"...The treaty with the Snowvein Kingdom doesn't seem to be coming to anything yet" Amelia said, watching the news on a large screen.
Next to Amelia was Cristel, who was putting on her thigh-high boots.
"We've been working on this treaty for over 100 years. If the treaty ever comes to fruition, I'll walk naked through both capitals" Cristel stated ironically.
"Sigh, I don't understand how it can take so many years to make a simple treaty. We've changed so many kings, but there doesn't seem to be any progress at all" Amelia said wearily. "Aren't the resources of both kingdoms supposed to be able to help each other?"
"They do, but kings don't want to give away their resources without being absolutely certain they'll receive a much greater return than they give up" Cristel stated. "According to sir Rodrick, many dwarves wish they could walk the Firorn Meadows and fight hand-to-hand with us, but the Queen is resistant to the idea of having dwarves in the kingdom."
"True, Lord Rodrick has worked with the dwarves several times in the past due to his former position. I remember that before the king died, the treaty was close to being made, or so they said" Amelia said, remembering the rumors she had heard a long time ago.
"That's right, sir Rodrick told me that almost 15 years ago, when he was still a royal knight, the treaty was about to be signed, but the king suddenly fell ill and died shortly after, then the queen delayed everything again," Cristel said. "She was even close to achieving peace with the Dawnia kingdom, but these were just rumors from what I know."
"Now that I think about it, the King of Dawnia died a few years after our King" Amelia commented. "People said he was the best King Dawnia had ever had."
"That's right. From what I heard, he was a very understanding and kind King. He gave great resources to the Mytt when they needed help 20 years ago, as well as support to the elven kingdom in their fight against the Void creatures. They even formed a pact where all races could walk freely between the three kingdoms, but this only lasted 10 years, until King Fausto died and his brother Orlando took the throne" Cristel stated. "After that, everything went back to how it was before, or even worse. Our kingdoms entered into conflict again. The pact between the three kingdoms was canceled, and all non-human races were banned from the Dawnia kingdom unless they were slaves. The kingdom slowly fell from being a vast, beautiful, and commercial kingdom to a military kingdom, with no essence at all. A real shame."
"I really don't understand politicians…" Amelia said, disappointed. "By the way, Master has already returned, hasn't he?" I asked curiously.
"Yes, he returned two days ago. Today he's supposed to have a meeting with the other Masters and the Royal Knight of the kingdom" Cristel affirmed. "From what I was able to gather from him, it seems this ancient mural isn't something we've seen before. It's special..."
"Special, huh? I suppose the Master must be very happy with this discovery" Amelia said, and Cristel nodded.
"Yes, he even wanted to send Finn and Darwin on their mission right away, but Damian managed to convince him to allow them to go early next month as planned before" Cristel said, and Amelia nodded. "I have to admit, those two have great potential within them. One day they'll become great adventurers."
"Well, I think it's best if I go down to the guild. Damian will surely need help with something" Amelia said, standing up and heading to Cristel's room door.
"Okay, I'll go down later. First, I have to get everything ready for tomorrow. I don't want to ruin Finn and Darwin's experience on their first visit to the Pink Alley," Cristel said, approaching the door with Amelia to see her off.
"Are you really taking them? I haven't even been in there…" Amelia asked, stopping at the door, thinking it wasn't safe for two D-class people. "Will there be any problems with the other adventurers or even the merchants? You know those guys…"
"Don't worry, I'll be with them. Besides, they've earned it, no one can deny that" Cristel said.
"Sigh, it's okay. Just keep an eye on them. Darwin tends to be very problematic with things he doesn't like, and even more so with things he does like... especially when it comes to elves and mytt. As for Finn... I haven't wanted to talk about it with him, but I've noticed some strange behavior when he looks at or hears about certain topics" Amelia revealed, confusing Cristel a little.
"Strange behavior?" Cristel asked back.
"You'll see tomorrow. It's a little hard to explain, but it's impossible not to notice if what I heard about the things in the pink alley is true…" Amelia said.
Cristel nodded curiously before hugging Amelia and kissing her on the lips as if it were normal between them. Amelia nodded and left, leaving Cristel alone with her thoughts.
'Especially with this way of saying goodbye to your friends…' Amelia thought as she walked down the long hallway.
—
In the south tower of the Firorn capital castle, a very important meeting was taking place. This tower was used by the masters of the four guilds of the kingdom's capital, and was used only for holding important meetings, whether to discuss future plans or any problems that arose.
The masters sat at a large round table. Each master sat in a large chair with their guild's logo at the head and a companion standing next to them. Master Rohan Stronghold sat in a silver chair with a winged boots logo above his head, the logo of the Freewalker guild. Master Ava Redheart sat in a black chair with a black lion logo above her head, the logo of the Blacklion guild. Master Hendrick Alben sat in a dark blue chair with a blue vortex logo above his head, the logo of the Blue Gate guild. And finally, Master Leonor Vermont sat on a red chair with a blood-stained sword logo above her head. This was the Slayer Guild logo.
Next to Master Rohan was a woman who appeared to be the same age as the Master. She had gray hair and green eyes. She wore long, dark green robes and a black book tied to her waist. She was Hanna, the sorceress and archaeologist of the Freewalker Guild.
Next to Master Ava was an old man, his back slightly hunched and his skin very wrinkled. He wore long, black robes with his guild logo printed in white on his chest. He was a Vundabar, a mage and alchemist from the Blacklion Guild.
Next to Master Hendrick stood a man slightly younger than the Masters present. He wore a typical adventurer's outfit with a blue hood that only covered his shoulders and back. He was Ander, an archaeologist and archer from the Bluegate guild.
Next to Master Leonor stood a woman slightly younger than the rest. She had black hair and blue eyes. She wore a long red hood and a black scarf that covered her face. She was Angel, a mage from the Slayer guild.
"Rohan, I have to tell you how disappointed I am that you didn't wait for my return to investigate the mural together. You know how much I've been researching these murals; I've dedicated practically my entire life to them!" Hanna whispered to Rohan, lightly pinching him on the arm.
"Ouch, sorry, okay? But you know how Cristel is about these things. She kept insisting on going, so I decided to leave before she could find a way to join us" Rohan replied.
"Tch, we certainly can't let that girl near a mural, not again" Hanna said, remembering how Cristel destroyed the mural she had found five years ago.
"She's a walking danger" the Master confirmed seriously.
The other Masters were also talking with their companions, although they did so in a more animated and friendly manner. After a few minutes, the doors opened, admitting a tall, burly man wearing silver armor with a sun logo on his chest and a red cape on his back. This man was Albert Gobalt, the royal knight of the Kingdom of Firorn. Behind him was a very tall old man wearing white robes with a brown hood and carrying a white cane. This was Merlin, one of the greatest mages, who was talking with another man, Rodrick Arceus, a former royal knight and current independent adventurer.
Shortly after, a white-haired young woman entered, wearing armor similar to Albert's, except that she wore a somewhat worn and battered blue cape. The Masters couldn't help but turn to look at the young woman, noticing her disheveled state and somewhat dull expression.
'Oh, Vana... How many times did we tell you not to join the knights?' Rohan thought, looking sadly at Vana. Four years ago, when Vana turned 12, all the masters offered her a place in their guilds and warned her to stay away from the castle, but she didn't listen at all.
'Poor girl,' Ava thought, seeing Vana's appearance. 'We warned her so many times...'
"We're sorry for the delay. We had a... slight argument with the Queen. You know how she can be..." Albert apologized, adjusting his belt, and the masters simply nodded in understanding.
"So, what's the purpose of today's meeting?" Leonor asked with a serious attitude.
"Oh, yes, today's meeting isn't being held at my request, but rather at Master Rohan's. He claims to have found something important during the goblin-investigation mission," Albert quickly clarified.
"Something important? What could be so important about a group of goblins?" Leonor mocked.
"An ancestral mural, perhaps…" Rohan replied, standing up and giving Leonor a mocking look.
"You're lying…" Master Hendrick said incredulously.
'Shit, that's why he left the guild the other day!' Ava thought angrily.
"Oh, you think so? Why don't you look for yourself?" the Master said, taking out his guild card and inserting it into a circular device on the large table. "What I'm about to show you are images taken by my adventurers, as well as throughout my own journey to the ancestral mural, and information that my receptionist and I managed to gather. Pay attention, because there's a lot of valuable information in these simple images and notes!"
The master began by showing a photo showing Finn and Darwin in the middle of a destroyed base with several dead monster bodies everywhere.
'Darwin!' Merlin thought in amazement, then showed a pleased smile. 'After all, Finn was the one who could save him...' Merlin thought, remembering how in many of his time regressions, he convinced the queen to send Vana to save Darwin from the clutches of a ferocious minotaur, although of course he had to trick the queen by saying she shouldn't send Vana to the cave or she would meet her end there. Then he saw Finn standing next to Darwin with pride. 'Maybe this really will change the course of things...'
"I don't understand. What's so valuable about these simple images?" Vana asked, looking at the monster bodies. 'Is it because of the number of monsters? This is something I could do without any problems,' she thought confidently.
"In the corner, a cell with the bodies of imprisoned monsters" Ander replied. 'Goblins don't capture monsters... Why did goblins want monsters?' Ander wondered, intrigued.
"...nor do they form such elaborate bases. Stakes, deep pits with solid earth spikes, double wood walls reinforced with stones in between" Vundabar continued, carefully observing the images.
"Not to mention that they don't team up with their evolutions. They're supposed to despise each other" Ava said, seeing the bodies of ogres, hobgoblins, and goblins everywhere. "How did they team up?..." she asked curiously.
'Now that they mention it...' Vana thought carefully.
"We know it's these goblins' fault..." Rohan said, changing the photo and showing a goblin nailed to a wooden stick. "According to what my explorers told me, these Goblins call themselves witch goblins and are the leaders of each base. They command the monsters, make plans, and are in charge of keeping everything peaceful among themselves"
"Each base? I thought there was only one" Albert asked seriously. He didn't like the idea of having several ogre, hobgoblin, and goblin bases around the capital.
"That's right. Based on the reports we had, we assumed there would only be one base, but my explorers discovered that wasn't the case" Rohan stated, showing several photos of other bases they visited that were in the same condition. "They located seven bases in total."
"What's that?" Hendrick asked, seeing traces of fighting that continued into the forest.
"That's how my explorers found the other bases. Apparently, the bases were communicating with each other. My explorers took an ogre hostage and had him take them to the other bases, although they had some complications along the way" Rohan replied, showing the path destroyed by the fighting and then a photo of an ogre lying with several wooden stakes in its body and cuts all over.
Rohan changed his image again, and this time he was stopped by Angel, who seemed to have realized something.
"Wait... What the heck is in the cage? Is my vision deceiving me?" Angel asked, surprised and somewhat terrified.
The other Masters also focused on the cage, seeing several bodies of female monsters lying around, chained up.
"Don't tell me..." Ava stood up from her chair in astonishment, trying to see the image clearly. "Those monsters were actually female monsters? Don't tell me they..." Rohan simply nodded, changing the image, showing a clearer one of the female monsters.
"That's right, my explorers confirmed with their own eyes how the goblins captured and used the female monsters as reproductive methods" Rohan confirmed.
"You certainly have some great explorers" Albert said, looking approvingly at Finn and Darwin. "If we hadn't realized this, we'd be fighting a huge number of goblins and their evolutions."
"That's right, I'm very proud of them. After all, they're barely D-class" the Master said, then switched to the next photo.
'Barely D-class!? Master Rohan sent two D-class monsters on a mission that was at least C-class?' asked Vana, incredulous.
"You're lucky your little explorers survived this mission..." Hanna commented, dissatisfied with her master for sending two D-class monsters on this mission.
"Nothing to worry about, they're more than capable" Rohan simply replied. "Let's get to the point, this cave..." Rohan said quickly.
'That cave looks familiar...' Merlin thought, looking at the cave.
Rohan changed the image again, showing a large destroyed base with a ton of monsters everywhere. Then he switched to another image showing a dead minotaur and a horse-woman under several rocks.
'And they're only D-class monsters?' Albert thought, amazed.
The other masters were in the same state, because, supposedly, for class D adventurers, hobgoblins were already a great challenge and even a threat on some occasions, but now Rohan was showing them how two class D had managed to defeat not only a camp of goblins and hobgoblins, but also ogres that are class C, in addition to the horse-woman who is class B and a minotaur that is class A.
Finally, Rohan showed the most important photos of all: the ancient mural and the sealed door, leaving the Masters amazed and intrigued. Merlin watched this new discovery in amazement, as he had never seen this ancient mural in any of his regressions.
'After so many times... this world still has secrets that even I haven't been able to discover...' Merlin thought, fascinated by the mural.
"At first glance, this seems like any other ancient mural, giving vague and inconclusive clues. However, that's not the case. This mural seems somewhat different from the others" Rohan said.
"Different in what way?" Anna asked.
"This mural seems to have magic built into it" Rohan clarified as he pressed a button on the circular object, and screens appeared in front of each of those present. "This magic seems to put you in an illusion that helps you understand the drawings on the ancient mural, almost as if it's bringing images from the lost past and showing them to you directly."
"Bringing images from the past… a storage magic, perhaps" Merlin analyzed, reading the information and then looking at the door and the strange magical writings on it. "How many days is the ancient mural from here?" he asked.
"7 days, although if we travel by zeppelin we can get there in just one day. It's located in the Forest of the Fallen" Rohan said confidently.
The Masters looked at each other, considering what action to take. Albert looked at the images intrigued. He didn't understand much about magical writings and ancient murals, but he knew they were very important, so much so that they could change the course of the world itself. Continuing to read the information given by Rohan, Albert noticed something strange.
"Master Rohan, here you wrote that the monsters desired something, something that was taken from them… but what is it?" Albert asked.
"Great question, Sir Albert. After arduous research, my explorers noticed that the goblins were protecting these gates and wanted access at all costs. According to the ancient mural, behind these gates lie three intelligent races completely unknown to us. They are apparently the ancestors of several of the monsters" Rohan explained.
"Ancestors!? But how can that be possible? All monsters are supposed to be creatures born from chaos itself. How can they be related to these three races you say are intelligent?" Hendrick asked.
"I don't know that either, but I can assure you that's what I saw in the ancient mural. I saw how a being corrupted these races and transformed them into the monsters we know today" Rohan said seriously.
"...This may be true" Merlin said, his gaze fixed on the images of these goblins, but his mind was wandering to memories of the other goblins he had seen before. "Maybe not all goblins were born from Chaos as we think. We need to go see the mural in person" Merlin said, then looked at Albert, who nodded back.
"I'll prepare a zeppelin as soon as possible. It should be ready in about two hours," Albert stated, causing all the masters to nod.
"However, this doesn't explain the strange behavior of the monsters or your explorers' recent discovery of this new goblin witch" Rodrick said, and Rohan nodded at his words.
"That's right. Unfortunately, they couldn't discover anything about how this strange behavior or the goblin witches came about, but they did discover a clue that led to the forest across the great bridge. My scouts will travel there in two weeks, as soon as they fully recover" Rohan said, and Rodrick nodded.
"Shouldn't we send more qualified people? They're two D-class monsters, after all" Leonor commented, and many masters nodded inwardly.
"No" Rodrick replied, surprising all the masters. "How many times have adventurers passed through the border forest and still been unable to discover what was happening, or even stop the goblins that attacked them?" Rodrick asked, and Merlin nodded.
"Young Rodrick is right. Finn and Darwin have not only proven capable of handling this, they're also the only ones with in-depth knowledge on the subject, perhaps even more so than we do now" Merlin affirmed. "The most sensible thing to do is to leave this job to them, since they already have experience dealing with these intelligent monsters, and not risk other adventurers who are only used to handling monsters without any intelligence."
The masters nodded at Merlin and Rodrick's words without replying at all.
"Good, that should do it. Come on, Ander, we have to get everything ready" said Master Hendrick, standing up from his chair.
The other masters followed his example and stood up immediately, not wanting to delay any longer. Vana, who was watching everyone leave, didn't want to be left behind alone in the castle.
"Wait, what about me?!" Vana asked, not wanting to be left with the Queen and Princess.
"I'm sorry, Vana, but you can't come with us. You know very well that the knight guards must remain in the castle at all costs" Albert said, stopping her at the door.
"But I'm not a normal knight, and you know it. Besides, those two D-class adventurers saw the ancestral mural too!" Vana said, trying to convince Albert not to leave her alone with the queen and princess.
"They're a special case. They're explorers, as well as the ones who discovered the ancestral mural. I'm sorry, Vana…" Albert said goodbye, leaving the meeting room.
"Everything will be fine soon, my girl, I promise" Merlin said, passing by Vana and placing his hand on her shoulder. "Just wait a little longer." Merlin left the room, leaving Vana alone in the room.
—-
"Wait a little longer?" Vana wondered, looking at herself in the mirror in her room. Her eyes and the tip of her nose were slightly red. "Are you fucking joking? And what am I supposed to do, wait patiently while everyone goes out to contribute great things to the kingdom while I get fucked in the ass by the queen and the princess!?" Vana threw everything off the vanity desk and then knelt on the floor crying. "What a fucking joke..." Vana said.
Looking up, she saw a large number of pictures on the wall with all kinds of awards from her knight academy. Awards that had once been her greatest pride were now nothing more than a simple piece of paper without any meaning to her, yet another reminder of the bad decisions she made when she was younger.
"I just want to help too... I want to protect the kingdom and its citizens too," Vana said, crying.
After a few minutes, she stood up, cleaned up everything she'd thrown, and then headed to her bathroom where she took off her clothes, revealing several marks from being tied up and what appeared to be whiplashes on her back and legs. After showering, she put on a sheer dress and left her room. She walked a few meters until she stopped at a pair of enormous white doors. She stood still for a few seconds before sighing and knocking on the princess's door.
'Here we go... again,' Vana thought.