Chapter 165: Missing People

Words : 1241 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

Chapter 165: Missing People While several people discussed their next steps as they journeyed back to Planet Nova, a certain student was facing a truly difficult situation. It was near closing time when Noah chanced upon his schoolmate and neighbor, Theo. He’d say chance upon, but it seemed like the guy was actually headed his way. "Hey, man! Any luck today?" Noah decided to ask. Although he was hopeful, it was rather apparent that today was another bust. "No." Sighed Theo. It had been a tough week for his family. About two days ago, they lost contact with his older brother and father, who had traveled all the way to Kestrel Point to look for an important herb. Theo’s grandmother, and in turn, almost all of them, were part Siren and couldn’t be cured by regular human medicine. That herb was part of her antidote and the key to staying on land. Honestly, this wouldn’t have been a problem had they not lost their expected supply. It became contaminated with the other items when a stray got into the cargo holding before the shipments arrived at Planet Nova. At first, they were filled with hope when the military announced that they were able to recover part of the cargo items that hadn’t been corroded by the corruption. It was a first. And even the soldiers couldn’t figure out what happened because nothing looked off about the port. Of course, because they didn’t particularly have surveillance inside the container vans and couldn’t tell what a certain mecha was doing. Unfortunately, the herbs were too fragile to survive as they had already been plucked in the first place. It was devastating for the family that used to rely on their grandmother. They tried looking and were willing to part with their material belongings just to be able to buy any amount of Jade Vine. It was that or looking for a body of water where their grandmother could recuperate. However, the risks were higher as dormant corruption may be agitated when someone with spiritual energy comes into contact with the water. So, the family was left with no choice when none of the guilds could take the request, knowing that goods had recently become more difficult to procure. They decided to go themselves. And for a while, it had been as usual. His father, a retired soldier, at least had the experience despite not being able to use his spiritual abilities anymore. And his older brother took time off from active duty due to this family emergency. And all that the short-handed military could do was lend them manually operated mechas. But it’s been more than 72 hours of radio silence. Before their messages could be sent, everyone had started becoming anxious. They had reported it to the military for assistance. It was just that they were facing even more significant issues and couldn’t spare a team to look for them at this point. But Theo and his family feared that it would be a retrieval operation instead of a search-and-rescue operation. They were advised to contact the guilds to see if a team could be launched to go to Kestrel Point. And that was what Theo had been doing since yesterday but to no avail. They had to go on the waiting list. As depressing as it was, their case wasn’t unique. Many families have been at their wits’ end trying to make it, and even some noble families with money were starting to realize that wealth didn’t mean anything to corruption. Noah listened as Theo narrated his failed attempts at scheduling rescue operations from the most prominent guilds at their school, and he didn’t even shy away from the smaller ones. At this point, any guild would do! He sympathized with his neighbor and was on the fence about suggesting his last idea. Obviously, he was afraid of giving his friend false hopes and was also unsure if anything would come out of it. But at this point, when there’s really no other option, wouldn’t it hurt even more if they didn’t try? So, Noah decided to say something. "There’s actually one more guild that you can try." "Huh? What do you mean? I already went to everyone’s offices, trying to make a deal myself." "I know, but I think you missed one." Noah was pretty sure because Theo was from the Pharmacy division and wouldn’t have known about the latest mercenary guild news. "And I think you should try with them." It would be a very, very long shot, but maybe it was possible. However he thought about it, he kept feeling like the port cleanup had something to do with the heir of the Duchy of Kyros. He’s seen it happen as he was the one tasked with following him around. And if there were anyone who would likely have an ounce of magnanimity, then it would likely be that one. Theo listened well and started pulling up the list on his terminal, and was really surprised to see a new guild, which was rare in itself. There had barely been any new ones in the last two years, but this year, they actually had one from their school. But when the hopeful student clicked on the guild details, he found that they were lacking in completed jobs and members! Most guilds were comprised of hundreds of members, and many jobs needed to be handled to keep them running. But this guild only had five members?! "Noah, are you sure about this?" Theo wasn’t in the position to really second guess anything or anyone, but he also wasn’t in the position to send anyone to their deaths while trying to look for his family! "Look carefully." Theo actually wished he didn’t! Because these were all freshmen! "Seriously!? All freshmen?! Do you know them?" "They even have a freshman as a mechanic!" Theo had difficulty processing this, but Noah had to translate it for him. "Exactly. And since you’re saying that, what would it mean to pass on your first try?" They’re good. Noah couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud because of his embarrassing behavior when school started. But he knew better now. And most of all, they didn’t hesitate to help when they didn’t even need to. Well, he wasn’t sure about the rest, but the guild leader was pretty decent in his eyes. Theo tried digesting the implication and figured, what else could he lose? Back from an exciting and almost fatal space trip, the little chipmunk who had learned many things was surprised to see a notification that looked different. It was a job request. "!" "Ollie, Ollie! Look!" Luca called over his brother, who was on his way out. "What is it?" Rushed the mop, who was surprised at his brother’s sudden call. "This! Does this mean we have a request for a job?" Luca’s eyes glowed and everyone got curious at his sudden excitement. Frankly, Kyle thought that they had had too much excitement today, and as a supposed young man, he wasn’t sure if he was built for this. Maybe he wasn’t about to turn 20 years old and was really something like 65. But he figured he would have to know what this was because this meant documentation. One that might be a little longer. So, the poor adjutant looked over and confirmed. "Yeah, it’s the first job request for DG."

Chapter 165: Missing People

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