Chapter 14 Hero Alliance

Four chocobos startled the flowerbed, causing the ominous snake to crawl out of its burrow, occasionally turning back to lick its back.

Chocobos are carnivorous birds and the most important means of transportation in the Faan Otherworld. They love to eat insects and even consider snakes to be insects.

The unfortunate snake that escaped the cave was quickly devoured by four chocobos.

A clay figure sat on the back of one of the chocobos. Just as the clay figure looked away from the Billies, the phone rang in the suitcases on either side of the chocobo.

Someone contacted the Nendoroid via a communication device, confirming the spy's location. Just as Mia had predicted, the spy had gone to the Druid's real estate building.

A vertical ray of light shone from the stream onto the cracked body of the clay figure.

The Nendoroid lets everyone ride on chocobos.

"You're the informant who secretly provided Mia with information?" Billis asked.

The Nendoroid pretended not to have seen Billy before and asked, "Have we met before?"

"Yes, I saw it. That night, in the cabin in the woods outside the DINK Manor, you were using an earth elemental substitute."

"I see. So we've known each other for a long time. It's nice to see you again. I'm Richie from the intelligence department. I'll explain the details to you on the way. Right now, the most important thing is to rescue the druid before the enemy does."

"Did she also have a grudge against the druids?"

"I have no idea about that."

Chocobos are more difficult to handle than horses, but Richie's chocobo handling was very skillful, showing that he had more than ten years of experience.

Chocobos run at speeds similar to horses, but they have a greater ability to leap, easily over obstacles, and can also leap over cliffs, making them a good helper for taking shortcuts.

One thing to note is that chocobos like to lower their heads when passing through forests, and people riding on their backs should also lower their heads, otherwise they will be carried away by branches.

Billis is a novice in this area because he relies too much on the lady's teleportation portal and is not very familiar with the various modes of transportation in the Faan world.

The chocobos led them through places they couldn't normally pass through—the cursed swamp.

If you take the train, you must go around the cursed swamp.

Along the way, there were no buildings or clean objects in sight, and Billis thought it was the wrong road. But when they turned a corner on the path, they came across a place full of daisies and golden phoenix flowers.

To the left are several small, yellowish-brown hills, covered by trees like carpets. On the top of the hill is a scarecrow-like object surrounded by lights.

Once you cross these small hills, you'll see the Druid's real estate building.

Although the roads are becoming increasingly difficult to traverse, chocobos can climb them with ease, which is why horses and cars are not popular in Fa'an.

While crossing the hills, Billys felt a bit carsick, his stomach was churning, and he needed to talk to someone to distract himself.

"Hi, Mr. Richie, how long have you been colleagues with Mia?"

"About fifteen years."

"You knew each other before the major reboot?"

"It probably predates your meeting with your wife."

"More than ten years ago, Mia was just a child, right?"

"Of course, he's just a child, but some jobs need to be taught from childhood."

It was a bit chilly on the hillside at night, and the rising cold air pressed down from the top of the mountain, causing Billys to sneeze.

Richie is likely an older semi-reincarnated individual. He speaks quite calmly and reservedly, usually only touching on the essentials.

Mia leaned forward, using her body as the center, and her chocobo piloting skills were no worse than Richie's.

It seems Richie wasn't lying; they were already colleagues on Earth.

"So, Mia was a special agent on Earth? And you were an intelligence agent on Earth too?" Billis asked.

As Richie was considering whether to answer the question, the night suddenly and inexplicably brightened, and the dark haze obscured the stars.

A fire broke out on the other side of the mountain!

This was an ominous sign of impending disaster; the silent explosion startled the chocobo, nearly causing it to fall off the hillside.

Judging from the direction, it is very likely the Druid's real estate building.

Richie suddenly spoke up: "Looks like she beat me to it."

Billie knew that Richie was referring to the spy who stole the recording pen from him, but he still asked, "You've known the spy for fifteen years?"

Richie laughed and replied, "I'd rather we knew each other longer; I don't have enough information at hand."

"If this were on Earth, one mistake could cost you your job."

Richie began to speak with an attitude of admiration for Billy: "That's right! You're absolutely right! In our line of work, we can't afford to make mistakes, or a city, or even a country, will disappear."

“You’ve been in this line of work for fifteen years.”

“Well, sometimes I think about whether I can retire early, but there has to be a successor. When Mia recommended you and your wife to me, you weren’t trustworthy enough and needed to be observed in secret. But now, I have to trust you because there will be more and more difficult tasks.”

"You are not just secret agents."

"Yes, on Earth, we maintain peace. In Fa'an, we must also maintain peace in this other world. Join the Hero Alliance; we need agents like you."

"What you just said, isn't it a bit like imitating a movie or TV show?"

Richie suppressed his smile and said, "Oh, I'm afraid I have to tell you about what has happened in the past eight years. The reason for establishing the Hero Alliance in another world is that a powerful dark force is rising. You can't know about this through newspapers, news, or the internet."

Billy was taken aback; this was the topic he was most interested in.

Richie continued, "What I have to tell you is that before the Great Reboot, there were two irreconcilable factions in the Faan Otherworld: the Light Race and the Dark Race. I don't need to explain the specifics; you and your wife belonged to the two factions respectively. The factional relationship was considered an ironclad rule by the original Faan people. However, the Great Reboot happened eight years ago, and the arrival of Earthlings changed everything. The reincarnated people regarded the Otherworld as Earth, and the factional relationship disappeared from then on."

“I understand what you mean. That force wants to push the order of Fa'an back to what it was eight years ago.”

"That's right! Sir, they seem to be very dissatisfied with Earth's culture, causing destruction everywhere, inciting reincarnated people, and encouraging non-reincarnated people, all in an attempt to restore the alliance relationship."

Who are they?

"This is where we need your help. As everyone knows, it takes a few people to do something like this. The other side is a large alliance, and the spy who stole the pen is just one of its members."

"Mia said she had a bruise on her leg, you guys did that too, didn't you?"

"Not bad! But she still managed to escape."

At this moment, the four chocobos had already run down the valley.

Turfshire, where the Druid Estates building is located, was as bright as day, with half the town rushing to put out the fire.

Because more than half of the building materials in the real estate building were flammable wood, the fire was difficult to control.

The chocobo was also afraid of fire and hesitated to move forward, so the four of them had no choice but to walk.

The fire was larger than expected. It was already difficult to approach the real estate company when it was still more than 200 meters away. We could only watch helplessly as the building burned to ashes.

Especially Richie, whose clay stunt almost melted into ice cream.

The firefighting efforts continued from night until day, and the town's only beautiful river almost dried up before the fire was finally extinguished.

The small burrowing rats began digging tunnels, intending to enter the building from underground.

The tall lizardman used his strong, powerful tail to sweep away the rotten charcoal blocking the road.

Even those who were half-reincarnated and had no special abilities joined the ranks of those saving lives.

Richie stopped someone at random and asked, "Who started the fire?"

The man pointed to the sky and said, "A fire-breathing pterosaur, as big as half a house."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous vehicle strictly prohibited? How could it suddenly appear in the town?"

"It didn't just barge in; someone saw a dark elf sitting on the dragon's back."

Richie immediately understood, shrugged, and said to everyone, "Looks like flying things are faster than land things; we couldn't catch her."

“Is anyone still inside?” Billis asked.

Richie's clay stand had half its head melted, and it spoke with a lisp: "If there are any left that didn't escape, they're all charcoal by now."

"Let's go in and take a look. I just heard someone say that the druid is still inside."

"He was too big to run away, and I'm curious, why would they target a druid?"

"Besides the undead, has he offended any other races?"

"He doesn't seem like a fool; he wouldn't offend everyone. But we'd better get to the bottom of this..."

Suddenly someone shouted, "Get down!"

An explosion erupted, followed by a massive pillar of flame, and the building's remains were completely destroyed amidst a flurry of flying debris.

Billy turned pale with fright, and when he saw a ring appear inside, it immediately disappeared.

"Was that a bomb?" Billis asked.

Richie shook his head: "If it were a bomb, it should have exploded last night. It's probably a spell-casting ring; someone is trying to lure us there."