Fate Online: Shadow

"Wow, so this is the Snow VIllage that you were talking about?"

Miya looked at the small village, surrounded by logs with a spike at the top end before her eyes.

"I'm back! Please open the gate!"

Michael called out to the people at the watchtower.

"Hey, you owe me food for making me wait for almost three days in the dungeon, and having me help you with your Ice Trolls quest, you got that?"

Miya angrily kicked Michael on his chin when she remembered being all alone inside the dungeon for almost an entire three days doing nothing but hunting undead by herself.

"Geez, that's already the seventh time that you're telling me that" Michael couldn't help but feel a little bit angry, as his ears are already irritated from the continuous reminders of Miya of him leaving her behind for almost three days inside the dungeon.

"Huh? Because you left me hanging for almost three days by myself...in that rotting place, without even telling me that you're gonna be busy yesterday!"

"Hyung-nim!"

Miya and Michael are currently passing through the gate and was just entering the village when a group of kids suddenly ran towards them with excited and happy smiles on their faces, and two of the kids are the siblings, Mara and Ant.

"Wow, I didn't know the kids here like someone like y- Huh?" Miya was about to laugh at Michael, but when she turned to her side, Michael was already gone!

"Shadow!"

"Noona! We have never seen you before!"

"Are you new here!?"

"You came with hyung-nim, are you his girl...friend!?"

"Noona, why did hyung-nim suddenly disappear in front of our eyes?" Ant tugged at Miya's robe with a wronged expression, while the other kids surrounded her, throwing her their own questions.

���Eh...ahh" Miya suddenly didn't know what to do, especially when she saw some villagers laughing at her circumstances.

'Damn you, Michael!'

'I don't know how to deal with kids! This is the reason why I left the house! Urggghh'

Swoosh!

A soft wind blew, and a figure of someone appeared before a small wooden house at the edge of the Snow Village.

Michael nodded to Carter who had just turned from a corner and passed him by.

Then he just stood there, in front of the cabin house, and just stared towards it, with no intention of walking over and knocking on the door.

"Come inside"

A few seconds later, an aged voice sounded from inside the small log cabin.

Michael smiled, and only then did he take a step forward and slowly ascended the small flight of stairs and before his eyes, the door opened by itself, like it was inviting him to make his way inside.

"Have you completed the task I gave you?"

The old lady, Sonya didn't even look at Michael and just continued knitting on her reclining chair, as she sat beside her fireplace.

"Yes" Michael nodded with respect, then he started taking out heads after heads of Ice Trolls from his storage space to a total of five heads, and placed it on the wooden floor.

But Sonya didn't even look at it and just continued knitting for a few seconds, while Michael just stayed silent. It was because he had always had this feeling that the old lady before him isn't just an ordinary woman, but someone truly mysterious.

It was because he had already a deduction that the old lady is clearly someone powerful, a powerful druid at that, and the most baffling thing is that she had just let the villagers live an almost impoverished life that only relied on the food planted in the garden or from the rare games from the village hunters that they would manage to hunt once in a blue moon!

That's the reason why he had made a mental note to be always wary around her, as he didn't want to incur her wrath, especially with how the villagers are treating the old woman like she was just an ordinary druid, which she clearly isn't.

'She's clearly someone powerful, could she be someone from the Church of the Wilds?' Michael thought, but he quickly shook that thought out of his head as he knew that members from that church are benevolent to others and wouldn't just stand by and watch people around them suffer.

While at the same time, he also curiously looked around her little home, and what he saw was just a couple of chairs and a single table, a door that probably leads to her bedroom, and some kitchen utensils that have been used so much that they are already coated in black soot.

"Hmm...I actually expected you to finish the task I gave you for another seven days, but good job on completing it this early, and you should also thank that little girl for helping you out" Sonya looked at up, and stared at Michael while giving him a smile.

But in Michael's eyes, her smile made him shiver in fright, and especially when she had clearly mentioned Miya whom she had never met or even seen before.

'Has she been watching us?'

'But it's true that I wouldn't be able to complete it without Miya, even though it was really hard and took us another three days to complete it'

Is what Michael is currently thinking inside his mind.

Quest Complete!

Predator or Prey?

You have proven that humans could survive the harsh nature of Everwinter. Solidifying the fact that the land of Everwinter isn't that of a scary place like the history books says...but it's in the prerequisite fact that its as long as you have the skills to survive.

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

'Huh? Two levels, I leveled up twice?'

To Michael's surprise, he had actually leveled up twice after completing the quest, but when he thought deeper about it. It does make sense as it was even harder than when they had taken on the Rebel Boss and the remnant rebel army in Cympyr Dukedom or that time when he was escaping through the Forest of Despair.

"And here is your reward for actually completing it"

Michael was immediately pulled out from his thoughts when he heard Sonya's voice entering his ears, and he looked at her and saw her standing in front of her table, and quickly noticed that in one of her hands, she was holding of what looked like a cape made from a pelt with white furs of some kind of an animal.

Michael quickly walked towards her and took the item from her hand.

You have received [Cloak of Everwinter].

Michael stared at the item on his hands, but weirdly enough, nothing is coming up to show him the information about the item to him.

'That's weird, why is the information of the item coming up?'

"This time, I want you to once again lend your help to the people of Snow Village by procuring food for the coming months"

Ding!

Food is Running Out!

With the growing population of the village, food had been growing scarce year after year with the addition of babies born every year. Now, the food that had been sustaining the village for many years is now not enough for the villagers to live by!

Quest Requirement:

You must complete the quest before the climate in Everwinter becomes harsher.

Rejecting the quest would incur the wrath of the Druid, Sonya.

Reward:

The gratitude of the villagers and a special item from Druid Sonya.

"Huh?"