One-Eyed Monster

Chapter 51: Chapter 49: Searching for Hustace’s Team

The search party for Young Master Hustace, ostensibly ”led” by Qi Liu, traveled through the night. The intensity of this mountain ascent led to a flurry of complaints from this eccentric group.

The hunched Great Witch wasn’t holding the party back; even she was somewhat surprised by this. But despite her astonishment, she didn’t forget to grumble about the myriad inconveniences of traveling at night.

Axia complained because Qi Liu had unknowingly usurped his role as leader. As an Alchemist in the party, and potentially the future Wizard of the Alchemy Workshop, he felt it was a profound humiliation to be ordered around so unexpectedly. To wash away this humiliation, he constantly taunted and ridiculed Qi Liu. He believed this ridicule could change the status quo. His mocking was like a soothing balm to his wounded pride and, at the same time, a sharp blade stabbing deep into the sensitive core of the other’s heart.

Musa was the quietest of the complainers, but a quiet voice didn’t mean fewer complaints. He didn’t stop muttering throughout the entire ascent, his words perpetually circling the concept of ’worthless.’ His obsession with whether or not he was worthless surpassed all else, and it was unclear if his endless muttering and rambling was a complaint or a lament.

Only Qi Liu, his gaze resolute, remained unaffected by any of these events. Neither Axia’s ridicule nor Musa’s ramblings could sway Qi Liu’s determination to travel through the night. He marched straight up the mountain, seemingly knowing the path ahead. He didn’t utter a single word the entire way, paying no heed to the various complaints from the other three.

And so, these four individuals formed this peculiar party.

Qi Liu traveled through the night, intending to find Young Master Hustace as quickly as possible. It wasn’t until the moon had climbed high above the mountain’s peak that Qi Liu finally decided to halt their progress.

They weren’t as fortunate as Stan and Igor, who had found a cave to rest in; this group had to make do on the open mountainside.

Finding a single person in such a vast mountain was a considerable challenge. Even a Hunter with advanced Secret Sensing Skills couldn’t guarantee locating a specific target on a mountain.

Qi Liu pressed on because he had an agreement with Young Master Hustace: they had agreed to rendezvous at the summit of Guru Mountain. Qi Liu had observed Dawn Peak and estimated that conquering it would take no more than a day, as the mountain wasn’t particularly high.

Qi Liu pinned all his hopes on the Invisibility Cloak. Before ascending the mountain, he had long pondered the connections between various events. However, with too little information, he’d had to abandon that line of thought.He wasn’t a Hunter who could use Secret Sensing Skills to conduct a search. The only leverage he felt he possessed was that Invisibility Cloak.

It was said that the Invisibility Cloak was a gift presented to Governor Rostov by a Wizard. It appeared to be a magical treasure crafted using ancient Spellcraft. An ordinary person wearing the cloak would have their Spirit Power concealed. Those capable of Spirit Sensing, upon donning the cloak, would gain access to the unique Stealth Ability exclusive to Hunters. The requirements for using this cloak were exceedingly low—so low that even ordinary people without Spirit Sensing could use it directly.

However, the sole Absolute Truth on the Yowein Continent was Equivalent Exchange: to gain something, one must invariably give something in return. This had always been the case, without a single exception.

Although Qi Liu didn’t yet understand the price of using the Invisibility Cloak, he vaguely sensed that finding Young Master Hustace would necessitate a breakthrough related to the cloak itself.Of course, he also dearly hoped that Young Master Hustace was at the summit of Dawn Peak, admiring the moon and awaiting his arrival.

The small party rested halfway up the mountain in the dead of night. Despite Axia and Biggs’s incessant complaints about the biting cold of the night mountain wind, Qi Liu’s icy expression made them abandon their verbal struggles. At least resting was more appealing than continuing the arduous journey.

As for why the entire small party deferred to Qi Liu’s expressions, who knew the reason? It was as if his face bore the invisible inscription, ’I am the leader,’ and disobedience was simply not an option.

Then again, truth be told, neither Axia nor Biggs would have found it easy to lead this party forward. Firstly, during the ascent, those two excelled only at complaining and making sarcastic remarks. While Qi Liu was deep in thought, their ’special skills’ offered no useful suggestions. Secondly, neither of them had ever even laid eyes on Young Master Hustace. Entrusting them to command the party in searching for a complete stranger within a vast mountain forest was simply laughable. Lastly, deep down, neither of them had any desire to climb the mountain in the first place.

As for the perpetually muttering Musa, he had long since been disregarded by the others.

「Other search parties were on the mountain.」

Compared to Qi Liu’s party, who were fumbling about cluelessly, these others had made at least some progress. For example, Igor, currently sleeping soundly in a cave, merely needed to follow Stan, a natural-born Hunter. Together, they would easily find Young Master Hustace. After all, Stan was an extraordinary Hunter who had prepared thoroughly and was thus completely confident in his ability to locate people.

「The other Hunter, Baharo, was not as fortunate as Igor.」

Despite being an incredible Hunter himself, a moment of carelessness had allowed two children to trick him. Now, he was desperately sniffing for scents in the vast mountains, hoping to find any trace of Young Master Hustace. He continued his search under the dim moonlight, foregoing rest.

「Meanwhile, far away in Luona Capital, a group of people was also discussing how to find the child who had created the stone.」

However, these individuals, while appearing anxious, had already reached a consensus in their hearts. Yet, to demonstrate their diligence and thoughtful consideration to their superior, they would occasionally adopt hesitant expressions—a tactic they tacitly agreed was a wise choice. After half a day of discussion, they merely ended up echoing the Lord Governor’s suggestion: to form a specialized investigation team to enter Guru Mountain and conduct a thorough, carpet-style search for the Adventurers. The core members of this investigation team were still the Lord Governor’s League Guards. The primary distinction from a standard League Guard unit was that this team also included hired Hunters.

However, even if this group managed to find Young Master Hustace, it would likely be after the harshest part of winter had passed. The Lord Governor, in his consuming anxiety for his son, had completely overlooked the fact that traveling from Luona Capital to Guru Mountain would take nearly half a month!

The search for this young master seemed to be growing ever larger. Unwittingly, he had become a coveted prize, whom everyone was eager to find first.

「So, what exactly was our young master doing at this very moment?」

At this moment, Young Master Hustace was shivering uncontrollably within the Invisibility Cloak. The night mountain wind was chilling, and as it blew over Hustace, it cruelly intensified his gnawing hunger. This young master had never traveled such a long mountain path alone before, nor did he have any idea how to survive in these wilderness conditions. His entire life experience consisted of being attended to by others; this dire predicament was hardly his fault. Faced with the myriad unknowns of wilderness survival, Hustace could only wrap the Invisibility Cloak tighter around himself, his body wracked with uncontrollable shivers. His tremors were so violent that he felt his strength rapidly ebbing away.