37 Chapter 37: Second Mission (1/2)
”Well, there goes our ride,” Adrian Stuart remarked. He looked remarkably calm for a twelve-year-old who got lost in a forest, got attacked by monsters, and was now facing the prospect that we had to exit the forest on foot.
I guess the people of the Stuart family were truly an entire breed apart from the others.
”Not necessarily.” I was slightly disappointed to see that Adrian wasn't shocked or fazed by my rebuttal. ”Give me a minute.”
I began casting a summoning spell. This one would take me a minute or so – it wasn't as powerful as Vermillion Phoenix, but the Constellation spirit I had in mind would be more complex than the little ones I had summoned earlier. He wasn't necessarily more ”powerful” because he was not meant for combat, but he had more flexible abilities that required more magical energy consumption on my part.
While I did so, my smartphone rang. My eyebrow rose when I saw the number was from Allison Anne, the administrative clerk who helped me with the registration of this current mission. Swiping the green button, I brought my phone to my ear.
”Hello?”
”Richard Huang?” Allison's voice was terse. ”What's your current condition?”
”Um…mission complete, I guess?” I glanced around and rechecked the tally at the top corner of my glasses. It seemed that I had racked up an impressive number of kills. ”I don't know about the refugees, but I assume they have been safely escorted to the city. And the rank F and rank E monsters have been exterminated.”
I wasn't the type to snitch on my teammates, and whining about their betrayal in the middle of the forest wasn't going to be productive. Furthermore, I was aware of these administrative types. If I wanted to file a complaint or an accusation, I would need evidence. So I decided to hold off from complaining for now.
And judging from Bei Pan Zhe answering my call earlier (though he hung up almost immediately), I could safely assume that the refugees had been escorted to the city. Otherwise he wouldn't be picking up the call from a stranger's phone or deliberately avoiding mine.
”That's not what I mean.” Allison sounded relieved for some reason. ”The supervisors informed me that you had been betrayed and abandoned by your party members. I was asking if you're injured. Though it sounds like you're fine.”
”What?” I was stunned. ”How did they know?”
”The recording devices handed out to every student on a mission,” Allison explained. I remembered the nanobots she handed to me earlier, before sending me on this particular mission. I had thought it was only a recording device, but apparently it had a broadcasting function as well? So they were broadcasting our actions live? ”We just received the recording devices from your party. They reported you dead, but when I submitted to the committee for evaluation, they found out the truth, and what had happened. We are currently arresting your party members and bringing charges of dereliction of duty, conspiracy and attempted murder against them.”
Oh, so they weren't broadcasting our actions live. They were analyzing the mission log stored in the recording device. That was fast, though.
That meant those bastards had escorted the refugees safely to Jing Tian City a long time ago…
Fuckers, I thought. They never intended to provide me backup from the very start! They wanted the monsters to kill me, and then report my death as a mishap!
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But why? I never did anything to them. I wasn't familiar with them. Why did they hate me so much that they wanted me dead?
”Where are you right now?”
”In the forest south of Jing Tian City,” I replied. Glancing at Adrian, I continued. ”I succeeded in exterminating the monsters, but I ran into a kid who somehow got lost in the forest.”
”WAH!” Adrian shouted, shaking his hands and head. He quickly mouthed, ”Don't tell anybody who I am!”
I managed to stop myself from mentioning his name, and instead continued.
”I'll be bringing him back to Jing Tian City. I think we're fine, and I should be back before an hour or so.”
”You're fine? And you exterminated all the monsters?” Allison's voice was dripping with disbelief. ”How did you…? Never mind.”
Then someone in the background spoke up, and Allison paused to talk with the person. I could catch a couple of vague sentences, but couldn't make out their words. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long, for Allison returned a few seconds later.
”I know you've just completed a mission, so I'm very sorry to ask this of you right now. But it's an emergency. You said you're in Nan Tian Forest, right? The forest south of Jing Tian City?”
”That's right,” I confirmed.
Allison sighed. ”Can you assist a party that's about eight miles of your position? As it stands, you're the closest unit we have to them, and they are in trouble. They are currently being besieged by a pack of rank D monsters, and they are in dire need of reinforcements.” Her voice grew stern. ”Don't be reckless, though. I just want you to offer support, not to charge in and fight the monsters. The priority should be your survival. If you're unable to save them, or if they have all been wiped out, then immediately retreat. Just by yourself – the most important is that you return alive. Understand?”
”…I'll do my best.” Rank D monsters, huh? That meant they were more powerful than the Rank-F Phantoms and Rank-E Ravagers I had just massacred. I wasn't sure how much stronger they were, but I couldn't afford to underestimate them. ”Who's in the party?”
”Black Roses Society members…currently led by their president, Alicia Violet.”