Chapter 676 - Story
After a whole day, Theo and Dourner finally returned to the hall.
On the side, they saw Agata, who seemed to be changing that side of the hall with her illusion. Meanwhile, the dragon had disappeared, leaving only Ava sitting on the floor. Her eyes were closed and her legs were crossed.
She seemed to be putting all her concentration on the three lightning balls floating around her body.
The moment Theo returned, Agata noticed him and stopped what she was doing. She hurriedly walked to Theo and Dourner with a curious expression.
"Are you done?"
"Yes." Theo nodded with a serious expression.
After getting his answer, Agata then turned to Dourner and lowered her head. "Thank you for this shawl."
"Hmm?" Dourner didn't understand her sudden change of attitude, but he still nodded. "No problem. If you want to thank anyone, you should convey your gratitude to this guy. No matter what, he's the reason I gave you that shawl."
"Yes." Agata knew that and planned to thank Theo later.
"By the way, where is the Saint?" He asked.
"He went back three hours ago," Ava answered his question as she stood up. After checking her body condition, she returned to her tiny form and said, "He left you a message."
"What is it?"
"It's to come up with a story together before sending us back to the surface. He said he'll take responsibility if this place is discovered because of us." Ava answered.
"I see." Dourner thought for a moment and glanced at Theo. "I guess I will be talking to him."
"Understood." Theo agreed without hesitation. He was already lucky that he didn't die, let alone receive a big present like this. So, he didn't mind spending more time here just to fix this trouble. "Before that, I would like to know what you have in mind."
"Hmm." Dourner thought for a moment and said, "Did you find anything weird inside the cave? I am afraid a monster has created that crack."
"To be honest, I am not very sure. I couldn't even identify the monsters there." He shook his head in disappointment.
"In that case, did you find any weird monsters there?"
"Hmm?" Theo frowned his eyebrows, noticing the change of the question. "I am not very sure about this, but I noticed that all the monsters in that place had transparent but tough skin, right?"
"Yes."
"In that case, I actually found a monster that was different from them."
"I see. That might be the problem." He nodded. "We're actually farming those transparent monsters. First of all, their crystal clear skin is easily recognizable, especially during the refining process for a younger generation who first picks up their hammer.
"It's quite durable as well, so it will make everything better. At the same time, the organ is weak, so we can kill them easily. They're pretty delicious too, so yeah, those are the reasons.
"Since there was a monster out of the norm, I can safely guess that creature was the culprit." He explained.
"I see. Do you need anything from me?"
"Hmm… To be honest, I need to take all the corpses there, so you won't get anything from them," said Dourner with a calm expression.
"I can understand that. Please take them away. We have turned some of them into cards, so do you need us to return it as well?"
"Cards, huh… This is the connection between this world and your world. Anyway, I don't think we need the cards. You can keep them." Dourner waved his hand.
"I see. Thanks." Theo asked, "What's about the hole?"
"We will patch the hole up and put some more monsters for breeding."
"If I can be honest, I would rather abandon that tunnel completely."
"Why?" Dourner tilted his head in confusion.
"Even if we're lying, there is a chance we will be curious again. Seeing the hole has fixed itself makes it quite suspicious. Hence, they will do something bigger next time.
"So, I believe you should fill the entire tunnel with the rocks and I will tell them that the place has collapsed," Theo explained his side of the story.
"I see." Dourner looked down, contemplating his choice. "Filling up that hole won't be a problem, but I guess I need to create another wall to make it look like a natural dead end, right?"
"Yes. This way, they will be convinced. I will also tell them I have killed all the monsters and destroyed the tunnel to make sure no one is buried in the tunnel." Theo nodded.
"Are you sure about this?"
"…" Theo fell silent, knowing he needed to lie with this.
But Agata suddenly raised her hand and said, "Actually, let me bear the responsibility for this one. Since you're training me, you can just say this is my decision. With this, others should be able to relate. After all, no one knows about my decision-making ability."
"This…" Theo couldn't say anything to her. As much as he wanted to reject her idea, it was truly perfect in this scenario.
There was no way they believed Theo, who managed to defeat all War God Family's Younger Generations with his strategy, would make this decision.
However, he didn't like the idea of sacrificing someone else if he could still think of another solution.
Agata noticed his feeling and smiled. "Please let me bear the responsibility. I haven't done anything in this mission and received this shawl and another thing… I will feel bad if I don't take any part in this. Please, Theo."
Theo scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I understand."
He sounded disappointed and sad at the same time while Dourner smiled. "I guess everything works out… Take care of that shawl."
"I will." Agata nodded and smiled back. "We will claim there was a dead end and after fighting all those monsters, we needed to close them like this. The monsters were unidentified, but you and I did not understand the procedure, so we turned all of them into cards."
"Yeah. Let's do that." Theo agreed with the plan and asked Dourner. "What do you think?"
"Sure.. No problem."