Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

A thousand kilometres south of the Ghastly Winding Forest is the fortress city of Mountmend that connects the Central Continent with the Demon Continent.

The city of Mountmend was protected by tall ramparts all around which protected the city from monsters that occasionally came out from the Ghastly Winding Forest. The population of the city was around a million and the mayor of the city was just a baron (A title bestowed onto a person, marking them as a member of nobility).

Sixty percent of the population were adventurers by profession who hunted monsters inside the Ghastly Winding Forest. The city mostly lives off from the trade of the monster parts with other neighbouring cities.

Since the city is the first line of defence against any monsters that comes out of the Ghastly Winding Forest, many adventurers and guilds have established their branches in Mountmend in hopes of earning their livelihood from hunting and gathering monster parts.

The city wasn't rich but it was full of life with a lot of hustle and bustle as its inhabitants busied themselves with their daily life.

In one of the rooms of the most luxurious mansion in the city, three men were seated facing each other. The one seated opposite of the two was a middle-aged man and had curly ash grey hair and a wide moustache.

He donned a clean set of clothes and had an air of nobility around him. The man was none other than the mayor of the city of Mountmend and a baron, Alfred Eude Bergest. Three sets of teacups releasing white smoke sat at the centre of the table.

"Sir Godwin, I believe you are already aware of why I called you here?" Alfred gave a friendly smile as he spoke to one of the men facing him.

In contrast to the formal wear of Alfred, the man named Godwin was decked out in a heavy armour plate that gave off a blue sheen whenever the sunlight shone on it. Indicating that it was no ordinary armour.

Even without a careful examination, Alfred was sure that the armour was made of rare metal. Although he was not a combatant, he could tell. The peculiar lustre given off by that armour was something only the strongest of metals could have, that is to say, that the armour was either made of Mythril or the even rarer metal Adamantium.

Each of these metals had high defensive usability and were extremely sturdy. Because of their characteristics, the metals could only be mined in places with an extremely high density of manas.

Their availability made them the costliest metals and it was rumoured that the metal was so unyielding that only a master blacksmith could truly mould it and give it the desired shape.

Godwin was a fairly built man with sharp looks. His short dark brown hair and emerald green eyes along with his armour gave him a heroic aura. His entire presence was like a calm lake with no ripples.

He nodded at Alfred's question and replied "Lord Alfred I'm afraid there is not even a single soul in this city who is not aware of the incidents happening near the borders of the city".

It was as Godwin said, the entire news was a hot topic that the average population gossiped about every day. They have to be deaf to not be aware of it.

The other man seated near Godwin bobbed his head, he had a hood covering his face and was wearing lightweight armour and carried two shortswords on his back. The man seemed like a shadow that could swiftly blend in with the environment with how little presence he had. Similar to Godwin, his gears were not any subpar.

Alfred wasn't shocked by this response instead, he gave a helpless smile and said "The situation is exactly how Sir Godwin and Sir Raven have heard. A month ago we detected strange movements inside the Ghastly Winding Forest and not long after monsters started appearing near the outskirts of the city. It is normal for monsters to appear near the outskirts but the numbers at which they appeared was clearly unusual and different than before".

Since the city was close to the forest, it was a daily occurrence for a straggling monster or two to appear near the border of the cities. During those times, the guards placed nearby would quickly dispose of them. However, the situation was different this time.

Godwin narrowed his eyes as he organised his thoughts before inquiring "Even if the monsters appeared in hordes near the outskirts of the city, with abilities of the soldiers stationed there, it shouldn't be a problem. I believe that the reason lord Alfred called us here isn't about that right?".

Godwin was a seasoned warrior and the vice guild master of the Sea God's Trident so he quickly noticed that what Alfred is concerned about wasn't just some monster outbreak. If it was just that, he could issue a commission for the adventurers to dispose of the monsters appearing on the border.

On the other hand, the man named Raven seated beside Godwin just sat there silently, nobody knew what he was thinking.

"Haha as expected of the vice guild master of the famed guild Sea God's Trident. You truly live up to your reputation as one of the top five guilds within the entire Ellesmere Kingdom. It is indeed as you have said, what I'm worried about isn't those hordes of monsters that ran away from the forest, but the ones they are running from." Alfred looked at Godwin in the eye and said.

"The monsters that ran from the Ghastly Winding Forest were only at the normal and strong class at the beginning but as time passes, even some elite class are being spotted near the edges of the forest. My guess is that something huge is happening inside the forest and I want the branch of your Sea God's guild that is situated here to lead an exploration team inside the forest." drinking his cup of tea, Alfred scrunched his brows and requested.

It was at this time that Raven who was silent all this time decided to open his mouth "You could have just put up a commission to our branch guild. why come to us?"

Alfred gave a friendly smile towards Raven before saying "Rather than requesting it through a commison with the branch manager of your guild, it would be much faster and effective if I had a talk with someone higher up don't you think? Besides I am aware of your goals for coming to this remote region. I can permit the usage of the teleportation gate of our city of Mountmend for your main guild for as long as you want".

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Ranks given to monsters by the Guild

level Class

100 Normal

200 Strong

300 Elite

400 Super

500 Disaster

600 Calamity

700 Catastrophe

800+ ???