Chapter 78 - Departure

"So Miss Leilena, is the payment ready?" I speak with a businessman-like smile as I look at her, at which she glares at me before making a tired expression and then nodding with a bright smile on her face. Then she thinks about something, gets confused and looks around me as if searching for someone before realising something as her face turns that to disappointment. 

'Eight different expressions before she speaks, huh?'

"Haha.." finding her actions cute, a chuckle escapes from my mouth as I can't help myself but pat on her head.

"You can meet Leraye before we depart. We probably will depart in one week or slightly more. I will notify you later," I answer her unasked question at which she gets embarrassed but nods slightly.

Looking at her, I can't help but recall Aisha when she was small. Her actions were mostly similar to Leilena when she wanted something from me, but couldn't gather the courage to ask for. 

A smile forms on my face as I delve into the past for a moment before coming back to reality. Meanwhile, Leilena asks her guards to pass the pouch of Gold coins to me. Taking the pouch from her, I bid goodbye to them and then left.

After finishing this work, I noticed that it's almost afternoon now. 

'Since I still have some time before meeting Albert, let's meet the Adventurer's Guild's Leader,' thinking that I move towards their headquarters. Looking at the entrance, I couldn't help but recall when I first entered this place. It's only been 2 weeks since we arrived here, but because so many things have happened at once, it truly feels like a long time has passed since I last came here. 

Entering the hall, I look for the reception and move to the one which has the least people in the queue. After waiting for sometime my turn comes,

"Oh! What would you like to do, young one?" The female receptionist asks me as she looks at me curiously.

'Hmmm…not the reaction I was expecting, but…Ah! How can I forget? My brothers wear the same clothes and they might have created some impression on the people here, so that could be the reason they were not giving the looks that they should give to a child. Well, this makes things easy for me,' I think as I nod and look at her.

"Can you please pass on this message to Adventurer's Guild's Leader, 'Morpheus wants to meet you' "I speak with a serious but childish tone at which she makes a slightly complex expression. Looks like she is struggling to decide between whether she should do it or not. After pondering over it for a minute, she nods and then calls the Guild Leader.

"Sir, it's from Reception no. XXXX. A child has arrived here, and he asked me to pass this message to you, 'Morpheus-"

She then suddenly stops speaking. Looks like the Guild Leader is speaking something.

"Okay sir, I will immediately bring him to you," she says as her eyes glitters. Looks like she will be rewarded, I guess.

She then immediately leaves the reception and comes from the other side and grabs my hand. She then runs as fast as she can towards a specific direction, most probably to the Guild Leader.

Soon we reached the location and entered a lavish hall like room with a table on the other side of the room against which the same guy I met on the top of the Sacred Tree was standing. Looking at me, he nods, then gestures something to the receptionist, at which she bows and leaves the room.

"How are things going on with Ladros?" I ask as my expression turns serious from the previously confused one. He looks at me, then thinks as if he is trying to recall something,

"Nothing as yet. He hasn't asked me anything. As far as I can tell, right now he is cautious of everyone. It includes not only pawns like me, but also his closer ones."

I observe him, then think about what I should do next,

'If Ladros doesn't make any moves, then there is little I can do to use the situation, sigh…this makes things slightly more troublesome. Though it's fine, I guess, at worst I can just barge into the Demon Continent later and kill him there. It's all about time, I guess,' I think as I make some adjustments to my plan.

"Adolphus, I need you to keep observing the situation and update me once every week. I also need you to provide me with a communication sphere. Also, I need you to officially register our party right before we leave. I'll provide the details on the same day. Well, I guess there is only this much I can ask for now. If I need anything else, I will tell you through the communication sphere," I speak everything that was on my mind. Adolphus seems to be confused about something, then he asks me,

"Why do you trust me so much? Honestly, I would have taken you for a fool if you were anyone but…you. But it's you we are talking about, so I can't put my head into it properly. Why trust someone who was against you or someone who was trying to kill you and your party member?" He asks with a serious expression. 

'Looks like he really wants that answer. Hmmm…leaving him hanging won't create much difference than telling, but let's just tell him,' I ponder before I begin to answer him.

"Because I can tell the character of a person if I concentrate properly enough, even before the fight began that day, I had already analysed every strong person's character one by one. You can also say that it's just my instincts, though they have never once failed me in my entire life. Plus, it's more of a study of a character than just blind instinct, but that would be too deep for you to understand," I tell him the reason and basis of my trust. He seems more confused than before, but still nods.

I then leave from that place and reach outside the guildhall. Looking at the two suns in the sky, it is almost time to meet Albert I guess. After this, it's pretty much training and then we will depart from here. 

I move towards the destination where I have asked them to come.

Reaching there, I look at the restaurant that I chose for the meeting. Albert, Lucy, Leraye and Kaneto are sitting there with one place still left empty. I slowly move there. As soon as I reach closer to them, they look at me, especially Albert, who had a disgusted expression as he observes me. I reach to my seat and sit in front of Albert.

"Pass me the message father sent," I ask him, getting directly to the point.

"Haha…you and that observation skill of yours never cease to amaze me. Here, take it," Albert passes a letter to me," to put it in simple terms, your father asked me to pass this message to you and only you. He said that he was worried about you after the mana surge that happened a week ago. He wants you to come back home but believes that he can't persuade you, so he asked me to bring you back in whatever way it is possible. That sums up my work here. Now that I know that you won't be coming with me, I will leave from here," he says as he gets up from his seat and prepares to leave.

"I am going to bring back Richard from the Valley of the Lost," I say as I take out a letter from behind me.

"Huh?!?" Albert halts his steps as he looks at me with a confused but angry expression.

Valley of the Lost, a misty place that is more of a phenomenon than the place. It occurs everywhere and anywhere in desolate places. Many adventures have fallen victim to this mist. It was said that in this mist once someone gets lost he can never get back, at least that's what was believed until a certain Mage escaped out of there alive. According to him, people from all over the world were present there and suffered endlessly. Even though the mist appears at random places, it also connects all the places at once. He also provided various other information that helped people determine the nature of the place inside the mist.

I look at Albert, then Kaneto, and then sigh a bit before continuing,

"Son of Albert, Richard, was an aspiring adventurer. Even though we had our age gaps, we were best friends. Albert didn't want Richard to become an adventurer, but because I thought it would be a better choice for Richard to become an adventurer, I persuaded Richard to become one. One year later, after he left, news came that his party had been swallowed by the Valley of the Lost during an exploration raid," I tell the story of what happened to everyone. It would be better to tell everything to your party members rather than keeping them in the dark, especially when we will venture into that place later.

Looking at Kaneto and others, they don't seem too bothered with it. In fact, they seem to have expected something like that from the beginning. I look at Albert whose expression turns dumbfounded before turning furious.

"What did you say? Persuaded? NO! You manipulated him into doing so. He didn't want to become an adventurer. You were the one who instilled the idea into his brain about being an adventurer and what the f*ck did you say? You will bring him back from the Valley of the Lost? Stop f*cking with me. You think someone as puny as you can do that? Do you take me for a fool, Light? DO I LOOK LIKE A F*CKING IDIOT TO YOU?!?...." he seems to have lost his cool as he shouts and curses at me.

I wait for a few moments to let him calm down, then speak as his voice gets cracked a bit after shouting so loud,

"You can believe what you want. 3 years, Richard will return in the best shape possible. I'll promise that to you. As for forgiving me or not, you can decide that later after Richard comes back home," I speak as I throw the letter I had written to him, " pass this letter to my father." 

I then stand up and leave from there as Albert watches me as tears start coming out of his eyes.

"3 years…Are you sure you can bring him back?" He is pleading this time. I see his eyes have lost all hope but still want to believe in it, his hand shaking as it cracks a bit more every second pass. I observe him as he cries like a child as he puts his hand on his face. He then looks at me again with all the strength he could muster.

"Yeah. I will make sure to bring him back to you. It is something I am responsible for, isn't it?" I look at him with a humble smile.

"Will I be able to see my son again? Is it possi-" before he can speak anymore, I knock him unconscious. Lucy is looking at me with doubtful eyes now.

"He was breaking from the inside. If I didn't do anything, then his sanity would have crumbled right in front of us. It was necessary," I explained it to her, at which she sighs in relief then nods.

"Kaneto…well, bring him with us to our inn. Just keep him away from my brothers and take care of him. He should be back to normal when he wakes up," I command Kaneto, then leave from there.

Kaneto nods at me, then picks up Albert and leaves too.. So do Lucy and Leraye.