A/N: Hey, it's been more than two months, but to compensate for this long silence, here is a double chapter update! I hope you enjoy it. Future updates will come monthly (as long as college doesn't kill me).

~Kalafinn

A month of summer was coming to an end in Ruben and Ainchase was forced to admit he was facing an impasse. The El Search Party soldiers were not too inclined in letting him stay near the El for more than fifteen minutes. The shard, however, had not moved and no other demons had appeared to take it. Even so, in the calmest days, he could not afford to let his guard down when he knew that demons were right under his nose.

To pass his time and to pay for his stay, he became an adventurer like the half-demon. Ainchase passed little time with the other new adventurers, focusing on tasks that kept him away from the demons while being close enough to the villagers to gain their trust. Specially Lowe's. Usually, it would be the captain's duty to oversee adventurers, but he was apparently visiting Elder and hadn't come back for a month. Whatever the reason of the visit was, Ainchase knew that it was unusually long. At least, those were the facts for Elsword, who was the only member that answered most of his questions about the organization.

Ain knew Elsword was probably the only man who could change the mistrust of the El Search Party towards him when the captain was nowhere to be found. The absence of the leader was suspicious on its own, but the way to stay closer to the El and the El Search Party was becoming an adventurer. He was not the only one that went through that process, although he was the only one besides the half-demon to officially become adventurers. Ruben's laws on the matter did not allow underaged people nor women to hold the same qualification.

The mage brat was only qualified to qualify as a support mage, while the elf and the demoness passed the qualifications to be senior and junior scouts respectively.

Of course, this enraged the young purple-haired mage more than the elf, as she never stopped repeating how her noble Fluonian lineage was prestigious. They were supposedly unfit to content themselves to the duties of mere support mages.

Despite her constant whining, there was no way around the law and not a single person in the village wanted to lie about Aisha's gender. The elf took her duties as a scout better than Aisha, and it was thanks to her heightened senses that a group of guards was able to stop a couple of Phoru bandits before they stole part of the village's crops a week prior to this August afternoon. The demon duchess, on the other hand, lent a hand to Ciel from time to time. Aisha, on the other hand, passed most of her day with her books and barely helped Ann. Saying that the mage was not appreciated by most of the village was an understatement.

That afternoon, Ainchase decided to meditate in a place closer to the El than the village; Noah's Lake. Fortunately, the lake was uncorrupted by any human or demon presence. He walked towards the rock he had seen the demon duchess sit on and sat on it to meditate and find a reply from the goddess.

The lake was calm and the mild breeze that made the leaves whisper their quiet melody accentuated the spiritual peace of the blessed forest. The El's presence was still strong and the weather was perfect for a long meditation session, unlike the previous ones.

In all his time in Ruben, the rare time he could spare for meditation would not reconcile him with Ishmael's voice; the silence was dreadful for the minutes it lasted, as dreadful as a forest covered in shadows. His constant trials had empowered slowly the El, and that was the only solace he could find: as long as the El was strong, Ishmael had not died.

Sooner than later, the goddess would contact him again. It had to happen soon, perhaps before the end of the fall. As an agent of the goddess, Ainchase had to keep his hope in those words, even when they rang hollow as the silence extended itself over the seasons.

He had finished his meditation of the day after listening to two hours of silence and was heading back to the village when the elf scout was coming from. She stopped and told him that they were called by Lowe for an emergency. At that moment, Ainchase doubted there was any serious emergency the village could be going through when the sacred jewel that kept the forests pristine had not moved.

"What is the emergency, Miss. Elf?" the priest asked.

"Lowe hasn't said much, but considering Elsword's mood today, my guess is that something is wrong in the El Search Party."

The grey-haired priest squinted at Rena. "They seem to be doing their duty perfectly on their own. Why would they need the help of adventurers?"

The elf lowered her gaze to the dirt road that lead to Ruben and left him with a dangerous assumption before they entered the village's entrance. "I hope I'm wrong on this, but I'm getting a feeling Lowe will ask us to go on a manhunt."

They were invited for the first time to cross the gate of the El Search Party's fortress. Behind the stone curtain, one could have forgotten that it was still the same village. The men were training for war in many ways; some through the sword, some through magecraft and others by forging weapons or potions. Across the great open training fields, the instructors barked severe orders at each small group of trainees.

Among this raging noise, Elsword waited for them at the entrance to the western aisle with some worry in his eyes that he tried to hide behind anger. Aisha, who usually would mock the young redhead, did not say a word as she witnessed the hidden warmonger nature inside the fortress. Something very serious had to be threatening them.

As they were walking through the halls, the silence dominated just like the shouts of trainees and trainers alike had overwhelmed the noise in the training grounds. Apart for some veterans passing by here and there, the indoors seemed to be abandoned. Elsword only had to knock twice on the thirtieth door to their left for Lowe to invite them to come in. Once the group was inside, he asked them to close the door.

"Thank you for coming, adventurers." Lowe began, looking at each of them by the eye. He thought that even if he two of the elves were suspicious, they were exactly what he needed. All of them apart from Elsword were outsiders to the El Search Party; they would have no qualms about capturing Banthus if his worst fears turned out to be true.

"Commander Banthus left for a trip to Elder like he usually does every month. However," Lowe's tone lowered, laced with the barest hint of worry of the information he was about to repeat to Elsword. The young trainee had been the one to bring the letter to him and Lowe hoped the kid had not spoken to anyone about it but the people in the room.

"A few days ago, I received this letter." He waved the paper around for emphasis, frowning. "It's a resignation letter. Commander Banthus has officially left the El Search Party."

Nobody reacted to the news and seemed mostly confused about it. Lowe thought to himself that perhaps he was expecting too much for them. Ainchase understood that Rena's worries could perhaps not be unfounded, but so far, there was nothing suspicious about a resignation letter. It was simply a decision, as sudden as it was.

"But Mister Lowe, I don't understand. Mr. Banthus wanted to leave on his own. Why are we here?" the demoness asked with the sickening innocent voice that Ainchase knew to be fake.

Sometimes, Ainchase hated how his thoughts coincided with those of a vile creature, but more than that, he was curious to see Elsword's reaction. While the others had been agreeing with Luciela and asking Lowe more question, the red-haired boy remained completely silent, holding his chin in his hand, eyebrows furrowed as he stared hard at the ground.

He knew his village better than anyone else and while Lowe was trying to get his point across, he held his tongue about most of what he was asked. He could not tell Ciel whether Banthus could easily take away a part of their forces, although that was what he feared. The lieutenant could not answer Rena's question about the reason behind the totality of the guards training. Lowe was preparing for the worst-case scenario, but besides saying that they were simply testing all the recruits, he could not fully trust neither his men or these new adventurers.

The former could be still faithful to Banthus and follow any orders coming from him, regardless of what they were; the latter, besides the priest, were complete strangers to the Party. They would not be trusted by others if the two groups ever needed to cooperate. What he did answer to was Lu's question. The problem with the resignation letter was its mention to a "comfortable pension" that Banthus had already received and a change of residence that simply had not happened yet.

All of his belongings were still in his home and absolutely no one had come to pick them up, nor they were planning to. If they were, they would have received a notice from Cobo Services along with the letter. Furthermore, the messenger that delivered the letter was a different person, supposedly a newbie, but his scarred face resembled to one of the petty bandits that lurked in the forests.

That was not all that was making Lowe increasingly apprehensive about the matter. The letter had come alone and even if it had the official approval crests of the Velder Knights, the main branch of their order, some minor details about them were slightly off. They were minor details, only observable through the biggest magnifying glass they had. But they were there.

The group slowly began to get one of Lowe's worries, but still could not find the immediate issue. Only someone born in the village would know of what immediate danger would be. Still, the minor whispers of realization did not disturb Elsword's thinking. Or rather his remembrance of the kind of man Banthus represented in the village.

Ruben wasn't exactly the safest place in the map. The roads towards it and other places being surrounded, most of the time, by bandits who wanted to get some quick cash. Elsword had been part of the trainee group that Banthus took with him one day to patrol one of the bandits' favourite spots. That was when the group had captured and scarred some bandits before returning the stolen goods. While Elsword had handled one or two men with his comrades, most of the job was done by Banthus.

He was a big man, with scars that proved more his character of unflinching courage, rather than a weakness. It scared most petty criminals, who preferred to sneak around instead of fighting. And it was captain Banthus's intimidating presence that made most bandits receptive to flee the area out of fear. In less than five years, the captain kept the bandits at bay from the tree of El, which they were trying to pillage and sell small chunks of the El for a fortune. It was then that he realized that the bandits would only stay at bay as long as the captain was there.

His thoughts came back to that messenger. He not only had scars, but his clothes had too much mud on it, perhaps mixed with dried blood; Elsword could not tell for sure from the brief seconds he had seen the man. The man's speech had also struck him as odd. It was not the quiet, polite Velderian accent Cobo messengers had. No, it was a rougher, almost primitively native accent Elsword had heard around. Somewhere close to home.

His ruby eyes slowly widened as he grabbed bits and pieces from the conversation around him. Look at the letter. Closely. The messenger was different. No moving notice. No cart in Banthus's home. No one to take his stuff away. And the captain, as tough as he was, he was still human. And the bandits could be very sly.

"The bandits sent the letter!" he exclaimed, the loudness making the rest of the murmurs quiet down and all eyes were on the boy.

Lowe blinked in surprise, honestly not expecting Elsword to be the first- and probably the only one from the looks of the other's faces- to understand what the situation can lead to. Shaking off the surprise he nodded, a small smile cresting his lips out of pride. He could trust Elsword, that much was granted.

"That's what I've been fearing. And if they got him under their claws, it is very possible they are planning to attack where they could not before." His smile was replaced by a frown. "And that leaves a lot of possible targets. The tree of El in particular. They might use Banthus either as bait or as a hostage." He cleared his throat and tucked the letter away, standing tall and stiff with his arms behind his back.

"And this brings the very reason of this meeting. The tree of El is the source of fertility of the farmland and our only protection against threats like the recent demon attacks. And with Banthus gone and possibly used against us, I can't leave this matter in hands of other knights that might not act if their captain asks them not to do so."

Ain understood the worries of the lieutenant, but he was very wrong on place his trust on the El to keep demons away. In fact, it could do quite the opposite. The demon duchess, her servant and the giant demon were already a living proof of it. He was ready to bet that those demons had not been the first ones to show up near the village.

"You will all be going as a group with this mission. The security and safety of the El should be prioritized at all times. And that will be the mission that I will entrust to you all. You can use force if you deem it necessary. But do not kill any of my men nor Banthus." With a sigh, Lowe's gaze softened slightly before it once again hardened.

"I wish you all good luck. I hereby declare that this meeting is over. You are dismissed!" he said, clapping his hands together once to signalize the end.

Lips stretching into a firm line, he watched as the party slowly turned, talking amongst themselves. Most looked concerned about the ask, but Lu seemed to be as cheerful as always, as a child should be. He hoped that the girl would not get in harm's way, but she had proved to be very agile in the few errands she did. Even if he had his doubts on her origins, Lowe did not wish any harm to her nor her cousin.

Only ten minutes after the adventurers left, one of the supervisors knocked on his door.

"Come in."

The brunette came in his office, saluted him and began to explain an unexpected situation.

"Sir. The cadets you sent with our horses this morning have not returned. Even if it's for a scouting training, I think you should call them back."

He frowned. "I never authorized such a thing. Where were they headed?"

The woman's face filled with dread and her armoured fists clenched. "They told me that they got authorized by the highest commander in charge..."

Lowe sighed. His fears were slowly becoming a reality. "Private, listen to me. We need to inform our men as fast as we can of this situation. The plans have changed. Gather everyone in the auditorium."

"Roger that, Sir."