As Apricus had suspected, the history was indeed quite interesting. Apparently this village was founded 3,000 years ago and was originally from a village called Gora, from the western side of the sky. However as a war broke out between the southern and western side, the village was destroyed, and the survivors had moved to the north creating a village called Ari Village.
However the village had struggled immensely until some of the people from the land discovered this area and decided to move to the village, where the fourth village chief was made. Renaming their village to Aria they focused on war supplies and battle. After a hundred years or so the village was thriving in the presence of the fourth village chief, they were the strongest nation in the north and even had a large hotpot of cultures and traditions which could be seen today by the people wearing different colors and types of robes.
Everything was fine until the village chief died on a mission, and so his eldest son became the next village chief bringing prosperity for another 50 years. This son had done much better than his father to the point where this village was the biggest merchant stop point due to its immense resources. It had become known as the War merchant village, until the fifth chief died once again due to mysterious causes, however most likely to be speculated to be from poison or sickness.
Since the heir was immediately assassinated, right after the fifth chiefs children broke into war over the village, most dying while other split the village, while all other villages failed what remained was Aria as well as what now known as Sipea Village still located in the north but near the eastern side, unlike Aria which is in the western side.
"Huh interesting, after the 26th village chief there was a time period for 125 years known simply as "blank". There's no information about this time period either, other than the fact the holy flower bloomed during this time period, and that the village experienced an extreme level of internal bloodshed to the point the population dropped from 20,000 all the way to 300."
Apricus's neutral expression twisted into a grin as he read, quite curious about what had happened, after all this was the only village chief that was not named at all.
But of course there was more, after the blank the village suffered a terrible blow for the next few generations until finally the holy flower grew and it bloomed after 12 years.
After that the village experienced prosperity once again as their culture changed and they became one of the most renowned villages for the amount of merchants. There were not any other major conflicts other than the battle every 12 years. The village especially became much richer with the current 55th chief.
"Ah I was expecting a bit more but oh well, although they do have a map here."
The map was dirty and old however it did look pretty up to date, with various locations marked. Aria Village was on the northern side of the sky, more nearer to the western side. The village itself was built in a circular manner with the holy flower in the middle, more towards the top side of the village, with tiny merchant sections all around the village itself.
To its north was the wailing forest, covered in white leaves, bushes, and animals, and any time the wind blew in a specific direction near the forest it would make a sound that resembled a ghost wailing. To the east of Aria Village were the dread mountains, being over 10,000 feet tall making the only possible and efficient way to get to the top by being flight. There wasn't much in the southern and west side of the Village, however there were many more other villages surrounding Aria.
There was even a map of a small portion below the sky, which was marked as Crimson Forest due to the red plants. It was also the forest where Apricus had gotten trapped in due to the Unholy Pseudo Cursed. This map also explained why Genso would come to his rescue while he was trapped.
Closing the book Apricus took a deep sigh as he sat there absorbing the information as well as memorizing most of it. However unfortunately he was disturbed by two people, looking to be around his age by a year or two. One was a guy with neatly combed hair, round glasses, chiseled jawline, and neatly kept suit. The other was a relatively attractive lady with a sharp jawline that looked like it could cut steel itself, deep ocean blue eyes, long pale blonde hair, plumy large breasts that seemingly bounced every once in a while, and rough looking suit with a skirt almost reaching her knees.
The guy spoke first in a high pitched, almost annoying voice.
"Hello sir, we are here to-."
Just then he was cut off by the giggling of the girl when suddenly Genso appeared beside them, neither of them looking surprised or shocked suggesting they already knew. Genso then spoke in his usual grainy voice.
"I know we were supposed to talk in a week, however I decided I need to test your ability and strength, so go with these two: Atlas and Chloe. After all I need you to prove your worth of being trained as well as training, not just through your mind but as well as through your abilities."
Apricus was slightly irritated but kept a neutral face as he nodded then simply replied. "Alright, sure, but I do expect gold coins for this."
Both Atlas and Chloe were slightly shocked at this man's insolence, however they did not dare speak, instead Genso simply replied, tossing a rolled up paper to Apricus.
"Fine then I'll give you two gold coins, in that piece of paper is the objective of your mission, I expect you to complete it before you start training my student."
With that Genso simply disappeared, as at last fixed his glasses he started rambling however Apricus simply ignored him as he read the contents of the paper Genso had given him.
"This is a formal order by the right hand man of the chief, Genso, you are to travel to the Wailing Forest, and capture the bandits camping there near the middle of the forest. You are to also retrieve the relic that was stolen by them as well as acquire any rare animals that are met on the way."
Apricus simply laughed as he thought. 'He really didn't try to hide the fact this was a test, the contents of this are all messed up and unrelated to each other. Seems like he spun a wheel with tasks on it and ended up landing on the strangest ones.'
Then Apricus nodded as he spoke to the pair. "So are we ready to depart?"
Chloe giggled as she exclaimed "yea sure let's go, also it seems like he ignored you Atlas."
Atlas stunned simply stood there while Apricus and Chloe walked away leaving the book on the table, and exiting the library.
As they walked through the Village, toward the Wailing Forest , Atlas had caught up with them, however just before he could speak again, Apricus spoke up, thinking to take an initiative to introduce, as well as get to know his little group, after all knowing your allies well could aid greatly in battle.
"I think we should properly introduce ourselves first, my name's Apricus I'm a Beast Category C rank, and my ability has got to do with flames, what about the both of you?"
Chloe spoke up first in a cheerful manner, as her pale blonde hair swayed in the wind as they walked. "My name is Chloe, just like you I'm a Beast Category C rank, but my ability had got to do with mind control upon contact."
'Mind control huh, not many powerful combinations with my flames it seems.'
Finally Atlas spoke in the usual annoying voice, "Uh, my name is Atlas, I'm also a Beast Category but of the B Rank, making me like your seniors. And my ability is being able to see up to 10km, as well as through certain objects."
'He seems like a creep, and once again having no proper combination with my flames.'
Slightly disappointed, Apricus continued walking, thinking up of ways to make up for the lack of destructive strength, however he realized he was simply looking at it wrong.
Apricus once again spoke in a confident voice, suspecting that Genso was not only testing his strength but also his leadership skills. "We have a mind controller and a powerful eyesight along with flames, making this the perfect combination for a sneak attack, the first thing we should do is scout the area with Atlas's ability, if anything dangerous is found we use Chloe's mind control to distract it, and if all else fails I'll simply have to burn it."
Atlas nodded in agreement while Chloe simply replied "sounds good to me Apricus."
After a while of walking in silence, they finally arrived in front of the Wailing Forest, as the sounds of terrifying wails of ghosts resounded from deep within the forest, a singular thought passed through all three of their minds.
'This mission is going to be a pain.'