Stardust guild lobby. The city of Ludan. Gilaahan.

8 AM.

There were various rankers in various armors and gears coming into and out of the guild. The day was as busy as ever. People were busy discussing strategies and recreating past events with their words as they made their way to their destinations.

The same was the case for two young human rankers who seemed to have a certain chemistry with each other. One of them was a white-haired man with blue highlights. The other was a girl with sparkling green eyes.

“Eren, which mission should we take?”

Reece asked, looking through numerous missions displayed on a spectral screen that was near to her. Eren was standing beside her looking through the same stuff.

“Just pick something with a high reward ratio against the number of days it takes to complete it. It’s just the two of us today. So we should stick to…”

“I’m sorry Eren. but you’d have to manage things on your own this time. I’m going to need Reece for something else.”

Just when Eren was about to finish his statement, he heard a voice from behind him. Miranda pulled Reece away from him with her gentle yet firm tug and smiled at him before adding up.

“Our target is special this time, Eren. Reece would be a huge help for us. Why don’t you find solo missions this time?”

Miranda’s team has a peculiar target for their mission. It was related to a school of leopard-like mana beasts who used their spatial abilities to send their claw attacks at us by breaching most defenses we could mount against them. Therefore, they were called void leopards.

Void leopards could be handled better when a team had someone with spatial abilities as well. Their control over the space would allow them to predict and even restrict void leopards from using their sneaky attacks. Taking Reece on the mission was a no-brainer option for Miranda.

Eren didn’t mind. But Reece had a pout on her face. The former smiled and messed her hair a bit before commenting.

“We do what we have to do. It’s fine. We’ll take on another mission when we are both free.”

Reece flashed a smile in understanding upon hearing this. She waved him goodbye before following Miranda’s lead. Eren had also understood that the mission was not the only reason Miranda had taken Reece away from him. She was trying to test his performance on solo missions– shaking him out of his comfort zone of having someone to count on the mission.

‘Heh. I always wanted to do solo missions anyway.’

Upon discovering he would be going on a solo mission, Eren began looking through a different list on the spectral screen before him. He quickly zeroed in on one mission and was about to close the screen and head to the site. His attention was drawn to another mission that was below the desired mission.

This was a solo mission in which he was supposed to help someone track someone else. The region mentioned in the mission was not very far from the Steelfield prairie. That’s why it caught Eren’s attention.

The mission required him to find the whereabouts of a Hexer named Jacob Jenkins. Eren’s curiosity was sparked when he heard the word Jacob in it. He kept reading about the mission until he came across a picture that shocked him.

‘This is…’

The picture he saw on the spectral screen was that of the dead ranker he had seen inside the underground space. A companion was needed to find out where the dead ranker was. The one who posted the mission wanted to know where the ranker whose corpse Eren had already looted was.

Whereabouts of the person who Eren knew to be dead already.

Eren read the whole mission details once again before deciding to contact the one who had posted the mission. It was someone named Rog Bandalwild.

****

The northern city-gates of Ludan.

The colt-hire service was used as a meeting place by many rankers who were used to being on the move. It was no different this time as well.

“Name’s Rog Bandalwild. Nice to meet you. You are?”

A middle-aged man who looked to be in his late 20s greeted Eren cordially. The armor he wore was completely black and stealth-friendly. His head was covered in a hood but his red eyes seemed to be gleaming from the shadow created by his hood.

The man seemed to be a dual sword wielder. His light armor told Eren that the guy must be light on his feet.

The man gave off friendly vibes. But for some reason, Eren felt a bit weird in his presence. His instincts were telling him the guy had his fingers dipped in a lot of shady pies. However, that didn’t stop him from shaking hands with the guy.

“Eren Idril. From the Stardust guild. We are looking for Jacob Jenkins, right? Is he your friend?”

Eren asked with a smile on his face– his eyes fixed on Rog’s face to try to read through his micro-expressions. Sadly, Rog’s face said nothing as he spoke casually.

“That’s right. My friend Jacob is missing. And there might be a few predator beasts in the area where we are heading. I don’t want to get overwhelmed by them.

So I enlisted your help. Should we discuss the rest of the mission along the way?”

Rog pointed at the colt service counter with his other hand and Eren nodded in response. Before long, the two rankers were seen making their way towards the Steelfield prairie– riding on Noble Feet.

The two kept talking about the mission and creating strategies to counter the two beasts usually seen in the area– Iron Trunk Honey Mammoth and Ironskin bear. Then Eren started asking Rog missions-related questions about Jacob who Rog had called his friend.

The more he asked, the more Eren became sure of one thing. Rog was no friend of Jacob. He didn’t know anything about Jacob except for his features and his battle style.

The two kept up a steady conversation before Eren concluded something in his head.

‘This guy… is trying to hide something from me.’

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