Livia and Alea worked together cooking the dishes they prepared. On the other hand, Xen and Aldo were busy spearfishing. After preparing the campfire, Delg goes around and spread smoke-repellant bags around the vicinity to ward off the monsters. After that, he decided to watch from the large rock sitting on the stream.

“I caught 10 already.” Xen beamed as he raised his wooden spear, with a fish pierced on top, out of the water, satisfied with the amount he had caught.

“You’re really good at this.” Aldo said wryly as he stored his latest catch in his basket. So far, he only got five.

“You, know you can always use lightning to shock the fishes—"

“No.” Aldo shut Delg flatly. “You kill the rest of the fishes with that.” He argued.

“Hehehe, I know. I was once used that method after me mom ordered me to exterminate piranhas in our river. It’s super effective.”

“Yeah, I can picture that clearly.” Aldo sighed.

Aldo noticed Xen seems gazing at the trees. Did he pick up something again he wondered. Earlier Xen had perceived the multitudes presence of direwolves from a far distance which displayed how sharp his sense was. So probably this time, he might have sensed something they can’t see.

“Is there something in the trees?” Aldo called out.

“Nothing, it just that area is so dark don’t you think.” 

Xen pointed to further reach of their eyes. Beyond trees graced by light was an area shrouded in darkness not even an outline of trees can be traced. It is strange since the sun is at its peak, yet not a scant of light seem to filter.  

“Ah… that’s the deep region.”

“The land of darkeness. Trek for two weeks, and your man will reach at the misty region.” Delg said, joining in.

“Woah, that’s still a far cry of a distance huh.”

“That’s just how large this forest was,” Aldo said. “On the deep region, more high-ranking monsters prowling day and night. Fight a monster and you will probably attract another. So it’s advice that you have to kill the monsters quickly and silently, failed to do so, you’ll be fighting an endless battle.”

“I see…” 

Xen fell silent, probably thinking about how he proceeds. Aldo can only imagine what he had gone through to reach this far. As a swordsman himself, he can tell he got no blind spot even when he was just standing there. to accumulate a veteran experience at such a young age is no easy feat. He might have fought a large number of battles and now he set his eyes on his next goal. 

Later, they will march over that territory, where only a few can survive. The monsters there would be more aggressive and relentless as the adventurers describe, and things would be much harder than before. But Xen had no hint of worries since this is exactly what he came for. To hone his skills, and to know far he can reach.

If that's the case, then maybe we could...

“Hey, are you really going to do it.” Xen turned around to face Livia, walking towards the stream. “Your not trying to wrap around the misty region but head straight in to it.”

“That’s my intention,” Xen replied, looking back at the forest.

“They said that no one has ever come back from the misty forest before. But actually, there were a few people in the past that claimed they came from that area and glimpse the very hidden world. They said that place is where rank S monsters reside. I thought it was all a myth... we don’t have conclusive evidence other than rumors from the past. However, a creature from that place had presented itself in an unexpected way.

“The Red dragon isn’t it.”

“You know about it.” Livia's eyes opened wide. Not only her but Aldo, delg, and Alea, who happened also picked it up for her spot at the campfire were astonished. 

“That’s a guild’s secret, no has made that information public not even to the adventurers.” Aldo said in a serious tone. He must be wondering how this young man got access to it. As if he heard his thoughts, Xen kindly provide the answer.

“Really? A man from the bar, told me about it after I buy him a few drinks.”

“Is he an adventurer. Do you get his name?” Livia asked.

“Not really, I just bought him drinks to tell me some stories. And that’s it. I’m not sure if he was an adventurer since he was in civilian clothes. He also had an unkept hair and he’s like your everyday drunkard."

A typical drunkard with access to a piece of confidential information, is there someone like that? Aldo search through his memory to match the individuals who may know about it.

But then Delg lit up as he said.

“Maybe he’s from the party that discover the dragon, you know, he was so drunk absently and disclosed that info to sir, Xen.”

“That’s a possibility… but, the guild should deal with those guys more thoroughly. Red dragons are ranks A monsters with threats on par of national level. If this information, gets out in public it definitely cause a mass hysteria.” Aldo nodded at the possibility that it was one of the pioneer party.

“We'll have to informed the guild about this.” Livia sighed tiredly. Of course, they would. it would spell disaster if those people spread the information even more. But that person definitely was sober by now and realize his mistake. Nonetheless, the guild has to put appropriate measures, or else they will lose the trust of the government of handling this case in secrecy.  

"If it's very delicate information, why are you seem so ready to disclose that report to me?" Xen asked. 

"Well, you're already with us on this journey so you ought to know... plus I'm quite concerned actually that you don't know what you're getting yourself into so I have to give a hint of how strong the monsters you should expect there. Perhaps that will knock some of your senses. But… you already knew that."

"Yeah... I told you, I wouldn't be here if I'm not serious about this." Xen stated as matter of fact.

“...Right... Anyway, we don’t have a clear picture of why the red dragon moves out from the misty region. But the fact it was killed in the deep region means that there was something else that has much power. And it’s causing the monsters to descend to shallow regions.

“Depending on how it will turned out, there’s a possibility that we would be facing unknown monsters in our investigation. So uhm… here is the suggestion..."

 Livia exhaled deeply and face Xen with eyes burned with conviction. 

"Sir, Xen.”

“...Hm…”

“Would you like to stick around with us until our investigation is over.”

“Livia…” Said Aldo.

“I know what I’m asking is absurd but, if this goes on, there a high chance we are going to fail before we even reach that place.”

“I agree, Aldo, you know that Livia is almost died from that creature, then there’s pack dire wolves. We feign a brave face, but never mind fighting them head on, but we can’t even out run those creatures. It’s pure luck that they didn’t attack us. And just to remind you, those wolves should be on the further side of deep region, but now they set their paws here. This just shows that more high ranking monsters are currently present in deep region. Thing will just get difficult on our end at this point.”

Aldo sighed in defeat. He scratched his cheeks awkwardly and confessed.

“Actually, I was planning to asked Sir, Xen too. I’m having doubts if we can even reach that area safely. This isn’t the forest that we know, so many strange things is happening. So Sir, will lend you help us a hand. We also provide you a compensation for the troubles just until the mission is over.”

“Ok.”

“I guess, you  didn’t want to huh, you also have things to— wait really!”

Aldo jolted in surprise, not expecting him to answer so readily.

“I’m also interested on that unknown monster. If I can defeat it, then I would be more or less capable of traversing the misty region isn’t it?”

“Right, that so… true..” Livia smiled wryly.

“I think I’m starting to understand you betters, fufufu.” Bemused, Alea giggled.

“Hahaha, you’re really are one hell of a traveler, lad.” Delg praised him with a hearty laugh.

 

After having their lunch, The party resumed their journey.

After two hours of treading through the thick vegetation as they entered the deep region. They use the spreading web of thick roots as a foothold to traverse. Moss crawled on the trunks ivies swayed hanging from the branches. There was a sudden drop in temperature around the area which was noticeably darker due to the clustering of the large trees.

“I’m getting an eerie vibe on this place.” Aldo said. He clutched his sword tighter as scanned the surroundings.

“I can’t pick up any presence, there’s nothing here.”

Alea seemed a bit on edge about the uncomely surroundings. Not a song from the birds echoed above, or any other presence of monsters nearby. Contrary to what they were expecting as the region described. The place was ghost quiet and their footsteps crackled much louder than it seems. and the lack of presence of any creature, and the tall trees blotting out the light just gave this place an eerie aura.

“Hey, don’t you think this is the place the wolves were warned us about?” Delg perked up at the dark verdant ceiling.

Livia clutched his staff strongly as she followed behind. Looking at her side, she notice Xen wasn't even bothered as he walked light-footed glancing around like one would at a tourist spot. His relaxed demeanor somehow ease her up as she smiled wryly.

But all of a sudden, Xen stopped in his tracks. Surprised, Livia also stop and watched him curiously.

“Sir, Xen?”

Then, Everyone stopped their pace, probably wondering why Xen was glued on that spot motionless.

“Do you sense something lad?” Delg asked. But Xen never replied and just raised his hand gesturing for them to stop.

“I’m not picking any up any presence from my familiars.”

“Be prepared guys,” Aldo warned, putting his hand on the hilt.

The possibility that was another monster wasn’t zero. Alea claimed doesn’t find anything with her familiars, but she strained her ears for any sound in the hope to pick up something.

This is still a place of danger, so they can't afford to lower their guard down. But they got Xen, An enigma who they have an unclear measure of how strong he might be. But the fact he reached this place on his own proved his worth so they can’t dismiss the judgment of his caliber. It is the reason why they decided to ask him for help.

Plus she can discredit the fact that he mastered complicated magic. If he’s capable to do that, then maybe he got more cards up his sleeves. That might be a reason why he was always collected in face of those dire wolves.

Sir, Xen might be A high-ranking Mage.  

Knowing that eased her worries. She Exhaled her remaining uneasiness then open up her eyes beaming with new resolve.

Slight gestures of his head told them as he was focusing on something. You never know what kind of creature it was, but it’s definitely much more dangerous since Alea can’t sense it and gave Xen trouble finding it. But whatever that is, be it the monsters that slayed the dragon, or some other unknown high-ranking monster, Livia was optimistic that his party and Xen can face it head-on.