The next few days were relatively peacefully for our lovable retarded heroes.
The group spent most of the time in the house they rented in Orazvil City. But right now, they are readying their weapons while Vanoss was polishing his crowbar.
They were planning to go back to the 3rd City Section, returning to the Adventurers Guild, meeting old friends like the Caeruleum Guardians then went back to the Dungeon dealing at the 71th Floor.
But then, something happened, just yesterday, the whole members of Team 6 suddenly felt a disturbance in the mana within them, they were stunned at first before at the exact same time, they felt their mana increase significantly and felt they became a god for a second. Like a butterfly has finally come out of its cocoon.
Team 6 had finally advanced towards <B–> rank.
All of them were excited, it's kinda like their leveling up and their physical characteristics became twice as fast than before.
Before, each of them could crush a 10 meter size boulder to dust in more than 5 seconds. But now, they crushed it for a matter of seconds now.
It was very exciting, but it immediately died down when they thought it's not that very impressive in this world.
However, unbeknownst to the whole group. Reaching <B–> rank while they were <C–> rank just one and a half months ago, reaching an entire rank for a month is considered to be completely unheard of in this world.
The cultivation ranks on Fordalt are a bit complicated, because reaching to the next rank will take YEARS to accomplish. Example like an individual at <D–> rank, the average rate of time it takes reaching <D–> to <D> rank will take more than a year unless relying on very harsh training. But most very Talented individuals will take 3-6 months to advance. But reaching an entire rank for a very short period of time, their talents can be considered beyond monstrous and out of this world.
However, there is a reason why Team 6 advanced towards another rank for merely a month. Because their rate of progress was twice more than the most talented person in the world, and what made things much worse, all of them are connected, kinda like sharing level XPs everytime each of them face trials and things look like you can level up in a video game. So it made sense on how both of them reach the same rank at the same time at a very faster rate.
Now back to the story, after readying their supplies, they all went back to the living room.
Delirious: It's time to kick some ass.
The man in a hockey mask said.
Wildcat: Yeah...
Tyler agreed, only for all the group to hear a knock at their apartment door.
Vanoss: Hang on! My pizza's here!
The Owl man said as he ran towards the door.
Nogla: Oh, come on!
Basically: Hold on a minute! There's pizza in this world?
Terroriser: Yes, there is indeed pizza here. Just a few yards south of us. The restaurant's name is called Mama Jane's Pizza.
Wildcat: Wait a minute, Is it me or does it kinda sound like a Papa John's Pizza rip-off.
Moo: I don't think it will be a rip-off if it's from another world.
Nogla: True.
Back to Vanoss, as he opened the door, what he saw didn't expect to be.
Vanoss: Damn. I ordered a pizza, not some Chinese food.
Ellies: Excuse me? o-O
Vanoss: Oop, forget what I said. Alo Eli!
Ellies: Hello, Mr. Vanoss
The wolfkin girl bowed respectfully to Evan. She then looked up with a serious expression.
Ellies: The captain sent me to tell you that your reward is already ready.
Vanoss: Really? That is good. By the way, do you know what he is going to give us?
Ellies: Unfortunately, I don't. Captain has kept the reward a secret, but from the looks of it, it's a very good one.
Vanoss could not help but show a more interesting expression. This was a reward for saving a Prince, so he expected to receive something good.
He could only suppress his curiosity for now, though. Anyway, he would know it soon.
Vanoss shouted and told his friends about the news and asked if they wanted to come with him. As expected, both of them showed interest in it and agreed.
Before they left the house, though, Ellies said something very strange.
Ellies: By the way, someone asked about you guys recently.
Vanoss: Huh?
Ellies: You know what our business is, right? Well, someone or two asked for you and your friend's details recently. They seemed very interested in your abilities.
Vanoss' usual cheerful expression frowns. Nobody would like to know that they were being investigated, probably some stalker.
Vanoss: What did you tell them?
Hearing his question, Ellies just shrugged.
Ellies: Well, we couldn't refuse them or it would have looked suspicious. Thus, we sold to them just superficial information; information they would have been able to find in any other business like ours. Plus, we are telling you so you keep an eye on it.
Evan nodded. Although he was not completely happy by the fact that Julian and Ellies sold their information to other people, he could understand their position if he's the one in there. In fact, they had broken the rule by telling him.
Vanoss: Do you know who the stalker is who is asking for that information?
Ellies: Unfortunately, no. They disguised themselves when they visited us. The captain later asked us to follow them, but we lost them quickly.
He furrowed his brows. Quickly, he thought about who could be interested in their information.
Soon, a list of suspects appeared in his mind.
Vanoss(Thoughts): What a pain in the ass.
With a sigh, Evan decided to think about that later. The only thing he could do now was to keep an eye open in case something happens.
Vanoss: Let us go to see your boss then.
Ellies nodded. After messaging Draila in the magic communication device from the Adventurers Guild about their absence, plus saying smiling emoji which made her confused, the group then departed in the direction of Animal Paradise.
But before they could travel for long, they were stopped by a nun-like girl followed by a female tall knight.
???: Excuse me, are you the group known as the Banana Bus Squad?
The nun girl smiled gently and asked them.
Everyone was surprised. But before some of them could ask anything, the girl spoke again.
???: Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Princess Sherene. I'm the current Saintess of the Church of the Golden Dawn.
Moo: Princess? Church of the Golden Dawn? Was that from the Kingdom of Goldrose?
Sherene: Yeah.
Moo: Then why the hell is the most important individual gone far from their kingdom? And is it dangerous to be in another country?
Sherene: It's kinda simple, I send out my most royal and intelligent people to deal with both of my kingdom and church while I send out 60% of my entire military force guarding me.
Basically: Your point here?
Sherene: I'm here to ask all of you something.....
In this world, the Church of the Golden Dawn was one of the most influential powers.
Its influence was not limited to the Kingdom of Goldrose. Rather, it had churches also in parts of the Western Region, including in the territory of other countries and other territories of other races. Even some intelligent monsters had accepted the teachings of the Goddess of Fate, Genesis.
And the biggest dogma of the church of the Golden Dawn was "Protecting the World".
Most high-ranking members of the church of the Golden Dawn were zealots whose only goal was to make the world a better place and to destroy anything that could threaten the world.
In fact, the knight order of the church of the Golden Dawn, the Golden Paladins or rather called themselves as [The Order of the Guiding Light], had as the goal "Correcting dangerous fates".
That was the reason the church of the Golden Dawn was so widely accepted throughout the world, except for the Theocracy. And after the disaster 1000 years ago, the number of people that believed in the teachings of the Church increased even more. Nobody wanted to see another disaster like that again, after all.
But despite its wide acceptance throughout the world, the Church of the Golden Dawn was also one of the disliked organizations by other organizations and countries.
The reason? Because nobody liked having someone interfering in their affairs.
And with the Goddess of Fate's ability to peer into fate and the church of the Golden Dawn's zealotness to protect the world from any threat, they constantly meddled with the affairs of other organizations and countries..... A LOT.
Several times they even threatened the sovereignty of a nation just to "Correct a fate".
'A troublesome bunch it's better not to mix with'. That was how the zealots of the church of the Golden Dawn were normally described.
Thus, when the nun-like girl in front of the group introduced herself like the saintess of the church of the Golden Dawn, with the most knowledge about them like Moo, his first reaction besides surprise was wariness.
Sherene's appearance matched the stereotype of a saintess. She wore a white habit that covered her entire body, only showing her hands and face. But even that habit could not hide her otherworldly beauty.
In her early 20s, she had a pair of green eyes that seemed to see through any lie, and her face was the very definition of gentleness. Her face carried a sincere smile that made it hard to distrust her.
Unfortunately for her, the whole group somehow has immunity towards Charms, they don't know why or how but it doesn't matter, probably for not getting distractions, they think that's why they couldn't feel lust towards any hot woman they've met.
Actually, their theory is true, all of them has a skill {Charm Immunity} or {Lust Nullification}, with them, even its a High-level Succubus or the Goddess of Love, Charm, or Lust won't even effect them.
That is why Moo didn't feel any lust when he was surrounded by four stunning girls back in the Dungeon, without it, well, he has no children left in his Baby storage.
So that means Sherene's beauty was not enough to make the group feel attracted to her or Moo lose his wariness.
And perhaps noticing that the Princess who called herself Sherene put on a strained smile.
Sherene: Don't worry. We don't come here with bad intentions. We only want to chat with you all for a bit.
Wildcat: And why would some church send a Princess herself to speak to a bunch of nobodies like us?
Samantha: Don't you dare speak to her majesty like that!
Sherene: Calm down, Sammy. However, for your question little pig is definitely not nobodies. The goddess knows who you are.
Wildcat: Little pig? Okay that's it, I've heard enough with that!
Tyler moves forward but is stopped when he feels Samantha's gaze.
Sherene: Rather blunt, huh. I like that.
She said smilingly.
Tyler grunted. Although none of the group did not know how much this Princess knew, they were sure about something.
It seems she knows their origins.
Looking at her suspiciously, some of the group were about to pull out their weapons.
But Sherene told them first softly.
Sherene: Calm down, guys. As I've told all of you before, we don't have bad intentions.
She then shivered briefly and looked at Wildcat.
Sherene: Also, can you ask your friend to stop? I can barely endure his killing intent.
Tyler snorted, but he retracted the pressure he had been releasing until now. His eyes, however, were returned to the knight behind the nun-like girl.
When Marcel saw that and looked at what Wildcat gazed on, he looked at the knight too. Instantly, his eyes shrunk.
That woman was incredibly powerful.
Definitively a demigod. Or atleast, at Sainthood level.
Things had just turned more serious than before.
Sherene: But your group sure is unusual, huh.
Sherene said with a look of interest. She first looked at Delirious before moving her gaze to Terroriser.
Sherene: I never knew that the arch enemies of the world can be somewhere on the good side. How very new it was.
Delirious: Hey, what are you speaking about?
Sherene: Anyway. Why don't we search for a more private place to have our conversation.
Vanoss: You have not told any of us yet the reason you are here, lady!
Sherene: You are right.
Instantly, her expression turned serious, and the smile of before disappeared completely. It was as though her gentle look of before was a lie.
Sherene: I'm here to talk about the Blight.
Wildcat: Jesus Christ, we don't even know much about these pieces of shits!
Moo: But we encountered it more than anybody in this city. And also that lady, she seems to know more about it.
Sherene: Of course, I hope you can tell us everything the lady knows about the Blight. It's something that concerns the future of this world, so I hope you cooperate.
Silence...
Basically: Well, to be honest, we have no clue.
The Princess frowned. She did not seem very happy that none of them even knew. She thought they could be something after they've been transferred to this world.
But at that moment, several people appeared in the street, surrounding the group.
???: Stop right there!
An imposing voice boomed. Then, a black-haired cat woman appeared suddenly and stood between the Princess and the group.
Matilda: Princess, it's an honor to have you here.
Sherene: You are... Matilda Shandelier, right?
Matilda bowed slightly.
Matilda: I'm honored that someone like you remembers my name.
Sherene: You don't need to be so cordial. Your position is not much lower than mine, after all. Can I ask, what are you doing here?
Matilda: I should be the one making that question, Princess.
The Cat woman said with a stern expression and cold eyes.
Matilda: Can I ask why are you stopping my people in the middle of the street? Secondly, why are you far from your kingdom?
Sherene: Oh? I see, so they are related to you, huh.
With a soft giggle, Sherene used her beautiful eyes to scan Matilda.
Sherene: That is great. I think you can help me then. There is something I want to discuss with you.
*****
A few hours later, several people were gathered in the headquarters of Midnight Kairos
Sherene, Matilda, Julian, Ellies, Team 6, and Samantha were standing behind Sherene.
After a few minutes of talking, Matilda gave Sherene a recount of the situation with the Blight.
Sherene: In other words, you are telling me that the Duke, a Demigod of the church of Carnage, a powerful merchant of the city, and the Archbishop of an unknown church are among the people related to this case?
Matilda nodded her words.
Sherene: It looks like the situation is more complicated than we thought.
Matilda: It feels like you believed our story about the Blight very easily.
Matilda said with a suspicious expression.
Sherene: Well, I know that you are not one to joke with something like this... besides... I already knew about the Blight before coming here.
Hearing her words, the others were stunned.
Matilda: What are you speaking about?
Instead of Sherene who was the one who replied, It was the female knight who answered.
Samantha: Actually, her Majesty received an oracle from the goddess recently. 'There is chaos in Kalren City. Remnants of an otherworldly danger have appeared, and the time of chaos is approaching.' I think you can understand what that means.
Julian: The Blight? In Kalren city?
Sherene: Yes, I think that our other friends encountered one, right?
All the eyes in the room turned towards Team 6. The others look kinda nervous with all of the eyes on them. But some were not.
Basically: We encountered it during the disaster in Kalren city. My, or our hypothesis is that there are people behind the monster wave that destroyed part of the city used the Blight to control the monsters.
"!!!"
Marcel could see expressions of shock on Matilda, Elloes, and Julian's face.
Ellies: A-Are you sure?
Basically: Probably :/
With a nod, Sherene continued the conversation.
Sherene: We already knew that the Blight was related to the disaster in Kalren City. Thus, when our branch in Orazvil received a mysterious letter about the Blight, I did not hesitate to come here. I then asked the goddess for help and she used the fate of the letter to determine the person who wrote it, but unfortunately she couldn't find them, like he or she somehow didn't even exist in this world, but she indeed felt related to her presence, reaching towards this group.
Pointing to Team 6, realizing something, Vanoss pulls out the same card from the mysterious woman she gave him.
Even though that mysterious woman somehow left somewhere, the Goddess could still feel something related to her presence like the Card, it still has her fingerprint. Even if it's on a microscopic level, the Goddess can still find it.
And as for what Sherene said, using the Goddess to locate the writer of the letter. How could he know that something like that was possible?
It seemed like he could not underestimate the means of this world.
Although they did not exist on Earth, the magic and special talents of this world were sometimes just so impressive.
Matilda: Unfortunately, we have hit a deadlock in our investigations about the Blight. It's not like we can go to interrogate the Duke about it, can we?
Nogla turns his gaze at Sherene and asks.
Nogla: Can't you use your powers of fate or something to learn about the duke's plottings? Perhaps we can find something that way.
Delirious: I agree with Nogla.
Sherene: That is... not so simple as it looks. The goddess's ability to see through fate is not omnipotent. In fact, many people in this world have found ways to hide things from the goddess's sight. Plus, the other deities don't like it when the goddess tries to see through fate, so they tend to use their power to interfere. Due to that, the probabilities of success are very small, probably 20% or smaller when it's something related to other churches. In fact, even watching the fate of the letter was very complicated.
Team 6 were confused. There were several things about Sherene's explanation some of them found strange.
It seemed like the gods of this world also have their limits.
Moo: Then, what are we going to do?
Sherene thought for a moment before looking at the female Knight behind her.
Sherene: Samantha, do you think it's possible to catch that Barney guy?
Samantha: Your majesty, you only need to give the order and we will catch him this same night.
Matilda: Wait wait wait! You are going to attack an important merchant of the city without any proof!? Are you crazy!? Everything will be alright if you find something linking him to the Blight. But if you don't, you will put the entire city against your church!
Sherene tilted her head before smiling sweetly.
Sherene: It looks like you have a small misunderstanding about us, Miss Matilda. We are not like a Private Organization like the Midnight Kairos who is over concerned with diplomatic issues and avoids causing trouble.
Matilda: Just get to my question!
Hearing it, the Princess/Saintess stood from her seat and raised her voice.
Sherene: It's because we are the Church of the Golden Dawn! Our duty is to protect this world from danger! And if that means going against the world itself, we will not hesitate! As for the Barney guy, he is just a merchant. Even if we kill him wrongly, what can the Duke do about it?
Sherene then chuckled and stroked her habit like an innocent girl.
Sherene: To be honest, I would have liked to confront the duke directly, but just Samantha alone is not enough to take care of all of the Duke's forces, especially the two demigods. We need at least three demigods if we want to have an opportunity, and that is assuming the demigods of the Church of Carnage don't participate.
Matilda put on a strained smile.
Matilda: Now I understand why Boss says that you are crazy.
Sherene just smiled and changed the topic.
Sherene: Then, it's decided. We of the church of the Golden Dawn will capture Barney tonight. With luck, that will lead us to the Blight.
Matilda smiled wryly. But in the end, she agreed.
Matilda was aware that catching Barney was the best option. If not for the fact that she could not afford the backlash of catching an important person like him without enough proof, she would have ordered it herself.
Sherene: Then, we will leave this conversation here.
She then stood up elegantly and bowed to the group.
Sherene: We will contact you after tonight's operation.
Before leaving, though, Sherne seemed to remember something and turned around to face Team 6.
Sherene: By the way, you boys. I forgot to tell you something. Before this, the Goddess also saw a bit about your fate. Do you want to know?
Wildcat: Oh god, don't tell me she saw my search history.
Sherene: Don't know what it is but it seems some of you are interested.
Vanoss: Probably we are :/
Sherene: Perfect. Before you guys go, there is a trial waiting for you soon. The eyes of a powerful force are looking at you closely. One of you will face more harder obstacles. Encountering more peculiar individuals. Then... you will face an unstoppable force that none of this world could stop.
Hearing her words, they couldn't help but confuse her words.
Wildcat: You know. I'm tired of her little riddle bullshit words.
Tyler whispers to Nogla who nodded in agreement.
Step forward towards them until she reaches just a few feet from the group. She continues.
Sherene: Team 6, by the time comes, we ask you to aid us in the upcoming war, help this world, so some of the innocents in Fordalt will live on.
Princess Sherene said to the entirety of Team 6.
Terroriser: Man, I feel pity for them.
Brian whispered to Moo, who nodded his head in agreement. But Vanoss overheard him.
Vanoss: What! Why? You heard the spoiler girl, we will be heroes in the future!
The Owl Canadian whispered sharply to the cyborg Irishman.
Terroriser: Because it's us
*****
After the meeting with Sherene and Samantha, the group was led by Julian and Matilda to a warehouse-like room in the Midnight Kairos.
Julian: I did my words, guys. I promised you all rewards when you agreed to help us to rescue the prince. You all already received the information you requested from Ellies, and now I'll give you the other two things I promised.
Julian then took out a folder containing some documents and passed it to Vanoss.
Vanoss: What is this?
Evan says dissatisfied, he expects money or even better than that.
Julian: A money account. This document certificates that you own an account with money in Midnight Kairos. You can use it to deposit or withdraw money from any of our branches, or even some other churches. The specifics are in the documents.
Evan revised the documents and was slightly surprised.
Vanoss: Holy shit, we are rich boys.
In this world, the churches also worked as a kind of bank. Many people used them to keep great amounts of money and withdraw it when it was necessary.
And the document Julian gave Evan served as proof of ownership for an account in Midnight Kairos, the problem was the amount of money in there.
There were ten million Euros deposited in the account. Normally, a family of four needed around ten thousand Euros to live for one month, so ten million Euros was a big fortune!
Basically: Money... 10,000,000 Euros..... Brian, what is the currency on it between a US dollar?
Terroriser: 10,143,800 dollars.
Silence...
Basically: Yeeeeaaaahhhh!
Nogla: EHHHHHHH!
Basically: Wow! We are rich!
Nogla: We are fucking ruch, BITCHES!
Basically: Let's goooooo!
Nogla: HOO! HOO! HOO!
Basically: Dope, Dope, Money! Money! Moneyyy!!
Julian: Ah by the gods, I thought Marcel is the most gentle one here.
Vanoss: Well, he can be a bit aggressive if there is a time or not.
The Owl whispers to the Cat's ears.
Julian: I see. But still, you can all keep the money.
Not only Vanoss was very surprised by Julian's generosity. Even some of the richest among the group, was agape when they saw the number in the documents.
Wildcat(Thoughts): Haha, I guess that a prince is just that important, huh.
Julian: Of course, that is only a part of the reward.
He said as though all that money was not important.
Julian: I was not sure about what to give you besides the money. Fortunately, Matilda gave me a good suggestion.
Julian then looked to Matilda and asked her to continue.
Matilda smiled and took seven badges from a pocket, giving each of them.
Matilda: Take this
Everyone received the badge confused. It was a silver badge depicting a fox gazing to the moon. Moreover, they could feel a slight magical pulse inside the badge.
Matilda: This badge makes you a guest of honor of the Midnight Kairos. With this badge, you can go to any of our branches to request accommodation, information, and even assistance in case you need it. But pay attention to how you use it. If the Midnight Kairos deems that you don't deserve the badge anymore, they will take it away.
Now the group are truly surprised this time, even more than when they received the money.
With this badge, it was the same as having one of the strongest churches of the continent backing them.
Of course, backing them was exaggerating a bit, but it did not make the badge less valuable. The Midnight Kairos was a very huge private organization, and the help it could provide them was incredibly high.
Moo: Are you sure about this?
Brock, at the back, asked a little moved.
Matilda: Don't worry. In fact, part of the reason I'm giving this badge to the seven of you is due to your talents. The seven of you are among the most talented people I have seen in your generation. Thus, giving you this badge now is a way to create a tie with you. If one day in the future, one of you becomes a demigod, then today's badge will have become a great investment.
None of them says a word for a moment before nodding and keeping the badge.
Although Matilda was trying to make it sound that it was not a big deal, the ones who knew well knew how valuable this badge was. This was the kind of thing that was not easily given out.
Julian: Then, are you all satisfied with the reward?
Vanoss: Yup, I guess that helping you was the right choice, after all.
Matilda: Hahaha, I'm also glad that I asked for your help back then. To be honest, it was a risky bet, but it worked. I hope we can cooperate like this again in the future.
Vanoss: But—
Delirious: However! Our cooperation has not ended yet. Right, guys?
Hearing his words, Julian nodded. Right, they still needed to deal with Orazvil City's problems.
Vanoss: By the way, Julian..... maybe we will need your help with something.
*****
After asking Julian their request, our idiotic heroes went to a bar, having a nice drink in the afternoon.
Before any of them could sit, Delirious looked around before saying.
Delirious: Hope we are not dealing with a bar fight like a few days ago.
Wildcat: Especially those Razor Axe assholes.
Nogla: Yeah, I like to chop them with an axe again if I see them.
Vanoss: Guys, guys. Chill down, we are not here for a fight. We are here for a bit of drink, ei?
Terroriser: His right. We are so tired right now. I just need a bit of drink.
Vanoss: Well, lucky for you all, drink on me, boys! We got 10 million so wasting a drink is nu problemu!
Team 6: Yeah!
(Time Skip)
After a few rounds, the group began to feel a bit drunk, after buying a lot of drinks, it didn't even dented their pockets.
But as the group takes another round...
*BAM!*
Vanoss: ALRIGHT!!
Evan yelled as he slammed his fist on a table, getting Team 6 and nearby people's attention.
Vanoss: We may not know how, or why we got into this mess of a planet. BUT! After hearing that Princess, Saintess, or whoever that bitch was, I BELIEVE we are here for a reason.
Evan said with extreme determination.
Vanoss: And I believe THAT reason... is to be the heroes this world needs.
Silence..........
He finally said it, while the rest of Team 6 stared at him for a while.
Wildcat: Nope. fuck this. I call her words bullshit, so Goin' home, Goin' to bed. See you dumbasses to the next mission.
Tyler said as he started to leave the bar pointing middle finger at them without looking back.
Moo: Well, at least there is no bar fight happening.
Random Drunker: E-Ei, you FUCKING asshole, get in my way.. *Burp*.....
Nogla: Your saying? ( ¬_¬)
Moo: Darn it.