PARALLEL STORY NEW BEGINNING CHAPTER 17: BEGINNING
The trip began the first week of April and Edward, although he was looking forward to it, found that the difference in reality crushed his expectation.
Fifty extra large trucks were prepared and modified for a terrain of all types, with barriers for protection in case of emergency.
Six of them were modified so that they could clear the road ahead of them and, with earth magic, create a road acceptable enough for them to drive on.
However, that only made part of the journey easier and was not always effective.
The journey started slow because the old roads and streets had disappeared and now everything was an area where nature had taken over.
While the trucks cleared the way quickly, it actually took its time, which Edward found annoying.
Moving through the area, much of the terrain was desert, but at times they would come across small wooded and rocky areas, which made the journey complicated.
What made it worse was that although some wild creatures and monsters came along trying to attack them, they would not let him go outside.
He was traveling with an Asian known as Zhan Tian and that man was serious about his job and would not let him get out of the car to take care of those enemies, due to the fact that it was not his team in charge of protection.
Between some potholes, the overflowing heat of this area, and a trip that was taking too long, Edward felt suffocated.
Even a mage was flying faster and that he could see teams of adventurers flying from time to time.
In this mission, 135 people participated, of which 27 were A-Rank and 103 B-Rank, including in this number the priests, and lastly there were 5 S-Ranks, without him being included.
Cardinal Brousseau led the church and her paladins, an archmage named Abdellah, led the mercenaries, Makeba controlled the militiamen and Arnold led the guild force, the ‘Red Bulls’.
As for Zhan Tian and his wife, Cynda, they were guild adventurers, but their force was waiting at their destination.
It was many people of multiple ethnicities and various professions, all led by a girl... Every time Edward recalled such a fact, his expression darkened.
The first day they traveled in a dull manner and only at the end of the day was the team changed and he was left to take care of the protection.
The creatures and monsters were mostly B-Rank who were savage and didn’t have as much intelligence.
For an A-Rank like him, they were easy to defeat, but at least they reduced his stress from such a boring journey.
When night came, they decided to make camp because the terrain was not prepared and it was going to be too complicated to clear it during the night and not to mention the fatigue of the long journey.
Edward was not the only one who got tired of such a boring trip, the adventurous members of the ‘Red Bulls’ guild were also chatting about how boring, tiring, and exhausting the trip was.
Riding for hours in a truck was partly annoying and partly tiring.
The only remarkable thing was that there were high quality tents that contained a space inside with an apartment.
Perhaps not all the tents were of that type, but they were large and comfortable.
Portable toilets were another relief for the group and for Edward, who was finding this trip primitive.
The way the adventurers were setting up campfires as if they were at a summer camp made it look like a meaningless trip to his eyes.
The worst part was that when he was told where he would be sleeping, it turned out to be in the main tent of the person leading this mission.
That girl and her equally young friend... Her tent was the biggest, and it was a three-room apartment with a bathroom and dining room, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying.
It was clear to him that they were putting him next to her to keep an eye on him and secure him for any occurrences.
However, his annoyance only lasted too short a time due to the fatigue of the trip.
He was exhausted from riding in a truck for hours, on a boring trip and, to top it all off, being under that girl whose strength he did not know.
Why did they leave someone like her in charge?
They called her ‘Protector of Zerzura’, but she was one girl and the other was a glutton whose only purpose was to eat.
In the middle of the night, having fallen asleep in a comfortable place, Edward heard noise and when he came out after changing, thinking it was an attack, he found the leaders of the mission.
Aurora was wearing silver armor and was bloodstained, looking at a crappily displayed holographic map.
“The attack we have just repelled is due to a natural dungeon. It has gone too long without cleaning and has now become a nest of such creatures,” Aurora informed the team, and with a clear tone, she commented. “It’s better to clean it now, so in the future we don’t have any problems with the return trip.”
Attack?
Such words left Edward stiffened at the fact that he didn’t notice.
The rooms had no barriers to suppress sound, and that meant he could hear any noise from outside.
In the event of an attack, he would have heard it, but such a thing didn’t happen and he had missed the defense.
Was it because he was not used to such an event? Or was it the lack of a tight safety net?
Such questions did not matter, the leaders prepared a team led by Aurora and her gluttonous friend.
“I’m going to join,” Edward ordered when they finished their conversation.
The other mission leaders glanced at him, but moved away to go about their business, shaking their heads in the process.
Edward got the glare from that glutton, who raised her eyebrow, perhaps annoyed by his tone.
Still, Aurora gave him a single glance before cleaning up her equipment.
“No, this is going to be a quick clean up and you’re not necessary.” Aurora replied.
With such words, she didn’t explain herself to him and with a nod, she left with her companion, who practically gave her a mocking look.
A gnashing of teeth echoed inside the tent when he was left alone and Edward felt too annoyed.
Why did a girl like that have to run all this?
If it wasn’t for her, it was quite possible that his abilities would be used as they were meant to be.
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He was a freaking A-rank!
The apprentice of an SS-ranked Grand Archmage!
To be being wasted like this, to Edward this was just plain stupid.
Who, at his age, was so strong?
The worst thing was that in his eyes those two girls were obeyed not only because they were in command, but because of the weight of those who put him there.
That night he stayed up waiting and only laughed after the group did not arrive after two hours of waiting.
Quickly?
Ha, it was a great joke at such tardiness.
The next day because he had stayed up for several hours, he woke up too sleepy.
He slept late and then had to get up early, breaking the schedule he was used to, it was too costly.
That day he was placed under the command of Makeba, who was leading the militiamen, but when he looked around, he noticed that neither Aurora or her friend were present.
When he asked about the matter to other militiamen, they told him that the ‘Protectors of Zerzura’ went on their own to clear the road.
In that way, trying to reduce the problems of the trip.
He confirmed that matter when they traveled again.
For more than tens of kilometers, they only encountered a few creatures, losses or a few monsters, but everything else was safe.
They could even see some natural dungeons, but the scouts they checked warned that it was recently cleared.
Only when they were halfway to their destination, the duo returned as if nothing had happened.
Edward was unable to say anything, as the team he was assigned to was the militia.
Those individuals before his eyes were fooled by such a glorious and vain title as the ‘Protectors of Zerzura’.
None of them took kindly to any insult or negative comment about them and that included the leader, Makeba.
So his long day started back again and while half of it was a leisurely ride that helped him recover from his drowsiness, the other part was exhausting.
Makeba didn’t hesitate to use his A-rank strength and worked him all over.
At first Edward thought he was being recognized, but after being ordered to attack a group of sand worms coming in from the Sahara Desert, he realized that they were just trying to make things difficult for him.
That dark-skinned man was one of the leaders he saw ‘order’, that girl they idolized so much and was now taking revenge.
That he would wipe out sand worms that were hiding underground where his lightning could not reach was proof of that deal.
The worst thing was that he could not say anything because of the cold air released by Makeba and his gaze, that was clearly waiting for an answer.
Only in the evening did he have a chance to get rid of that overly serious individual and was able to approach the adventurers of the guild, the ‘Red Bulls’ who accepted him and secretly invited him for a drink.
The adventurers of that guild were more relaxed in their behaviors, which was nice after having spent all day working.
When he returned to the tent, he found a meeting of the leaders led by Aurora.
The frowns he got were quite prominent and that was due to the smell of booze that was easy to detect for superhuman individuals like an S-Rank.
“Drinking alcohol in the middle of a mission. Your age aside, you should know what can and can’t be done,” said Cardinal Brousseau, looking at him and averting her gaze to Aurora, she recommended. “It is necessary to punish those who relaxed at this time.”
“We are near the magic forest. Such a place is no joke, you don’t know what may come out and even though there are people on guard, if a herd of dangerous magical beasts appears, we’ll be in trouble.” Cynda declared coolly.
The expressions of most of the leaders turned cold, they didn’t need to think about it too much.
A teenager arriving after a few drinks could be considered reckless, but the problem was that he could no longer be treated as a teenager.
This was a mission in a dangerous place, of which he was a member.
The magical forest was populated by magical beasts and some of them were extremely dangerous, while others were in conflict with humans.
How in his right mind did he think of doing that?
His exhaustion, stress and anger at the situation he had found himself in all day had brought him to this point.
Edward could see that in the eyes of each of those leaders, he was a ‘reckless teenager’, however, the ones who would suffer were those who gave him to drink.
The problem was that he came from somewhere and here were all the leaders and they knew their members, or at least should have known him.
That Arnold put on a dark look was proof that he knew who the individuals were who possibly drank in this situation.
For a reckless teenager to drink was very different than for an adventurer hired for a mission to do so.
“I’ll take care of fixing their attitudes and make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Arnold replied coolly.
Edward was about to say that they had a few drinks or was it ‘just a little’, but the next moment, sensing the atmospheres of those present, he fell silent.
Understanding that such answers were going to be an excuse from a teenager who did not wish to be scolded.
At this point, any answer would seem like an excuse.
“I understand, I’ll leave it to you,” Aurora replied and tapping the map, stated. “It’s time to choose which path is best.”
Without interfering in another leader’s decisions and control, she just delegated command, letting Arnold take charge of his group members.
She had understood that punishing him by herself was going to be inefficient and would only create more problems due to going over the heads of the guild that was present.
Edward was silent upon noticing such a fact and waited in a corner as he listened to them talk.
There were two ways to head to their destination.
The first was to go around the magical forest to head to Zinder through the wilderness and much of the flat area.
They were going to be delayed, as a new road had to be paved and some of that land was desert.
While the trucks were off-road and could travel in the desert, while those modified could use earth magic to solidify the sand and create a road, the environment was the problem.
The overflowing heat of the desert, the creatures and all kinds of worms that came from the Sahara Desert in the north.
Maybe they were far from such a place, but because no one controlled the boundary of that huge desert, the creatures migrated and came to that area.
It was said that in that area the desert bordered the huge magic forest, where one side was humid because of the forest and the other side was hot.
Heat, creatures of all kinds, including the worst enemy they could have for a trip... Earthworms capable of causing trouble without being noticed.
While there were some radars in some of the trucks, they had no equipment or vehicles of higher technology because the Apicius Company could not buy military equipment.
That was why they now brought only manually modified large trucks.
The other way was to go through the magic forest where the former Warlord ‘Great Khan’ had come from.
Because he had brought some military vehicles, the road was created and although it had been quite some time, part of that road was still standing.
The problem was that they didn’t know what they would find inside the magical forest, at least not with total certainty.
If they were lucky they would encounter creatures or monsters, but in the worst case they could encounter magical beasts with intelligence and that meant they could be in trouble.
It was one thing to be attacked by unintelligent creatures or monsters that moved suddenly, and quite another matter for a magical beast to plan an attack.
That way they would get there faster, but there was too much uncertainty.
“Also, don’t underestimate the desert and the elements. The heat can get to the point where it can affect the vehicles and overheat them. Not to mention the return trip. Imagine dozens of people in a truck, crammed together, with no air conditioning,” Abdellah said and with a serious tone, he added. “Also, don’t forget the worms either, they can be a problem when they are underground.”
Not everyone had the ability to attack a worm hiding underground and when a choice had to be made it was preferable to fight in the air against flying enemies.
At least, in that sense, the A-ranks had the ability to fight in the air or use objects, on the other hand, it was more difficult to take a creature out of the ground or hurt it.
The place was silent.
Each of the paths had its good points and bad points, not only did they have to think about the now, but they also had to look to the future.
Edward was silent as he watched Aurora pound the table with a thoughtful look on her face.
Uncertainty was present in going through the interior of the magical forest due to this being the first mission of its kind.
“It is impossible to decide on my own. The situation is beyond my consideration, we’ll leave it to a vote.” Aurora stated earnestly.
Her expression carried no shame in saying that this was beyond her decision.
Some nodded in understanding without saying too much or looking perturbed.
Edward frowned slightly, for him to lead was to take command completely and in his eyes Aurora had just failed.
In the end, it ended up deciding to go around the magical forest and go through the wilderness, because it seemed less dangerous.
Known evils sometimes generated greater confidence, and that happened.
So, in the end, everyone left after settling the details and he was left alone with Aurora.
Edward had expected that because of his actions, he would receive punishment from the other party because Arnold seemed serious about going to punish the adventurers who were taking the job as a vacation, but it didn’t happen.
Aurora simply gave him a look and taking her plates of food left the place most likely to stand guard.
Edward remained silent.
He wasn’t scolded, there was no disappointment or anything like that and the biggest reason was that this girl didn’t expect anything from him.
That bothered him.
How could it not bother him?
He was a member of this mission, but instead of being scolded for his actions, he was clearly ignored... As if he didn’t deserve her attention.
That action made Edward annoyed as he went to his room, however, the exhaustion of the day overtook him and he fell asleep.
It was only several hours later that he awoke again and got up after hearing noise from outside.
He had thought it was a nocturnal attack, but when he went to the hallway he realized his mistake.
In the middle of the night, there was a low crying noise coming from Aurora’s room and Edward froze.
It was when he saw Alice come out of her room and head for her friend’s room that Edward reacted.
However, after Alice entered, the whole room was completely silent as if nothing had happened and giving the feeling that it had all been a dream.
Without anyone knowing what he was thinking, Edward returned to his room, knowing that he had to continue his journey.