think.”

“What are you getting at?” Simonn snarled.

“I’m just a senile elder rambling my mouth. Don’t mind me. I’m here to recruit some adventurers for my quest and be on my way back to the capital.”

“I’m serious. Do you want me to tell the rest of the world what abominations your “Research” unleashed? You better explain yourself if you want see your precious students ever again.”

The scholar turned a glare at Simonn then sighed.

“Don’t you think that the situation here is similar to Crea? An anomaly was found near some town, then the magic council wanted to investigate. The same events may happen. Would it be in your best interest to prevent the same disaster in case something was to go wrong?”

Simonn made a fist, but Neila stopped him.

“I believe you mention your ride’s departing soon? I’ll no longer force you. However, if wish to take my request, meet the expedition team at Morunil Mines. Once the reports have come in from the guild, we will reward you handsomely.”

“Taking one of your quests is the last thing I’ll do. Not after what happened to Crea.”