Cthulhu Gonfalon

"As the job requires, second-level-explorer Hopes Wilder will participate in a joint expedition with the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. The job will commence on October 8th, at the Mining Hall. Food and accommodation can be claimed at the City Hall Finance Office.

This message is by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Northwest."

Hopes stared at this command with some suspicion. He took out his gloves and scratched his head, puzzled.

"What's the meaning of this?"

The messenger was a pure rabbit-man who had blood-red eyes and a humorous smile. He was clearly used to such a situation as he merely smiled and said, "I'm unaware of the details, but I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Commonwealth of Gold Coins have some collaborative events, and helping them excavate is one of them. They lack manpower, and thus we will be sending some talent over to help. The higher-ups were looking at the name list and realized that we have a talented young man who became a second-degree worker shortly after graduation, and is thus worth developing. So… you know."

Hopes understood his meaning and smiled.

The Republic of Northwest ranked its workers according to their talents and skills. A level-one worker was one who had the basic skills and could finish a job decently. A level-two worker was one who had the same skills as a level-one worker but with improvement. A level-three worker was a leader. A level-four worker was a mentor. A level-five worker was an innovator or creator. Finally, a level-six worker was one who could teach the skills and write manuals. Although in theory, these levels could continue on to seven or eight, there were currently six at maximum.

Half-Orc Hopes Wilder had learned prospecting and mineral separation at the New Oriental Technical School. After he had graduated, he had gone to Gold-Panning Town to work for two years. With his brilliant performance, he was upgraded to a level-two worker and returned to a smelting center near Void City.

Hopes Wilder was young and curious, smart and talented. He thus earned a substantial salary and lived happily. Recently, he had just bought a house in Void City and was prepared to move out of his hostel. He had wanted to invite some seniors who had been taking care of him to recommend some ladies to create a family after he had moved in and was planning to live happily ever after, if not for this sudden command.

After he smiled, he read the message and was lost in thought.

In actuality, he was not willing to leave the Republic of Northwest. The environment and atmosphere was to his liking, and he felt relaxed here. The idea of leaving brought his mind back to memories from his past.

That was about five, six years ago. However, to Hopes, it felt like an eternity before.

What used to be familiar was now foreign, and it was all blurry when he looked back as if it didn't quite happen.

He knew that it was because he had grown used to his current lifestyle and was unable to return to the old days. He did not desire to do so anyway.

Sigh… Why am I thinking about those days again…?

He chided himself lightly before shaking his head and walking away dully.

The Republic of Northwest did not have a forced labor rule. While this command was by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hopes had the choice to reject it should he wish and there would be no punishment—such a command was usually seen as undesirable by the workers who did not wish to travel and thus it was difficult to convince workers to take up such roles.

However, because of this, the pay was very high. This job paid especially well as the travel distance was far, and the destination was extremely isolated.

Hopes Wilder was tempted by the idea of such high pay. If he wanted to buy a house, marry a woman and start a family, he would require lots of money. Based on his current pay, he could probably afford it, but if he were to come across a large sum of money, he could live comfortably in the future.

So he thought further and decided that the journey wasn't too bad.

In the end, he decided to pay a visit to city hall to hear the details of the job. After he had completed the task at hand, he stripped off his work uniform and took a bath before taking the command paper to city hall.

He directly approached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was greeted by a smiling, chubby man with scars on his face. This man could not be described as fat, but he was rather big and had a round face, making him look stubby overall.

"Brother Cambrona, I've received a command. Do you know what this is about?" Hopes walked over and greeted Cambrona.

They had known each other from a while back, when Hopes had first entered the country. Afterward, they had become strong friends who had lunch together often.

Cambrona was an easy-going person who had many friends. Because of his job in the ministry, he received quick access to news, and friends often found him for any gossip or intel.

Looking at Hopes' command, Cambrona asked him to wait and ran off to find his colleagues for assistance. After a while, he returned to tell Hopes all that he knew.

This expedition was to help the Commonwealth of Gold Coins explore several mine veins. Their exact locations were unknown, but they were probably close to the edge of the Republic of Northwest. As it was an outbound expedition, the pay was high and could come close to three to five times the normal pay—this extent depended on the results of the expedition.

Furthermore, high ranking powers were leading the trip to ensure the safety of all workers.

When Hopes heard that, he nodded and asked, "So… Brother Cambrona… do you think this is a worthy expedition to go on?"

Cambrona thought for a while and looked around furtively before whispering back, "Well, it's definitely worth it but… the risk is rather big!"

"Danger?! What danger?" Hopes lowered his voice similarly and asked worriedly.

"Let's talk after I've ended work for the day. It's not convenient to discuss this here."

Thus, after Cambrona had ended work, they headed to his house.

With the accompaniment of warm wine and home-cooked food, Hopes, Cambrona and his wife discussed the matter at hand.

"A war may erupt at the Commonwealth of Gold Coins." Cambrona did not beat around the bush and jumped straight into the topic.

Hopes Wilder was shocked and began frantically questioning Cambrona.

Cambrona's wife was a nurse, and she worked at Lady Steele Geerteng's Hospital. During this period of time, the hospital had started training war nurses in masses. Some of the nurses had felt suspicious and had asked Lady Geerteng why. The answer they had received was that while the Republic was not directly involved, an internal war was likely to happen in the Commonwealth.

If it were just an internal war, it would not have concerned Hopes normally as he was not physically there. Now, though, of course, if he were to head to the Commonwealth for a job, this would directly involve him. Even if he wasn't a member of the Commonwealth, being caught in the midst of battle meant that he would be in great danger nevertheless.