Unwanted news

"Eneila... san?" With a slightly hesitant expression on her face, Meru tried to call out to Eneila who was currently laughing in front of her while clutching the Quest paper Meru had just given her.

After a while, Eneila finally started to stop laughing, "Huff... Huff... S-sorry, Meru-chan. I didn't mean to laugh at you or something. It's just..."

"It's just...?"

"When I compare between Meru-chan who is big but still an E-Ranker who has just started trying to eradicate some Kobolt with Ilnya-chan who is petite but already a strong C-Ranker even though you are both Black cat, I can't help but laugh at me."

"Wha-?!" Meru gets enormous damage from the words without bad intentions that Eneila said earlier.

It's right that Meru deliberately hides her power to avoid unnecessary attention. However, she naturally started to feel a little overwhelming about this concealment of her power when she finally realized that even a little girl like Ilnya could reach the C-Rank, just by becoming a Black cat.

Meru began to think that maybe she could expend her powers a little when she saw Ilnya. However, she has already received damage. No need to hesitate anymore, I have to do it! Like that, Meru managed to re-establish her determination.

With a faint smile on her face, Meru looked right into Eneila's eyes, "It's okay, Eneila-san. I will become a C-Rank in an instant."

Saying that, Meru takes back the kobolt eradication Quest paper from Eneila before taking another Quest, "Therefore, I will take this Quest."

"Eeeeeehhhhhh?!" Even Eneila was surprised to see what Quest Meru had just taken.

"B-but, that is..."

"It's okay."

"Meru..."

"Don't have to worry."

"Uh-huh..."

Worried, Eneila tries to stop Meru from taking the Quest. However, because Meru so insisted on taking it, even Eenila, who is a Receptionist, couldn't forbid Meru to take the Quest because Meru is not currently an F-Ranker anymore.

The quest taken by Meru is a Quest with a Random difficulty level and can be taken by any adventurer above F-Rank, a Regular Quest. It is a type of Quest that can be taken by anyone and at any time as long as the adventurer has passed the F-Rank, and meets the requirements to complete the Quest.

And, for the Quest that Meru took this time was: a Quest to collect Philosopher stones, and the client was the imperial family itself. This quest is a special quest that does not have a maximum limit of the number of Philosopher stones that an adventurer can collect.

After all, the Philosopher stone is not something you can find on the road side by chance. Because this stone which is often referred to as the tears of the god is a rare item that only appears at one point in the whole world every 1 year.

The power and usefulness of the Philosopher stone itself are not allowed to be known by ordinary people. However, what is certain is, every country in this world is inexplicably trying to collect as many Philosopher stones as they can.

Therefore, an adventurer who owns the Philosopher stone will definitely get considerable rewards and will even be able to rank up according to Meru's current wishes. To be honest, Meru doesn't care much about money. She just didn't want to lose to Ilnya who had a younger appearance than herself.

"Meru-chan? What's wrong? Aren't you supposed to start your search? Well, I know finding a Philosopher stone isn't easy. Maybe you won't even find one in your life... So, well..." Looking at Meru who was still standing in front of her counter desk after she finished the quest retrieval process, Eneila started talking to Meru, thinking that maybe Meru had given up on this Quest. However, seeing how determined she was before, Eneila also began to feel doubtful to the point of having difficulty finding suitable words to say to Meru.

"Found it." And, after Meru was silent for a while, pretending to be looking for something inside her cleavage when what she was actually doing was searching inside her Dimension pocket, Meru took out three glowing pure white balls and placed them in front of Eneila.

"Here it is, three pieces of Philosopher stone. I found it in the woods a while ago." With a faint smile that gave Eneila a slight impression of showing off, Meru puffed up her chest.

"Philo... shopher... stone?" Because it all happened too fast for Eneila, it made Eneila's brain unable to keep up with the usual turn of events.

And, after looking back and forth between Meru and the three glowing balls, Eneila finally understood, "Nm? NNMMM??? EEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!?!" Eneila's eyes were wide open as if her eyeballs were about to jump from where it was supposed to be.

"Ph-ph-ph-ph-ph-Philoshoper st-stone?! What?! H-how?! Huh?!" For the second time today, Eneila lost control of herself again.

After that, it took Meru a few more minutes for her Quest to finally be processed because she had to wait for Eneila to regain her composure.

Bringing three Philosopher stones with her, Eneila went to the second floor of the Guild building after telling Meru that she would discuss this matter with the Guildmaster first.

Having nothing else to do, Meru decides to go home.

-The next day.

"The Guildmaster has already confirmed that the Philosopher stone you brought is genuine, Meru-chan. So, you will officially get 25 platinum and 6000 gold in exchange for money for these three. Moreover... You will also be promoted to become a B-Ranker." With her tired face, Eneila began to explain it all to Meru when she carried out the process of transferring the rewards that Meru received for her work this time to Meru's Guild card.

Since guild cards can also double as identification cards and something similar to credit cards or banks, this kind of thing can also be done.

*Shine* *Shine*

"I didn't expect you to be that happy, Meru-chan. You're even to the point of shining like that, anyway. Ha ha."

-The next day again.

On this day, Meru didn't take the Quest because she had already earned enough money and even ranked up. Meru decides to wait until people forget about her achievements back before she takes the Quest as usual again.

"*Munch *Munch..." Sitting on a park bench on the riverside of downtown, Meru ate some skewers with a cat that she often played with by snuggling in her arms.

Peace... Meru thought as she smiled to herself while enjoying the beautiful view of the river flowing through the middle of the town.

"However, shouldn't it be Ilnya's time to come back? Eneila-san says that the Quest that Ilnya took was an investigation Quest that would take 2-4 days. So, maybe today she will come back. Hum... What is she doing right now, I wanna now~?"

Relaxing until she was as relaxed as she was, Meru began to feel drowsiness, before finally falling asleep there.

_ _ _ _

"Meru."

Hah? Where is this? I can't see very well... Besides, who called me by my name directly? As far as I can remember, I only allowed Mom, dad, and Fania to call my name directly like this... Wait, did she laugh just now?

"I see like you're still stubborn about that, Meru. I'm happy."

Wait, this voice! Fania?! Is that you, Fania?!

"I'm sorry, Meru. I don't have much time left. I'll just say this one thing to you Meru. Your friend is in danger, you have to save her immediately if you don't want you to lose her too like you lost us."

W-wait a minute, what are you talking about?!

"Then, goodbye Meru. I'm happy to have been your best friend, you know?"

Wait! Wait, FANIA!

_ _ _ _

"... Faniaaa!!!" When Meru reopened her eyes, it was already afternoon. It was the town view of Gordias she knew.

"Is that's all is just a dream...?" A drop of tears began to flow from Meru's eyes, wetting her cheeks.

"Fania...!" The face of Fania, Meru's best friend who always accompanied her back when Meru was still living in Black cat Village, began to reappear in her.

Fania's face when she smiled, cried, angry, annoyed, excited, all the memories of Fania that Meru had been trying to forget for a long time began to reappear like an old wound that had reopened.

That was a memory that she will never be able to repeat again, a painful memory. Therefore, Meru tries to forget it. However, when she heard a voice that resembled her best friend Fania in her dream, the memories began to reappear as if trying to devour Meru.

"... Hah? Eh? W-why?" Although Meru tried to get rid of all those memories and stop the tears that kept streaming from her eyes, she couldn't. This forgotten pain and sadness Meru can't forget anymore. The feeling left an overwhelming sense of loneliness in Meru's chest, making her feel as if a bottomless hole had just opened there.

And, as if that wasn't enough, Meru suddenly felt an explosion of magic power from the west of this town, right where Ilnya should be at the moment: Forhune town.

"N-no way..."At that time, Meru suddenly remembered about the words Fania had left her in a previous dream.

"I'm sorry, Meru. I don't have much time left. I'll just say this one thing to you Meru. Your friend is in danger, you have to save her immediately if you don't want you to lose her too like you lost us."

Meru's breathing begins to become irregular when she imagines the worst-case scenario that might befall Ilnya in a place Meru can't reach. That's right, just like when humans slaughtered her entire family and friends in the past.

When Meru realized this, her body began to move on its own. She began to walk towards the West Gate of this town, towards where Ilnya was.

"I - won't - let the same thing happen again!!"