Unsealing Emptiness

The only downside would be to convince the higher-ups. Borin sighed as he began to explain;

“The mission was issued personally by Duke Edwin. It shows the importance he placed in it.”- Borin wanted the kids in front of him to know the significance of the task.

“Explain the details already...”- Ozul said with a deadpan face. He didn’t have time for this bullsh*t.

“So it’s like this... Duke Edwin wouldn’t give the exact details, but there are some locations that he wants us to ‘explore’.”

“He also specified that the mission details should not, in any circumstances, leak out. So, you will have to sign this contract for me to explain in detail.”- Borin also couldn’t just reveal all the information.

The contract was a Magical Item. This Magical Item, when signed by someone, will send a streak of Mana in that person’s body. That streak of Mana would then bind itself with the heart of that person.

Every human had Heart in them. So this Magical Binding Item was practical on every human.

.....

The prerequisite was that the person in question had to sign the Item himself and willingly. If the contract is activated, all the clauses automatically apply to the user.

He or she will then not be able to escape the punishment if the contract is breached.

Ozul read all the conditions. The contract only stated that if they were to in any way reveal the contents of this mission, they would die.

Since there was nothing too harsh, Ozul had no problem signing it. There was no reason for him to divulge the information for some petty money.

To tell the truth, he wasn’t even interested in the rewards. Ozul only wanted to know the mission details. He asked for the pen from Borin.

Borin seemed to hesitate as the contracts such as this were only signed by the team leaders. He looked towards Blaze and Raven, but he only received cold gazes in return.

“Young man, I don’t want to sound rude. But only the team leaders sign the contracts.”- Borin professionally stated.

But just as he said this, the temperature in the room drop at an alarming rate! Borin readied himself as he felt like some enemy had attacked!

“What?! You think Master is not competent enough to be the team leader!?”- Blaze couldn’t accept any more disrespect towards Ozul from these people.

His words dumbfounded Borin. The guy he thought to be the leader was calling this ‘not-even-a-Mage’ kid his Master?! What?!

But then he remembered how Blaze and Raven behaved around this guy. He couldn’t understand how this kid was the leader, but being a professional as he was, he quickly collected himself.

He was also a Rank-5 Mage, but he had a feeling that if he were to fight Blaze or Raven, the result would not be in his favor.

“*Cough* Hahaha... I was just joking. Here take this pen.”- He may have his pride as a Rank-5 Mage and the Branch Master, but losing two Rank-5 Mages because of that would cause him extreme pain!

He didn’t even ask why they followed the not-even-a-Mage kid and quickly handed the pen to him.

Ozul knew how the contracts worked, so he took the pen and wrote ‘Ozul’ at the bottom right corner of the paper.

He had read about these types of Magical Items. As expected, the streak of Mana shot right into him from the parchment.

Seeing the wisp of Mana entering Ozul’s body, Borin knew that the contract was established.

However, Ozul knew better because he noticed that when the wisp of Mana entered his body, it couldn’t find any heart to bind with!

How could the Craftsmen who created these Magical Items know that there is an anomaly in this world that has no heart?!

The wisp of Mana just stayed there without doing anything.

Ozul wanted to expel it right away, but he thought that Borin might notice it and ask countless stupid questions.

Since the contract was ‘established’, Borin started explaining the details;

“The higher-ups also did not provide me with sound information. They said that Duke Edwin wanted us to bring something back.”-

“Something? Did they not even explain what is it?”- Raven asked.

“I know it’s unreasonable on their part, but they are also helpless as Duke Edwin himself didn’t tell them the specifics.”- Borin replied with a wry smile. He continued;

“He only explained that someone had stolen this ‘thing’ from him. And he wants it back even if we have to kill the culprits.”

‘This thing... What could it be?’- Ozul thought as his interest piqued in this ‘thing’ that his ‘uncle’ so desperately wanted back.

“The task is dangerous as someone who could steal from a Duke would surely not be so weak. That’s why I wanted you guys to work together...sigh.”- Borin.

“Where will we even begin to find this thing? Do we have any clues related to the culprits?”- Blaze asked.

“This... The only clue is that the culprits are the same people that are behind the recent strange activities.”

“Recent strange activities?”- Ozul spoke. He wanted to know what strange activities were Borin talking about.

“Oh, you might not know. But there have been multiple odd events in these recent days around the Capital and the surrounding cities!”- Borin continued;

“Beasts in the forests are acting weirdly. Sometimes, people would even find Beasts working together!”-

“You guys are not the only ones who have accepted the job. There will be many other Mercenaries around the Capital City trying to complete the mission.”- Borin told them.

The area of search was huge. Hence, a single team was not enough.

‘Strange events... So, I was right... The Rank-5 Beasts also behaved in this weird way.’- Ozul thought when he heard that these unusual activities were getting frequent around the Capital City.

“How much time do we have?”- Blaze took the lead.

“Duke Edwin wanted the ‘thing’ back as soon as possible. So, you guys might wanna leave today.”- Borin said.

Adron City also had reported these strange activities, but the Cities near the Capital suffered the most. Traveling there would be for the best if they wanted to find out what was happening.

Master Borin exchanged a few other details before the trio left the Mercenary Guild.

—————————

When they walked back home, Blaze had a troubled face. Ozul noticed this and said;

“Ask what you want.”-

Blaze eased his facial expressions and did not hesitate anymore.

“Master, did we really have to let them go away just to accept this mission?”- Raven also did not stop him as she had the same question.

“Blaze, remember that my limbs were chopped off on the day of my birth... by my very own ‘father’?”- Ozul continued when he saw Blaze and Raven nod;

“My ‘father’ is dead, but... my limbs are safe and sound. Of course, getting my parts back is the priority... Besides, I could care any less about their pathetic lives.”-

“But... What does getting back your limbs have to do with this Mission?”- This time Raven asked.

“You forgot, Raven?”- Ozul looked at Raven a little weirdly. This girl had remembered even small habits of him! And now she is asking the relation of his parts to this Mission?

“What is my name?”- Ozul gave a hint when he saw that she was still puzzled.

“Ozul Ashfall... OH!”- Raven blurted out his name, and only then did she remember that Duke Edwin’s now-deceased brother had a concubine with the name of Sylvia Ashfall!

How dumb could she be to forget it?! She was even ashamed of herself now!

However, Blaze was quite puzzled as he tilted his head. Was there something that he missed?

Noticing his confusion, Ozul cleared it away saying;

“Duke Edwin is my dear ‘uncle’... who I have reasons to believe that he has at least one of my limbs...”- Leaving these words, Ozul walked away.

Raven and Blaze stood rooted on the ground. Raven, because she was ashamed that she forgot such an obvious point. Blaze, because he needed some time to digest this new information.

Only a few seconds later did they get out of their daze, and hurriedly followed after Ozul.