When Souta arrived on the surface, he realized that everything was finished. The city was devastated and most of the people living here had died.
"I'm just here to investigate but everything happens so fast."
Souta said with a sigh. The unconscious old man was floating beside him. He was lifting him using the power of gravity.
He turned around as he heard footsteps behind him. He saw Alice and Eilish approaching him.
"Oh, how come you're here, Eilish?" He asked.
"The Grain Leader dispatched me here," Eilish answered his question.
"Oh," Souta raised his eyebrows as he realized something. "So we're just baits to lure the true mastermind."
"Well, in summary. I'm here with two other Shackled Realm Experts. They are currently following the trail of the Red Matter Association. I stayed here to protect the survivors." Eilish explained to him.
"I see..." Souta said before he pointed at the unconscious old man. "Then, do you still need this person?"
"Yeah, I think he knows something about the Red Matter. It's better if we captured him alive." Eilish nodded.
"Good."
The three walked around the dukedom. The liveliness was gone as tons of dead bodies were scattered in every corner. The stench of blood was thick and most of the buildings were gone.
The atmosphere of the entire city changed in just a day.
It was cold and silent.
They couldn't hear the laughter of children and the chattering of the adults.
It became desolate.
"Where's Eztein?" Souta asked while they were walking.
"He's resting in the colosseum. He used most of his strength in battling the enemies." Alice paused before she added, "Also, the survivors have gathered there."
"The survivors... How many are them?" Souta asked.
"I can only estimate that only twenty percent of the entire population have survived," Alice answered.
"They really planned this well," Souta commented.
"Yeah, they first eliminated the duke and lure the nobles into the colosseum. Then, they poisoned them. That's the reason why a lot of people perished in this incident. The battle power of the dukedom was reduced to nothing before the cult acted." Alice nodded at his words.
"It's fortunate that not all citizens are weak. Some of them even had the power level of an S-rank. They are the reason why there's still twenty percent left in their population." Eilish commented.
After ten minutes of walking, the three arrived at the colosseum. Souta also finished harvesting some souls while he was walking around the dukedom.
He wouldn't forget collecting souls no matter what. He consumed some of the souls in his earrings when he used the [Soul Blood Mode]. So it's better if he could refill it.
'With all the skills that I have, I think that I'm unrivaled below Shackled Realm. Even a fake Shackled Realm would be slain in front of me.'
Souta and the two entered the colosseum.
The moment they enter, a lot of people turned to look at them. Most of them had a blank expression and their mode was gloomy.
After all, these people experience a tragedy. They had to fight their comrades, friends, and family members that got consumed by curse.
Souta turned to Eilish and asked, "Did you bring any supply?"
"Nope," Eilish shook her head.
"Hmm..."
Souta walked around and found Eztein sleeping near the audience seat. He could see that Eztein pushed himself too hard in this battle. It seems that his opponents gave him a hard time.
He sat down beside him and looked at Alice and Eilish.
"I'm going to rest here for a few minutes to recover some of my energy. Notify me if the other warriors of Athen's Champion have arrived."
He said before he closed his eyes and started to focus his attention on his monster orb.
Half an hour later, Souta opened his eyes...
"They are here," Alice said to him.
"Okay." Souta stood up and looked around. He saw one unfamiliar face and the other one was familiar to him.
The unfamiliar one was a tall man with blue hair. His skin was white as snow and his eyes were sharp. He had a pair of wolf ears on the side of his head and a furry tail sticking out behind him.
He was Grein, a One Shackle Realm Warrior of Athen's Champion, Third Grain Wisdom of Third Set Pallas Division.
The other was Manduk. The instructor that tested him in the examination when he joined the Athen's Champion.
All of them were from the Third Set Pallas Division. It seems that the Third Set Pallas Division target was the Red Matter Association. All the things related to it will be dealt with by the Third Set.
Souta approached Manduk and Grein before he greeted them politely. They were his seniors so he had to treat them according to their ranking.
"What's going to happen to this dukedom, Sir Manduk?" Souta asked carefully.
He didn't know the Third Set's full plan but since he was involved with this they should gave him some information.
"No need to be formal to me. We're all comrades here." Manduk waved his hand. "Hmm... This dukedom is done. The duke and the nobles that are maintaining this city are gone. But I think that the higher-ups are going to help this city. They are going to build a branch of Athen's Champion here."
"From big city to small city..." Souta muttered.
Manduk glanced at him and said, "You can request to be transferred here if you want after you come back to HQ. I think that they will approve it since your Circle is the savior of this place. It will be easier for the citizens to accept your group than some random warrior from our legion."
"I'll think about it," Souta rubbed his chin.
He would indeed be able to move freely here but the opportunity was less compared to the Champion's Den. The mission that he could pick would be filtered as some of the Circles would pick it up before it arrive at him.
He changed the topic. "What happened to the Red Matter members?"
"They've escaped. We failed to follow them." Manduk shook his head. The members of the Red Matter that they chased were quite strong. All of them were at One Shackle Realm.
"Is the Red Matter really a strong organization?" Souta asked curiously. He didn't know about this specific organization in the game.
All he could remember were organizations that made an impact on the overall situation in each version and some of the organizations that he personally took down. And Red Matter Association wasn't included with it so he had no idea about it.
"They are strong. The Third Set had been dealing with them for five years but we successfully took them down. Three years ago, a big battle occurred. The Chief of the Third Set dispatched the four Grains to eliminate them but the leader and some of the executives of the Red Matter managed to escape." Manduk explained the history of Red Matter and the Third Set Pallas Division.
The leader of the Red Matter was a powerful man at Six Shackles Realm and his executives were at Five Shackles Realm.
At that time, Vandal, the Chief Captain of the Third Set, was still a Six Shackles Realm Warrior. Vandal and the Leader of the Red Matter fought but it resulted in a draw. Realizing that he couldn't defeat Vandal, the Leader of the Red Matter escaped.
But it was different this time, Vandal broke another shackle a year ago finally reaching Seven Shackles Realm. In Giza Continent's terms, Vandal reached the so-called Hero-rank.
Vandal was confident that he could defeat the Leader of the Red Matter even if he reached Seven Shackles Realm.
'As strong as the Chief Captain of Third Set... He's indeed powerful.' Souta said inwardly.
...
On the next day, people from the Athen's Champion arrived. They started to help the survivors build the dukedom once again. They gave them food and other necessities to survive this crisis.
From now on, the dukedom will receive support from Athen's Champion. The Athen's Champion will also build a branch here and stationed some of their forces here.
The old man was brought to the Champion's Den. The warriors of Athena will interrogate him to extract information regarding the Red Matter.
It will be a matter of time before they clash with Red Matter again.
Several days had passed...
Souta, Alice, and Eztein returned to the headquarters in Champion's Den. They already completed their mission so it's time to receive their rewards.
The leader of the Tenth Grain War, Carmel, quickly called them into his office.
Souta, Alice, and Eztein saluted to their Grain Leader and waited for him to explain everything.
Carmel looked at the three of them for a while before he opened his mouth, "I have read your report. The three of you did a great job in this quest. Although your original mission was just to investigate it, the circumstances led forced you to fight. I'm impressed with your quick decision and you have adapted really well. You've captured one of the people related to the Red Matter."
"Thank you, sir!"
"Today, the Astros Circle will become a Second Class Squadron of the Tenth Grain War. For Second Class Squadron, the minimum members must be five people. So I think that you should start recruiting members to expand your circle. Also, here... The Grain Leaders decided to give these things to you."
