"Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps, what location are you going?" the merchant replied
"Mount Rebelbub, sir!"
Mount Rebelbub was a mountain range that was located on the south, outside of Town Allure. It is a large mountain range that is full of dangerous monsters that were powerful than any ordinary beasts. Surprisingly, This is the place where Cassius party was last seen,
Based from the documents I've read that Lord Phillip gave me, he joined at a strong party, potentially a high-ranking party, it has one gold-ranked, three silver-ranked, four stone-ranked and one bronze-ranked, from which is definitely Cassius. He joined at a strong party, and on what hell they went missing on the wilderness?!
As I searched through the documents, I noticed that Cassius' party defeated high-level beasts during their time. Based on the record, they confronted high orcs, a mid-level beasts that is known for its enormous body and its signature red skinned creature. I can already tell they slain it due to their high-level party. Their members consist of gold-rank.
"Hello, Roxy, what are you doing?" Natalie asks beside me
The girl who sat beside me was Natalie, younger sister of Ned Haro. She noticed that I was reading one of the documents that Lord Phillip gave to me, in order to access information about Cassius disappearance
"Not now, Natalie, I'm busy… Can't you see I'm investigating right now" I replied
"Roxyyyy… Can we switch spots on the way back. I cannot sleep in this position!"
The sky was clear and the sun warm upon Natalie backs, she sense a felt of burning behind her back. It was scorching hot. While others were fully enjoying the weather. Natalie screams in pain as a ray on sunlight burns slightly from her back…
"Please Roxy, can we switch spots, my back is burning. This wagon has holes in it!"
"H-hey, I'm reading over here."
"Come on, don't be stingy. Let's swap. It's hot in there you know."
It was clear that Natalie's tone tells that she was warming up, touching her skin feels that I was in a microwave. I turned around and answered throughly
"Sure Natalie, but on one condition."
"Condition?"
"Trim my nails during our journey, I know you're good at pedicures"
"Hey, that not fair! Wait! How did you know my pedicures?"
"Haha, I knew it…"
I learned this because White had some of the baddiest nails I have ever seen, it is similar to Earth. When I questioned White about her newly-pedicured nails, she directly pointed out Natalie direction
"Oh come on, Lady White a snitch, I didn't knew our leader can be so gullible"
After that, Natalie and I swapped seats. As expected, it was hot in here, my body began to sweat as the ray of sun began shining through my skin,
I reliazed that the weather is considered worse than I expected, it is hot in here. I realized that there is a huge hole inside of the wagons, the rays plunged straight at me. No signs of wind seeps through me, only the scorching hot of sun. I can't investigate my documents properly.
But all of this is worth it by pedicuring my nails all of Natalie's support, she had once hid her nail cutter on one of her pockets. It was mesmerizing
As I torment the blazing rays of the sun, the merchant was heard at the front seat of the wagon, Lend out an announcement
"Well, at this rate, I'd say we've got about half a day's travel left. So might as well rest while we can"
As the passing merchant had said, they were dangerous monsters up down by the road. The merchant insisted a half day of ride out from the lakeside village that sat at the foot of the mountain range. If they kept this pace they'd arrive by evening. The merchant's plan was to spend the night in the village so that no monsters will be lurking around the roads.
"I see, Perhaps our guild will dropping to the village?"
"Sure, adventurer"
"Oh yeah, I heard the village we're going to sits next to a lake, so they have a lot of water available. We will spend the night there, adventurers"
"What village was that, merchant?"
"The Rebelbub Village, Ma'am"
"Great!"
The merchant changed paths down the pathway, the guild will be going to the lakeside village of Rebelbub, I can barely see the village from far away just by peeping through the windows. It was small and full of piers,
After some time, we finally arrived to the village of Rebelbub, it was small, only at least fifty residents were here, but it was full of piers and residenses along the way, and yet, it was a lively neighborhood…
Just by looking at the sky, I can tell that it was about to sunset, it's vivid orange color of the blue sky began to emerge. Once night passes, several creatures and beasts will soon emerge and roam the wilderness, since the village is closer to Mount Rebelbub, these monsters will soon arrive at the village itself.
Luckily, there was a huge wall of wooden spikes that circled the entire village, it was a forty-feet wall that stretches along the village's pier. Because of its hostile environment for the beasts, several claw marks were seen beyond the walls, it was carved by these very same beasts.
"Toll please"
Unlike in Town Allure or Town Tata, the toll in this village was surprisingly cheap, only ten copper coins were needed to enter the village safely, we safely went inside the village and through my shock…
"Woah, there a lot of people in the village" I muttered
Glancing at the stunning view of the village's surroundings, I was left dumbfounded about from what I saw, it was arguably a tourist spot I known so far. It was full of flower fields, the same sight from the Flower Manor, it was breezing
As I viewed a little from my surroundings, The stone-ranked members were ready to explore the village. Like the merchant district of Town Allure, this place has a lot of street food and pubs all around the village. It's smell led my mouth drooling with hunger. I wiped my saliva in one of my sleeves
"Roxy… there's an inn beside there, let's eat and rest there. You know sleep is important!" Barry said to the group
"Oh I see, Barry, let's spend the night in that inn."
"Everyone, I'm sorry for worrying you. You're right, sitting here wringing my hands won't achieve anything. But first, we need dinner! We can't search Cassius on an empty stomach after all!"
It was obvious he was just forcing himself to sound cheerful, but his members still meekly went along with her suggestion. Barry and the other members watched with a smile on their face
A bell clanged loudly as Barry opened the door to the inn they were staying at. It was the poshest inn in Rebelbub, the Sliver Diamond Inn. The name seemed to be a throwback to the time two lovebirds from the Rebelbub Lake had stayed there, naming it as a beloved couple.
Rebelbub Lake itself was quite famous too, as it was the continent's largest lake. In terms of size, it was easily double the size of Naujan Lake in the Philippines, my homeland in my previous life.
The first floor of the inn served as a pub, and it served some of the best stew dishes, Rebelbub's specialty, around. While the interior wasn't exactly popular, it was evident that a great amount of attention to detail had gone into decorating, and the table were magnificent. There was a modest yet tasteful chandelier hanging from the ceiling, adding a layer of atmosphere.
If one were to sum it up in a single phrase, it was an inn with a long-standing history. It was older than I expected.
As they'd already spent some time resting in the Flower Manor, the members found they were more at home surrounded by such luxury than they though it would, and they quickly took a liking to the inn.
The members headed to the table in the back, no people were sitting there, and eagerly settled into their meal.
"Man, their food always smells so good. I never thought I'd be able to eat a stew in a world like this." I responded
"Though, it more like Sinel's cooking than this stew, really… Wait, isn't there that pork stew thing they eat in some places?"
The members all sange their praises of this village stew. Carin pointed rudely with his spoon as he gave his own impressions of his dish, an aromatic bowl of soup topped with deep-fried meat and vegetables asn slathered in rich sauce. It was truly heaven
"Man, their pork stew are great too. Like this sauce is amazing. Hell, I don't even think Town Allure's got bowls this good." Carin appraised by its flavor
"You just never had good stew in Town Allure, Carin. The one from the manor aren't going to match up obviously."
"This pork stew is the only thing for me. I don't think I can go back to eating anything else."
The boy who contradicted Carin retorted with a smile, while Natalie stuffed herself her mouth full of deep-fried meat. Next to her, Her older brother, Ned, was chugging his last water with ice.
While it didn't taste exactly the same, the core ingredients that went into the dishes were quite similar. Part of the reason Rebelbub's cooking was so renowned was because of the abundance of fresh produce they had access too. I saw this as a specialty.
Not only did they grow all of their livestock, their fish came fresh from the lake, and they were able to harvest various herbs and spices from the nearby mountains.
After some time, the members finished eating, the food ran dry and their stomach were entirely full. If I were to ask about me, I was constantly burping due to the pork stew I ate earlier. It was delicious compared to the herb-roasted skewers I ate during my time in Town Allure.
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot, we need to rest this early… Remember, our search team for Cassius is still serialized, we need to wake up before sunrise" I said to my members
"Lady Roxy, why the rush? We just finished eating?"
"Well, we better find him alive right? That's why Lord Phillip will feel even more indebted to us. It'd be a pain to have to fight every time we want to go anywhere."
The reason why I was in such a rush was because the longer the time passes, the more likely it was that Cassius and his party might be dead. Natalie looked up and me questionable. It was unusual for me to take such a vested interest in the life of someone I didn't care about.
That being said, I wasn't sure how useful Philip would prove as an ally, he knew my secrets very well, as my true identity as "Eirene Rynd". In fact, I thought it was more likely Phillip wouldn't be of much help at all. Especially considering how little effort it would take to indulge a search team through the southern mountains.
As we're about to leave, one of the servers approached from us, handing out keys to the given rooms inside the inn, but an apologetic expression didn't fit on his gentle face.
"The truth is, I am terribly sorry to say that… today is the last day we will be able to serve seasoned food."
The members were shocked to discover about this, the once delicious pork stew became a limited time meal from the inn, There, the server continued
"Yes. I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience. However, our stock of certain ingredients has run dry. However, this past month the monsters have grown increasingly dangerous and fewer and fewer adventurers are going out to gather what we need. In fact, just the other day, a high ranked adventurer party went off in the mountains to investigate the cause, and went missing.
The server mentioned on one of Cassius parties, they were headed on the mountains with his party, but they suddenly went missing. That's one point for Intel about my investigation. Then he continued…
"Since then, almost nobody has been willing to go to collect spices. All the establishments that deal in food lead to inability to restock"
"Uhm, why is the mountains are dangerous?"
"The reports say that swarms of monsters had started appearing. However, multiple people have claimed to have seen powerful monsters roaming our side of the mountains in recent times"
As the server's given information, there were multiple monsters that was scattered at the mountains, as based from the documents, the monsters were likely mid to high-level beasts. Expected, the
server continued his words…
"Luckily, some new guests came in this evening looking for a room. It seems they're knights here to search for the people who went missing. They were deployed by the Caria soldiers, so I imagine they must be quite strong. I'm sure they'll be able to get the cause of all this trouble."
Before anyone could explain, they heard voice coming from the staircase. One male and two female. One of the members seemed to be complaining to the guy. In place of an explanation, the server said
"Speak of the devil, That's them, that's the knights will conduct an search rescue"
"I see. However, they sound quite young. Even better, it was a luminous knight!"
The trio's voices grew louder as they approached, it was a uniform of a luminous knight. While two of the girls beside him appears to be silver-ranked adventurers, I can tell that these guys are pretty strong
The table that the members say was at the very back, surrounded by a thick layer of wall. It offered a perfect view of the entire floor. However, the alcove also had a set of curtains that could be pulled if the customers wished for some privacy. Their party stood out as is, Today was naturally no exception.
Finally the trip grew close enough for me and the others to make out their conversation
"How many time do I have to tell you? I get really lonely when you started flirting with Catherine. Can't you please stop doing it in front of me? Hey, are you listening to me, Elias?"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you, if you just don't want to see it, we can get you your own room."
"Hey, did you hear that, Catherine, Elias is so mean to me."
"Stop whining Patricia… it was only a joke!"
When I heard the name of the two girls using, I confirmed it a second time,
"Did I just heard that correctly? The two girls clinging on the luminous knight?"
As I heard that correctly, I didn't even notice when my spoon slipped from one of my fingers and clattered to the floor. Am I tripping or is this real?
The boy that wear a luminous knight I known before, always stood out. Alarmed, Natalie and the knights asked what was wrong, but none of their answers even heard through my ears. While the members were looking at each other in bewilderment, I muttered a single word
"Brother?"
That word was enough to break me out of my daze, and I found that I can move freely again. I stood up so fast that my chair fell to the floor behind her, and almost tripped over myself in her haste to rip open the curtain.
The curtain slid apart smoothly, revealing the luminous knight, while the two girls standing a few feet away.
Before she could even get a good look at him. The luminous knight noticed me with a shock
"Huh… Weird Eyes?"