Chapter 480 (2/2)

Inwardly, Randidly wondered whether the spiderlings, who were individually about the size of a ladybug, would be able to defend an Arbor planting, but said nothing. Although Kiersty was... a child, and extremely warped by the presence of a cult around Arbor, it seemed that she wouldn't endanger Arbor at all, so he decided to let it pass. Besides, it wasn't impossible to plant it in a central location that they could stay near, providing assistance if it was necessary.

Then next group members to come up the hill were familiar to Randidly in a very distant way, and only because he had spent some time reacquainting himself with them. The first, the short Hispanic man, was Karlito, who had owned a small restaurant in Franksburg all that time ago when Randidly went to visit. When it became clear that Donnyton needed talented cooks and a growing demand for high-end food, he immigrated to Donnyton, bringing his wife, Bruya.

Randidly had never officially met Bruya before, but he had seen her around the kitchen a few times when he worked for Karlito. But to find out that the two were married was something of a revelation to Randidly. He had always assumed she was… some sort of accountant, who was constantly disapproving of how much money Karlito spent on ingredients in the like.

Her disapproving glares took on a whole new light with this information.

Where Karlito was short and slight, she was large and fight. She was the same height as Randidly, although he reasoned that she wore rather sizable wedges, to make up the little difference in height between them. And she was about twice as girthy as Randidly, and about three times that of Karlito.

There were two reasons for bringing them along on this journey to the border areas. One for each of the people.

Karlito was to provide food and also to assist Randidly in some experiments he wanted to perform with an eye towards mixing cooking and potions. Bruya he was bringing because she was an NCC, and she was one of the most promising users of the Illusion Skill granted by Simon’s Champion status. Right now it was nothing more than being able to show a mostly realistic painting, but it would undoubtedly improve.

But as Randidly thought about Simon, his expression turned grim. He had received word that the man was ripping out his hair, scouring the entire Zone for Thea, who had abruptly disappeared from his awareness.

This presented two problems, both in the form of Simon’s imbalanced tendencies and in Thea’s location. Randidly wouldn’t address the former because it seemed like a hassle, and Simon would likely grow out of it, and the latter because he respected Thea’s privacy in this time of mourning.

But when Simon sent Randidly a message, his arguments that she hadn’t just secreted himself in a Dungeon made sense. Mrs. Hamilton agreed that something seemed off, as well. But again, Randidly wasn’t sure what he could really do about it. This world was the type where you could lose yourself in the wilderness if you wanted to.

Alana seemed to take the news of her disappearance the hardest, becoming almost lethargic, and extremely unlike her. However, this had mostly passed after a few days, and now she mostly overexerted herself. Hopefully, someone would get her back on track soon…

“Ready for an adventure?” Randidly said with a laugh.

Bruya smiled politely, but Karlito rubbed his hands together with a mischievous gleam in his eye. “Hehehe, walking through monster dens with the most powerful man in Donnyton? What could go wrong? I can’t wait to try some rare meat, something over Level 40…”

It took about another hour, but their final member arrived. Tykes, his arms folded, a perpetual scowl on his face. There had been some drama earlier in the week between Tykes and Raina after he pushed things a bit too far, and Randidly wanted another fighter worth a damn on the trip.

Not that he thought that he would need a fighter, but it was Randidly’s plan that after the Zones opened up, he would head to the other locations. Then, they would need something special to help trailblaze.

Tykes was special, that was for sure, in terms of his Skills. Sometimes it just seemed like the young man got in his own way. He was full of anger.

But Randidly, probably more than most people who had thought to teach Tykes, knew anger. And he knew what it could become.

“What are you looking at me like that for? I said I’d come.” Tykes said, clearly suspicious.

Randidly just smiled. “Nothing. Wave goodbye, people. It’s time to go look at what’s waiting on the edge of the world.”