The red dawn has come, accompanied with crimson sky and bloody clouds. Then in a mere moment, the clouds have completely covered the Sol with its wrath, madness and tears.
…Soon, the red rain falls from Wina to Gaia, showering her with fake tears and devil's smile. It's solely for a purpose to make her scared and withered.
…Not long after that, she died…she died in the crimson agony.
Her sorrow and misery turned into chaos, to hunt down the sinless ones, who can still smile and laugh together. She wants to make them fall into despair and misery.
…Slowly, she turns them into heartless and sinful creatures that only know to kill…and to breed.
The creatures themselves are mindless. "They" won't show any mercy to children or adults, weak or strong, old or young, and heroes or villains. "They" only want to kill them, eat them and transform them into "their" ranks.
Then, the people asked among themselves, "who are "they"?"
"They" are the followers of none, but "they" are the zealots of Ancient Gods.
…Meanwhile, these creatures are nameless ones. "They" simply want to destroy your life and eat your flesh.
On other place, there are many people are standing near the entrance of [White Falcon] Party's Base while the Guild Master are still informing the rest of the party leaders about the emergency mission he just got before from the. Some of them started panicking when they saw the crimson sky above them; some started gazing nervously to their comrades, unsure what to do.
"This is…[Rain of Chaos]!!! Oh, no, oh no…" Said Toval with panicked voice.
[Ireevaenna varth Chaothicas] or simply known as [Rain of Chaos], [Red Rain], [Chaotic Rain] or [Blood Rain] is a demonic phenomenon that happened on the early A.E.V II until now. [The First Rain of Chaos] occurred on 2599 A.E.V II — 2.588 A.E.V II in Dwarven Kingdoms deep underground. [The Second Rain of Chaos] occurred on 2.587 A.E.V II — 2.582 A.E.V II at south Xiantian Land, on Gobi Desert exactly. Lastly, [The Third Rain of Chaos] occurred on Virizia Plain around 2.560 A.E.V II — 2.493 A.E.V II.
This demonic phenomenon started with a heavy rain of thick blood-colored liquid followed with deep red strong miasma that appears on a specific land. The rain and miasma themselves are able to forcefully transform someone into "one of them" regardless of the victim's race and age. After that, "they" will appear from underground and start "their" invasion on the continent. According to the reports, "they" are not alone when invading the land. "They" will be accompanied with corrupted monsters, beasts, plants and even demons.
"Cih, this happened when we aren't ready yet!"
"Calm down Arnold! Tamara-san, do we still have enough food provisions right now?"
"Yes, we do. We should have enough food and water for a whole movanth…eh wait…wait…WAIT…WHAT THE HELL? WHY ARE THERE SIX MOVANTH WORTH OF SUPPLIES HERE?! Hey, Ayumi-san, why did Kaichou brought this many?! I thought we only have some for a wikliviash?!"
"He brought all of that as an anticipation if we would mount an expedition to regions that have been ravaged by [Rain of Chaos]. Who knows what problems we will face in the future? Now, his precaution finally pays off."
"You mean…we need to hunker down as long as this cursed rain stays?! How long will that be?"
"Maybe two movanth or it could be even longer, we never know. What's clear is we can't run from this demonic phenomenon. We need to stay low and wait for it to clear out, or perhaps you want to become one of "them", Toval?"
Toval awkwardly smiles, "No thanks, Ayumi. I'm good."
Not long after that, Jack Scout's Teams returned to base. They said hordes of "them" have appeared on the village far north of here. They assume this demonic phenomenon would reach until Virizia Plain and Virizia Canyon that located far north from here. Meanwhile, the plain itself stretched from south until southwest of Xiantian Land. If this rain occurred there, few Human, Demi-Human and Elven Kingdoms with the most influence in the world will be damaged greatly because their main trading route located there.
"I'll return with Guild Master to my base, Ishizaki-dono."
"Yes, I'll wait for your further instructions." Then, Guild Master nodded.
"Viorellia-dono we'll talk about this later. HEAR ME BOYS AND GIRLS, IF ANYONE HARASSING OR BLAMING HER, I'LL ALSO WRITE YOUR NAMES ON GUILD'S PUNISHMENT LIST. DON'T FORGET THAT WE NEED TO COOPERATE RIGHT NOW." Then, Guild Master disappears.
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On the next morning, Guild Master came back to our base (again) with other party's leaders and now he brought along his advisors and tacticians with him. After Guild Master sits, he took out a bunch of papers from his magical inventory and gave it to all of us. I opened it and in there is the detail of our mission.
As I predicted, each team has different destination and mission. We are also needed to find any surviving villagers who fled to Virizia Mountains and Plain on north. However, Guild Master told us to wait for three or four daesh to begin the mission safely with support from guild's reserve team.
Well, he is technically right. We need to wait for his reserve team members' recovery. Otherwise, we would be wiped out completely without reserve team support. When we are taking a small break after this discussion, I suggested Guild Master to form scouting parties to the north village but my opinion is instantly rejected.
"We can't do that, Alexandria-dono. We can't lose more of our members right now. You know, this job normally meant for the Royal Army, but now that they had ordered to clean up the "mess" in Gobi Desert by The Queen herself, it falls to us to complete this job. We can't act recklessly since we aren't an army."
"If you don't want to do that, let me alone do that."
"Alberto-dono, I'm afraid I must refuse your eagerness as well as putting this topic to the end. Let us discuss something else that is more important than this topic."
"Oh before that, Guild Master may I ask something?"
"Uhh, sorry I can't catch up with all of you because you kept using other party leaders' family name rather than front name. I mean, you are a Guild Master, aren't you? So, why you, as the one who holds the highest authority over us still haven't called them with their front names?" Guild Master looked at each of us and then he laughed hard. Meanwhile, Robert is confused.
"Honestly, I thought you would keep pestering me to scout the northern villages."
"Yeah, I will keep asking for it—"
"Stop that right here, Alberto-dono. I will not allow you. If you violate my order, I'll lower your adventurer rank, as well as your party's rank. However, I'll tell you why I keep calling all of you with your family names. Firstly, all of the party leaders here are nobles with high court rank. I also call few of you who have nobility title like Mikazaki-dono here with your family name or noble name. Second, I'm not a noble and I don't want to get myself executed because of "funny noble laws" that force someone to call a noble by their household name."
"Even that troublemaker here is a noble, Alberto-dono."
"Hey, Zack-chan! I'm not a troublema—"
"Oh yeah? You nearly killed all of us and you are still saying, "I'm not a troublemaker!" How funny of you."
"Ugh…" Viorelle lowered her head sheepishly.
"But Guild Master, honestly, I don't mind you call me Haru or Haruhisa, you know? We live in Northlandia, one of the Holy Elf Kingdoms. Yes, that law exists there, but there is also a law that allows a superior to call their subordinates by their front names. Only Human Kingdoms force someone to obey that funny law."
"My party's members sometimes didn't get who I meant when I call their names because I keep calling them with their family names."
"I agree with Rahealis-dono, it'll make our operation go smoother right now because our names are hard to spell and write haha…" Naval laughed a little.
"Alright, I'll follow your wish. But if Queen Anne questioned me, be sure to back me up, okay?"
"Queen Anne, huh? I think she is a cold woman…merciless and she never smiles…it's very contrast to Holy Elf Race description in [Codex Book: Race Description]. I always get a shiver when I received an order from her."
"Hush, stop it. Do not say like that." Kenzia warned Zack before he says something he might regret later. On the end of the meeting, we decided to begin our mission three daesh from now.
Shalven, Jetavien, 11th 2.481 A.E.V II
On the first day of preparation, we focus on making potions and repairing our gears. Meanwhile, The Rangers were out hunting to south along with Reserve Team members who had recovered from their sickness. I wandered out with Robert to gather [Birch Wood] and [Ironstone] near the river.
When I returned, I saw Khazim and Yuna were arguing with each other. Yuna accused Khazim of wasting the party iron bars. Khazim also accused Yuna that she secretly used the iron bars from party's inventory to strengthen her staff. He also told her that she overused the iron bars when making iron wires.
"I said again, I only used it for knitting my Mage's Robes!"
"Bah! I saw ye secretly used it to strengthen yer staff! Don't ye try to fool this Dwarf!"
They don't realize I had stood in front of them. But, because I thought this fight will be long, I walked to Khazim and Yuna's workbench. I found two of them had overused the iron bars I gave to them by making huge amount of chain mail and mage robes. I also found Yuna enchanted her staff with iron.
"That's Kaichou! Kaichou, hear me! This drunk Dwarf—"
"Not that fast ye shitty girl! Boss! Hear me out! This girl is—!" Khazim pulled Yuna's robe.
"Khazim-san, Yuna-san…"
"Y-Yes?!" Both of them startled.
"What's the meaning of this?" I showed them the chain mails and Yuna's staff that looks like a spear now.
"O-oh…um…eh…t-that is…" Yuna startled as she tried to make an excuse until she can't say anything. Meanwhile, Khazim tried to run but I grab his shoulder before he could get away.
"Where are you going, Khazim-san?" I can see clearly Yuna and Khazim's terrified expression.
After I questioned them the motives behind huge amount of chain mail and robe, as well as Yuna's staff (spear), they said they wanted to sell it to Reserve Team members and they wanted to use the money to buy high quality hammer and robe in auction that will be held on Jetavien, 24th in Northlandia Market's Central Plaza Hall.
"Those two chunks of iron were meant to Toval, Arnold, Julio, Ridell, and Hel because their weapons and armors have already worn out. Now, because you used it, they went to mine west from here to gather iron ore. Don't you have any shame at all? They are the Vanguards and they have protected us in this mission. If you want to buy those items in auction, I can help you gathering the money that you need or giving you two chunk of Iron Bars in my inventory. But please don't steal our party's resources because we are still in dire situation, understand?" Both of them nodded. I heard Luna laughed at them.
"Alright, both of you return to your work; repairing our gears and making spare clothes for us."
"But what will we do with these chain mails and robes?"
"Take few for our party members, the rest of it…well, you can sell it."
Both of their eyes are shining like a dog when they found a meat and they thanked me for my generosity. Well, to be honest, I don't know what must I do with these armors, but well, since the Reserve Team needs supplies, why not sell these to them instead.
"Kaichou, where are you going?"
"I'd like to go to a mine on the western side of these mountains. I need to gather few Iron Ores to make dagger and sword. I also want to ask the miners to return. Robert, let's go. Oh, I'll leave this base to you, Mikazuchi-san, Vetto-san." Mikazuchi nodded, but before I go, Vetto requested three Opal and Agate Ores from me.
"Scolded by Kaichou, eh? Yuna-san, you were quite naughty…"
Luna teased Yuna while tickled her waist. Of course, Yuna was surprised and yelled at Luna. She accidentally smacked Luna's head with her staff until she fainted.
Robert and I walk to west where the mine located. On there, we passed through steep mountain trails and encountered obstacles like big boulders that came rolling down toward us, over-sized scorpion or bird beasts and even Earthworm. Sometimes, we even need to "run on the wall" to reach the other side of mountain. It's really hard for amateurs or people who aren't used for this.
I grab a root and swing over the canyon. I landed on other side of road perfectly, but suddenly Robert pulled me to a gap between walls. Shortly, a giant boar ran past us and fell into the canyon. We took a peek on it, and of course, the boar is dead. Robert put it on his inventory and we continue our trip to the mine.
We walked until we reached a small waterfall on the edge of cliff. Robert asked me to rest here and we climbed the cliff. We reached a beautiful spot there. On there, there are a vast emerald green grassland, small forest and small river that look like a paint for me.
"Beautiful isn't it? I found this spot when I mapped this area. Only you and I who know this spot right now."
"I'm amazed. It looks like a real masterpiece of art for me."
"Yup, but sadly, this scenery won't last for long…look on there."
Robert pointed his finger on the north. I saw crimson clouds and sky covered the northern area. Sometimes, I saw three or more crimson thunders struck the Gaia. I also can't see clearly the Sol on there.
"Well, this place will be turned into wasteland sooner or later. Let's enjoy this while we still can." Robert walked to a tree near us and he is sitting there while drinking his water. Meanwhile, I'm still standing, staring the chaotic view far away from us.
"Don't stare at that sinful scenery. Do you want to drink too, Aniki?" I am surprised a little and walked to him. I picked my water sack from my inventory and I drink it.
"Hey Aniki, about that name topic, I think you are the one who has the weirdest name among us."
"Bppppffftttt—!" I spilled out my water. Robert is grinning at me.
"Uohok! Egh…! Do…ohok…not say…cough…funny things when I'm still drinking Robert!"
"Oh, sorry, sorry…I have been wandering that until now. I feel like other party leaders are confused how to call you. Look, you have "Ishizaki Haruhisa" and "von Alexandria" as your name. People who once lived in Yamato Island or knew that tradition will call you "Ishizaki" rather than "Alexandria" as your family name, which is confusing for people who aren't living there."
Yes, that is right. My name is a bit weird. Mother told me that she gave birth me on Yamato Island when that shitty shota had a business on there, exactly on Konoe Empire. But that shitty shota, even though mother had told him to follow Elven naming tradition, he still used Yamato Island naming tradition. Even worse, he didn't tell mother about this and wrote my name in birth document without her permission. Unfortunately, he repeated it again and now my little sister is the victim of his foolishness.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. People who live or once lived in Yamato Island will call me "Ishizaki-san" or "Ishizaki-dono" but the people who don't know about that will saying "how rude of them, calling a noble with his front name." It's quite confusing, I remember I saw and heard Naval-dono and Zack-dono debated how to call my name the right way, until Kenzia-dono suggested to call me as they like."
Robert giggled a little and he stands up. He walks ahead to west and I followed him shortly after that. I looked back for a bit and I saw that sinful scenery is coming closer to us. I can't help but feel scared because I knew everything that happened inside there from the reports that written in Dwarven Kingdoms' report. I feel scared because I still haven't had an experience when handling [Rain of Chaos] problem and I'm also feel scared because I don't want lead to my comrades into their death.
…I can only grip both of my arms tightly while thinking about that.
"Aniki, what are you staring at? Let us make haste!"
"Oh, right! Coming!" I ran to Robert who has left me far behind.