Looming Danger

"What's the meaning of this!?" shouted the man, slamming his desk in rage.

The report that he received was outrageous. The plan that he so thoroughly hatched for a year was crushed by the passing adventurers, and the summoners that he paid for were caught by the Knight Guards. Yes, he placed a curse on the five summoners that would instantly activate the moment they mentioned his name, but he still can't be sitting on his laurels yet. Something tells him that if he doesn't do anything to make his way out of this mess right now, the consequences will be catastrophic. For him and his family.

This man is the vice mayor of Luminus Town, Virtuo von Puerte. Hailing from the family of Puerte, he boasts great strength and techniques in spearmanship. His family is well-known as the "family who pierced the sky." Although not the main one, their bloodline is that of one of the Seven Heroes from five hundred years ago that defeated the Demon Lord.

Virtuo planned to put all the blame on the mayor for his negligence and lack of security personnel. He envied the mayor's position and the benefits that came with it. And so, he started desiring his position. Saying that it's wasted on the likes of him.

First, he went to find the summoners required for his plan. It took him some time to procure the products, but his patience paid off. He made them his slaves and placed a curse on each of them. After making sure that they had the required amount of mana, he moved on to his next plan.

Virtuo has a right-hand woman named Mist. She's an elf from the forest of the Green Kingdom. Of course, just like the summoners, she was made a slave and was also cursed. Mist has the power to control the minds of her targets—if they satisfy the condition—to a certain degree. To Virtuo, she's nothing but a tool to be used and thrown once it becomes unusable. He ordered her to make her into the minds of some Knight Guards. Most of them are resistant to her power, so she was only able to keep seven of them under her thrall. And those seven Knight Guards were part of the security team of the plaza.

After securing their worms inside the Knight Guards, Virtuo proceeded. The hardest part was the magic circle needed for the iron golems. He already had the blueprint for it from the start, but drawing a big, conspicuous magic circle in the middle of the town is a stupid idea. If the Knight Guards catch them, it's all over. Unless he made the Knight Guards themselves draw it for them, and so he did—using Mist. They carried out the order and drew the magic circle without anyone noticing. Mist has water-type illusion magic. Using the water vapor from the hydrosphere, she bended the light enough so she could conceal the magic circle, part by part, until they were done.

His plan is perfect. None of them knew what was coming. All he needed to do now was to wait for the mini festival to arrive.

The day came and went. His plan failed.

Virtuo gritted his teeth. "This was supposed to be a success! I was supposed the mayor right now! How can these weak, poor-minded, newbie adventurers disrupt my plans!?"

In his fit of rage, he kicked his desk and sent if flying in front of him—across the room. The attendant who gave him the report shivered as the flying desk closely hit him.

But he still has some hope. "Ah! That's right…"

The Knight Guards.

But unbeknownst to him, things were unfolding differently.

*****

In the interrogation room beneath the Order of the Knights headquarters, there is a man staring at the tied-up and blindfolded five summoners they caught. His hand on his chin, thinking as he carefully examines them. His blond, slicked-back hair and blue, sharp eyes make him attractive to plenty of girls. He has an imposing aura that drives fear into his opponents. Even his colleagues are scared of him every time he does this pose. Thinking that he's up to something horrible for their captives. This man is Marco. The captain of the Luminus Town Knight Guards.

On his right side is Benmar. He's the same knight from yesterday who wrote the names of the adventurers who participated at the plaza.

On his left side is Glen. One of Greo's mentors.

Glen was the first to break the silence. "Hey Marco. It's pretty obvious they were being forced. I mean, look at their foreheads. It has the slave crest burned in it."

Marco replied, "I know, I know. It's just… I'm thinking about the two adventurers yesterday."

Glen sighed, "Like. I. Said. Greo can't be part of this. He knows his limit and the danger of summoning recklessly— "

Marco cut him. "Yeah, I can see that. And besides, you trained him yourself, right?" he asked, smiling.

The sight made Benmar shiver. "You can't spar with him, captain!"

"Oh what!?" Marco cried.

Marco watched Greo and the others in the distance yesterday. He thought that, since there's only one iron golem left, they'd be fine. He already heard from Glen how adept Greo is at using his dagger. It might not work against monsters and most wild beasts, but it's still enough to pose a challenge to rank Platinum-I adventurers. His movement is swift; he predicts when the golem will attack and avoids it flawlessly. His strike is powerful—he just has a bad match every time he fights. This piqued Marco's interest, and he's been thinking about it since then.

Glen, annoyed, decided to direct the subject in front of them. "Ahh! Stop it. Let's focus on these guys for now."

"Mmm. You're right. By the way Benmar," he asked, facing Benmar. "What of the seven Knight Guards?"

"Ah yes, they've been detained right after we caught those five. We confirmed that they were under control of someone, but despite that, they still carried out their duty. Impressive if I say so myself."

"You, idiot. Nothing impressive about being mindlessly controlled by someone. It looks like," he grinned, "we need to amp you guys' mental training."

This greatly scared Benmar. Their current regimen is already hell itself, after all.

Ah… AHhhhhhhhh!!! Benmar inwardly screamed.

"Anyway," Marco went back to their captives, "we'll need to bring these guys to the church. Alright, Benmar."

"Y-Yes?"

"Make some preparation and inform the church in advance. We'll have them remove the slave crest since it has a curse imbued in it."

"Roger," he salutes and briskly left the room to carry out Marco's order.

He then turned to Glen. "And Glen, I appoint your three-man squad to escort these five tomorrow. Make sure they safely arrive at the church. The one behind this would definitely end their lives when they get a chance. Avoid giving them that chance, go it?"

"Alright. What about you?"

"Oh, I'll just investigate and deal with that bastard," he smiled—his lips anyway, his eyes say otherwise.

Glen, knowing the truth behind Marco's words, just sighed and left.

*****

A month has passed since that event happened. Now, we're picking a quest to take. Because of Jiuru, our party's rank is now Platinum-IV.

Jiuru is a level four Mage, rank Platinum-IV. I guess he's been doing a lot of quests while studying. What a diligent kid!

Should I apply for the skip rank test…? I thought, but immediately dismissed the idea. Even if I did apply for one, it's not really gonna make our rank higher than it is right now. Besides, I only need one more quest to move up. After that, I'll be at rank Gold-III.

"Hey, did you hear?" said one of the adventurers in a low voice to his friend at a table behind us. "Apparently, vice mayor Virtuo fled from this town last week."

Hm? But why? I sneakily moved my feet closer to them so I could hear them better.

"Ohh! That one. Looks like he's tied to some slavery market and has a slave of his own. I think her name is Mist?"

"Yeah, that. He took her with him when he fled. Those who saw them said that the girl is full of bruises and wounds. That bastard is definitely abusing her. What a disgusting man," he spat.

Slavery is extremely frowned upon in this kingdom. In some kingdoms, slavery is legal. There are people who became slaves because of unpaid debt or because of a crime they committed. But in this kingdom, criminals aren't made into slaves. They either pay with their own lives or jail time. It depends on the gravity of their crime. And when it comes to debts, if they're a legitimate transaction, they'll be given some time to settle the amount they owe. If they fail to do so, the lender can take any possessions of the borrower to make up for the amount, and on top of that, the borrower will be sent to jail.

Hmmm. Sounds horrible. I hope they solve that quickly.

As I was diligently listening to them, Aelee called my name. It looks like they already settled on a quest.

"Greo. What about this one?"

Let's see, let's see. It's a Platinum-IV quest.

[Subjugation Quest: Wild Beast: String Serpents

Required Amount: 100

Reward: 500 oires per piece

Location: Flatta Ruins

Duration: 2 weeks upon receiving the quest

Requestor: Lando Resto]

String serpent. They are the same size as normal green snakes, but their skin is that of a string bean. They have meat, but inside is the string bean's bean. The bean ranges from two to three centimeters.

No one knows how they've come into existence. They don't have any known origin, they have no need to eat, they don't have any venom, and their bite is powerful. One bite is enough to tear your skin and expose your bones. Thanks to their slow movement, you can easily avoid their attacks. But if you get cocky, they can catch you off-guard. Other than that, they're pretty easy to catch.

String serpent is a sought-after ingredient. After all, their meat is tender and tastes like chicken, and the bean is used in soup to give the broth a chicken flavor. Not only that, but their skin is also as sturdy as leather, but if you slice it thin enough, you can deep fry it. You can just add salt, and you're good to go. It's crispy and crunchy. I sometimes bought it as a snack after training back then.

"Isn't it kinda far?" Jiuru asked.

Flatta Ruins is located not that deep in the forest near the border of Light Kingdom and Evernight Kingdom. It would take a month on foot.

"It is, but we can take a wagon. The back-and-forth trip shouldn't take us more than four days," Aelee answered.

"Let's take this, summoner boy! I've heard that they taste good. I have a mission to find that out myself," Zelentriya claimed. All I can see on her eyes is the string serpent soup.

"What do you mean mission… But, alright. Let's take this one and start preparing right away so we can start the trip today," I concluded.

With that, we took the quest and headed back home.

*****

It's still morning so I guess we can start making our way there now. But for now, we'll need to pack our things for this trip.

In a big bag pack—"What's with the huge bag?" asked Zelentriya.

"Mm? I need to bring tents; we might need to camp outside in the middle of the trip. Also, sleeping bags, some blanket and dried food—"

"I know that," she interrupted. "But you don't have any magic bag?"

I was planning on buying one, but it's just too expensive. You can store multiple things in the magic bag. This greatly reduces the amount of weight you need to carry.

The cheapest one you can buy costs 1,500,000 oires; that's like five fire wolf quests. You can store five different items of any size inside the bag. It has a weight limit of ten kilograms, but the actual weight you're carrying is just the weight of the magic bag itself.

Some adventurers use this huge backpack—like the one I'm using—to pack their tents, sleeping bags, and foods in it, then place the big backpack in the magic bag. They do this to save space for the loot they might possibly get during their quest.

"No. But I'm saving money to buy the cheapest one."

"Hmm," she paused. "Okay. You can continue. I'll be back."

"Oh? Sure."

What was that? I thought before continuing with my preparation.

*****

An hour later, Zelentriya came back. We waited in front of our house for her.

On her hand is a small, black bag. It's a sling bag that you can adjust to any length you like. And in front of the bag is a blue pentagon gem.

Don't tell me that's…

Zelentriya made her way at me and said, "Here. Use it. Pass your mana on that gem so it will recognize you as its owner," she nonchalantly explained.

I KNEW IT!

"Wait, wait, wait! Isn't this a magic bag!?" I cried.

And what's more, it's a high-quality one. It's an advanced type that only recognizes one owner and cannot be opened by other people—unless the owner registers them too. This thing has fifty slots and a limit of two thousand kilograms. Of course, like the other magic bags, the time inside this magic bag is normal. Only one of the crafter's unique skills can do that.

But still, it's a valuable and expensive item that adventurers on my level can't hope to get anytime soon.

"Yeah?" Zelentriya replied, looking confused.

Jiuru took a closer look on it. "This is amazing, Master. This is my first time seeing a magic bag of this quality. This must've cost a fortune. The one I have is the cheapest one, though I already gave it to my mother as a gift."

"Zel, you bought this?" asked Aelee.

"No. It's from my house, you can have it. It's fine," she insisted.

"Alright… If you say so."

It would be rude to refuse when it looks like she actually wanted to give it to me.

I took the magic bag and touched the gem. After I poured a little amount of mana into it, it glowed a little bit, and the light disappeared afterwards. I touched the gem again, and it opened, so I put the big backpack on my back in it, and wore it inside my robe, from my right shoulder going down to my left waist.

"This is much better. Thanks, Zelentriya."

"Mmm. Now we can catch a lot of string serpents including our own share," she declared.

"So that was your aim!?"

Aelee giggled in our exchange. Cute.

And Jiuru has a smile that says, "Should've guessed that, huh?"

Anyway, no matter what her actual intention is, I'm still thankful.

With a light atmosphere around us, we set off.