697 Meeting the Local Leaders

Souta and Alice were looking at the mission board inside the post tower. They were wondering if there were suitable missions for their current level.

Sigh~

Souta shook his head with a disappointed look. Most of the quest here was for low-level and it would only give him 6 skill points at maximum. Plus, it would take a lot of time to go to the mission place. Just looked at the mission regarding the Red Matter a.s.sociation, their travel time was even longer than the entire war.

The war against the Red Matter a.s.sociation lasted one day. All that battle happened within just a single day and it earned him 22 skill points. Even though it was an ordinary quest, it still gave him a lot of skill points considering the scale of the Red Matter a.s.sociation.

"None of these missions interest you?" Alice asked when she saw his look.

"Yep, it's better to ask Eztein or Amanda to complete this mission," Souta answered her words.

"A new batch of missions will arrive soon. You can take a look at that time." Alice said.

"Okay, I'll do that." Souta nodded.

"I have a question," Alice said while glancing at his expression.

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"Tell me."

"Why did you call the local forces of this city? I don't think that they can help you."

"Hmm... That's a good question. But you know, I heard an interesting rumor while I was training in the wilderness." Souta smiled as he rubbed his chin.

"What is it?" Alice looked at him with interest.

"An expert arrived on this barren land and spread various combat arts and spells. I don't know if it's true but I want to learn about this legend. Apparently, they said that it happened one thousand years ago." Souta said with a faint smile on his face.

"If that legend is true then maybe the expert came from Olympus," Alice replied to him.

"Possibly," Souta didn't reject her words.

The Olympus existed for thousands of years. So there's a chance that the expert came from Olympus as it was close to this barren land.

"It became a rumor since various cities had fallen and new ones rose in the past several hundred years. Naturally, the evidence that the expert existed was lost in time." Souta said.

"Is that the only reason why you called the local forces?" Alice asked as she slightly tilted her head. She was a little bit confused.

"Of course not, if this is the only reason then I would only send some people to investigate this legend. This time, I want to thoroughly control the entire city." Souta said as he opened his palm. A ball of energy formed on top of it. "Well, I don't think that they will refuse me. As I said before, I will become the sole authority of the entire Ekatoe City."

"Hmm... So you're going to fight the neighboring cities?" Alice suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Souta looked at her. "No, I don't have that sort of plan. I just want this city. If I got carried away, the other forces of this land will notice us."

This city was just a part of Mine Valley and the latter was only a small part of Hall Plains. Although there's no G.o.d powerhouse in this land, there were forces that could rival his own. It's not good to attract the eyes of those forces.

"I see..." Alice nodded at his words.

"Anyway, this city is enough for me so I'll take all the people here. What I mean is I'm going to integrate them in Astros by transferring parasites in their bodies." Souta grinned widely.

Alice sighed as she pressed her temples. She should have expected this.

The two left the post tower.

Torkez had finished gathering all the leaders of the local forces of Ekatoe City.

There were nineteen people sitting around a long table.

Most of them were anxious as they kept fiddling around. It was understandable since it was their first time coming inside the so-called Astros. The power of Astros was beyond their imagination and they didn't even have an idea why the mysterious City Lord suddenly invited them.

They were nervous. They kept racking their brain as to what to say when they met the City Lord.

"Shut up!!" Franklin roared as he glanced at these nineteen people with killing intent in his eyes. The aura of a peak stage S-rank was seeping out of his body. "Don't make any rude remarks when the City Lord comes in! I will not hesitate to murder anyone who disrespects the City Lord!"

The people glanced at him in horror. They quickly shut their mouth, not daring to utter any words. Compared to Franklin's level, they weren't worthy to mention.

The only person capable of ignoring the killing intent was Edward, the family head of the s.h.i.+mpan Family. He was the strongest expert in Ekatoe City before the arrival of Astros. He was a person at peak stage S-rank.

Even though, he could still feel that this man who called himself Franklin was stronger than him. They were at the same level but he felt that he wasn't going to win if he fight this person.

Among the nineteen leaders in this room, only five of them were at S-rank. Aside from Edward, the remaining four S-ranks were only at the initial stage. The rest of the leaders were at peak A-rank.

"Boring..." Franklin sighed deeply when he saw their reaction. He wanted them to have an intense reaction so that he could start a battle here but it seems that these guys were well-behaved.

"Franklin..." Torkez said in a low voice.

"I know," Franklin flashed a faint smile. His wrinkled face looks demonic along with that killing intent flas.h.i.+ng deep in his eyes.

'This old man is still the same...' Torkez said inwardly as he shook his head. He could only recall that the old man was once a famous murderer in the Great Astley Empire.

"These guys will not last long. You know what I mean." Franklin said with a voice that only the two of them could hear.

At this time, the door opened and Souta entered the room with Alice following him.

The nineteen leaders turned their heads and saw a young man with pitch-black hair. His skin was fair and his features were sharp. He had a cold demeanor as if he didn't place anyone in his eyes.

Following behind him was a beautiful girl who looked like she was 18-20 years old with fair smooth skin. She had the same demeanor as the young man.

These two people were Souta and Alice. Before entering this room, Souta created a layer of skin using the ability of the parasite to change his appearance.

"Why haven't you greeted the city lord? Do you want to die?" Franklin said as the aura around his body grew stronger.

At this time, the nineteen people returned to their senses. They stood up at the same time and greeted Souta politely.

Souta smiled and returned their greetings.

They sat down after Souta gave them his permission. But they still couldn't believe that this young man was the mysterious City Lord who haven't made an appearance ever since he took the position. Although he was a young man, they couldn't underestimate him.

They couldn't perceive him. They could only feel a hint of aura and it was enough for their instinct to kick in, telling them that the person in front of them was dangerous.

Edward narrowed his eyes but he was shocked inwardly. He was a peak S-rank so his senses were higher than the rest. He naturally felt the best feram lingering around the young man's body and it felt too deep.

'This... A f-fourth stage monster...'

It was perceivable at his power level. Since the natural protective field around this young man's body was made of best feram, he knew that the one standing in front of them was a monster.

This made the situation worse. From his understanding, a party of Solidifying Realm was enough to deal with an initial level fourth stage but judging from the aura, this one wasn't an initial stage at all. So it would take a party of One Shackled Realm to deal with this monster.

Souta turned to Edward and smiled. He knew that Edward realized that he was a monster. He couldn't hide this fact from people at peak S-rank.

Well, it doesn't matter to him.

He looked at everyone and slowly opened his mouth, "I want all of you to submit to me. The city had changed so I want everyone here to work for me. What do you think, everyone?"

As soon as his voice fell, the nineteen leaders of the local forces were shaken. They couldn't believe that he would go straight to the point.

Edward raised his hand and asked, "City Lord, what do you mean by working for me? Aren't we already working for you?"

"Hmm..." Souta rubbed his chin before he answered. "What I mean is that you guys will join Astros. You see, I don't want any other forces around in my city. Oh, don't get the wrong idea here. I'm not forcing any of you to join. It's just that if you didn't join the Astros, you wouldn't have the right to stay in this place anymore."