Child of Destiny

...

Right after regrouping with Cloe and the others, the group quickly followed after Chief Harold without delay. They already spent quite a lot of time on this quest after all, so they at least needed to move as fast as they could.

Not long after, they were led in front of a ruined house within the village. What surprising about it was the very house right beside it was the one where Ithilien discovered some signs of human activity before.

Seeing that the group was looking at the other house, the village chief suddenly explained. "It a form of code to contact with each other. We are lighting up the stove there whenever we are going back to the main base or every time someone is planning to visit us."

"As you can see, we can no longer live in these houses because we are continuously being attacked by those monsters."

"Leaving this place alongside the villagers is also going to be very hard. We can't risk their lives just to get out of this hell, so we have no choice but to stay underground," he added with a bitter tone.

Hearing that, Daulla couldn't hold curiosity and asked. "You can live underground?"

The hunter Johan slightly nodded his head when he heard her. "It is originally our evacuation center whenever we are being invaded by the other monsters living in this place. But it now becomes our new home after that strange plague spread."

Then Sheron suddenly injected. "We are leaving the base from time to time to hunt some animals in the boundary of the Valley. Sometimes, we are also trading some supplies in the Mercenary Guild that is based within this place."

The group came to a sudden halt when they heard those words. – "A Mercenary Guild within this place? How come we haven't seen it after exploring almost every corner of this map?" –

'Is it also hidden somewhere?' thought Shin to himself. 'No, that is not the issue here. What I should be asking is why a Mercenary Guild is in a place like this.'

He then turned his head and exchanged glances with Arthur and Leonard. They could easily tell that they currently had the same thoughts in their mind, so they slightly nodded their heads. – "It looks like there is another matter that we need to investigate." –

After that, they continued to follow Chief Harold and entered the ruined house in front of them. And right after entering, the village chief touched a couple of things within that house before standing in front of a stone stove.

Rumble!

Then the group felt a slight shake of the ground before seeing a stair that was leading underground appear.

'What a meticulous way of setting up the entrance. No wonder we are having a hard time discovering it,' thought Shin as an expression full of interest was formed on his face.

After that, they climbed down the stairs with Chief Harold as their lead. And not long after, Shin and the others were immediately greeted by an awful sight.

They were led into a cave that was enough to occupy a hundred people. So with only fifty people present, the space within the cave was pretty wide. And the only source of light that they had was the torches that were stuck on the wall of the cave.

But aside from it being wide, there was nothing good to see within it.

The people were currently sitting over the blankets that they laid on the ground. They were also wearing dirty clothes that were almost close to being a rag.

Their current appearance was clearly unpleasant to the eyes. But at the very least, they looked rather healthy despite the dirty look that they had.

"It was probably because of the regular hunting that Chief Harold and his subordinates," muttered Shin with a quiet voice before casting his gaze at Kale who was carrying a large bag on his back.

After that, he continued to sweep his gaze on the surroundings, observing the place more. And after a few more moments of walking, the group finally arrived in a secluded area where a small desk was located.

Kale, the porter, immediately put down the huge back that he was carrying before quickly. "I will be going for now. I still need to prepare for the distribution of food later."

"Then I should be going too. I also need to organize a couple of things and check the state of my equipment," said Sheron before also separating from the group.

In the meantime, Chief Harold sat on the chair behind the wooden table powerlessly. It was pretty clear that he was completely exhausted after everything that had happened.

Johan was also left behind and quietly stood behind the village chief like a close attendant. He was also quite tired after all of the hunting and the escorting of the food supplies that Sheron had traded with the Mercenary Guild. But despite that being the case, he still needed to do his duty and support his former captain.

Naturally, Chief Choi also knew what he was currently thinking, so he couldn't but smile bitterly before saying. "I know that you are also tired, so you can rest for now."

He then paused for a moment and turned to Shin and the group before quickly adding. "And it looks like our guests are not in a hurry either, so you can relax for the time being."

The group quickly understood what his words meant and slightly nodded their heads.

'So, we still can't get the information that we want unless we show them our side, huh? That makes sense given the difficulty of our quest. It couldn't be that simple. What's more, he is also a special NPC.' thought Shin before looking at his teammates and sneakily giving them orders through the party chat channel.

Sickarius: Let's investigate separately for now.

The others slightly nodded their heads before telling the chief that they were going to continue looking around the underground base. Though, their real purpose was gathering some information from the villagers who managed to survive the crisis that their village had suffered.

Seeing that the others were leaving, Johan was caught in a dilemma on what he was going to do. He didn't know if it was right for him to stay here and guard his former captain or monitor the others who just left.

"It is fine, you can leave us behind," said the village chief to help Johan to decide.

The hunter hesitated for a couple of moments before bowing at Chief Harold and excusing himself to him.

With that, Shin was the only one left behind alongside Chief Harold.

Silence lingered in the air for a couple of moments before the village chief chose to open his mouth first. "I am not going to beat around the bush, young man. Are you sent here by the Righteous Council?"

Shin immediately understood what Chief Harold was trying to say, so he quickly shook his head and slightly explained their current circumstances. "I am sorry to disappoint you but we are currently in this place for another purpose."

A clear look of disappointment could be seen on the village chief's face when he heard those words. In fact, he already had a suspicion earlier since these people seemed to have no idea what happened to their village.

He already reported this matter to the higher-ups before. He asked that question just to have confirmation.

"I see. I can feel the powers of Light from that female priest that come alongside you, so I thought that council finally listen to our request. I guess it is just my wishful thinking," muttered the village chief in disappointment.

He then turned to Shin before quickly adding. "And now that I have a closer look on your mask, I think you are the rumored new Envoy of the Church of the Sun and Moon."

Hoh~!

Shin was suddenly taken aback when he heard those words and raised his eyebrows. But it only took a second since this was not the first time when a special NPC recognized the [Nephilim's Gemini Mask].

**********

In the meantime, in the teleportation hall of the Holy City, Zero arrived alongside his sole teammate, Seven.

"Hoh~! This place sure has a lot of changes since our last visit," said Seven right after they walked out of the Teleportation Hall.

Zero gave him a slight nod as he also thought the same time. The plaza where the teleportation hall was located was currently filled with a lot of players.

They were divided into three groups.

First was the group of players who were coming in and out of the teleportation hall. Then there were those players who put up a stall in the plaza to sell a variety of items and equipment. And there were those players who were strolling around the place, trying to look for suitable items that they could find.

Basically, it was no different from the previous plaza that the two had remembered. But what took their interest was the current size of the plaza itself. It was so big and wide to the point that it looked like a marketplace in the real world.

There were also a couple of NPC buildings a few meters away from the teleportation hall. They were so tall that they could rival a couple of skyscrapers in the real world.

"It looks like the Holy City is already promoted to Capital City and very close to being a Royal City," muttered Seven as he turned his gaze at those buildings.

"Tsk! Tsk! No wonder those guilds don't care about the sacrifices just to take root in this city. Too bad, the Hydra Guild, Titan Guild, Dragon Pavilion, and Wing's Alliance already solidified their foot in this place," he added while shaking his head.

Zero swept his gaze at the plaza once again before walking forward. "That's enough for sightseeing. Let's get moving now."

...…