Once Charles gave the cleaned mutton, he took out a mat from his space ring, placed it on the ground, and sat on it in a cross-legged position.
Then, he patiently waited for the kids to finish their cooking.
Thirty minutes later, Jessie appeared in front of him and gave him a large plate of grilled rabbit meat.
Although they didn't put any seasoning, Charles didn't mind it and started eating slowly.
While eating, he suddenly thought of something and asked.
"Rhea, what do you think about the Iron Kingdom?"
His question caused Rhea to freeze in shock for a moment. She hurriedly took a bite of the grilled steak and spoke in confusion.
"My memory is vivid, Teacher. Although I don't recall my parents' or my siblings' names or their faces, I still remember some images of places and their voices. I sometimes dreamed about them in the past and even had dinners with them once, but when I woke up, that dream disappeared from my memory. It's like a fog. I always told these things to our Blood Priest, and he even went on his own few times to search for clues." She paused for a moment and soon added with a bitter smile on her face.
"But even he couldn't find the places from my vivid memories."
Charles went silent as he heard those words and soon asked with a strange smile on his face.
"Do you believe in Fate, lass?"
A surprised expression appeared on Rhea's face as she pondered for a whole ten seconds and soon shook her head.
"I don't know, Teacher. But if there is really something like Fate in this world, then why did it make me lose most of my memories? Who controls this Fate? God? If so, then who is the one who controls the Fate among the thirteen Lawful Gods?" Her questions surprised everyone.
"Aren't you a firm believer of Moon God?" Charles raised his brows and asked in surprise.
"That was a few months ago. When Jessie almost got killed by the security guard, no God came to help us. Instead, it was you who helped us, Teacher." Rhea said in a solemn tone.
But there were confusion, anxiety, and anger appeared in her eyes.
"What if my arrival was decided by the Fate?" Charles stared deep into her eyes and asked.
For a moment, her whole body stiffened up.
She soon regained her calm and asked with a surprised look on her face.
"Are you saying that our meeting was predestined, Teacher?"
Hearing her words, Charles wore a troubled look, gazed at the eerie dark red sky, and spoke with a profound look on his face.
"I'm nothing but an old man, lass. How would I know about those unfathomable things? But thinking about our meeting, I would say it might be a predestined one. I have a feeling that you are bound to achieve great things in the future." He suddenly paused for a moment and then added.
"I forgot to tell you about our next destination. It is the Iron Kingdom."
"Are we going to search for my parents, Teacher?" Rhea's face brightened all of a sudden.
"That's your quest. I'm on a quest to search for my grandchild." Charles took a deep breath and said with a sigh.
This time, Jessie, Noel, and Titus also stopped eating and started listening to their conversation.
"Grandchild? What is his name? Why are you searching for him?" Rhea also got curious and asked in interest.
"His name is Charles. He did something terrible and is currently wanted by many people. But he is a good child in heart. I'm on a quest to search for him and bring him back to my home." Charles paused for a moment and soon added while shaking his head.
"Let's not talk about him. I'm starting to have a headache whenever I think of his past actions."
Meanwhile, all of them nodded their heads and started eating their food in silence.
Once everyone had their dinner, Charles told the kids to rest and checked the game interface.
'Except for the corresponding spell of Crimson Steps spell, I have already constructed all other spell models.' He nodded inwardly and turned his attention to the attribute point.
'I still haven't spent the last free attribute point.' He narrowed his eyes as he put the free attribute point to the constitution attribute and started to check his body status.
[Name: Charles Nightwind
Health Status: Normal (Affected by Amber's Curse)
Race: Half-Shifter
Main Class: Level 5 Fire Weaver (0/3,844) [Rank-2]
Sub-class: Level 1 Mischievous Man (0/5767) [Rank-3]
'Good.' He smiled lightly, closed the game interface, and stood on guard for the whole night.
Although some caravan passed along with some guards or adventurers, nobody comes to their campsite to look for trouble.
Soon, the darkness started to fade away and soon replaced with dawn light.
Once he saw the light, he woke them up and told them to get ready. When the sun was about to ascend, the group packed their belongings and started their journey.
They first went to New Town and brought a carriage and two horses for 35 gold coins. Thankfully, Noel had some knowledge of driving carriages, so he took the driving job and started tying the horses to the carriage tug.
The horse-drawn carriage was a four-wheeled vehicle with leather suspension and created specifically for long travel.
Once they hopped on the carriage, Noel took a long whip, whipped the horses, and drove the carriage out of the New Town.
After that, the carriage started moving towards the direction where the Iron Kingdom was located!
They continued their journey while stopping at many places to rest and feed the horses and finally reached the Border City of Moon Kingdom on March 13.
After that, they crossed the border by paying some gold coins to the guards and soon entered the territory of the Iron Kingdom.
Unlike the Moon Kingdom, the Iron Kingdom appeared greener and was filled with farmlands and woods.
Once they entered the territory of Iron Kingdom, Charles chose a suitable town called Helm Ville to settle.
Unlike other cities, this town was an isolated one and was ruled by a Baron named Dormer.
He was a lowkey Baron, who doesn't connect with other noble circles, and ruled this small town for more than 20 years.
It was a town with only a population of 20 thousand.
Charles sat behind the driver seat and watched the nearby trees and shrubs as the carriage arrived in front of a tall wooden gate.
Unlike Riverdale City and Chester City, there were no tall walls around this town at all.
Instead, a two-meter-tall wooden wall was the only thing that encircled the town.
"What would these people do if the Moon Kingdom tries to invade all of a sudden?" Titus asked while raising his brows.
At that moment, the wooden entrance gate opened with a screeching noise, and soon two armored leather men appeared from the other side.
One was a lean man in his late twenties, while the other was a bald man in his late thirties. Both wore old linen clothes and appeared paler. Their eyes were red and swollen for whatever reasons, and a few footmarks could be seen on their dresses.
At that moment, Charles's eyes squinted all of a sudden.
A quest notification popped up in front of his eyes!
...
[Main Quest: Save the Iron Kingdom from its doom!]
[Quest Description: A mysterious force is manipulating behind the scene and is trying to induce fear and panic among the citizens. Save the kingdom and give the kingdom's authority to the rightful owner.]
[Mission Deadline: 5 Years 3 Months 12 Days.]
[Mission Reward: 75,000 Exp Points, and Goddess ******'s gift!]
[Mandatory Quest]
...
'Hmm? Save the kingdom? A vague description with no clue behind it and a Mysterious force, huh. Moreover, this is a Compulsory Quest?' Charles furrowed his brows and soon turned his attention to the reward section.