Chapter 46: CH. 46 | Questions Left Unanswered

"What’s actually going on? You’re acting so strange!"

Theo shook his head and sat back down on his single seat sofa. He raised a hand and massaged his temples, trying to ease the pounding headache he felt.

[Warning! Temporal Status percentage has increased]

[Temporal Status: 4%] [↑3%]

He was a little startled seeing what appeared in front of him. The system panel confirmed his Temporal Status had risen, even though Theo had only just used the ring.

Right! What had just happened, that moment when Theo saw Aslan and Hana, was more than enough proof that he’d used the ring’s power.

Even though it wasn’t the Foresight Skill, Theo felt certain the power itself had come directly from the ring.

Still, the percentage jump was fairly steep, hitting 3%, a stark contrast to before, when using the Foresight Skill with the Eternity Ring had only bumped his Temporal Status up by 1%.

"I told you earlier that I wanted to try channeling my power to see what this ring could do," Theo said, "When I did it... I ended up meeting Aslan and Hana."

"Saint Knight Aslan? How is that possible?" Avara asked, shocked.

"I don’t know. I can’t even confirm whether what I saw was from the past or the future," Theo answered.

"But they mentioned something about the Nether Emperor and a ceasefire."

Avara went quiet for a moment. She explained that she had no idea what had happened to Saint Knight Aslan. She didn’t even know whether they were still alive or not.

Still, she suggested Theo look into finding more information about them, if it turned out they were already dead, then it would confirm the projection he’d seen inside the ring’s dimension had come from the past.

Theo agreed. He already knew exactly who the right person to ask would be. But right now, she was off resting, and she’d likely be starting her next shift the following morning.

"I’ll look into it tomorrow," Theo said, "For now, we should get some rest."

Avara nodded, swinging her arm to the side and transforming back into her black crow form.

She flew over and perched on the apartment window, cracking it open slightly to let the cool night air drift into the room.

Theo headed to his own room to rest. Too much had happened today, he could only hope he’d finally get some answers tomorrow when he met with Sara.

***

The next day.

Theo had gotten himself ready properly. He left the apartment with Avara trailing behind him, perched on his shoulder.

He walked down the stairs and out of the apartment building, moving alongside other adventurers toward the city guild.

It wasn’t even seven in the morning yet. If Theo followed the same approach he’d used to land a mission the day before, he figured he could pull it off again today.

At the end of the street, Theo spotted Thalia and the others already ready to go.

They were dressed in their best outfits, faces glowing with energy and enthusiasm, and what surprised him even more was that they’d put on makeup.

"Oh... you all have extra money now, so you decided to buy makeup?" Theo asked.

"Makeup matters for women, we’re valued for more than just our strength, our beauty counts too," Thalia answered, looking elegant as she tilted her chin up slightly.

"Fair enough," Theo said, "I’m not going to argue with that."

None of them had gone overboard with it either, just a natural touch on their cheeks, lips, and the corners of their eyes, nothing that would make them look like clowns.

The four of them walked together toward the city guild. From a distance, the guild building came into clear view, though for some reason, Theo sensed something different about the crowd size.

As they arrived and opened the door, he was a little surprised to find the guild office nowhere near as crowded as usual. Sara greeted Theo warmly.

"It’s unusual for this place to be this quiet. Where’d everyone go?" Theo asked.

"Last night, they headed out on an independent quest to the Eastern Front. Ten parties in total departed, adding up to thirty two adventurers altogether."

"Oh... so they actually went through with it? So what determines whether the mission’s a success?"

"We set up two conditions: an item from the Dark Legion, or an official seal from an Integrity Knight," Sara explained, "If they succeed, the guild will award them 5000exp."

"5000exp? That’s a huge amount," Theo said.

"For rookies, sure. But for silver or gold rank adventurers, that much still won’t push them up a level right away."

"They’re going mostly because they’re drawn to the rare drop items that usually come from killing Dark Legion members or their monsters."

Theo listened closely, then asked Thalia to head to the tavern table near the mission board, while he stayed behind with Sara.

He needed to ask her something that had been weighing on his mind ever since the night before.

"There’s something I wanted to ask you, if you don’t mind," Theo said.

"Sure," Sara answered, "What is it?"

"It’s about Saint Knight Aslan and Mage Hana," Theo said, "Are they... are they still alive?"

"There’s a lot of conflicting information about what actually happened to them. Plenty of people say they’re already dead, and even the Kingdom of Astana had statues built in their honor," Sara answered.

"That Saint Mage statue in the city center, that’s Saint Mage Hana!"

"But there are also people who claim they’re still alive, living somewhere in exile. No one’s actually known what happened to them since the news of their disappearance broke twelve years ago."

Sara turned and looked at Theo, "Why are you asking about them so early in the morning, anyway?"

If Aslan and Hana really are dead, then there’s a good chance the projection I saw last night was from the past.

But if I ask Sara whether they had a child or not, I’m afraid she won’t know anything about that either.

Maybe I should just dig through the literature at the city library later instead.

"Theo...?"

Theo’s attention snapped back forward, and he smiled, shaking his head. He explained that he was just curious about them after hearing about the situation on the eastern front.

Sara reached out and gave Theo’s shoulder a light pat. She told him he didn’t need to worry too much about all of it, especially since Yasa and Michelle were both incredibly strong women.

Theo took that in and listened to Sara. His attention shifted to the side, watching one of the guild staff arrive with a fresh batch of missions to post on the bulletin board.

Right! He and his party needed to get back to running new missions, to level up, earn contribution points, and of course, make some money.

Theo still had no idea what had actually happened to Aslan and Hana, but he wasn’t about to let that curiosity hold him back.

"I need to get going, there’s a mission I need to grab," Theo said.

"Of course, Theo," Sara said, smiling brightly, "Good luck out there."