Chapter 152: Third Holy Mission

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• Adventurer The orc warrior 261

• Adventurer GrimV

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Day of Thura, 10:37 a.m.

Inside a room of a Charity House.

Vivian and a Brown Cloak Priest in his late teens were standing before a group of elderly people.

Meanwhile, sitting on the side and watching were Melissa, Havier, Sachion and Muireann. There were also two Knights but they were standing guard by the entrance.

The Brown Cloak Priest turned to Vivian.

“Sister, the floor is yours.”

“Thank you, brother,” she said and then returned her gaze to the crowd. "There was once this peaceful and secluded human Rogue Settlement located deep in the mountains with a population of around 200 people that barely had any human contact from the outside world because they refused to be under the law of any kingdom.”

Today was Vivian's turn to tell a story or be one of the presenters.

She wasn't obligated to be a presenter until the end of the week or on the Day of Fratur, but she insisted that she wanted to. And the only reason why she volunteered -- which, of course, she didn't tell anyone -- is so that she could ignore Melissa, Havier and Sachion. As interesting as their gossip may be, she had grown weary because they always try to include her in the conversation and poke personal information from her.

"One day, a very beautiful woman with long golden hair and fair skin visited the Rogue Settlement and asked its inhabitants, the Rogue Settlers, if she could stay for the night.

"Normally, they wouldn't accept her request because of the Rogue Settlement’s circumstance in regards to being under the law of any kingdom.

"But this woman was so beautiful that her mere presence would cause the birds to sing, the flowers to bloom and any person who laid their eyes upon her would be bewitched by her beauty.

"After accepting the woman's request, the Rogue Leader asked who she was, where she came from and why was she traveling alone.

"The woman told him and the rest of the Rogue Settlers that her name was Hea’ther, she was born and raised in a small town called Da'naan, she was a traveling Scholar in search of the forgotten secrets from the Old World, an era before the Elemental Gods shared their powers to humans to combat demons, demon-worshippers, the Cult of Infinity and heretics, and there was an old and abandoned ruin from the Old World nearby.

"When they heard that there was an old ruin from the Old World nearby, not only were they surprised that such a place was near their settlement, but they were also interested in what secrets lay inside those ruins.

“So they offered to help her.

"Hea’ther agreed as long as she gets the information she wanted inside the ruins while the villagers can have all of the treasures inside the ruins.

"And with that, they reached an agreement.

"The following morning, Hea’ther and a group of 10 Rogue Settlers went to the location of where the ruin was supposedly located.

"When they came back later that day, only Hea’ther and 4 Rogue Settlers returned.

"Seeing that only barely half of them returned, the Rogue Leader and the rest of the Rogue Settlers asked what happened, Hea’ther and the 4 Rogue Settlers told them that they found the ruins but were attacked by an unknown and powerful monster hiding inside the ruins.

"The Rogue Leader and the Rogue Settlers then asked them what the monster looked like.

"Unfortunately, the only answer that Hea’ther and the 4 Rogue Settlers could give was that the monster was so fast and powerful, it kept hiding in the shadows and it would only strike when the victim was alone so they had no idea what it looked like.

"Hearing the answer, the Rogue Settlers, especially the ones who were related to the 6 Rogue Settlers that accompanied Hea’ther, demanded compensation, especially from Hea’ther.

"However, the 4 Rogue Settlers immediately defended Hea’ther and then showed them precious raw metals such as Mithril, Orichalcum, Adamantite and even Rainbow Steel that they found inside the ruins.

“When the Rogue Leader and the rest of the Rogue Settlers saw the precious raw metals, they immediately calmed down and the Rogue Leader immediately announced that he will join the expedition group tomorrow with Hea’ther and will slay the monster hiding inside the ruins.

“Naturally, there were also many Rogue Settlers who immediately volunteered to join. But the Rogue Leader said that he would only take the strongest fighters because they will be fighting a very powerful monster that hides in the dark and they can’t afford to lose more people.

“Hearing that answer, many of the Rogue Settlers reluctantly agreed.

"The next morning, Hea’ther, the Rogue Leader and 10 Rogue Settlers set out for the ruin to slay the monster.

“Later that day, only the Rogue Leader came back and was covered in blood.

“The Rogue Settlers immediately asked what happened.

“The Rogue Leader said that everyone including Hea’ther was killed and only he survived. However, they were able to kill the monster.

“When they asked him what’s his proof that he killed the monster, he told them that couldn’t provide any because the corpse of the monster fell into a pit of fiery lava. And as for the precious raw metals, he told them that the old ruin was filled with them. However, they found an old mural depicting that all of the precious raw metals inside the ruin were created by an unknown ancient entity from the Old World and were cursed. Anyone who would dare to touch and use them will be followed with bad luck. And if they don’t believe him, they’re free to take the precious raw materials and he wants no part of it.

“The reactions of the Rogue Settlers were mixed -- some were blaming him and wanted compensation from him, while others refused to believe him and were already planning inside their heads what to do with the precious raw materials. However, since the Rogue Leader was the leader of the Rogue Settlement, making him the strongest person in their community, no one could really do anything to him.

“The next morning came and nothing strange happened. Although they lost 15 members in their community, life in the Rogue Settlement continued on.

“A week passed, something happened -- A whole family disappeared.

“What happened was, when a Rogue Settler went to visit the house of the family that disappeared, they found out that the whole family was no longer there.

“They have never heard from any member of the family who disappeared that they were planning to leave. But looking at the house, there were no signs of struggle, and the clothes and basic necessities were gone. However, what was really strange was that no one had seen the family preparing to leave and leaving the Rogue Settlement.

“Nevertheless, most of the Rogue Settlers simply dismissed it by saying that the husband was one of the people who accompanied the Hea’ther in entering the old ruins and didn’t come back so the wife may have decided to leave with her children to look for a better life.

“5 days passed and another family disappeared.

“And just like the first family that disappeared, no one saw them preparing to leave and then leaving, upon checking the house, there were no signs of struggle with the clothes and basic necessities taken, and the husband was one of the people who entered the old ruins to slay the monster and didn’t come back.

“This time around, although some people still dismissed it as the wife leaving with the children to look for a better life, others started to wonder if it was related to the curse that the Rogue Leader mentioned because some Rogue Settlers have already gone to the ruins and brought precious raw materials.

“3 days passed and another family disappeared.

“It was the same as the first and second families except for one thing -- the husband was still alive. He didn’t accompany the first and second group to slay the monster. However, he was one of the people who went to the ruins and brought back precious raw materials.

“Nevertheless, many of the Rogue Settlers were now afraid that many of them quickly threw away or returned the precious raw materials they brought from the ruin before going to the Rogue Leader to get some answers while others began preparing to leave the settlement.

“The Rogue Leader told the Rogue Settlers who went to him that he had no idea. But in order to calm everyone down, he announced that all abled men would take turns patrolling the entire settlement tonight.

“The night went without any issues that some of the families who planned to leave decided to stay. But just to make sure, all of the abled men in the settlement continued to take turns in patrolling at night.

“It was 2 days later when one morning, one of the abled men noticed that another family disappeared. Everyone who saw the family swore that the family was still there last night and all of the abled men in charge of patrolling at night even interacted with the husband because the husband was also one of the people who patrolled at night.

“With that, everyone was now sure that something very strange was happening to the settlement and immediately decided to leave.

“But just when everyone was about to leave, a group of unexpected guests arrived.

“It was Hea’ther, the people who went inside the ruins but didn’t return, and the families who mysteriously disappeared.

They surrounded the settlement and weren’t saying anything. But there was something different with their expressions, particularly their eyes. They were looking at the remaining Rogue Settlers as if they were cattle or food.

“One of the abled men was about to demand what was going on. But before he could do that, the Rogue Leader rushed over to Hea’ther and knelt down.

“And with the snap of Hea’ther’s fingers, the Rogue Leader and the rest of her companions transformed into Lesser Demons and attacked the remaining Rouge Settlers.”

Clap.

Vivian clapped her hands.

“There are many lessons that can be learned from this story. One of them is the nature of demons and demon-worshippers.

“Aside from the fact that demons have no respect for human life and also see humans as food, they also like to toy with them by infecting them with their Chaos power and then pitting them against other humans, especially against their loved ones and friends.

“And as for demon-worshippers, once you’re cursed with Chaos, there is no cure to that, you will lose your free will, and you will also lose your humanity.”
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Chapter end