Chapter 422 (2/2)

“What is it?” She asked.

“The… travelers wanted to speak with you. Since you owed them a favor.” Dalton said, his face going slightly red. It was a peculiar exchange, in Ace’s eyes, and his gaze flicked back and forth between them. There were advantages of being the sidekick in a discussion. Your gaze is much easier for the other side to ignore. It let Ace freely assess these strange creatures.

Although Dalton had always taken on a dominant position in their brief previous interactions… he was now much more hesitant and subservient. Could perhaps the decision to move be one he opposed for a long time before now, until now? And that would make Cyndra head of the faction that wanted to move…? Or perhaps Cyndra had always been the true power in the village…

Or Ace was just extrapolating from an extremely small sample, which was bound to lead to inaccuracies. His mouth scrunched into a thin line. He certainly could identify with Randidly’s frustration here. They weren’t giving the group time to figure out what was going on in this Dungeon, things were just moving too peculiarly, in too many half shapes.

“Oh for fuck's sake, don’t bother with them,” Cyndra said dismissively, turning away, preparing to trot back to the convoy.

“You owe us. We did as you asked.” Randidly said quietly, his serious eyes locked onto the other woman, narrowed with a subtle threat. Ace was honestly surprised at this. From his behavior, it was clear that Randidly considered this woman a threat.

Ace gave her another focused glance. Sure, she looked tough, but…

Dauntless, still bored, cracked an eye open to examine her too. And within a second, both eyes were open and narrowed. Something baleful billowed out of Cyndra, a harrowing aura of bitterness, guilt, and determination that made the air taste like rust. It wasn’t with any particular sense, but it was through the strange image technique of Donnyton that Ace could just barely get the shape of the spirit surrounding this woman.

Then he lost it, and Dauntless growled inwardly, annoyed that he wasn’t allowed to wake up fully to deal with this threat. But Ace kept the affable smile on his face; his switch hadn’t been flicked. Randidly’s skill in this particular area was undoubtedly higher than Ace’s, better to let him handle it.

“And you received your reward,” Cyndra said dismissively.

Abruptly, Randidly changed tactics. “We noticed you swept the battlefield clean. What items dropped?”

His voice was casual, but Randidly clearly smiled when Cyndra stopped dead.

So he was bluffing, Ace mused. He hadn’t known whether that would be an important bit of information but had guessed it might be, based on how quickly the village had acted... But if whatever they found was also the impetus for moving…

What sort of powerful equipment had dropped…?

Very slowly, Cyndra turned around and glared at Randidly. But at this point, Randidly, bless his soul, knew he had the advantage, and just stood still, his hands at his sides, the picture of cool confidence. Perhaps Ace had underestimated his talent for villainy. This display of calm control was exactly the sort of execution that a true villain needed!

Ace nodded approvingly, rubbing his chin.

“Are you going to make this into an issue?” Cyndra spat out, her eyes blazing. Randidly’s eyes narrowed somewhat, but he did not fold.

“Not if we have our quest.” He said simply

Again, Ace thought this was an odd choice. But what was annoying him was that as time went on, it seemed increasingly like this was the correct choice. How had this fucker so quickly identified what was going on here…? His weakness targeting was at Rose level...

“Fine.” Cyndra hissed, before spinning around and departing. But another notification popped up in front of them.

Decimate the Death Cultist’s Headquarters! Cyndra has told you the tragic story of her brother, captured and tortured by the Death Cultists, and after begrudgingly acknowledging your strength, she had told you his remains lay within their Northern Eyrie. Plunge into the heights and slay the High Cultist, and then bury Cyndra’s brother’s remains to succeed. Reward: The Treasure Trove of the Death Cultists and 20% towards your next Level.