Pointlet Town. Evening 7 PM.
The sun had just set. The evening sky was painted in red hues. A cloud of dust had just settled outside a certain city’s city gates.
A seemingly inconspicuous town was welcoming 30 new faces this day. The guards appointed by the kingdom looked relieved when they appeared.
Eren was waiting outside the town’s giant north gate while the team’s two leads were busy talking with the guards manning the city walls. The two team leaders rode their horses while leading the entire team. Eren and the rest of the team were behind them. Standing over the city walls, the city guards spoke to them.
Eren looked around himself and understood what the guards were thinking.
They were scared of being attacked by Bulal Blood who was preparing for a sacrifice ritual. The guards unit only had a single Awakened rank captain. He was a newbie among the Awakened rankers because his mana core was only in gaseous form.
The rest of the guards seemed to be Metas. Although some of them seemed close to breaking into Awakened rank, they knew it wouldn’t make a lot of difference if someone like Bulal attacked them with his flesh golems.
“Captain Roland, I think we need to continue the rest of the talk somewhere else. Why don’t you let my team get into the town in the meantime? Some of us liked to take a rest before starting our mission.”
Kiara said while looking at Roland’s tense face. He looked hesitant at first to reply to any of Kiara and Miranda’s demands. It was as if there was something he was hesitant about.
“Miss Kiara, are you sure that it is all your guild members within your team? Is there any outsider or a bounty hunter you have included in your midst?”
Kiara and Miranda looked at each other questioningly before fixing their puzzled gazes on Roland. Before making his stance clear, the guard adjusted the sword attached to his waistband nervously.
I assure you that my hesitancy is legitimate, Miss Kiara, Miss Miranda. The town has various missing person incidents. In addition, there are followers of that man who appear in the town under the guise of adventurers.
They are using every tactic in their arsenal to create a panic here. We have already lost 6 guards to these demonic rankers. We don’t want to be caught off guard and get attacked from inside while we are focusing our attention outward. Especially not when it’s nighttime.”
Roland said and looked at the crowd that was behind Kiara and Miranda with vigilance in his eyes. Kiara was very irritated by the guard’s attitude. She climbed down from her colt and jumped above.
Her legs were coated in fire element mana as she jumped high. The town walls were only 6 meters in height. She didn’t have any trouble scaling the wall in one jump.
The guards were scared by Kiara’s sudden jump. Some of them drew their weapons while the others ran to a particular place to activate the wall’s defense measures.
“Stand down!”
Roland yelled and controlled his guards’ behavior. He was nervous himself. But that didn’t prevent him from understanding that Kiara was not their enemy. At least not now.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Kiara walked toward the guard captain with a casual stride. She paused when she was only a meter away from Roland before speaking up.
“Look here, captain Roland, we don’t have any external force with us that may or may not harm you or the townspeople inside. All of us are rankers from the same guild.
A guild that was assigned with this very mission of eliminating the threat of Bulal Blood forever from this region now that we have confirmed his presence here.
Why don’t you do us a favor and open the gates? We don’t want to scare the townspeople anymore than they already are by fighting among ourselves. Especially when we are fighting on the same side.”
Kiara said with stoic expressions. She had canceled her movement spell. But for some reason, the flames coating her legs were still there. As if she was ready for a battle anytime.
Kiara Croft was just like Bulal Blood in the way that she was also close to achieving Awakened rank. Naturally, her presence overshadowed Roland completely.
Roland gulped empty air and looked at his subordinates. They also seemed anxious and some of them were preventing others from doing anything unnecessary.
Roland thought for a while before making up his mind. He gripped the hilt of his sword tighter before releasing it all at once. Then he looked at Stardust guild’s joint task force one more time and ordered his subordinates.
“Shut off the protective runes and open the gates. Also, arrange food and places Miss Kiara’s team could use to relieve themselves of their fatigue.”
The Meta-ranked city guards looked at each other before fixing their gazes on Roland. Kiara found it odd that these guards were overthinking something so trivial. She could understand the panic that was spreading in the town. But who would the normal people look up to when the guards themselves were so antsy about demonic rankers?
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The 4-meter tall gates creaked and opened on their own via the use of magic. The array of runes etched over them faded as they welcomed Eren’s team to the town’s sight.
Kiara thanked Roland and jumped down from the wall. She then guided her colt inside while the rest of the team followed her.
Eren was riding his colt while being in proximity to Reece, Ekay Mayne, Rhea Reaver, and Mia Silver. The last member had joined them on short notice, just in time before they left the city of Ludan.
As Eren led his colt inside the town, he could see there was a subtle tension in the air. The townspeople were looking at them strangely. As if they were afraid of something.
Eren also found that some of them carried pity in their gazes, enabling him to feel that something was off.
