In a small house in the city, the Torrent Squad was gathered. Some of them were playing cards, one was polishing his weapon, some others were lounging around, while a young lady in their group was sipping her tea in a corner.

"Denise? Are you still troubled by what happened?" Leonel, the Torrent Squad's leader, asked their squad's youngest member.

"N-no. I'm just thinking about our next mission. We're going to the Ruri Kingdom, right?" Denise quickly replied as she tried to avoid the topic.

She was indeed disturbed by the previous incident in the city since she knew that Eustace and Constance were not heretics as the Archbishop had claimed.

Lotus didn't say anything to her, but Denise could tell that she was hiding something.

'Is that guy really Vale? Ugh... I should have followed them.' Denise thought as she felt the need to learn a Sound Transmission Spell to be able to communicate secretly with someone.

"Don't worry about the Ruri Kingdom. We won't be going to their cities. We just have to visit the Vampire's Castle." Leonel said as he remembered the mission they had taken.

Apparently, Kirkham City was the nearest city to the Vampire's Castle, which was at the border of the Ruri Kingdom. It was only three days away from them if they traveled by carriage.

Of course, this mission was not a request from the Millton Kingdom but from the Ruri Kingdom's Arcanist Guild. They were the only ones who could issue a permit to pass through the border gate after all.

It seemed that they had a lot of problems in their kingdom, so they hired the Arcanist Guild of the Millton Kingdom to explore the Vampire Castle and possibly kill the creatures living inside.

"We only know that several squads of Third-Class Arcanists have been wiped out there. Even though we'll be joining other Squads, we have to be cautious" Denise warned.

***

The next morning, the Torrent Squad gathered with eight other Arcanist Squads at the city gate.

They were all ready to depart for the Ruri Kingdom to explore Vampire's Castle. Four of the Squads were from Kirkham City, while the other four were from Marsden City, one of the closest cities in the kingdom. They had arrived the night before and stayed at a nearby inn.

The leader of the Kirkham City's Squads was a middle-aged man named Roland. He was a Second-Class Arcanist of the Mystic Path and a veteran of many missions.

He greeted Leonel and the other leaders warmly and introduced the other squads who had joined the mission.

They were the Blaze Fan Squad, the Justice Hammer Squad, and the Revenant Squad.

Including the Torrent Squad, four squads would represent their city.

Furthermore, only the Blaze Fan Squad was actually composed of one type of Arcanist. They were all Fire Elementalists, unlike the other squads that were composed of different kinds of Arcanists.

"Do you know that person?" Leonel asked Roland and gestured to a gentleman who seemed to be of a noble descent.

"Of course. You have to watch your words when talking to that man." Roland said as he started to share what he knew about the man.

Apparently, it was the leader of the Marsden City's Squad. He was a young man named Drake. He was a First-Class Arcanist, but he was arrogant and ambitious.

He looked down on the other Squads and barely acknowledged them.

As Roland said this, they heard Drake introduce his city's squads with a smug tone.

They were the Ash Squad, the Tormentor Squad, the Pulsating Heart Squad, and the Shadow Knight Squad.

They were all wearing some sort of uniform to identify themselves, unlike the Arcanists from Kirkham City, who had their own sets of equipment.

"They're nobles?" Denise asked in a soft voice.

"Most likely I wonder if these people have enough experience." Leonel commented as he felt that these Arcanists seemed to care more about their appearance.

Anyway, the squads working for Drake seemed eager to prove themselves as their gazes seemed to taunt them.

Nevertheless, Denise and the others did not feel a sense of rivalry with these people.

Well, at the very least, they just didn't like their attitude and their arrogance. They decided to ignore them and focus on their mission.

After a few encouraging words from the Guildmaster, they soon boarded their carriages and set off to cross the border.

The journey was long and tedious. They had to pass through several checkpoints and small villages along the way.

They also had to deal with the occasional Evil Creatures that attacked them.

Well, there are plenty of cases where the corpses weren't being cremated or sealed, especially if the corpse came from a small village. So it wasn't that surprising.

What these village people would usually do was throw away these corpses to be deliberately possessed and also become some sort of a guard against bandits. After all, Evil Creatures or those possessed corpses wouldn't normally leave the area where they were "revived" unless they were triggered.

During this time, the squads would fight together and defend each other, but they also competed and showed off their abilities.

The Marsden City's Squads always tried to outdo the Kirkham City's Squads.

Leonel didn't complain as this was also a method to gauge each other strength to prepare for the subjugation of the Vampire's Castle.

Finally, they reached their first resting area, a small village on a nearby lake.

Only a few people had entered the village to greet the village chief before they decided to take a break and have some food and drinks outside.

They also wanted to get to know each other better and exchange some information and tips, so they immediately set up their tents in a circular formation.

The Torrent Squad stayed together with the squads from Kirkham City.

They already saw each other's faces in the city, so it wasn't difficult befriending them.

It was only Denise who had to be introduced as she was very new in the city.

Denise frowned as she chatted with the other Arcanists of the city.

'It's quite peaceful I don't like this...'

Suddenly, she felt foreboding and immediately ordered Lotus to look around.

After that, she continued chatting with the others. She didn't want to worry the others since she wasn't sure of the danger yet.

As Lotus searched for the possible danger, she learned that the Blaze Fan Squad was led by a hot-headed man named Roy, who loved fire and explosions but still didn't possess a Fire Spirit. Furthermore, Leonel revealed that Roy had a crush on the Revenant Squad's leader, a calm and elegant woman named Elsa, who was an Aura Master.

It was quite a joyful atmosphere as they gathered together...

But as they continued chatting, Denise discovered something suspicious. Apparently, two members of the Justice Hammer Squad were just recruited yesterday!