I Reject Quests

Ten minutes later.

"This is a tragedy." The City Lord's face showed sadness. A second later, a peculiar look emerged on his face looking at Reza. "I can bet that WestLane caused the fire, but it's hard to identify who committed the genocide in Terio Villa. Do you have any idea?"

"Yes, I believe so," Hase answered. "The same person also warned Uncle that something bad would happen to Sakura Garden Academy. It was around… maybe three weeks ago? Yes, probably three weeks and a few days ago. As for his identity, I don't have any idea. Uncle probably knew something about the person but never spoke about it to me.

"What I do know is that Uncle trusted the person. Immediately after hearing from the person, he left for Sakura Garden Academy… and sure enough, something bad did happen in the Sakura Garden Academy."

"What?" The City Lord was confused. "What could happen in Sakura Garden Academy? I have heard no news about it."

Hase sighed. "Unfortunately, I also don't know much. From his experience, a mysterious figure appeared out of nowhere and attacked him. Luckily, he survived and Uncle brought him."

During the conversation, Rewen listened silently. If possible, he wanted to narrate the whole tragedy of Sakura Garden Academy but he knew that if he were to take one step forward, he couldn't back out. Why did he know? How did he know? Why does he appear so suspicious? 

The revelation was particularly shocking to the City Lord. 

"Isn't this serious? Why did your Uncle not report this to me or anyone?"

"He wasn't allowed to," Hase replied.

The City Lord leaned on the chair. "You do know that the matter just got more complicated, right? I'll try to maintain the timeline of events. First, the mysterious person who murdered the Terio Family, when exactly did he come to your Uncle? Today's 30th June 2012."

"I'm pretty sure it's the 11th of June."

"Okay, wait a second." The City Lord took out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket and started writing. "Hm, the next event… the Sakura Garden Academy incident. When exactly did it happen?"

"Uncle left for Sakura Garden Academy on the 12th."

"Got it. Then, yesterday… the WestLane---"

"Wait. Can I say something?" Rewen interrupted him.

"Hm, go ahead." Only now did the City Lord take a good look at Rewen's face. 'He had lost a lot of weight…' He distinctly remembered the day when the Envoy gave the letter to him. It would be a lie if he said he had no personal grudges against him for taking the letter that he originally thought would go to his son but he isn't a moron who lashes out against a teen.

Rewen opened his mouth. "12th June was also the day where several assassins tried to assassinate the former heir of Terio, Terio Ryu. I don't know if this has any relation or not but I'm feeling that it could have relations."

"I see. I have heard about it and honestly speaking, I don't have a clue who it is. The only enemies of Terio are Hanagawas but the Hanagawas must be pretty broke for them to hire such assassins."

Hase gave a strained smile. Normally, he would have laughed but how could he laugh at his circumstance?

"Yes… that didn't look like a professional assassination at all. It appeared so deliberate…" Rewen stopped speaking. 'Not like an assassination? What about…' He recalled the scenario as his eyes shone brightly.

"What is it? Did you figure something out?" The City Lord noticed his expression.

Rewen came back to his senses and shook his head. 

"Alright." The City Lord nodded, then turned to Reza. "Do you want to find out the murderer of your father, mother, and little brother?"

Reza gave an affirmative nod with an emotionless expression. "Finding is the first step."

"First step? What's the next step?"

"Kill," Reza said one word.

"..."

Everyone other than her looked at each other in silence.

The more Rewen looked at her, the more pity he felt. 'A thirteen-year-old girl has been pushed too far. Although her personality is annoying and I don't like her much, it's sad to think about what she is going through. A cheerful girl turned dark when she saw her parents murdered in front of her. A great way of romanticizing how a character's personality can change to an absurd degree.

'I'm sure I wouldn't think about this at all if I was… maybe reading her or watching her turn this way. In fact, I would have been delighted because of the change since she had an annoying personality. However, all of this is... so real.' 

Rewen shook his head at his thoughts. 'I don't have the luxury to think too much about others. The next four months are going to determine whether I live or die.'

The City Lord coughed. "Anyways, in that case, can I ask you to give me a rough sketch of the person's figure? Don't worry, you don't need to draw yourself. I have experts---"

"Would a full body sketch along with his face work?"

"What!?" The City Lord couldn't restrain his calm, then stood up from his chair.

Rewen, Hase, and Michi also had similar expressions.

"Have you seen his face?" Hase asked with a bewildered expression.

Reza spoke in a casual tone. "I never claimed otherwise."

"Good. Good. Good." The City Lord was delighted by the news. He looked towards one of his servants and said, "Call Toki." 

The servant nodded and left with hurried footsteps.

Toki was Jackport Town's most renowned composite artist. 

"Okay, now I should calm down." Taking a deep breath, he sat back on his chair and looked at the teens in front of him. "Regarding work… I can let you stay here until you become adventurers. But if you want to earn, you have to do some work. Do you people want to work?"

"Sure," Hase replied.

Rewen and Michi also gave a small nod.

The City Lord nodded as if he had expected this answer. "So I have already decided on your work while coming here but if you don't want to do something, say it and I'll change the work. Alright. Hase. I'll ask this directly. How strong are you?"

"I'm stronger than a normal Bronze-ranked Gruer User." Hase honestly answered. He was twenty-three years old this year and it had been two years since he had gone through <<Second Awakening>>. 

"Haha! Looks like my son has got competition." The City "I'm proud of my son" Lord laughed. After a while, he coughed. "I'm keeping you in charge of training my rookie guards. Will that do?"

"That was better than what I had expected."

"Reza, you can join him. Since you have gone through <<Awakening>>, I'm sure you are enough to spar with the rookie guards."

"Okay." Reza had no objections.

"As for this young lady, do you have knowledge in finance?"

Michi nervously nodded. "Yes. I performed outstandingly in school!"

"Haha! No need to get so tight. Oversee the cooking department and try to make the budget as possible."

Michi nodded with excitement.

The City Lord then turned to Rewen. "As for you…"