Chapter 446: Chapter 443 – Explosive Wrath

Dawn had just broken, piercing through the long darkness of the night. Remnants of thick, grayish-white mist still tightly shrouded every corner of the stone streets in the administrative city of Silvermist. That morning, the fortress city slowly began to show signs of life. Street vendors started setting up their stalls, and several groups of low-tier adventurers could be seen walking hurriedly, their armor clanking.

Even though it was still very early, the atmosphere across every corner of the city was already filled with loud, buzzing whispers. The topic of everyone’s conversation was the same: the three mysterious adventurer girls who had miraculously made it out alive from inside the high-level dimensional rift. More than that, they had brought back a comprehensive topographic and route map of the dimensional labyrinth, a masterpiece of information whose value was now equivalent to a mountain of treasure for the guild associations and bounty hunters.

Amidst the stirring atmosphere of the city, the figure of the old head butler from Lord Harlan’s residence was seen walking with highly unsteady and faltering steps. His frail body, which was usually forced upright to maintain the prestige of the noble family, now looked deeply hunched, as if the burden of regret from the previous night had added hundreds of pounds of weight onto his shoulders. His wrinkled face looked completely pale, almost devoid of blood, while thick, dark circles were very clearly stamped beneath his swollen eyelids. He had been unable to close his eyes all night; every time he tried to sleep, the image of Lord Harlan’s wrath and the terrifying aura of the three girls constantly came to terrorize his subconscious mind.

In his two hands, which trembled from old age and fear, the old man tightly held a small wooden chest carved from high-quality Ironwood. The surface of the chest was covered in intricate magical carvings and lined with pure silver plates at every corner. Stored inside that precious chest were several bottles of high-grade recovery potions (High-Grade Mana Elixir) as well as a pair of pure elemental gems the size of quail eggs, an incredibly luxurious compensation acting as a formal apology written directly by Lord Harlan’s own hand. To the head butler, every single inch of his footsteps toward the inn felt like the walk of a death-row convict treading the bridge toward the execution stage.

After taking a dozen or so minutes to pierce through the morning mist, his staggering steps finally brought the old man across the thick oak doors of the Silver Moon Inn, the most luxurious and high-class lodging facility in the central district of Silvermist. The moment he stepped inside, the warmth from the inn’s fireplace instantly greeted his freezing, wrinkled skin. He immediately directed his weary gaze toward the main reception desk area made of neatly polished pine wood. There, the innkeeper, a middle-aged woman with a somewhat plump build and a friendly, motherly facial expression, was busy tidying up the guest logbook.

Seeing an important figure from the city ruler’s residence coming to visit, the woman immediately stopped her activity and bowed in highly polite respect with a warm smile etched on her face.

"It is a great honor to receive your presence on this chilly morning, honorable Lord Head Butler," the middle-aged woman greeted in a tone carefully adjusted to sound sweet and full of respect. "Is there anything important I can help with for the needs of Lord Harlan’s residence?"

The old head butler did not answer right away. He cleared his throat a few times, trying to clear his throat which felt incredibly dry and clogged by massive anxiety. When he finally opened his mouth, his tone sounded highly trembling and hoarse, losing all the noble superiority and authority he usually took pride in displaying before the common folk.

"I... I come here carrying a direct mandate from the Lord," the old man said while slightly lifting the wooden chest in his arms. "I am looking for the three adventurer girls who rented the suite room number seven on the upper floor. Have the three of them not come down to the lower hall to enjoy breakfast this morning?"

Hearing that specific question, the female innkeeper’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. Her facial expression, which was initially full of a friendly smile, instantly turned into one of slight wonder and confusion. She shook her head with a slow motion before answering.

"Ah, if the ones you mean are those three highly extraordinary young ladies... the three of them have not returned to this inn at all since last night, Sir. The suite room number seven they rented has been completely empty since yesterday afternoon. I personally assumed they had completed all their administrative business and directly left the city of Silvermist before the grand gates closed."

The words that came out of the female innkeeper’s mouth instantly materialized into a giant, invisible sledgehammer that dealt a direct, crushing blow right to the center of the old head butler’s chest.

THUMP!

A sense of absolute shock and horror instantly spread across every nerve network in his frail body. His wrinkled face, which was already pale to begin with, now turned completely white like a blank sheet of paper, losing any remaining flush of life. His pair of old knees suddenly felt incredibly weak and devoid of all strength, forcing the old man to tightly grip the edge of the reception desk with his one free hand so his body wouldn’t instantly collapse onto the wooden floor. Inside his chest cavity, his heart pounded with a highly wild and painful rhythm. Inside his mind, a scream of utter despair echoed loudly, crushing any remnants of hope he possessed: ’Ah... it is truly over... everything has fallen completely apart... My soul will not survive today...!’

Without being able to utter a single word in response or even express his thanks, the old head butler abruptly turned his body around. He strode out from inside the Silver Moon Inn with hurried footsteps that almost resembled a half-run driven by absolute panic. The wooden chest containing the magical gifts clutched tightly to his chest now felt thousands of times heavier, as if the contents inside had turned into a heap of obsidian stones ready to sink his entire life into the abyss of misery. His mind was completely frantic, filled with images of Lord Harlan’s terrifying face when executing political traitors.

His panicked footsteps brought the old man piercing through Silvermist’s streets, which were starting to fill with streams of people, heading back toward the grand mansion complex of the regional ruler. The moment he passed the main gate of the residence, he ignored the greetings from the armored guards and directly jogged down the long corridors toward Lord Harlan’s private study. His breath came in heavy gasps, and his chest felt like it was burning from a combination of physical exhaustion and massive mental pressure as he pushed open the double wooden doors of the study.

As soon as he stepped into the masculinely styled room, the old head butler dropped his entire body weight. He knelt roughly onto the cold marble floor directly in front of his master’s large desk. His entire body shook violently like a dry leaf buffeted by an autumn storm. With a broken voice filled with hoarse sobs of fear, he began to deliver his fatal report.

"M... My Grand Lord... please... please forgive this useless servant... They... those three hunter girls... turned out to have already left the city since yesterday afternoon... They did not return to the Silver Moon Inn at all last night... Their room... their room was completely empty..."

After that cursed sentence finished escaping his mouth, the entire spacious study instantly fell into an incredibly suffocating and terrifying silence, an absolute stillness that usually occurs right before a category five hurricane devastates a land.

Lord Harlan, who at that time was sitting leaning back in his leather office chair while reading several logistical documents, slowly halted the movement of his hands. He lowered the documents in his hands with a highly slow movement, then raised his stern face to stare directly at the figure of his old servant who was prostrating on the floor. Within a few fleeting seconds, Lord Harlan’s facial expression, which initially only showed lines of exhaustion from lack of sleep, instantly turned into a highly intense crimson red. An extraordinary wrath boiled over from the core of his soul.

The tracks of blood vessels along his temples and neck bulged out hideously, channeling boiling hot blood. His pair of muscular hands encased in forearm bracers clenched incredibly tightly atop the desk’s surface, applying such massive physical pressure that the hundreds-of-years-old mahogany wood structure emitted a highly noticeable cracking sound.

"What... care to repeat your words just now, Oldman...?" Lord Harlan asked in a highly low tone, whispering, yet containing a killing intent so dense that it caused the temperature inside the magically air-conditioned room to suddenly drop drastically.

The old head butler pressed his body even lower, letting his forehead touch the cold surface of the marble floor directly, trying to beg for a final mercy.

"They... they have truly left Silvermist’s jurisdiction, My Lord... Most likely they set out immediately after they stepped out of this residence’s gate last night..."

BANG!!! CRACK!

Lord Harlan instantly stood up from his office chair with a highly rough and explosive movement. He slammed both of his fists simultaneously onto the surface of his desk, channeling a small portion of his energy. That emotion-laden strike instantly made the sturdy, expensive mahogany desk crack and split into two pieces down the middle, destroying the remnants of documents and the inkwell on top of it into formless shards. The Lord’s face had now turned completely red, resembling the color of a roasted crab, while his breath gasped roughly and hunted wildly.

"YOU...! BECAUSE OF EVERY SINGLE BIT OF YOUR DAMN FOOLISH ARROGANCE AND PRIDE, WE HAVE NOW LOST AN ALLY COMPARABLE TO RANK S!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, YOU DAMN OLD OFFICER?! THREE HUNTERS WITH AN INTENSITY OF POWER CAPABLE OF TAMING A DIMENSIONAL RIFT INDEPENDENTLY!!! THEY COULD HAVE BEEN AN ETERNAL SHIELD GUARDING THIS CITY FROM ALL FORMS OF DISASTER THREATS IN THE FUTURE!!! AND NOW... AND NOW EVERYTHING HAS BEEN SHATTERED TO PIECES JUST BECAUSE OF YOUR DAMN MOUTH THAT YOU COULDN’T CONTROL IN FRONT OF MY GATES!!!"

The tyrannical roar filled with waves of furious energy thundered incredibly loudly, piercing through the oak wood panel walls and echoing across all the corridors of the grand mansion. Outside the room, dozens of maidservants and armored guards currently on duty instantly stopped their activities; their bodies trembled in half-dead fear hearing the regional ruler’s rampage, which had never occurred this devastatingly in the entire history of his leadership.

Lord Harlan began pacing back and forth in the area behind his destroyed desk with heavy, stomping steps, resembling a male lion ruler of the savanna who was badly wounded by a hunter’s trap. Both of his hands moved roughly to pull at his own hair, which was starting to turn white, from the sheer weight of his massive frustration and regret.

"I already warned you before they arrived... I emphasized repeatedly to your old brain to treat them with every form of absolute luxury and respect! But you... you instead chose to insult and belittle them right in front of my own nose! Now... Now the golden opportunity for the Harlan family to ally with a high-level adventurer faction has vanished just like that! Slipped right out of the grasp of my hands! VANISHED FOREVER, OLDMAN!!!" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The accumulation of furious emotions, frustration, regret, and mental pressure overwhelming Lord Harlan’s brain finally reached its most extreme peak. Every muscle in his muscular body shook violently, the red color on his face spreading down to his neck and chest area, suddenly choking off the oxygen circulation inside his body. His vision suddenly rolled upward, revealing the whites of his glaring eyes. His consciousness collapsed entirely due to his blood pressure spiking drastically all at once.

THUD!

With a very heavy thumping sound, the grand regional ruler’s stalwart body instantly toppled over and collapsed unconscious, falling flat on his back atop the white marble floor stained with black ink. He fainted due to the explosion of wrath being too intense for his brain’s nerve network to handle.

Hearing the thudding sound of the falling body, the situation inside the mansion instantly turned into utter chaos. The study door was immediately kicked open from the outside by several panicked personal guard knights. Maidservants ran inside hysterically while shouting orders to immediately call the best magical medical team in the city.

In the midst of the panic and human hustle to save Lord Harlan’s life, the figure of the old head butler still remained in his position, kneeling frozen on the marble floor. His frail body continued to shake violently in a pathetic rhythm, while torrents of regretful tears flowed without end, wetting the wrinkles on his old face which was now filled by the shadows of his own future destruction.

Meanwhile, at the exact same time but in a place located miles away outside the outermost boundary of Silvermist’s administrative territory, the situation created was instead filled by absolute harmony of natural peace. In the middle of a dense wilderness with towering ancient trees located right on the side of the main path toward the capital of the Earth Human Empire, a new morning had just greeted the world with beautiful gentleness.

Inside a medium-sized magical camp tent that felt highly warm and comfortable, a pair of beautiful eyelids belonging to Sylvia slowly opened. Her dark-red irises, which were cold and mysterious like ruby gems, stared straight at the tent ceiling for a few moments, gathering back the remnants of her consciousness that had just returned from the dream realm. The bright morning sunlight seeped inside through the small gaps of the woven magical thread tent cloth, forming golden lines of light that illuminated the neatly arranged and functional interior of the tent.

Sylvia rose from her lying position slowly so as not to cause any loud noise. Her long black hair, as black as a raven’s wing, looked slightly messy around her shoulders. With a hand movement that had become her natural routine, she gathered all the strands of her beautiful hair, then tied it into a neat and high ponytail style using a simple black cloth ribbon she took from inside her clothing pocket.

The moment she unzipped the tent and stepped outside, the wilderness morning air which was highly clean, fresh, and rich in pure oxygen content instantly rushed inside to fill her lung cavities, channeling an instant energy of freshness. Remnants of thin mist appeared to float low between the giant tree trunks, while flocks of forest birds began to sing with cheerful, responsive notes atop the lush tree branches.

Right in the open ground area a few meters in front of the tent, the figure of the golden cat was seen sitting in a highly upright and formal posture. Its pair of small ears moved highly actively, catching every single minute frequency of sound echoing inside the wilderness, while its bright amber eyes swept the surrounding area with a highly high level of alertness. The ancient sacred beast had apparently carried out its guard duty with complete loyalty throughout the night, acting as the first line of defense for their group.

As soon as the sharp sensors belonging to the golden cat caught Sylvia’s presence stepping out from inside the tent, its entire body posture, which was initially tense and filled with high alertness, instantly softened in a flash. Its wild nature evaporated without a trace. Its thick golden tail began to move to the right and left with a highly enthusiastic and cheerful rhythm. With highly light and graceful steps, the sacred beast leaped close to Sylvia’s position, then began to rub the side of its small head against Sylvia’s ankle wrapped in black leather combat boots. Its body let out a highly loud purr of happiness, a natural code indicating that it was demanding a compliment and appreciation for its hard work keeping the tent safe all night.

Sylvia could not help but curl a highly faint, subtle smile at the corner of her lips, an expression of emotional warmth she highly rarely showed to the outside world. She bent both of her knees, lowering her body position until it was level with the golden cat, then extended her smooth left palm to gently rub the back of the ears and along the thick golden fur enveloping the sacred beast’s back.

"Very good work," Sylvia praised in a low tone yet laden with sincere emotional warmth. "You have guarded our campsite area highly well throughout this night."

Hearing the verbal praise coming directly from the mouth of the Nocturne Queen, the golden cat appeared to purr even happier. It closed both of its eyes with a highly spoiled expression, letting its head press even tighter beneath Sylvia’s palm, which continued to stroke it with a soothing rhythm.

After a few moments of enjoying that calm interaction, Sylvia stood back up straight and stretched all her body muscles, which felt a bit stiff after yesterday’s long journey. Through a quick mental thought, she accessed her system inventory storage space. In the blink of an eye, a puff of faint magical light appeared in the air, materializing a set of simple yet high-quality portable cooking equipment onto the ground surface.

She began gathering several twigs and dry wood that she had collected and dried with elemental magic since the previous night, then lit a small campfire using a minor fire magic spark. In a short time, wisps of wood smoke that smelled fragrant and distinct immediately spread wide in the cool morning air, creating a highly authentic camping atmosphere.

With hand movements that were highly deft, trained, and full of precision, Sylvia began preparing a simple breakfast menu that nevertheless possessed high nutrient and calorie content to support their long journey. She placed a small iron pot over the campfire, then began cooking a beef soup menu with a thick broth rich in a blend of warming spices. While waiting for the soup to boil, she took out several slices of whole wheat bread to toast over a flat iron plate until the surface turned a crispy golden brown, which she then spread with sweet wild berry jam. As the final complementary menu, she cooked soft scrambled eggs given a sprinkle of pure sea salt and fresh wild herbs she picked around the campsite area.

The highly appetizing aroma of the cooking immediately wafted strongly, filling the entire forest area around the tent. That extraordinarily fragrant cooking aroma apparently acted as a highly effective natural alarm for the two girls who were still inside the tent.

Slowly, the tent door curtain opened again. Stacia stepped out first while letting out a highly wide yawn. Her long gray hair looked messy and scattered in all directions because of her irregular sleeping position, while both of her eyes still appeared narrowed, trying to adjust to the intensity of the morning sunlight. A few moments later, Alicia followed behind her with a far more graceful and orderly body movement. Unlike Stacia, Alicia’s gleaming silver hair was already in a highly neatly combed condition, radiating the charm of an educated noble girl even in the middle of a wild forest wilderness.

"Morning, Sylvia..." Stacia mumbled in a tone still hoarse, typical of someone who just woke up, while her pair of eyes was directly focused straight toward the soup pot emitting hot steam over the campfire. Both of her nostrils flared, sniffing the morning air with a highly hungry facial expression. "Wow, by the gods... the aroma of your cooking this morning truly feels extraordinarily delicious... My stomach instantly growled in protest right away."

Sylvia only gave a small nod of her head as a form of morning greeting for her two companions, while her hand moved to pour the hot meat broth soup into three separate wooden bowls. Not long after, the three of them were already sitting in a comfortable circle atop large log blocks surrounding the campfire. They began enjoying the breakfast dish in the midst of the peace and silence of the tranquil wilderness. The golden cat was certainly not left out; it received a special wooden plate containing an extra-large portion of beef chunks cooked medium-rare without seasoning by Sylvia, which was instantly devoured by the sacred beast highly greedily and with a large appetite.

The atmosphere created around the campsite that morning was truly filled by a sense of absolute peace and tranquility of the soul. A cool breeze typical of mountain forests blew slowly, making the green leaves of the ancient trees above their heads sway in a slow, rhythmic motion, dropping a few drops of remaining morning dew onto the damp earth.

Sylvia sipped her meat soup slowly from her wooden bowl, enjoying the sensation of warmth that spread down to fill her stomach. Her pair of dark-red eyes stared straight toward the dirt path trail that cut through the forest in front of them the path that would be the route for the continuation of their journey today.

"After we finish this breakfast and tidy up all the camp equipment, we will directly move to continue the journey without wasting any more time," Sylvia said in a flat yet firm tone, providing logistical instructions. "The distance toward the capital of the Earth Human Empire is indeed still counted as highly far from our current coordinates. However, if we continue to urge the merchant carriage’s speed without making stops or transits that are not too urgent in small towns along the path, we will be able to cut the travel time significantly."

Stacia nodded her head in rapid motions, her mouth appearing a bit full because she was chewing a piece of toasted bread with berry jam. After swallowing her food with the help of a sip of warm water, she gave her response with eyes flashing enthusiastically.

"I highly agree with your plan, Sylvia! I personally already feel highly impatient to quickly see and set foot in the grand cross-continental market complex in the capital later. I want to see if there are ancient items or rare magic materials we can buy to complete our collection."

Alicia curled a sweet smile that radiated intelligence, while her smooth right hand moved gently to stroke the thick fur of the golden cat, who at that time had finished its breakfast and was busy cleaning the remaining sauce around its mouth using its small tongue.

"And let’s not forget about the existence of the high-level dungeon labyrinth complex around the imperial capital region," Alicia added in a tone full of academic interest. "Based on ancient literature records, the magic ecosystem inside the capital dungeon is far more stable and challenging to undergo. It will certainly be a highly interesting and efficient place for all of us to test the extent of our current combat power limits, while simultaneously finding out further clues regarding ancient seals."

The peaceful morning time in the middle of the wilderness passed highly calmly and orderly. After the breakfast activity was successfully finished, with highly compact coordination, the three girls began tidying up all the cooking utensils, extinguishing the remaining embers of the campfire using water element magic so as not to cause a forest fire, as well as folding back their magical camp tent to be put inside the system inventory storage space in a matter of minutes only.

Not long afterward, the structure of Sylvia’s merchant carriage was already back on top of the damp forest trail path. Two pitch-black zombie horses in front began stepping forward with a stable rhythm after receiving a mental signal from Sylvia, leaving two deep tracks of wheel prints on top of the forest earth surface wet with morning dew.

Atop the high driver’s seat, Sylvia sat back relaxedly holding the reins, while the golden cat had now taken the most comfortable position curling up quietly right atop Sylvia’s warm lap. Occasionally, its pair of sharp amber eyes still moved, watching the bushes area on the side of the road with a full level of alertness, ready to guard its master’s safety.