I Reject Quests

A car stopped near the Terio Villa which was completely fine unlike the houses in the neighborhood which have completely burnt down. Two people got out of the car. One was a tall blue-haired guy in his early twenties and the other was a medium-height black-haired unpleasant-looking teenager. The two were Hase and Rewen respectively.

"It seems like the villa is safe," Rewen said, looking at Hase.

Hase kept staring at the villa. "It's too quiet… let's go."

Rewen nodded, then ran with Hase into the villa.

Five seconds after entering the villa, he finally understood what Hase was talking about. There are more than one-hundred-and-eighty people living in the villa but till now, he had not heard a single sound. What could it mean other than bad news?

"Where are the servants?" Hase asked, his throat had turned dry.

Rewen was searching the rooms one-by-one. 'Let's see the living room.'

Tap!

Tap!

Tap!

"..."

He came to a stop when he walked into the living room.

The living room had become storage of corpses. Most of the corpses were headless bodies lying on the floor all over the room while some were stabbed. He noticed a trail of blood. Following the trail of blood, he found a familiar figure.

Ikeda!

Beside him, a young girl was sitting.

Rewen took a deep breath, then calmly walked towards her. "Reza…?" He shook her shoulders.

Her body fell on his legs. She was unconscious.

Rewen gave one last glance at the room before carrying her over his shoulders, then walked out of the room. 

Hase, who was near the room, had his eyes lit up when he saw his cousin. "Is she unconscious?"

Rewen nodded without a word.

"What about the others? Are they in the living room?" Hase didn't wait for a reply and went inside the living room.

Rewen sighed, then walked to the car where Michi was sitting and placed Reza near her.

"She is…?"

"That guy's cousin." Rewen briefly replied.

"Oh…"

Rewen closed the door of the car and headed towards the living room. As he was approaching, he saw Hase walking back with a destitute and grim face. 

***

Outside the Rover City.

It was dusk and pouring.

Inside a car, Rewen leaned on the seat while closing his eyes. He wasn't actually sleeping. 'How could I sleep in such a time and place?' On the way out of the city, every one in three houses he had seen was caught in the fire. 'Who did this?' 

This was the question that was in everybody's mind since the start of this incident.

"Drink this." Hase passed a bottle of water to Reza who had woken up. 

Reza took the bottle without a word. Ever since she had woken up, she had been silent. Only when Hase pushed her to tell him about the deaths of her parents and little brother did she narrate the events briefly.

"Do you want one as well?" Hase asked, looking at the other person sitting in the car - Michi.

Michi shook her head. "No." Although her mental state was better than the girl sitting beside her, it wasn't by too much. 'I no longer have a place to go home.' Thinking about it, she felt sad.

Hase had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the front. It was clear that he was thinking about something. "So… what do you guys want to do?"

Reza was quiet.

Michi opened her mouth but couldn't answer. 

Rewen opened his eyes. 

"We could decide where we want to go but first… do you have any idea? If you do, please tell us."

Hase showed a troubled face. 

"Please!" Michi requested.

"You know who he is?" Reza's eyes looked straight at Hase. After the incident that happened a couple of hours ago, she had developed an intense hatred for the man shrouded in black.

"He was the one who told Uncle to take Ryu back from the academy but I don't know who he is." Hase plainly said. "But I do know about the incident behind the fire."

Reza's eyes dimmed. 

"Can I start?" Hase asked while looking at the other two.

Rewen and Michi nodded.

"Very well. First, this is just a deduction of mine. It has some chance of being false so take everything with a grain of salt. The one behind the incident according to me is one of the largest terrorist organizations."

"Terrorists!?" Michi couldn't restrain her calm. "That too, one of the largest?"

Rewen also had the same doubt but he didn't raise his voice and waited for Hase to continue.

Hase words out his thoughts properly.

The Council is not the most powerful commanding force in the world. In fact, there aren't organizations or families that could command the world. But just because it doesn't exist now doesn't mean it didn't exist. Two hundred years ago, there was once an organization that had the world in the palm of its hands.

It was not particularly overbearing or evil but just the fact that it had the power to rule the world was a threat to mankind, at least that's what the masses thought. The most ironic part about the entire thing is that the colossal organization wasn't even an organization dedicated to creating powerful men and women. It was just a company that made shoes.

It was a shoe company made by a group of powerful youths from the six nations who were childhood friends. Growing up in slums, they even lacked basic food and clothing. Not having footwear is one of the main concerns. Oftentimes, cuts appeared on their feet. One day, the group of youths made the decision if they were to somehow get rich, they would set up a shoe company together.

As fate would have it, each of them managed to become a model for the young generations.

It was an inspirational story that didn't inspire the masses.

It only served to create more chaos. Because the shoe company didn't make any moves, the media didn't hesitate to criticize every little thing they did. 

That's why the shoe company didn't last past one generation. 

But the fact that there was once an organization that had the power to rule the world made the other big organizations increase their competition so as to not create another like the shoe company.

Two hundred years later, a terrorist organization was formed that was the self-proclaimed successor of the shoe company. They unify under the motive of avenging the shoe company and call themselves - WestLane.

It has been particularly active for the past few years in the Nation of Bandits. There were rumors that the WestLane set their sights on Zcan State.

'That seems so random?' Rewen didn't have an idea of which organization behind the incident was but he does know one thing - he is a fictional world. The more the storyline seems out of place, the less good the story is. He wouldn't have any problems if WestLane were the one behind this incident but that wouldn't make a story interesting.

'Forget it, I'll know when the time comes."

Hase asked again. "Where are we going?"

"How about the Jackport Town? The cost of staying is low and we could even work in the guild." Michi suggested.

Hase turned to Rewen and Reza who nodded, then grabbed the steering wheels. "Jackport town, it is."