“Are you seriously telling me that there is not a single thing that can pinpoint us regarding the monster attacks? Absolutely nothing at all?” I asked in disbelief.

  “That’s not what I said. What I said was that we have inconclusive evidence that the church is related to the monster attacks. What we were able to find was that Father did send a letter to Son asking him to stop the attacks. But it does not show that either of them is in cahoots with the attacks directly, just suspicions about the other,” he answered.

  “What about the cure that they were happily giving out to people? What information did we discover about it?” I asked.

  “That… is even more appalling. There’s completely nothing whatsoever about the cure. No written notes or even a single mention about it anywhere,” he sighed.

  “H… how can this be? All that effort, for there to be nothing?! What is this?!!” I slammed my fist on the table.

  Rose came over quickly to hug my arm and gave me a serious look. That’s her sign to tell me to control my temper. I took a step back and thought about our time in the cave together.

  No, wait, hang on. I can’t do that! I’m not about to show a boner right in front of everyone when they have their eyes on me! Ok, calm down. Just clap your cheeks and breathe deeply… Phew, alright. That calmed me down somehow. Dammit, Rose, why did you have to make that memory sexual? I can’t use that without it making me horny.

  “Sorry about that. I’ve been losing my temper lately after unlocking Bloodlust. My apologies,” I bowed to all of them.

  “It’s fine, Zen. Been there, done that,” said John casually.

  “Alright, let me get things straight. Are we back to square one? Do we really know nothing at all about the monster attacks?” I asked all of them.

  “Sadly, that is the reality we’re facing. I know you want to pin them on the church, Zen. But without evidence, we can’t take any action. We do not do things based on our guts. So yes, we are back to square one, unfortunately,” he sighed.

  “Um… sir?” raised one of the Dark guild members.

  There was a sudden silence when the member spoke up and whispered to the Dark Lord, who excused himself to discuss with this member.

  “Sigh… this is not what I had in mind at all, for us to find absolutely nothing. How goes the evacuation of the villages in the outskirts? I trust the fund I provided is being put to good use?” I asked the remaining four guildmasters while I squeezed my nasal bone.

  “Of course. For someone as generous as you to provide us with such an opportunity, you can bet that we’ll make good use of it. That, and the members are quite happy to do a job that compensates well,” said the Dragon Lord.

  “We are almost done with the evacuation if you’re asking for the status. It… took some convincing for some of the villages, but at least they decided that it was better to seek shelter within the city walls. The monster attacks are getting more frequent and ferocious as time progresses,” sighed John.

  “I know, John. Which is why I needed to find the root cause of the attacks. Sadly, I couldn’t find anything. I’m sorry,” I sighed.

  “Hey, what are you sorry for? You’re doing something that matters to us, and we all appreciate that. It doesn’t matter if nothing comes up now; I know you’ll find something eventually, brother. Don’t let this get to you,” he came and comforted me.

  “Why wasn’t I informed of this earlier?!” shouted the Dark Lord from afar.

  Woah, I had never seen him this angry before. We couldn’t hear the discussion aside from the sudden outburst from the Dark Lord. We all turned to the Elementalist, and he told us that the Dark Lord would inform us himself after he was done. He is the only one that is able to hear the conversation from afar.

  I removed myself from their guildmaster's discussion and stood beside Rose. She made a smile when I turned to look at her, possibly asking me to cheer up. But how can I cheer up when we are back to square one? Daisy lives in this city, and every day her life is at stake. I will never let her travel alone outside of the city walls. The thing about the monster attacks is that they occur almost instantaneously, and they leave as fast as they arrive. I’ve tried to follow them myself, but their four legs outrun me even at my max speed. Their hit-and-run tactics are certainly effective at reducing our soldiers and guild members with each attack, causing casualties or injuries. They know their tactic works, yet we know next to nothing about them. Whether they have a mastermind controlling their movements or how they even reproduce in the first place.

  I sighed loudly once again before the Dark Lord placed a paper on the table for all the guildmasters to see. I couldn’t see what it was from where I was standing, but I wasn’t in the nosy mood to check what it was. If it’s important, they will call me over to talk about it. I was feeling too depressed that I no longer have any leads on the monster attacks. And here I thought that I could make the city and its borders safer for Daisy to live in.

  There was a lot of chatter around the table that piqued Rose’s interest. She dragged me by the arm, and we headed closer to the table. As we proceeded closer, the Dark Lord grabbed the paper away before any of us could look and spoke to the other guildmasters.

  “Are we in agreement?” he asked them.

  All the guildmasters nodded, and the Dark Lord handed me the paper as he whispered, “For your eyes only.” I was taken aback when the Dark Lord told me, “We trust that you will choose the best course of action.” I glanced through all of them, puzzled, and read the paper’s contents with Rose. Obviously, ‘for my eyes only’ meant Rose is allowed to read as well. I’m not going to say no to my wife. If she wants to read, you let her read.

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  ***

  To the recipient in question,

  The monster attacks are just a warning. Should you continue on your path, the monsters will be the end of you. You will not be safe within your city walls. Consider this your only warning.

  ***

  I was horrified. Not by the contents of the paper entirely, but by the signature located at the bottom of this letter. I recognised the signature anywhere as it belonged to someone that I trusted. I gripped the letter tightly and left the hideout with Rose following behind me. I rushed straight home with the letter in tow.

  Daisy greeted us by the door when she heard us coming in, but I just gave her a simple pat on the head and rushed to my room. I quickly opened one of my locked drawers and began searching for an official letter from Peter. Where is it… there, found it.

  I placed both letters side by side and compared the signatures. Rose came over to check with me. I guess she was curious about whether the signature was legitimate too. There is no way Peter is the one behind all these monster attacks. What would he even gain by doing it in the first place? It just doesn’t make any sense.

  I covered my mouth. No matter how I cut it, the signature looks legitimate. Unless the sender of this letter is a professional signature forger, this letter seems to be from Peter himself. I slumped on my chair, trying to think of a reason as to why this letter even exists in the first place. And why is it found inside the church? Are they trying to frame Peter? But how did they forge his signature then?

  Hang on, if this letter is found inside the church, why would Father suspect Son then? Didn’t he read this letter? Or perhaps even he suspected that the letter was a fake? I am so confused as to what is happening right now.

  Daisy was standing on the doorway, peeking at both of us. I can see that she is getting worried when both of us returned home in such a serious manner and went straight to my room. Rose was still comparing the letters, but I can see that she is sweating from her forehead. I guess even she couldn’t find an excuse for him.

  I moved to the bed and gestured for Daisy to come in. She sat between my lap and I began petting her head while also combing her hair with my hands. She asked whether we were alright and I told her that we were. It was Rose’s turn to slump into the chair but she seemed hell-bent on finding some discrepancies between both letters.

  Daisy asked whether it was because of her, and I immediately told her that wasn’t the case. She had behaved herself during our time on the Northern continent, and according to Daffodil, she helped out with the chores along with finishing her homework all by herself. She asked me what the promised reward was that I was supposed to give her. Shoot! I had completely forgotten about it! I started thinking about what would be the best reward for her, and luckily, there is a place that she loves going. However, we limit the number of times we can bring her to that location so she doesn’t get bored of the place. Special places deserve special occasions only.

  “Let’s go to Fishyland since you were such a good girl,” I told her.

  “Yay!! I’ve always wanted to go there again!” she stood up and started jumping for joy.

  “Ahh, dammit!” shouted Rose as she started pulling her hair.

  I quickly ran over to Rose and comforted her. She has a bad habit of getting frustrated when things don’t go her way.

  “Onii-chan~ I can’t find anything that can prove this letter is not written by him,” Rose looked at me with weepy eyes.

  “Mummy, why are you calling Daddy ‘onii-chan’ in such a tone?” asked Daisy with a confused look.

  “Ah, Daisy! I didn’t realise you were here,” said Rose while being surprised.

  I guess it’s been a while since Rose called me her older brother in the first place. It was only recently when we travelled together or whenever we were alone that she called me that. I guess it would be back to calling me directly by my name or just ‘dear’ in general.

  “Don’t you know that you are the product of our love between a brother and sister? Your father, was actually my older brother while I was his younger sister. We were never meant to be together, but our love for each other was too great, and hence you were born,” she began explaining to Daisy.

  “Rose… what the hell are you trying to tell Daisy? Why does it feel as though you are trying to promote something?” I questioned her.

  “I’m just trying to explain to her why I call you Onii-chan. Nothing else really,” she chuckled.

  “Your story is filled with hints of incest. Our next child had better not be a boy, or she might start getting weird ideas,” I warned her.

  “Don’t worry, Daddy. Your entire story is screaming back to me now. You and Mommy are not blood-related,” spoke Daisy with wide eyes that seems to be staring into the void.

  What the hell? Why does it seem as though Daisy had some sort of horror revelation or something? I need to make sure she doesn’t start going crazy. What the hell is my wife trying to do to our daughter? We definitely need to go to Fishyland tomorrow to clear all the things that Rose had told her.

  ***

  Two months passed, and the situation in the city is getting more tense. The frequency of the monster attacks is getting worse as days pass. At first, it was about twice a month. Now it is like once or twice every week. We can’t hold out like this.

  I opened the door to my house and announced myself. Daisy greeted me with open arms and a wide smile. I picked her up despite feeling exhausted, and after removing my shoes, I slumped onto the couch.

  “Welcome back and good work. How’s it going this time?” asked Rose.

  “Haa… things are not going well, Rose. I feel like I really have to go over to the East to meet up with him. There are just no other leads that we can go on aside from his letter,” I confessed.

  “Well, if you’re planning to go over, then I’m coming along,” she said.

  “Huh? No, Rose. If you’re coming along, then who’s gonna take care of Daisy? I don’t feel comfortable leaving her with Daffodil when the city is constantly being attacked,” I told her.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. We’ll bring her along,” she said.

  “W… what? What about her school or extra lessons then?” I gave her a worried look.

  “She can skip it once in a while,” she spoke without looking my way.

  “Please tell me you’re joking,” I clarified.

  “No, I’m not! You are not the only one who is worried about the letter, Zen. Peter is my sensei too. I deserves the right to know,” shouted Rose out of the blue.

  I was caught off guard by her sudden outburst and quickly went over to hug her. What she said was right though. Peter is also her sensei and we are both worried that he might have gone to the dark side or something. But will we be able to keep Daisy safe throughout the journey? No, we have to. We must ensure that she remains safe. Truth be told, I feel better if we bring her along. At the very least, I know I’ll go to impossible lengths to protect her.

  “Alright, alright. We’ll go as a family. Nothing wrong about it,” I whispered to her as I stroked her hair gently.

  She was wearing a simple dress with an apron, which is one of her casual wears when she’s at home. Nothing that you would call enticing or seductive. Perhaps it was my imagination or maybe I was horny, but she was releasing a strong pheromone smell and the whiff of her hair was intoxicating. My hand instinctively moved to the lower area of her body slowly so that she wouldn’t slap me for suddenly making a move on her. If she doesn’t feel like it, she can brush off my hands before it reaches its destination.

  She didn’t brush it off, and my hands reached her nether region, which I groped a little. Daisy was playing behind us, so she couldn’t see what was going on. From her perspective, we’re just hugging.

  “H.. hey, don’t grope that hard,” she whispered to me.

  But I noticed something was different when I was groping her. Is she… going commando? Rose… since when did you become so slutty?

  “Rose~ Why are you not wearing anything underneath?” I asked her softly in her ears.

  “Ah~ I was waiting for you to come back and started thinking about you. Ah~ why are you groping even harder with two hands now? Daisy is right behind us,” she started panting in my ears.

  “Oh sorry, it was instinct. We’ll continue this later after dinner, alright?” I stopped groping her butt.

  So she was frustrated and horny. No wonder she couldn’t control her anger earlier. Guess I should do my job as her husband to satisfy her later. I hope I can perform well when I’m so exhausted from fighting monsters.

  “Mommy, are you okay? You don’t look very well,” asked Daisy as she could see Rose’s face from where she was playing.

  “Mommy’s fine. Can you head upstairs to finish your homework?” I asked her.

  “Ehh? I thought of finishing it later. Can’t I, Daddy?” she asked with pity eyes.

  “There’s still some time before dinner. Finish it up so we can play some games after the meal, alright? I need to set your mother down as she is tired.” I explained to her.

  “Oh.. kay.. Promise me you’ll play some games with me later,” she said as she headed upstairs.

  I brought Rose towards the couch where she can rest. I thought of helping her out in preparing for dinner but she grabbed onto my cloak. Her face says it all. I guess she can’t wait until later. I carried her up into our room, making sure to lock the door. Why does it feel like we’re making love one last time before our inevitable trip? I don’t like the feeling of bad premonition before a journey. I hope nothing bad happens when we head over to the East. Fingers crossed.

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