Staring at Thomas' back as he left the cave, Felicia sighed. She just wanted to help, but because of her it all led to this situation. The girl bit her cheek, trying to distract herself from the tears that were threatening to spill.

{Notice: Task received. Requesting to convey the task independently…

…

…

…

…request accepted.}

{Notice: A̵̜͊ ̵̗͛t̴̢̿ǎ̷̢s̵͕̆k̴̘͗ ̷̙́h̵͖͗ȁ̸̦s̷̨̚ ̷̱̃b̴̝̈́e̵̺͗e̵͉͋n̶̯̕ ̶̻̈g̶̞̋i̸͇̓v̶͎̂è̵̞n̴̖̏ ̵̱͗t̵̞̍o̵̦͐ ̵̙̀y̷͔̍o̴̥͐ṷ̷̀ ̸̺̍ä̵́͜s̴̟̓ ̸̪̇p̴͇̓u̵̪͐n̵̗̊i̷̳͐s̸͍̍h̴͍́m̶̩̓e̴͓̓n̸̤̈́t̴͇̀—

Congratulations! You have received a quest!

Quest Title: Deliver Us to the Promised Sea— }

Out of nowhere, a floating arrowhead appeared above the woman beside her. Looking at the young girl staring above her head, the woman looked up. The look of confusion on her face told Felicia that the woman couldn't see it.

{ —Part 1: Talk to the woman

Part 2: Undefined

More parts will follow if you succeed in following the existing part.

Upon completion of the quest, you will be rewarded; t̵͍̐ḫ̸̗͑̅̓̚e̸̪͓͐́ ̵̫͌͋́p̶̟͔̠̭͆u̷̲͈̤͊ͅn̷̬͓͔̽̽͆i̴̻͖̲̒̓s̶̯͆̿̽ḥ̶̛m̶̡̺͓̽̿e̸͚͂̏n̷͔̜̘͑̾̕͝t̸̠̂̎̑̚ ̷̫̇ͅw̴̧͐̃̈͝ȋ̸̻̈́ľ̵͓̜l̴̜̗͈̀̌̍̏ ̷̹͇͔̿̎́̔b̵̙̮́͊͆̕e̴̮̙̳͔̎ ̴̧̛̰̊͒̀ã̴̧̜ļ̵̞͑̃̚t̴̟͚̉e̶͙͈̊ȓ̴̓ͅe̶̎ͅd̵̖͈̗̍.̵̩̦̝͛ }

Felicia snapped herself into attention. Now wasn't the time to be panicking and crying. Although she didn't know what was wrong with the Voice of the World, she knew she didn't have much of a choice.

"What do you need from me?" asked the girl.

Felicia could feel hope smoldering inside the woman's heart, just as she saw her eyes light up.

"I, I need to go south, to Scars' End. I require your protection for a safe passage."

"Why?"

"It's the only place in the desert where he— where the Grahna Sultanate hasn't laid its hands on. There is a ferry we—" the woman looked at the baby in her hands— "need to get on as soon as possible."

The girl didn't need her ability to tell how much the child meant to the woman.

"Why not just use magic to teleport there?"

The woman shook her head. "The magic of teleportation has been lost to the demons' hands."

"Then why not just summon a demon that can teleport you there?"

"You can do that?! You can teleport us there!?"

Felicia jumped slightly at her tone. "N-No."

As a matter of fact, let alone teleport or protect the both of them, she couldn't even protect herself with her non-existent strength. Her best bet was asking Thomas for help. But…

She looked at the cave's entrance apprehensively.

"Then, can your mate? Is he a teleporter? Is that why you brought him here?"

Felicia looked at her weirdly, before understanding what she meant.

"What? No! He's my fr—"

The girl stopped. Thomas wasn't her friend. Or rather, she wasn't his friend. Not after what he saw, most likely.

He must've been disgusted.

Felicia sighed and said, "He was accidentally dragged into this."

The woman stayed silent. She didn't know what circumstances could lead to such a thing.

The girl continued, "But, we'll need his help to get you there."

The woman looked at her and commented, "Looks like it won't be easy, from the look of your face."

Felicia gave her a weary smile. "How do you talk to a boy who knows everything about you? What if he knows even your deepest, darkest, dirtiest secret?"

The woman looked surprised, before she looked back with eyes filled with understanding. Felicia felt… empathy coming from her.

The girl coughed. "He isn't able to teleport. But he will be able to protect u-- you on our journey there."

She continued, "Before we start, let us introduce each other. I am Felicia, and the boy outside is called Thomas."

The woman straightened her back.

Holding the basket with her child in her arms, she said, "My name is Raven. I am the wife of Zachariah Gehonnim, the sultan. This is my son, J—"

—Clang!

A loud noise came from outside the cave. Both women looked at each other and warily approached the entrance. On the ground before the young prince was something Felicia could only describe as a living shadow, a rapier stabbed to its chest, its body slowly dissolving.

"Shit! They're closer than I thought." The woman looked at the horizon, at the slowly rising sun. She sighed in relief at the sign of a new day. She looked back at the boy.

"Did you get hit anywhere?"

The boy waved her off. "No. I know what they can do."

"Good. I don't have any antidote to cure you if you do get hit. They're much slower during the day, but are very fast during the night."

"Antidote?" questioned Felicia.

"Duskguards' weapons secrete deadly poison. Only few know of an existing antidote," answered Thomas, looking at Raven calculatively.

{Part 1 Complete!

Part 2: Reach Scars' End before nightfall. }

The arrowhead above the Raven's head moved to a distance from Felicia, where it pointed towards a direction she could guess was her next destination. Felicia turned her sight back to the dissolving shadow. She tried feeling it, but it only felt like a cold empty husk. Struggling to put it into words, she felt it wasn't the same; it felt kind of like the blue haired Rimuru, only that the woman felt like empty space, unlike the husk.

"What is that thing?"

The answer came from Thomas, "This is a duskguard. A construct made by the Sultan of Grahna's unique skill, [Eclipse] ."

"News travels quickly, huh?" The woman made a bitter face.

"What do you mean—"

"If we want to reach Scars' End soon, we need to leave immediately." Felicia was cut off by Thomas.

"What? How did you…?"

He said passingly, "I overheard you guys talking."

Felicia's shoulders drooped.

The woman eyed the two, but didn't comment. She then walked towards the direction where Felicia's invisible (to everyone but her) arrowhead was. Biting her lip, Felicia followed suit behind the prince, afraid to displease him further.

"Stop!"

Gobuta's voice echoed from behind the stall.

Another orc from the crowd shouted and ran towards the goblin. The orc before Jack was clearly not sober enough and was too stressed to care. He readied his fist to punch the terrified goblin.

Jack stepped in front of the goblin and grabbed the incoming fist with his arms. He instinctively activated [Kinetic Shifter] and transferred the sudden force that entered his arms to the bottom of his feet.

The ground cracked.

This was his first time doing that. He was just glad it worked out perfectly. The rattle he briefly felt on his skull almost made him fall to his knees, though. And when it went through his stomach, he almost puked.

Gobuta ran towards them and shouted towards the orc, "Are you crazy?! You could've killed that kid!"

"Ah…" The orc pulled back his fist and looked at his hands.

"I, I didn't, I didn't mean to… Ah…" Tears fell out of his eyes.

"How did it come to this…" the orc sobbed.

The other orcs consoled him.

"We didn't want to hurt anybody… We were just so hungry…! I still see it. When I ate them… I could see the terror in their eyes as my jaws clamped down. I… I tried to stop! I really tried! But my body wouldn't listen!"

The orc fell to his knees.

"Oh god! Those children… wh-- when I—"

The orc puked.

The other orcs shed their tears. They knew what he meant, for they were in the same position. [Starved] was truly a terrifying skill.

Jack was horrified when he understood the implication. He felt that Gobuta had tried to hide some important details while explaining to him about the war. So this was what he meant as "food supply."

"Drunken beast! You were the one who destroyed my stall, weren't you?!"

"No! It wasn't me!" denied the orc.

The goblin harrumphed. "Then how come you're drunk in the middle of the day?!"

The orc answered shakily, "I, I was drinking, drinking to forget what happened…"

He covered his face with his hands. "All I could see were those eyes… Those terrified little eyes…"

Gobuta observed the stains on the orc's shirt.

"He isn't the perpetrator. Look at his shirt and puke. Those don't look like the grape wine's color at all. Additionally, I know for a fact that the puke smells like beer. Believe me, I'm an expert at puking alcohol."

Jack's eye twitched at Gobuta's proud proclamation.

Grape wine… huh.

Jack heard familiar small steps shift behind in an alleyway across from here. He saw a little goblin girl leering at the scene. On her shirt was a smidge of red. Not regular red.

It was the same color as the grape wine.

Jack suddenly remembered the grape smell he had caught when they ran after the goblin girl Tina.

Tina ran further into the alley.

Jack bolted right after.

"Jack!?" shouted Gobuta.

The boy shouted back, "I found out who did it! Follow me!"

They ran until they reached a dead end wall. On the corner were a pair of crudely made shoes whose soles were in the shape of hooves. A staff leaned on the wall, the upper tip stained in wine. On the wall itself was a hole just big enough for a goblin child to fit through.

Jack jumped into the shadows and appeared on the other side, prompting Gobuta to gasp in surprise. A moment later, the goblin was running beside him. This surprised the boy a bit, but there was no time for explanations.

They turned a corner and saw the girl run on the open street… and get run over by a wagon.

"No!" Both shouted in horror.

The wagon crashed over to their side. They jumped to the other side to see, to their relief, the girl was shielded by an orc. Not just any orc, but none other than Geld, the Orc King. He had sprinted over and shielded her moments before the horses trampled on her.

"Let go of me…!" demanded Tina.

Geld complied.

Tina huffed, taking deep breaths.

"Why did you save me?" she asked.

Geld looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

The girl growled. "Why do you act like it's the most obvious thing to do?!"

"Because it is," the orc stated. "If any child is in danger, I will save them."

"But you're an orc!" shouted the little goblin in frustration. "You're mindless beasts who eat people!"

Geld looked at her sadly and knelt down. "I'm sorry."

"Shut up shut up shut up!" The girl punched his chest repeatedly with all her might.

"You."

Punch.

"Killed."

Punch.

"My."

Punch.

"Mommy!"

Punch. Punch.

"You killed."

Punch. Punch. Punch.

"My daddy!"

Punch.

"You killed my brother!"

Punch.

"My sister!"

Punch.

"My cousin!"

"My uncle!"

"My auntie!"

"EVERYONE!"

The punches slowed down as the girl broke down into sobs.

"You ate them all…"

The girl cried.

"I was always the best at diving," she muttered.

"When you came, I dove down the lake out of fear. I didn't come up when I heard the muffled screams. I didn't come up when I stopped hearing them. I didn't come out when I stopped feeling the vibrations of your march. I came up… when I saw the surface of the lake turn red."

Her breath hitched.

"I came out drenched in the blood of my family."

She shivered.

"I cried. I cried. I cried all day and all night. But the lake didn't become clear. I thought my tears would turn it blue again. But even now, when I come back, the water's still red."

The girl leaned towards the now crying orc, all her strength gone. Geld hugged the now unconscious girl.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

Jack looked away from the scene. He'd thought he understood how it was to be orphaned. He had been one since he could remember, after all. But he now realized he understood nothing.

It was because he had been an orphan since he was so little that he now understood how lucky he had been. How lucky he was not to know what it was like having someone so close to him be taken away. And now, he realized that if he didn't do anything to finish this dungeon, he might just lose everyone he cared for too.

Jack wiped his wet eyes and walked away.

Gobuta looked at the sighed and massaged his head. "Looks like not all is well in paradise. Gotta tell the boss about this. But some of the guys might disagree. The boss will be very sad to hear this, though."

Gobuta thought about it. "Maybe it would be better if I never mentioned this at all? Like Ford said. He'd be happier if the city he built didn't have so many sad moments like this."

He looked back at Jack. "Hey, wait up, kid!"

The two walked in silence, letting the road take them wherever it was paved.

"...so, where do you wanna go next, Jack?"

The boy replied, "I need to find a way back. I need to find my friends. I need to go back to my mom."

How sad would she feel if he disappeared? He didn't know. And he never wanted to find out.

"Slow down a bit, kid. I told you, our leader will probably find a way, like always," said Gobuta confidently.

Jack sighed and said, "You keep talking this and that about your leader, but how come I've never even heard of his name?"

Gobuta blinked. "Oh, right. Guess I never told you. Our boss, the almighty leader of Tempest's name is… Ri—"

"—Gobuta," a gravelly voice came from behind.

The goblin stopped in his tracks.

Jack looked back. Stood behind them was someone Jack almost thought was human, until he saw those short horns above his head. The man looked very old and wore white clothes. Behind him was a sword's sheath.

"H, Hey master. How's it going?" asked Gobuta nervously.

"Having fun slacking off? You were supposed to be at the training grounds fifteen minutes ago."

Gobuta tried to give an explanation, but was quickly silenced by Hakuro. "Go back to sword training. Now."

The goblin's shoulders drooped. "Okay."

Jack was curious. So this was Gobuta's teacher.

The boy quickly said, "Can I come and watch?"

Hakuro looked at the boy questioningly and asked Gobuta, "Who is this?"

Gobuta quickly explained the boy's circumstances.

"I see." Hakuro nodded.

"Come with us."

Jack and Gobuta dragged their legs across the dirt. Training with Hakuro was so tiring. Jack had decided he wanted to join after watching for a bit, so he was equally as tired.

"Man, I'm beat. What about you?" asked Gobuta.

Jack hummed in agreement. He dragged his new bokken that was given by Hakuro.

"This is probably the longest time I've trained for hours consecutively," said the goblin.

"You're kidding me, right?" Jack was surprised.

He looked at the side and saw the sun setting down the hills.

"Well, what about you?" asked the goblin once more.

"Longest I've trained was twenty four hours straight."

Gobuta was gobsmacked. "Holy shit. For real?"

Jack nodded.

"Your master is a slave driver too, huh?"

Jack chuckled. "Mom's pretty tireless, yeah. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen her sleep."

Gobuta whistled. "I'd love to have a woman like that in my bed. If your mom ever comes here, tell me, all right?"

Jack punched him on the shoulder. "Pervert. That's my mom you're talking about!"

Gobuta laughed, and soon Jack followed.

Bump.

Jack bumped into someone unknowingly.

"Yo, watch it, kid!" shouted the other party.

The boy was about to say the same thing, before he saw his face. Both were surprised. It was the first time they both saw another human in Tempest.

"A human kid?"

"Come on, Shougo! We-- a kid?"

Jack and Gobuta looked at them weirdly before going on their way. Gobuta had offered Jack to sleep at his place for tonight. An offer that Jack had taken.

A human woman spoke, "A human boy? What should we do? If we don't help him, he might—"

Shougo cut her off, "Doesn't matter. We stick to the plan, Kirara. We'll just call him collateral damage."

Kirara looked back at the boy in pity.

"Sorry."

If Jack had been in his best performance, he would've heard such suspicious words. Too bad he was too tired to even pay attention.

"Too bad indeed," said Ciel as she looked down at the boy from on top of a roofed building.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for going on hiatus for 6 months! Wow! That's a long-ass time!

If you guys have any questions, don't be afraid to join the discord server and ask me anything!

Here's the server code: RChdBYypva

Would be glad to see you there!