Chapter 385: Alex’s First Academy Mission [Part 2]

เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 มี.ค. 2569 09:18

Chapter 385: Alex’s First Academy Mission [Part 2] A day after picking his mission, the young man had packed his things and was ready to go. His destination was the forest a few miles away from Slime Paradise. The villagers who resided nearby were disturbed by the sudden increase in monster activity within the forest. Since most of them were hunters, foragers, apothecaries, or lumberjacks, the forest was their livelihood. They had often clashed with monsters in the past, but the number of sightings and clashes with the monsters had increased drastically over the past few days. Something might be happening inside the forest, and they wanted to know what it was. The villagers had also asked Adventurers from the nearby towns for help, but none of them wanted to visit such a remote place. The pay for the commission wasn’t good either and there was a chance that the monsters in the forest were stronger than reported. Since the level of danger was unknown and the pay was only enough to cover the travel expenses to and from the village, the Adventurer Guild decided to make this commission an "Open Commission", allowing any branch of the Adventurer Guild to take it. The Mission Hall of Frieden Academy worked in tandem with the Adventurer Guild and accepted these spill-over missions that no one wanted to take. Of course, the Professors didn’t seriously think that there would be any students who would accept such missions. However, they posted these missions on the Mission Board anyway so that the students had the chance to compare what was available and learn that not everything was worth accepting. The Professors believed that this would be a very valuable lesson for the students after they graduated. However, Alex Stratos was here to defy expectations! "Are you sure that you want to take this?" the Receptionist in the Mission Hall had asked Alex a day ago. "Yes, I’m sure," Alex had replied back then. Although the receptionist had tried to dissuade Alex from going, he had insisted that he really wanted to help the poor villagers who had no one to turn to. His righteousness and shamelessness—errr bravery had touched the receptionist, so she decided to double the amount of Academy Points that would be rewarded to Alex once the mission was completed. "Are you ready to go, Dim Dim?" "Aye!" "Good." Since there was no direct teleportation gate to his destination, Alex would need to teleport to three different towns before taking a carriage. This journey would last for five to six hours and the farthest that the carriage could take him was to the base of the mountain where the village was located. From there, he would need to hike for at least seven to eight hours before finally arriving at his destination. Given the remoteness of the village, the villagers had to send someone to the nearby towns and purchase needed items and supplies twice a month. Just as Alex was about to enter the portal, he noticed that Lumi was trailing behind him. "Are you going out on a mission on behalf of Latifa?" Alex asked. "Something like that," Lumi answered. "Well, take care, Lumi." "Mmm. You too." After bidding Lumi goodbye, Alex entered the portal and reappeared a few seconds later at Abbey Town. As he was about to ask the Guard where the portal to the next town was, Lumi once again appeared beside him. Alex didn’t think much of this because Abbey Town was like an interchange, with many teleportation gates leading to the North of the Kingdom of Avalon. ’She must be headed somewhere north,’ Alex thought as he followed the guard’s directions to the portal that would take him to Apricot Village. After paying the toll gate, Alex once again stepped into the portal. And, just like before, Lumi also materialized beside him. "You must be going far north huh?" Alex asked Latifa’s alter, who was walking beside him with her hands clasped behind her back. "Yeah," Lumi replied casually. "I picked up a mission to investigate a womanizer and gather proof of his philandering." "Wow. I didn’t know that the academy accepted such missions like that." "I know, right?" Alex chuckled because he didn’t expect that Latifa would choose such a mission. However, after thinking over Lumi’s abilities, he realized that going undercover was a perfect mission for her. "Well then, see you soon," Alex said before entering yet another portal. "Dim Dim!" Dim Dim waved at Lumi from the top of Alex’s head, bidding its friend goodbye. "Oh, you’ll see me soon enough." Lumi smirked as she stood in front of the portal and looked around for a clock. She would wait for five minutes before entering this portal so that Alex wouldn’t know that she was tailing him. When the time was up, she stepped into the portal and appeared at Apricot Village. She then turned invisible and quickly caught up with Alex as he headed to the teleportation gate that would take him to the third jump of his journey. Alex was blissfully unaware that he had gained a stalker. After arriving at Poca Poca Town, Alex looked for a coachman who would be willing to take him to the base of Bedrock Mountain. Several minutes of haggling later, Alex sat at the back of a wooden wagon and was well on his way to Bedrock Mountain. Lumi hovered above the carriage in her spirit form, bored because she had heard that it would take a few hours before they arrived at the base of the mountain. ’Even if Alex hurried, he would still arrive at Oak Village when the sun had just set,’ Lumi thought. ’This guy is seriously just a busybody.’ Although Latifa didn’t say anything, she knew that her Master was very worried for Alex’s safety due to the danger of the Demon Worshipers. The young man had been a thorn at their side, so she wouldn’t be too surprised if someone was tracking his movements within and outside the academy. Fortunately, Evangeline had asked Eleanora to tell the spies and agents of the Demon Worshipers in the academy that their faction had sent people to deal with Alex. Because of this, they had backed down and were not following Alex on his first mission outside of the academy. Evangeline knew that this trick would only work once because the Demon Worshipers would certainly become suspicious if nothing happened to the boy during his trip. As such, Eleanora was forced to assign some subordinates whom she didn’t like to head to Alex’s location. That way, even if they failed the mission, she could at least tell the other factions that she had tried to eliminate Alex. Of course, Eleanora had ensured that the Demon Worshippers sent to follow Alex were Rank 3 Agents—strong enough that no one could accuse her of helping their enemies but weak enough that the young man shouldn’t have problems overpowering them.

React

พูดคุย