311 Let’s go

In a vast area under the ground, on the lowest floor of SMF’s main teleportation center inside their headquarters, a huge group of people was standing by, waiting for their mission to start.

“I’ve explained it before, but we won’t be using the teleportation circle for this mission.”

The number of people who took part in this mission was quite high, so Glenn had to stand on a platform and use a microphone to amplify his voice.

“We will be using portals to move to the location. As the number of people who can use the portal is limited, we have to move you in groups, and it will take a long time to move everyone, so the mission will have different parts.”

Glenn had explained the plan to everyone countless times, but he still repeated it to make sure that everyone knew what they were supposed to do.

They would be using portals to move to the location of the main base. They were afraid that if they teleported there by the teleportation spells, they might be detected. It wasn’t hard to check the usage of mana in an area and there were also countless devices to help people notice even the slightest changes of mana in the atmosphere. Teleporting used quite a lot of mana, and the higher the number of teleported people, the higher the mana used, thus, they had to use another way to move there.

And that another way was someone who could create portals, that happened to be living with Kairen for a while.

Claire was standing beside Glenn with her head down and hands clasped. She was wearing a formal uniform and she looked tidy, unlike her usual self.

Of course, Claire’s power was not enough to move all of these people, so they had to use countless potions, support mages, and healers to support her power and help her continue to create portals and move people.

.....

Kairen, who had been listening to Glenn, opened his mouth without taking his eyes off of him.

“Did you apologize to him?”

“....”

Aaron took a deep breath before responding to him.

“How was I supposed to talk to him when he was thirsty for our blood the whole night?”

“....”

He was right. Ariyan was really angry last night. In the end, they could only ask, actually beg, Mrs. Neal to help them make the kid sleep.

“You are a demon!”

Still, Kairen couldn’t help but cure his brother.

“Wha-”

“I never knew you were so heartless. I’m disappointed in you, Ron.”

“Ren...”

Aaron blinked his eyes, still staring at Glenn.

“You also know why I slapped that kid. You saw how he was, didn’t you?”

“....”

Kairen closed his mouth.

Of course, he saw. How couldn’t he? And he had been thinking about it the whole night.

“Do you know anything about that thing?”

Aaron was referring to what happened to Ariyan’s eyes, and Kairen knew what he meant.

“Fate.”

“Yes?”

“I’m not sure, but it must be something related to fate.”

“....”

“That man... The white-haired holy saint was looking for a child of Fate... He also mentioned something about the Thread of Fate as well... I’m not sure, but they might all be related to each other... and to the kid...”

“....”

Aaron opened and closed his mouth a few times.

“His eyes were glowing... Was that his power?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can he tell the fate?”

“....I don’t know.”

What kind of strange question was that?

“Were the things he was mumbling, fate?”

“...Yes?”

Kairen could no longer stare at Glenn and snapped his head towards his brother, attracting the attention of a few people who were standing behind him.

“What are you talking about?”

Aaron also looked at Kairen’s eyes.

“He was saying some strange things, which... made me feel oddly bad. I don’t know. I couldn’t understand, but I don’t think they were words that a little kid that age could say with a grim face like that.”

“....”

Kairen agreed with him. Those words were not things that Ariyan would say. He was also scared when he heard those mumbles and an ominous feeling engulfed his whole body. He could fully understand what his brother was saying.

“I can’t say anything for sure.”

But he couldn’t just go and say ‘Yeah, brother, the little kid that lives with us so happens to see Fate’ or such a thing. Also, what kind of fate it would be? The only thing that the kid say was ‘Ariyan will be lonely’. Was that a fate?

“Now, please, come stand here in the order I mentioned before.”

Kairen and Aaron stopped their conversation after hearing Glenn’s loud voice.

“Ah, it’s time to leave.”

It was still early in the morning. The weather was still dark and cold and you could consider it a night, rather than the morning.

“We are the first. Come.”

Kairen nodded his head and followed behind Aaron. Their unit was the first unit to move to the location. They would use a portal to go there, and the others would join them little by little. Of course, they wouldn’t wait there idly for everyone to come.

“Is he there?”

Team leader Dains nodded his head at the deputy team leader’s words. He checked his watch before stepping towards a small area that was separated from the rest of the room.

There stood Claire, who was visibly about to faint from anxiety, and some other supporters. After seeing the team leader’s nod, the girl swallowed her saliva and took one step back.

ONGGGG

A black-purple layer appeared in the air, shook and trembled a little bit, before taking the shape of a portal. She then sent a nervous glance at Aaron, who nodded his head slightly at her.

“Let’s go.”

The group started to walk into the portal one by one. Kairen stepped into the portal right after his brother. The next time his foot touched the ground, he was already in another location.

“Wow!”

Someone gasped in admiration.

“Using portals is much more comfortable than using teleportation!”

Someone else commented. Everyone nodded their heads while some sent envious glares at Aaron. He had been using portals all the time! Shame on him!

“So where is he?”

Elsie narrowed he eyes and started to scan the surroundings. The others did the same. They were all searching for a certain someone.

“All of your fucking faces have gotten uglier since the day I last saw you!”

Everyone jumped up after hearing those words. They could see a man standing right behind the team, where no one else was standing a few seconds ago.

“That’s not a good way to greet others.”

“Look at that airy brat telling me what to do and what not! Tsk!”

Alan snorted at Rai and turned around. He strolled toward team leader Dains, who has only been staring at him since he appeared out of nowhere.

“Fidel, raise my salary.”

“After the mission.”

The team leader didn’t even wait for a second. He answered Alan right away, and even more surprisingly, agreed to do what he wanted.

“Huh?”

Darren’s mouth dropped open.

“What the hell? Why? I’ve been requesting a raise in salary for 8 months and you never agreed!”

“Right! A want a raise in my salary too!”

.....

“Me too!”

Suddenly, everyone wanted more salary.

“Yo, brats! I’ve been fucking living in the middle of nowhere for a whole month only to keep this place in check! Do this, then ask for promotion!”

Alan was... right. He had been living here for more than a month and reported every single thing that happened in the area. They were in a dry plain now. It was a place between the central part of the county and behind a huge forest, the one that had the third ancient ruins on the other side of it.

‘It’s close to that place...’

The location of the main base of Philomns was close to the laboratory that was built here 50 years ago to test Atypical matter and ended up exploding and turning to nothing.

“I’ll give you all a raise after this mission.”

The team leader dropped the bomb.

“What?”

“Really?”

“Oh my god!”

The team members cheered altogether.

“I have a reason to survive today now!”

“Tomorrow’s lunch on me guys!”

“Yeah! Free food!”

SMACK

Alan smacked the back of Darren, who was shouting ‘Free food’ and glared at the others.

“Keep it quiet! Are you out of your mind? What the hell are you doing, shouting like that?”

“....”

“....”

“....”

Someone quietly commented.

“But we use gadgets to stop our voices from leaking out of a certain area around us...”

“No one else can hear us.”

Someone else also joined them.

“So it’s fine even if we shout.”

“Huh...”

Alan blinked his eyes.

“That’s why I told you to use my gadgets.”

Team leader Dains also commented.

“....”

The old man- Alan, placed his hands on his hips.

“Whatever! You are here to fight!”

Everyone nodded their heads.

“We have to get started before the others arrive.”

“That’s right.”

“Let’s go.”

The atmosphere was back to the serious mood once again.