They had been traveling smoothly for six days now.

The airship had arrived in the city of Grinpell, close to the border between the Magical Kingdom and the Hebrion Empire. The layover was mandatory as they were required to clear the screening process of Grinpell, since they passed through the Empire.

The airship gently descended. Grinpell was a fairly busy city, thanks to it being somewhat of a trading hub between the two countries.

When Adjest went out to the deck, she saw Pram already peering down while leaning on the railing of the airship.

His reaction was unusual. Normally he would be amazed by the scenery of a new city and bounce around everywhere. But today he showed such a subdued reaction.

If I could have seen this with Master Desir, it would have been great

Pram had been extremely loyal to Desir for such a long time. Ever since they had enrolled in the academy, they had never left each others side. Rather, it was almost surprising for him to not show any change of expression until now.

Adjest spoke to Pram.

Do you miss Desir?

Pram flinched and looked back.

Um, how long have you been there?

For some time.

Pram buried his face into the railing and every part of his face not covered, including his earlobes, turned crimson.

I feel a little-A little embarrassed.

Adjest walked towards the railing and stood next to Pram.

Once we finish clearing this Shadow World, everyone who participated will return to the original world. If we clear the Shadow World quickly, youll see him soon.

Thats true.

Adjest continued.

So what I mean is, you dont need to be so gloomy.

What?

Pram stared at Adjest in shock.

After taking a moment to recollect himself, he smiled.

Of course, Master Adjest.

The airship started to shake and rattle as it landed on the airfield after receiving clearance from the control tower.

There were many other airships on the airfield, so theirs didnt stand out at all.

Here in the border town, there were a lot of merchants who interacted with the Magical Kingdom. There was a gigantic river dividing the two countries and they often crossed the border with airships to prevent getting attacked by monsters. It was mostly merchant ships on the airfield, but there were also a few military ships from the Hebrion Empire too.

In the modern age, such a sight was rare to behold. Teleportation gates had been widely deployed and usage of airships had been completely phased out.

Kei went through the required formalities and paid the docking fee for landing at the airfield. Afterward, he gathered all of his men and ordered them to go have fun while staying within the city; it would take about three days to get through the screening procedure.

After such a long time sailing, a three-day break was truly a breath of fresh air. The sailors disembarked, their excitement was palpable.

Okay, its our turn to disembark.

Kei assisted Aldin, who was mumbling incoherently. Adjest and Pram took their time climbing down. They expected all the sailors, who departed the ship well before them, to have disappeared by now. Instead, they were all just standing there.

Their eyes were fixed on the same place, eyes bulging as if they had just seen a ghost.

Whats wrong?

Adjest and Pram turned their gaze upon what the sailors were looking at.

Do you have any idea how tedious it was for me to wait for you to catch up?

And there were the two people they thought they would not see before clearing the Shadow World.

* * *

Thanks for reading this on patreon.com/maldfrogsclub

So I did the Lord a little favour, and was able to use the teleport gate.

Desir and his party, along with Kei and Aldin, booked themselves into a cozy inn.

At the inn, Desir described their journey to Kei, Pram and Adjest; filling them in on how exactly they had arrived via the teleportation gate. Of course, he omitted a few key parts of the story.

In his version of events, they killed an evil alchemist at the Lords request. They made sure to tweak anything related to the Shadow Worlds in particular.

Nobody noticed how they slyly tangled the truth with lies.

After listening to the story, Kei spoke up.

That must have been a challenging journey. I shouldnt say this as your employer, but wouldnt it have been easier for you if you didnt come back? Itd still be considered a successful mission complete, even if you hadnt come back, since that unsavoury incident took place while you were on duty.

Well, our peers are all here, and we thought wed do as much as we can, as we had already been paid. I believe thats the right attitude for a mercenary.

Kei did a double-take as he re-evaluated Desir.

Admirable.

I dont think I deserve a compliment; thats simply what is expected of us.

Youd be surprised. Many mercenaries think its over once they get paid.

Our mercenaries also despise those people very much.

Youre very different from the mercenaries that I know. I hope we meet again after this.

We look forward to it. Having more clients is never a bad thing.

The notification sound appeared in the middle of the conversation between Desir and Kei.

[Kei Hazumaryun thinks you are useful.]

[Keis likeability for you has increased to Trust on condition]

That was an unexpected earning.

The trust with condition meant his likeability rating had increased to a point where he could be trusted to a certain extent.

Obtaining Keis favour could be helpful in the future.

After recounting their journeys, they split up and started to head back to their respective rooms. Kei and Aldin shared a room, while Desir and his party would stay in a different room.

Ah, Im going to be away for three days. Id like you to protect Aldin properly during that time.

Before retiring for the night, Desirs party was given the order to guard Aldin.

[Main Quest, Guard in Grinpell has started.]

[Kei Hazumaryun will be doing an important task for three days. His guarding range has been greatly weakened.]

[-A strong enemy is seeking Aldin Cepheus. Protect him at all cost.]

[-You fail this quest if Aldin dies.]

Desir gathered his party and briefly told them what truly happened instead of the fake story that he shared while Kei was present. He filled Adjest and Pram in on the detail of their second main quest.

So this means we must get rid of the power behind the Homunculus.

Yes. We need to stop the research involving the creation of Homunculus.

It feels like this is a lot tougher than our previous main quest.

It was just a plain guarding quest and it had now expanded into foiling some groups plot.

Adjest spoke up.

But its simply too broad of a scope to find this unknown group. Do we have any clues to go off, Desir?

We only have one, but its a good start. Its the mana circuit I took from the lab.

He took out and held the mana circuit he had stowed in a pocket near his chest. This was a piece of old technology used to store mana. The kind used before mana stone technology was developed.

Arent those supposed to be made in the Magic Kingdom? What is it doing way out in the middle of the desert?

Exactly. Someone in the Magical Kingdom provided him with a mana circuit for his illegal research.

mana circuits were made using a highly developed manufactory system. Every mana circuit has a unique serial number. We can trace this mana circuit back to the factory which manufactured it based on this.

And the factory must have the record of who bought it.

Romantica said.

Correct. We will track down the unknown backer with this.

In that case, wed better get to the Magical Kingdom first.

Adjest concluded.

In order to do that, we need to guard Aldin well for the next three days.

* * *

Their quest Guard in Grinpell ended three days later.

That was so hard.

These were Desirs first words after they re-boarded the airship on the completion of the inspection.

I agree.

Ive never seen anyone more unlucky than him.

Adjest and Romantica strongly supported his complaint.

It was like three days in hell.

Even though the quest only involved protecting a crazy old man for three days, it ended up being a very challenging ordeal.

The crux of the main quest in progress was protecting him.

Protecting him up until that point had been a breeze. After first finding themselves on an airship in the Shadow World, they hadnt had to do much directly with him. They were just passengers, like he was, on the airship. However, for the three days that they were protecting Aldin, there were numerous misfortunes. It was as if all the misfortunes for the journey had all come together.

A street light falling out of the blue, a beast that escaped the circus, a signboard falling onto his head, the number of incidents was truly too many to count.

It seemed as though every element in the world was trying to eliminate him. Even Desir, who had vast experience dealing with Shadow Worlds, did a double-take.

Come to think of it, I almost got sucked into one of the engines that was acting up on the airship.

Prams eyes were sunken.

Oddly enough, we were attacked too many times by monsters.

Romantica rubbed her sleepy eyes, yawning.

They ended up focusing all of their effort on protecting Aldin, leaving no extra time for sleep.

They ended up not leaving the inn at all after the first day.

Usually, a trading city had a lot to see and enjoy, but they couldnt even afford to dream of such a luxury.

Des1rs party worked hard, so Aldin was kept safe and sound as a result of their diligence.

On the airship, there was Kei. They wouldnt need to struggle like they just had.

Meanwhile, the final quest in the first main quest line started.

[Quest Last Hurrah has commenced]

[You have excellently protected Aldin Sepius from unfortunate disasters. Please do your best to guard him until the end.]

[-You are in the middle of a hidden quest at present. His life or death affects that quest greatly.]

-

Chapter brought to you by Robert S.

ED2: Purplemen101

TLC: N/A

QC: Dr Lock