Chapter 265 - Episode 265: Missing People.
Chapter 265 – Episode 265: Missing People.
3 weeks have passed in real-time and based on my knowledge we haven't even reached the center of the Orion when I was playing with Becker because we were splitting into 4 exploration teams. Every week of in-game time we stayed in one place and spent 3 days in-game time exploring the east and west side, we used that opportunity to farm and gather information about the monsters and what kind of loots that they're dropping, after that we came back on the 4th day then continue on our journey to the south.
Right now, we are resting in an open field called Gleadria Crater since it's nighttime already. We have discovered so many dungeons and we are not going to try it now since our objective is to go as far as possible and find the right spot to create a city. We are inside a camp and looking at the map that we have discovered, they just realized that we are around 5.000 KM away from Fjel Town and yet they all believe that we haven't reached the center of Orion.
Ivonna approaches me and she looks at me.
"Trev, can we go back to the Hebraum's Palace?"
Everyone immediately looks at Ivonna, and then Kingstar crosses his arms while furrowing his forehead.
"Right, tomorrow is the day of King Crafnell and King Lionel's public execution, huh?"
Ivonna looks at him and nods in agreement.
"Yes, that's why I want to go back because King Gervase wants me to be on his side during the execution."
Lothair is leaning on the table while crossing his arms.
"I think we all should attend the public execution since this is a big event."
Everyone nods in agreement, and then Kingstar stands properly.
"Then we can leave the camp as it is right now and we all can go back to watch the execution, I will inform the players outside about this so they can come with us to watch the execution or they can explore the area around this crater while we are not here."
I nod in agreement.
"Then we will go first."
Everyone nods with understanding, I open a portal to the Palace, Ivonna, Emma, Francesca, Chelsea, and the others are entering the portal, then I enter the portal after I say goodbye to them.
We are walking into the Palace and the royal guards are opening the gate for us. We get inside the Palace and Ivonna with the others go to Rodwane's chamber room since Rodwane is now the King of Hebraum Kingdom and Gervase is now the King of Maryoca Kingdom. I go to Avriel's chamber and the royal guards are escorting me there, one of the royal guards is knocking on her door but there's no response, the royal guards are looking at each other with confusion and so I scoff and walk past them.
"You guys can go back, I will enter her room on my own."
The royal guards are bowing their heads and then leave the hall to continue their patrol.
I open the door and I look around and I don't see anyone in here, I'm confused but then when I see on the couch in front of me I see Avriel is in a deep sleep. I look at her desk and I see so much paperwork scatters there, I don't think it's the right time for me to see her because she looks so exhausted, but when I'm about to leave the room I can feel her gaze on my back. I turn around and I see Avriel is standing while crossing her arms, I smile and wave at her.
"You can go back to sleep, Avriel. You look so tired."
Avriel walks toward her desk and sits down while grabbing one of the pieces of paper, she looks at me and shakes her head.
"No, I just need a little rest that's all."
I smirk and then sit on the couch while staring at her. She's reading the paper for quite a while but then she takes a glimpse at me, she smiles at me and continues reading the paper.
"It's been a while. I'm glad to see you back safely."
I lean on the couch and nod while staring at the window.
"Yeah, it's good to see you're doing fine as well, but I think you need to get some rest, Avriel. I can see you're exhausted from all that, what are you working on anyway? It seems important."
Avriel is handing me one of the pieces of paper, I look at it and stand up to grab it. I read the content of the paper and it's a list of people who went missing for the past year of in-game time, and if I calculate the beginning of this incident, it's almost at the same time after we go on a journey. I look at the names and turns out it started from the villages in the Alliance Kingdoms and then the missing people cases spread from villages to all the Kingdoms, Eluna Empire, and Aarus Empire. I look at Avriel while flapping the paper.
"This isn't a coincidence isn't it?"
Avriel shakes her head.
"No, this is not a coincidence at all. I believe this has something to do with Kalitzar and Aspen, they're trying to rebuild their armies."
I look at the paper and most of them are young men and women which is a perfect age for them to become guinea pigs. I look at Avriel and raise my eyebrow.
"How many cases so far?"
Avriel is pointing her index finger at the bookshelf behind her all the way from left to right. I see stacks of papers and I shake my head with disbelief. Avriel puts down the paper in her hand and presses her hands together while staring at me.
"There are at least more than 100.000 people who went missing right now."
I take a deep breath and exhale deeply.
"And none of them can be found?"
Avriel nods in agreement.
"None of them."
I'm humming with understanding while leaning on the table.
"Are you trying to find these people?"
Avriel nods.
"Not just me but all the Kings and Emperors are also searching for them since I gave them enough information about Kalitzar and Aspen, we are not working together but we have the same objective so we are exchanging information that we found and shared it with the others. Of course, there is some information that neither I nor they want to share. As for now, here's the information that I received…"
Avriel grabs the paper inside her desk drawer and gives it to me. I read it thoroughly and hum with understanding.
"I see."
Suddenly someone is knocking on the door, we both look at the door then Avriel stands up and approaches the door, she opens it and it's Ivonna who's knocking on the door. Ivonna looks at Avriel and smiles, Avriel nods and lets her in, Ivonna walks in and looks at both of us.
"Am I disturbing you?"
We both shake our heads and then I show the paper in my hand to her, Ivonna looks at it and grabs it immediately. She reads the information related to the missing people and other information that is on the paper, she furrows her forehead and looks surprised. She looks at both of us with confusion and I think she doesn't know about it either, and if she doesn't know that means the other also have no idea about this as well.
Ivonna approaches us and looks at Avriel.
"This is related to Kalitzar? How many of them went missing?"
Avriel explains things to her and Ivonna is surprised that all of them haven't been found, Avriel also gives us another piece of paper that contains information about a similar disease that happened to the subjects who are exposed by the [Heart of Alucard] in a village called Carales. Sadly that village is in Aarus Empire's territory and she couldn't get much from there and only pieces of information from her underlings that worked hard to infiltrate the village because the emperor himself ordered the most elite knights to guard the village. She believes that's where Kalitzar was hiding when Krestan destroyed the capital city of Eluna Empire, but she doesn't have any evidence because of the tight security over there.
Ivonna is covering her mouth while rubbing the skin under her nose.
"So they already make a move, but knowing the knowledge that we got from the experiment of the subjects, there's only a small amount of the subjects that succeeded in the experiment. It took them at least a decade to create that much of an army, so I think they won't make a move soon, but it's better if we can find their hideout so we can prevent a big war."
Avriel scoffs and crosses her arms while staring at Ivonna.
"Don't worry about that, I have put my shadows in every village, town, and city. There should be at least one of them that will witness the kidnapping and then find where they take them to."
Ivonna and I are nodding and humming with understanding, then I look at Ivonna while raising my eyebrows.
"So, why did you come here, Ivonna? Did you have something for us?"
Ivonna shakes her head.
"Oh, no. I just want to say that we have to go early in the morning tomorrow because we have to escort King Crafnell to the Maryoca Kingdom for the public execution. So I just want to tell you that we need to sleep early today because tomorrow is a big day."
I nod with understanding.
"Oh, okay. Let's rest."
I look at Avriel and tilt my head.
"Are you going to come tomorrow for the public execution?"
Avriel smirks and chuckles mischievously.
"Of course, because I'm the one who will execute them."