Chapter 244 – Expedition Request

Another ordinary day where nothing bad happened! 

What made Syrus's day better was that the whole conversation about her potential ex-special forces past had mostly been dropped. Even the people from Cancole slowed down and stopped their follow-up questions because, one, she didn’t live in their country. Two, it wasn’t like she did anything wrong.

It had been a few weeks, and their finances were improving. They already got a good payout from the royal escort and protection mission. Then there was the potion escort plus monster-slaying gig. The latter half of that equation was what the doctor had given them. They didn’t know where he gathered the funds from, but there was a decent amount of coins in the bag. Now, did they end up spending a good portion of the funds on the children again?

Yes.

But they kept more aside this time for personal use. Projects were being planned, and funds were required! 

Eva and Syrus's production goals were both going to cost a pretty penny. Eva’s potion costs and experimentation were a continuous cost that she was trying to break even with the actual potion sales. Technically, she was making a profit, but then there was the split that went to the children, and by that logic, they went even when it came to personal finances.

[This may be hard, but I had an idea…] Eva suddenly spoke up during their morning hunt. The duo could tell it wasn’t about something they were actively working on, so they were both curious about what had entered Eva’s mind.

[Sure, what is it?] (Syrus)

[IF… we are able to meet up with Flick again. Do you think it will be possible to discuss space magic and perhaps it lingers effects on an area?] Eva had been thinking about what their next interaction with Flick could be for a long time. Perhaps more hours spent on it than Luna, who was preparing follow-up questions herself. [I’m saying she should see our home… I believe we all took that off the table the first time we met. However, we did learn about that possible teleporting-related incident in Eletscoep. That should make a good starting point…] 

[Do you want her to investigate on behalf of us?] (Luna)

[That wouldn’t be a terrible option. However, either that, or she can teach us. If there is even a method of tracking teleportation, which also comes with the issues of how long after teleporting this movement can be tracked.] (Eva)

[Hmm…] Luna agreed with the idea. [But there is one point that makes it difficult—] 

[Finding Flick, yep, that is going to be a pain.] (Syrus)

The trio all sighed at that requirement. The famous thief could be anywhere. The only clue would honestly be any paper saying where the Blinker has stolen from, because she wouldn't be there anymore. 

Returning from the hunt, she was met with Lavender. “Why does it feel like I am getting pulled off the street frequently?"

“Because you are always busy?” Lavender rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you are a person someone can just chat to at a pub; you are never around any of them.” Her words may be true, but they were no less annoying. 

Anlesa sighed, “So what is the trouble today?” 

“What, you don’t think I am here to have a fun chat?” Lavender asked, offended.

“Despite what you said earlier, you would’ve tried to grab me at lunch if it was supposed to be small talk.” 

She clicked her tongue without denying. “Yeah, something has come up.” 

“Tch, what is the mess of the week this time?” Syrus asked, hoping it wasn’t anything actually messy. 

“Less mess and more a big time mission. There is going to be an expedition soon towards the northeast; there is an area that has been marked as a valuable mining area and dock for a while.” Lavender clicked her tongue, remembered something, built it into the thought and continued with the story. “It is next to some mountains, split from the range, and the location where the ideal new port town/city can be built is situated in the valley of these mountains." 

“I’m feeling a ‘But’ coming.” 

“Right on the money.”

Lavender winked and continued, “The valley is full of mutated animals. For some reason they aren’t always murdering each other, but they will attack anything new that enters the area.” 

[Possible Demon Home?] (Luna)

[They do have an increased frequency of created mutated creatures, but it could be something similar to the objects that the Demon Homes centralised around. Like the Redux Crystals.] (Eva)

[So if not a Demon Home, it could be a potential one if they ever wanted to move there. If the theory is accurate.] (Syrus)

“Honestly, if you don’t want to be involved, I would recommend picking up a job. That way you won’t have people constantly bugging you about joining, because even if they don’t do it directly, they will bug you. That is how much they want this operation to succeed."

Luna asked, “I know you said it has been marked for a while, but how long is that? And why are they going ahead with it now?” 

Lavender sighed, “Five years to be exact, since it was first proposed. But there have been delays and funding issues ever since.”

“Still didn’t answer the why. What, did they hear about one mine exploding and decide it was their turn to have a shot? Or since the hunters here managed to kill the attacking mutated animals, they felt we had a chance to go on the offensive and clear out the valley. I guess there is also the option of the higher-ups desperately wanting fun after all the repeated trouble.”

Lavender shrugged. “Honestly, they could all be true. I don’t know, probably it is a mix of reasons. There are multiple people in charge after all, each with differing priorities." She let out a small polite cough. “But yeah, listen, if you are not interested. Please go grab a job. They will pester you about it otherwise.”

“Noted.” The two split off, and Anlesa went to hand in her catch. Once that was done, they checked the newest information brewing in the world. The local newsboards got updated today, and a second option for escaping the expedition could be visiting someplace interesting. 

Anlesa looked at the recent news on the board. There were a few nothing buzzes, but there were a few points that seemed interesting. 

“Reconstruction of the oldest block in Dable is said to be cursed?” Syrus read the title and was the most confused out of the trio. It wasn’t a place that came up during their schooling with Jen, it was pretty far away, after all, but they were likely going to learn about it one day if their lessons continued. 

[The Academic City of Dable is, in a way, a lot like Eletscoep. Both are areas of territory where a large amount of their culture is built around discovery. There has certainly been some drift between the two, especially with Eletscoep's years of stagnation under that ruler. But the two locations also focus on vastly different goals.] Luna recapped her knowledge of this city. Though she felt that term wasn’t entirely accurate, it was mostly just one large building that kept having new additions stitched onto it. 

[Huh, strange place. So what is the difference between it and Eletscoep?] (Syrus)

[Eletscoep could be described as a city of development, while Dable is a city of magic. If it is magic, places will be given to study and develop it. If it's not, it will be tossed to the side.] Eva said with a surprising amount of venom. A normal person might say her tone wasn’t anything that crazy, but for Luna and Syrus, this was new ground. 

[Is that Eletscoep education kicking in?] Syrus chuckled. 

[...] Eva felt a little embarrassed.

[It likely is, but I’d say there is truth to that. Eletscoep has areas designed to help people develop anything: farming, cooking, construction, magic, etc. When everything is going well for it, it is a city of innovation. On the other hand, Dable will ignore anything not related to its craft. Which is not a bad thing.] Luna’s version was kinder than Eva’s. [It has a specific goal, and it brings people together to achieve it. Does its nature of not exploring other non-magical things cause issues at times? Yes. But it is a place that is one of learning.] 

[Got it… I think I understand now.] Syrus understood the situation between countries now, and a small seed of interest formed about Dable. If magic was what they studied, how far had they delved? Curiosity piqued, she continued to read the rest of the news. 

“Heh, the central Aurora Church under threat by a recent demon attack? I wonder how much of that is even true.” Syrus rolled her eyes and read the article more. 

[Wait, is the central church’s area really called the Aurora Domain?] (Syrus)

[Yes… A country used to reside where the central church stands, but it eventually collapsed, and the church fully took its place.] (Luna)

[Probably an interesting story behind that.] (Syrus)

[...The getrua demon home would be near the Aurora Domain…. I wonder if we can ask a demon about its location.] (Eva)

[We might get attacked on sight.] (Luna)

[Not if we have an escort.] Eva suggested. There were likely a few demons from the Redux Demon Home that would accept their request. [My reasoning is, if… when we need to go to the central church, having an escape option or a place to hide would be ideal.] 

[That's fair. It would be good, but we would have to do it after the expedition.] (Syrus)

[That’s if we decided to join it.] (Luna)

[Also true.] (Syrus)

[We could go visit Redux before. We could get answers about the mining site and potentially book a future trip to getrua.] (Eva)

[...Rushing over now does sound like a good idea. It will make us understand if this clean-up operation is going to be a mess or not.] Luna sighed. [We also do need to check about what we would actually get paid if we decided to pick up the expedition job.] 

Anlesa sighed. There were many things they needed to plan for and work on, and now there was this expedition coming up. To go or not to go, that was the question of the day.