The Crown Prince Leo entered the guild with Vorbuk with their goal set in their minds. Leo was a regular to accepting quests like any average adventurer so it only took him a glance to quickly find the location of the quest board. It was a wide board along the side of the room that held sheets of quests that were posted through the guild. Any adventurer that was capable enough to solve the quests could accept them. They ranged in rankings that the guilds had them marked so that the more complicated and risk a quest took to deal with there would be less chance of death.
"Do you have anything in mind?" Vorbuk asked while they glanced around the board in front of them. He was new to his human form so he could not accept anything too complicated on his own right away. Using the prince's rank status they could do something harder then a completely new rank like his. But they could never do anything too drastic a difference. They were still kept to a limit at how complicated they could take things without getting in trouble with the guild.
"Cista has this kind of problem?" Prince Leo's face was slightly paled at the post in front of him. It was not something that he expected to see happening around the Kingdom of Cista.
"What is it?" Vorbuk asked him before leaning in to take a look at the quest. What he read left him puzzled. "Skeleton soldiers have been plaguing the outskirts of Cista lately?"
Cista was a neutral kingdom which meant they never picked a side in any war. All raced lived peacefully among the kingdom. The kingdom of Cista was so beautiful and large that it functioned like a huge city from Vorbuk's previous life.
"Why would the dead suddenly start attacking the outskirts of Cista when it's a place known for its peace and serenity.." Leo muttered under his breath. "Did they send someone to pressure Cista as well?"
"We wont be able to learn anything standing around here all day. Lets just accept it for now because its our only real option anyways. I cant keep standing around wasting my mana while you decide." Vorbuk ripped the quest paper from the wall and shoved it at the prince. Patience was something he did not carry at the moment over something that felt so trivial.
If they are really involved in this.. chances are the prince may run into his brother... or worse. But this prince can't remain so indecisive all the time. As a royal doesn't he hold any motivation at all? Vorbuk could not stop himself from wondering why the prince was so carefree. He could tell the prince cared about his family and wanted to aid them but when it came to matters about the throne Leo had no interest. Knowing that the quest sounded as if it involved the matters between the kingdoms and their war Vobruk saw the hesitation in Leo's eyes and could only do it best to give Leo a bit of a push in the direction he felt was right.
"You're right. Maybe we will learn something from it all no matter how things turn out. In the end it is still a good bit of practice for you while we are at it so it works out well in the end." Leo took the quest from him and turned for the young girl at the counter so that he could accept it for them.
The moment that Prince Leo walked away from Vorbuk he could heart voice in his head as a familiar screen appeared in front of him.
[ Quest: A hidden danger is residing among the Kingdom of Cista. Resolve it quickly before Cista is lost.
Reward: ----
Upon Failure: Death ]
"What?! Are you threatening me now??" Vorbuk could not stop himself from shouting out loud at the final words on the screen in front of him. A deep growl could be heard bellowing from his throat even though he stood there in human form among the guild. Eyes from various strangers were on him as if they found him strange for shouting when nobody was around him.
[ Invalid. ]
"No! You don't get to do that right now! What is the meaning of this?" Vorbuk demanded answers. The voice had no right to threaten his life if that was what it was doing to him. It felt as if god's voice had gifted him something he truly wanted only to send him to the slaughterhouse.
[ .... ]
Vorbuk's head throbbed as he could feel the system in his head refusing to give him further details.
"Stop toying with me.. What if I refuse? Maybe you really do just want to kill me? Is that it?" Vorbuk's voice lowered to that of a heavy whisper. If he was correct to assume the voice was not out to harm him then he felt it was trying to warn him in a blunt manner. However if god's voice really did mean to toy with him it was a rough gamble on his life to refuse the quest.
[ The creature you're hunting is a follower of the God Chynir. You wont be able to easily leave until you remove him. Figure it out yourself. ]
Did I just get scolded by that damned voice? Vorbuk thought to himself when he heard how empty and harsh the tone became. It was new to hear the voice become so frustrated with him.
"Well.. it feels like someone just got more social for a split second." Vorbuk said as he caught a glimpse of Leo rushing in his direction with the okay from the guild for them to go and aid in the removal of the skeletons that were plaguing the kingdom's outskirts.
"We're all set to head out. You ready?" The prince asked him without a pause to hear the response.
The two of them headed for the door to leave with their quest set. Along the way Leo contemplated on picking up the others but remained silent on the matter. They had their own tasks to research into while they were in Cista. If they needed anything it would not be difficult for the group to locate them. Bredret's sense of direction as a dragon made it a simple task for him to track others so he was not worried about them catching up.
We'll just make a head start and the others can catch up to us. That dragon will be able to lead the group to us at the outskirts once they realize we're gone.. Leo thought to himself as they left.
Neither of them were aware at the time but the fight that was in front of them would not be as easy as they imagined when accepting it. Indeed when the god's voice warned Vorbuk that failure was not an option for him in the quest it was indeed because he was going after a follower of Chynir. In the following days Vorbuk would come to regret the anger he felt at the voice for its remark about his life. Because where their is peaceful days, in turn bad ones are bound to follow.