Kelp stared at the chef in question, watching his every move. Right now, he was filling the dough, stretching it out, and performing a type of routine in front of one of the tables.

It was a way to enhance their experience, and the way he stretched out the dough and spun it in the air, it was as if he had been doing it for years, perfecting his craftsmanship.

'That man was someone who used to be a Pagna warrior?' Kelp thought. 'Why would a Pagna warrior be a chef, and from the look of things, that person has been a chef for years with how skilled he is.'

With Kelp and his group being pagna warriors themselves, they knew the pride of being a warrior, which was why they couldn't understand someone who would give up such a thing.

Looking back at the customers that were speaking, Kelp wanted to ask if they were sure they had the right person, but they were already gone.

"What should we do, sir?" One of the Alter members asked. "Do you want to try and question the chef?"

Kelp waved his hand.

"They have to be mistaken. That can't be one of the warriors. There are plenty of warriors at these tables from the Dark Faction. Let's try to get friendly with them, buy them a few drinks, and find out what happened."

Kelp and his group were quick to enact their plan, and it had worked. With a few drinks down the others' bellies, their lips had become somewhat looser.

And Kelp was getting answers to his questions, but they weren't what he had expected. He learned of the warriors, how young they were, and the power they wielded.

As well as warriors they had never seen before helping them fight. Some wielded special weapons in their attacks as well.

Things weren't making sense-how such people could get such strength and the weapons that they had used.

On top of that, the interesting fact Kelp learned was about the items taken from them. Artifacts left within the clans for so long.

It was burying a deep hatred among some of the clans with the newcomers, but there was nothing they could do.

Eventually, after going around the entire restaurant, Kelp and his group returned to their seats and ordered more drinks. They needed to in order to stay in the restaurant a little while longer.

"What do we do now? Although we found out some information, and maybe what this Dark Magus ordered others to do, I don't think this is what Alter was after," one of the guys said.

"You're right, we can't go empty-handed. We will have to dig deeper, maybe head to some of the clans, and head to the academy if need be," Kelp replied.

"Isn't that risky? And how can we be sure they'll answer any questions we have anyway?"

Kelp reached into his pocket and pulled out a rounded meat-like stick. It looked somewhat like a chopstick, but it was thicker and more rounded on both ends.

"This is a little gift from one of the programmers. It's the first time they've given me such an artifact. Hold this in front of a person's eyes, ask them anything, and they will have to tell the truth." Kelp then passed it to one of his allies, Ponz, who had been in his group for the longest ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

time.

"This really works?" Ponz asked, looking at it.

"Try it out here if you want," Kelp said.

It was then that Ponz held up the device and went to hold it in front of one of the fellow members in the group, but Kelp reached out and grabbed his wrist, shaking his head.

"Not on us," Kelp stated. "Have you not heard from the other squads?"

The other members shook their heads and leaned in closer, knowing full well this would be something others shouldn't hear.

"Some of the items in Alter are powerful, and they practically have no downside, but a lot of the items given to groups like us sometimes seem to have drawbacks."

"Now, Alter would never give out something that would harm our squads, after all, no one would use such items and there would be a lot of trust lost in Alter. But they don't fully explain the effects it can have on others."

"What do you mean?" Ponz asked.

"Let me give you an example. That item certainly does what they told me it will allow us to ask any question and get the truth-but there could be side effects on the person used."

"Maybe they lose their memory of the last two years. Perhaps a year of their life would be taken, or maybe even they can never speak again."

"These are the types of things that have been spoken about from the other squads."

"And they don't tell us this?" another member shouted.

While the member who was moments away from having the artifact used on him was staring ahead at Ponz, thinking what could have happened if Kelp hadn't explained in time.

"At some point, they have to test some of these items' effects. Some might not be so obvious, and as I said, none of them harm us, so it's not to worry. Anyway, we should probably find out what side effects it has before we start entering clans with this thing," Kelp said, gesturing for Ponz to get to work with the item.

Understanding the assignment, Ponz went to the closest table they had been friendly with for a while now.

He offered to buy them a drink, and then, under the guise of a magic trick, Ponz pulled out the special device and held it right in front of the man.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

He then lifted his hand, ready to press his thumb on the top, to activate the artifact, pushing

down.

Until a hand reached out and grabbed him by his wrist.

"What are you exactly doing with that?"

Ponz looked at the man that grabbed his hand and noticed the white clothing-it was the

chef, the one they had been told about.

"You guys have been acting strange ever since you got in here," Skyler said.