"Three weeks ago, our caravan was traveling toward Agra when we were raided by bandits. They were not after our goods, but us. They kidnapped almost half of the members of the caravan. My Sister, Josephine's Aunt, was among the people they captured. There was nothing we could do at the time, we barely managed to reach Agra."

His voice became very solemn the longer he kept talking.

Anthony explained that they reported it to the authorities in Agra but they didn't move since it happened in the unclaimed mountains. They were simply too far out and not parts of anyone's jurisdiction. So even when travelers and merchants were attacked, robbed, or captured and held as slaves, nobody knew or did something against it.

Even after selling everything they were able to save, the caravan didn't have the money to recruit adventurers for a rescue mission. The rest of the caravan, could only swallow their regrets and keep on moving.

Some tried to come up with the money, others gave up and drowned themselves in alcohol. Anthony belonged to the pitiful rest of the caravan who couldn't afford to stop since he had to take care of Josephine, or Josie for short.

Seth heard about these kinds of happenings across the unclaimed mountains for the first time. Well, it wasn't like he tried to stay informed about all the terrible things happening in the corners of the world. He could only sigh, was it really so hard to stay a civilized person, even when there was no government enforcing the laws?

As he listened, he also tried to find what about this could be relevant for Mike's safety. Slave traders and bandits didn't seem like a danger to the Lord of Minas Mar, even when he was only using temporary armor and a substitute weapon.

“But why did she insist that only I can save her aunt?” Seth asked.

“I don't know, she must have misunderstood something, when she listened in on a conversation with my friends... it's a little embarrassing but we were all drunk and ranted a little. Somebody may have mentioned that the unclaimed mountains wouldn't be in this state if Minas Mar had not agreed to not interfere with the private operations across the mountain range.”

“hmm...” Another coincidence, there were too many. Maybe it was not a direct danger to Mike at the present, but something bigger that was currently going on in the unclaimed mountains? Or one he meets if he doesn't interrupt his journey for a side mission?

“Can you describe the bandits for me?” Maybe there was something wrong with those?

However, Anthony's description of the bandits held no suspicious details. The bandits were not overly strong or well-equipped. They simply occupied the caravan guards with numbers, while others took whatever and whoever they could. Anthony had been able to protect Josie, by using a consumable barrier scroll and buying time. At that time, his sister was one of the guards and was captured when she was knocked down.

“Your sister was one of the caravan guards and was captured? Were other guards taken, too?”

“A few, but they didn't seem to make a difference in who they captured,” Anthony said and explained that it was mostly civilians they had taken since they couldn't defend themselves. Another dead end. The blacksmith thought that maybe if they only captured the strong, that could be a clue.

Maybe he would just have to ask Mike to investigate it, but not alone. Seth knew that his divine quest made it necessary for him to travel to the perpetual storm alone, but it didn't mean he couldn't do something else with a group first.

“Can you show me on a map, where your caravan was attacked? I currently have a colleague traveling to the unclaimed mountains, maybe he can take a look. Maybe we can still get your sister back, if she was captured as a slave.”

“R-Really? Thank you so much!” Anthony suddenly broke out.

“You can thank your daughter for this.” And depending on what this turned out to be, maybe Seth would have to thank her, too.

…

---Beta---

The wisent did nothing to the snake and slowly walked away while it was grazing on the shrubs that had broken through the street cover. The big white snake and its passenger simply waited in tension until it left, before heaving a sigh of relief.

“I have never seen a beast like that...” Lydia mumbled.

“Neither did I. I also never heard of something like this.” Mike agreed with her. He grew up in a different world and spent a good number of years as an adventurer, but he had never heard of such a creature.

“Let’s just go to Thres, maybe someone there knows what is going on.” Pearl suggested still a little flustered. At her suggestion the snake started moving again, carefully crossing the cityscape. This encounter proved to be a good example for the reason they were here.

The governor of Thres, Adam, had asked for priests, because they were sieged by weird creatures, after all. Fortunately, Mike and Lydia had decided to accompany them. The path through the mountains had been quite ordinary, but they encountered several more, weird creatures as they passed Beta.

Some of which proved stronger than their level and appearance would suggest. If it had been just the guards that were initially hired, the possibility of the priestesses reaching their destination would have been less likely.

The guards were able to deal with most humanoid monsters that lurked in the vicinity because of dungeon breaks or portals, but among them were also creatures with surprising powers like a bipedal lizard with peacock feathers that fought using sound attacks from it's fan of colorful feathers. This Clawed Shrieker was a difficult opponent since sound attacks could ignore most armor.

By the time they reached Thres, they understood, why even the outpost of a superpower like the Muir Empire was struggling to hold their position. Mike guessed that they probably only faced the tip of the iceberg.

One had to keep in mind that they traveled through a stretch of Beta the forces from Thres would regularly pacify. Beta had been left alone for too long, and it would take a lot of time to get back in control of the dungeons which were now rather big and breaking constantly.

Taking this into account, they could be happy not having to travel through any other part of Beta. With Mike and Lydia taking care of the surprises, they quickly managed to reach Thres. A stretch of forest separated the satellite city from the ruins they just passed.

The woods were very calm. So calm that they made the travelers even more nervous than the ruins.

At the edge of the barrier surrounding the city, they were greeted by a row of almost human guards. They slightly resembled the chimera, or beastmen, as they had various small animal parts. These were, like Adam, victims of the human experimentation here in Beta. They were the people who managed to keep or regain their minds with Adams's help and managed to become artificial druids.

“You are lucky to catch a moment when we aren’t under attack!” the guard called out to them. It seemed like they had already been desperately waiting for the big white snake and its load of healers. They looked plenty battered in their dented armor and disheveled bandages.

The city past the magic barrier looked no different than Delta, to Mike’s eyes. Although there were some traces of destruction, the renovation work had already come a long way. Unwanted vegetation had been exterminated, especially the dangerous ones, and the debris of destroyed buildings had been cleaned up.

Everything had been piled up at the edge of the barrier forming something like a wall or barricade. It wasn’t pretty, nor would it be of much help in the defense of the city, but it was a better solution than just throwing it outside the barrier.

They had just entered Thres, when Mike’s communication orb started vibrating. Mike's face twitched as he listened to the instructions of his friend and boss.

---Somewhere Outside Delta--

“Zap! Zap! Hehehe...”

Lightning strikes rained on the mountain range as a great calamity made its way toward Beta.

Ceres was on the move.