(Jason's POV)
"Scan for any irregularities, Felicity." I said to the floating drone that was next to me, "Let me know if you see something."
"Roger." Felicity's voice was heard from a speaker, "Scanning now."
I saw as a dim blue light emitted from the drone as it hovered above the ground and scanned the ground and buildings.
"Wow." One of Milliana's proteges said, "Is that some sort of machine?"
I nodded, "Yea, something like that." I said, "It'll pick up something that's out of the ordinary."
We were in the outpost, searching the place again. It was just a plot of land that was surrounded by a tall wooden fence with a couple of buildings inside it, nothing too crazy. But it was odd considering it was in the middle of a forest. Clearly, someone would notice and investigate it.
I heard a chime from the lacrima phone, "Hm?" I said as I pulled it up and looked at the screen
It read:
Kagura: That makes Two, Jason. Don't forget that if you go for a third right away, Make sure to reset with one of us. The points better be worth it.
This was in the chatroom, Kagura was reminding me of our rule.
"Hmm..." I said as I stared at the screen
I then saw as Mavis responded:
Mavis: Yes. Also, Erion brought back more flying beasts. I looked away for one second. He got so fast.....
I typed in a response:
Me: If they get piled up in one spot, it'll start to smell. Got to do something about that....I'll talk with him when I get home.
As soon as I responded, Kagura replied:
Kagura: And you wanted Horses, Jason. That boy's primal instinct is too much for us to handle at the moment. I'll think of something as well.
"Yea." I muttered, "I did want to buy some Horses.....but I'll know he'll play rough with them...."
"You said something, Jason-san?" I heard one of the girls say
I turned to see it was the tall pretty one from earlier. She was looking at me with a confused look on her face.
"Huh?" I said, "Nothing, don't mind me."
"Hey." The little girl Sasha walked up to me, "First of all, what the hell are we still doing here? We should keep moving to find these cultists! And what the hell were you doing with Milliana-san!?!"
I looked at her with an annoyed face, "Mind your godamn business, little girl." I said putting my phone away, "And we're here 'cause I said so. If you don't like it, leave and continue on your mission. I'm still giving you the credit for the quest which is crushing the Cultists."
"G-Giving us the credit???" She exclaimed, "You old bastard! We're not making any progress here!!"
My eye twitched, "O-Old?" I said, "What do you mean old?! I'm 26 fucking years old!!"
"You're still fucking old!!" She yelled, "You're 10 years older than me!!"
"You're just a little shit, that's all!!" I yelled back, "Fuck off! 26 years is still young! If where you're from, the men don't make it past 25, then that means you come from a shitty ass place. And anyways-....Nah forget it."
I turned around while waving her away, realizing it wasn't worth wasting my breath on a brat.
Milliana walked up to me with a flustered face, "S-Sorry about her." She said, "She simply didn't want to be here. She hoped to get the Relic Quest with Kagura, but Arania was the only one qualified to accompany her."
I shrugged, "It's whatever." I said, "How're your legs?"
She blushed slightly, "Wobbly...." she said, "But I'll manage."
"Don't tell them what we did." I simply said as I walked past her
"I won't." I heard her say
As I walked, I noticed that the drone stopped and was focusing its scanner on a specific spot on the ground.
"Sir." Felicity called through the drone, "I found something."
"Oh?" I said as I walked toward the drone, "What?"
"A magic seal." She said, "Look."
I looked at the spot highlighted by the scanner light. I noticed some magic runes formed in a circle that were glowing as the light shone on them.
"Ho?" I said with a smirk, "This is something alright. Hey gals, over here!"
I waited until they all walked over to me.
Milliana bent over and looked at the runes, "What's this?" She asked
The tall pretty girl placed her hands on her chin, "A magic seal? With runes?" She said, "To think we overlooked something like this....must be some advanced magic."
"Tch!" Sasha muttered, "You should've paid attention, Trisha!"
Trisha, who was the tall pretty one, "H-Hey..." She said with a bummed out voice
I sighed, "Like I said before." I said as I pointed my palm at the seal, "Cultists love to keep shit hidden."
"Unseal"
Suddenly, the runes shattered as a small shockwave emitted from the ground. Almost instantly, the ground split apart slightly as a chest rose to the surface.
"Whoa!" Milliana said, "A chest. Wait, could it be rigged with a trap? It might be if the cultists hid it like this."
I nodded, "Yea." I said, "Felicity."
"On it." Felicity said
The drone sprouted several mechanical limbs as it surrounded them around the chest and deployed a barrier around it. Then, with a long thin probe, the drone immediately struck at the chest and caused a slight spark.
Without a beat, there was a dense but condense explosion of rupture magic that cracked the barrier.
"Trap detonated, but the chest is still intact." Felicity said
"Good job." I said, "Now open it up."
Felicity disabled the barrier as smoke came out of it and opened the chest. I walked over to it to see the majority of it empty with the exception of a bunch old-looking papers on the bottom.
"So no treasure???" The little brat asked
I reached down to pick the papers up, reading their contents.
"Hm..." I said, "Letters....From....a Therion???"
The letters were mostly instructions on villages to attack or caravans to ambush. But these were from attacks that dated to months ago. Some guy called Therion was sending these.
"Anything else?" Milliana asked
I looked at at folded paper and shrugged, "I guess not.." I said as I unfolded it, "Wait....this is a map...."
I looked at it, it was mostly worn out but I could make out that it was a map of the eastern continent. There was a red circle on what looked like a landmark, in the border of the continent. I wonder what that meant.
Also, there was a note that was inside the folded paper.
It read:
"She is here. The Dragon Queen is contained there."
I widened my eyes, "No way." I muttered, "It's true....Atlas Flame was right...."
"Eh?" Milliana said
Suddenly, I felt several presences that weren't our own outside the walls of the outpost.
I looked up, "Shit." I said, "How the hell did they make it past Steel Haze's watch???"
I then saw as several cloaked figures swarming through the front gate of the outpost.
"An attack!" Milliana said as she readied a stance, "The cultists!!"
"Oh shit!" I heard Sasha exclaimed
I walked in front of them as I put the map and note in my jacket's pocket, "Well well well..." I said,
"What's with these pricks?"