Chapter 35 - missing children

Chapter 35: Chapter 35 - missing children

After that, Nyx and I exited Miss Selena’s room.

Nyx said, "Okay, let’s go to the tower. Are you ready for it?"

I looked at her and waved my head frantically.

She looked at me, surprised, and asked, "Huh? What do you mean you’re not ready?"

I nodded with a serious expression. "Exactly that. I’m not ready. Come with me."

She looked at me, confused.

I led her away.

She asked, "Where are you going?"

I didn’t reply. I kept bringing her with me.

Soon Nyx realized where I was going, and she just sighed.

I looked at her, offended. "Hey, what are you sighing for? Haven’t you heard the saying, even if you go to die, go with a full stomach?"

I said it with a proud expression.

She just gave me a look and asked, "Huh. I wonder what even can make that bottomless pit of a stomach of yours full."

I gave her a glare and said, "What do you know? I’m still growing. I need to eat properly. I’m still a little kid."

She looked at me with amusement and said, "Oh, really? Then come, little baby. I’ll bottle-feed you milk."

I grinned and went to her side. She looked at my shameless behavior, pushed me away, and said, "Shameless."

I muttered, "What are you complaining about? You’re the one who offered it in the first place."

I went and took a plate and filled it up to the brim with food.

She followed me while sighing, took a plate, and got some food too.

We sat in a corner of the cafeteria and ate peacefully while discussing today’s tower and what kind of challenges it would pose us today.

The conversation flowed naturally without any awkwardness, and soon we finished our meal and went to the tower.

There’s a portal inside the academy to travel there. Once we get the permission, we can go.

Now we had the permission. We only had to go.

And Nyx stood in front of the portal. She still remembered what happened last time, how I dragged her, and it almost gave her a heart attack.

She glared at me. I looked at her with innocent eyes. "I know I’m handsome. Quit staring. Let’s go."

She was speechless and stared at me. I grinned, took her hand, and dragged her to the portal like last time.

She immediately broke free from her daze, but this time she predicted that, so there wasn’t much reaction.

Once we crossed, I just looked up and pretended nothing happened.

Nyx didn’t react. She just stared at me.

And I went to the tower and tried to enter. She kept her eyes on me.

I immediately chose the 2nd floor and looked at her.

I said with shamelessness, "Are you ready for the 2nd floor?"

She looked at me for a few moments, and after seeing my expression didn’t crumble, she sighed.

And nodded. "Okay. Let’s go."

I smiled brightly. "That’s the spirit."

Then I looked at the screen.

[Do you wish to enter the 2nd floor of the tower?]

[Yes / No]

I pressed the Yes button, and I got to choose.

[Do you wish to enter solo, duos, or squad?]

I pressed duo, found Nyx’s name at the top, pressed it, and entered Yes.

As soon as I did that, a portal opened and dragged us into it.

I could only see darkness for a few seconds, and then I could see again. I saw Nyx beside me, so I looked around with sharp eyes and observed everything around me.

It’s a village, and a notification appeared.

[Welcome to Higher Realm - 072]

[The mission: Disguise as normal adventurers and save the kidnapped children from human traffickers]

[Penalty: Each death of the children makes your reward lower]

[If you fail to do this mission, you are not permitted to enter the tower for 3 months]

I looked at it, my eyes widened. "What the fuck is this? Am I a babysitter now? Are you kidding me, tower? Do you expect me to become a detective again?"

I looked at Nyx. "Hey, Nyx."

She looked back and asked, "What?"

"Next time remember to bring a dog who has a keen nose."

"Or let’s go to Sherlock Holmes’s grave and resurrect him and bring him with us. This is not a tower. This is a detective manual."

She laughed at my reaction and said, "Okay, okay, calm down. First let’s go to the adventurer guild and gather some information."

I looked at her and asked, "How do you know there’s an adventurer guild here?"

She looked at me and said, "Check your hand."

I looked at it and saw an adventurer card. I broke down right there.

Nyx looked at me with confusion. "What happened now?"

I pointed at the adventurer card. "Which jealous bastard took this photo? If I find him, I’ll skin him alive."

"These days and age, people are jealous of my greatness."

Nyx sighed again and dragged me away. "Okay, stop your tantrum. Let’s go. We don’t have all day. If those kids die, your reward will get smaller."

As soon as I heard that, I got up like some drug had been injected.

Then I dragged her into the adventurer guild. "No matter what, I’ll save those poor little children. Don’t worry. Big brother Asher is coming for you."

She looked at me, caught between laughing and crying, seeing how quickly my attitude changed after mentioning the reward.

She just said, "Don’t pretend you only care about the reward."

I clutched my heart and said, "What are you talking about? I am a very caring person for kids. Don’t slander me, Nyx. Let’s go. Every moment we waste is another reward I lose."

"Oh no, I mean another innocent life of the children we lose. My heart aches for them. We need to hurry up."

She looked amused but didn’t reply. She followed me.

And we finally came to the adventurer guild. It’s filled with adventurers and stories of adventurers, but we didn’t wait and went to reception, showed her our adventurer cards, and asked, "Can you give us more information about the quest to save the children?"

She looked at us, looked at the adventurer cards, and nodded.

She told us a location where the children were last seen and told us they most likely headed into the forest in the west.

We nodded and inquired about the children more: what they look like, how many there are, and that information.

And I heard those groups make those children into human slaves.

As soon as I heard that, all of my casual jokes vanished. Even the reward went out of my head. Only the coldness stayed there.

I’m not some noble hero, but when some human trash enslaves innocent children, I’m not going to look away.

After getting all the information, we left the adventurer guild.

"If I find those bastards, I’m going to kill them without any mercy. I only have to save the children. There’s nothing about capturing those disgusting creatures."

Nyx nodded.

We went to find a carriage, and I still have money I got from looting. I found a carriage driver and told him our location.

The driver’s eyes narrowed for a few seconds. I caught that, and he asked without changing expression,

"May I know why you are going there?"

I replied, "I went to find my little brother. He went missing out there."

"I only have my sister and my little brother. This is my sister, and she is the last person who saw my little brother go that direction. I need to find him no matter what."

Nyx looked at me, dumbfounded. She pointed a finger at herself and thought, Me, his sister? What happened to this guy? Did he hit his head somewhere?

But she decided to help the act and nodded.

The carriage driver saw my desperation and saw Nyx’s face, and his eyes gleamed.

And he said, "Don’t worry. I’ll take you there. Get on."

But I took out a few coins and showed him.

"But uncle, I only have this much money."

He looked at that and just waved a hand. "Don’t worry, kid. Money isn’t a problem. Your brother’s life is what’s important here. Get on. I’ll take you there."

I nodded, thanked him continuously, and got on with Nyx.

Nyx followed me, a little confused about the situation, and as soon as she entered the carriage she asked,

"Don’t tell me you did that to get a discount."

I looked at her, more dumbfounded by her thought process, blinked several times, got closer to her, and whispered,

"Are you dumb or something? Didn’t you see that carriage driver’s eyes? He saw us not as customers but as merchandise. He is clearly with those human traffickers."

"Keep the grieving sister act. I’m sure when we arrive at the location we’ll get ambushed. Be prepared to kill them at that time."

A cruel smile appeared on my face.