180-188

Chapter 180 - Unexpected Guests

"That's the last one. With this, monsters should be returning here soon." I said as I put the last corpse of the people I killed in the forest. I was careful to not let the location I put the corpses near the main road to another city. But it took a while until I finished it.

"Roy, why do you have to do this? I don't think you're the kind that care much about other people not related to you." Victoria asked as she is on my shoulder in her small slime form.

"You're right that I'm not one to care about other people. Other than children. But this is related to my past regret after all. And despite my knowledge of the stampede, I let it happen. The result of my action should be better than if I stopped the stampede before it happened, but there are still casualties. I hope by doing this is enough for the survival of this city. We're leaving soon, right?"

"I don't know. At least Shirley and the agents will stay here for a while."

"Since I was asked to babysit Shirley, I'll stay as well until she is finished with whatever she's doing. Let's go back now."

After the stampede, the people will be busy rebuilding the city. As for the hunters, although they have the options to leave the city, there are still many of them who are residents of Melk city. That's why the returns of the monsters to the forest is important for the development of Melk.

The meat from the monsters can be shared to the people, and everything else can be taken care of by the guild and whoever will be in charge of Melk. I think that's what Shirley planning on doing here. Finding someone to be in charge of Melk temporarily until Albert decide it.

Let's hope the next person won't be anyone from the cult. If Albert the one who decide it, then I can trust this city to whoever the person Albert send.

We return to the city and see that everyone is already returned to doing whatever they were doing before Shirley's speech. The only difference is everyone stays away from me. No one dare to look at me. And when they see me, they escape as fast as they can, or pretend to not see me.

I'm being hated. But that's fine.

"Roy. You're crying."

"I'm not! These are… sweat!"

I denied that I'm crying. I'm fine being hated! It's true!

Let's quickly return to the hotel, change my clothes, then I can join everyone hating Shirley's guard.

I want to find an open restaurant and get some meals, but I don't think there are any business open today. I hope at least Lina is back at the hotel so she can cook me some foods.

Then I can wash my sadness away with food. Or is it digest?

I returned to the hotel, and as I opened the front door, I was greeted by two man.

"Hey! Been a while!"

I close the door instantly after seeing the face of the man greeting me and a smiling old man beside him.

I didn't expect this at all!

Because I thought that this city has been cleared out of the cult members, I let my guard down and didn't use my Divine Vision! That's why I didn't notice that these two are here!

Albert the king himself is here along with Ian the butler!

I'm fine with Ian being here, but Albert? Is he here for inspection? Or is it because he has another job for me?

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Think, Roy! Think!

But you may suck at thinking as well, so enough with it and just escape!

That's right. Escape is always the best options.

I quickly turn away from the door, and before I even move one step, Candy is already there and stopped me with a hug.

"I won't let you go!" She said.

"I won't let you go either!" I hugged her back as tight as I could.

Then the door opened again. This time it was Albert who opened from the inside.

"Roy. You're so easy to capture." He said.

"Then what if you're in the same situation with Marie hugging you?"

"Then I will never let her go!" Albert said proudly

"Right?"

"Umm… Roy? You can let go now." Candy said as she patted my back.

"Never!"

"Hohoho… then please continue hugging inside the hotel. You're making getting too much attention standing here and hugging Ms. Candy." Ian said.

I agree with Ian, so I entered the hotel right away. While still hugging Candy.

"Roy! This is embarrassing!"

"You're the first one to say you won't let me go! And I comply!"

"Just let me go! I'm busy!"

Candy's face is blushing really hard. Her face, ears, and neck are red. I guess she must be really embarrassed by the situation.

Without any other choice, I let her go.

As soon as she left my embrace, she exits the hotel. Maybe her business isn't over yet. But I don't think she can concentrate on her job when she's humming so happily.

"You two are really close. What about your other girlfriends?" Albert asked.

"Of course we're all close."

I looked inside the hotel. And this time, my Divine Vision is activated. Unfortunately, I didn't see Lina in the hotel. But at least there's a substitute chef right now.

"Ian. I'm hungry. Please cook me some meal."

"May I presume your 'some' means 'lots'?"

"Yes, please."

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Ian left to the kitchen, while Albert and I move to the dining hall and get a table. Victoria also transformed into her human form and sit with us.

"Now, what is your business here? When did you get here?" I asked Albert directly.

"I just arrived a moment ago. I ride on Ian's back as he transformed into a giant falcon and flew here from Cassau."

"You were in Cassau?"

"Yeah. I missed my daughter, Lana. I went there with Marie, and now Marie choose to stay there while I'm going here with Ian."

I think Albert arrived while I was outside the city. While I'm still busy placing the corpses of the stalkers and Luiz. Since Ian is flying, I might have noticed it. And it might be during the time when I was at the opposite side of where Cassau is so I didn't notice at all that he's here.

But the fact that he's here means that Sonia should have known about it, right? Why does she love to keep secrets from me?

"Where's Sonia anyway?" It was Victoria who asked.

"I think she's helping Shirley and the others. I heard from her about what happened here during our flight. You really did well making the cult as the enemy of the kingdom. I thank you for that. But to cut of someone else's ear in front of everyone is not something I'd like everyone to see."

"At least none of them would dare to go against the royalty now. Isn't that good?"

"Hah! As expected of you!"

Albert seems to have noticed that what I did is for the kingdom. It's something that I rarely do.

"So, what are you doing here? I don't think you're here just for greeting me, right?"

"Well, officially, I will arrive here in a few days after receiving letters from Shirley. When Migu-Mustache is nearby, I will have Ian take me there and then I will be arriving here officially." Albert said.

"You almost called his name correctly!"

"So you did remember his name!?"

"What? Who? Mustaguel?"

"Well, enough joking. I'll be staying here for a few days until Miguel arrive. Then I will handle everything. From what I heard, the burden of taking care of this city is too much for Shirley alone to bear."

"So, you're here because you're a doting brother?"

"I won't deny that."

"That mean you don't really have business with me, right?" I asked curiously.

I really don't want to take another job. I want to rest. No more taking job from Albert. It's fine to do that, right?

"Yes. You have been a great help. You deserve a rest. By the way, I heard that you made some friends here and play a new card game. What is it?"

Seems like he also heard about the hold 'em poker from whoever it is relaying a message with Sonia. I think it's Ms. Wendy. Was it necessary to tell him about that?

"Victoria. Explain it to him."

I found it a pain to explain it to Albert so I let Victoria do the honor. And once he understands the rule, we might be able to play some card game while waiting for the other.

During the time Victoria is explaining about the new poker game to Albert, Ian finished cooking. He seems to made some meal for himself and Albert. Well, after flying so far, of course they would be hungry.

After the meal, we chatted a bit and I finally return to my room and rest. We didn't play any games at all since I noticed Shirley and the others are arriving soon. I escape to my room before they gave me another task to do.

Chapter 181 - Crafting Equipment

Few days gone by, and Albert officially arrive at Melk. He will take care of the city for a while and appoint someone to be in charge of the area after Luiz's death.

Of course hearing the king himself arrive, the people become busier preparing to receive him. And I got more bored since I don't have much to do.

I wanted to go somewhere and hunt monsters, but when I went scouting, the monsters near the city hasn't increased much. But it's a good thing that they are returning little by little.

Since I am no longer needed by the others, I went my own way deep in the forest with Victoria. To where I store the Giant Salamander's tail. I'm thinking of making some protection for me. And if there are some leftovers, I would make some for the others as well. I think mostly it would be for Kayla since her fighting style is a close combat. And since she's a healer as well, protecting her is the most important duty as a group.

"Roy. You can't just keep running away from works. You are needed by everyone." Sonia said as she suddenly appears out of nowhere like usual.

"Actually, I can. The stampede is over now and whatever works needed to be done, anyone other than me can do it. And although the numbers are few, Albert also brought some people that can be used as manpower to help as well. I can leave everything to them." I said.

As for Victoria, since she can't go hunt monsters as well, she followed me since she was bored. And with her knowledge of armor from her previous world, I hope I can make more things.

"Well, since that's what you think. Anyway, what are you two doing going into the forest? I heard that you two just became lovers. Don't tell me you want to do it in the forest!?"

"As expected from a succubus. Your thoughts went that way in an instant. We're going to where I store the tail of a Giant Salamander is. I'm thinking of making some protection garbs for myself."

"Why? What's wrong with your Aura? You can just use Aura for protection, right?" Sonia asked.

"Having double protections mean I can endure more attack. And also, Giant Salamanders are monsters with resistance toward fire attack. I hope with this new equipment I'll make, I can resist magic attack. At least from fire magic. I can't cut magic with Aura after all. I hope I can do it in the future."

Being unable to protect myself from magic attack is the biggest weakness an Aura user has. Sonia and also Victoria has told me the legend about an Aura user that can cut magic, but I think that's still too far for me if the story is true.

At least for now, my goal is to be able to improve my Aura so I can step on air first. My air element magic should be helpful so I can do that, but the magic stones for cultivating my air element is not done yet.

And I also wanted to improve my summoning level as well. But there are no monsters nearby. If I want to do that, I have to go further from the city. But if I go too far, the others will be worried.

I have too many buts and ifs here. Since the stampede is over and the future is unknown, I started to overthink about everything. Maybe I was overthinking in the past as well, but now I do it more frequently.

In the end, everything is for the sake of my survival. Overthinking is fine as long as I don't overdo it.

For now, since there is no urgent matter at hand, I can overthink as much as I want.

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Well, not for long. Since I have arrived at our destination, I will focus myself on crafting some equipment.

"We're here. Let's start making something."

We entered a cave inside the forest where I store the Giant Salamander's tail is. I haven't even taken the scales off of the tail, so that's the first thing I do after I arrive despite saying things like let's start making something.

"By the way, does Salamander's meat edible?" I asked the two old- I mean experienced ladies.

"Whatever the case, this one's meat is already rotten. Why didn't you pick some meat right away and brought them to the hotel?" Sonia said.

Well, the smell is terrible. She's right, the meat is rotten. But I think the scales are still fine. So, let's take off the scales off first.

"Yeah, I forgot about that. What about the body of the Giant Salamander?" I asked Victoria.

Since Victoria is helping Shirley and the others much more often than me, and she also often goes to the guild, she should know about the aftermath of the Giant Salamander's body.

"After being taken by the guild, they grabbed some volunteers to taste test the meat. So far, there have been no side effects. Which means soon everyone would be able to taste it. This is the first time we tried to consume Giant Salamander's meat after all, so they need to be careful first." Victoria explained.

Then she continued and told me that although there had been multiple cases of hunters subjugated Giant Salamanders, none of them brought the Giant Salamander's meat before since Giant Salamander's nest usually deep in a cave and is difficult to bring back their meat. And its other parts of the Giant Salamanders are valuable, like its claws, fangs, and scales. So, they are more important than its meat.

Although I don't know what they were being used for since there is no blacksmith in this world. Maybe they are being used as knives or other kitchen utensils? Or maybe they are being processed into some kind of jewelries?

After some time of taking off the scales, I threw away the other parts since they are not needed. The fact that the meat is still there after a few days meant that there are no monsters nearby. Which is as expected after the stampede.

"Alright. Victoria, please show me a good armguard for me. One that is fit to be hidden under my sleeves." I asked Victoria.

Then Victoria transformed into an armguard which is the one I used to have her transformed into before I used her as grappling hook. I already wore it before so I got used to it quickly and I decided I will make one similar to that.

I didn't do anything fancy to build the equipment. Just hammering and cutting the scales so I can shape them into what I want them to be.

As a prototype, I turn one scale of the Giant Salamander into an armguard. The shape is quite simple. Simpler than the armguard that Victoria shows me before. But since this is just for experiment, it's fine.

"Alright, Victoria! Attack me!" I ordered Victoria to test the endurance of the prototype.

Victoria in her human form, has one hand transformed into a hammer and strikes me lightly. I blocked it with the armguard without using Aura at all.

And I stopped the hammer easily. The experiment was a success! The scale armguard is working!

"Good! This size makes it easy for me to hide it under my sleeve. But before that, let's try hitting it until it broke. Victoria! Harder!"

"Okay! You're the boss here!"

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Victoria said as if she was forced to do it.

This time Victoria used various weapon to attack. A sword slash, hammer strikes, spear thrust, axe swing, and my armguard able to protect me. Her attacks make a scratch on my armguard, and finally, on the 12th attacks, my armguard broke. Luckily before the axe hit my arm, I covered it with my Aura so I'm not hurt.

"12 attacks! Great! Next, let's make another one and try attacking me while I covered the armguard with my Aura!" I said.

I quickly made another one similar to the one that got broken. Since I made one before, I did it faster and tried it with Victoria again.

This time, the protection on my arm is stronger than before because of my Aura. After having Victoria attacked me for a hundred time, there's no sign that it will break at all.

"Great! With this, I can make a great armguards and shin guards for me!" I feel excited that I can build my own armor.

But when I looked at Victoria, she seems worried about something. It's the first time I see her like this.

"Victoria, what's wrong?" It was Sonia who asked first. Seems like she also noticed that Victoria is weird today.

"Nothing. Just… I can't seem to get any stronger than I am. No matter how much I trained, I won't be able to get stronger or faster. The best thing I can do is to alter my weight to improve the damage. And now the duty of being your armor is disappearing, my job is getting lesser and lesser." Victoria says her worry.

"…that's it?"

"What!? We're about to enter a war against the cult! And you think these thoughts of mine is useless!?" Victoria is angry at me. It's the first time I've seen her like this. I always thought that Victoria is the most chill person I have met. But even she has some worries.

"Well, first, you are from another world. Your imagination is your strongest weapon now since you can transform into anything you want now. Strength? Rather than improving your power, you can increase your arsenal. Transform into something else instead of sword and hammer. There's no magic in your world, right? But you have the idea of air gun. That means there's a way for you to compress some air without magic and use it as a gun."

"Hmm… you're right! My worry is totally useless now. I still have a lot of ways to get improve other than physical strength. Thanks, Roy!" Victoria smiles at me.

"Rather, I was confused since you should have known about it more than I do. Does the stampede affect you in a way?"

"I think it did. There are several times that I was outmatched by a monster."

"Sigh… my slime forgets that she is a slime… anyway, I haven't done talking about your strength yet. Did you forgot that just the second time we talked after I summoned you for the first time that you told me you have other abilities from the slime that you can use after I improve my level?" I remind her of the time she told me that time travel is one of the slime's ability. And there are other abilities she will regain as I improve my level.

"…right! And I have transformation ability and weight changing skill. As for the next one… it's probably… I got it!"

"What!? Do you know what ability you will regain?"

"I won't tell you about it! I'll show you later when I can do it!" She said.

Seems like she has returned to her cheerful state. That's good. The gloomy Victoria is not something I want to see.

After that, we made the armguards and shin guards for me. When I tell Sonia to ask if the girls wanted to get some equipment, they refused since they think it might look ugly on them since I'm not a professional.

I guess I'm the only one getting some new equipment.

Chapter 182 - Secret Meeting

During the time when Roy and the others are busy in Melk and doing their own businesses, somewhere in an unknown location unmarked in any maps, a discussion is happening.

"What the hell happened!?" asked a man in priest clothing and a white mask. Rather than a mask, it was more like a helmet that covers his whole head.

"The experiment is a success. With the invention we make, we can make it so monsters can follow our simple orders. That's what happened." Another man with a lab coat replied.

If Roy, Albert, or anyone from their group listened to this conversation, they would realize who these people are.

That's right. These people are the higher ups of the cult who gave the order to destroy several designated cities by using monsters.

Other than the two masked people, there are several other people there. One of them is Veronica.

These people are called because the higher ups haven't received any news from the stampede. They even send some people to scout the area where the stampede happened, but they haven't returned.

"I understand that your invention worked, but what I asked is why have we never received any news at all!? What about the people we send to investigate!?" The masked man asked.

"Maybe there are some trouble on the way. Please be patient and wait until they return. My guess is the mages around the targeted city are stronger than expected, so the stampede is longer than we thought. And that's why there had been no news at all." The researcher said to calm the masked man down.

"It might take a while for them to return here. Even I who just left Melk a day before the stampede only arrive yesterday. Although they should be faster than my horse carriage, it will still take some time for the people you sent return."

The one who said it was Veronica. Although she is a traitor of the cult, no one knows about it other than Roy's group. And her acting is very persuasive that no one thinks that she is a traitor.

No one looks at her with suspicion, but there is one person who looks at her in contempt. It was Celestine. Another person who, like Veronica, was sent to Melk after the Orc Emperor appearance in Melk.

The clothes she wears shows her cleavage openly making men unable to look away from her.

If Roy is here, he will recognize Celestine just from her look alone despite never seeing her before. He will say something like, 'She's the leader of the big boobs faction!'

Celestine always hated to be compared with Veronica. She always thought of herself being superior from Veronica. And seeing her talking to the masked man makes Celestine hate her even more.

"Veronica. Celestine. You two were sent to Melk city after the Orc Emperor's subjugated, right? Tell me about that city."

The masked man told Veronica and Celestine to explain their experience when they stay in Melk.

Celestine about to explain to the masked man, but she refrains to do so because of their failure to do their job. So, she looked at Veronica and told her with her eyes to be the one talking.

"We might have underestimated that city. The mages in that city are stronger than we thought. The army we sent were all annihilated when we tried to kill someone who was about to level up. But I doubt any of our people leaked our secrets."

"Do you think the one responsible for their deaths is the same group as the one who subjugated the Orc Emperor?" The masked man asked.

"The rumor that was spread by the guild is that someone called Kron is the one responsible in the Orc Emperor's death. So, we were careful to not provoke him. But Kron disappear from the city just a day after the Orc Emperor's subjugation and haven't returned to Melk during my time there. So, the possibility that he was the one who killed our army is small."

Veronica and Celestine's job in Melk is to take care of the powerful mages in Melk before the stampede so their plan can go smoothly. But they failed since they encountered Roy's company.

After that event, Roy left Melk for a while and didn't return to Melk until it was close to the day for the exam. And that's why both Veronica and Celestine unable to investigate who is responsible in the annihilation of an entire army. Although Veronica realize it after Sonia told her about it.

Ever since Sonia told Veronica that it was Roy's party who was responsible for the Orc Emperor's subjugation, she had a slight hope that Roy and the others can stop the stampede. Especially if they are being helped by the king.

But for now, she is playing the role of the evil one. As an important member of the cult. So she answered everything honestly.

"So the both of you think that it's impossible for the stampede to not destroy Melk, right?" The masked man asked.

"… other than the stampede, the person in charge of making sure the city is destroyed has chosen to stay behind. And he's an expert level mage in two elements at least. So unless they have someone who has reached expert level as well, it should be impossible to stop the stampede." Veronica said.

She had told Roy and the others that Luiz is an expert level mage, but she is still doubtful about them being able to stop the stampede. Until the day after the stampede when Sonia visits her in the middle of the night to inform her what happened. And now Veronica is more hopeful than ever that she can finally say goodbye to the cult that raised her and used her.

"Not just Luiz. I also left some people to disturb the city's defense in case they can hold back the stampede. And one man among them has just became an expert level a few days before the stampede began. Which makes there are two expert level making sure the city is destroyed. There might be survivors among the people of Melk, but our goal should be completed this way."

Not wanting Veronica to gain all the credits, Celestine said that to the masked man.

Veronica is surprised when she heard that. Sonia didn't tell anything about how Roy stopped the stampede so she doesn't know at all that there is another expert level mage. She doesn't know of the fate of that other expert level mage.

What if he survives? He will then tell the cult how the city survives the stampede. Many thoughts entered her mind, but she still has an expressionless face to show the others.

"Is that so. It's good news to have another expert level mage under us. When he returns, tell him that his rank will be raised."

"I will." Celestine smiled thinking that she will be the one taking the credits from Veronica.

When she was told to visits Melk together with Veronica, she didn't like that idea at all. She has always been compared to her. And she hated the idea that the higher ups think that Veronica is at the same level as she is.

That's why when she was in Melk, she quickly told Veronica that she will pick someone from her faction who will lead the army so she can gain some credits. But only after killing some weaklings, somehow, the army who went on a mission never returned.

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And so, her stays in Melk were lengthened. But there's no clue at all as to why her people never return. Which makes her think that there are some hidden experts in the city.

She is also the one who send people to spy on Veronica. They are disguised as Veronica's people.

While thinking so, someone entered the room in a hurry.

"Report! The stampede in Hirugas is a failure! And most of our people there have been killed during the stampede!" The messenger reported.

"What!? Who killed them!?" Asked the masked man.

"We don't know. But from the corpses the witness says, it seems to be the work of the monsters!" replied the messenger.

In Hirugas, the one in charge of taking care of the stampede and evacuation in that area is the current Prime Minister's son, Hector. He told the agents there to disguise the death of the cult members as if it was the works of the monsters. He ordered it just in case someone from the cult survives and reported it to their boss.

As for the witness, it was a fifteen years old boy who has just recently joined the cult. He joined just after Roy left that city. That's why no one from the agents who were send to protect Hirugas noticed that there is a survivor from the cult in that city.

"You mean that while the stampede is a failure, we are the one who received casualties as well? How could that be!?" The masked man shouted in anger.

"Whatever the case, our research has come to fruition. We can control stampede to happen. What about the flight transportation?"

Suddenly, there was a voice of a man coming from a door that no one other than the masked man can enters. He is the leader of the cult. The man who proclaimed himself as the True God and the one people from the cult worship.

"My lord! The transportation is a success! We used the wyverns to transport monsters directly into the city. Soon we will be able to use the wyverns and other flying monsters as our means of transportation!"

The masked man then kneeled toward the door, followed by the other people who are there.

"Good. Once we control the sky, we can control the world. And destruction will come after."

The one who called himself as the True God makes world destruction as his and his cult's goal.

Veronica's body shivered each time a word comes out from the door. She can't take being there any longer and wish that the one behind the door doesn't realize her betrayal.

Not just Veronica. Even others who are extremely loyal such as the masked man, also shudders from hearing the voice from the door.

"Melk. Are there any other unresolved issues from that city?" The man behind the door asked curiously. It was because after hearing about the death of one of their experiment, the Orc Emperor, he was slightly curious about that city.

Celestine and Veronica shook their heads and replied that nothing worth mentioning happened.

But there's one thing that they didn't report. It's about someone almost destroyed a practice target by throwing a button and no one knows who did it. Veronica knows that it was Roy who did it and keep it as a secret, while Celestine never thought of that event as something important so she forgets about it.

Which is good, since if they reported about it, the man behind the door will know that it was the works of an Aura user. A non-magic ability that should have been extinct for a thousand years.

Chapter 183 - Veronica Returns To Melk

Few days after I finished making equipment for myself, I was playing cards with the boys. Hill, Kron, Oleg, and Mustache. We didn't play with Albert since it's no fun playing with someone who can tell lies. But he insists on joining so he is the dealer while Victoria is leaving with the girls.

We didn't bet money and just use matchsticks to play. We're just doing it for fun after all.

By the way, there are still some leftovers left of the Giant Salamander's scales. And since no one else needed and wanted physical protection, I turned them all into throwing knives and a pair of daggers. I wanted to have something big as weapon, but it's difficult to carry them with me. Especially when I'm in town.

After Albert's arrival at Melk, he managed took charge of the city and it slowly restored the city back to normal. And now we were supposed to not have anything else to do in Melk and thought of returning to Cassau, but something important comes up.

Two days ago, Sonia appears in front of us bringing message from Veronica. Veronica is returning to Melk together with some other cult members. She was sent here to investigate about the stampede and how the city is not destroyed.

She said that there was a new cult member who survive the stampede, and he reported about how Hirugas city managed to fend off the monsters. That's why the cult sent their people to the targeted cities, and Veronica's destination is Melk.

Which is great now since Albert is here as well, so we decided to stay here for a few more days. The only thing left for us is to make Veronica leaves other cult members' eyes when she is in this city and makes her meet Albert.

She said since it's an important mission, she travels to Melk by flying. And with her power as an expert level wind mage, she should be arriving today faster than the other cult members.

Which mean once she arrived in Melk, we should have enough time before the other cult members arrive. Probably they will arrive tomorrow.

That's why we are playing cards not in the hotel, but in an empty building. This is the place where we will have our meeting with Veronica.

Of course not all of us will be there. Oleg, Hill, and Kron will not stay for the meeting. They just leave the difficult things to us. Albert will do the talking and Mustache will be his bodyguard. As for me, I will hide and watch the area in case there are some cult members trying to spy on us.

We told Veronica to enters the gate normally so we have time to look for cult members before she arrives in this building.

"Hey. Why won't you let her just fly to this building? It's faster that way, right?" Kron asked.

"Even in the cult, she was being spied on by other people. Even if she says that she will come alone, that doesn't mean the people spying on her will leave her alone. Making her walk from the gate will make sure that she will gain people's attention on her. Then I will use the time before she arrives here to see if she brought any spies with her." I replied.

"You really think that she got the look as good as you say? That will make all men turn their eyes on her?" Hill asked me.

"Most men should be attracted to her looks as long as they don't have similar taste as you have." I said to Hill.

"Hmm… I see. So Hill has a unique taste. Why does it seem like everyone other than me knows about his taste?" Kron asked.

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"…rather than that, we are confused as to why you never realize it after all this time." Oleg said.

We have been regularly meeting with each other and play some games together to pass the time. Victoria has taught us many other card games from her world, but the one we enjoyed most is Hold 'em Poker.

During the time we gather together like this, we are equal. Even when the king himself is participating in the game, we talked to each other normally. Other than Mustache who insist to speak to Albert in honorific.

We talked about many things. From our friends, girlfriends, family, and every little thing as well. Albert said these group can be trusted, so I told them that I come from the future, and that's how I know that the stampede will happen.

Albert also told everyone that he has twin children instead of just one. And his daughter is under my care. Hence, I was nicknamed as Kidnapper by the guys.

Since both Albert and Oleg are married, they can open their heart to each other about their wives and situation at home. We are just close friends here. Not a king and his vessels.

"Hmm? Seems like she's here."

I see with my Divine Vision that there are a crowd of people, mostly men, looking at the same direction. To the gate. So I know that Veronica should be here.

"Then we'll be going. Good luck with the interrogation!" Oleg, Hill, and Kron, leave the building.

Then I also leave as well to check if Veronica brought some spies she doesn't know with her.

"Albert. Tell Sonia to contact the Victoria that Veronica is here."

Victoria and Sonia are the only two people who have meet Veronica before. As for me, I was in hiding so she never actually sees me.

After Victoria finally take full control of the slime, she told me to call her through Sonia instead of summoning her directly if I want her to come. Of course if it was an emergency, I can directly summon her. But since this is not one of those moment, I called her through Sonia.

After telling Albert that, I leave the building and look for Veronica.

She didn't get herself surrounded by men, but most men are staring at her from a distance. It's easy to find her, but it's difficult to find the spies among them.

She keeps walking around through a path that we planned instead of walking directly to her destination. It's so that we can find anyone who is following her.

And after walking around, I don't see anyone who is following her. There are some men who tried to flirt with her, but she refused them. Those men don't seem to be bad people since they gave up pursuing her. Maybe it's because I put a lot of men like them in prison after the stampede, and that makes these people afraid of going too far.

I don't see any trace of spies following her. That's good, so I return back to the building and hide inside the room beside where she will have a discussion with Albert.

When Albert sees me entering the room, he knows that everything is clear. I also see Victoria is also there in her human form. Other than the two and Mustache who is guarding Albert, Shirley and Candy are there as well. As for Sonia, she will be here later.

Soon, the door opened and a gorgeous lady entered the building. It was Veronica.

As soon as she sees Albert, she's down on her knee and greet him.

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"Your majesty."

"You can stand up and take a seat over there. Do you know the reason we called you here?"

"Yes. It was to ask about the cult's next action." Veronica said as she stands up and sit on the sofa in front of Albert.

"Well, that's true. But that's not the main reason we called you. Some of us still don't believe that you are really wanted to leave the cult, so we're here to ask you that. Will you accept the interview?"

"If that's what you wish."

Veronica agreed to be interrogated. She also knows that she can't be trusted by us, so she complies with our request.

"Alright. First, tell me your name."

"Veronica."

"Okay. Next is, do you really want to leave the cult?"

"I am."

"Please tell us the reason."

"I never wanted to be part of the cult. They just wanted to use me for my appearance to gather more believer. And they are the one who is responsible in the death of my parents. Not only I want to leave the cult, I also desire to thoroughly destroy them. But it's impossible for me alone to do that."

Veronica answered.

I looked with my Divine Vision and see that Albert has one of his hand behind his back, raising two of his fingers and making a peace sign. It's a signal for me that she is telling the truth.

"Does that mean you want to join us?" Albert asked.

"If your goal is to destroy them, then I will." Veronica said confidently.

"Our goal is not just to destroy them. We are going to protect everyone as well. So, will you join us?" Albert invited her to join us.

But what does it mean by joining? Don't tell me he's still want me to build a clan, and makes her join the clan?

"I will."

"Thank you for joining. We are planning to build a clan in Cassau. The clan will mainly take request from me, the king. And most of the requests should mainly be related to the cult. As for the leader of the clan, he is Victoria's master."

"SO YOU JUST LEAVE EVERYTHING TO ME AGAIN, YOU DAMNED KING!"

Chapter 184 - Testing My New Skill To The King

After hearing that Veronica was going to join my clan, and the establishment of my clan will really happen, I smashed the door and barge into their room as I shouted a complain to Albert.

Why does he want to have me do everything for him? Is it because I came from the future? My Aura ability? The fact that my summon came from another world? My reliability? My charm? My awesomeness?

…I think those are the reasons why he believes in me. Especially my awesomeness. But that doesn't mean I have to do everything he says.

As I barged into the room, no one is surprised with my reaction. Do they already expect this? Or is it that I'm predictable?

As for Veronica, she should be able to notice my location since she is an expert level mage, but she must have not expected that I move too fast from where I was behind the wall, to the door, and smash it open. That must be why she has a shocked expression seeing me.

Or is it because she never expected me to be so handsome that I am her type? Let's stay positive and think of it that way.

"Oh, Roy! You have met Veronica before but I don't think she has seen your face before. Veronica, this is Roy. Victoria's master. And he will also be the leader of the clan that you will join eventually. As for the name of the clan… how about The King's Henchmen?"

There's one thing I learned to do during my free time after the stampede and crafting my equipment. It's a little combination of my air element magic and my Aura ability.

First, I compress air in front of me, or anywhere within my body's reach, then I covered it with my Aura. Then with any part of my body covered with Aura, I pushed the compressed air toward my target, then once it gets close to my target, I let it explode. My manipulating objects remotely with my Aura is still difficult for me and I can't use it for a long time, so I have to move quickly.

This is also served as a practice for me so I can quickly learn how to step on air. I managed to touch air by doing this, but for me to take a step on air is still impossible. The air I compressed can't hold my weight, and the speed of my steps is too fast or too slow that the compressed air burst before I can move forward.

But this time, I used it as an attack.

With the air compressed, but only as strong as a shoulder taps, I pushed the compressed air forward with a slap toward Albert's face. As it gets closer to Albert's face, I let it explode and the impact hit him on his right cheek.

"Air Slap!"

I shouted the name I just made for this technique. And Albert got knocked back and fell on the chair's armrest.

"Argh!"

Of course since it's just at the level of a shoulder pat, it doesn't hurt much. Albert is just overreacting.

"That's freaking hurt!"

"It doesn't."

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"Of course it does!"

"It doesn't."

"You will be given death sentence!"

"No, I won't."

"Miguel! Kill him!" Albert ordered Mustache to kill me.

"My apologies, your majesty. He's beyond my strength to kill." Said Mustache calmly.

Meanwhile, the girls are looking at us as if it was daily occurrence, while Veronica is shocked to see that the King is being attacked in front of her.

"Don't worry, Veronica. This is how they are bonding with each other. Men are like this." Sonia said to Veronica.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You'll get used to it soon. Since they are acting like this in front of you, it means that they have chosen to trust you. You should be glad." Sonia said.

Veronica is still confused hearing Sonia's remark.

As for me, I'm still in a heated argument with Albert.

"You want to kill me? That's impossible! I'm too important of a chess piece for you that you will never think of killing me for real!" I said.

"Oh, yeah? I have other methods to make you suffer! I'll make sure you will receive difficult mission once your clan is established! That's right! Your clan will undoubtedly be built sooner or later! You can't escape from being its leader!" Albert said.

Man… Is he doing this because he trusts me, or is he doing this because he wants to make me suffer?

"Enough, you two! We're in an important discussion here! You can play later after we're done!"

The only one here who dares to say that to Albert is his own sister, Shirley who is watching the discussion. As for the others, there are some who have enough courage to do that, but they don't want to do it. They are the oldest people here, Victoria and Sonia. But they just watched us arguing.

We were still haven't finished our quarrel even after Shirley told us to, but Victoria choose to ignore us and continue the discussion themselves.

"So, you are here because of a mission, right?" Victoria asked.

"Yes. I was told to check on this city is destroyed or not. If not, I need to find the reason why." Veronica answered.

"I see. Then why don't we make up a reason for that instead of arguing?" Victoria said that to Albert and me.

"I guess we can settle our score later." Albert said.

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"There's nothing to settle about. Now let's make up some story." I said.

"Once these two are like this, you should be careful and listen carefully so the story they made won't be too messed up. They will enjoy this a lot." Candy said to Veronica.

Alright, so we need to make a story about how the stampede is over without destroying the city.

"First, let us tell you what happened here after the stampede is over first. Once we do, you can understand the story better. We will just tell you about what everyone knows, so in case someone from the cult asked you about it, it won't be a lie." I said as I took a seat next to Albert.

We told her that after the stampede is over, the story that we told everyone in the city is that we managed to capture one person involved with the stampede. He is the governor himself.

Then through some kind of interrogation, we managed to make Luiz talk. He couldn't use magic since we have a Magic Restriction Collar used on him. We told Veronica that it was taken from Luiz's palace.

Of course Veronica knows that the Magic Restriction Collar is something we took from one of her people during the time they targeted Angela when she was about to breakthrough. But she didn't deny everything we said and listen closely to us.

Then we made a public appearance with the tied-up Luiz in front of everyone, and told them everything we knows as if it was something we learned from Luiz.

"And that's basically everything that happened after the stampede. Do you have any questions?" I asked.

"Hmm… so you telling this mean that it's fine for the cult to know about this? About how you guys are trying to make the cult as everyone's common enemy to unify everyone in this kingdom. You're making the cult guilty about every crime you point at us. Then using that, you called out to every citizen and told them that the cult is their enemy. Am I right?" Veronica summarized what we told her.

"That's basically it. But we're also planning to make every other country to make a move against the cult. This is also the reason we let the stampede happened on purpose and let many people die as a result. Although it's something we wanted to avoid, it's a necessary move from our part to let people know the danger that cult gives." Albert said.

"Alright. I have no more questions. Even if other people from the cult tries to investigate, if those are what the people here knows, they will find the same answers however they investigate."

"Yeah. As long as people from our side keep their mouth shut." I said.

"Don't worry. I have told everyone to never get drunk until everything is taken care of, and only speak what everyone knows as well."

Seems like Albert has made a move and told our allies here to shut their mouth.

"Now as for the story of how the stampede is over… let's say that the princess was here during the stampede, and she brought a really powerful bodyguard. That bodyguard is a tamer who has two Living Armor as his contracted monsters. Make it so the story goes like this. The princess' bodyguard found some powerful magic weapon from inside a dungeon, and he gave those weapons to his monsters. Making them powerful enough to kill a Giant Salamander." It was Shirley who suggested that story.

And seeing from the girls' reaction, seems like they have prepared this answer. Which means we won't have our turns in making the story.

"Hey! What about my version of the story!?"

"Yeah! Mine as well!"

Albert and I complained, but Shirley replies calmly.

"We don't know when the people following Veronica will come, so the faster we finish the story, the better it is for us."

After that, the girls started chatting with Veronica about her living condition in the cult, her past, and what makes Victoria sympathized with her during their first meeting.

As for Albert and me, we are completely forgotten. If it's like this, then I should be allowed to go home, right?

Chapter 185 - So Secretive!

While Albert and I just listening, I remembered something else.

"Hey. Have you found an inn?" I asked Veronica where she will stay.

"Not yet."

"Then you should go and quickly find one. You can't use the governor's palace again, you know? It's being taken over by the king and the princess."

Then Victoria suggested an idea.

"How about staying in our hotel?" Victoria asked.

"That's a bad idea. There are some other cult members who will arrive, and possibly, they wanted to pick the same inn as Veronica. And Veronica's place might be used for their meeting place. Once you're done here, you should quickly go find an inn. But before that, we need to finish our discussion first." I said.

After saying that, everyone returned to their own position from before and listened closely to our discussion.

"Alright then. what is the cult planning to do now that the stampede is over? Are they planning to have another big event?" Albert asked.

The big event he mentioned is something like the stampede, or something else that might cause trouble for the kingdom.

"Not within the next few years. The lord said that after the stampede, we will focus mainly on improving our strength, research, and getting more people to join." Veronica answered.

"But that's before we realized their existence, right? Now that we will spread their existence to everyone in this kingdom, do you think your lord will make a change in plan?" Albert asked.

"Hmm… I don't know, but I don't think he will care about it. But that's a different story with the Archbishop. He is devoted to the lord. So, when things go wrong like this, he might send some people to take care of anyone who is possibly be a danger to the cult. Which is why he's sending me here."

"Then let's say that most of the monsters are defeated by Shirley's bodyguard. That way, they will start concentrating on the royalty instead of the people. And since we know their goal, we are also better prepared."

So, Albert choose to let himself be the bait. Looking at how confident he is, he must have prepared this in advance. Probably ever since I told him about the cult. And that's the reason he's sending his own daughter and sister to me. To make sure they are safe.

"Then, when the people from the cult arrive, they should be looking for you, right?" Albert asked Veronica.

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"Yes. We're planning to meet in three days whether everyone arrives or not." Veronica replied.

"Then…"

Albert looked at me. Then everyone followed suit.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Don't tell me it's another job? Then I won't do it!" I said.

"Don't worry. Your job is just to kill some people. You and Victoria will kill those cult members travelling here. It's a good chance for you to improve your summoning level as well, right? If you're using Victoria as weapon, it will be faster to improve. Who knows if you can breakthrough before going home?"

"…"

I blanked for a few seconds there. Raising summoning element? Killing mages works as well? What the hell!

Did I just killed the expert level mage, Luiz, without using Victoria!? Did I just let that stalker kill himself instead of stabbing him with Victoria as a sword? Did I just let those people die without getting any benefits!? How could I be so stupid!?

After finishing the Giant Salamander, I know that my summoning element started to increase. After that, I thought that since the monsters nearby are gone, Victoria and I can't go out to hunt monsters. That's why I never get my summoning level improved after the stampede.

And I just let Luiz die without trying it!? He's such a diamond! An expert level mage! Even more, in two elements! I should be able to improve my summoning element by a significant amount! It should be no surprise if I actually have broken through intermediate level!

"…Roy? What the hell is wrong with you?" Candy is worried about my state.

"Ah! He must be shocked! He has a chance to kill an expert level mage to improve his summoning level, but he didn't do it. I mean his decision was correct at the time, but he didn't consider about improving his summoning element one bit. And there were even eight mages chasing after us and he just let two of them kill themselves. While the others, he didn't have me kill them. Now he remembered all of that, he went into shock." Victoria explained.

"…he's stupid, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is."

"There's no doubt about that."

Shirley, Sonia, and Victoria agreed to the same thing. Even Candy and Albert nodded as well.

"Forget it. I'm not the kind of man who clings into the past." I said.

"That's the problem! You have to cling to the past instead of forgetting it! We have so many difficulties just because you don't remember much about your past! Anyone can say that but you!" Albert shouted in anger.

Everyone who knows about me coming from the future looked at me in disdain. As for Veronica, she doesn't know it yet so she is curious about what happened.

"You don't need to know yet. I'll tell you once you leave the cult. Now that we have planned a story about how the stampede is over, let's talk about her leaving the cult. Any ideas? If not, then Albert and I will make up some stories about it and it will take a lot of time once we start our discussion." I quickly change the subject. But still, it's good that I remember a few things rather than not remembering at all, right?

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"Just have her die. We can fake her death and when the other cult members arrive, we can let them return to their headquarter to report to their boss." Albert said.

This time, it seems like we're not playing around and he just quickly make a sound suggestion.

I'm confused. Does he want me to kill those cult members before they arrive, or does he want to let them come?

"Anyway, I don't think I can leave so soon. They will be suspicious if I didn't return. I think it will be best if I have a safe place to go to once I faked my death. Maybe after the clan was built? Then I would need a disguise so no one from the cult will recognize me." Veronica said.

She can't leave the cult at the moment so she suggested to leave once the clan is established.

As for her disguise, she can dye her hair later. Maybe put on some fake scars on her face if she doesn't mind it. The problem is her hip. That area is something that we find it hard to be disguised.

"We'll think about that later. For now, about their headquarter. Where is it located?" Albert asked.

"We don't have any real location for it. Every once in a while, the lord suddenly disappears from his chamber with a letter left hanging on his door saying where the next headquarter will be. The lord himself has never shown his face to anyone. Probably even the Archbishop himself never seen him even though he's the only one allowed to enter his chamber. As for us, we only ever heard of his voice coming from the door of his chamber." Veronica answered.

What the hell!? So secretive!

"I see. Then how did he build the cult? It has been there for a long time, right?" I asked.

"All of the members of the higher ups select their successor once they choose to retire. As for the Archbishop himself, he said that he was appointed by the lord just before the previous Archbishop died. But no one knows if that has ever happened or not, so there's a chance that the current Archbishop is different from the Archbishop I first met." Veronica answered.

"Then shall we charge into their current headquarter and destroy them right away? It's faster that way, right?" I suggested.

"The Archbishop is a master level mage in at least one element. If you think he can be killed, then please kill him right away." Veronica said with a serious expression.

"Master level!"

Everyone is shocked hearing that someone has actually reached a master level. Just Luiz alone, an expert level mage in two elements prove to be difficult to handle. What about a master level mage?

"Let's scratch that idea. We'll do what we can for now. Roy, you will be our strongest card for the war against the cult. That's why we need you to get stronger. Two years. After our works in Melk is over, I'll give you those two years you always wanted so much to grow stronger, without giving you any job. I can delegate Miguel, or maybe Hill, Oleg, or Kron to do those jobs. They already agreed to help us to the best of their abilities. For now, you will be patrolling outside the city and find the cult members who are coming here. Then once Veronica's mission is over and she will return, confront her with Victoria and fight. We need evidence to prove that Veronica is fighting against someone who killed the rest of the cultists." Albert told everyone his ideas. I think that is a good idea.

"Then I should pretend I'm losing and retreat, right? And Veronica will report everything that happened truthfully." I said.

"Right. Among everyone here, you are probably the only one who can endure her expert level wind magic. We need it to be a real fight between a tamer who tamed a Living Armor, and Veronica, the expert level wind mage."

"Make me a tamer and also a wind element mage. That way, they won't be suspicious why I can escape from you." I said to Veronica.

Then after our discussion is over, I return to the hotel so I can get a good sleep since I probably won't have enough sleep for the next few days.

Although I wanted to improve my summoning level quickly, I hope the cult members who are coming here are not expert level mages.

Chapter 186 - Veronica Leaves Melk

A week has passed since our discussion, and I think I have killed all the cult members who are trying to come to Melk. But my summoning element hasn't increased to intermediate yet. I still regretted how I didn't kill Luiz back then.

So far, there has been no one tried to make a contact with Veronica, so we thought that it's safe for her to stay in our hotel. And we are probably right in doing that since we also learned more about the cult.

First, their research lab. The cult has done a lot of experiment, using monsters and even humans. Just like how they did a research to get monster follows human's order.

The location of the lab isn't known yet. Although their headquarter moves a lot, their lab shouldn't be able to move like that since they have done many evil experiments. But it seems that other than their head of research and the Archbishop himself, no one else knows where it is located.

But since we found out that the Orc Emperor has found its way to Melk, I think it should be near this area. Unless that Orc Emperor capable of a really long-distance travel. That's why Albert told the agents to look around in case they found something unusual.

Now that he mentions it, does that cave they used for recruitment still there? I told Albert about it and he ordered the agents to look for that cave.

I also went there, but after I arrive, I don't see any trace of it being a lab research even after I used my Divine Vision. And so, I left that place for the agents to investigate. They should be better in finding clues than I am.

Other than the research lab, we found clues about some of the higher ups' faces. We let Victoria turned into something we can mold, and have Veronica explains to us how they look like.

After shaping Victoria into their appearances, Veronica would explain their color since Victoria can't change it. Their skin color, hair color, the color of their eyes, the clothes they usually wear, and some of the cult members wear a mask, so she told us about how they look like and the color of their mask.

Veronica also explained to us that there might be some of them who wanted to leave the cult like she does. So if possible, we are not allowed to kill them.

One of them is Celestine. The leader of big boobs faction.

"She might be annoying since she always thought of me as her rival, but I never thought of her as a bad girl. There might be some circumstances as to why she joined the cult. So please if possible, talk to her first."

That's what Veronica requested. Although Celestine thought of her as rival, Veronica doesn't think of it that way. But what if she's the one sending spies on Veronica?

Veronica just insisted on us hearing Celestine's goal first before making a decision. Although if I met her first, I might kill her on sight before… she seduces me. Thought I never told the others about this, Victoria already figure it out.

So they gave me a plan in case I encounter Celestine first. But I won't tell anyone about it. I already received permission from everyone to do it, but I will keep this as my secret weapon against Celestine. Though I doubt it will work that easy.

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If it does, then… whatever. Huehehehe.

Though I don't think I will meet her.

Today is supposed to be the day that Veronica returns to the cult's headquarter which may or may not be at the same location anymore. She said that if they moved, they would have someone to wait and report to those who are trying to return there about their new location.

From what she said, their headquarter has been moved many times since she joined. It has never stay in one location for more than six months. And the shortest time in their new spot is just two days. So short! Why does that lord of theirs loves to move around a lot!? And don't tell me that lord of theirs always carried that door whenever they moved? Or is it that he has too many of the same door.

Wherever their new headquarter is located, there is always that same door in sight. Even when Veronica asked the Archbishop himself, he doesn't even know the reason is.

Anyway, that's about everything that Veronica told us about. As for today, the plan is for her to returns to the cult's headquarter, and she will encounter me and fight.

And… DAMNIT, ALBERT! YOU SAID I CAN ENDURE HER ATTACKS, BUT YOU WERE WRONG!

If any of Veronica's attack hits me, even with I covered my whole body with Aura, I would still take a heavy damage! Even her Wind Slash can cut off my limb! And Victoria is acting as my tamed monster, so I can't use her as my shield!

So I quickly escape and have Victoria stop Veronica from following me. With this, it should be enough, right?

When I asked Albert why we have to do this, he just said just in case someone can detect lies like him.

Now that I think about it, every move he made and ordered, he considers that someone else has the same ability as he is.

We don't know if they really have someone who can detect lies, but just in case they do, Albert made some precautions. That's why Veronica will only tell the truth of what she knows and experience in Melk. It's also more believable if she told the truth.

I escaped from Veronica's ferocious attacks with my Aura covered my feet, and kicked the ground as strong as I can to launch me forward and make it seems as if I am flying in low altitude. This way, she will think that I am a wind mage.

After a while, I had Victoria summoned while she's still fighting Veronica when I reached the hotel.

And of course, I greeted Albert with an Air Slap on his cheek.

"Endure my ass! I almost died!"

"I mean dodge. Not endure. But you're still fine, right?"

"What will we do now?"

"Well, the story is that you attacked everyone from the cult who is coming. But as for her, we make it as if you are trying to flirt her, but she rejected you. Feeling ashamed, you attacked her out of nowhere not knowing that she is expert level mage. Now that you have returned, you make a false information about her as a suspected cult member and failed to kill her since she's too strong. Then I will send some agents to chase after her."

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That's our plan. To follow Veronica without her noticing. But since she's an expert level mage, if we're too close, she would notice us right away. And Albert also told the agents to only follow her as long as they found traces of her. If not, they should return immediately.

Too many works, I say. Well, as long as I get my break, that's fine.

...….

The day after she left Melk, Veronica has already at the cult's headquarter. And as if she was expecting this, she has her usual expression on her face as she witnessed that the headquarter is moved again. The only one left in the headquarter is the Archbishop who was about to left as well.

"Veronica? That was quick of you. How about the mission?" the masked Archbishop asked.

"Well, it actually like this."

Veronica started explaining everything Albert and Roy told her to say. About how the princess went there incognito when the stampede happened, and she brought a powerful bodyguard with her, until she clashed with said bodyguard and he managed to escape from her.

"What?! How could he just tell them about us!? Why didn't he kill himself!?"

"Probably because of the Magic Restriction Collar was put on him." Veronica replies calmly.

"Hmm… there's more to it than that. Probably, they already know about us even before the stampede happened. Then they used the stampede as a chance to tell the world about us. It's not like it will be a problem to our lord, so we can continue with what we're doing. There will be no big event within the next ten years unless something happens along the way. Until then, we will continue getting stronger and find more people to join us. By then, no countries can match us."

Hearing how the cult doesn't have any big plan like before, Veronica feels better. That means she won't have to kill anyone for about that long. But that also mean that it will be difficult for her to leave the cult since faking her death might meant 'something that happened along the way' and the cult will be more active because of it. Veronica feel helpless about it.

"I think it might be because we became more active this year than the previous year. That's how they know about us." The masked Archbishop continued.

"If that is all, then I will take my leave and prepare for our move." Veronica about to leave when the Archbishop grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Wait! You have a scratch on your arm. Sword's wound?" The Archbishop asked while sending off a powerful pressure on Veronica.

"Y-yes. That person seems to be the princess' bodyguard who stopped the stampede. He seems to be a tamer since he has a powerful Living Armor as his contracted monster. And there were witnesses saying that he has another one, but I only fought one of them alongside the mage himself."

Veronica told him about the barbaric princess' bodyguard who tried to flirt with her, then attacked her since she rejected him. Then as soon as he found that she is more powerful than him, he escaped by having the Living Armor stopped her from chasing. That's how he managed to escape.

"A Living Armor given a powerful equipment? Interesting. You may leave"

The Archbishop stopped sending pressure on Veronica as he said that. And Veronica left that place.

"Living Armor, huh? There's no way Aura user still exist in this world."

The Archbishop said when Veronica has disappeared from his sight. No one heard about what he said.

Chapter 187 - New Diving Spot

"So… let me get this straight. You are finally free from the works given by Albert, but still have to do some works that you initiate yourself? And that's why we're here." Victoria said.

It has been a week since I fought Veronica. After that, Albert choose to stay in Melk for a while longer, while the others and I returns to Cassau. And we brought a new friend as well. Kron is coming with us.

As for Hill and Oleg, they didn't follow us. Oleg stays in Melk while Hill will return back to Mellian. They will protect their own cities, and cooperate with the nobles who are in charge of their cities.

Albert has talked with the nobles in Mellian, and he said that they can be trusted to fight against the cult and protect the city and the citizen. As for Melk, he's the one choosing the city's new leader. Of course the person he chooses is someone he can trust. And that's why he's still in Melk at the moment.

Although the stampede gave us a lot of casualties, we gained several trusted allies as well. And we even got a spy working in the cult. Though I don't think she will stay there for long since she wanted to leave.

I don't get why she wanted to leave and destroy the cult at the same time. Why can't she destroy the cult from within? Is she afraid of dying? If so, then I can understand since if I were in her place, I would do the same. My life is more important than world peace.

But since she's still with the cult, we'll get her to learn everything she could from within. And we learned that the cult doesn't have any big plan in the next ten years. But there's still a chance that it won't take ten years until they make another move. That's what I experienced in my previous life.

Although I don't remember much, I still learned a lot from hearsay. I think it was five years from now when Albert found out about the cult and spread the news to all over the continent. And after that, many heroes come and go, fighting the cult. And one of them is Angela who still alive until the day that I died.

But now, things have changed. Albert has found out about the cult way earlier, and we have gotten a lot of allies to help us. Albert also will meet other countries' leader and inform them of what happened. So, I think it will be less than five years when the cult will make another big move. That's why I needed to get stronger.

And now, after returning to Cassau, playing with Daniel and the kids, I received good news and bad news from Sam.

Good news: All our merchandise has been sold out.

Bad news: same.

Which means I needed to stock up on more treasures. And that's how Victoria ended up complaining.

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I'm fine with working though. I'm just not fine having to do everything someone else asked. Treasure hunting is something that I wanted to do in the first place, so I'm fine with doing it.

"Yeah. I'm fine with diving. I enjoy swimming. And it's also good as well since no one bothers to fight the monsters from the sea so we can hunt them as much as we want. For now, I will go diving and hunting treasures a lot, until I breakthrough to intermediate level in my summoning. Maybe I'll get there in a few days. Then once I get home, I will cultivate my air element using the magic stones that I make. Doing those two will make me reach intermediate level in those two elements, and hopefully, within these two years, I can reach advanced level in both elements."

Two years is a long time, but it's also short as well. Some people can reach advanced level in two years, while some were stuck in beginner level their whole lives no matter how hard they cultivate.

And more importantly, I want to improve my uses of my Aura as well. There are too many things I want to do in these two years, but I don't know if two years is enough to do all of that.

Though it would be boring to just training in two years. I hope there will be something like 'Two years passes just like that' happened. But I don't think it will.

"So now you will skip class because you have finished your exams?" Victoria asked.

"I hope that will be the case. Ms. Wendy still chooses to stay as a teacher there. We will hear more about the result from her. Will the school really give us graduation degree after what happened? If they will, I won't return there."

Ms. Wendy said that she will take care of our graduation. The school told her that the students needed to pass another exam because of the stampede, but Ms. Wendy tried to prevent that. Especially when two of their students make achievements during the stampede. So she supported us who have passed the exam so we can freely improve our strength to fight against the cult.

Most of the teacher agree with her since it will be easier for them to teach fewer students. But the final result will depend on the school itself since I heard that there are several students killed during the stampede. And they thought that by attending classes, the students will be better prepared for battle. How stupid are they? They have never had to teach lesson about fighting monsters before. Even if the students stay there for a while longer, they won't improve since even some of the teachers never really fight against monsters.

Since Albert is still there, I think he will make sure that we don't have to attend any more. We are his trump cards after all. He needed us to get stronger than anyone.

Finally, we reached the shore. And this time, we're in a different shore than we previously did our treasure hunt. I wanted to see if there are more monsters here since although we needed to get more supplies, my main goal is to improve my summoning level.

If Victoria went hunting alone, she won't be able to win against powerful monster. Even if she could, it would take her some time before she can finish them.

"Alright. Let's go!"

I said after I stripped my clothes until I only wear shorts, and dive into the sea.

"So you made those armguards just to remove it from your body?"

I ignore Victoria's sarcasm and dive into the sea anyway.

I never thought that our first battle will be underwater, okay!?

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The first thing I search is an empty island where I can store my loot is. The previous island is too far from here, and I don't want to go there unless there are no other islands nearby.

Luckily, I found one rather quickly. I memorized that place and went diving near that island.

Under the water, I found that this location has more fishes than the previous spot. But why is there no fisherman boat here? This place is good for fishing, right?

When I looked to the bottom of the sea with my Divine Vision, I understood the reason why. There are too many fishing boats sunken in this area. Maybe that's the reason no one dared to go fishing here. There are too many victims in this area.

What could be the reason those boats sunk? Is it monster? If so, I think I found a good area to improve my summoning level. I hope they will give me a lot of experience.

Experience is a name that Victoria come up with for the method of improving summoning level. It came from her world, which is as expected.

Basically, every time a summoned monster defeated monster, or to be exact, living being, since human is a target as well, the summoner will get some experience. And when the summoner gather experience enough, they will increase their level.

Back in school, what we learned about summoning is that our summoned monster gained magic from the dead monsters they defeated, and that magic is taken by the summoner to improve their level. But I think I like Victoria's explanation more. So I started calling it as gaining experience.

Other than the fishes here, there are a lot of sea monsters. Most of them should be delicious. I killed them all, and put them on the empty island so I can have Lina cooked them for me.

Then after I had enough of hunting monsters, I started my treasures hunt.

Most of the boat here are fishing boats, so I don't expect to get anything nice. But at the bottom of the sea, there are a lot of huge seashells, with a lot of pearls inside of them. So I brought those seashells to the island and decided to give them to Sam to sell. She should be able to get some noble ladies to be interested in these pearls. Of course I will ask her to leave some for the girls.

Today I didn't get as much as I usually do, but it's okay. I have a lot of free time right now.

As I returned home, I began thinking of the series of events that happened until today.

I still feel excited over the fact that I managed to stop the stampede, but there are still a lot of casualties that can be avoided if we just choose to stop the stampede before it happens.

And there's also someone who I never get to meet in this lifetime. The nodding guy.

Is he okay? Is he still alive? Or is he dead during the stampede? I rarely go to school so I never met him, but he's the only guy I knew in my past life in Melk.

Well, I don't know his name, but he's the only one who would greet me every day. I'm just feeling lonely not meeting him in this lifetime.

Oh, nodding guy… I hope you're okay and keep nodding and greeting other people.

Chapter 188 - Killer Dolphins

The day after I find the new diving spot, I returned there. This time, I get all the pearls I couldn't get yesterday and store it on the empty island so I could finish my job faster and explore the sea as much as I want today.

I grabbed a lot of giant seashells, even more than yesterday. Then I put them in that empty island, and go back into the sea.

There aren't many sunken ships, and most of them are just fishing boats. So I can only look for something other than valuables from ships. And most of what I found, are giant seashells with a lot of pearls inside of them.

Although Sam would be mad at me for only finding pearls, it should be okay. We can just tell our clients or business partner that it's difficult to find other treasures underwater.

In fact, I'm more confused about how I could easily find a lot of treasures in the previous spot. That area must be a path used by sailor to go to another location. And there's a lot of danger in that area in the past, and that's why there are many sunken ships of merchants under there.

But now, that area doesn't have many sea monsters. And that's why I'm moving spot. My goal is to improve my summoning level after all.

And so, I dived into the water to seek for powerful monsters, but not too powerful that I can't handle. And seeing how there are a lot of fishes here, if I report this to the guild and find the reason why all those fishing boats sunk, I would be rewarded by the guild. Then I will gain achievement, and it would be easier for me to build a clan by then.

That's right. I gave up on persuading others to not build a clan, or ask them to not let me be the leader. They are too persistent in having me as their leader. It's not like I have a great leadership or anything like that, it's just they thought it's a pain in the ass to be the leader of the clan. So they choose me as the leader.

And now, back to swimming.

There are more fishes here, and also a lot of sea monsters as well. But they are all not that strong. Once they leave the sea, they won't be able to do anything. And I don't think that they can cut the net thrown by fishermen. This place is a good spot to go fishing.

But I won't tell anyone yet. At least until I kill those killer dolphins first.

Since I often went diving, and I can see clearly underwater with my Divine Vision, I often see dolphins. The friendly creatures that makes people, especially tourists, to feel excited when they see them jumping to the surface.

Those who often travelled with ships would often encounter them. Dolphins are friendly and smart animals, but compared to monsters, they are too weak. That's why wherever sailor spot dolphins, they would memorize the dolphins' path, because that path is safe from monsters and predators.

In the previous spot, I see a lot of those friendly dolphins. I would even sometime play with them. And that's also why I often see ships sailing near that area as well.

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Dolphins are helpful creature for sailor. That's why whenever fishermen accidentally caught one of them, they would free those dolphins back to the sea.

But in this new spot, there's a group of creatures that looks similar to dolphins. But these dolphins are much bigger than normal dolphins, stronger, faster, and more ferocious. This is a group of killer dolphins.

These dolphins know how to cooperate with each other. They can easily topple boats and ships when they work together. Maybe these killer dolphins are the reason there are too many fishing boats on the bottom of the sea.

No. That's wrong.

From what I see, although they are strong, they can't destroy those boats like the ones I saw at the bottom of the sea. They can topple them and sink them, but not destroying some parts of the boats. Most of the boats I've seen at the bottom of the sea, has holes and few places broken. That means there are other monsters here than these killer dolphins. And that monster should be stronger than these dolphins.

I'll think about that later. for now, I'll fight these dolphins first.

There are about six of them. And they are obvious in their hostility toward me. Seems like they are territorial creatures. They don't want me to trespass into their territory.

All six of them surround me. In front, behind, left, right, up, and down. They are very smart in their strategy. But that will only work on enemies weaker than them. Not me.

But I hate the thought of being surrounded, so I have to get out of here first.

I had Victoria transformed into a spear, and with me fast swimming method, I pierced through the dolphin in front of me. But killer dolphin's reaction is faster than I thought, and it didn't hit its vital. But I got its tail, so that one would have difficulty swimming and continue the fight.

Five more to go.

I looked behind me and see the other five dolphins are chasing after me. And they are really fast! They can catch up with my speed!

Oh, wait! That's wrong. I'm the fast one. Normal human can't swim as fast as I can. I'm the weird one among humans.

The dolphins actually faster than me! And since they are a natural swimmer, they can maneuver better than me. Maybe I should learn swimming from dolphin.

And not just they are faster than me, they are actually trying to corner me to a reef! These dolphins are the smartest creature I've ever fought other than humans.

By the way, humans are both the smartest creature, and also the stupidest one as well. We are such an interesting specimen.

I got cornered, but I don't think I'll lose against them. So, I turn my body toward them, and transform Victoria into a broadsword.

But instead of attacking, the killer dolphins are keeping their distance. Don't tell me that they have a way to attack from distance?

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They sure did! The dolphins suddenly screamed at me, and that scream pushed me back to the reef! Although I receive no damage, I can't move because of this attack. What the hell is this!?

I feel the broadsword in my hand is shaking. This mean Victoria has something to tell me.

I transformed Victoria to cover my ear, and put in some air there so she can talk to me. With Victoria's slime body, the air won't leak.

"Dolphins used echolocation to navigate in the sea. So even without light, they can still see in front of them. They used some kind of ultrasound and I think that's how they attacked you." Victoria explained.

Sound? That mean I have no way to protect myself, right? If it's something I heard, then I can just cover my ears. But it's not like that. Maybe that sound these killer dolphins makes, making the water vibrate and that's how they pushed me back.

I don't know if the theory that Victoria said is correct or not, but I can see that the water in front of me is really vibrating toward my direction. Whether it's that echolocation, ultrasound, or whatever it is, it's a way for these dolphins to hunt for prey.

But I'm not giving up. These dolphins wanted to surround me again with the reef behind me instead of another dolphin, but I won't let them do that.

Before the dolphins surround me again, I pushed myself upward and swim as fast as I could. With my Aura covering my whole body. And the dolphins chase after me.

If they wanted to follow me, they are free to do that.

I swim faster and faster to the surface, and jumped high to the sky. Well, not that I could get there by just jumping. It's just a figure of speech.

And the five dolphins also jumped as well. And since they are faster than me, they could jump higher as well.

They must be thinking that with that echolocation, these dolphins can attack me even in air.

They are not wrong, but I won't let them do that.

I transformed Victoria into a grapplehook, and shot the hook toward one of them. Then I pull myself to that dolphin, and slashed its head after I transformed Victoria into a sword.

I do the same thing to the four other dolphins, and that's how I could quickly finish the killer dolphins.

As for the last dolphin who survived after my escape from them, I chased after it after I return to the sea. Thankfully, my Divine Vision can reach to where it went hiding.

These dolphins don't have much attack power, but they are the smartest creature I ever fought. If there are more of smart creatures underwater like these dolphins, I don't think I can win like this.

And so, after killing all the dolphins, I didn't return home yet. But I practice to swim faster. That's the only way I could survive in case I encounter smarter and stronger monsters here.

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