Chapter 022

"Hmmm… "

Canis is currently taking a different variety of fruits here in the 'Garden'.

"I still cannot grasp the situation right now… Did they know about my plan to put the public in this situation?"

The situation Canis is talking about is the 'Desperation Cycle' that he is planning to the public to make him the 'Hero' in order to fight the news and rumors that will appear in the future.

"It's impossible for them not to know right… leaving the public aside… UASF, Freedom Guild and Associates people are different."

After taking the ripe fruits he began to move to another area.

"They probably know that tactic, known as 'Raid Hostage'… it's a simple tactic that was used in Conqueror's Pillar where the Champions would kidnap a monster and keep a single monster alive until the 'Time Limit Expires'."

Canis looks at the high mountain cliff in the distance that is located in the middle of this Garden.

(Oh! We are already here, we should also visit the underground cave later while we're here.)

Canis blinks twice and gets back to his thoughts.

"Usually that tactic is used after 'reset' to revive a fellow member and when the party is already complete."

This is currently running through his mind.

While traveling towards the lake, there are various plants, fruits, and mushrooms that he encounters.

In the distance, he notices a small cliff with snow on it.

And he looked at the west side of the garden which is the opposite of the snowy cliff. 

(A small patch of desert was located at that part.)

Then as he walked towards the high cliff in the middle of the 'garden' he saw the large lake sitting below it.

The lake also has a waterfall which is situated on the high cliff, the water comes from the middle part of the high cliff.

(The size of the lake seems like a below-average size from the lake that I previously visited…)

Canis continues to go to work and pick up several fruits near the lake.

"...It's already the 11th day… 4 days left until the minimum 'Time Limit' expires…"

(Of course, this is the minimum days for a 'Time Limit' except for that 'day'.)

"Sighed… We also just finished the 4 attempted raids… only 3 more and we are done… the curtain is about to close…"

Pluck.

Canis plucks a square orange fruit.

He notices something wrong with his arms.

(Damn! My body is so stiff I should training later to relieve that stress… Hmmm… Maybe a couple boxing and kendo can relax this muscles.)

Canis plan what he wanted to do later but for now he scan the area.

"Will I have a peaceful life after this one or will I begin to run and hide."

…

"Running and hiding will be a difficult one…"

Maple is busy plucking the fruits and putting them on a makeshift boat.

Canis looks at Maple who is in his child form and skillfully using his vines to gently gather fruits and vegetables.

He also jumps and picks up fruits that he can easily reach.

"The mask only prevents them from knowing my identity… but they can still hunt the 'Tamer', a Champion with a Tree Monster with red leaves."

"In short, I cannot call Maple whenever I am in trouble back on Earth, I cannot call my family to help me…"

(Well I could still live a normal life… if I just hide my identity.)

"Fooo…"

Canis shook his head and squinted his eyes, his face looking fierce.

"Well, it doesn't matter what happened… I will deal with it when the time comes… The most important thing right now is my ability evolved and there are a lot of things to explore right now."

Canis take in the sight right now.

The waterfalls, the different fruits and plants around him, the beautiful lake, and the highest cliff in the middle of the 'Garden'.

"This place alone is already a wonder… It's surprising to call this place a 'Garden' when this place might be 50 hectares already."

Canis shook his head in disbelief just thinking about it.

"Well… Let's see what this place has to offer."

*****

"Guild Master Duke! I am here to make a report!"

Mares move elegantly while wearing her office uniform, coat, and skirt.

Step! Step! Step!

Luke was standing beside Duke when Mares entered.

Luke immediately nodded at Mares to continue.

"We have found the location of Muerte La Marcha… they are currently staying at the Grand Continental Hotel, we suspect that they caused the fire in the Marian Hotel and moved their base there…"

Duke nodded his eyes flicker and he smirked.

"Then let's prepare to attack."

"But Duke…"

Mares immediately continued.

"We discovered that the UASF is also after them, our scout meet with theirs accidentally and because this is just a recon mission we both retracted."

"TSK!"

Bam!

Duke slams his hand on the table.

"I told you, Luke, I told you… Those bastard have our 'Rare Materials… why would the UASF hunt them down in our current situation if that wasn't the case."

Duke looks at Luke with serious eyes.

"Not only they have our 'Rare Materials' they are also the cause why we now have the UASF sight on us! They might think that we are involved in the attack on their facilities… and that stupid Joaquin might rat on us."

"Then brother…"

Luke paused for a bit and continued.

"We should tell them the 'truth' that Muerte La Marcha is the terrorist that put us in this pillar… and we are just there hunting them down."

"I think Luke has a point Sir Duke, we can share this information with the UASF and pretend that we just discovered it through investigation… hence we send some scouts around the area."

"That sounds good to remove a little bit of suspicion on us, but what about the 'rare materials', that Muerte La Marcha might have."

"At this point, we should just hunt them faster than UASF… this will be more effective if one of our group went to their side, as a sign of cooperation but in truth, we can freely spy on them."

Luke is the one who commented on that.

"No."

Mares interject.

"I think we should cut our losses right now Guild Master… We could cooperate with the UASF as a pretense that we knew who the terrorist are… hunting Joaquin and shutting him up is the priority and we should let go of 'Rare Materials'."

"Let it go!"

Luke shouted and was shock at Mares recommendations.

"72… 72% of our guild member are going to break the wall… you want to give that all up when we are this close in getting the 'rare materials' from those bastards."

Luke angrily explain it to Mares and Duke.

"Right now… we don't even know if they actually have it on them? So involving ourselves more will be-"

Knock! Knock!

Everybody looks at the door of the office.

"Will talk about this later."

Duke quickly glances at Mares and Luke.

…

 "Come In!"

One of our security came in.

"Sir, Sir Erwin of UASF would like to talk to you?"

Duke's eyes widened and immediately motioned to the security to let him in.

The security nodded and close the door.

Duke glances at Mares and Luke once again.

They nodded in response.

Mares began to move to the empty right side of Duke and wait for Erwin to come in.

…

Clack!

A man entered the room, he is wearing a comfortable clothing with light leather armor with a sword placed on the right side.

"I greet the Guild Master."

Erwin bowed his head to the Guild Master and slightly bowed his head towards Luke and Mares.

They respond in kind.

"It's a surprise, why would UASF visit us right now? especially since we are still quite busy around here."

Duke looked at the window, even though he couldn't see anything in his position right now and he could only see the blue sky.

The meaning it holds is quite different.

'Why are you here when there are plenty of monsters outside?'

"I will not take a lot of your time Guild Master Duke and will directly cut to the chase… You see, we knew who attacked our facilities…"

Erwin left it purposely hanging.

'Commander Girthwell told me to trust the Freedom Guild and Association , when I told him that everyone, every organization right now should be considered suspicious." 

"Attacked?"

Luke is the one who answered then Erwin continues.

"Yes, we got attack by group of thieves… they even manage to attack the top floor of our office."

(There's no meaning in hiding this, if they could send scout everywhere they already knew our situation right now.)

"Is that the reason your scout is around the Marian Hotel area?"

Duke speak out.

"Yes, that is exactly the reason we are in that area… we need to capture them and interrogate them."

Duke smiled but immediately retract it.

"Why are you going so far as to do that? We are currently under siege by Violet Rank monster… without the help of the Tamer we will be exhausted and hungry… Spending manpower and energy to hunt down those attackers can be done later when we get back on Earth."

Duke then leaned forward to his desk and asked.

"You are not telling me everything, Sir Erwin."

Duke smiled.

Erwin wasn't intimidated at all.

This is a friendly conversation after all.

Erwin didn't reply.

"Unfortunately, I cannot discuss the topic any further, unless you get permission from the Commander…"

Duke nodded and hide his smile.

"I came here to ask a question on behalf of UASF."

Erwin eyes became fierce.

Luke even though he is a rank higher than Erwin became guarded.

"Why did our scout notice that your people are moving around the Marian Hotel?"

Mares and Luke glance at Duke and he answered with confidence.

"We believe that the Muerte La Marcha is behind this terrorism… we detected their activity around that area and our scout is confirming it."

Erwin eyes widen.

Then his eyes move like he was in deep thought.

Mares, Luke and Duke didn't miss that reaction.

(Oh! So they didn't know about that… Its a good thing I release that information this will be good on our side.)

Duke thought.

(I know, Muerte La Marcha involvement will change their strategy, this will be another game all together.)

Mares think about it.

(Did they follow those stupid 'thieves'? What a mess? I thought highly of Dark Guild but it seems they are just normal criminals.)

Luke thought as a response on Erwins reaction.

But Erwin is thinking differently.

(Then this make sense, the Tamer was basically a hired mercenary by the Muerte La Marcha… though the Tamer is still at fault for attacking the facility, he isn't the mastermind behind it… that is also the reason why he turn his back on Muerte La Marcha.)

Erwin look at the three official in front of him.

(This is a fruitful visit… of course the source of the information about Muerte La Marcha involvement is still questionable, but we can just confirm that when we captured several of their men.)

"I see I would like to ask the source of information-"

Duke raise his hand saying that he should stop.

"You know we couldn"t release the name of our informant… but some of our scout already confirmed it."

Duke smiled once again.

"Our scout can confirm that Joaquin Alfredo was here."

Erwin's eyes lit up once again and became fierce.

"Joaquin Alfredo…"

Erwin nodded.

"I have to thank your Guild for cooperating with us…"

"Of course, we are here to help out UASF."

Duke smiled and Erwin nodded and walked out.

Clack!

Duke while leaning in front of his table.

"Those bastards got the 'Rare Materials'..."

Meras knew the tone Duke's voice so she suddenly said.

"Please reconsider we don't want any prob-"

"... We already have the confirmation Mares… Losing this chance means we lose all the money we invested…"

Luke smiled while Mares frowned on what Duke said.

"The Tamer is taking care of the business here… he even provides food from time to time… Use every Champion at our disposal. Our goal is to retrieve all the 'rare materials' that they stole."

"Prioritize stealth, and let Hans lead the group."

"As you command, Guild Master…"

Mares seems disappointed but she will follow what the Guild Master said.

…

"If you found Joaquin you could kill him and bring his body back so even if the Tamer manages to Reset the Pillar. He will still be in our custody."

Duke said as if they already expected the Reset.

In truth no one, even think of using the "Raid Hostage" strategy because of the difficulty level of the monsters.

They need all the rest they could get and the Reset is a welcome event to recover their tired body.

"The Muerte La Marcha will pay for playing us."