Theory Confirmed, Confrontation

Not long after Kirou led the girls away, the stalker from before tried to follow them, only to be blocked by two players(?) in similar apparel. He tried to go around them but the two players kept blocking his path. The stalker wanted to stab both players and kill them instantly so that he could continue to follow his targets, but alas, villages, towns, and cities are safe zones in Immortal Era and the system restricts the use of all weapons and combat-related skills.

The only reason Kirou could create two clones while under this restriction was due to the fact that the shadow clone skill fell under a gray area in the rules. While it could be used in towns, it would be nothing more than a goofer used to transport objects or take up space and that is exactly what Kirou decided to use them to do.

This game of blocking the stalker kept up for a few minutes before both clones suddenly stopped blocking him and ran away, leaving a fuming stalker to curse at them while trying to catch up back to the trio. Unfortunately for the stalker, since Kirou was the one leading the girls away, he made sure that the stalker wouldn't be able to track them.

Now that his targets were missing and the causes for this have run away, the stalker was now left alone fuming at both. After a few minutes of stomping his feet, and punching a tree, the stalker sent a message to his underlings.

The message read as follows; 'I've lost track of the target. These are the new orders: watch the entrance of the village and have two parties patrol the village. We must regain eyes on the target before they can leave the village. The boss will not tolerate failure.'

While many of the players that received the message wanted to point out the fact that it was said stalker who lost track of the targets, they kept quiet and just followed his orders.

As this was going on, the stalker gnashed his teeth and spoke under his breath, "I don't care if I get the item quickly or not. I'm definitely killing all of you back to level 1." After saying those words, the stalker faded out of existence while continuing his search elsewhere, completely unaware of the two pairs of eyes that were watching him earlier.

*******************

The trio was currently making their way towards the village head's tree cottage. When they passed by other players and NPCs or villagers as they are referred to as by most players, they couldn't help but take a look at the trio as one could see the visible contrast between the two ladies and the lone male for the group, with the girls being excited while the man looking soulless.

If it wasn't for the fact that this was a game, most of the passing players would assume that the two women had 'done' something to the poor man. Hell, quite a few of them really did think that and didn't know if they should laugh at his 'situation' or pity him. No one showed any pity.

As they got to the village head's tree cottage, as usual, Kirou was the one to knock on the door. It only took a few seconds for a response to be given.

"Come in," came the village head, Old Oak's voice coming from inside.

Kirou opened the door and allowed both women to enter before him. As he was closing the door, he made sure to look at a certain spot roughly a hundred or so meters away with sharp eyes before closing the door shut.

******************

One hundred and twenty-three meters away from the tree cottage of the village head stood a gnome thief player. The gnome thief was currently covered in sweat as he stared at the door of the village head's tree cottage in horror.

He didn't even need to second guess himself in order to realize that Kirou was staring directly at him just before he closed the door. That look in Kirou's eyes was all he needed to see in order to verify that claim. It took him a few minutes to calm himself down before he said something under his breath.

"Looks like we're gonna be in trouble this time around. Over a hundred meters and he was able to accurately spot me. Just what kind of monster are we gonna provoke this time around." As the gnome thief player said this, he wiped away any remaining sweat on his head before sending the team leader a message. The message he sent was informing him of the trio's location along with what just took place.

The gnome thief didn't expect the team leader to believe his words when he sent them and the reply he received from the leader confirmed this. Shaking his head, the gnome player then left the location to join the team guarding the village entrance after spotting his replacement. While leaving, he couldn't help saying something under his breath.

"The team might just fail this mission. For once, I really hope I am wrong." The gnome thief disappeared while saying this to himself.

That thief didn't know how accurate his words would end up being, especially when they never failed to reach the ears of the being with the pair of eyes that had been watching him since he started leaving.

*******************

Kirou, Reya, and Navi were currently standing before the village head of Thousand Wood Village, Old Oak. He was sitting in his rocking chair, looking out at the elf village, just as Kirou had left him doing hours before.

"Hoho. Welcome back, young Lycan. It seems that you've brought friends with you on this trip. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" asked Old Oak with a gentle smile on his face. Both Reya and Navi were curious about the reaction Old Oak had in seeing him but they never got the chance to broach the subject as Kirou spoke up first.

With a polite bow and cupped hands, Kirou replied to Old Oak, "Greetings Elder. This time, I am only accompanying one of my companions in delivering an item for her quest." As Kirou said this, he gestured for Navi to deliver the letter. Seeing and understanding his gesture, Navi went forward and presented the letter to Old Oak while looking at Kirou with a peculiar gaze. Reya also had this gaze on her face as she too stared at Kirou while Kirou was doing his best to ignore both women.

Taking the letter from Navi, Old Oak opened it and read its contents. The gentle smile that was on his face before was now gone and replaced with a stormy expression. The trio saw this expression and Kirou couldn't help releasing a deep breath.

'Why couldn't I just be wrong?' thought Kirou as he looked at the stormy-faced elder currently deep in thought. This went on for a minute before Old Oak refocused his gaze back on the trio, especially Kirou.

"It seems that we are going to be in for some dark times in the near future." When Old Oak said those words, both women rejoiced in their minds while Kirou visibly started to pout. "Young Dark Elf, would you be so kind as to recount your experience within the Riverbed Cove Dungeon for this old man."

Navi was screaming in excitement within her mind but calmly spoke to Old Oak, "Well Elder, it went like this..."

After recounting their experience within the dungeon, while Old Oak still had a gloomy expression on his face, he managed to take a look in Kirou's direction a few times. Since he wasn't being secretive about it, Kirou saw his actions and all he could do now was resign himself to the inevitable fate that was about to befall him.

"Thank you for your words, young Dark Elf. According to your words and the letter I've just received, it seems that the beings of the Dark Continent have begun to move. For now, would you be kind enough to deliver a message from me to the respective guilds on the Southern Continent? Since the continent is so big and we are currently lacking time, I would like two of you to deliver this message for me." Immediately after saying those words, Old Oak gave both Reya and Navi a letter that split into multiple letters in their inventory as they received a quest notification from the system.

[System Message: You have received the quest <The Dark Continent's Traces>]

Quest: World Quest: <The Dark Continent's Traces>

Rank: S

Level: Any

Description: Traces of movement from beings of the Dark Continent has been found on the Southern Continent. Inform members of the respective guilds on the Southern Continent about this information as quickly as possible.

Important Individuals:

Apothecary Guild- 0/1

Alchemist Guild- 0/1

Archers Guild- 0/1

Warriors Guild- 0/1

Thieves Guild- 0/1

...

Time Limit: 10 Days

Rewards for Success: Level 20 Rare Weapon (Class Locked), Level 20 Skill (Class Locked), Rare Mount (Untradeable), +2 levels.

Penalties for Failure: -5 levels, +2000 Infamy, Major Damage to all Guilds in the Southern Continent.

When the two elf women saw the quest details, they didn't even look at the rewards before they accepted the quest. To them, just the fact that they now had access to a world quest was enough for them. They didn't need to see the rewards to know that they would be compensated immensely for their work. As for the penalties, the duo never placed those in their minds because they planned on completing the quest on the same day.

It wasn't until now, however, that the women realized that the quest was only given to the two of them. They then turned their gazes towards Kirou who had an expression of relief on his face. At least he did until he heard Old Oak's next words.

"As for you, young Lycan, you will be responsible for delivering these letters since they are on the way for you." After saying that, Old Oak held out a letter for Kirou to take. Kirou didn't immediately take it and instead posed a question towards Old Oak.

"Elder, by chance, is there any way for me to get out of delivering these letters?" When he asked this, the other three occupants in the room looked at him in shock. Kirou understood the reasoning behind it but kept waiting on a response from Old Oak. Unlike the two girls currently wondering what was wrong with Kirou's head, Old Oak's face adopted a smile which wasn't a smile for Kirou to see before he spoke.

"You can choose not to accept this quest, but I'm sure you won't like the results." With the smile that wasn't a smile still on his face, Old Oak placed the letter in Kirou's hands and he received a quest notification from the system.

[System Message: You have received the quest <The Dark Continent's Traces>]

Quest: World Quest: <The Dark Continent's Traces>

Rank: S

Level: Any

Description: Traces of movement from beings of the Dark Continent has been found on the Southern Continent. Inform members of the respective guilds on the Southern Continent about this information as quickly as possible.

Individuals to Receive the letters:

Old Wolf, Elderwood Village's Head- 0/1

Bladesmith, Weapon Master Instructor- 0/1

Old Copper, Stone Mount Village's Head- 0/1

Hammerton, Blacksmith Instructor- 0/1

Time Limit: 5 Days

Rewards for Success: Random Level 20 Rare Weapon (Untradeable), Random Level 20 Skill (Untradeable), Rare Mount (Untradeable), +2 levels.

Penalties for Failure -5 levels, +2000 Infamy, destruction of Elderwood Village and Stone Mount Village, Loss of 'Crafting Master' Subclass.

When Kirou looked at the penalties for failure to do the quest, Kirou's eyes dilated to the extreme momentarily before returning to normal. It happened quickly so the girls missed it when they blinked but Old Oak saw it and chuckled in response. It seems that he found Kirou's reaction amusing.

"I'll do my best, Elder," Kirou said this through gnashed teeth while giving Old Oak a polite bow. Old Oak had a big smile on his face when Kirou said this and something unexpected happened in response.

[System Message: Your intimacy with Village Head Old Oak has increased to Respect]

Kirou narrowed his eyes at that message but his expression remained the same. Now that he was stuck with this quest, he had to make sure he completed it as quickly as possible so that he can keep his subclass and maintain his quiet life. The thing is, something in the back of his head kept nagging at him that such a life was currently running away from him at the moment.

"Now that I've given you your tasks unless you've got something else to tell me, I believe it's time for you young ones to go. You have a deadline after all." When Old Oak said this, he was giving the trio a grandfatherly-like smile with his youthful elven face that just didn't seem to fit. The trio bade farewell and left the village head's tree cottage but only Kirou was currently in a bad mood.

'The old bastard got me. Sigh, I better deal with this quickly so that I can go back to loafing around.' Those were Kirou's thoughts as he and the girls made their way to the village exit.

Along the way, the trio attracted attention once again with their contrasting look, and like before the other players laughed to themselves while whispering to each other. As for the group of players stalking the trio, Kirou had his eyes on them since he left the tree cottage but continued to act gloomy as it wasn't time to move just yet. The trio was still in a safe zone after all.

***************

The trio had just managed to make it a bit over five kilometers away from the village when Kirou stopped the two girls with him. They both looked at him in confusion but before they could give voice to their questions, they heard the sound of laughter coming from ahead of their path.

"It seems my subordinate wasn't joking when he said that you noticed his presence. I wonder if you'll spill how you did before we take care of you, Lycan," came a voice from the forest next to the path the trio was on. Immediately following the voice, a group of players appeared from the forest and surrounded the trio. Unlike the Fiend Guild from the previous day that Kirou dealt with, he and the two girls were now surrounded by over 50 players armed to the teeth.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the group, the girls adopted a serious face before taking out their weapons. They were currently numbered by at least 15 times but they still decided that they would fight it out. As for Kirou, he was currently showing a relaxed expression on his face, as if expecting the players to show up and waiting for all of them to get in place. It was only after the last player from this giant group showed up did Kirou open his mouth.

"I could tell you my method, but I doubt you'd correct the mistakes you made. As for taking care of the three of us, that is yet to be seen." Kirou had a provocative smile on his face when he said this. Seeing this smile, the enemy leader, the stalker that was originally following them started laughing. As soon as he was done, however, he gave his men an order.

"Kill them!"