Meanwhile, a lot of things were also happening in Lotus Town, and plenty of those were good news. Leez’s shop had become town-famous, and queues were already forming even before it opened!
By now, they already knew of the store that sold delicious sauces, condiments, and recipes called ’Wanderer’s Shop’!
It was dripping in gold every day, and the people from the merchant guild got even more smug!
Oddly, even the adventurer guild acted smug at the success of the store! Why tho!?
Another news was that Victor and Reesa finally conceived!
Humans were well-known for their fertility, but it did not mean they could get pregnant whenever they felt like it. In fact, the stronger the person, the more difficult it was to conceive!
For a fortified-level fighter like Victor, it was no surprise that they took years before succeeding.
What’s more, they estimated that the baby was made in the Inn! No, it was definitely made in the inn! Reesa, a healer, confirmed it.
Apparently, the regeneration buffs of the rooms could reinforce other functions as well!
This story spread out among the adventurers, some of whom had been to the inn before, and they definitely believed it.
Just like this, another title was added to the Inn: The Fertile Burrow
...
Speaking of...conception, there was another pair who conceived in the Inn.
It was none other than...Remus and Marie, the two people who took the third phase exam with Finn back then.
Since the exam, they had formed an acquaintance of sort. After joining an adventurer team, they were both newbies, and they only knew each other. It was natural to grow a bit closer.
Perhaps there was something more forming, but their personalities caused this progress to be stagnant, without either of them even noticing.
Remus was a bit of an optimist, while Marie had a one-track mind.
It shifted to a romantic one during the latest visit to the Wanderer’s Refuge. Finn had opened up a few vats of his alcohol, putting them up for sale, and their captain was in a celebratory mood and treated everyone.
They were newbies and poor, so they could only afford a tent, and somehow, while drunk, they ended up in the same tent.
One thing led to another, and it lasted the night. The tent didn’t have insulation, so when morning came, and they realized what happened, there was no escape: Everyone knew already.
Things got awkward, and then, they found out a few days prior, that Marie even got pregnant!
Another title was added thanks to them: Inn where Love is Found
Finn: "..."
Is my Inn gonna be a love hotel or something?!
...
Not everything was good news, however, and the data the Adventurer Team’s elders received made their faces darken.
They received letters from allies from the other town, and they said that Frago—or the family behind him, to be precise—were making moves again.
The Bhissit Family was much more powerful now, especially since they had an elder at the Apex level. However, lately, it seemed like they were showing power well beyond their actual ranks. Like, a typical toughened level guard could handle a fortified-level guard, for some reason! And it wasn’t just two or three people.
Some spies had perished already, sadly. The other side just didn’t know which force sent them. Yet.
Right now, though, instead of anxiety, they were feeling extreme anger. "I thought that brat had lost a hand."
"Just a finger." Elder Waeron corrected, with a disappointed tone of voice.
It seemed like the family doctors saved most of Frago, and he’s gotten even more proficient with his power.
"Well. I hope he’s in pain."
The bastard that got so many of his people killed!
What they had found out so far, through joint efforts with some other territories, was disturbing. It seemed like the various abnormalities in all dungeons were somehow connected to this group.
For example, they found out that there was a correlation whenever someone from the Bhissit side headed to a dungeon, some people would fall. And then someone from that family would show a burst of power.
Though a lot of it was temporary, the damage was very real, and some of their spies had been killed directly.
There were also flying monsters, some were familiar to what that side had used before.
It seemed like the family was heading out again, this time once again targeting their Kaelmorr dungeon.
Other than this, there were also an increased number of odd sightings, wherein fortified level monsters would venture to level 1!
There was even a group of merchants and a few mercenaries who had been massacred.
"It’s time for us to take a visit to these places."
There were not many people at the peak of the fortified level and above. Every year, they hold the top-tier missions to check on the dungeon areas. But with the current trends of things not following the usual, some elders decided they should check it out themselves.
...
The Adventurer Guild’s elders weren’t the only ones heading in the direction of the inn.
There was an interesting pair: A human and a Beastkin, with the former being a playful Cleric and the latter having a wild and dangerous image.
They were both adventurers from Silang Town, which was in the Southeast of this area. They were here for a personal mission.
Medicine for their poor, sickly five-year-old son.
The woman, the Cleric, was called Winona and she was in her late 30s though she looked quite young for her age. She was wearing the classic cleric garb, holding a spiked mace in her hand.
The Beastkin, Selan, was around the same age, but he gave off that dangerous wolfish vibe, as if he could bite at any time. It was just the two of them in their party, but it was usually enough as both of them were at the peak of toughened level, with combat ability exceeding those of the same rank.
Even Winona, the cleric, could defend herself well with her mace.
However, there was something different today. So deep into Level 1, they encountered a fortified level monster! If they were together, it wouldn’t be able to kill them.
It was just that it caught them off guard, especially since they had just handled a dozen monsters, many of which were toughened, before encountering this one so they were very tired.
A feeling of dread made their bodies feel heavy.
Would they be able to go back home to their son?
...
"We’re still a distance away from Level 2. What is this?" Winona asked as she blessed her husband with a speed and strength buff. "Make it count," she told him. After all, the cooldown for these blessings was an hour.
Selan jumped up, using the monster’s arm as a bolster. He jumped high above its head, the extra speed buff allowing him to move without worrying about getting caught.
It also allowed him to have bigger momentum in his attacks.
SLASH!
ROAAARR!
The monster was angry, crazily waving its arms. While Selan managed to hurt it and slow it down, it also hit him back. Fortunately, he managed to get into a defensive position at the right time, though he was thrown to the nearest tree.
"SELAN!" Winona yelled, going to him and using a healing spell.
Selan patted her hand and stood up, spitting out a bit of blood. "It shouldn’t take long," he said.
"We have to finish it off," he said, and then looked at the incoming awakened monsters that would be collateral damage, but still troublesome.
"This is going to be a bit challenging."