[28 April 2023, 06:15 AM]

[Los Angeles – Sacred Relic Headquarters Cafeteria]

Rosa and Ao were eating in the Headquarters’ cafeteria together. They sat around a round table across from each other.

The cafeteria was bustling with the normal employees and Awakeners affiliated with the Sacred Relics. They were enjoying the food in the cafeteria of the Sacred Relic Headquarters because an Awakener made it with high-rank Cooking Talent.

Rosa and Ao were not the exceptions. They also loved the food here and always had their breakfast together before Ao went to the Academy.

It was a quiet morning like usual, but then their phone rang at the same time. The sound of the notification was unique; they stopped eating simultaneously to check their phone.

When they opened their phone, their eyes widened. Mainly it was because of the message that they received directly from Thomas. It was a call and an urgent one at that.

They raised their heads and looked at each other.

“Did you get it too, Rosa?” Ao asked, her tone containing concern.

“Yes. The Guild Master called me. What could it be for him to call the two of us, Ao?”

“Probably something important,” Ao answered, looking around. “Because it seems that only us who received the message, then…”

“It’s about something of utmost secrecy or utmost priority.” Rosa finished. “Then let’s go, Ao.” Before standing up, she used a napkin on the table to clean her palate.

“Yes.” Ao did the same, and both of them went toward the elevator located right outside the cafeteria.

Rosa pressed the elevator button and waited for the door to open. As they were waiting, a voice of a man called out to them.

“Oh! Are you getting the call from the Guild Master too, Rosa? Young Lady Ao?”

The two girls looked in the direction of the voice almost simultaneously.

A kind-looking blonde man with brown eyes was walking toward them. He wore a set of black plate armor around his chest on top of his white shirt and a greave on top of his brown pants. On his waist was a brown magic bag._-.

They recognized the man, and Rosa smiled when she saw him.

“Oh, Andy! Did you get the message too?”

“Indeed, I am.” The man called Andy stopped beside Rosa, smiling at her.

“Mr. Andy. Do you know why my father suddenly sent an urgent message to us?” Ao asked politely.

Although she was the daughter of Thomas Evan, the Guild Master of Sacred Relic, the man in front of her was also someone of an important position.

He was often called the face of the Sacred Relic Guild, the icon of strength, Andy Orza, an A-Rank Awakener who had strength rivaling or even stronger than Association’s Six Devas and someone who was called to be closest to advance to S-Rank.

“I have some guesses about it, but… I am not sure.” He answered. His voice was soothing and carried something that made Rosa and Ao calm.

Rosa’s cheek turned a little red, and it didn’t escape Ao’s sight. Seeing that, Ao let out a low chuckle but turned serious again the next moment as she asked, “And, can you please tell us about your guess? We are completely blind about this.”

“Of course, Young Lady,” Andy answered.

“Last night, there was news about a strange activity in Mermen Dungeon. The Association had sent some people to take care of it, but there was no further news about it being cleared yet.” He started explaining as he raised his index finger.

“The Mermen Dungeon is a C-Rank Dungeon. It’s strange for it to have some strange movement unless the Boss Monster appeared. But this is where it got strange.” He paused a little, clearing his throat before continuing in a low voice that could only be heard by the three of them.

“The Association sent more people this morning, and the monster poured out of the dungeon increased. I got this from my friend who lived in San Diego. It seems that the dungeon is in the Breeding period or even possibly…”

Ting!

The elevator door opened at the perfect moment, but Andy still continued.

“… there might be a monster outbreak from the Mermen Dungeon.”

***

[Sacred Relic Headquarters – Topmost floor – Guild Master Office]

The Guild Master office of the Sacred Relic guild was massive. Bookshelves were lined up against the wall on the right and the left.

In the center of the room was a marble table with two couches and two sofas around it. At the end of the room was a wooden working desk with stacked documents and a single picture on a frame on the side on top of it.

The picture was of the man working behind the desk and a beautiful lady with black hair holding a blue-haired little girl in her white sundress while smiling. The man in question appeared to be younger, but it was unmistakably him.

The man was middle-aged with blue hair. He was the Guild Master of the Sacred Relic, Thomas Evan, and currently, he looked at the screen of the laptop in front of him seriously.

“Why so suddenly?” Thomas muttered in a crisp voice. His voice was so deep that it looked like he was a ghost that had returned from hell.

“Why does the monster outbreak happen after the monster acted strangely?” He questioned himself.

Usually, a monster outbreak happened without any sign. However, this monster outbreak happened after the monster acted strangely. So something was strange.

‘What’s going on?’ Thomas frowned, looking at the live feed from one of the Awakener’s body cameras.

The Awakener was Frank, the one who contacted all guilds to ask for reinforcement. At the same time, he sent them a live feed from a hidden camera on his suit’s button to prove the situation was severe.

Thomas had seen the scene about the Awakeners storming into the frozen lake, but he didn’t see who froze the lake. The live feed started after the lake had been frozen.

But that wasn’t important. What was important was two purple-skinned beings that appeared from the dungeon.

‘Demons?! I see, so they are the ones who caused the monster outbreak.’ Thomas nodded in understanding.

There had been a case where Demons caused a monster outbreak when the Abyss was still active, so it wasn’t strange if some Demons could cause a monster outbreak. However, there was one problem.

‘It’s been a few years since the Demon appeared. Is this the sign that the Demon King is about to revive? Then, our guild needs to prepare.’

As he thought of that, on the laptop’s screen, Frank and the other Awakeners attacked the Demons and fought against them bravely. At the same time, a knock was heard from the door, and Thomas raised his head, saying. “You may enter.”

He didn’t need to hear who was on the other side, as he had remembered their Mana, excluding one person, since they stepped out of the elevator a bit away from his office.

As Sacred Relic’s Guild Master, his strength couldn’t be underestimated. He may not be the strongest person in the world, but he was strong enough to make the world recognize him as the Guild Master of the rank 1 Guild.

The door of the office was opened, and the one who entered first was Andy, followed by Rosa and Ao.

“You are here. You may sit first.” Thomas said, gesturing for the three of them to sit on the couch in front of the working desk as he stood up, walking toward the sofa in front of his working desk.

He brought his laptop with him and put it on the table as the other three sat on the couches. Ao and Rosa sat on the couch on his right, while Andy sat on his left.

As they sat, Ao suddenly asked, “Why are you calling us here, father? Is there something urgent that needs to be taken care of immediately?”

“Indeed, it is,” Thomas answered, turning his laptop around so the three of them could see what had transpired in San Diego. “It is a monster outbreak.” He said.

Rosa and Ao frowned when they heard the information, while Andy analyzed the situation quickly.

“So, Guild Master. Is it my team’s turn?” Andy asked seriously.

“No. I called you here to inform you that we will not send any reinforcement there.” Thomas said firmly, surprising the three people.

“Why?” Ao asked, raising her voice a little. A hint of anger mixed in her tone. “There is a monster outbreak in the city just an hour from here with a car!”

It was no surprise that Ao was a bit angry. She never thought that her father would choose not to send anyone to help with the monster outbreak.

Rosa tried to hold her down before she could

“Calm down, Ao,” Thomas said, staring at Ao.

“The Demons have appeared. Probably, they are the cause of the monster outbreak this time. As such, we can’t leave for San Diego. Instead, prepare the investigation squad. I will leave them to you, Rosa. Investigate every nook and cranny of the dungeons in Los Angeles. Make sure no Demons were present in this city.”

“Yes!” Rosa quickly answered.

Demons were always bad news, not because of their strength but because of their intelligence.

Unlike monsters, they could plot against humans. So, Thomas’ decision not to send any people from his guild to help the monster outbreak in San Diego was correct. That was if he wanted to protect his people and the city they were in.

San Diego was close to Los Angeles. There could also be a Demon hiding in Los Angeles and plotting the same thing, so sending some people away would be a bad move as the force in Los Angeles would decrease in that case.

Ao immediately calmed down after she heard the information from his father. Then, she looked at the laptop screen once again and noticed that the purple-skinned enemies were actually Demons, not some monsters.

One of them had already been taken care of, and only one was left.

“I see… I’m sorry, father.” Ao apologized, bowing her head to Thomas.

“Don’t be sorry, Ao. I know you want to help them, but… We have our priorities.” Answered Thomas.

“Yes, father.” She answered, turning her attention to the laptop screen again.

Many corpses were lying around near the Demons, showing how fearful the Demon was. She didn’t want to miss the terror of the Demon. She wanted to remember it.

So that when she encountered one in the future, she could fight it without hesitation.

He then turned to Andy and said, “Andy. I am counting on you to prepare your squad in case the investigation team finds a Demon. We need to take care of it as quickly as possible.”

“Consider it done, Guild Master. I will ask them to gear up so they can move anytime.”

“Good. Now, Ao. Can you please do me a favor?”

“Yes?” Ao answered, confused.

“Can you please tell the Sword Saint about the incident? I know that he wants to take it easy, but I think he needs to know about the reappearance of the Demon.”

“Of cou–” Ao was about to answer her father, but right before she could finish her sentence, a loud sound came from the laptop speaker, taking her attention.

The screen showed a bright, maybe bright wasn’t the correct word, because the light was black. It only lasted for a second, but Frank’s camera managed to catch a figure of a man holding a bow atop a hill, pointing a white arrow against a Demon’s hopeless figure.

Among the four people in the room, Rosa immediately recognized the figure before the camera turned around once again, focusing on a Demon in front of it.

“Is that Rai?!” She raised her voice in surprise.

“Rai? Do you mean Rai from the mercenary group Annihilator?” Asked Thomas.

“Yes. I am positive about it.”

“I see.” Thomas nodded his head. “Maybe he answered the reinforcement request.”

“That might be true.” Rosa nodded.

They continued discussing the plan for the future without looking at the laptop to focus on the matter in hand, but another interruption arrived. This time, it was in the form of a ringtone sound, and it came from Rosa’s phone.

“Who called you at such a time?” Thomas asked curiously. He wasn’t angry or anything, as he knew that Rosa only activated her phone notification for something important.

Rosa pulled out her phone and looked at the name, surprised. “Rai?” She said.

“Oh? Good timing. You may answer the call, Rosa. Ask him about the situation there.” Thomas said, gesturing for Rosa to answer the call.

Rosa immediately answered the call and activated the speaker mode. Right after she answered, Rai’s voice rang from the speaker, dropping the bomb.

[Ah, hello? Can I ask you for something, Miss Rosa? It’s related to Sacred Relic golden chick.]

***

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