Rigis, the city you'd expect out of a fantasy. A vast city constructed entirely out of stone. Golems instead of soldiers mount the towering stone walls. Anyone who read fantasy books from Earth would probably think this metropolis was a toned-down version of Minas Tirith.

The city was circular much like the cities of Aivest and Sevis, but like Minas Tirith, it protruded out the side of the mountains around it. It has a high population of Dwarves and a small population of Dark Elves are also sprinkled amongst the populace. Of course, due to Zeruna's conquest hundreds of years ago, the Dark Elves are untrusted even 300 years later. The older ones were most likely alive during Zeruna's reign.

However, they weren't here for the sight-seeing, they were here for Xander Maul. A man who owns a sizeable amount of the farmland around Rigis, making him quite the rich man. As they approach the gates, they are stopped, checked and shown to Xander's manor by one of the few living guards manning the defenses.

"Watch them Dark Elves, never know when that cult may rear its head," the man remarks, unknown to him that two of the people in front of him are Dark Elves.

Zeruna, despite being a human less than a month ago, takes deep offense to that comment; barely managing to hold herself back from strangling the guard and beating him to death.

"Cult? What cult?" asks Aema.

"You know who Zeruna Black is. Well, about fifty years after them heroes supposedly cut her down, some of those Dark Elves and humans formed a cult around her and her Children of Chaos. Most of them have been destroyed; however, remnants still lurk around this place."

"Sounds troublesome," replies Aema.

"Shi, Merille, are you okay?" Vidir asks.

""Yeah,"" they both growl.

The party pass the other side of the gate and follow the directions of the guard. Tina doesn't take her eyes off the guard she walks away, glaring at him as they go.

As Vidir passes his kin, he waves and greets them. The short and burly men and the busty and tough women. He seems happy to finally see more Dwarves in a while despite how tired he is. He couldn't sleep much, not only because he had Tina staring directly at him, but also because he was having nightmares. The little Dark Elf seemed to suffer from a similar thing with the addition on sleep talking, which only further hindered his attempts to sleep.

Eventually, they reach Xander's manor, which rests close to the cliff face that partially hangs over the city and casts an ominous shadow. The build itself has approximately five to six floors and towers above most of the three-floor buildings around it. One of the only buildings more prominent than it is the stone cathedral and the city hall. Just a few hundred metres before they reach it.

"Why build a city next to a mountain with the risk of the landslides?" asks Aema.

Zeruna chuckles slightly, "You see, I actually took part in the construction of this city before I became infamous."

"It's almost hard to believe my lady, er– you, doing such menial chores such as construction," Tina says.

"Believe it or not," Vidir says. "There's still a lot about Zeruna you do not know. Me and her used to deliver materials and stuff continent-wide. We were also blacksmiths and craftsmen too."

"I got to look at some of the city plans, they have an item called Pridwen that puts up a barrier that prevents damage to the city from physical objects. However, it can be disturbed by mana if it strong enough."

"It isn't one of your items, right?" Aema asks worriedly.

"Well, I stole it once then made Varsarius cause a considerable amount of the mountain to collapse. Worry not, I repaired the damage for a... sizeable amount of cash later."

'She's dangerous! Oh, I remember mentioning that Zeruna did a few scummy things to amass wealth. This world probably expanded upon that.'

"Ain't that a thing," mumbles Vidir. "Ruin the city you helped to build."

"We've done worse, Dwarf," mentions Tina.

Zeruna motions for them to quieten down as they reach the foot of the manor. Before they could even reach the gate, a man comes running out. His long brown hair hangs over a worried face. His coffee-coloured eyes sit deep within their sockets. His chunky frame wobbles as he dashes to the adventurers.

He runs right through his gate, knocking the iron bars open as he sprints.

"Greetings adventurers, yes, yes. I am Xander Maul, landowner of multiple farms who've been affected with mana wave, yes, yes. Come inside, I must speak with you!" he says excitedly.

Before anyone could even respond, Xander grabs the arms of Zeruna, Vidir, Aema and Tina and pulls them inside his manor. He roughly guides the group to a room with a long table surrounded by chairs.

He runs to the chair facing the door and motions Zeruna and her party to their seats, a broad smile on his face. He rubs his greasy hands together as e watches the party apprehensively take their seats. Before anyone can say a word, a well-dressed maid comes out of a side door with multiple wine glasses filled with potent alcohol.

"Sorry about that, I didn't you spend too much more time outside. Before we speak, drink some of this wine, I'll describe the quest in further detail, yes, yes," says Xander quickly. "It is the same potent wine that Dark Elves usually drink."

"I'm not a fan of wine," says Vidir. "Ale is my thing."

"Ah, of course, Dwarves do love their ales! Please bring this man a beer."

The maid bows, leaves and returns with ale inside the wine glass. Vidir chuckles at the sight of what Dwarves consider to most burly of drinks present in a delicate manner. Aema takes a sip of the drink and instantly gags, it the sharpest alcohol she's ever tasted. She'll never get used to the taste of any alcohol. Tina takes a sip of the drink and shows no reaction.

Zeruna does something that surprises everyone. She cannot take off her mask and thus reveal her identity. The wine suddenly lifts out of the glass, swirls around Zeruna and into her mouth under her mask.

'Ah, a very acidic and dry wine, it's no wonder why Aema couldn't handle it.'

"Forgive me for my crude way of drinking," says Zeruna in a false apologetic tone.

"No, no, it was quite amazing actually. I must ask, what is the reason you don't remove your mask?" inquires zander, interlocking his fingers and leaning in.

"Burns," replies Zeruna bluntly.

"Ah, unfortunate things befall us all," returns Xander. "Now, for the additional information of the quest: I recently invited my daughter over to Rigis. She's a wizard who is an adventurer in a big-league party. When she came over here, she sensed strange mana waves causing her to be sick. I've also had a few of my hard workers faint recently."

"Although it is irrelevant, what is the name of the party of adventurers she was employed in before she joined the 'big-league' party," asks Tina.

"I believe it was the Sparrow Knights. An odd name, yes, yes."

"Small world," Zeruna whispers. "Please continue."

"My daughter informed me that such waves are usually the result of a Dungeon Core being formed or one being close to the surface."

"And why didn't you send your daughter and her 'big-league' party to deal with the threat?" asks Zeruna, her voice and body posture turning more serious.

Aema picks up on Zeruna's sudden shift and begins to attempt to possibly pick up on whatever piqued Zeruna's interest. 'What is that girl thinking? Okay, let me review what this man just said. His daughter is an adventurer and she sensed– oh! I've got it! He could've let his daughter and her party deal with the threat instead of some B-ranks. Now that I think about it, that is quite fishy. I'll let Runa deal with this; she's a better speaker than I could ever hope to be.'

"Well, I didn't want my baby girl to go there, I couldn't stand the thought of me indirectly causing her to be injured or killed," stutters Xander.

Zeruna definitely doesn't seem satisfied with that answer, but Xander is unable to tell that due to Zeruna's face being replaced by an expressionless mask. Tina too seems to be questioning the reasoning for this quest. Rigis doesn't have a guild building, so it makes sense that the quest is posted in Sevis. It is highly probable that in the city of Vevel and Sina, the same request is there.

Vidir sits, too consumed in drinking his virile brew to take note of the sudden shift in the atmosphere. Even if he was paying attention, it is unlikely he'll be able to pick up on what Xander said.

"Well, I guess it really isn't our business why you posted the quest. The quest said ten silver upfront," Zeruna says, her voice reverting back to normal.

Xander throws a coin pouch directly a Zeruna who catches it with the her mysterious powers. Xander smiles as the maid that had brought out their drinks returns. Just as she is about to pick up the adventurers' glasses, Xander speaks.

"Please show them the way out, I can deal with the glasses myself," says Xander. "Good luck."