I sprinted towards the manor's balcony, I made past of the maids in the hallway, it was not too far away from one of our rooms. While I was running towards that direction, I suddenly met the guildmembers
"Greetings, Lady Roxy, I suppose to where are you going?"
"To the balcony, wanna come?"
"Sure!"
I stumbled around the stone-ranked members, especially the archers, Natalie, Ned, Barry and Carin, who are chatting inside the hallways. They decided to join in together through the balcony.
As we arrived at the Manor's balcony, we were soon spotted a nobleman at his late thirties, he had a slicked blonde hair and a discerning look in his eyes.
"Wait, is that, Lord Phil…" Natalie said
At Natalie didn't finished her sentence clearly, The stone-ranked members bowed instantly, leaving me standing all alone…
"It is a pleasure to have you here. I am the ruler of Town Allure, Phillip Morris, call me Lord Phillip"
Besides White, there was the ruler of Town Allure, Lord Phillip, he is a former luminous knight and wore a red sweater as a stylish choice. This is the first time I met the ruler of Town Allure.
"You there, five are…, Natalie Haro, Ned Haro, Barry Waters, Carin Borneque and Roxy."
Philip introduced himself and offered his hand to me, the stone-ranked members sat beside the balcony where Lord Phillip was. I shook it and responded
"Yeah, that's right. We're our names in that letter?" I said
"They were indeed. White's letter told… or rather, warned about you five. She said that you show a deal of promise, but that you're rather troublesome kids, so we should keep an eye on you."
"Troublesome, huh? I guess White was nothing but trouble. Well, whatever. Does that letter settle out identification issues or no?"
"Yes, she said that you three aren't a threat to the guild, so that good news for me. She's a very good judge of character. If it's a letter from her. It'll serve as sufficient identification. After all, she wouldn't write one for the people of dubious character"
It seemed White really did hold a lot of clout with the guild. Everyone really trusts her. Since Philip called her master, they must know each other very well. Natalie seemed especially curious about Philip's relationship with White. She'd gotten along rather well with the leader, so it made sense
"Umm, how are you related to White, Lord Phillip?"
"You didn't ask her yourself? White's mother used to be the ruler of Town Allure. After that she retired and became a businesswoman. More than half of all branch chiefs learned their trade together"
I looked up in surprise. Smiling wryly. I didn't knew that White had a mother, even better, she was the former ruler of Town Allure, there Philip continued
"I was one of them. Though I'm nowhere near her level. Back then her unparalleled beauty and skill captivated everyone especially that she was the ruler of the town. Later, she ended up getting married and retired from being an ruler of Allure. She said she preferred to raise her kids in the countryside. Her marriage announcement was very sudden too. There I met her daughter, White Flower"
"I didn't realize White's mother was such an amazing person. Perhaps I can tell her name was?"
"Yeah… She is Snow Flower, I didn't knew her current whereabouts, but I knew that she is alive and well"
The stone-ranked members were astounded to discover just how impressive White's mother had been. Only I looked away wistfully, lamenting what White and I had done.
"Lord Phillip, where is White anyway?"
"Oh… I completely forgot. She is currently in Caria City, there was a meeting between the capital knights the other day. She left the town before sunrise"
As expected, White left the manor in an early time. That's why the sudden disappearance and she called me this exact time.
"Well anyway. If there's no problem with identification then we're free to go. White is absent, right?"
I had only agreed to wait so that we had a meeting with White, but seeing the ruler of the town is only present, he saw no reason to stay. However, Philip eyes sparkled mischievously as he called out to them
"Actually, could you please wait a moment?"
I felt a sense of foreboding. But, Philip gestured to me, who handed me a certain request flyer.
"The truth is, we were impressed by your skill, your the first adventurer who advances quickly in the rankings, especially your an silver-ranked adventurer. Tell me, we were hoping you would be willing to take our task for us." Philip asks
"Sorry, no thanks… I'm tired of risking my life for some useless task" I replied
After the raid of Castle Libra, I was traumatized from the experimentations that was led inside the castle, it was cruel and inhumane. It was the trauma that left out my mind. I refused instantly and made to leave. The stone-ranked members followed suit. But Philip's next words brought them back
"Hmm, are you sure you won't even listen to what it is? We'll overlook this whole incident if you agree to just listen"
That of course had the unsaid implication that they would make this whole affair far more of a pain than it had to be didn't stay to listen
In the end, they'd still probably not be punished, but it would still waste a great deal of their time. And if they ignored the ruler's orders, they been blacklisted everywhere. Not being able to access the information at various branches at Town Allure, it is more of a risk.
I glared at Phillip for a moment. He'd only asked that they hear him out, not that they accept the request. If that was all it took to avoid weeks of legal proceedings, then it wasn't such a bad deal, I say back down.
"So you'll listen. Thank you." Phillip replied with a manly voice
"You're not a ruler of Town Allure for nothing I see. You're pretty gusty" I replied
"I could say the same to you. Now then, as you can see the flyer, this particular request is to search for some missing people. Some time back, a party of adventurers set off to investigate the southern mountains that was closest to Town Allure. When they didn't return, one of the adventurers family put out a search request."
I read the flyer that he gave me once again, seeing the whole details of the incident. The rest of Phillip explanation could be boiled down to the following:
There had been reports of increased monster activity in the southern regions, so the ruler had issued an investigation quest
Only the mountain nearest to town was well charted, the rest of the mountain ranges was marked simply as wilderness. While they weren't as strong as ones encountered in dungeons and monster nests, the southern mountains of Two Allure was still inhabited by powerful monsters. Potentially mid to high-level beasts.
One of the adventurers that was went missing was the third son of the noble Calico family, Cassius Calico. He belongs to the esteemed families of Caria,
Count Calico had secretly sent someone to follow after his son, who'd basically ran away from home to become an adventurer. But even the person he'd sent to tail his son had vanished, so he had sent out a search request to the ruler of Town Allure,
After I read the flyer's contents and details accurately, Lord Phillip opened his mouth and began talking
"The count sent out his own independent search party as well, but he asked the guild for help because he wanted as many people out looking as possible. This all happened just yesterday. The party had gone out to investigate was among the most experienced adventurers, so if they ran into something they couldn't handle, most adventurers wouldn't stood a chance"
As I heard that, I think that the southern regions of Town Allure was accommodated by powerful monsters, as Philip had sad it consists of mid to high-level beasts, then Philip continued
"So the only people we can afford to send out on this quest are those of considerable skill. Fortunately for us, you happened to show up just in time!" Philip said
"I though you needed people of considerable skill? Sadly, I'm just a silver-rank adventurer." I replied
Philip didn't fall for my feeble excuses
"You just took out Edrie Collon, a former capital knights and a silver rank adventurer without breaking a sweat. Besides…anyone who slain the spider queen at Karama Village can't be that weak."
"How did you know that… the letter? But I never told White about this…"
I didn't told anyone that I slain the spider queen in Karama Village all my myself, and the raid in Castle Libra. The only way Phillip would have known that was if it was written in the letter. But then that begged the question of how White had learned I slain that spider queen, isn't she supposed to keep it a secret? As I scratched my head in confusion. Lord Phillip raises his voice
"Your secrets were never safe with me. You can already tell, I am the ruler of Town Allure!"
"Well, prove it!"
"Okay Roxy, your real name is Eirene Rynd, the youngest of the Rynd Family, your father's name is Richard Rynd, your mother's name is Linera Rynd, your siblings are…"
"Fine, stop it, you know my secrets. Isn't it necessary to attaining my privacy, huh?"
Philip knew my background all along, I get it that he is the Ruler of Town Allure, but why does it he spoil everything he knew, does he stalking about me. Philip smiled knowingly and continued.
"It's unlikely any of them are still alive, but the possibility is zero. Count Calico is a personal friend of mine, so I'd like to begin the search as soon as possible. Please. There's no one else to talk. Will you please accept the request?"
It was oblivious from his tone that Philip has was very personally invested in this particular request. If he had friends with Count Calico, it was quite possible he was close to the missing boy as well. He was probably just worried for their safety.
"I get that, but we have things to do, we only obey White's orders, only the guild activities will be accepted. Sorry, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse"
I could care less about some noble's brat. Philip must have realized that as well, since he headed my own explanatory
"I promise you'll be rewarded handsomely. There'll be a bonus from waiting for you along with the reward already offered."
"What kind of rewards you talking about?"
For the first time, Phillip facade of calm crumbled. He looked deeply remorseful
"You will be promoted to gold-ranked, as well your stone-ranked members will be promoted to silver-ranked. Plus, one gold for each one of you participated. Do we have a deal, Roxy?"
"Deal!"