Child of Destiny

……

Saint Heaven Kingdom, Maple Cloud City

Alucard was getting bored as he waited for Leonard to finish the investigation about the NPCs that were spying on them. And at the same time, Daulla and Archimedes were also starting to feel tired of sitting around and not doing anything.

“Tsk! This is getting more and more boring the more we wait,” muttered Alucard while taking a look at his surroundings. He was checking if those NPCs were still monitoring him.

“Should I play with them for a moment? After all, it looks like we are going to fight them later anyway,” he said to himself while trying to stand up from his seat.

But before he could even put his thoughts into action, he suddenly got a notification that was saying he got a message.

“Looks like it is finally done,” he said with a little disappointment after seeing the sender of that message.

Simba: I got the location of our target. But we have a little problem with it. It looks like we have to clear a series of sub-quests before we can proceed with the main part of the Empire Quest.

Alongside that message, Leonard also attached the basic information of the quest that he suddenly received.

———————-

Sub Quest Details: The Grand Historian of the Saint Heaven Kingdom discovered something that he shouldn’t have.

Due to this, he became wary of each of his moves. He was afraid that the watchful eyes of the Crown were currently watching him. He was afraid that the current ruler of the Saint Heaven Kingdom would silence him about the truth behind the collapse of the Ancient Kingdom.

His fear made him run away from the Royal Palace and go to Maple Cloud City to seek some protection from his closest friend.

Quest Condition:

-Prove that you are not sent by the King of the Saint Heaven Kingdom.

Quest Reward:

??

Quest Penalty:

-Death of the Grand Historian.

-Losing the main lead about the truth of the Lost Kingdom (I)

———————-

After sharing the quest with everyone, Leonard quickly added.

Simba: I’m not sure about this quest but it looks like we need to treat this NPC or whoever is helping him as a raid boss.

Attached to that message was a photo of an underground facility that seemed to be heavily guarded by a lot of NPCs and tamed monsters.

Siegfried: A special dungeon? Where is it located? Outside or within the city? And is it an Instance Dungeon or Open Dungeon?

Arthur quickly sent that message after seeing the photo that Leonard had sent. And when the latter saw that message, he immediately responded.

Simba: It is within the city. No, underneath to be exact. And it is definitely an Open Dungeon with at least Abyss Difficulty.

“Tsk!” Arthur clicked his tongue when he got the confirmation. But immediately after that, he quickly became excited since this particular dungeon would definitely give them bountiful rewards. 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚘ｒｇ

But his excitement was immediately dampened by Shin’s message.

Sickarius: So, it is basically going to be open to the public once we clear it once.

Siegfried: You really are a party pooper. You really know who to shatter someone else’s happiness.

Arthur was quite bitter with Shin’s sudden message. And due to that, he wanted to criticize Shin for all of his faults and started spamming quite a lot of messages on the party chat panel.

Unfortunately, Shin just ignored all of it and voiced out his main concern.

Sickarius: The guilds that we purposely sent away will immediately turn their attention back to this place once we clear this particular dungeon. After all, a huge open dungeon located within an NPC City will definitely be a hot potato in everyone’s eyes.

Sickarius: And when that happens, the risk of our quest being exposed to everyone is going to be high.

Arthur was still ranting in the chat when Cloe suddenly pointed out.

Arielle: What’s more, it looks like we need to save or protect this so-called Grand Historian in this particular quest. I am pretty sure that there will be a commotion within the city once we clear this dungeon.

With that, the discussion about the quest immediately started between the members of the team while trying their best to ignore Arthur’s rant in the chat.

It was until he sent a particular message that made everyone stop sending messages in the party chat channel.

Siegfried: I have a better way to prove that we are not sent by the king.

The group was silent for quite some time before ignoring him once again and continuing their discussion. All of them thought that he was just fooling around to catch their attention.

Naturally, Arthur was going to throw fit for being treated like that.

Siegfried: F*ck! Goddammit! I am serious this time, so don’t ignore me!

This time, everyone stopped sending messages once again and waited for Arthur to continue. And when the latter saw that, the corner of his mouth immediately started twitching as he tried to suppress his frustration.

It took him quite some time to cool his head before telling them what he discovered.

Siegfried: Earlier, I bumped into a few people who seemed to have a special item that was somewhat related to our quest.

Attached to that message was a video where S.Tigris and his group fought against fellow members of their guild. And based on the conversation that they were having during the battle, Shin and the others were able to get the gist of the current situation.

Sickarius: But how are you so sure that the item that they are talking about is related to our quest?

Expecting that question from Shin, Arthur immediately replied with a smirking emoji alongside a picture of a particular token.

Siegfried: Because I already checked it personally.

Seeing that token in the photo, the others immediately realized why Arthur was so confident in his claim. It was because they were also familiar with the symbol engraved on that particular token.

It was the same symbol that they saw engraved on the towering wall of ice in the border of Sky Deceiving Valley.

Sickarius: How did you get that item from them if they are trying their best to protect it earlier? Don’t tell me, you robbed those guys.

Right after Shin sent that message, Leonard and Cloe immediately spammed a disgusted emoji with a different version. And since the others found it amusing, they immediately joined the fun and also sent a similar emoji of their own.

When Arthur saw all of that, the expression on his face immediately turned dark and shouted. “Urgh!! These guys are definitely picking on me! Ah!!!”

His sudden reaction definitely surprised S.Tigris and his group who were currently waiting for him in the distance.

“Someone dares to pick on that guy? I wonder who it is,” muttered Raven to himself while staring at Arthur who was currently showing extreme anger.

Hearing that, Black Hand couldn’t help but chuckle a little before commenting. “Who else could it be? It can either be the War God Simba or Battle God Sickarius. Aside from those two, I can’t think of anyone who will dare to pick a fight with that monster.”

“Don’t forget about the Gentle Goddess Arielle,” said Ara as she chimed in the conversation. She then took a brief pause before adding. “She is the Commander of their team after all.”

Finally having a good topic to discuss, the group immediately started talking about the members of the Empyrean Talons while waiting for Arthur to finish.

In the meantime, Arthur tried to calm himself down before defending himself. “Hey! Do I look like someone that will do something like that?”

Sickarius: Yes.

Simba: Are you not?

Arielle: For the sake of getting attention, yes.

This time, the other members of the group hesitated for a moment since they knew that they were definitely going to be his target later if they said anything right now, especially Chaotic Luck who is usually being ‘trained’ by Arthur from time to time.

Arthur naturally knew what was running inside their heads and immediately said. “Heh! Look at these b*st*rds! I am about to mark them if they dared to say anything right now.”

After that, he ignored the comments of the three before continuing.

Siegfried: I am sure that you guys are pretty familiar with S.Tigris and his main party, especially you, Shin.

Sickarius: I did a quest with them before alongside Leo, so I naturally know who they are.

Siegfried: They are offering this item to us in exchange for getting a ride on our bus.

Siegfried: I usually don’t recommend accepting that kind of offer since we are slightly on the losing end, but since we are currently in a tight spot, I guess we don’t have any other choice but to agree with their conditions.

Shin thought for a couple of moments before asking.

Sickarius: It is actually not a big deal since we can just draw a contract where we can get priority regarding the loot and rewards that we are going to get while doing the quest. And we can also add their numbers to our manpower.

Sickarius: The problem is their guild. From the looks of it, the opposing faction within their guild is currently targeting them. Moreover, they seem to be abandoned by their own side. What Are you going to do if they affect our plans?

Sickarius: I know that they are currently busy with their current war, but we still can’t overlook the possibility of their enemies messing up our plans.

Arielle: Yeah, the Hunting King seems to be very determined at catching them.

Simba: Taking care of those guys is not a problem, but what if they expose our whereabouts in the public? Given our current reputation, anyone will definitely think that we are up to something wherever we go.

Reading their concerns, Arthur paused for a moment and looked at S.Tigris and the others before continuing.

Siegfried: I will explain all of the details when we meet later, but you can definitely trust me in this one. Your concerns have already been dealt with.

…