Everyone Else Has a System

Mark\'s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Zero. Not because of the fact that Zero knew the solution to the curse which was put on Mark, but because Zero himself approached Mark first rather than waiting for Mark to approach.

Normally, it should have been Mark who was supposed to approach Zero and ask for his help because… well, it was Mark who was suffering. As he saw Zero\'s serious face, a certain thought popped up into Mark\'s mind, and that was that, the problem which Zero needed his help with, should at least be equal to his situation or perhaps maybe even higher.

"What do you want in return?" Mark asked not only through a negotiation point of view but also from a curious mindset about what Zero needs him for. In fact, a small smile began to shape on Mark\'s lips as he, for some reason, anticipated a wild adventure coming into his life.

"I want you to travel with me somewhere as my partner. Ummm… in about… 4-5 months from now," Zero said as he calculated the time when he will have some freedom in his schedule as he gazed at Mark, who narrowed his eyes at him before inquiring,"exactly where?" as he closed his eyes momentarily before once again focusing on Zero.

"Hmmm… even if I tell you now, you probably won\'t be able to comprehend it completely… " Zero spoke with a slightly awkward smile, but Mark\'s face looked like he wanted to know, anyway.

Observing the deep unwavering gaze which Mark was giving him, Zero sighed before questioning,"What do you know about Elves?"

Confused at his words, Mark looked at Zero with a puzzled expression, making Zero breathe out another sigh, however before Zero could speak anything more, Bernette joined in on the conversation with a question filled with curiosity,"aren\'t they just a folklore?"

Looking at Bernette\'s curious face, Zero pondered a little before speaking,"The Elves you might have read about in books are really folklore and nothing more. The real Elves are, in reality, quite different, to be honest. How should I explain it…ummm… damn, it\'s really confusing… sigh… all right. I will try to keep it as simple as possible, so listen properly, okay?"

The curiosity of the father daughter duo increased by quite a margin listening to Zero and their bright concentrated eyes gawked at Zero as if they couldn\'t wait to know more about Elves. Zero then shook his head, as he cleared his thoughts, and began explaining.

"Elves are or were a type of monsters that has evolved into a species of their own. First let me ask you if you have heard about the forest of Giza?" Zero asked as he looked at Mark and he nodded at it as if recalling the information about that place.

It is one of the danger zones where mostly bipedal forest monsters thrive. They are blessed with nature oriented abilities with their mana quite a bit more than what an average monster in general should have. It is one of the highly dangerous areas where only those at or above S ranked should venture. Located at the very northern corner of the eastern continent, it is one of the most difficult to reach areas of this world.

"Elves have evolved beyond the class of just monsters for quite a long time. To be honest, they are evolving even now. Living and thriving as a community and gaining intelligence, they tend to keep themselves away from the sun as much as possible while making themselves stronger over time." Zero stopped a bit as he gulped down another chunk of water before Mark asked,

"So what exactly are we going to do there? Are we going to wipe them out or make them our ally?" Mark was having a hard time believing all this information but his truth identifier told him that all this information was 100 percent correct, though it only turned his expression more complex.

\'He is quite sharp but honestly neither of them is possible right now, so…\' Zero thought before speaking,"None of that. While you might not know, there are also a few more races that thrive along with the Elves and by the blessing of nature, or maybe because of some special evolution or something, the other races can copulate with the elves. Hmmmm… well, they can only copulate with Elves and not with other races living within the vicinity."

He paused and then looked at the slightly blank expression of Mark and Bernette and he wondered what they were thinking, but still he continued because the main point was just after this one,

"What we are going to do there is erase a certain race that is thriving there. Our work is to completely annihilate that whole race before they become a nuisance in the future, and I need your help with that."

Hearing the final words, Mark looked blankly at Zero before he spoke,"can I get some time to think about it? We can continue this conversation sometime later," and then slowly stood up, leaving Bernette and Zero on their own.

Bernette looked at her father hurriedly moving away from there and then spoke without turning to Zero,"are you sure it was the right idea to tell father about this secret?"

"You speak as if you are on my side over your father in this matter," Zero spoke as he too stood up and Bernette answered it immediately,"I am at my father\'s side. Just that I wanted to know if there was more to your words and not just some child foolishly babbling about everything he knows."

\'Aren\'t you a child yourself?\' thought Zero with a wry expression before he too moved away from there as he answered her question with a smirk,"who knows?"

While it might have been important information for them, without Zero\'s help, forget about finding and negotiating with the Elves and the other races, they can\'t even hope to survive even an hour in that wilderness.

To give a rough idea about the dangers of that place, if all of the current 12 strongest persons try to attack that forest of Giza together, haha… they won\'t survive more than a week in there… After all, it\'s not just Elves and other races living there but a peak SSS-Grade monster too has made that place as its home… and sadly, it doesn\'t like outsiders to intrude and neither lets the insiders get out. Also the reason, Elves or other races, haven\'t ventured out of that forest. After all, they wouldn\'t want to get eaten just because they were curious about the outside world, now would they?

After walking away from Bernette, Zero reached the area where Cristine, Eliza and others were sitting and talking about various things. Linda was just sitting quietly on her own in a corner while William and Rheo seemed to be talking about something.

Zero observed the area for a few moments before moving towards Eliza, who was listening to the discussion of Cristine and Lucia, though watching Zero moving towards them, they turned at him with a face filled with questions.

"Eliza, come with me," spoke Zero ignoring their gazes, before he walked to a distant table, and Eliza simply stood up and followed him under the narrowed gaze of Cristine and Lucia. William, Rheo and Linda also turned their eyes at Zero, wondering what he was about to do.

Sitting on the table, Zero looked at Eliza and said,"Can you give me a detailed idea of your problem? I may have an idea about it, but it would be better if I look into it from all sides," before he leaned a bit forward towards Eliza with both his forearms on the table.

Eliza, sitting on the opposite side, pondered a bit before speaking,"as far as I can tell, I was born with it. While the problem took a turn for the worse when I turned 8 years old, I only found out the real reason at the age of 12 when the system informed me about it."

Hearing her words, Zero nodded before speaking,"What is the exact message that the System gave you?"

"[You have been under the curse of Purple Mist. Remove the curse before you turn 16 or you will die. ]" she spoke with clear hesitation in her voice as she turned at her sister, who didn\'t seem to be bothered with this revelation.

Zero then immediately asks,"when are you going to turn 16?" and Eliza answers before calculating,"I turned 15 three months ago. So there are about 9 months of time left."

Zero nodded at her words as he recalled the time frame when he joined Lucia\'s mercenary group in the previous timeline. It was about a month after Eliza\'s death that he joined, in that timeline, so it makes sense… more or less.

"All right. I guess I understand the situation but still, is there anything more you would like to add to it?" Zero asks again and Eliza begins thinking hard about everything that might have happened in regards with the curse and then she speaks,"well, there are a few minor details but I don\'t know if they are related to the curse or not. Should I tell them as well?" Looking at her expression, it was as if she doubted whether the curse was a part of those events or not.

Zero nods at her and then she explains about each and every small event that occurred or made her think, \'maybe it is the curse.\' Whether it was her sudden dizziness at a certain situation or other effects that she couldn\'t understand,she explained everything. After hearing her words, Zero simply stood there watching her face for a few moments.

"Was there… anything helpful?" she asked and Zero nodded,"a few things were." He had a neutral expression at that point and the thought that was going on in his mind was,

\'Well… I didn\'t expect that she would have more than just one curse at a time… though it doesn\'t matter much. After all, with the ritual I am going to conduct, it will erase all the curses she is under at once.\'

Zero then looked through the window and saw the Castle of Iredale where Mark\'s family lived… and looking closely at the castle… the whole family of Mark Leeway was standing in front of the entrance, waiting for the guests to arrive.