I was transported from Lobotomy Corporation to another world.

Both stared at each other, the girl on the other side gripping a short sword and looking wary.

Reed seemed quite relaxed, holding his large knife and scratching his hair with his other hand.

Every now and then he kicks his big knife. Why is that?

The answer is no, I just want to kick.

Yes, after I said that, the other person didn't reply.

Reed's bandaged eyes stared at the other person, who seemed to sense his gaze and trembled slightly.

After a nearly one-minute standoff, the girl spoke.

"Are you from Black Crown?" a cold voice rang out.

Reed raised an eyebrow, surprised by the tone of the voice on the other end.

Abbreviation: Mature female voice

Reed replied, "No, my mission is to kill 15 of them. You're not within my mission area. You can leave."

The girl's heart skipped a beat; she was somewhat taken aback by Reed's direct words.

And that line, "[You're not within my mission scope]," sounds really scary.

Although I was sweating profusely with anxiety, I had to pretend to be calm on the surface.

"I'm sorry, I mistook you for a cult earlier, it was my fault."

Since the other party wasn't a cult, and we attacked first, an apology is appropriate.

Seeing that the other man had sheathed his short sword back into his belt, Reed casually tossed his greatsword onto the grass nearby.

With his hands in his pockets, Red asked, "Do I look like a cult member?" He then pointed to himself with one finger.

The girl was initially shocked that Reed had casually tossed such a powerful-looking knife onto the ground.

The girl pointed at Reed and said, "You look... a little... scary." She knew it wasn't a good thing to say, but what else could she do? That's just how it is!

“Uh…” Reed skipped the topic altogether.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, I'll go finish my mission," Reed said, picking up his knife from the ground and heading towards his destination.

"Wait a moment!"

Reed turned to look at the other person. "What's wrong?"

The girl looked around and said, "Where are your pickaxe and my bow?"

Reed was dumbfounded

Red Thinking

"Oh, right, where's my pickaxe?" Reed's previously imposing aura suddenly vanished.

After searching through the grass for a while, the two finally found the bow and pickaxe that were still intact.

The girl slung her bow over her shoulder and said, "You're an adventurer, aren't you?"

"Um"

"Can I come with you?"

"Huh? You're trying to steal my kill?"

Seeing Reed become wary again, the girl was exasperated. "Let me finish. Anyway, I won't do anything to harm you."

"I'm going with you to help you."

Reed, having secured his pickaxe, exclaimed, "Then what was the meaning of that arrow just now?"

The girl covered her mouth and coughed. "That was an accident. What I need to tell you is that every adventurer who took on this mission before her perished."

"What does that have to do with me?"

The girl was about to speak again when Reed suddenly interrupted her.

The girl stomped her foot, her mature and sophisticated demeanor vanishing instantly. Pointing at Reed, she said, "Don't interrupt!" (*｀へ′*)

The girl took a few deep breaths and continued, "If it weren't for how strong you are, I wouldn't have told you any of this! Humph!"

"Listen carefully, don't interrupt! The Black Crown Cult was originally just average in strength, not particularly powerful, and didn't have a significant impact."

"But for some reason, in the last few days, the Black Crown Cult's combat strength has suddenly increased by leaps and bounds. No one knows why, nor what methods the Black Crown Cult has used."

"The Black Crown cult is a group that uses living people as sacrifices to summon some kind of tentacle-like evil god, but in the past few days, this cult seems to have changed."

Reed was initially reluctant to listen, but as if he sensed some conspiracy behind it, he became serious.

“Changed? What do you mean?” Reed asked.

The girl began, "The original flag of the Black Crown Cult was entirely red, with a black crown at the top center and a red tentacle at the bottom."

"But from what I've observed, the Black Crown cult's flag has been replaced with an eye."

Reed became even more curious upon hearing this, "What eyes?"

The girl took a flag out of her pocket. "Look!"

Reed reached out and took it, the more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.

The flag is blackish-gray with a meticulously painted eye in the center.

This eye will be drawn quite realistically; so realistically that it truly looks like a living eye, as if it's looking at you.

The girl seemed to want to continue, as if she had suddenly thought of something.

"Wait a minute, weren't your eyes covered? How are you seeing?"

The girl was shocked!

Reed's attention was focused on the flag, and he used his previous excuse to get away with it.

The girl was also somewhat skeptical, and upon reflecting on her own behavior, she realized she had lost her composure earlier.

Taking advantage of Reed's inattention, she composed herself and reverted to her cold, aloof demeanor.

The girl looked at Reed holding the flag, and asked intently, "Do you recognize it? I've been observing the eyes on the flag for a long time. I've compared them to the eyes of many creatures and monsters, and they're nothing like it."

Reid gently handed the flag back to the other party and asked, "So you're guessing that this Black Crown cult has completely changed its beliefs because of a single creature?"

The girl nodded, then suddenly realized that Reed wasn't so naive after all. "Yes, my mission is to be an elven scout. I just recently accepted this mission to investigate a cult in this forest."

Reid's eyes widened slightly; this was the first time he had ever seen an elf. "You're an elf?"

Um... okay, it's not the first time I've seen this...

"Do all you elves turn into tiny flying creatures, swarm around people, and wait for the right moment to eat them?"

The girl fell silent...

(-`ェ′-Angry) "Where did you hear all this from! We elves don't talk like that! You bunch of filthy humans are full of all sorts of lies!"

I remember feeling somewhat relieved after hearing that. "Oh!"

Back to the topic

"So, elf, you've come with me to continue your investigation?"

The girl nodded and then shook her head. "Half of it was because of investigation, and the other half was because I was very curious about why a small cult could suddenly grow so large."

"And you, is this your first time encountering an elf? Judging from your appearance, you seem to be a high-level adventurer."

"That's right, I don't want to talk about these things. If you want to come, then come."

After saying that, Reed shouldered his broadsword and walked towards his target, the girl following behind with her long, slender legs.

The girl walked with Reed for a while before her cold voice spoke, "Human, what's your name?"

"Redner, what's your name? I can't keep calling you 'elf' forever."

"Ouyang Qing, that's my name."

Ever since Red saw that flag, he felt a tightness in his chest, a sense of foreboding.

That eye...

Reed felt a sense of familiarity, but why did it feel so familiar?

"We've arrived," a mature, older woman's voice entered Reed's mind.

Reed snapped out of his daze and stopped, seeing ahead a row of tents each painted with a large eye.

There were some flags nearby, and bloodstains on the ground. In the very center of the area lay three corpses.

The Black Crown Cult has been found.