My party sets off into the rainforest. There were encounters with wild animals, but they were quickly dealt with by Ilyis' brute strength, Saja's chemical weapons, or Uraim's blaster.

In the rainforest, we saw various herbs and plants, which Saja quickly hoarded in her bag. Ilyis collected some nice looking flowers and some seeds he wished to grow. And Uraim kept talking and telling stories to everyone while we were exploring.

Interestingly, there were a lot of spiders in the rainforest. These spiders seem closely related to one of the insectoid species that live within Dangul's borders. The only difference being that the ones within the borders are civilised, while this species in Dobryna is not. Of course, one of the big questions is how one species managed to cross between galaxies without the help of technology, but this isn't that big of a priority.

We scouted a large chunk of the rainforest. Uraim found large mineral deposits under the rainforest, but the cave system containing these minerals seems to also be home to more than two but not a lot of animal nests.

Now, 1 of these creatures is no big deal, but we'd be easily swarmed into submission with how many Uraim seem to have detected. Not only that, Saja is unable to identify what type of creature is in the cave. So we would be diving into hordes of unknown danger.

Currently, me, Saja, and Ilyis are resting in an open area in the rainforest before returning. Uraim went to the entrance of the cave to send a drone down there and check on things.

When you're not messing around, you are quite capable, Uraim.

~~~ Thaenabelle ~~~

There are new reports about the whereabouts of this missing person, but how can my bosses assume that we can find someone I have no idea about?

All I know is that they were last seen a few weeks ago in the capital, and suddenly, overnight, they disappeared without a trace.

You have to be quite talented to go missing without a trace these days!

During the meeting, they talked about several places where they think the missing person might be. They gave us a long list of possible provinces and specific planets they might be on.

The three that stand out, however, are Dobryna, the province of Yrufold, and the planet of Tyara.

Of course, Dobryna was a bit of a shock for me. I am right here! But Yrufold and Tyara could be used to narrow down the missing person's appearance and species.

Yrufold is my home province, with a majority of the people there being serpents or half-serpents. Tyara is a planet that is inhospitable on the surface but has large underground cities full of cave-dwelling people.

I think Tyara could be the perfect spot to hide, which is why I think my bosses put it on the long list, but the sheer length of the list tells me that they have no idea where the missing person is, and are just firing blank shots.

This probably isn't much of a concern though. One of Thebe's friends present during the meeting, Rachnie Granger, gave orders to stay on this planet just moments before our boss told us to move out and search for the missing person.

This must be some divine intervention crap. But I'm happy to stay behind in Dobryna as I would like to live here far from the horrors of war. Thank you, Rachnie!

I hear the buzz of electronics from outside and see the blue glow that passes through the thin white fabric of this mobile post. It suddenly stops and then I hear the sound of many legs walking.

Rachnie teleports outside my post and enters it. He is a large person with the bottom half of a spider but the upper body of a human. just like me, but you know, a spider.

He has eight eyes on his face, with four on each side. They are red, sharp, and thin, like sharp angled rubies with a purple hue.

Despite belonging to such a fearsome species, having a large body and such an intimidating face, he is quite timid for some reason.

"Rachnie, did anyone else want us to stay at Dobryna or was that something you said yourself?"

"No one else knew what to do with your party. We have about six other teams, including yours, and we have no idea what to do with them. I heard you wanted to stay back at Dobryna, so I might as well give you guys an actual job, right? "

Right on, Rachnie! As an able-bodied woman with decent skill at magic, I have to keep working here, otherwise it is off to the frontlines I go.

I need you to somehow keep meddling with the authorities to make sure I stay here. For both of us, it's a win-win situation!

"Great job there, Rachnie, so we have about 44 people on the search for the missing person, correct?"

"Erk! Oh... the missing person? Yes. 48 teams are searching for them. " Rachnie's face starts sweating and he starts fidgeting.

I stare at him a bit with my arms crossed. He turns his eyes away from me and looks at the floor.

"Well... whatever. Keep up the good work, Rachnie! " I clap my hands to break the silence and tilt my head in a friendly manner.

"N-no worries, Madam!" Rachnie starts scratching his hair and laughing.

"Anyhow, I still need those medical records from the Provincial Hospital of Yrufold."

"Oh those medical records? I'll get them by tonight. Sorry, I'm a bit busy this afternoon. " Rachnie lowers his head and bows.

"No need to bow, Rachnie. I understand. "

"But if I may ask, why do you need those?"

"Don't worry, Rachnie; just remember your assignment, okay?"If you've got any more problems, I'll assist you with your work. "

"Oh right that... speaking of which, I'm on pretty thin ice." Rachnie looks down with an embarrassed smile.

"At any moment I could be fired, so I really do need your guidance." 

"It's like I could take over your job at any moment!" I smirk.

"You know damn well you could!" Rachnie laughs it off strangely.

"Still, you tell me to do a lot of things. Some of which seem so odd, but whatever, right? You are helping me out after all."

The loud clanging of equipment echoes from within the forest.

~~~ Thebes ~~~

Our post comes into view as we walk out of the forest. There I see Thaenabelle and Rachnie, one of my old friends from long ago.

Rachnie got a job as a first lieutenant after using some of the blessings he got from his bloodline on the battlefield. That lucky bastard! 

You know, if it wasn't for the fact that his species, and in particular his family, were incredibly gifted in magic, he would've had to work. 

That reminds me that even if we are away from the battlefield, the military is the one we have to follow orders under instead of some non-profit public organisation. The military controls quite a lot of things here, but no one really seems to care as much as you'd assume.

"Thebes, you guys need to stay on this planet. I have given you all an order to examine the cave systems. " Rachnie straightens his back.

"The cave systems? "Uraim, what have you found there?"

"About 4 large nests of varying species co-existing. I think there are about 40 or more unique species, without counting the species variants, down there living in the same 4 nests." 

"40 species? Do you have any idea why it's that diverse there? "

"Hey, these four nests are massive, and I mean it." I estimate these nests to go down about 8 kilometers. "

8 kilometres deep is quite impressive for a natural cave! It appears that going down there to check on things will take some time.

"We're going to have to prepare a lot of supplies then, and we still have to resurface every once in a while."

"This sounds exciting!" Thaenabelle smiles.