Black String of Fate

In a merchant caravan, the party of now six members moved in silence. It was dead in the night, and Xavier could see Lafia snoring away just on the other side of the caravan. The rest of the party members were awake but quiet.

"How did you guys meet? I don't think anyone joined here due to the name."

Xavier asked, his curiosity piqued. Ever since he learned the horrid name of this party, he questioned what even made these perfectly capable adventurers stay here. He knew that adventurers were not the kind of people who stuck together because of loyalty.

"Haha, we all have different stories. Mostly, we all met on different quests and decided to stick together, just like you have joined now." Thomas replied, his voice calm and nostalgic.

"At first, if I remember correctly, it was only Lafia and Alina. The two were from the same hometown and decided to become adventurers. Then they met Adam in one quest, and hired me for another. I liked the party so I stayed. Rolan, like me, stayed after temporarily working together.

We're really just like any other adventurer party out there. We've got nothing special between us, but Lafia… Oh, Lafia's special alright."

"Haha, how's that so?"

Xavier said with a nonchalant voice, but deep down he was shocked to the core.

'Could it be that they are aware of her secret? But how could such low-level humans know about it?'

"She's special. She usually sees things we can't. I don't know if it's an innate gift or not, but one thing we know is that we can trust her judgment. True, she might have her faults, but she's never wrong. This is why we all eventually agreed for this C-rank quest in the first place."

Thomas replied, and it took all Xavier had to not say how close to the truth he was. Pure Nature Spirits have excellent judgment quality. While it's not impossible for them to be wrong, their hunch is so good that it could be considered a reliable source of information.

"Hmm… Good for you guys. You can retire after this quest, all because you guys trusted Lafia. But, I feel like she's not going to stop here. She's somewhat like me, adventuring is just a means to an end for her."

Xavier said that and leaned back on his seat. The rattling sounded out throughout the caravan, and the soft breathing of Lafia was audible to all.

"That… might be true. I won't say much, but Lafia definitely has reasons to grow stronger. I'll retire after this, but Lafia may not." Alina said, and Xavier had a feeling that she, too, had more to her than what she showed.

'Since they say they're from the same hometown, it might not be presumptuous to assume that she knows Lafia's true identity.

And perhaps, she knows that I know too.'

Xavier looked deep into Alina's eyes, his gaze being intense and profound. Alina did not back down and stared back for a few moments, matching his gaze. Just a few moments later, they stopped the staring contest, and went back to their business.

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"Everybody has secrets. It's never a good idea to pry into them."

"I agree."

Xavier leaned his head out and asked the merchant, who was sitting just the next caravan over,

"How long do we have left?"

"About four days, boy. These are good days we've been having for the last 3 days, otherwise, it usually takes a week from here."

"Ah, alright."

Xavier leaned back in and closed his eyes, diving into his thoughts. Ever since he had gotten the Celestial Mind, his mind has become tireless, allowing him to fall into deep thoughts and focus easily and without any fatigue.

'Susan, while that girl is someone extremely annoying, she has redeemed herself somewhat by arranging for us to travel with these merchants for free. She's capable only when she wants to do damage control.

Well, it's the last time I'll deal with her. I'll move places after this quest, that small town isn't enough for me to grow.'

Soon, the party arrived at the orphanage that was the quest site. Just outside the building, the party could see two men and several children standing. One of them waved after seeing them.

As they got closer, the two men introduced themselves.

"Hello, adventurers. My name is Reno, I'm the director of this orphanage. This gentleman to my right is my vice-director."

The man who was standing beside him introduced himself too.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Ryan, I'll be taking care of your accomodations and living."

Lafia, after seeing them introduce themselves, stepped up and her introduction too.

"I'm Lafia, the party leader. These are my members- Alina, Adam, Thomas, Rolan and Xavier."

All of them nodded when their names were called, and the basic formalities between Lafia, the party leader, and Reno, the director, began. Xavier tuned them out and started looking around the place.

'Wow, it's well-maintained. When I heard of the orphanage, I was expecting something slightly better than my old one which I burned down. This, even in comparison to all the orphanages generally present in the kingdom, it was in a much better condition.

But, it isn't a good thing. Orphanages need money to maintain, and the kingdom did not give them enough to sustain themselves like this. For this quality, they're surely getting money from elsewhere.'

Xavier looked at the director humbly talking to Lafia with narrowed eyes. Even this suspicion did not make sense, because the report that the children were disappearing also came from this director. Xavier had contacted the Grimswald patriarch prior to coming here, and he said that he just passed on the mission from his name, it wasn't him who witnessed the issue in the first place.

'This'll be interesting, it's been a long time since I've solved crime mysteries like this…'

Xavier devilishly smiled, his excitement for this mission at an all-time high.