19: First Decision

"Do you guys..." - muttered Elisabeth as she looked at Erika, who was red-faced, and Ren, who was averting his gaze - "No..."

"I see you found my advice useful" - said Rhea with a small smile.

"Am I missing something?" - Eric asked, confused with the situation.

Elisabeth quickly walked over to her fiancé and whispered something in his ear, only for him to jump in surprise and look at the new couple with an expression of disbelief.

"No... you've got to be kidding me" - Eric said as he looked at his best friend and the red-haired girl - "Did you guys really do it?"

Erika's cheeks blushed even more while Ren coughed before nodding.

"Congratulations!" - Eric exclaimed as he hugged his best friend and let out a laugh - "I'm so happy for you, my friend!"

An awkward and embarrassed expression appeared on Ren's face before he clicked his tongue.

The two girls did the same to Erika, though she wasn't so thick-skinned, so she simply fainted.

As for how it was that they found out, well, that's simple, Erika's moan was louder than the new couple had expected.

"You've got a good pair of lungs, that, or Ren is much stronger than we thought" - Elisabeth said with a huge teasing smile.

Erika blushed again as she lowered her head to hide her embarrassment.

"Not bad, huh?" - Eric said, only to let out a groan of pain when he felt his friend hit his stomach - "Ugh..."

"Ok, that's enough" - said Ren as he took Erika's hand and hid her behind him - "If you want to keep teasing us, I hope you'll concentrate on me, I don't want you to keep making Erika uncomfortable."

"Ren..." - Erika murmured with a small smile - "Thank you..."

Ren smiled in response, which made him cringe again at the smiles his friends were giving him - "Ahem! I hope they didn't call us just to tease us"

"No, we already have everything ready to go recon the terrain" - Eric answered with difficulty because the punch Ren had given him, had left him breathless - "Couldn't you have used less force?"

"Sorry, it was an involuntary move" - answered Ren while shrugging his shoulders - "Leaving that aside, it's good to hear that we are ready to leave."

"Yes, although now I'm in doubt if you'll need a few days to recover or to spend time with your... Ugh..." - Eric was about to continue joking with his friend when he felt another punch in his stomach - "S-Seriously? Twice the same place?"

"Oh, sorry, it was an unconscious move" - Ren replied innocently - "That aside, it's not necessary, it's just a little recon trip."

"And where will you go?" - asked Elisabeth with slight curiosity as she prepared for the answer, after all, this recon mission was also a player's choice. There were three possible routes, the first was the easy one, go to a nearby mountain where they would encounter a small tribe of goblins, the rewards were nil. The second route was the normal difficulty, here Ren would have to go into the forest, in this place he would find some caves where a tribe of ogres was resting. Finally, the third route was the most difficult, and for obvious reasons, in this one, Ren would go to the nearby valley, this place looked much easier than the previous two, but halfway there the place will start to shake and a high level earth elemental will appear.

Now... How do you define the difficulty of the routes?

It's simple, depending on the number of casualties in the soldiers under your command, if the casualties are less than 10, then the difficulty is low, if the routes are less than 30, it's normal, and if the casualties can reach 70% of your current soldiers, then it's hard difficulty.

Back to the point, the difficulty also affects the rewards and future actions, for example, if you leave the earth elemental too long, it will cause that in the future he will be so strong that he will transform into a Titan, an extremely powerful enemy that was comparable to a boss in the last part of the game, as for the goblins and ogres, they will simply join the monster tide that Ren will have to face in the future.

"I was thinking about these three points, though I'm not sure which one to go to yet" - Ren replied as he took out a map and put on a fenced table - "These three points are necessary, this mount can serve us as a checkpoint, it has a perfect view to observe all our surroundings."

"But other than that it is not useful in our current state" - said Rea while choosing her words well, after all, this was not a game where she could choose an option and Ren would accept it without saying anything about it.

Ren looked at the blonde haired girl with a frown before telling her to continue.

"It's simple, currently you have no enemies, your majesty" - said Rhea calmly.

"You don't have to be so formal with me, speak naturally, after all, I consider you a friend" - replied Ren calmly, though at the same time he was confused as to the reason for this. It was strange that he would consider someone so easily his friend.

"I understand" - nodded Rea as she explained her point again - "What I'm trying to say, is that having a recon point in our current state of development is not efficient."

Ren was silent for a few seconds before nodding - "You have a point, not counting that monsters and animals are basically undetectable from that hill because they would use the trees to hide..."

"I guess the first option is out" - said Eric, who had finally recovered - "Not bad, girl, I didn't think you were that smart."

"Are you calling me an idiot?" - Rea asked with a cold look that froze the royal guard - "It's a joke."

Eric let out a forced laugh as he continued to sweat.

Elisabeth simply shook her head.

"The second option is to go deep into the forest to this area, according to a report from one of my soldiers, they found some caves with blue minerals on the outside" - said Ren as he pondered - "According to the description of these stones, I can deduce that it is Lapis lazuli, a mineral that could help us thanks to its magical properties, it is even possible that we might find arcane sapphire? What do you think?"

"Do you really want our opinion?" - Elisabeth asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, I trust you, and although I feel this is the best option, at the same time my instincts tell me to talk to you to confirm my thoughts" - replied Ren as he folded his arms.

Elisabeth and Rea looked at each other, after all, they were seeing firsthand how the "correction" of the game was slightly affecting Ren.

"Honestly, it sounds like a good option, though at the same time I feel like we should listen to your last option before we can dig a little deeper into the subject" - Elisabeth replied as she started to think. Both she, and Rhea, had decided to choose the third option because the reward of that option was not only the best, but it was the only one that would truly help expand [Neo Bahamut].

Ren was silent for a few seconds before nodding - "Makes sense, anyway, the last option is this valley"

"What's so special about the valley?" - Eric asked with a frown.

"As we arrived in Surt, I managed to sense a considerably high magical presence, which means one of two things, one, in that place dwells an extremely powerful monster, or two..."

"A valuable treasure" - said Rhea as she nodded - "If what you say is true, it is possible that there is an ancient artifact that could help us."

"That would be gambling" - replied Ren as he shook his head - "If a powerful monster dwells there, then I would be sending my troops to certain death."

"But if there is a treasure, that could help the expansion of [Neo Bahamut]" - Elisabeth said as she folded her arms - "As a merchant, I think this is a good bet, in fact, even if there was a strong monster, its body might be even more valuable than the treasure."

"I still think it's a bad idea" - Ren replied while shaking his head - "The lives of my subordinates are more important than a false promise of treasure"

"We can investigate first and then decide" - Eric said as he started to think, although if he was honest, he said this because he felt that his fiancée wanted Ren to choose the last option. They could call it a sixth sense, but his connection with Elisabeth was so great, that there were times he felt he could read her thoughts.

Ren frowned slightly before letting out a sigh - "I understand, let's go check the area first and then we'll decide."

Rea and Elisabeth smiled internally while Erika looked worriedly at Ren - "I want to go with you."

"Impossible" - Ren answered immediately - "I can't put you in danger".

"But..." - Erika muttered with a frown, after all, she couldn't just stand idly by when her beloved was about to go on a possibly dangerous mission.