Chapter 142: Chapter 141: The Expected Tragic News

The next day, Colin opened his eyes and stretched lazily in bed. A moment later, a small black shadow darted from out of nowhere onto the knotted rope decorations on his ceiling.

He was stunned for a moment.

Colin asked, "Is there news from the team sent north?"

"You guessed it! The rude human guessed it!" the rat shrieked. "Quick, quick! Edwin said it’s urgent! I’m even working overtime to be here! Yes, yes! My information is valuable! This trip wasn’t for nothing! It wasn’t!"

"Then here’s some of your overtime pay." Colin casually took a piece of a leftover cookie from his desk and set it down.

"Yule Festival! Yule Festival!" The rat’s chittering laughter echoed from above as the little fellow danced for joy on the knotted rope.

"Just don’t bring a pack of rats over for dinner."

With that warning, Colin didn’t bother with anything else. He just threw on his clothes and ran to find Kase.

The Half-Orc had been fast asleep at home, but the news chased most of his drowsiness away. The two of them thought for a moment, then decided to get Orelia as well. With the marks of sleep still on their faces, the group tore through the streets and burst into Edwin’s office.

The Paladin sat behind his desk as always, only his expression was far more serious.

The moment he saw the scene, Colin knew something was wrong.

To be honest, when no news had arrived over the past few days, he had already expected something like this.

Standing beside him, Colin could hear Kase’s ragged breathing. He didn’t have to look to know the expression on his friend’s face was grim.

"I hate to say it, but things have gotten complicated," Edwin said. "The truth is, up until three days ago, everything was heading in the right direction. The team we sent out is called the ’Black Giant Root’ squad. They’re mostly Rangers and Druids, so they’re very skilled at missions in the wild.

"Aside from their mission to contact the Orc Tribe, they were also responsible for scouting the situation in the north. I was communicating with them via a Magic Crystal Ball that allows for conversation, but three days ago... the connection was lost.

"I’ve compiled the detailed reports. Have a seat and look them over. The final decision will still have to come from you."

With that, he produced a stack of papers covered in writing and placed it in front of them. Then he walked over to the side to boil water for tea.

Kase dragged chairs over for his companions.

Colin carefully read through the documents Edwin had given them.

The pages documented Edwin’s conversations with the bizarrely named squad. Broadly speaking, after questioning locals and personally investigating the northern ecosystem along their route, the team had come to a surprising conclusion: the north was now safer than it used to be.

That’s right. Safer.

’Thinking about it, most of the monsters that had appeared near Thousand Masts City were living creatures, like Winter Wolves, White Dragons, and Frost Giants.’

’Creatures like that need time to grow and mature. If there were more of them around Thousand Masts City, it meant there were fewer of these native monsters left up north.’

’And according to the books on Divine Arts, for Gods to directly create beings in the Mortal World, they had to expend Divine Power. Since the Gods have their own enemies, they would never waste their power creating creatures on a massive scale out of thin air. That was one of the reasons Kase had been so shocked to see the Frost Golem back in Silverpine Village.’

At least, before they lost contact, the squad’s attitude toward the trip had been very optimistic.

Additionally, the few small human towns on the northern fringes, though struggling, still existed. They could serve as outposts to replenish their food supplies.

Colin let out a long sigh and set the report down.

"What does it say?" Kase asked, his tone unbelievably calm.

"Not many monsters, just colder temperatures," Colin said, then looked to Edwin. "Sir, what are the specific reasons a Crystal Ball would lose connection?"

"The Crystal Ball was stolen or destroyed. That particular Crystal Ball is extremely expensive, and it’s a Magic Item. A situation like that basically means the squad has been wiped out. Of course, it’s also possible the Magic Net was being interfered with, but that usually only happens inside a Dungeon, and the squad was traveling on the Surface the whole time.

"And because that Crystal Ball is so incredibly expensive—it’s one of the Weston Clan’s treasures—convincing them to invest any further in this will be difficult."

At that, Edwin sighed. "To be honest, I was planning to go myself. But I was a little... aggressive... when dealing with the White Dragon, so now my superiors have told me to stay within Thousand Masts City as much as possible. They say I need to consider the bigger picture."

"You’ve already done more than enough to help us, Edwin," Colin said reassuringly.

After he spoke, the room fell into a dead silence.

’First of all, there was no debating this. No one could ask Kase to abandon his tribe and just scrape by in a foreign land.’

’The problem was, even though everything seemed normal enough, it was hard to decide to risk the journey without knowing what dangers they’d face... They would just have to be completely prepared.’

’Two months ago, Colin would have thought this was a suicide mission.’

’But now, he had three pieces of Magic Equipment, several new Specialties with special effects, and had learned three skills: Swordsmanship, Armor, and Casting. Their party even had a reliable Priest now.’

’Yenogu the Poison Fang, the Scorpion-tailed Lion, the Elf Illusion...’

’So many powerful enemies had fallen before him.’

’If they ran into a Winter Wolf again, Colin was certain their small party could handle it with ease.’

’Of course, it was also possible they’d run into trouble even worse than a Winter Wolf...’

Colin said, "We’ll go check it out, Edwin."

"You should probably wait a few days to set out. I’ll do my best to find some backup for you in the meantime," Edwin said with a nod. "While my more powerful friends are all occupied, I still have plenty of others who can lend a hand."

"Thank you," Kase said earnestly.

"To be honest, I don’t really approve of you going, but it seems there’s no better option at the moment. All the High Tier parties have their own business to attend to, and the living Legendaries capable of solo missions are all tied up with their own tasks. Sigh..."

Edwin scratched his head in frustration. "Let’s leave it at that for now. I’ll let you know if there are any new developments."

The decision made, the three of them walked out of the office in silence.

"Let’s head to the Black Heart Tavern first. We can talk about what to do next there," Colin said. The other two nodded in silent agreement.

The bad news left a heavy silence hanging between them.

After they reached the tavern and ordered breakfast, Colin sat staring at the table, his expression a mixture of hesitation and pain, as if making some difficult decision.

After a moment, he finally spoke. "Kase, this journey is going to be difficult. I think..."

"I know. It’s fine. I can go alone," Kase replied matter-of-factly.

"Aha! Gotcha! What was it you said to me last time we went south?" Colin immediately grinned, pointing at Kase. "You Half-Orcs have your promises, and we humans have our own sense of honor! Don’t even think about backing out now. We have to at least go and see what’s what!"

Of course he was going to help Kase with this.

’After all, Kase had risked his life to help him get his strongest skill, to say nothing of everything else.’

"When it comes to a war of words, I really can’t beat you." Kase sniffled, then broke into a grin.

Colin turned to the Tiefling.

"We still have another Yule Festival to celebrate next year, you two." Orelia clenched her fists and held them to her chest. "We’re definitely celebrating it together."

"Just think of it as me taking you on a trip to my hometown. Nothing to be scared of," Kase said with a forced, easygoing laugh.

"Of course, that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down," Colin said. "We’ll spend the next couple of days preparing as much as we can. We’ll follow the same path the last squad took; that should at least keep us safe on the journey there. As for what happens when we reach the spot where they went silent... we’ll just have to play it by ear."