Chapter 248: Crimson Quest

Smack~

The meeting door burst open, stealing everyone’s attention. A soldier, starving for air, screamed, "General Gustav!"

"Say it!" Gustav ordered curtly and firmly.

"The enemy is—"

Ding!

Soon the meeting was concluded, and Moon took a slow walk around the castle before moving to the palace where his room was.

Things were finally moving forward.

The scouts reported the arrival of the ascenders at Fort Peak. The castle was built on top of a mountain; from there, they could see the first line of Strand that was abandoned.

The mountain pass.

The first battle could start at any second now; they were just a few hours away from one another.

But that wasn’t everything.

Moon also received a new quest... But not something he was familiar with.

It didn’t come from the Tower, but from the crimson window.

[Quest Announcement]

Title: First Battle

Objective: Win the first battle

Rewards: [Customizer] - [Memory Fragment]

Penalty: None

Moon kept staring at the window as he walked aimlessly through the city that was slowly concluding the day and getting to sleep.

It wasn’t simply about the quest itself; he also didn’t know what the Customizer was in the first place.

As for the Memory Fragment, Moon was conflicted.

The first Fragment he got didn’t simply give him tools or riches. It gave him back the life he had given up.

Back then, he was lost. His mind was completely shut, and his instincts were slowly being fed off the frenzy and madness the monsters radiated into his eyes.

Though still... Moon couldn’t become the Warrior, nor could he perfect his methods; he was by far a greater warrior than his former self.

The Fragment gave him the core memories that were not simply of combat, but of awareness, of belief and victory.

In his heart, Moon admitted.

’If I were as strong as he was, I would have finished this war by myself.’

But that wasn’t everything. The window was also constantly mending his mind. Moon had felt it many times.

He wasn’t a man who was sane enough to walk through the world and look normal to everyone; he was far from it.

He had yet to recover from the first trial or what he went through on the first floor.

Ed might have realized it to a degree and helped, but what Ed saw wasn’t everything. There was far more the system was suppressing.

Gathering the fractured pieces of what his mind once was to sustain the person he was becoming.

Going through casual greetings on his way, random smiles and cheers, Moon accepted them as he usually would.

Nodding, smiling...

Soon, he was finally in his room, the door closed. No one could interrupt his thoughts again. Except for Mishu, who was asleep for now.

If anything, Moon was worried.

Not just about the battle, but also about himself.

’Isn’t it too early?’

That was the question echoing without an end in his mind. Moon wasn’t sure he was ready for the next Fragment yet.

He was barely making good use of the previous one; sometimes his old habits even overtook his body.

It was too early.

Then again, a part of his mind was assuring him, telling him this was going to be perfectly fine very soon.

Since the beginning, the path ahead was secured for him more carefully than he dared to admit.

Death Echo was a problem, but meeting Samuel and Ed was the solution. A meticulous solution at that...

The two old men were unique throughout the Tower; both their skills, abilities and gifts worked perfectly to resolve his own critical issue.

To secure his chance at living a normal life.

Not only that, they had retired and worked at the branch where Moon would land, protected him from an undead hunter and given him everything he had now.

Storage bag, Symbiotic Spark, and even his armor.

Moon didn’t believe it was a coincidence, but something perfectly planned.

Whether it was his own mind trying to calm him down into believing so, or his mind logically believing it was too much of a coincidence to be an actual coincidence.

Moon decided to believe that the next Memory Fragment was something he needed and had to earn by winning the first battle.

Though he had no idea what it would show him this time.

Another battle, another victory...

He wasn’t sure, but he was sure of something else.

It was time to go on his usual plan; he was past his sneaking schedule already.

"Time to move," he whispered before getting ready.

The next morning came.

Moon stood in the training arena with Gustav. The routine would be carried on till the day of the march.

Thanks to Moon abandoning the first two lines, they had a little more time than they should have had normally.

It was impossible for Fable to raid them with a sudden attack or at night.

By the time they got to the castle gates, the scouts would have seen them a hundred times over.

There were no movements yet; thus, Moon was still uncertain about one last thing.

Anyhow...

"General Gustav!" A soldier ran into the arena before they started the first round.

He came closer to Gustav, and the stad in general leaned in, giving the man his ear.

Moon felt his ear flick.

"It’s the cases of theft, Sir; there were more last night." The soldier whispered. "The unrest is growing, and the culprit couldn’t be seen or identified by anyone."

Gustav grunted; he retracted his head and thought for a moment.

He leaned closer to the soldier. "Compensate them for whatever it’s worth, all of them," he whispered back.

The soldier saluted and turned around to leave.

Gustav turned to Moon and nodded apologetically. Moon nodded back.

’Oh well, why are they making a fuss over useless stuff?’ he grunted inwardly. ’Today is the last anyway; I’m almost done.’

And so, the day went on without any movements from the enemy’s side, or from their own side. The only difference was that they increased the number of watchmen.

The mountains had bunkers to accommodate watchmen stationed there across the first and second lines.

’Now that’s problematic...’ Moon thought as he left the meeting room, heading back to his room right away. ’Gotta finish everything tonight.’

Moon made up his mind and thus, he moved... It was the last and longest, probably...

’Maybe I should try one of these stamina not-drugs?’ he thought to himself. ’My legs will turn to jelly tonight, dammit.’

He felt guilty as well, to his body and Dorbish as well.

He’d been skipping dinner for a while now, as well as skipping the thread-knotting training he used to do.

As for Dorbish, he was now on his own, working on the new axe of his.

Moon had abandoned three of the habits he was trying hard to build for whatever he was currently doing, and it had been days.

Echo control, eating properly, and metalwork.

Yet, he was also excited that he would be returning to them tomorrow...

Unless they were attacked.

But regardless, he needed to focus now on the task at hand. Thus, hours passed for him, long hours, far longer than any other day.

"Ah fuck, at last," he whispered, suppressing his lungs from exploding into uncontrollable hyperventilation.

He rested a shovel on his shoulder and stepped back now that he was done.

’Hm?’ he exclaimed in his heart before his head whipped to the side.

In front of his eyes, under the blinding darkness of the night, stood someone... And that very person was staring at him.

If anything...

Moon recognized this person.