V3C2
Rikka brought the paper to the guild receptionist while holding the paper proudly
Auel stared at him for a moment before sighing and following behind
"Good morning, how can I help you?" the receptionist greeted politely
"Yes, we would like to take this quest" Rikka handled over the quest paper
"Alright, let me check the requirements first"
She carefully read through the quest paper requirement
"Does your party have any Silver-rank adventurer?"
"Yes" Auel showed his rank plate to the receptionist
The receptionist nodded before stamping the quest paper
"Everything is fine. Good luck on your quest"
"So" Rikka stretched his arms "are we doing this quest today?"
"I think we can do it today" Auel answered "it's only an investigation quest"
"By the way, where is Erin?"
"She said she went to the city library"
"Hmm… why did she go to the library?"
"What else, borrowing some books"
"Well, let's go then"
They both headed toward the city library
Once inside, they immediately scanned the library, trying to find Erin
Rikka spotted her first and tried to call her "Eri-"
Before he could finish Auel immediately covered his mouth
"What are you doing, we're in library"
"Hehe… I'm sorry"
They walked toward the receptionist desk
"Hi Erin" Rikka greeted more quietly this time
"Ah, Rikka, Auel," She replied "what bring you guys here?"
"We have taken another quest" Rikka explained proudly "and we are going to do it today"
"Is it another bandit quest?"
"Nope" he grinned "it's an investigation quest"
"Investigation quest?" Erin tilted her head "What kind of quest is that?"
"It's a quest where we are going to investigates an area or a creature" Auel explained "We don't necessarily have to fight it."
"Yes, it should be easy" Rikka added confidently "That's why we thought we could finish it today"
"Then… I'll go home first to put this book and prepare" Erin said while held the book close to her chest "Where we should meet?"
"Meet at the south gate" Auel answered
"Ok, please wait for me"
Erin went back home to prepare herself
"Hey, you're Rikka, right?" Laura suddenly asked from behind the counter
"Yes, I'm Rikka, and you?" Rikka smiled naturally
"Laura"
That was all she said before returning to organize books
Rikka blinked
"Wait… what's with her?"
"I don't know" Auel replied "but she is the one Erin used to teach"
"Tch… with that personality, I doubt she'll ever learn magic"
"Whatever, let's just wait at the gate"
The two left the library and headed toward the south gate
Not long after, Erin arrived with her staff
"Sorry I'm keeping you guys waiting"
"It's fine let's go" Rikka replied
The three of them headed toward the quest location
Along the way, Rikka glanced at the book Erin carried
"By the way, what kind of book did you just borrow earlier?" Rikka asked
"It's about advance magic" She answered "someone recommended it to me"
"Wow, so you can use advance magic now?"
"N-No" She shook her head quickly "I'm still learning how to use it, in fact I'm still having trouble on controlling it"
"Hmm… It seems we are having the same problem now"
"Same problem? What do you mean?"
"Yeah" Rikka sighed dramatically "I was training to use the same technique that Auel use but I kept on failing"
"Owh… sorry to hear that"
"It's fine, we just need to train more to get better"
They kept walking while having a chit-chat, until they met an on hut near a forest
"Hey is that the place?" Rikka asked
Auel pulled the quest paper and read it carefully "Yes, an old hut with some grass field around it"
As they approached, the hut looked both old and strangely maintained at the same time
The walls were worn down from age, yet patches of fresh repair could be seen everywhere. The chimney released thin smoke into the air, and the fence surrounding the area looked recently fixed
Auel knocked the door once, but no answer at all
"Are you sure this is the place?" Erin asked quietly
Auel glanced around the grass field
"Yeah, there is no other hut around here, it should be the place"
Auel knocked the door again
But this time, footsteps answered from inside
The door opened and a man showed up
A blonde man almost on 30, his hair was chin length, with chin-length hair and a thin but tall figure
His clothes were messy, and his entire appearance looked unorganized from head to toe
Yet despite that, he smiled warmly
"Sorry, I keep you waiting but who are you guys?" He said with a smile
"We are from the Adventurers' Guild" Auel showed him the quest paper "We're here for the investigation quest"
"Owh yeah please come in first"
The three entered the hut
The moment they stepped inside, both Erin and Rikka froze in amazement
The interior was overflowing with strange objects
Weird looking staff, a display from a weird creature, Books scattered across the floor, ancient ornaments covered in symbols none of them recognized
Even the walls were filled with papers containing bizarre writings
The man laughed a little bit "I'm sorry it's looks so messy"
Three of them sat on the couch while the man preparing some drinks
Auel silently examined the writings on the walls from afar, but he couldn't figure what kind of language did it use
The man returned carrying cups of tea before sitting across from them
"I forgot to introduce myself" he said "my name is Sihr"
The three of them introduce themselves
Rikka glanced around once more
"By the way what exactly are these things?" Rikka asked
"Owh…" Sihr smiled brightly "collecting and doing some research about gods?"
"Gods? You mean Gaia?" Erin questioned
"Yes, Gaia is one of them, but there are a lot of them other than Gaia. But Gaia is the most widely known"
Then his eyes lit up with excitement
"Do you also interest in these things?"
"No," Auel answered immediately. "I don't believe in Gods"
"Why?"
Auel's voice became colder
"Because I don't understand where they are whenever humans need them"
Sihr stared at him quietly for a moment
"Hmm… I see, what about you" he turned toward Rikka
"Well, I don't really know much about Gods"
Finally, his gaze moved toward Erin
"W-Well, it just… You see I'm a magic caster but I learned to use magic without knowing Gaia"
He blinked
"Really? That weird?"
"Y-yeah, that's why I get interested about Gaia lately because whenever I read a book about magic, they keep mentioning about Gaia"
The moment Sihr heard that, his expression brightened even further
"Then do you want to know more about Gaia"
Erin hesitated and looked at Auel, he gave a small nod
"Yes, I would like to hear about it" Erin replied
"Hmm… where should we start, do you know how this world created?"
"No"
Sihr immediately stood up and began searching through piles of books scattered across the floor
After digging through several stacks, he finally pulled one free and opened it
The image was about the map of the world; In the middle of the map there was a big island surrounded by another island which looked like a ring
"This is the world we live in" He said proudly "the outer continent which looks like a ring is where humans lived" he pointed at the south of the outer island "This is our location"
"So, humans lived in the outer island what about this island?" She asked while pointing at the massive island at the center
Sihr's smile slowly faded
"…That," he said softly, "is where humanity used to live"
"Used to?" Rikka frowned
Sihr nodded
"Yes, so, in the beginning Gaia created the world only the central land and then she filled it with life"
His fingers slowly traced the map
"Humans lived peacefully there. And Gaia herself walked among them"
"But the problem is" He continued quietly "the existence of Gaia itself"
Sihr's eyes narrowed slightly
"Whenever humans get near Gaia, they received a little bit of her power"
"Hang on, they became powerful when they get near Gaia" Rikka asked
"If someone merely saw her for a moment, they could gain power"
"If they touched even a strand of her hair, they would change"
"If they heard even a single word from her…"
He paused
"They could obtain power beyond imagination"
"And among humanity, there were those who stood closest to Gaia"
"Those people became incredibly powerful"
"At first, they were admired"
"But eventually… they began seeing themselves as superior beings"
The atmosphere inside the hut grew heavier
"From here everyone was tried everything to get close to Gaia, until they tried to kill each other just for power"
"K-kill? Did Gaia do anything stop them?" Erin asked
Sihr lowered his eyes
"No, Gaia really loved the creature she created too much, she could not bring herself to harm the creatures she created, but at the same time she didn't want humans to kill each other"
"Until there were an insane people between them, they think about something that… human could ever think"
"What is it?" Rikka asked
"They wanted to eat Gaia"
Silence filled the room
"They thought that if mere contact with Gaia they could become powerful, then consuming her would grant even greater power"
"And then these insane people attacked Gaia and killed her, which in the same time Gaia didn't want to resist, because she loved her creature"
Sihr's expression darkened
"The moment they ate Gaia the immense power filled their body, even more powerful than human could ever imagine"
Erin unconsciously tightened her grip on her staff
"Which let them to outbreak, they killed every single human in the main continent trying to get more powerful by eating other who carried traces of Gaia's blessing, the main continent descended into madness"
Rikka swallowed slowly
"So, you mean… Gaia is dead"
"Well, it's quite complicated, but somehow Gaia could revive herself"
Sihr suddenly laughed softly "It's sound weird, but she is still a God so reviving herself should be an easy task"
"And after she revived herself, she created the outer island and then create humans again, but this time she restricted herself from having contact with human"
"To prevent the same tragedy from happening again"
"But as I said before, Gaia really loved her creature, she couldn't handle to meet and talk to them"
"So, sometimes she revealed herself to some people just to relieved her loneliness and of course these people got a little bit of her power"
"And the Gods that people worships nowadays are usually these people which already had fragments of Gaia's power"
Sihr smiled faintly
"I don't really like to call them Gods, because the only God for me is Gaia and I'm not the only one thinking about it therefor these people are called Batara nowadays, and for those crazy people in the main island are called nightmare"
"But there's barely any proof any of this actually happened" Auel cut him
"Well, you are not wrong" Sihr admitted immediately. "There are countless creation myths in this world."
"That's why I collecting and studying this subject"
"And that" he said while looking directly at them "is why your quest is important to me"
"What do you mean?" Auel suspicion kept getting higher
"The thing that I want you guys to investigates" Sihr smiled "is a nightmare"