In the Waku village

"Might of slow coming darkness decrease speed!!" Ryu almost shouted, putting much mana in decrease, making an instant halt of the carriage.

Due to this Jue and Aiena who were sleeping next to him fall forward,

"Wha… what happened!?" Jue instantly wore his knuckles,

"Did we hit something!?" Aiena shouted. It was almost surprising how Frank was still sleeping peacefully. The worst was the carriage driver who went flying forward, breaking his nose as he crashed face-first on the ground.

Ryu said, "It is just someone was in the way, Jue wake this idiot up. "

He opened the carriage door and stepped out. Aiena followed behind as Jue woke Frank up, reaching forward Aiena look at the carriage driver bleeding from the nose.

"I am sorry for using the magic suddenly!!" Ryu apologized as he moved toward the villager with kids who were also moving toward him and Aiena cast [Small Heal] on the driver.

"Please help…." The villager was about to say, but before he could. Ryu smacked him right on the top of his head.

"I am sorry!!" the person whined as he exactly knows his mistake and Ryu said with a frown,

"heck, know the village is in shambles, but jumping in front of a fast-moving carriage is suicide"

"Please don't beat father!!"

"don't smack uncle!!" the kids pouted, and the corner of Ryu's mouth shakes as he wanted to shout,

'Why am I looking like the bad guy here!? This idiot was jumping in front of a fast-moving carriage with kids!? Ever heard traffic rules.." But he held back because he knew there wasn't a thing as traffic rules in this world. When Ryu was troubled over how to answer,

Aiena came from behind as she bent forward to the children's face level and spoke,

"This big brother didn't want to smack your father… you know it is very dangerous to jump in front of a moving carriage. It would've given your father and your wounds if not for big brother stopping the carriage with a spell"

The children turn their heads towards their guardian, who awkwardly rubbed the back of his head as he spoke,

"The big brother is right…. I was too desperate, am sorry" he finished turning towards Ryu at the end who just said,

"It is fine as long as you get it"

"Big brother, the carriage uncle, went back and said he'll return tomorrow," Jue said,

"Where are the dungeons? Let's go right away!!" Frank said proudly as he put an arm on Ryu's shoulder from behind,

'I am going to defeat him so badly, thought Frank. Being overly confident without a plan or a clue was one of Frank's special talents. Ryu moved his hand away from his shoulders as he asked the Villager,

"What is your name? and are there other people alive here?"

Aiena gave the children some water to drink as the Villager spoke,

"My name is Gustav. Leaving me and the kids aside, there are only 10 more people in the village. Everyone else ran away through the forest. I was about to try to escape through the jungle too when I suddenly saw your carriage"

"Is there any place we can sit and talk?" Ryu asked as he wanted to use this opportunity to compare and confirm what they knew about the situation. The man nodded as he took them to an old village hut. Ryu was surprised as the hut was perfectly fine. He was about to ask but before he could Aiena asked,

"How is this that this hut didn't get destroyed?" curiously tilting her head, and the villager laughed as he spoke,

"This hut is still not destroyed because…." He fell silent, creating a sense of mystery, so Jue asked

"Because?"

"Because…." The man repeated,

"Say what is it already!?" Frank irritated said with a curious gaze,

"Because I am not an architect or village planner… I don't have a hint about it, the monster just didn't come this way"

'This guy!!' Ryu thought,

"Why were you thinking for so long!?" Frank exclaimed and this must be one of the rarest times when Ryu could relate to Frank completely and Gustav answered,

"I was trying to come up with a reason. Can't keep this beautiful woman unanswered, can I?" this time Gustav felt an arm on his shoulder,

"Hey, can we talk about important things already?" as he turned back, he notices Ryu saying this with the brightest smile on his face but his eyes were scary, making him uneasy.

'Think about your age before trying to impress Aiena,' thought Ryu as the villager sat down on the chair gulping and everyone else followed.

"So what can I tell you about?" Gustav asked, as his kids pulled Aiena's hand.

"Play with us!!" they both repeated in sync, and Ryu sighed as he said,

"You should play with them, Aiena, they seem to like you"

'Ahh, Ryu's face looks a bit troubled… could it be that he is jealous of the kids!?' thinking this Aiena patted Ryu as she stood up and said,

"Don't worry Ryu, you and Jue will always be my favorite" Ryu's expression was more of confusion than relief as he was actually having an exhausted look due to remaining awake in the carriage and then Aiena and Jue putting pressure on his shoulder,

'Well, whatever…' he thought as he said to Gustav,

"Tell us everything you know" Gustav began telling the tale and almost everything was similar, but there was a pretty weird rumor that he talked about,

"Survivors said they saw the ghost of the first adventurer's party near the first cleared dungeon"

"Are you sure about that?" Ryu asked,

"Yes, I wouldn't have believed it, but I saw them going in and out of the dungeon myself," Gustav didn't seem to be lying and Ryu thought,

'First thing first, if it was a conquered dungeon, it would have been destructed in and out, filling the cavity within itself… cave still being around meant it wasn't an emerged dungeon in the first place'

Ryu asked with a questioning gaze.

"How many people have seen the dungeons before?"

"Only the party saw those dungeons, we only knew about there being four of them due to them telling us and bringing monster's dead bodies from those directions"

"You are telling me no one leaving the party saw or checked those dungeons?" Ryu asked with a dumbfounded look,

"Yes, like who would go near dungeons? They are dangerous right!?" Gustav answered in a matter-of-fact tone,

"don't mind be asking, but are you guys, idiots!? You should at least see the dungeon before putting up the quest, no!?" Ryu exclaimed and turning towards Jue he said,

"Jue, I'll be back in half an hour"

"Where are you going, big brother?" Jue asked as Ryu, who suddenly stood up and was walking towards the door,

"I am just going to confirm something, a bit of sightseeing" Jue didn't question further and just said,

"Lana, auntie said, no impulsive action… make sure of that!!"

"I will" saying this Ryu went out of the house as he ran across the forest with [Quickening] combined with [Silent stepping], he went towards all the locations that were mentioned to have dungeons in adventurer's guild, slowly examining the area to make sure nothing was left out of sight,

'So my doubt was right' he sighed being satisfied with his search. He began walking back towards the village, as he was lost in thoughts.

'Man it felt like we fall into the biggest prank of an upcoming Utuber… but then why did Grandpa chief send us here… and then there is map changer thing!!' Ryu was troubled as he didn't like the feeling of being played by someone, especially since the night at the temple back when he felt played by the Goddess,

'Well, either way, I need to deal with him first…' he thought as he fastened his pace towards the hut, Ryu was significantly stronger than when killed Naga but if he is asked if he can beat Naga again one on one it would be a no. what happened that day was various coincidences piling up leading to his survival and also Naga's own interest in being a sadist than killing him straight that Is why Ryu crave more strength.

'I need to be more powerful' he resolved as the hut was visibly coming into his sight, and he felt something was odd when he reached a bit closer, he found that the wall had a big hole in it and as he got near a loud shout also entered his ears, he rushed towards the hut,

'It couldn't be!! I shouldn't have left them alone,' Ryu worriedly thought as he smashed through.

And what he saw inside the hut was crazier than he expected.

'Where in the hell… I just left for half an hour!?' Ryu wanted to shout as he saw the room, and Jue who was sitting in middle spoke with shining eyes,

"Big brother, I did this all alone… I mean Aiena sister healed me" and as Ryu turned his face towards the right, he saw Frank cowering in the corner.

"Literally what in the hell!?...."

-To be continued