Chapter 901 - The Monarch is coming!
Scampering to get up, the once limp man shot upwards, his head nearly bumping into Jason, who narrowly avoided it.
Hearing him blabber something about a monarch confused Jason, alongwith Jennifer, who had arrived next to him only a moment later.
Their last mission was completed, but that was not important anymore.
Now, it was replaced by figuring out what exactly the young man meant and finding out the reason behind him being terrified out of his wits.
A steady supply of moonlight transmuted mana and Jason's reassuring presence seemed to calm down the young man, who was much younger than he had expected.
His disheveled look and tattered clothes had initially thrown Jason off but now when he looked at him closely, he realized that the young man was in his mid-teens, which made sense.
After all, reaching the Lique stage was quite easy with the surrounding energies that were of exceptional purity and density.
As such, Jason spoke calmly with the teenager trying to make him comfortable and open up to them both.
"We are here to protect you. There is no need to be scared. Please calm down!"
His calm voice relaxed the mid-teen, and when he looked into Jason's golden eyes while sensing the Celestia aura lightly enveloping him, the youth was unable to hold back his tears and began to sob bitterly.
This astonished Jason, but considering that the young man had been lost for several days, without anyone actively searching for him, this reaction was quite normal.
Feeling sorry for him, Jason lightly patted the back of the youth, only to sense that the youth reached for Jason and hugged him tightly.
Dumbfounded by the change of events, Jason stiffened for a moment, only to continue patting the back of the youth. He didn't even notice that he had embraced Petri as well, who was coiled around Jason's chest.
All of his soulbonds, were far more shocked than Jason himself to see a stranger hug him. It had taken them a lot of time to accept Jennifer's constant presence. As such, their first thought was that this young man wanted to snatch him away too.
After all, Jason's body was only theirs, and maybe, if they had to grudgingly accept, a little bit of Jennifer's too.
However, that was already it, and nobody else was allowed to touch him.
Yet, even though the youth appeared to be frazzled and in dire need of help, they couldn't feel empathy for him as they did not understand the gravity of the current situation.
It took them a great deal of self-control to not drive the youth away from Jason, who gently pulled the young man away from him after a few minutes had passed.
"Can you please tell me what exactly you meant with the monarch? And is he coming to this place or the city?"
Unsure what exactly was going on, Jason could only ask a few questions, trying to figure out the situation.
Unfortunately, the mere mention of 'monarch' made the youth shiver once again, causing Jason to feel like the youth was truly traumatized.
His mental state was probably far more critical than he first assumed, which was something Jason figured out because the name 'monarch' was not something even a youth would blurt out lightly.
As such, he quickly picked up the youth, ignoring that he was once again crying, or that he began to shiver.
Telling his soulbonds to return to the soul world, Jason saw them throw him angry glares before they reluctantly accepted his decision.
Afterward, he manifested Artemis' wings before looking at Jennifer, who simply nodded her head before unfurling both pairs of her wings.
She figured that the situation was far more complicated than they first assumed, which was quite a bummer because they had only hoped to quickly solve Tier-2 and Tier-3 missions and leave.
Thus, there were quite a few issues at hand considering that something related to a monarch was going on.
WIth that in mind, Jason didn't hesitate in the slightest as he used his moonlight transmuted mana and divine energy in order to exert the Hermes Celeration technique.
Catapulting into the air, Jason shot up while Jennifer followed suit, exerting her respective movement technique before returning to the city.
The return trip didn't take all that long because they ignored certain borders, knowing that the beasts that populated the territory were too weak to even approach them.
Despite their speed, it still took them a few hours to arrive in the city, and after arriving above the mission hall they stopped.
Moments later, they landed on the ground, and Jason wanted to let go of the youth.
However, instead of stepping on the ground, the youth clung to him, which forced Jason to enter the mission hall with him.
Sighing deeply, he approached the counter where the same young receptionist from before was standing, accepting others' mission requests while taking in the pieces of evidence for the missions that had been started.
Seeing Jason, and the youth, the receptionist's eyes widened slightly before he exclaimed in shock.
"Miles!? Did you really go to the Lique stage territory???"
The receptionist seemed astonished, and he slowly stepped away from behind the counter, which allowed Jason to see for the first time that the young receptionist had a disability. He only had one leg.
He definitely had prosthetic help, but his soul force fluctuations were a mess.
When Miles, the youth saw the receptionist, he dissolved in a fresh bout of tears once again as he let go of Jason,
"Brother!!!"
Reuniting, Miles hugged his brother, causing Jason to smile lightly as he finally realized something.
'So, the mission was from him? He couldn't go by himself and thus, created the mission…alright.' There were still a few things that made no sense in his opinion, but Jason simply accepted them.
How could he know that the brother duo was all on their own, and had no family or friends except each other, making it impossible for the crippled receptionist to save his little brother?
It was great that Jason could help, however, that didn't answer the other doubt he had in mind, which caused him to ask.
"Who is the monarch?"
His voice was not loud, but nonetheless, his voice rang through the entire mission hall, causing every single living being to quiet down in an instant.
All of their eyes turned towards him, and it was just a moment later that the sound of a hairpin dropping thundered through the entire hall.
At this moment, the receptionist who had also stiffened, couldn't help but look at Jason in doubt and shock.
"What…do you want to know about the monarch?! And how did you get to know this name?"
Jason was not sure why he was suddenly being investigated out of nowhere, but turning his head towards the youth, Miles, he could only answer.
"He said that the monarch is coming, and that we should run."
The answer caused the already terrified young receptionist to start shivering as he looked at his brother before he asked,
"Is..that true?"
Miles was also shivering and nodded his head, as tears pooled in the corner of his eyes while he began to stutter.
"I-I–I encountered one…one of the Monarch's Guards…and…and he was speaking to me!! He was smiling as if he was…about to rip me apart, only to tell me that they would be coming soon…."
While the crowd took a collective gasp, Jason grew more utterly confused.
He had no idea who the monarch was, let alone the guards, Miles had now mentioned.
Yet, he remained quiet believing that he would be able to get to know more information by just listening to the siblings.
And, true to his expectations, more than five minutes of conversation occurred before the receptionist exclaimed yet again.
"The City lord has to know!!"
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