The outdoor training will be held next week so Souta had to finish this quest as soon as possible. Just by looking at the quest he received in his system, he could already tell the difficulty of this mission.

[Quest Triggered!]

[Investigation]: Investigate the truth of the recent killing in the Fersch Dukedom and stop the perpetrator. Rewards: 20,000 exp, 8 free attribute points, and 5 skill points

5 skill points... Souta always based the difficulty of a quest on the rewards. So the difficulty of this quest was between the level of the Gripin City and the Assassination at the Ladro City.

He probably doesn't need to use the monster potion that he received from Jimmy.

After walking for a few seconds, Souta stopped on his track, and he looked back at his party members.

"What's wrong, Souta?" Bryan asked him when he saw that Souta looked at them.

"Be prepared as this quest is harder than you think," Souta warned them with a serious expression.

Yeah, this quest was difficult for their current level. It's not that they don't have a chance to complete it, they still have a chance but that chance was lower than fifty percent.

But that's only if the three of them were going to do this quest alone. If Souta included himself, then the chances would go up to fifty percent.

Souta also have a lot of ace in his sleeve in case that he really fight that Duke. He was sure that he could win any battle in that Dukedom as long as there were no unexpected factors that appeared in this quest.

The Duke of the Fersch Dukedom wasn't as strong as Gregory. In fact, this type of land doesn't have a chance to prevent any of the huge countries in their surrounding.

They were weak. This type of land was only the beginner town if this was still a game.

In the past, when the Melosa Country tried to expand its territory, it burned down all the small kingdoms, dukedoms, cities, and countries in its surrounding area. Even if they bonded together, their forces were still insufficient to push back the army of the Melosa Country.

They were just fodders in front of a powerhouse country like Melosa.

Even at the time when the demon invaded this continent, these small countries were the first to go down as they didn't have a chance to fight back at all.

"Pack up your things. Weapons, equipments, and potion that could help you survive in case of an emergency. It's one of the most important things that you must never forget if you're going to take a quest." Souta said to them.

Lumilia, Brando, and Bryan listened to every word that's coming out of his mouth.

One must not forget the basic things all the time as it will help you survive.

...

Souta and co. went to the Ladro Institute, and there they contact their homeroom teacher, Bargan. They asked for a permission to leave in case they didn't manage to complete their quest on time.

Bargan gave them his permission to leave. He knew that he couldn't stop them as they were adventurers and that's also one of their sources of income. He asked them to promised one thing. And that's they were going to abandon their quest if they didn't manage to complete it before the outdoor training.

Souta and the rest didn't have a problem with it so he promised Bargan.

Bargan didn't worry about them as he knew the extent of their strength. Also, he was assured that they would come back safely. Why? Because Souta was with them. Souta has a lot of ace in his sleeve that even Bargan couldn't. He just simply show it off when something unexpected happens.

Monster potion? Dark Grade Sword? Even Bargan couldn't guess if Souta was still hiding something. He's not going to be surprised anymore if Souta brought out another dark grade equipment.

Bryan, Lumilia, and Brando got stronger in the past few weeks. Their strength showed great improvement and was slowly catching up to the top rankers of the first-year students, especially Bryan.

Bryan was currently the top 5 ranker in the first-year students and Souta thought that if Bryan was given another month, he would likely become the top 2 ranker, second only to Souta who was currently the top 1 ranker.

Bryan's fighting style was very similar to Souta's. Even though both of them were mages, they charged in the frontline and fought in close-range combat. An all-rounder like him.

Bryan was already proficient in using fire and lightning attribute spell due to Bargan's teaching. These two attributes, the fire and lightning, were one of the most destructive attributes compared to the rest of the elements.

Bryan's potential was extremely high, possessing four elemental affinities. That's why Souta valued Bryan.

Brando and Lumilia also showed great improvement. They were now the current top 28 and top 35 ranker respectively. They were focusing on mastering their own fighting style. And once they got a hold of their own fighting style, their strength would vastly increase to the point that they could reach the level of Bryan's current strength.

And Souta, despite he didn't focus on his level this time. His strength right now was higher than the time in the Gripin City. His taming ability grew exponentially high in these past two weeks. Souta could call himself right now a full-fledge Tamer.

He also confirmed one thing. And that he couldn't gain another class in the system. It was really unfortunate that he couldn't receive the benefits of the class in the system just like the Mage Class where he received a lot of benefits every time he increased its ranks. Well, he doesn't any restrictions just like in the game where he could only learn skills that were designated to his class, so he didn't have any problem with it.

It was all due to Bargan's teaching. Despite being a powerful fire attribute mage, Bargan still knew a lot of things. After all, in the game, Bargan's level was 90. A typical boss-type character.

"Really... This batch of student this time is full of surprises." Bargan smiled as he looked at the back of Souta's group.

"I wanted to see how far can all of you reach."

...

After one hour, everyone finished packing their things. They only brought the basic things that they needed in every quest. Their weapon, set of equipment, and potions.

All of them arrived in front of the Adventurers Guild and waited for the old man Jared to arrive.

Souta was wearing a simple blue grade leather armor and pants. On his arms was a pair of white gloves with the same grade as his armor. Hanging on his waist was the dark grade [Vajra Sword Saya].

Bryan was wearing a chain mail and dark blue color pants. He didn't have any weapon except for the fighting gloves that he was wearing. Hanging on his neck was a golden necklace that could enhance his defense power.

Brando looked like a proper shielder with his full plate dark silver colored armor. On his right hand was a huge and heavy shield. This shield was his only weapon and its grade was purple grade. A grade above blue grade.

And lastly, Lumilia's blue hair was tied on the back of her hair with a blue ribbon. She wore a long high collared black top. And on her lower body was a simple fitted pants of the same color. On top of her clothes was a small dark blue robbed.

She was armed with a sword on her waist and a wand in her hand. She was not an expert in sword fighting but she knew some moves so she could defend herself if her opponent got close to her.

Everyone was ready to depart anytime.

Souta looked at Lumilia and saw that her hands were shaking. It seems that she was nervous as this was the first quest and her debut as an adventurer.

"Class rep..."

Lumilia lifted up her head and she looked at him.

"You're nervous, right?" He opened his mouth and asked Lumilia.

Lumilia was stunned when she heard him. She was nervous and Souta was right. She wanted to deny it but she thought that she didn't need to act tough in front of him. She timidly nodded her head at Souta.

"I see..." Souta nodded and he gently smiled while looking at her. "That's natural as this is your first quest but if you're going to compare it to what we experience in Desolate Woods. This quest is nothing. You probably haven't realized that the people we met there were an existence that you never wanted to meet again."

Souta was right and Lumilia knew it. She knew about the Three Bringer of Calamities. The three most powerful evil organizations in this world.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

They waited for a few dozen minutes before the old man Jared arrived.

"I'm ready. I also prepared the caravan we're going to use to go to the Fersch Dukedom." Old man Jared said to the group.

"Then... What are we waiting for? Let's go now." Souta said with a smirk on his face.