As it was still in the middle of winter, the air that blew in through the opened window was almost ice-cold as it rapidly reduced the temperature in the well designed and decorated office at one of the upper floors in the small cattle at the center of the city, before the room was immediately warned back up by the magic air conditioning in the office.

This was the Zorak Family’s branch castle located in Winged city. While there were several buildings in the Royal borough that had been deducted for administrative duties, most of the said administrative duties of the city were still conducted from this castle.

At this moment, there were two figures seated in the office even though it was still so early in the morning as it was currently the break of dawn and the sun had barely even covered the entire city in its rays. While it was cold outside, the weather in the city was strangely better than it had been for the past few days as the thick ashed grey clouds in the sky were a lot more sparse this morning, allowing for the refreshing light of the sun to shine on the large city.

However, the two figures that sat on the couch at the corner of the room did not seem particularly pleased with the weather as they had a solemn expression on their faces while whispering to themselves even though there was a third figure standing by the corner of the main entrance to the room in silence.

The third figure was a young man that was dressed in a typical but exquisite butler’s outfit. He had an air of nobility around him as he stayed motionless in the room not making a sound nor even changing or adjusting his posture. However, his body suddenly move from its still state as he proceeded to grab the handle of the large door next to him and opened it in a monotonous but dignified manner.

The moment his body had moved and even before he had reached for the door, the two figures in the room quickly shut their mouths as they hurriedly stood up to welcome the person that was about to enter the room.

An aged man with a full head of grey walked silently into the office through the opened door with a young lady dressed in a maids outfit trailing behind him as he went behind the large fancy desk at the end of the room and took his seat.

He was an elderly man that seemed to be in his forties if one was to judge his age by Human standards. He had a chiseled face and his back was as straight as the blade of a sword. His face was cleanly shaved and he had deep blue colored pupils, wearing an elegant black suit with a similar colored long black coat draped over his shoulders.

Taking a seat, he raised his head to look at the two men standing by the side with their heads still slightly lowered in a respectful but not subservient bow that show their lack of loyalty to the nobles but respect for the ruling power of the city.

“You can have a seat.”

Pointing at the two chairs in front of his desk, he offered the pair a seat and they accepted with a nod as they quickly moved from the corner of the room and took a seat before Aur.

One of these said figures was an elderly man with a full head of whites. He wore an expensive-looking white mages robe with gold inlaid threading but had a simple design. His long white beard gave him the appearance of a typical wizard in various folklore and his eyes were narrowed by sharp.

The other person was a middle-aged man with blonde slick back hair and a prominent mustache. Although he didn’t appear too old, or rather was not, he still had an air of someone who has been through countless struggles and had a vast amount of experience in life.

They were both the guild leaders of Winged City’s Hunter and Merchant guilds respectively. The Hunter guild leader, Ivan Geriyl, and the Merchant guild leader Riokar Villard were now seated in the presence of the mayor of Winged City, Aur Zorak.

“So, what brings you both to my office so early in the morning? It is already an unusual thing for each of you to visit me of your own accord much less together. So why?”

Aur asked that question with his usual tone and expression but if one were observant, they would see the waves in his eyes. He surely felt a bit concerned about the sudden visit of the two leaders of the largest Independent powers in the city. Their independent organization had enough strength to almost rival the influence and power of the Great Five.

Meaning, their organization was each stronger than an ordinary demon lord.

The one to answer his question was Ivan who casually stroke his beard as he spoke. “The Hunter guild received a report yesterday on the discovery of an unexplored mine.”

“An unexplored mine? Here in Sentro?”

“Yes indeed, according to the ones who discovered it, the mine is located in the Father’s pass, the entrance had accidentally been revealed in one of the multitudes of caves in the area.”

“The Fabelt Pass huh? That’s not ideal is it?”

“Yes indeed, the place is a lot closer to Silverwing city than it is to us so if we don’t act quickly, we might lose the rights of the mine to Silverwing.”

‘That is true. Still, that doesn’t explain why this couldn’t wait till later in the day, and why you couldn’t just send in a report rather than the both of you coming in person.”

“That is true. That information alone isn’t urgent enough to warrant our visit. I myself have several Merchant to attend to and had to push all my appointments. Including the one I was looking forward to.”

“Yes indeed, we could’ve just easily prepared a report on the mine containing the results of the pioneers’ exploration and to make the request for their reward as well.”

“The city would then be the ones to decide whether to risk it and send knights to clean out the nest of the monsters in the mine or hire the Merchant and Hunter Guilds’ to handle the clean up before sending in the miners.”

“If you’re both aware of that, why in Neron did you disturb me so early in the morning.”

“That is indeed the question.”

Upon hearing those words from Ivan, Aur’s eyes narrowed and the air in the room got heavier although Ivan didn’t seem bothered by it. However, if things went on like this, Riokar knew it wouldn’t end well for Ivan. He quickly pretended to cough and then proceeded to answer Aur’s question.

“According to what we heard from the Hunters that had discovered the mine and pioneer it. Their first conclusion was that the mine was a grade 3 Gold mine based on its depth and low concentration of ores within it. Although we still think that assumption was accurate, it still turns out the mine was not any ordinary grade 3 mine.”

“Is that so. Then they were able to find a more valuable metal inside of it I presume. That’s good, such a mine is rare, especially if it’s on the low-grade side. What metal did they find besides gold, Platinum, Orichalcum?”

Aur seemed pleased with the information as he came to that conclusion. It was indeed a very good thing to find more valuable metals in low-grade mines especially one of a mine as insignificant as a gold mine. The reason for this was simple. Monsters were attracted to high-quality ores and generally build their nest in Mines so the higher grade a mine was the more monster nest was there.

This was also affected by the quality of the minerals in the mine so even a Grade 1 silver mine would not be as valuable as a Grade 3 platinum mine unless the silver mine was a double standard that held more valuable minerals hidden within it.

“No, no, no… None of those, they only found Runite.”

“Huh?”

For the first time in a while, Aur’s expression visibly changed. It was a mixture of shock and confusion although it quickly returned to normal as he stroke his chin and thought deeply.

“Are you sure about this?”

“We’ve confirmed that the demon wasn’t lying to us as well. It seems she had stumbled upon a different cavern inside the mine that housed a vast amount of Runite in it.”

“That’s amazing. If we can obtain those Runites, it would be a lot easier for our blacksmiths to produce a lot more magic weapons and equipment than what we are currently able to make. Such a thing could even shift the balance of power between the great five.”

Aur stood up from his seat and walked over to the opened window behind him. He stared at the city before him and he thought deeply. ‘If I’m the one to achieve such a thing, surely the family would greatly reward me for this. I should be able to easily increase my ranking within the family in an instant.’

“If a magic metal is available for us in such a place, then we should prepare for the clearing of the mine immediately.”

Contrary to his expectations, the two guild leaders before him did not seem enthused by his order, rather they just stared at each other before sighing in slight dejection.

“Is there something else?”

“Yes. According to the girl, the cavern with the Runite was also the nesting place of a different type of monster.”

“I see… Well, that’s to be expected. Such a material filled with magic essence would surely attract monsters to it. What type of monsters are we talking about?”

“Night Terrors.”

“Oh…”

Aur’s expression froze the moment he heard the monsters’ name. It wasn’t that the Night Terrors were impossible to deal with but, they were just such a troublesome group of monsters. It wasn’t just because they could fly and their movements were sporadic, but their fear inducement ability and sound wave attacks were hard to prepare for.

The existence of these monsters alone made the cost of mining the Runite skyrocket as they would have to equip a large group of fighters with the right set of equipment to face the night creatures. Still, even with the extra cost, this would still be a very profitable venture.

“However, as he was just accepting and digesting the information he had just received and was about to respond. Ivan suddenly spoke:

“That wasn’t all they encountered in there you know.”

“There’s more?”

“Yes indeed, we also need the mention that this mine contains multiple monster nests as the group had encountered different types of monsters in there and almost died each time.”

“Multiple monster nest? Are you positive this is a Grade 3 mine?”

“The Hunter’s are sure of it and so are we but we also have some reservations.”

Meaning.”

“We discussed and analyzed the information they provided us throughout the night and we’ve concluded that this is not a single mine.”

“What?”

Yes. According to them, the mine is a labyrinth of tunnels but they had not proceeded through the regular tunnels but had dug through the walls into another tunnel. There they found more powerful monsters including the Night Terrors and Lesser Djieien.”

“I see…That would surely make this tricky.”

“That’s not even the worst part.”

“Mr. Ivan. I consider myself a patient man but please, do not test me. Stop beating around the issue and spit it out, I don’t have all day.”

“Hahaha… My bad my bad Young lord. I seem to have developed a flair for the dramatic in my old age. Indeed I have. Hahaha…”

—Sigh

“Forgive him lord Aur. The years must be finally catching up with up. The simple truth about this situation that makes it so troublesome for us is that the group had encountered something worse than the Night Terrors within the depths of the Runite cavern.”

“And what is it.”

“It was something capable of killing off several Night Terrors within the blink of an eye. Something that always lurks within the shadows. According to the girl who had been so terrified that she could barely escape, it had been a devil.”

“—A what!”

“A green-eyed devil.”

“…”