48. The Silent Witch (1)
Crimson Eagle system is the same as when Lex still on the training camp facility, in the morning they would study or learn from the path they had chosen, and after lunch they given free time which they can use to take some mission to gather Merit in the Crimson eagle, but the underage one like Lex and other freshmen they needed to attend a compulsory class once a week, the compulsory class consisted of the subject they learn on ordinary school, it's so the freshmen would still have general education wouldn't lack behind from ordinary children
The next day
Lex gloomy ate his breakfast in the cafeteria along with Max,
“oya, what a plain breakfast you had there…” a girl voice called from behind Lex, when Lex heard her voice he immediately recognized that voice, he slumped to the table and swayed a Card similar to ID Card to the girl
“Dear~ how do you survive the past year~~, they only gave us 100 Merit and this plain breakfast the cheapest one is 10 Merit! How do I survive this!!”
“kusu kusu kukuku, I understood you, I experienced the same thing last year” Mio patted his back, while Max nodded to Mio as he greeted her, Mio then sat beside Lex
“Haa~~” Lex sighed again
“how about this, I'll bring you to the Main Hall in the afternoon let's take some mission”
“Un” Lex nodded “thanks, I'll be in your care, by the way which Path do you take now Dear?”
"Hmm? Oh I'm taking Magic Path now” Mio then chomped her bread which looks much tastier and softer than Lex bread
Lex held himself not to stare at Mio's bread “eeh? But did you say you excel on CQC last time?”
"But you can't use offense magic, no? here, aa~~” Mio pinched a small piece of her bread then brought it to Lex's mouth
"Hamu! Uu… tasty… how can the taste so far apart when they look almost similar to each other! and what does that have to do with me?”
“want more? We're going to be a team, no? it's unbalanced if both of us excel on CQC, because you can't use Mana outside of your body, so I'll do it”
“…thanks” Lex hesitated when Mio said they going to team up (since when?) but then he remembered what she said to Mio that day on the beach, after that Lex opened his mouth once again “aa~~”
Mio fed him again “what about you? which path you're going to take for now?”
"Me? I think I'm going to take the Tenth Path”
"Tent? Silent path? The Silent Witch?” Mio who's trying to feed Lex another piece of bread her hand suddenly stopped, her eyes became a dot staring at Lex
"Silent Witch?" Lex tilted his head, as this is his first time hearing that
“oh right you were ‘unrelated’ before, the Tenth Path, The Silent Path, The Silent Witch was famous among the hidden world before” Mio resumed her action
“thanks you need to eat too” Lex took the piece a bread from Mio and brought it to Mio glossy lips “I'm more or less understood where's the Silent coming from, but famous?”
"Hamu! Nn~ tasty~~” Mio put her hand on her cheek entranced by the bread for a moment “un” she nodded “I heard it from my family before, The Silent Witch is a horrifying monster, they said that she alone destroyed a city once in the past”
Lex took another piece to Mio's lips “is it normal to destroy a city on this hidden world?”
"Hamu! Nn~~ it might be possible for a big organization like this Crimson Eagle, it's impossible to do it alone, there's defender on each city too”
“aa~~” Lex feeds her again “defender?”
"Hamu! Yea, the tops of the country knew the existence of Hidden world, they sometimes hired mercenary or clans to defend the city, I saw something similar is posted on the Main Hall for high rank Mission”
“hee~~ that's incredible! Here aaa~~”
"Hamu! nnNN~~”
Like that Mio and Lex conversation continued till they finished their breakfast and it's almost the time for morning training
(‘ummm… helloooo somebodyyyy~~ talk to meee tooooo~~~!!’)
('I've became air without even trying to become air at all~~!!) Max shed his tears as he was the last one among the three to leave the cafeteria ('they only said their goodbye to each other! they absolutely forgot about me!!!)
236Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5vDe1XX85
***
“……..” the moment Lex step into the tenth area everything become silent, a voiceless world
(It feels like I suddenly became deaf…. It's hard to get used to this…)
Lex was given a small white board before he entered the area, as Lex can easily see the 5 stories building, even if he forgot the way he still can reach the place
(nothing change…) Lex thought when he saw the same interior, (it's like library and a flower in the middle) Lex observed The Silent Witch reading some book in the same spot as yesterday, today The Silent Witch wore the same style of clothes only The buttoned shirt became more frilly
(it’s like a piece of art…. A magnum opus…) like watching a painting, Lex was entranced on the spot who knows how long the time has passed when he woke up
(nn?) Lex confused by the situation now, he spent quite long of time inside the building, but there's no sign of The Silent Witch driving him away
(maybe…) Lex tried to touch the book like yesterday
*fwooohhh *bump
The next thing he knows is he's lying upside down above pile of big cushions...
“…” (so it's okay to stay as long as I don't touch anything…)
(ok, let's try it again) Lex decided to ask The Silent Witch to become her disciple once again like yesterday and the result….
*fwoooosh *bump
Lex can't get near her anymore today “haa~” he sighed disappointed “I'll back again tomorrow” he voicelessly said that, and he left the building
For the first time The Silent Witch who's always looking indifferent took his gaze away from the book to the front entrance of the building, it's only a moment that happened Lex has missed it
***
Afternoon
After lunch as planned before, Mio Lex and Max, guided by Mio to the Crimson Eagle Main Hall
(ahh~~ I had a guess, so it's really this place)
It was the department store like building, the first time the Numbers saw when they took a step into this hidden world
(It's crowded as ever)
Explained by Mio, it's really are almost the same a department store, you can buy many things with merit here…, and the receptionist desk where they can take mission and other things is like a customer service on department store, the only difference is Crimson Eagle members can sell their things (Item) here, while the department store can't
Mio quickly brought Lex and Max into the receptionist desk, the three of them were greeted by a blonde woman, the woman had dark blonde hair with a body that more than enough, not too big but not too small too, the woman is like a college student, or someone who has just graduated from college
“good afternoon to the three of you” she warmly politely greeted “what can I help today?”
“it's the first time for those two”
“my, is that so?” The receptionist woman hid her mouth with her hand when she heard Mio, “in that case, I'll explain the rules” after she said that, she told another receptionist “we got a new blood here” the other receptionist nodded she knew what the blonde receptionist wanted
“let’s go over here then” The blonde receptionist woman, guided them to one of the desk corner “then… let’s start now that you two are officially member of Crimson Eagle from what do you know about us?”
Max and Lex shook their head, “actually we didn't know much…” Max said and continued by Lex “we only know about we need to do Mission to get a Merit, and Merit is the currency on this place”
“ok, basically we Crimson Eagle is the one of the tops mercenary, we had many requests from across the world, that requests were made into mission for our member to take, so far do you get it?”
Max and Lex nodded to reply
“then we Crimson Eagle classify the requests into six steps, from F to A, this is to decrease the fatality raid in doing mission especially outside missions”
"outside?" Lex tilted his head
“un” she nodded “there are two types of mission, first mission inside this island which produced by Crimson Eagle, while the other one is outside mission it's usually a request from outside the island and deemed to be much more dangerous”
“and that's why there are regulations, like the one under D class tier, cannot take Mission from outside”
““tier?”” they both confused again it's the first time they head those words here
“like Mission has difference in difficulty, Mercenary's member too has difference in ability. You started from tier F and you will rank up your tier after you finish a few Missions”
“somehow… it’s feels like an adventurer guild pop out straight from the game, the system almost identical did they copy it from the game?” Lex muttered in a small voice yet the blonde receptionist heard that
“well, actually it's the other way around. it’s adventure guild in game who’s copying the real world not us” the blonde receptionist muttered with smaller voice than Lex, but still with Lex ability he heard all of her muttering
(I feel like I knew something that I shouldn't know…. This is time for my trump card!! Pretend I didn’t hear anything!!)
"so far any questions?" she sipped the water she prepared before hand
“it’s useless to think about high Level Mission right now” Lex said and followed by Max “can you tell us about the low leveled job?”
“Low leveled Mission… for example is cleaning the room, assist some area that need help, clear weeds outside, etcetera mostly the reward is from 20~50 merit for each Mission, that's the simplest and safest Mission among all”
“25~50 merits….” Lex groaned with a very complicated face because the very small reward (it's like your wages only enough for two days, depend on how long each job gonna take but…) “is there anything with bigger reward for low leveled Mission?”
“Well, there is but….” The Blonde receptionist hesitated to tell them more than this, then…
"here..." Mio shown the receptionist her Mercenary Card, “I'm going with them for today”
“ahh~” the receptionist nodded “then… you can take Monster Subjugation for bigger reward”
(Rank E) Lex peeked Mio's Card (hmm?) “Monster? Did you just say Monster?” Lex tried to ask her twice to confirm that he didn't heard it wrong.
The blonde receptionist politely nodded "yes, I said Monster, Monster are real"
"huh?" Lex's brain short circuited
"Lex, what happened?" Max asked Lex who's acting strangely, unlike Lex, Max live in a very narrow world before he came into Crimson Island, he almost knows nothing that's why he didn't have the 'common sense' that makes Lex confuses, he can easily accept the existence of Mana, Magic, Monsters, etcetera.
“you see Max, on the outside world, no matter where you go, there's no such thing as Monster”
“now calm down, let me explain” the blonde receptionist interrupted in the middle so that Lex's confusion did not get bigger “do you know when the first Monster spread into the world for example…. ‘Ogre’ how can that name spread?”
With confusion “I don't know. But most likely from books in the past” Lex replied
"Correct! As you said, some authors in the past wrote them in their books as a Monster, it came from their imaginations, and their imaginations came from their inspirations, some might come from their manifestation of fear, they saw a shadow in the dark that look creepy and big which made them scared, or it might be they found them or hear from some Lore, Myth, Legend or anything similar, do you still following me?”
"a! aa yes” Lex a bit bewildered with the sudden change of topic but he still listens to it carefully
“then what if those shadows and Legends are real”
"!?"
"what if, it wasn't their eyes who's lying to them but real"
“….” Lex was speechless never in the second of his life he thought something like that
“then another is legend or myth was the same, it was messages from the ancestor who's experienced the same thing, for another example is 'kraken', authors from old Norwegian, wrote books about kraken a big octopus after coming back from Greenland, some said that he only saw a big squid which grown up to 13~15 meters but what if he really saw a big octopus at that time, what if the whole ship saw it and got their memories erased instead”
“erased!?” Lex was shocked, he didn't expect something like this at all
“yes” the Blonde receptionist nodded again “as you know, the only thing that could be called as omnipotence in this world is Mana, I might be a receptionist now, but me too a subordinate a disciple of the Third Seat Vera Crimson, I had my fair of study too, and I knew some Magic which categorized in Dark Magic can erases memory”
“….” (there's no way but to believe it, after hearing this much, it might look the same as my old world, but it's different)
“I knew it too Dear” Mio added as she thought Lex didn't believe what he just heard from the blonde receptionist
"Ah! No, it's not like I don't believe her, I just bewildered and speechless by the story, I believed her” Lex stared straight to the Blonde receptionist “Thank you, um…”
(ah! I didn't know her name)
"Rae. Please call me Rae"
"Oh! Thanks Rae, my name is Lex, Lex Spifer”
"You're welcome Mr. Lex"
“just call me Lex, and this is…” when Lex tried to introduce the others
“Mr. Max and Ms. Mio, right?”
"Whoa! J-just call me Max!” Max got surprised and embarrassed as this is his first time called like Mr. Max and Mio only nodded as a reply as she knew many people knew her
(I can understand if she knew Mio as she is infamous but Max…)
"how do you know?" Lex asked
“I heard it from you, you called him Max before” the blonde receptionist gave Lex a warm smile
“you observed that well huh…” (this woman cannot be underestimated at all unlike her outside appearance)
“ufufu, this is what we're trained for after all” she laughed as to make fun of Lex who's became warier to her “don't worry I won't do anything we're the same Crimson Eagle after all, we can be rival but not enemies it stated in the rule”
"un, yea you're right, I'm sorry" Lex replied as he became relaxed again
“no, it's ok we talked much about Monster just now, an intelligent sentient can become MORE MONSTER than Monster after all, it's another lesson for you”
“yes, thank you very much”
Max heard the receptionist warning with confusion as he didn't understand it at all, while Mio had a grim look on her face
*claps
Rae clapped her hands took Lex attention once again “back on topic, there are two types of Monster, first is pure-created from Mana, and the second is mutated by Mana”
“as the name stated, a place dense with Mana can create Mana out of nothing for example… goblin, I'm sure you knew it from video game, it's like a human child, with pointy ear, ugly nose and face, and green skin all over the body, while the others is Mutated by Mana, for example a wild animal, a deer in the forest mutated by dense Mana become flying deer like the one who pulled Santa Claus's sledge”
"whattt!?" Max Shouted
““”!?””” shocked the other three
“You said Santa is real!?” Max got hype in the moment
“ah~, the deer is, the Santa is not”
“…” Max slumped down
“haha” Lex patted his back to cheer him up
“can anything mutated by Mana” Lex asked
“yes, any living being, animals, plants, even a sentient being like Human, Spirit and others, but don't need to be afraid, as Human our body has Soul which can resist the Mutation, normally it's almost impossible for sentient being to be mutated”
(almost… and Normal… huh, so it's possible if it's abnormal….)
"wait! Something strange” Lex suddenly realized “Mana is everywhere, and if Monster can be created by Pure Mana the world would be filled with Monster by now!!”
“Yes, that's why every city had a barrier that lessen the Mana in the air around them, even if there's no barrier to have Monster created by Mana it needed quite an amount of Mana which is unlikely to happen in place with many people on it, and every country had their own defender too”
“sometimes it was the country special agent, sometimes it was a mercenary hired by the country, let me tell you this the tops of every country knew the existence of Hidden World, or more like they need to know the Hidden World if they want to lead their country”
“then what about outside the Country, on the off road between Cities and Countries? what happened if some civilian got attacked by Monster outside the city?”
“well, it's the same, the country will hire mercenary to sweep it once in a while, and if civilians got attacked they just manipulated or fabricated the truth, The Hidden World is bigger than you think, they do anything to avoid exposing The Hidden World”
“…”
"Are you alright?" Mio asked worriedly
“I'm okay, the information overwhelmed me…, thank you Rae you even taught me all of this”
“your welcome, it's my job” Rae replied with her usual warm smile
“do you want to take a rest for now? we can take the Mission tomorrow” Mio suggested
“nah, it's ok, let's take some simple Mission for now”
ns 15.158.61.8da2
