Heavenly Zenith 58 Skyhaven City: Adventurers Guild

Johann shook his head, "Jake, we've discovered what happened to the inhabitants and why people disappear in the ruins... And there's a high chance we may be able to solve the case completely."

Jacob's head t.i.tled slightly, an eyebrow quirked in confusion, "Even other S-rank Adventurers like you failed to discover anything. How on earth could you have managed to find anything?"

He gestured for Seran to walk over, which he did, and Johann angled the mirror to put the lad in the shot, "This is Seran Greenwood, the discoverer of the lead on the case. He might be young, but don't think of him as weak. He's even got the t.i.tle of World's Strongest DemiG.o.d. Since you're on the Central Continent, you haven't gotten the information on him yet, or you'd believe it immediately. What he discovered is already big enough to change the case. You need to tell the clan elders, now. I'll send the evidence to you, so you can see it."

"You'd better not be lying, Joey. It might be archived, but it's still a major case..." Jacob continued to give his brother a questioning look, but eventually gave in. Reaching out of view, the Juneau brother tapped on a crystal and said, "Gene, I need you to round up the elders for a meeting, now... make it an emergency priority." Getting up, Jacob looked at the crystal view of his brother and the young demiG.o.d, "I'll call you back in just a bit. Don't go anywhere." He gave both of them a very serious look before disconnecting the call.

Johann sighed, "He hasn't changed at all. Doesn't surprise me, though. Considering his status as a clan leader candidate, he wouldn't have much time to." He looked at Seran gravely, "This is going to be a very high priority meeting. They are most likely going to send investigators again, so we won't be able to do much for a couple weeks."

Seran nodded, as he understood the distance between the Central and Western Continents , and that intercontinental travel was still restricted to aquatic transportation. Teleportation arrays weren't big enough to connect intercontinental pa.s.sages, either, or it wouldn't take long at all. "I'll leave the crystals with you. I need a nap after all of the things that have happened today." He walked back around the desk and fell into the chair again, "Just wake me up later." With that, he dozed off.

Chuckling at the youth, the guildmaster leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, "I'll just let him sleep through the meeting. He needs some rest."

--

Almost four hours later, just past sundown, the young lad awoke and stretched his stiff body, "Nnh..."

"About time you woke up, kiddo. The meeting ended two hours ago," said Johann, who was finis.h.i.+ng up a stack of papers for the night. "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that the clan elders, and the clan leader, have agreed to send investigators to Skyhaven. You will have to come along for the investigation, of course, as you're the one with the spell to see them in the first place."

"Understandable. I can also use the spell on others, so that they can see them as well. And, I can also make a giant version that covers an entire city. It'll make the mission to investigate much easier. By the time they get here, I will have developed another spell that'll help with killing these nightmares."

"If you do, the inability to fight back will be resolved, and we can perform a cleansing. From what the Elders, the Leader and I saw, these nightmares only operate on pure instinct. They have no humanity left in them, and what we see during the daytime recording is just their last day, being repeated endlessly. As such, we will most likely have to cleanse each ruin. Then, we can finally reclaim the 1/5th of the continent we'd lost from the event." Johan cleared his throat as he put down the last paper, before continuing, "So, the bad news is that it'll be about a month before they will arrive. The first place to investigate will be the Skystone Tower, as there was a hunch back then of the source being inside the mountain."

"I understand. The distance between the Western and Central continent is half of the size of the entire Western Continent, so it will take a very long time. As for the Skystone Tower, that makes sense to me as well." Seran yawned and stood up to stretch again, "Alright, I guess that's it then. Oh, did the Prince come yet?"

"He was here an hour ago, while you were still knocked out. I did manage to convince the young prince to try and get you an audience with the current Emperor, but don't hope for anything."

"Okay, that's good enough for me. Well, I guess I'll go find an inn to sleep at for the night. It's a bit late to go house shopping, anyway. I'll drop by tomorrow morning." He bade Johann a good night before heading back through the teleporter and back downstairs.

The receptionist from earlier saw Seran coming back out and said, "While you were asleep, the guildmaster made an announcement to all of the guilds on the continent. Most likely, in a week or two, you'll be recognized anywhere. This way, you won't have too much trouble in your journeys."

"I see. Thank you for telling me. Do you have an inn you could recommend me? I need somewhere to stay for the night. Somewhere affordable but also reliable would be nice."

Eyes twinkling, as she rarely was asked such questions, she said, "Yes, there are a few, but there is one in particular that is what you would be looking for." She looked under the receptionist desk and pulled out a map and handed it to him, pointing to a part of it that was back near the main road he'd came through before, "Right here is the Dusk Horse Tavern. Most of their customers are adventurers, and they've been given high ratings for years. If you head over there and tell them that you were recommended, you'll get a discount on price."

"Ah, that's good, I'm short on money right now. Thank you, ma'am. I'll be back tomorrow. Have a good night." Seran gave his farewells and left the guild, following the map to the Dusk Horse Tavern.