Haven's lockdown

A man in his late 30s with deep blue eyes was lying in a bed inside a very extravagant room on top of the highest floor of the tallest building in the whole city. The walls and the floor of the room were made with rare wood found deep into the forest Frederick was previously in. On closer inspection, numerous pieces of jewelry were lying on the ground and in each corner of the room. Based on Earth's standards, all the furniture and items here were worth a fortune.

There was also a giant bed in the center of the room where a naked woman could be seen lying. This woman looked like a gorgeous girl. She seemed to be a few years younger than the blue-eyed man, however, her eyes did not show any hint of life as they seemed very dull and lifeless.

 Although all these lavish items would have been very precious on Earth, they were not worth anything here in the Main Hub world. Those riches can be considered a waste of space but are only here because of the mayor's taste.

 Authorities are the only currency. Even though the city tried multiple times to create its currency people were not fools and would not use it. There was nothing more trustworthy than authorities as a bargain to those who experienced the Chronicles. You can create money out of nowhere and even fake it, but can you say the same for an authority?

Although only authority smiths could use authority orbs, everyone else can still see what an authority's description is which makes the orbs even more trustworthy and impossible to fake. Everyone seems to have forgotten the fact candidates are quite literally using authorities obtained by killing another of their kind.

The blue-eyed man had an imposing demeanor. Even though he was just lying on this bed, his whole body seemed to be overflowing with pride, arrogance, and dignity. In a few words, he gave off the aura of a true tyrant.

He had an imposing demeanor and he was wearing a luxurious golden attire. His clothes seemed to exude a strange sense of elegance as a mysterious golden light shone from time to time, sometimes giving him the illusion of wearing armor.

Frederick had already met this man in his second life. It was the same person that wanted to send him into a side story to "get rid of him". Back then this man did not know much about side stories and only saw it as a way to eliminate concurrence for his position as chief. Although he did not meet Frederick in this life, he learned the hard way that sending enemies into a realm where they could strengthen themselves was perhaps not the brightest idea.

With one swift kick, he pushed the naked girl out of bed with his feet before slowly standing up.

"Why are you here? Did you find her, Rohan?" asked the man with a very cold voice

 "She ... she seems to have run away. We searched every street, house, and building in the city, and still, we couldn't find her. Even tracking authorities are unable to locate her." answered Rohan with an apologetic voice

Rohan was the captain of Haven City Guards. He has brown hair and hazelnut eyes. His skin was also a bit tanned compared to the man in front of him. Although the clothes he wore were nowhere as good as the mayor's attire, they were still extravagant and valuable compared to ordinary clothes.

Rohan looked calm but was feeling quite anxious at this moment. He knew that the mayor had a bad temper so he was fearing a beating. Last time, he had to stay in bed for at least a week because he didn't dare to go out due to his fear of being seen with black and blue marks all over his body.

 'Even if you're the chief of Haven City, beating your guard captain isn't exactly the most ideal thing to do' was his honest thoughts but he refrained from saying such things.

Hearing the news, the mayor started frowning and suddenly hit the nearby wall with his palm. He had an extremely furious expression as he did not seem to want to control it anymore 

"Do I have to do everything in this fucking city?! How the hell are you not able to find this whore?! We're talking about a high-tier authority! In 3 months, that's the only high-tier authority we ever found! The main story is in less than a week and I need to forge it before this day! Find her, now! "

Rohan did not say anything to calm the mayor as he didn't want this to end with him having a broken bone or two. This would be truly bad news because the main story was very close. The last thing he needs is to be injured before going to the first main story.

The blue-eyed mayor continued to curse a bit until his expression finally became calm. Taking a few deep breaths, he asked "Then why did you bother me?"

 Hearing this, Rohan quickly explained "We discovered that one of our investigators named Yann Yiou who was involved in the search for Blood Dominion has been found dead in one of those back alleys. His body was... completely ruined. We interrogated some witnesses and it seems that Yann started to chase a man in his late twenties with green eyes and a scar near his left eye. We're pretty sure that he's the culprit of Yann's death." said Rohan with a fearful voice

"Yann Yiu... Isn't he the pig with that passive authority to see the value of things? Why did he chase after someone? I clearly ordered them to not do anything unless the one who stole Blood Dominion is discovered."

Rohan slowly answered "We investigated as per the protocol and some witnesses heard Yann declare that the green-eyed man knew where 'the red-haired woman was hiding'. After some investigations, we found out there was no correlation between those two cases since the green-eyed man recently came out of a side story. However, we noticed something strange. He was in a side story for about ... 3 months."

"...What? 3 months? That's abnormally long for a side story." The blue-eyed mayor had a wary look as he started to think for a few seconds. Although he had lost his composure earlier, he was not someone who does things on impulse. Otherwise, he wouldn't have reached where he is right now.

Although the difficulty for a side story is mostly random, it is still scaled based on the level and authority of candidates. Besides, the Chronicles won't send a candidate to a certain death. Most candidate could survive easily even if they failed their story thanks to something very specific; Time limit.

Usually, a candidate would have on average 10 days to complete their side-story. If the candidate cannot complete their side-story in that timeframe then they will directly be sent back into the Main Hub World. Expect some type of survival kind of stories that have a high death rate, a candidate could hide in a corner and stay safe from danger and "skip" a side story.

 The only downside is that a candidate only has a single attempt at a story between main stories. This meant that the candidate would "waste" their chance to get stronger. However, surviving was the priority of most candidates. They did not have multiple chances like Frederick. If they die, then everything ends.

Rohan was also thinking of this point. "We do not know about his identity. When he entered, we still had no rule about checking people's identity... He also somehow escaped identifications and rewards checks when he exited the gate."

Hearing this, the blue-eyed man started to laugh like a maniac."So basically a guy appeared out of nowhere in my city, spent more time than anyone else in a side story, and then walked out of my gate without any control whatsoever before killing my investigator... And you are telling me that he's still wandering somewhere in my city as if it were his garden?"

After finishing his sentence, his face quickly changed. He started to walk towards Rohan at a steady pace until he was in front of him before punching him directly on his face with a powerful punch. The punch was somehow enhanced by a transparent golden aura and as it connected to Rohan's face, there was a small explosion that sent Rohan flying a few meters.

 After a few seconds, Rohan slowly got up. His face was now swollen but he was still alive and breathing because the mayor did not use his full strength and because of his authority. Despite this, a bit of blood started to trickle down his lips. He looked at the blue-eyed mayor before looking away. It wasn't Rohan's fault yet he was still punished for it.

 "Do you know why I just punched you?" asked the blue-eyed mayor with a very angry expression.

"...I failed in my responsibilities." Rohan looked down with a painful expression on his face

"Are you guys fucking stupid?! I'm already on the verge of a mental breakdown! Do I have to think about everything myself?! This guy probably obtained information about Blood Dominion and is looking for it as we speak! Do you realize that we're only days from the main story?!"

Rohan's eyes suddenly widened. He had completely forgotten this fact. He knew that Blood Dominion had to be recovered as fast as possible but did not think about the possibility that this guy could learn about it and find it before them. 

This information was very confidential and only a handful of persons knew about it. If they did not have Yann's family as hostage, they wouldn't even have told him anything about it either.

After thinking a bit, Rohan answered with a confused tone. "Hum...What do we do?."

 "Idiot! Close all the gates. Stop every kind of entrance into or out of Haven. Make the guards at the gate and all over the city search for them!"

 "Sir ... You want to cut off all the outside connections? But that would greatly damage our image and multiple projects would be threatened..."

 "Ignore those, our highest priority is to find Blood Dominion. Now go before I use your authority orb as a decoration! I don't have any more time for this shit."

"Understood. I will immediately contact my team to start the lockdown procedures" Rohan quickly stood up, and gave the mayor a military salute before running outside the room with haste.

After Rohan left the room, the man stood in the center of the room, lost in his thoughts.

"He probably is still in Haven. If we close all exits then he'll be trapped. If that's the case then he should be at my feet in a few hours. Hopefully, those idiots won't let him slip away again. I also have to find the reason why he could walk away without reward identification when he exited my gate... But for now..." Looking in the direction of the bed, he watched the woman from earlier with a smirk. Seeing the mayor looking at her, she slowly stood up and came next to him before starting to undress him.

After a few moments, there was an odd sound coming from the room. This noise seemed like the cries of a woman but the sound was too weak for a normal person to hear. It was a voice full of pain, sadness, and suffering.