Extra's Descent

74  Everglade [4]

Seated face to face with Amy, Raven sipped on his coffee.

As he did so, his eyes lit up.

In front of him, Amy flashed him a wide grin.

"How is it?"

"It's good."

For the first time in his life, Raven had finally admitted to himself that coffee was good.

But it wasn't the kind of bitter coffee that he was used to.

With a smile, Amy held her head with her hands, leaning close to look at Raven.

"Hehe, I told you."

"This coffee, it's different. What is it called?"

"A macchiato."

"Mac…?

"Macchiato."

"Hehe."

It became apparent to Raven that Amy had been quite comfortable with him, ever since they studied together.

Brandon was usually cold towards him. While Reinhard would often teach him things he would rather not want to learn.

For him, being with Amy felt quite refreshing.

'She's a good friend.'

Is what he thinks.

Placing the coffee down, Raven looked at Amy who was sipping on her own coffee.

"About the quest. I haven't picked one yet."

"Hm? That's fine…"

Sip~

"We can pick one together."

"Yes, but I don't believe in easy quests. There's a reason they were requested in the first place.

Raven paused and looked around. He then looked back at Amy and continued.

"Which is why I gathered information first."

"Oh."

Amy was quite taken aback.

Raven was really thorough when it came to anything.

This was a habit he had built up ever since he was young. And because of that, he was now a Special Officer trainee.

Sherlock.

The title he had earned within the group.

Looking around, Raven leaned close to Amy's ear.

"Eh!?"

Amy flinched slightly. Her ears instantly turned red.

But Raven didn't notice and softly whispered in her ear.

"This city… At first glance, it seems peaceful. But…"

He paused and took a deep breath, then continued.

"Every year, there's a missing person case."

Amy's eyes shot wide open.

She stayed quiet for a moment to digest the information.

Once she did, she looked at Raven who leaned back in his seat.

"...Why haven't they reported it back to the main city?"

"They couldn't."

"What?"

Amy leaned back in her seat in shock.

"Then what about the Rankers here? Can't they put up a quest for it?"

Raven crossed his arms. He then opened his mouth.

"That's the thing. It wasn't explicitly stated, but from what I could deduce, most of the rankers who tried to leave this place had gone missing as well."

Once again, Amy stayed silent.

The sudden revelation seemed to shake her to the core as she started rubbing her shoulders.

There was one thing she wanted to ask.

But the very thought of it made her shudder in fear.

Lifting her head up she looked at Raven. Pursing her lips, she asked the very same question she didn't want an answer to.

23:03

"....Then, will it happen to us too once we leave?"

But Raven didn't respond. He wore a look of anxiety.

It was then when he opened his mouth.

"I'm not sure…."

For whatever reason the Academy sent them to Everglade, Raven didn't know.

It seemed less likely that the Academy even knew what was going on in Everglade.

If it was just a normal trip where they would have the leisure to relax, then Raven wouldn't have snooped around and discovered Everglade's dark secret.

The quests.

It was for that reason that Raven did so.

Then did the Professors know anything?

Raven didn't know.

He was at a loss once again.

If even Rankers would go missing, then what about students?

How could the Academy or the Professors expect a bunch of first years to resolve Everglade's problem?

While he was lost in his thoughts, he was immediately snapped out of it as his phone started to vibrate from his pocket.

Noticing, Raven retrieved his phone.

As he scanned to find out who the caller was, his anxiety had toned down a bit.

It was the person he had wanted to brainstorm with about the current situation.

Click—

"Hello?"

—Raven, where are you?

It was Brandon.

"I'm in the hotel's cafe."

—Okay, wait for me. I'll be there in an hour.

"Alright, I wanted to talk to you about something too."

—Have you found out as well?

As expected, Brandon knew something.

Raven knew that Brandon was smart.

If there was someone who could keep up with his intellect, then it would be none other than Brandon.

"Yes."

—Okay, that makes things easier. See you then.

"Okay."

Click—

Putting his phone back in his pocket, Raven glanced at Amy who seemed like she wanted to say something.

And so she did as she opened her mouth.

"Who was that?"

"Brandon."

"I see. Maybe he can find a solution to this."

"I hope so."

***

"....She's not responding."

After leaving the Guild Hub, Brandon had been trying to call Sarah for thirty minutes or so.

But everytime he did, Sarah wouldn't respond.

Because of that, Brandon had split up with Reinhard and Liam started running around the city.

He had asked the citizens if they knew where the Aurae residence was, but all they would tell him was that they didn't.

"H-haaa…"

Taking deep heavy breaths, Brandon decided to stop for a while.

His method was inefficient, which is why he decided to go to the hotel and meetup with Raven.

Catching his breath, Brandon entered the cafe.

From a distance he immediately spotted Raven and Amy.

Realizing, his brows raised skeptically.

'This is definitely a date.'

And he was about to third wheel them.

But there was no time to think of such thoughts.

He immediately approached them. They noticed his sudden appearance.

Raven moved aside and Brandon sat next to him.

Since Brandon ran towards the hotel, his mouth was quite parched.

Noticing the coffee on the table, he extended his hand to grab it.

But before he took a sip, he turned to look at Raven who looked at him back skeptically.

"May I?"

"....Go ahead."

"Thanks."

Sip~

Sipping on the coffee, he redirected his attention to Amy, who looked at him with widened eyes.

Placing the coffee back down on the table, Brandon cocked his head at her.

"What?"

"..."

But Amy didn't respond and continued to stare at him with an open mouth.

It seemed like she wanted to say something but the words wouldn't leave her mouth.

But then it did as she pursed her lips.

"You."

"....?"

"That was…."

"What?"

"An indirect…"

"..."

Amy muttered the last words as silently as she could. But she failed to do so as Brandon heard it anyway.

"K-kiss…"

"..."

But Brandon shrugged it off and turned his attention back to Raven who seemed to not have heard Amy.

Shrugging, Brandon opened his mouth.

"So? What do you know?"

Taking a deep breath, Raven briefly looked at Amy, then back at Brandon. He began to recount everything he had told Amy.

It took no more than five minutes, and by the time he finished, Brandon was pinching his chin, appearing deep in thought.

23:06

"I see."

"....There's definitely something going on in this city."

"Agreed."

"Alright, it's my turn."

Brandon then retrieved the missing person quest poster and placed it on the table.

It was now his turn to debrief on them on what happened.

Raven appeared to be listening the whole time as he stayed silent.

But as soon as Brandon finished, Raven's eyes darted around as if he had not listened at all.

Glancing around, Raven awkwardly opened his mouth.

"Uh..."

He seemed to be struggling to choose his words. But eventually, he spoke up.

"Who's Sarah....?"

"..."

"..."

Even Amy was taken aback.

***

Inside her office, Evelyn was piling up the documents which contained details about the trip the first years were having.

But as she piled them up, one of the documents slipped out and slowly fell on the floor.

Placing the stack of documents on the table, Evelyn leaned down to pick up the fallen document.

"....Everglade?"

Her eyes widened.

The other sections had their trip in urban places. Much less, they didn't even have quests unlike Section A and B.

And in the first place, Everglade wasn't a popular city to visit. She had heard rumors about the place during her time in the guild.

It was quite peculiar. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

It was supposed to be a trip, and yet they had given the students a task.

"Isn't Vanessa their adviser? How did something like this get approved?"

But as she continued to scan the document, the signature section caught her attention.

"....This."

The Headmaster's signature...

It was forged.