“That’s… not what I expected to hear,” William said, curious as to what or whom were the cause.

William’s companions were all wide eyed at the news, but William stayed calm. Maybe it was some monster that was of a high level for the region. It was always worth asking further. He had a feeling that the councilors didn’t summon them to gossip about it.

Wylton let out a tired sigh, one that conveyed a significant level of stress.

William cleared his throat and decided to take the lead as he said, “How many people and what levels?”

The councilors shared a look between them before a grim faced Denlar spoke up, “Around levels ten or eleven. There were five individuals in that patrol and they were one of our more senior ones, patrolling a route that they had great experience in.”

That gave William pause. If the group went missing in an area they were intimately knowledgeable on, then a surprise beast attack would surely be unlikely.

“Then again, who knows how far those wolves fled from the fire?” William thought, wondering if maybe pack remnants charged them in a panic. It was plausible, but there was still a good distance between Everglade’s area and the site of the fire. The only other thing that came to his mind was if there were more bandits or other hostile people in the area and they made an ambush. There were too many gaps in information for William to form a solid conclusion. He needed to ask more questions.

“Any leads on the culprit or culprits? Maybe any suspicious items remaining at the site of the disappearance?”

Wylton shook his head mournfully before he replied, “I used my magic to scout as far out as I could without leaving the grove’s bounds but found nothing. The patrol was supposed to be back an hour ago and they have always been punctual or sent a courier bird back telling us of a delay. I think we can potentially rule out animals of the forest or surrounding areas, at least within our region, because any encounter of that nature would warrant the patrol notifying us.”

Denlar took over the explanation then and said, “We think it could be other people but don’t have the manpower currently to explore the area where they vanished. Our other patrols need to cover their sections, and the additional reserve forces we had have been dispatched to Greenwell to fulfil our training agreement. Other than that, we need the rest of our standing force to protect Everglade and fulfil their peacekeeping duties. We are willing to offer this reconnaissance and recovery mission to your group as a final Task for your full AU membership and we will each fulfil an extra request within our capacity for yourselves or your village. Take a moment to consider it and discuss amongst yourselves.”

William decided to take Denlar up on the discussion offer and replied, “We’ll need to work this out between us for sure. Give us a few minutes,”

The three councilors nodded and started discussing things of their own concern in quiet words. William led his group to the far side of the room and gestured to make a circle.

“Okay. Thoughts guys?” William asked, letting his friends voice their concerns or ascent.

Jane was the first to speak as she replied, “I’m worried. Whatever got the patrol might get us as easily. I’m now level thirteen from my healing work and John hit level fourteen yesterday. I know you are way ahead of us, William, but an ambush could still take us out. We don’t have your [Danger Sense] to warn us of an attack.”

Stacey joined the conversation then.

“I actually do now Jane so that’s two of us in William and me. Maybe we can get you to the next milestone soon and you’ll get it offered?”

“That’s a good way off yet I think and… wait, the next one for the three of us is twenty! How the hell did you get to level twenty so quick?” Jane asked, somewhat surprised that Stacey had just hit the region cap after a few days away.

Stacey gave a cheeky grin and replied, “Through a lot of fire… and dead creatures.”

Jane gave her an incredulous look before shaking herself away from that conversation. William wondered if it would be picked back up later.

Jane got control of her composure and spoke again, “Okay. With two of you now miles ahead of me and John, it seems more doable. We survived those bandit bastards after all, but if we die, I’ll kill you in the next life, William.”

“Okay, but you missed one important thing. The two of us-” William pointed between himself and Stacey, “-are technically a Mile ahead. One milestone. Just saying.”

Stacey rolled her eyes while both Jane and John gave him a flat look.

John picked that time to chime in, “William’s pedantry aside, I’m also confident that we can take care of ourselves. It’s reconnaissance and recovery, presumably of any possessions found along the way?”

That was a good point. Reconnaissance was a clear goal, but they left the recovery part vague. Was that deliberate? He hoped not as it would be rather underhanded for a potential trade partner and ally to do such a thing. He wasn’t a politician or even much of a diplomat though so reading into that stuff was beyond him, or at least his interest on the topic at least.

“We’ll need to clarify, but if we track the lost group to some fortified area, recovery would both be a pain in the ass and potentially bad for our health, but we can iron that detail out with the councillors before heading off,” William said, turning his gaze towards Stacey. It was her turn to have an input into the conversation.

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She quickly notice everyone’s attention focus on her, startling briefly, but catching it quickly.

“Oh right, yes. Um, I’m fine with going,” Stacey said with a calm smile and dismissive hand gesture.

William was glad she didn’t seem too concerned. Images of him and her in the future fighting fierce foes as a dynamic duo or even an awesome foursome if John and Jane were present flashed to mind and he inwardly smiled. The future held numerous possibilities, boundless even in this fantastical world.

William ended the conversation giving his own willingness to accept the Task. The four of them turned as their bonds were all sat together in the corner near the entrance, resting contentedly, and approached once again. The three councilors had finished their discussions before William’s group did and were watching with faces of concern.

“They seem reeaal desperate for our help. Maybe they fear an assault if they were to send their own forces out?” William mused, trying to figure out why their group was picked. Yes they were probably a good level for the task, but surely things weren’t that dire. A thought then occurred that the disappearance might be bait to draw people away from Everglade and with more armed fighters exposed, ambushes could thin the numbers further, allowing for a main force to assault the town. William briefly wondered if such assailants knew of the level forty eight Druid that would wreck their shit if they tried. Then again, cutting off supply routes would do all the damage needed in the long run maybe they co-

“William? Earth to William?” Jane said, waving a hand in front of his face.

William’s attention was brought back to the room where the three councilors and all three of his friends were staring at him.

“Oh shi-” He paused, getting his composure back to normal, “-sorry about that. I got lost in thought’s regarding the Task.”

He wasn’t lying either, he didn’t even realize that he had lost focus. This was getting concerning. He caught a curious look from Wylton that seemed like it knew things about the issues he was experiencing.

“Have you had enough time regarding the Task to decide on what your group will do?” Wylton asked, keeping his eyes locked on William.

The stare was penetrating. All seeing. That was how it felt at least.

“We want to know to what extent the ‘recovery’ parameter of the Task goes up to before any decisions are made,” William said, making sure to keep his focus locked on the old Druid’s words.

“Of course. If you can find equipment, personal effects, notes, or any other such items, they are to be recovered. The same with any bodies, GAEA forbid. If you find that our troop are held captive, try to rescue them as long as you manage the threat level to your party. As a bonus, if it is other people that are the cause, take a finger from each you slay and I’ll reward each of you one gold coin per individual. I’ll be able to use a spell to discover their identities in great detail as long as I have enough of their remains.”

William’s group paled, except for William himself. He had bathed in the blood of his enemies through multiple battles so the idea of taking bits of some corpses was now just another mundane thing. He could tell that his friends weren’t of the same mind. It was fine, he could do the work and if Echo was a good boy, he could have another one as a treat. It was at that point William caught himself, and mentally took a long hard look at himself. Was he okay? That sort of act he had mentally concocted was rather twisted from a social point of view. When had he started seeing the line between beast and person merge? He would need to reflect on that alone. He didn’t think that his view needed to change as long as he kept enough empathy to not hurt innocent people or become some psychopath. Still, some reflection would be needed.

Another wave brought him from his thoughts once more.

“fuck me!” William mentally cursed, he needed to sort the issue out. Thankfully it hadn’t happened in battle, but he didn’t know if it would start to affect that aspect of his mind too.

“Sorry, um, that’s fine for the terms, We’ll get it sorted,” William said, trying to bring the meeting to its end so they could get the Task and be on their way.

A prompt appeared in his mind and eager to get on with it, he opened the waiting message.

Ascension_Protocol}

{Taskmaster Quest}

Task 1 – Discover location of missing Everglade patrol.

Task 2 – Recover any bodies or personal effects related to the missing patrol.

Task 3 [Optional] – Kill any potential enemies related to Everglade’s missing patrol and return with a digit from each body.

Reward – A service from each of the three Everglade councilors.

Optional Task Reward – One Gold piece for each digit from different enemy individuals.

{End}

William found one part interesting about the prompt: Nothing indicated attaining a full AU membership fas one of the rewards. It then clicked that the process was probably more of an administrative thing than a system related one. That made complete sense. William decided to keep an open mind with prompts in the future as this was yet more proof that the system was vague most of the time with its prompts.

“We’ll get straight on it,” William said, turning with his friends to leave.

They stopped as Wylton spoke again, “Before you go William, Take this.”

William caught the tossed scroll and opened it to see a fairly detailed map with a red ‘X’ on it with a note saying ‘last known location’. William was controlled enough not to laugh at the ‘Treasure map’ with the classic red ‘X’ on it.

Wylton continued then, “I also see you have mental wanderings to an extent. I have an idea of what the cause is and once you return, I’m more than happy to assist you.”

William looked back with a smile, relieved that he could make some sense of his head soon. He gave his thanks then the councilors waved them off. Their expressions stuck with William as he left. When they arrived, the mood was grim, and even though it wasn’t now sunshine and rainbows, each of the councilors sat straighter as if some weight had been lifted.

Feeling Echo land on his shoulder, William and his party left Serendipity to the great outdoors and their ‘treasure’.