Chapter 27: New Mission
Today was his first official mission. When he went to do his regular job this morning, Russell told him to come to the Withering Shadows office around noon to receive his first mission. While pondering deeply, Charles crossed the El street junction, walked on the main street road, and soon reached Ivy Street. After that, he went to the Life Church's backside and soon appeared in front of a single-storied brick house.
Unlike the last time, he stood alone in front of the wooden for a few seconds and soon knocked it thrice.
After some time, he heard soft footsteps along with the anklet's bell sound from the other side and became puzzled.
It was the footsteps of a woman!
'Did I knock on the wrong door?' While he was in confusion, the wooden door opened with a click, and soon a lady with blonde hair opened the door from inside. She wore a red-lined white gown, a long red scarf around her neck, and a pair of white slippers.
Due to her unique gown, Charles clearly saw her round melons, and smooth curvy body and got stunned for a moment. Her eyes were dark like black marbles from the abyss, her long blonde hair was curly, and her skin was ruddy. She bowed politely with a charming smile on her face and invited him in.
In the meantime, Charles blinked his eyes in surprise and soon walked in. He then swept his gaze towards the reception hall and noticed that Mr. Hunt and Bishop Reynolds were chattering inside while sitting opposite each other.
Noticing his arrival, they stopped their chattering and gazed towards his direction.
''Take a seat, Charles,'' Reynolds said while pointing his fingers towards the two empty wooden chairs, placed beside Hunt, and added,
''Your weapon has arrived.''
Charles raised his right eyebrow in wonder as he went near the wooden chair and sat down while nodding his head.
In the meantime, the blonde-haired lady, who looked around 30-years-old, took out a wooden case from her void pouch and gave it to him.
Charles extended both hands to hold the wooden case and took it from her.
He then placed the case on his lap and opened it with a click.
Inside the wooden case, a black single-barrelled handgun was placed in a sponge-like cloth. In the grip where one would normally put the magazine, Charles saw weird characters engraved on it and got startled.
'Runal characters? No… But these look similar…' He widened his eyes as little and soon waited for the blonde-haired lady to explain the function.
''Mana gathers in the grip area. When you adjust the hammer, some stored mana will eject from the grip and form a condensed metal bullet through some magical words. At that time, the remaining mana will also transfer from the grip area and then store inside the metal bullet through the same magical characters. When you pull the trigger, the stored mana will burn and quickly generate lots of gas. The sudden, high pressure of the gas splits the bullet from the end of the cartridge, forcing it down the gun barrel at an extremely high speed of 400 m/s. When exiting the muzzle, the mana bullet will create a bang and kill the target in a single shot. Even Rank 3 Mystics will be severely injured if they got a direct hit from this Ember Pistol.'' The blonde-haired lady explained calmy.
''But to accurately kill your target is not an easy matter. You must possess the [Sharpshooting] skill.'' Bishop Reynolds said while interrupting her talking.
Without minding Bishop's words, Charles waved his left hand as he touched the chilling black gun and took it from the wooden case.
He then held the pistol around the grip and aimed at the outside tree through the window gap. After that, he adjusted the hammer using his thumb finger and aimed correctly with both his eyes. Once he locked on the tree branch, he curled his lips upward and squeezed the trigger.
BANG!
A moment later, a bang sound resounded in the reception room, causing Hunt and others to cover their ears instinctively.
They then stared at the smoky muzzle for a moment and soon turned their attention to the outside through the window gap. A heartbeat later, all of their eyes went wide as they saw a fist-sized hole on the wooden branch!
Turing their heads around in unison, all three of them stared at Charles in confusion and amazement.
In the meantime, Charles nodded his head and soon asked the blonde-haired lady.
''Do you also sell silencers?''
''Silencers? What is that?'' The blonde-haired lady asked while staring back at the deep-blue-haired kid in puzzlement.
Charles had already expected her answer, so he didn't reply to her; instead, he shook his head and said.
''Forget it. I will adjust with this.'' Saying so, Charles put the Ember Pistol in his leather bag and then glanced at the game interference.
…
[Archer class's Sharpshooting skill has been learned!]
[20 Experience points rewarded!]
…
Smiling lightly, Charles looked into the blonde-haired lady's marble-like black eyes and asked,
"May I know your name, My Lady?"
"Pardon me for not introducing myself." The blonde-haired lady covered her mouth and replied,
"I'm Victoria. Victoria Gray."
Widening his jade-eyes a little, Charles nodded his head and stood up.
"Thank you for bringing me this weapon, My Lady." He paused for a moment and added,
"Life is Eternal."
She stared at him for a moment and responded while bowing her head.
"Reality is an Illusion, Illusion is a Dream, and Dream is the Reality."
Charles got dumbfounded as he heard those words and soon realized that she must be the believer of Dream God, Ithos.
'Ithos, he is one of the thirteen Lawful Gods in the Edhen World. He also controls the domain of Dream, Illusion, and Imagination and has another nickname… Reality Twister.' He recalled the information from the original Charles's memories and soon bowed his head in response to Victoria.
After that, he nodded his head at Bishop Reynolds and Hunt and then walked out of the single-storied brick house.
…
Charles then went to 35 Ivy Street and soon entered the Withering Shadows office. In the reception hall, he saw the muscular man Luke Clark and the bald Warrior Andrew Harris were chatting and soon waved his hand as they noticed his arrival.
A smile appeared on Andrew's face as he stood up from his seat, walked near him with heavy footsteps, and spoke with a grin on his face.
''Luke personally asked Branch Leader to put you in our today's mission, Charles. So, you have to give us a party.''
Charles stared at Luke for a second and asked in surprise.
''Why?''
''If I didn't ask, that old man would have put you in a different team and give you some difficult job.'' Luke paused for a moment and added, ''I heard from our Team Leader that today's mission is just a searching mission, so you don't have to worry about your safety.''
Charles's lips twitched as he heard Luke's words.
'You ruined my plan from getting more Exp, damn it.' He then shook his head and asked,
''Do you know any information about today's mission?''
Upon hearing his question, Andrew and Luke went silent for a second and soon glanced at each other.
After that, Luke nodded his head and started talking.
''It's about the abnormal disappearance of 3 Rank-1 Historians.''
'Historians? The [Explorer] class members?' Charles furrowed his brows and then waited for Luke to continue,
''A few days ago, a group of 3 Rank-1 explorer class members went to find some antique in Slum Street. But they somehow disappeared, and even the elite explorers couldn't find any trace of them. Our Aces team's job is to search for some clues about their disappearance in Slum Street.''
"It looks like a normal mission. Historian class is not a combat-related class, so it's not surprising for them to disappear suddenly in Slum Street. In my opinion, they are a bunch of reckless fools who dared to walk into an area filled with thieves and bandits." Andrew clicked his tongue and said in disdain.
"They are not fools, Andrew." A cold female voice came from the entrance, causing them to turn around in surprise.
"Why do you think so, Team Leader?" Andrew asked while suppressing his voice a little.
Emilia walked on the blue-carpeted floor and said while arriving beside the trio.
"Although Historians has no combat-related skills, they aren't easy to be bullied by some bandits and thugs," She paused for a second and quickly added,
"They have a skill called [Recall], and this skill allows them to check even the minute details about their surroundings. Mere thieves and bandits don't have the power to catch them when they have this skill. They also have the [Wonder Sense] skill, which will also enchant their luck to survive in any dangerous situations."
"[Wonder Sense] skill?" Andrew furrowed his brows as he heard the new word and asked.
"Historian's another skill. It can give hints about the upcoming dangers and help them survive in any dangerous situations." This time, Charles answered his question.
"How do you know?" Anderson asked in surprise while Luke and Emilia glanced at him in confusion.
"I'm an Archaeological student. If not for the assassination incident, I would have already joined the Explorers' Association and became a [Historian]." Charles pinched his chin and then added in a solemn tone,
"If my guess is right, those three Historians might not be dead. Someone might have kidnapped them for whatever purpose and hide their trails."
"Yes, that's the reason Explorers' Association requested us to search for clues about those three Historians' disappearance," Emilia said calmly and then continued,
"It's a search mission, and it will take three to four days to complete this mission. Till then, we will be roaming everywhere in the Riverdale City and looks for clues about those Historians."
Upon hearing her words, Charles, Andrew, and Luke turned their faces serious and nodded their heads in unison.
Emilia rubbed her chubby nose and spoke while walking towards the blackboard attached right next to the window with a smile on her slightly wrinkled face.
"We have four suspects, and all of them happened to be in Slum Street during this incident." She paused for a second as he took the white chalk from the nearby box and continued,
"Our first suspect is Jeffery Dahmer. He is suspected to be a Rank-2 [Elite Man] and has some mysterious background. He is one of the abnormal mystics and is a very cautious person. He contacted one of the three Historians multiple times and even argued with him once for whatever reason. He happened to be walking behind them when the abduction incident happened, and he was the one who informed the Explorers' Association."
"Why did he argue with the Historian? Is it about the antique?" Andrew posed a question.
"How would I know?" Emilia glared at him for interrupting her talking and spoke,
"Next one is John Wayne. He is suspected of being a contracted killer of Andes City and has no history with any Historians. But when the elite explorer team searched for those three missing Historians, he just happened to be sitting in the nearby fruit shop and even acted very abnormally."
"Acted abnormally?" This time, Luke raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, he sat on the wooden bench and ate dozens of apples in ten minutes while breathing heavily." Emilia thought for a moment and added,
"At that time, He looked very sweaty, and the explorers also mentioned in the report that his hands and legs were trembling."
"Was he nervous of being caught by the explorers' team?" Luke muttered out loud and soon shook his head, "A professional killer won't get nervous just by seeing a bunch of elite explorers. There must be another reason."
"That's what I thought when seeing the report. Now, let's move to the next suspect." Emilia said while writing on the blackboard using the white chalk.
"Our third suspect is Willy Pickton. Unlike others, he is a well-known celebrity of Riverdale Town and has some deep connection with the Explorers' Association. He is a Rank-2 [Storm Bringer] Class Mystic and a firm believer of Edina, Goddess of Storm. Our reason for the suspicion is that he also had some quarrel with one of the three Historians a few days ago and happened to be in Slum Street when the three Historians got abducted. "
"It's definitely about the antique!" Andrew shouted, causing Emilia to stare at him with dagger eyes.
"Well, we can't be so sure of that," Emilia said while placing her forefinger on her smooth lips and continued,
"Our last suspect is Jimmy Holmes. He is a rank 1 [Soldier] and has no family background. Six years ago, he came to our Riverdale City and became a Slithering rowdy Gang member. He is a strange fellow and hasn't killed anyone like the other thugs."
"Why are we suspecting a normal thug then?" Andrew asked in puzzlement.
In the meantime, Emilia sighed heavily and spoke,
"He isn't a normal one." She paused for a moment and soon added with a wry smile,
"He is the Unlucky Star of Riverdale City."
