In the 'Helpers''s headquarters or home, Emerald was tranquilly doing her paperwork, enjoying the taste of the tea which was brewed by Diamond.
Diamond was lending her hand to help Emerald with filling out half of the paperwork while sitting down on the couch next to the coffee table.
It was then that a sudden knock on the door was made, yet it didn't surprise Emerald and Diamond since those two grew accustomed to it.
Emerald spoke while reading one of her documents. "You may come in."
As the door opened, it felt like the room had unexpectedly heated up by a heater, even though the room had no heaters to begin with.
Emerald and Diamond knew who it was without even looking. Thus, Diamond asked. "What do you wish to say, Ruby?"
"Oh right.. Why did I come here again?" Ruby said, scratching her head to try and remember why she came.
Out of the blue, the room's temperature changed from high to low as in the room was now like a freezer.
The sudden changes still didn't surprise Diamond and Emerald.
Sapphire came in, pinching Ruby's ear as she smiled coldly. "Did you not hear what the 'June' sisters said?"
"Oww oww! Of course, I listened! I just can't remember."
Emerald placed the paper down on her desk after finishing reading it, listening closely to what Sapphire and Ruby were saying.
Meanwhile, Sapphire let go of Ruby's ear. "Fortunately for you, I came just in case."
"I don't need your help. I can do this alone."
"I cannot leave you alone, you might cause another trouble."
"I do not!"
With how their conversation was going, the room changed from hot to cold in every passing second, obviously making it difficult for anyone in the room to focus on their tasks.
It was getting out of hand, so Diamond halted doing her work and asked why they were here. "Sapphire and Ruby, did you come here with a report?"
Sapphire instantly stopped arguing with Ruby and replied to Diamond. "Yes, there has been a disturbance in the system. We are currently attempting to find what the cause is."
"What is that disturbance?"
"Someone had sent messages to a NPC called 'Payne Wayne', threatening him to let go of his daughter who is a player."
"What?!" Diamond was flabbergasted as she got up from the couch.
Emerald finally paused on looking through her paperwork and was now glancing at Sapphire with her full interest on. "Go on."
Ruby now recalled what she forgot, said to Emerald. "Ah yes, I remembered now."
Sapphire continued speaking so that Ruby wouldn't have the chance to say anything. "The messages not only were a threat, but managed to send out 500 coins to 'Payne Wayne' without our permission."
"..."
"If 'Payne Wayne' didn't let his daughter go, he would have died, along with his two daughters without any confirmation from us."
"Is that so?" Emerald spoke after hearing the report.
"Yes, Emerald."
"Then please proceed to search for the person responsible for this disturbance."
"As you wish."
"You may leave."
After Emerald said those words, Sapphire and Ruby quickly left without saying a word.
Diamond, walking toward Emerald, had her glance on the door as it closed. "What do you think of this, Emerald?"
"Without more detailed information, I won't think of the possible outcome yet."
"I should have known it was your response."
Emerald smiled for a long period of time before finally opening her mouth to say this. "But I pray that this is just a simple miscalculation."
"So do I." Diamond grinned back at Emerald as she went back to the couch and seated herself down, going back to doing her work again.
———
In the meantime..
Upon landing back to the ground, I was now next to a waterfall.
"Where are we..? U-Uncle?" Mya asked as she looked around her surroundings.
I smiled, going toward the waterfall. "Wait and see."
When I got close to the waterfall, I searched behind it to check for something on the stones. And once I spotted a small hole between two stones, I picked up a pebble and tossed it inside that hole.
Since Behemoth moved out of my arm to go on my shoulder, I could now move freely a little.
From there, a vibration was arising from the earth when a big opening unfolded before us, showcasing a secret door behind the waterfall.
I could notice how Mya was gaping to see something like this which made me chuckle in the process. Going in as quickly as I could since I knew the door would have disappeared and closed soon.
Once I got in with everyone, I began walking through the narrow tunnel. And as expected, the door behind me soon closed, meaning the light source was soon cut off.
"Ack..! I-It's dark..! W-What should we do..?!" Mya clinged onto me tightly while trembling from the fear of the dark.
Even though I was barely able to see my way through this tunnel, I knew I couldn't let a child like Mya be scared of the dark. Thus, I exhaled a sigh, reaching my hand out in my front.
[Imitation of 'Divine Flame' Lv. 3 has activated.]
On the palm of my hand, a fire was soon igniting from nothingness, illuminating its pure white light throughout the tunnel with ease.
Thanks to this, Mya was able to calm down a bit and admired the flaming hot white fire on my hand.
When she was almost moving her hands toward the flame, I immediately moved my hand away from her, thinking that Mya might get burned by the flame.
"Don't touch fire." I spoke, sounding a bit angry by how Mya almost stupidly hurt herself.
Mya flustered slightly before fidgeting with her fingers, apologizing to me. "I-I'm sorry.. I was attracted to the white fire.."
'Seriously.. this child needs parental supervision.' I shook my head in concerns, proceeding to move on deeper into the tunnel.
The tunnel may appear like we were going in a straight line but that was not true. Although it was hard for anyone to tell if we were going straightforward, we were actually going down slowly but surely.
This was because this tunnel was only designed to let people in, even if people suddenly found this tunnel, they wouldn't be able to escape it by going back up the tunnel.
'So nostalgic..' I smiled while I was moving, sensing Behemoth and Mirai feeling the same way to.
Not long after that, we came across a hole that seemed to be blocked by something on the other side.
"Did uncle g-go the wrong way?" Mya asked me, glancing straight at the hole.
In spite of it, it doesn't look like there was a hole to begin with to other people, I wasn't surprised by this since I already knew this.
I got nearer toward the hole, pushing the object that was blocking our way and eventually, another waterfall was revealed.
Until I got the object out of our way, I managed to go through the hole with everyone, avoiding the waterfall as I could, not to get everyone wet.
Soon after, I was now standing beside a pond with a waterfall, reminding me about the first encounter the original JoonChul came across.
Yes, this place was where Raiden took a bath leisurely while the original JoonChul had to fight undeads and such.
Suddenly, my mind just couldn't help but think of random stuff that I didn't ask for.
"Why am I even thinking about this..?" I unexpectedly asked myself out loud.
Mya got curious about what I spoke and questioned me. "T-Think about what, uncle?"
"It's nothing. Shall we go get your quest done?" I said, beginning to walk toward the place where the original JoonChul stayed in a jail cell.
"Y-Yes.." Mya seemed as though she was nosy about something, but she didn't wish to ask me.
I was certain it was not something important, for example, she would be asking me this question. 'How did you know this place?' and such.
Thankfully, she kept quiet instead of asking me. If it were Alaine, then this would be different.
———
As I traveled throughout this place, I had my eyes on the floors, because I didn't want to feel nostalgic which could slow down my pace.
However, by looking down meant that I had to glance at Behemoth and Mya in which I thought Mya would feel discomfort.
In addition to not being able to look up, since it might make Mirai fall down from my head, and I may not be able to walk properly without tripping on something if I look up.
'Just what am I doing?' I wished to facepalm or rub my forehead, but my hands were already preoccupied after Behemoth went back into my arm.
While I was thinking, I sensed something ominous as if someone was crawling beneath me.
In an instance, I leapt away from where I stood, putting down Mya and Behemoth before Lucifer appeared in my hand.
"Prepare yourself, Mya. And get ready to fight." I informed her, dual wielding my swords.
Mya responded swiftly as she took out her bow. "A-Ah.. yes?"
As soon as Mya pulled out an arrow from her quiver, a skeleton's hand emerged from the floor, busting out of it.
Instead of killing it the moment I saw it, I figured that I should let it live, considering I wanted to observe how Mya will undergo this situation.
When Mya drew her bow, a swarm of undeads came pushing out of the floors, destroying the ground as they moved.
I shifted my eyes over to Mya, thinking that Mya was prepared to shoot. However, instead I found her trembling like a rabbit in front of a tiger which made me reconsider my choices of putting her in my team.
"Mya! Focus! You need to attack!" I instructed Mya which caused her to let go of her bowstring, forcing the arrow to hit one of the undeads.
And it did nothing. "..."
"Eek! T-They are c-coming!" Mya shouted in fear.
'I need to do something.' I crouched down before her, holding her hands and giving them a kiss. "I know you can do it, Mya. Trust me."
Mya looked at me with her face blushing red. "I.. I-I w-wut..?"
I grinned, standing up swiftly to slash the undead that got near me.
From there, I hoped I was able to help Mya overcome this just a little, even if it's only a teensy bit.
"Ignite." I stood in front of Mya, starting to engulf my blades with the black lightning before swinging my two swords toward the undeads.
Those two swings caused a shockwave of lightning travelling past the undeads, shocking them in the process.