Book 2 - Chapter 72

"Are you seriously telling me that there is not a single thing that can pinpoint us regarding the monster attacks? Absolutely nothing at all?" I asked in disbelieve.

"That is not what I said. What I said was that we have inconclusive evidence that the church is related to the monster attacks. What we were able to find was that Father did sent a letter to Son asking him to stop the attacks. But it does not show that either of them are in cahoots with the attacks directly, just suspicions over the other," he answered.

"What about the cure that they were happily giving out to people? What information did we discovered on it?" I asked.

"That one… is even worse. There is completely nothing whatsoever about the cure. No written notes or even a single mention about it anywhere," he sighed.

"H.. how can this be? For there to be completely nothing?! What is this?!!" I slammed my fist on the table.

Rose came over quickly to hug my arm and gave me a serious look. That's her sign to tell me to control my temper. I took a step back and thought about our time in the cave together.

No wait, hang on. I can't do that! I'm not about to show a boner right in front of everyone when they have their eyes on me! Ok, calm down. Just clap your face cheeks and breathe deeply… Phew, alright. That calmed me down somehow. Dammit Rose, why did you have to make that memories sexual? I can't use that without it making me horny.

"Sorry about that. Been losing my temper lately after unlocking Bloodlust. My apologises," I bowed to all of them.

"It's fine, Zen. Been there, done that," said John casually.

"Alright, let me get things straight. Are we back to square one? Do we really know nothing at all about the monster attacks?" I asked all of them.

"Sadly, that is the reality we are facing. I know you want to pin them on the church, Zen. But without evidence, we cannot take any action. We do not do things based on our guts. So yes, we are back to square one unfortunately," he sighed.

"Um.. sir?" raised one of the Dark guild member.

There was a sudden silence when the member spoke up and whispered to the Dark Lord which he excused himself to discuss with this member.

"Sigh.. this is not what I had in mind at all. For us to find nothing at all. How goes the evacuation of the villages in the outskirts? I trust the fund that I provided is being put to good use?" I asked the remaining four guildmasters while I squeezing my nasal bone.

"Of course. For someone as generous as you to provide us with such an opportunity, you can bet that we will make good use of it. That, and the members are quite happy to do a job that compensates well," said the Dragon Lord.

"We are almost done with the evacuation if you're asking for the status. It.. took some convincing for some of the villages, but at least they decided that it was better to seek shelter within the city walls. The monster attacks are getting more frequent and ferocious as time progresses," sighed John.

"I know, John. Which is why I needed to know the root cause of the attacks. Sadly, I couldn't find anything. I'm sorry," I sighed.

"Hey, what are you sorry for? You are doing something that matters to us and we all appreciate that. Doesn't matter if nothing comes up now but I know you'll find something eventually, brother. Don't let this gets to you," he came and comforted me.

"Why didn't you present this earlier?!" shouted the Dark Lord from afar.

Woah, I had never seen him this angry before. We couldn't hear the discussion aside from the sudden outburst from the Dark Lord. We all turned to the Elementalist and he told us that the Dark Lord will inform us himself after he is done. He is the only one that is able to hear the conversation from afar.

I removed myself from their guildmaster's discussion and stood beside Rose. She made a smile when I turned to look at her, possibly asking me to cheer up. But how can I cheer up when we are back to square one? Daisy lives in this city and everyday her life is at stakes. I will never let her travel alone outside of the city walls. The thing about the monster attacks is that it occurs almost instantaneously and they leave as fast as they arrive. I've tried to follow them myself but their four legs outrun me even at my max speed. Their hit and run tactics are certainly effective at running our soldiers and guild members dry with each attacks causing casualties or injuries. They know their tactic works, yet we know next to nothing about them. Whether they have a mastermind controlling their movements or how they even reproduce in the first place.

I sighed loudly once again before the Dark Lord placed a paper on the table for all the guildmasters to see. I couldn't see what it was from where I was standing but I wasn't in the nosy mood to check what it was. If it's important, they will call me over to talk about it. I was feeling too depressed that I no longer have any leads on the monster attacks. And here I thought that I can make the city and its borders safer for Daisy to live in.

There was a lot of chatter around the table that piqued Rose's interest. She dragged me by the arm and we headed closer to the table. As we proceeded closer, the Dark Lord grabbed the paper away before any of us could look and spoke to the other guildmasters.

"Are we in agreement?" He asked them.

All the guildmasters nodded and the Dark Lord handed me the paper while whispering "For your eyes only". I was taken aback when the Dark Lord told me "We trust that you will choose the best course of action". I looked at all of them puzzled and read the paper's contents with Rose. Obviously 'for my eyes only' meant Rose is allowed to read as well. I'm not gonna say no to my wife. If she wants to read, you let her read.

***

To the recipient in question,

The monster attacks are just a warning. Should you continue on your path, the monsters will be the end of you. You will not be safe within your city walls. Consider this your only warning.

***

I was horrified. Not by the contents of the paper entirely but the signature located at the bottom of this letter. I recognised the signature anywhere as it belonged to someone that I trusted. I gripped the letter tightly and left the hideout with Rose following behind me. I rushed straight home with the letter in tow.

Daisy greeted us by the door when she heard us coming in but I just gave her a simple pat on the head and rushed to my room. I quickly opened one of my locked drawer and began searching for an official letter from Peter. There, found it.

I placed both letter side by side and compared the signature. Rose came over to check with me. I guess she was curious on whether the signature was legit as well. There is no way Peter is the one behind all these monster attacks. What would he even gain by doing that in the first place? It just doesn't make any sense.

I covered my mouth. No matter how I cut it, the signature looks legit. Unless the sender of this letter is a professional signature forger, this letter seems to be from Peter himself. I slumped on my chair trying to think of a reason as to why this letter even exist in the first place. And why is it found inside the church? Are they trying to frame Peter? But how did they forge his signature then?

Hang on, if this letter is found inside the church, why would Father suspect Son then? Didn't he read this letter? Or perhaps even he suspected that the letter was a fake? I am so confused as to what is happening right now.

Daisy was standing on the doorway peeking at both of us. I can see that she is getting worried when both of us returned home in such a serious manner and went straight to my room. Rose was still comparing the letters but I can see that she is sweating from her forehead. I guess even she couldn't find an excuse for him.

I moved to the bed and gestured Daisy to come in. She sat in between my lap and I began petting her head while also combing her hair with my hands. She asked whether we were alright and I told her that we are. It was Rose's turn to slump on the chair but she seems hell-bent in finding some discrepancies between both letters.

Daisy asked whether it was because of her and I immediately told her that was not the case. She had behaved herself during our time at the Northern continent according to Daffodil and she helped out in doing the chores and finished her homework all by herself. She asked me what was the promised reward that I was supposed to give her. Shoot! I had completely forgotten about it! I started thinking on what would be the best reward for her and luckily, there is a place that she loves going. However, we limit the amount of times we can bring her to that location so she does not get bored of the place. Special place deserves special occasions only.

"Let's go to Fishyland since you were such a good girl," I told her.

"Yay!! I've always wanted to go there again!" she stood up and started jumping for joy.

"Ahh, dammit!" shouted Rose as she started pulling her hair.

I quickly ran over to Rose and comforted her. She has a bad habit of getting frustrated when things doesn't go her way.

"Onii-chan~ I can't find anything that can prove this letter is not written by him," Rose looked at me with weepy eyes.

"Mummy, why are you calling daddy 'onii-chan' in such a tone?" asked Daisy with a confused look.

"Ah, Daisy! I didn't realised you were here," said Rose while being surprised.

I guess it's been a while since Rose called me her brother in the first place. It was only recently when we travelled together or whenever we were alone that she called me that. I guess it would be back to calling me directly by my name or just 'dear'.

"Don't you know that you are the product of the love between a brother and sister? Your father was actually my older brother while I was his younger sister. We were never meant to be together but our love for each other was too great and hence you were born," she began explaining to Daisy.

"Rose.. what are you trying to tell Daisy? Why does it feel as though you are trying to promote something?" I asked her.

"I'm just trying to explain to her why I call you onii-chan. Nothing else really," she chuckled.

"Your story is filled with have hints of incest. You better don't get pregnant with a boy or she might start in getting weird ideas," I warned her.

"Don't worry daddy, your entire story is screaming back to me now. You and mommy are not blood-related," said Daisy with wide eyes.

What the hell? Why does it seems as though Daisy had some sort of horror revelation revealed to her or something? I need to make sure she doesn't start going crazy or something. What the hell is my wife trying to do to her daughter? We definitely need to go to Fishyland tomorrow to clear the things that Rose told her.

***

Two months passed and the situation in the city is getting more tensed. The frequency of the monster attacks are getting worse as days passed. At first it was about twice a month. Now it is like once or twice every week. We can't hold out like this.

I opened the door to my house and announced myself. Daisy greeted me with open arms and a wide smile. I picked her up despite feeling exhausted and after removing my shoes, I slumped on the couch.

"Welcome back and good work. How is it going this time?" asked Rose.

"Haa.. things are not going good, Rose. I feel like I really have to go over to the East to meet up with him. There is just no other leads that we can go on aside from his letter," I confessed.

"Well, if you're planning to go over then I'm coming along," she said.

"Huh? No, Rose. If you're coming along then who is going to take care of Daisy? I don't feel comfortable leaving her with Daffodil when the city is constantly being attacked," I told her.

"Oh, don't worry about it. We'll bring her along," she said.

"W.. what? What about her school or extra lessons then?" I gave her a worried look.

"She can skip it once a while," she said without looking at me.

"Please tell me you're joking," I clarified.

"No, I am not! You are not the only one who is worried about the letter, Zen. Peter is my sensei too. I deserves the right to know," shouted Rose out of the blue.

I was caught off guard by her sudden outburst and quickly went over to hug her. She is right though. Peter is also her sensei and we are both worried that he might had gone to the dark side or something. But will we be able to keep Daisy safe throughout the journey? No, we have to. We must make sure that she is safe. Truth be told, I feel better if we bring her along. At least I can ensure that she is safe.

"Alright, alright. We'll go as a family. Nothing wrong about it," I whispered to her as I stroke her hair gently.

She was wearing a simple dress with an apron which is one of her casual wear when she's at home. Nothing that you would call enticing or seductive. Perhaps it was my imagination or maybe I was horny but she was releasing a strong pheromone smell and the whiff of her hair was intoxicating. My hand instinctively moved to the lower area of her body slowly so that she wouldn't slap me for suddenly making a move on her. If she don't feel like it, she can brush off my hands before it reaches its destination.

She did not brush it off and my hands reached her nether region which I groped. Daisy was playing behind us so she couldn't see what was going on. From her perspective, we are just hugging.

"H.. hey, don't grope that hard," she whispered to me.

But I noticed something was different when I was groping her. Is she.. going commando? Rose.. since when did you became so slutty?

"Rose~ Why are you not wearing anything underneath?" I asked her softly in her ears.

"Ah~ I was waiting for you to come back and started thinking about you. Ah~ why are you groping even harder with two hands now? Daisy is right behind us," she started panting in my ears.

"Oh sorry, it was instinct. We'll continue this later after dinner, alright?" I stopped groping her butt.

So she was frustrated and horny. No wonder she couldn't control her anger earlier. Guess I should do my job as her husband to satisfy her later. I hope I can perform well when I am exhausted from fighting monsters.

"Mommy, are you okay? You don't look very well," asked Daisy as she can see Rose's face from where she was playing.

"Mommy is fine, Daisy. Can you go upstairs to finish your homework?" I asked her.

"Ehh? I thought of finishing it later. Can't I, daddy?" she asked with pity eyes.

"There's still some time before dinner. Finish it up so we can play some games after meal, alright? I need to set your mother down as she is tired." I explained to her.

"Oh.. kay.. Promise me you'll play some games with me later," she said as she headed upstairs.

I brought Rose towards the couch where she can rest. I thought of helping her out in preparing for dinner but she grab on to my cloak. Her face says it all. I guess she can't wait until later. I carried her up into our room, making sure to lock the door. Why does it feel like making love one last time before our trip? I don't like the feeling of bad premonition before the journey. I hope nothing bad happens when we head over to the East. Fingers crossed.