After Zane defeated Dennis’s team, he went and sat on the chair that was on Sandra’s table. They sat with Joshua and Maria and ate their food happily without any problem.
"So... Tell us what’s happening in the mountains, and about your father," Zane said, wiping his hands clean.
"Aaaa... about that, I wanted to..."
Before Sandra finished, Sandra’s guard entered the Inn and saw Sandra sitting with Zane, Joshua and Maria. Before she even opened her mouth, she noticed Joshua’s gear and noticed that they were not ordinary people. She saw the quality of his armor and the sword on his hip, and then..
"Young miss, you should not discuss this kind of topic in public," she said while walking towards her and stopped looking at Zane.
"Mmmmm..." Zane looked at her, chewing the last piece of meat.
"You must be the kid who defeated Dennis," she said while making a curious face and looking at Dennis’s team still groaning outside the inn entrance.
"Yup, that’s me, and who are you?" Zane asked, sitting back.
"I’m Mariana, the personal guard to miss. Although I don’t trust you, if Miss trusts you it’s fine. So if you want to be hired by Miss, you should come to the mansion to discuss the mission without outsiders," she says while putting her hand on her chest and looking around at the quiet patrons watching them.
"Well, that’s a good idea, we should do that tomorrow," Joshua said while standing up and stretching his arms above his head.
"Well, we’re about to go and sleep anyway, see you tomorrow," Zane said while walking towards the stairs with his stomach full.
Zane and others went upstairs to their rooms and went to sleep.
In the morning, they went down and ate a big breakfast without a problem. The people in the inn were now treating them with respect, bowing their heads slightly as his reputation was starting to rise across the city.
They picked their things, packed their bags, and went outside to look where the City Lord Mansion was. They walked down the busy street and asked people who were selling fruits where the mansion was..
"The mansion is over there," a little girl said while pointing her small hand at the big Mansion sitting on the small mountain above the city.
"Thank you, little girl," Maria said while patting her head and smiling softly, and gave her two bright gold coins.
And the girl ran towards her mom, smiling brightly and showing her the shiny gold coins.
When they arrived closer, they were shocked with how it looked.
The mansion was a well-made mansion of a noble house sitting behind a mountain. The front was well-made with nicely maintained flowers of blue and red, and some guards wearing well-made silver armor were standing like well-trained soldiers at the gate.
"Hello..." Maria said while looking at one of the tall guards holding a spear.
"Who are you people and what are you doing here? You should go back, no one is allowed to enter the mansion for the time," the guard said while looking around and staring at Zane’s young face.
"We are from the royal palace. We were sent here to investigate what’s going on in this city," Joshua said while pulling out and showing the royal guard crest glowing with a gold emblem.
"Ah! I didn’t know, my apologies! You may enter," the guard said while opening the heavy iron gate quickly and standing straight.
They walked through the garden courtyard and were escorted into the Mansion by a head butler.
"Young Miss, there are people who came from the royal palace to investigate the situation in the city," a maid said while standing at the entrance of the big office room.
Sandra ran from her chair with excitement expecting a tall warrior and a high mage. When she opened the door with a loud thud, she saw Zane, Maria and Joshua standing in the hallway.
"Aaa... I have been waiting for you guys, what took you so long to get here?" she said while holding two big wooden doors with both hands and breathing heavily.
"Well... we got lost a little bit," Zane said while stretching his cheek and scratching his head with a small smile.
"Sorry I didn’t give you the directions to the mansion last night," she says while bowing her head slightly.
"No.... No... it’s not your fault, Miss," Maria said while shaking her hands in front of her.
"Okay.. come in and let’s get to know each other," Sandra said, stepping back into her room.
The room was large, filled with bookshelves, a massive mahogany desk, and big windows showing the view of the Demon Mountains behind the house.
"I am Sandra, the daughter of the city lord."
"I am Maria and this is my older brother," she said while pointing her finger at Joshua who was sitting down on a comfortable leather couch next to Zane.
"Sister .... I have my own mouth," Joshua said while folding his hands over his chest and sighing.
"Hahaha... You are really siblings," Sandra said while putting her hand on her mouth and making a small laugh, feeling a little less stressed.
"So.. What is going on with this city? I sensed mana in the snow on our way here and a complete lack of Monsters in the mountains," Zane said while looking directly at Sandra with serious eyes.
’He was able to sense the mana that was woven into the snow? He must be an A rank or higher, or he is a prince... No, the royal family doesn’t have a strong prince who is this young, so who is this kid?’ Mariana thought to herself while standing quietly near the closed door with her hand near her sword pommel.
"What.. You were able to sense the mana in the snow?" Sandra touched her chin, her eyes wide. "Wait, if you are able to sense that mana, that means you are A rank or higher right?" she says while making a shocked face and leaning across her desk.
"I don’t know about ranks, but I know I am strong enough to survive any monster or enemy," Zane said while looking down at his hands and clenching his fist calmly.
"So what happened? I want to know so that I can report to the Royal Capital what’s going on," Joshua said while crossing his legs and tapping his foot.
"Ooh... Yeah about that, you guys have to accept the mission to find my father first and I will tell you everything," she said while sitting down back on the high-backed chair behind her desk.
"If we didn’t accept your mission, why would we be here in your office?" Maria asked, shaking her head with a small smile.
"That’s true, then I will tell you.." she said while tightening her hands into fists on the desk.
"It started four months ago when we started witnessing Monster waves coming down the valley. Instead of strong monsters, weak monsters like goblins, kobolds, and horned rabbits are the ones who were coming. It happened every week which shocked everyone because we never witnessed a monster wave before in Ironcliff’s history. And then my Father sent some adventurers to scout and see what was happening in the mountains. When these people came back, they reported that there were very few monsters left in the upper area, and these monsters were fighting each other violently for food," she said while looking out the glass window toward the snowy peaks.
"So that explains why the Alpha Fern Wolf had a large fresh scar on its face when we fought it," Zane said while holding his chin and remembering the battle.
’This kid also fought an Alpha Fern wolf? And by the looks of it, he killed it without getting any injuries... Who is this kid really?’ Mariana and Joshua thought to themselves at the same time, staring at Zane in total disbelief.
"Yeah.. My father didn’t stop there. He sent another group deeper into the frozen zone, and this time, this group saw some strange people in black robes doing some kind of a ritual in the mountains, and they were sacrificing Strong monsters to a strange red altar. According to them, the weaker monsters were running away from the mountains because of the heavy Dark mana that was coming from this ritual they were doing. And three months ago, my father led his personal elite guards to stop them, but he never came back."
"What..." Zane and Maria were shocked, looking at each other.
"It seems they have made their move," Joshua said while standing up suddenly, his face turning completely cold.
"Who?" Zane, Maria and Mariana asked at the same time, looking at Joshua.