Chapter 31 “Location of the ancient relic”

The new day already came before Arata returned to the EOA’s world. Well, it was still not a day thought, but roughly around 3:00 at morning. No one was inside the reading room Arata appeared in so he decided to take a short nap. It was not like he was sleepy, rather he didn’t feel tired at all but he decided to do it nevertheless. After all he did not sleep for too long in last few days.

Time went fast and Arata woke up few hours later when the sun was already set high.

-that’s why I telling you, it’s there! No doubt about it!

First thing Arata heard even before opening his eyes was Levi’s voice.

-but that’s too far and you said it yourself, only one guild with full group of more than 100 people with high level managed to complete it. You tell me that you want us three to do the same?

Following Levi, there was Rin’s voice as well. It seems that they were arguing about something.

-I just telling you where the gate’s activator is, that’s all.

-but isn’t it the same as telling me that we have to go there.

-Arata told me to find the most possible location and I did. It’s not my fault that it is a place like this.

-… .

-anyway you our ‘miss leader’ Rin, so you decide.

-but what there is to choose from. My trace ended up as dead end and what you told me seems real.

-no, I am not talking about choosing if it’s a good lead or not. I am about 80% sure that it is a good lead. I was asking if we should tell Arata about it or not. Listen Rin. If we tell him about this ‘super impossible demon’s dungeon’, he will want to go there and we won’t be able to stop him because… well, he is an idiot.

“Who is an idiot?”

Arata still did not move and was lying on the sofa under the orange blanked with eyes close. He wanted to gather the information in case his teammates try to hide something from him.

-he is not an idiot! He just wants us to complete the quest!

“Rin?”

Arata was surprised how strongly Rin defended him. The way she shouted took back Levi as well.

-… .

-anyway, if you are sure that it’s there then we have to tell Arata about it. Then we will decide if we are going or not.

-but he already decided that he is going. I told him that I will go as well but if it’s a place like that, maybe I should pass after all. You too don’t want to go there, right? You yourself said that you spend the most of your time in this city. You wouldn’t just leave it for months just to get killed in some dungeon on the first pack… No wait, I am taking it back. We won’t even reach that dungeon in the first place. It’s just out of our reach.

-then we would first need to get stronger.

-are you talking about dinging some levels? Fine by me but we would need to get at least 100 of them and beat the ‘200th level barrier’ on the way to even have any chances. Then we would have to recruit some people for a raid group and then try to clean the dungeon. For this quest it’s probably the only tactic we could use right now. With it our chances of completing this quest would go up a little.

Despite being so negative about it Levi did thought that through.

-so if we were to do all that, we would complete the quest?

-I said that we would have some chances then. Still, it’s probably impossible to pull that off even if we were able to do all that, it would take way too long. I already heard that you are ready to sacrifice a lot of time for this quest but I don’t think I would be able to sacrifice this much, especially when chances of completing it are this small. Even dinging all those levels without dying even once is actually nearly impossible. And completing the raid dungeon afterwards would be even harder. And the 200th level barrier, I don’t know if you saw that but the sole fact that number of people that passed it is like one in thousand should speak for itself.

As always Levi was good at convincing others by using logical facts to change their minds.

-… .

-listen, that’s how it goes in this world. There are things you can do and things you can’t. Rin rather than focusing on this quest, you should focus on getting levels and get higher and higher. With that if an occasion where you find another quest of such rank comes to you, you can go for that world first then if you want it that badly.

-as if I care about something like world first.

-well, Arata was the only one serious about that but as I thought something that all players couldn’t complete for ten years till now is not something you can do just because you want to do it.

-anyway, I am still going to tell Arata and if he will still want to do it, I will not step back either. It is my quest after all and I was the one that asked him for help. It might take some time but we will try until we fail.

-you know Rin, I don’t dislike determination like that and if you agreed to something similar to the plan I proposed, I wouldn’t mind spending my time on this quest, no matter how long it would take. As long as you two want to continue, I am not stepping back either. I will even go for that suicidal raid try. Still, I don’t know how much Arata values his promise to you but when he found out about that dungeon he will probably give up as well.

-you think Arata will agree to that? I won’t hide from him where the dungeon is.

-you know what Rin, now that I think about it whatever you tell him or not he will still quit this time.

-why!?

-well the answer is quite simple. In comparison to you or me, Arata is not ready to sacrifice unlimited time for this quest. Even traveling to that raid dungeon would probably take too long for him.

-why? Does he have something he has to do immediately?

-no but he rather has something he wants to do immediately.

-what he wants? And that is?

-well, Arata is quite simple and there is only one thing that he truly wants and that is to meet his princess. I know, it might be hard for you but Arata really loves his girlfriend above everything else.

-… .

-he might want to get that ‘world’s first’ but I know the best that there is a ‘time limit’ for him. When the timer reaches zero on his clock, he will abandon everything at hand and go to meet her.

-… .

-hey, it’s not nice to talk behind someone’s back.

Arata decided that he has been listening for far too long and get up from the sofa quickly. When he did that the orange blanked fell on the floor.

“Did I cover myself in blanked? No, I didn’t buy this color and I was going to only take a nap so I didn’t take it out. Well whatever.”

-it’s also not nice to spy on people conversation.

Levi answered.

-I was just lying on the sofa, that’s all. It’s you guys who were shouting.

-I guess, still you did heard the end of our discussion just now right Arata? So maybe you will tell us how it is. Rin you also want to know right?

-why would I! He can do what he wants!

Rin suddenly interrupted him. Levi continued though.

-whatever, I will still ask as I want to know. So Arata, here is the question. What is more important to you, your girlfriend or…-

-Kotori.

Arata didn’t waste a second and answered right away while cutting in the Levi’s question.

-I still didn’t say the other option.

-well, I don’t really need to hear that. Whatever you put on second would not change my answer so I didn’t bother to listen. Anyway if you are satisfied then let’s get back the quest.

-… .

-… .

Arata didn’t want to waste time but his answer was just too strong for Levi and Rin to take. Levi was first one to react.

-I was going to say world first, but what if I said something like ‘your life’ or ‘life of your family member’.

-it would still be an easy choice.

“I don’t know in which situation it would be a choice between my family and Kotori but if it were something like ‘you can only save one of them’ then I would just go to save her as ‘my only living family that is left’ would not need my help.”

-Arata, you need to visit a psychiatric or something because I think that is already an illness…

Levi could only comment on it like that. He then also added.

-won’t you agree Rin?

-… .

-Rin?

-no, I think that this is how you should feel about the person you love more than anything in the world. I was just surprised to hear it from him.

-I personally think that my ‘harem route’ is healthier than that but… Oh no! Why did I just said that?!

Levi started to panic.

“Ups, he said it out loudly.”

-Arata, what does harem mean?

It looked like Rin did not know the meaning of the word.

-for Levi’s safety I won’t tell you.

-aha, so it’s something I can kill him for? In that case I don’t want to know, we have a quest after all. I can kill him plenty of times later on.

-right quest, let’s focus on that!

Levi said with stuttering voice. Then Rin started explaining the quest.

-Arata, you have to catch up to what we arrived at so I will tell you briefly everything. It seems that the version in which demons ended up in possession of the gate’s activator is true. Still, the activator is most likely not in the lands of the empire as we considered before, so we won’t have to make a trip to the west at least not just yet.

-well that were the good news, right?

-yes, now the time for the bad ones. From what we learned, it seems that the relic was not hidden anywhere but rather it was given to one of demon’s army general for safekeeping, meaning it always stayed with him. The name of that general is Beelphegor.

-so to complete the quest we just need to find the demon with that name and get the relic from him.

Arata quickly connected the fact.

-probably. Levi finish the other part.

Rin instructed Levi to finish the explanation.

-so, when Rin told me the name of that demon I remembered that I read it somewhere already. Just to be sure I log out to check it out and found out the location of high class demon with the same name. Now listen Arata as here is where the problems arrives. I already told you about demon based raid dungeons, right? Well, that demon is in one of those dungeons. That raid was in one of the cleared ones so it’s not a worst case scenario and we are 100% sure that this demon is there. Still that doesn’t change the fact that this dungeon is impossible for us. After all, only one guild managed to do it…

Levi continued the explanation.

-before you say ‘-hey! Let’s try it anyway, who cares about others’, first you should listen to some other bad news. That dungeon is located deep in regions for high level players. In those regions, unless you are over 230 level you will never feel save. Well to this argument you will still probably say ‘let’s try it first’ but now listen to ‘the worse news for you’. To reach that dungeon from Karma, even if we were over 250 level right now would still take us around three to four months.

The last message was really bad.

-yes, that is a little too far.

Arata answered.

-that’s your reaction!

Levi could not stand Arata’s attitude and exploded.

-Levi you said you expected it.

Rin added.

-yes but I really can’t understand this guy sometimes.

Levi couldn’t say anything anymore and Rin finished everything.

-anyway Arata, if you don’t want to do that quest anymore because it will take too long for you, than you can go wherever you want and we will also give up on it.

Rin stated it clearly so Arata didn’t feel obligated to help only because he agreed to help earlier on. But this time Arata’s response was different than the two expected.

-how can I not want to do that quest? It’s a world first after all. It’s definitely much more worthwhile than anything I can find in this game at the current moment. Stop being negative again. You already said that you believe in victory right. Of course we are doing the quest!

-… .

-… .

Arata was once again in his world’s first mode.

-Arata let’s not joke around and here is a deal. I don’t think that you will be able to keep this resolve for many months. You are already at the stage where you keep saying her name in sleep.

Levi stated the fact.

-am I?

Arata himself did not realize that.

-yes, you are.

-well, then you are probably right, I will not be able to keep my resolve for that long.

-ah, you are finally talking with sense.

-but still I want the world’s first.

-… .

Levi had enough. He couldn’t stand talking with Arata anymore.

-Arata, it will really take at least three months to get to that dungeon then the way back should we succeed is another three months. Also this is a chain quest, should we complete the first quest there will be more. That’s why Levi asked you what is more important to you at the start.

Rin ended up taking the rudder.

-still even if it will take it this long it’s a world’s I can’t past on it.

-but you said earlier that.

-yes, she is the most important to me but if I just ask her to come with us, then this problem will disappear right.

-a.

-a.

Arata said it like nothing but it looked like Levi and Rin forgot about this solution.

-it’s true that she is far from here but so is the place we would have to go, right? So if it’s really this far we would meet somewhere on the way and she would join our party. Also with her support completing some raid would be walk in the park. We do need a healer after all and she is the best there is.

-you really want to go this far for world first? Does it mean that much to you?

Rin ended up asking.

-well there is that but I also already promised you that I will help you with this quest. This promise is also important to me. And even though you say I shouldn’t feel obligated because of that promise, I do feel obligated to help you. There is little you can do to change that now Rin.

-… .

Rin ended up looking away as for some reason she could not bear to watch Arata’s face on that moment.

-Arata, ignoring the fact that we will get annihilated in that dungeon I think it’s a nice plan…

Suddenly Levi’s attitude completely changed.

-ah! I didn’t think that I will end up in party with the goddess I saw that day. Now even though I know that only death awaits me on this path I think it is definitely worth to continue this way.

-good thing you are finally motivated but don’t get ahead of yourself. First of all, just so you know, Kotori hates you so don’t even count on having a conversation with her.

-emmm, why would she hate me!?

Levi quickly asked as he didn’t understand.

-well, she didn’t like your attitude form the very beginning and after I told her that you are flirting with every girl you see and your live purpose is to create a harem… well I think you stopped existing for her.

-Arata, why did you tell her that!?

-well, our conversation strayed to you once when I was telling her what I was doing lately and it kind of happened.

Arata didn’t feel bad about what he did though.

-but you also told her my good qualities right? To balance things out.

-ah right, I told her that you are the fastest one to get promotion to the third rank in history of your silver hand order.

-now we are talking. Arata, you can do that when you put your mind to it. So what did she said?

-well, she was wondering how did that happened when you had nothing to do with guild Legion’s fall as it was all done by our guild leader and vice-leader.

Levi just looked down after hearing that.

-okay Arata I get it, you don’t have to add anything else. Well I will just have to change her opinion about her when we meet.

-good luck with that, I think you will need it. But still don’t get ahead of yourself just yet. Calling Kotori is my ‘last end emergency strategy’. It is still not decided that the quest will take us as long as you guys said.

-what, you have some other idea for it Arata!?

Rin asked right away.

-well, if we really end up to have travel such long distance we can always have that stupid Wizard make a portal for us to get there. If he really thinks that he can get away with sending us so far on foot then he is wrong.

-well, he might agree if we threaten him.

Rin read through Arata’s intention.

-still before that, there is one more way for us to complete this quest. It promise a good time on completing it, it doesn’t involve using ‘unstable portals of some stupid Wizard’ and it also does not involve ‘long three months travels’. The demons are also out from the picture in it.

-you though up of something else?

-yes and my tactic is quite simple but it’s perfect. We will buy that quest item.

-… .

-… .

Another Arata’s revelations make the others speechless.

-Levi you said yourself that the dungeon we would have to beat was already cleared by some guild which means that all unique items and quest items are in hands of that guild. Even if we cleared that dungeon ourselves now, we would only get normal drop. So the only way that’s left for us is to get that item from that guild.

-I see. This really might work.

Rin agreed with that plan.

-it’s sounds all nice and well but there are still some lose ends in it. First one, even though you don’t need a quest to get a quest item drop, it still is not 100%. So either you get it or not just like any other loot. And second one, how would you convince that guild to sell us that item. No rather, how would you even contact them?

Levi was skeptical though.

-before I answer. You said that only one guild managed to complete it right? So it’s the best guild in the world. Was it WhiteSuns?

-no, the other one…

Arata was little surprised hearing that.

“What’s this, it seems that Wolf and the others are slacking out without me. I would understand not getting the world’s first as you can’t always get it, but they still did not complete the raid yet even though it’s out? Ah, slackers, slackers, I can’t wait to tell them that they are all suck without me.”

Arata thought to himself and while he did so, he couldn’t hide a smile on his face as he recalled the people with whom he once played. Even though it was so long he still remembered the time he was playing with them. Even though it was not always easy, people argued and sometime said one word too much. Arata would always remember those times as good time. In a way his current recovery was also connected to his old guild. Because he had so much fun while playing with them in the past, when Arata’s grandfather asked him about what he enjoyed, the first thought that came to Arata’s mind was his playing time with his old guildmates Whitesuns.

-still Arata…

Levi continued.

-I am little surprised that you, who don’t care about anything that doesn’t concern you, heard the name Whitesuns. Well, I guess names of two best guilds are something that you can’t escape from no matter what if you play this game…

“I wouldn’t say that it doesn’t concern me but whatever.”

-well it’s still doesn’t matter to us if it were Whitesuns or HoD. We would be in the same position with no ways of contacting them.

-not exactly, if it were Whitesuns then with one phone call I would get that item in five minutes for free.

“Probably with invitation to their guild as well.”

Arata still did have Wolfstark number saved on his phone. Even though it was not the same number he was using few years ago, one day Arata received ‘automatic message’ that was probably send to all contacts that mentioned the change.

-hold on, where does that confidence coming from?

Levi asked as Arata’s response was somewhat strange.

-it’s doesn’t matter where it coming from, if it’s not them…

Arata simply answered like that.

-anyway, about that Hod guild. No in a first place, who would come up with a name for a guild like that?

-the full guild’s name is ‘Hand of the Devil’, and HoD is a shortcut from it. Although recently they are often called ‘Demon’s Slayers’ for being the only guild that managed to ever complete ‘demon based raid dungeons’.

Levi quickly explained.

-well for all I care they can be called hand of the donkey. Wait, donkeys don’t have hands but hooves, so maybe not donkeys. But word hooves still starts with ‘H’ so the full guild name would be hooves of the donkey. Yes, it’s perfect.

-I see that you have no respect for best guilds either.

-who they are does not matter. Our way of communicating with them will be the same.

-how will we communicate with them Arata?

Rin ended up asking the important question and ended the useless despite.

-yea, there is no universal way to communicate in this game. There are no chat or anything like that. Also you think that HoD would listen to a request from someone like us?

Levi added.

-I will explain on the way, Rin can you show us the way to the bank?

Arata asked.

-bank? Well, there is one in dwarven district, I never used it though. Why do you need to go there.

-Arata banks in this game don’t have any functions you know. Inventory is limitless so there is no need to store there anything.

Levi added the info.

-I said I will explain on the way. So Rin.

-okay, okay, I will show the way.

The party ended up leaving the library and with Rin leading the way they went in direction of the bank.

-so what with that bank, Arata?

-you know, when you first mentioned that this is one of as you called them ‘miracle finding quest’, I remembered that my guild leader once mentioned a way to complete those quests. I didn’t remember what it was so I ended up asking him again and I finally got the reply.

-so that’s from where the idea to buy that item came from. But what does it have to do with the bank?

-Levi, did you ever heard of black market?

Arata asked.

-black market? I think I did. But only the rumors. I have no idea what it is exactly about. What I hear is that using the black market has some high restriction and it’s always was kept secret from general knowledge. Still, I am rather sure that it existed it should be located somewhere in the capital.

-well there is one in the capital too but so is one in Karma and many other cities. All those places connected are what people call ‘the black market’.

Arata explained.

-Arata, I know this city better than anyone and I know that there is nothing like that here. Also even Mary didn’t hear a single rumor of it being here and she knows every rumor that is floating around this city.

-from what my guild’s leader said there is a secret organization running it and they don’t deal with just anyone. Even Levi with all his ‘classified source of information’ just barely heard anything about it. Still, it does exist and we are going there right now.

-you mean it’s in the bank? But I was there before and never saw anything like that.

Rin explained.

-it wouldn’t be a secret if you could find out about it by looking. There procedure you need to go through to enter it. Just wait and see.

-okay. So how will that black market help us?

Rin asked.

-black market does organize an auction on which you can buy and sell things. Quest items are quite popular there as unless you don’t have a quest the quest item is useless to you, so you can at least get some cash. Also even if the quest item is not listed on sell, you can require a service in which one of the organization member will look for a holder of that quest item and convince him to sell it. Of course that service is a lot more expensive but it was one of major guilds that completed that raid. They should know about black market and sell things like ‘quest items’ in mass.

-so if we are lucky we might complete the quest without actually doing anything. Will it really be that easy?

-yes, as long as it’s there.

-Arata, I doubt it will really go this well. It’s a quest of rank three, we can’t just buy ourselves to victory, that doesn’t work like that. That black market of yours is only a rumor, something like that should not exist.

Levi was not convinced though.

-but it does and has been since a long time. Also it’s not like we are completing the quest just a first part of it. We won’t get the world’s first till the whole questline is completed. Anyway, I think that it’s quite useful place, where you have a problem with it Levi?

Arata asked.

-I wouldn’t mind it if everyone were using it, but it is restricted to only few people from that many, it’s not fair.

-since when this world is fair?…

Rin added and then continued.

-although I have to agree. Wouldn’t it be better for them if they make it more public. I think that if Mary never hear about it before then the black market in Karma was practically never used.

-well they probably have their reasons for it.

Arata answered like this.

-reasons? What could those be?

-I don’t know, you can ask them yourself when we get there.

The bank was at the edge of dwarven district so they arrived there quite fast. The inside was nothing special. An open room with two cabins in two corners. In one, there was a woman working, the other was empty. There were two people near the cabin waiting in line but they were clearly NPCs. Even though it was a middle of the day, the bank did not look too occupied. Arata stood in the line and waited for his turn. Levi and Rin were also standing next to him.

-welcome to the Karma’s bank, how can I help you?

When it was his turn Arata was welcomed by the worker with those words.

-I wanted to store some black diamonds.

Arata answered. Of course he did not have any black diamonds to store and even if he did there would be no need to store them anyway. Still he answered like that because it was a keyword that he had to use to get to the black market. Well that was what Gerald told him at least.

-black diamond? I never saw one before…

The woman said it like nothing although the look in her eyes clearly changed.

-I will make you an account, how should I record you.

-my name is Arata, my guild Refrain.

Arata turned around to show the worker back of his coat, on which the mark of his guild was. The woman clearly reacted to the name of his guild and after seeing the mark she said.

-I will show you the way to the VIP room we can’t take out something as valuable as black diamonds out in a place like this…

She walked out from the cabin. Seeing Rin and Levi she said to them.

-my shift is nearly ending now so someone else will come in five to ten minutes, wait till then or come back another time.

-they are with me, can they come as well?

Arata asked, the woman did not reply right away but she agreed in the end. When they left the main hall and walked through the doors that were there, the woman worker started talking.

-normally I wouldn’t agree to bring some random visitors but if it’s a request from someone from Refrain then I will have to agree…

Following the worker they soon entered a small room. That room was quite empty as there were no chairs or table. It didn’t really look like VIP room at all. One would at least expect see some expensive sofa in it.

After they all entered inside the worker closed the doors. Few seconds later the room started to change. The walls as well as the floor and the celling changed its color to white. In no time the room changed into a white space in which everyone were standing in. Although there was no visible floor to stand on.

-before you go, there are few things I have to explain to you as it’s your first time using our services. Remember that sharing the information about the black market is strictly restricted. In case of not following this rule, your membership will be revoked and you will never be able to use black market again. Well, that’s how it at least should be but a member of Refrain will probably not be revoked no matter what he does. Still please try to follow that rule and don’t share the information about black market with just anyone.

The worker ended up explaining.

-what about people who are here without membership?

Levi ended up asking.

-you two are exceptions. There is no procedure to deal with you two. It will probably be something along the lines ‘you will never get a membership in the future’. We are quite flexible about the rules, you know.

-then what do I need to do to get the membership?

-this procedure is simply. You have to be recommended by ten members as being trustworthy. There is a restriction here. One member can nominate only one person per two months in real time. That ensures that the membership will be kept low. So as you can see it will not be easy for you to find then people and convince them to recommend you. After you get all recommendations, one person that recommended you explains to you how to get to one of our institutions. We take it from there afterwards.

-I see.

-em… did I received ten recommendations? And if so from whom?

Arata ended up asking.

-no, you are a special case. Although there is no procedure for it, the leader decided to add all members of your guild to the data system and gave you all rank 5 in ten star ranking system. It means that you have an access to every service we offer and that your discount on tax is 25%. For your information this whole thing with inviting your guild created a storm in our organization and our forums. That is because although the leader usually doesn’t do anything she has the highest authority and she can practically do what she wants.

-she?

-is it strange that leader of our organization is a woman? Well she is more of creator rather than the leader. Of course the information on whom she is costs 1 billion gold.

-why so expensive?

-well normally it should be a classified information but in our business every information is for sale so we just gave it a high price. There never was anyone who bought this info so it works…

“Who would normally waste such amount of money?”

-what else…

The woman worker continued.

-right you will receive an ‘in-game mail’ in which you will get internet page address and your identification which you should use there. We limited the information on that page though and it’s only tells you where you can find locations of our bases in other cities through the world. I think that is all introductions that you needed as being here for the first time. So now what would you like to know about black market?

-hmm, let’s start with, what services does black market offers?

Arata ended up asking.

-we are mainly information dealers. We both buy and sell it. Then there is trading between players or delivering a messages. Those are the most popular services. There are also others more specific requests that other players made. Recently the one that is used quite a lot is ‘arrange me a meeting with this person’.

-I see. I have other question. Why is your organization so secret that practically no one knows it?

-there are few reasons for it. First one, the black market was supposed to be something else than what it is right now. Then there are other problems like not enough members to run it. We are dealing only with major guilds and famous players because it’s them who sell us the most and buy from us the most. Of course there was a plan to make it more global but the effectiveness of black market would decrease and that is something that can’t happen.

-next question, what is this white space we are in? It doesn’t seem like bank anymore?

-right now we are in the black market itself, depending on the request you have we will move to the specific area that deals with it. The whole place was created by ‘the creator’ and is accessible from every base we have in all major cities.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

-can you use it for teleportation? Like I enter in one city and leave in other?

-unfortunately this option unavailable as it doesn’t work like that. You have to enter and leave by the same entrance. But you understanding is not completely wrong. You could meet here someone who entered the black market from other city. Meeting someone here is also one of special services that black market provides. Although because of big response to it from our members, the price had to be set at 500 gold per hour. The black market is too small to become a meeting place for many people. It also can’t get any bigger than it already is. This is another main reason we can’t go more public. Anyway was that your last question?

-one more. Why this is called a black market when it’s all white here?

-… .

The woman gave him annoyed look after Arata’s last question.

“It’s a taboo here, I guess.”

-that would be all.

-now then, what did you come for here today? I need to know so I can send you to the right section.

-we want to buy a quest item.

-I see, quest item section. Right now, the man responsible for it today is not here but we will call him for you. He should be ready to meet you in five minutes until then wait in his office.

The woman disappeared from the white space which started to change into an expensive office. There were three chairs in the middle and one black chair on wheels behind the desk in front of those three chairs. The office didn’t look like something one could often see in EOA though.

The party ended up sitting down on those chairs. Arata in the middle, Rin on left and Levi on right.

-you know I expected it all to look a little different.

Rin commented.

-yes, who would have thought that an organization like that would exist, I will have to get a membership somehow.

Levi followed it up.

-Arata, you didn’t mention that your guild is so famous that you have privileges like that?

Rin ended up pointing it out.

-famous? I wouldn’t say so. Rin, did you ever heard of a guild with a name Refrain?

Arata asked sarcastically.

-no never.

-but you heard about Whitesuns and that HoD right?

-well more or less.

-then as you can tell, we are not famous in any way. I rather surprised by all that myself.

-but you must agree that ours guide eyes went wide when she heard the word Refrain.

Levi added.

-Levi, you do know well that my guild was created not that long ago.

-well I do, that’s why I was surprised by all that as well. Also you were granted some super membership just by being in the guild. For me it’s was like, ‘say what!?’

“Gerald once said that there are many perks for being in his guild.”

-anyway what is important that we have a chance to get the quest item without actually traveling for few months or fighting any demons.

-Arata and where is the fun of completing the quest by yourself?

Levi added.

-when fighting for ‘world’s first’ everything is allowed. Also fighting for a world’ first is not meant to be fun, it’s a hard work!

-and here he is again.

It looked like Rin had enough hearing Arata’s theories about world’s first.

-anyway there is still something we have to discuss if we are going to buy that quest item. How much are we willing to pay?

-I don’t know, how much it’s usually goes?

Rin asked.

-as if I would know that.

Arata’s answer was not helpful though.

-right now I have over two thousands gold so if it’s something in this range then I can manage it. If it’s more expensive we can always spend some time gathering the money.

Rin explained.

-two thousands? I guess it really might cost that much or even more. After all, we would have to complete the demon’s raid dungeon ourselves if it weren’t for that. It must be that costly but I wouldn’t have buy it whatever the cost.

Arata added.

-well we did end up earning over 1,5 thousand gold ourselves in arena so it’s not like we are poor right now Arata.

-yes we are rich.

-I would say if it’s something in a range of 4,5 meaning 1,5 from each of us we should buy it. But if it costs more than, no just no. We forget about this quest then. There are some limits on how crazy you can go with money.

“I guess that such sum on a quest item is already an overprice.”

-I think it will be the best as well.

Rin added.

“I surprised that they are willing to spend such sum on a quest they believe impossible.”

-okay if we happen to find that quest item here and it’s over 4,5 thousands gold then we are either not continuing or we tell that stupid wizard that if he wants to have his quest done, he has to pay the rest.

-you will never give up, will you?

-I want my world’s first after all.

When their conversation continued the doors to the office were opened. The man holding a cup of coffee entered the room. He was wearing a white lab coat on a grey sweater. He was also wearing brown pants and black slippers on feet’s without socks. He had a black hair that was in a true mess. It was bending in every direction.

-first they wake me in the morning and then they won’t even let me finish my café, ah I really should quit this job already…

The man said under his nose when he walked towards the chair behind the desk. He sit on the chair looked in Arata’s direction then at Rin and at Levi. He started drinking coffee for about a minute and then said.

-sorry, I forgot your guys names.

-maybe because it’s the first time we meet.

Arata answered.

-but they told me that they sent me a five star member today. Or wait a minute, you are from Refrain right?

-yes and my name is Arata.

-well that would explain a lot. Other two are from Refrain as well? What are your names?

-we are not. My name is Levi and hers is Rin.

-ah, so you are already breaking rules, that’s just great…

The man said to himself and took another slip of coffee. He was not really concerned by Arata breaking the rules. He simply continued.

-but you just said Rin, right? Hmm… long red hair, short in height, has two swords on the right size. You are the hidden rank zero of Karma’s arena aren’t you?

-how did you know!?

-it’s my job to know stuff and you are quite famous so don’t be surprised. When people ask for best players from 100-200 range you are always mentioned as unconditional top one and trust me people do ask that question a lot. Especially the major guilds. You should know that black market also deals with guild recruitment. There were few requests for us to send you a message from few top guilds but somehow our messengers always kept on dying. Right now, the request for us to send you some message costs over 5 thousands gold you know, and that is something. But where are my manners. My name is Ray D. Aster but you guys should just call me Daster. Who am I you might ask? Well, I am the most responsible person in this organization and one of few reasons it didn’t fall apart just yet, not sure if it will continue for too long though.

-you don’t look that responsible Daster.

Arata responded only to say that name.

-I don’t bother with suits and ties, if someone don’t like it then they can stop using black market, it would be one person less to deal with. Anyway this is the quest item section, right?

“He himself does not know. Is this really the most responsible guy in this organization?”

-it should be, we came to buy the quest item.

-I sometimes get lost here with all those teleports and stuff. Even though it somehow works, it doesn’t mean that it works well. Anyway let’s get to the business. Does any of you have the quest that you need an item for?

-we all have it. Why else would we want to buy the quest item?

-ah thank god, it will be an easy work then. You know there are people who come here without the quest and want to buy it for someone else. You have no idea how hard it is to find the right quest item then. So you guys know anything about that quest item or are we going blindly? Anything you say might speed up the process quite a lot. Also remember that whatever you say, here stays here, so there is no need to hold back.

-okay, so we do know that it’s a heaven’s gate activator that was given to king of Solaris by angels. As the name suggests it was used to open heaven’s gate…-

-wow, wow, you are making it so easy for me, if only others guys followed your example. By the way, do you guys also know from which mob it drops?

-we suspected that it might drop from demon Beelphegor.

-Beelphegor…Beelphegor… right, the final boss of Shattered Deeps. If that’s the case, then your quest item can be sold only by ‘Demon’s Slayers’. If you guys are right then we will find your quest item asap, we only have to search through HoD’s goods…

Daster started to write something on the paper when he finished that paper started to shine and the various things fall on his desk.

-those are all quest items from HoD’s that would fit your description or that dropped from Shattered Deeps. Check if any of them is the right thing.

-how do we check it?

-you simply need to check if an of those items that doesn’t have numberous ‘????’ on its description. If it’s not one of those then we can also try to just look for gate’s activators in general. And if this doesn’t work there are still other options available although you would have to pay extra for those.

Levi and Rin started checking the items. There were about ten of them to check. Arata asked another question.

-by the way, how much more or less will this quest item cost?

-standard price for quest item with discount for five star member is 1500 gold. You can always buy it on credit if you don’t have the money at hand. It’s a service available for those with three star earned or higher, so you are qualified. You will have to pay additional 200 gold if you decide to use this service and until you pay everything off the black market will be unavailable to you. There are no billing rates as the time goes so it will always be 1700 gold to pay off.

-we have this amount so it’s not needed.

-Arata, I found it!

Rin shouted and interrupted their conversation. She was holding a gold-white statue of angel. The white parts were the hair and the wings.

-let me see.

[Heaven’s gate activator.

Final element of heaven’s gate.

Gift of angels to the king Sarius Six of the Solaris Empire. It was used only once in history when Sarius Six send his warriors to aid angels in defense of heavens. After the battle was won and heaven gate close the activator was never used again and instead served as a token of friendship between Solaris Empire and heavens. Later on this relic from a token of friendship, became a token of betrayal as when it was angels’ time to help, they did nothing and let the demons roam through the lands of Solaris.

During Solaris’s fall, the relic was taken by demon Beelphegor and he keep it since then so the heavens cannot call for mortals’ help once again.]

“It simply can’t not be this right?”

-if you found it and it’s not ‘?????’ then congratulation you found your quest item…

Daster quickly said and continued.

-ah this job was easy. Normally people come with requests for quest items only knowing the quest item name, sometime even without it. If everyone were like you, my life would be so much easier. Just to be sure, let’s trade the item and see if you get the in game message.

Arata and Daster ended completed the trade operation and few moments later all in the party got a message.

[Quest: Silver temple in the heavens. Part one.

Progress. Find the heaven’s gate activator (Completed)]

-it’s this one.

-great. Now prepare the money and sign up this paper. It will automatically take 1500 gold from your possession. The amount will also be automatically sent to the seller, after cutting of course our provision.

Arata took the pen that Daster gave him but before he could sign up he saw [trade request] right before his eyes. It was Rin giving him 500 gold of her part.

-you don’t have to give it to me right away.

Arata said to her.

-I don’t want to be in your debt.

“Even for few minutes?”

He did find it strange that she acted like that but he didn’t mention it.

-while you are at it, you can take mine to.

Levi also ended up doing the same. Then Arata ended up singing under the paper. Arata’s account balance went down little over a thousand.

-and with this the item is yours. Because it went so fast and nicely, I will give you 10 points towards next star rank in black market membership. For higher rank you need to gather 100 points, it’s quite simple system. Now then, there is one thing left… Arata was it? Are you interested in selling some information?

Daster asked with little change in his voice.

-I don’t think that I know anything of value that you don’t know already.

-let’s not play around the bush and go straight to the topic. The thing I am interested in is the question ‘what is your guild leader planning to do right now’. I have many buyers that want to know that so if you tell me what it is then you will get at least ten thousands gold up paid up front and extra three thousands every time anyone buys this info.

Daster was really not playing around the bush.

“Ten thousands that’s a lot. Still.”

-even if I did know I would still not tell you, it’s my guild leader after all.

-so whatever you do know or not, you will not tell me anyway. Well that’s what I expected anyway from his guild. I guess that everyone will have to wait and see, I personally can’t wait, with a big name like that who didn’t do anything out of late, it will definitely be something big…

“Hmm, what did Gerald want to do? He kept on saying strongest guild this, strongest guild that but that’s probably wasn’t it. But he did say that he will be busy though and that he had some kind of schedule. Which he did not follow by the way. I really don’t think that information on what is he doing is worth that much though.”

Arata thought like that but many times the information could be the strongest weapon of all.

-now if you excuse me, I will be going now. You also should go now as our transaction is over. Feel free to come back anytime when you have a need and the money of course.

Daster pick his already empty cup and walked outside the door. The moment the door closed, the office room in which they were started to disappear it became a white space once again. Although this time it happened only for a second as from white space it started to change once again and it was once again the first room from which they ‘teleported’. They were back in Karma’s bank VIP room that didn’t look like VIP room at all.

“Looks like there will be no need to call Kotori. It’s a shame though.”

Seeing how another part of the quest went super quick, Arata thought to himself like that.”

-that was quite easy. Levi didn’t you say that quest of rank three is impossible?

Arata had to say that.

-we only completed a small part of the questline, it won’t count as completing the quest.

-details. Anyway let’s get quickly to the wizard with that statue and grab the next part of the quest. Hopefully this quest won’t have too many parts.

-from what I heard, normally chain quest have three to six parts. There are exceptions to this rule of course but rarely. Well, we have the questline of rank three so we can never know as no one completed it.

-we will know how long it was when we complete it, for now let’s get back to the Wizard and see what our next objective is.

The party left the bank and started walking towards the wizard’s hideout.

In no time they arrived there.

-how many times are you planning on coming here this week!? Don’t you have better things to do!?…

The Wizard didn’t sound very happy by their visit.

-I am busy you know and I already told you that I won’t be helping you with this part so don’t come crying to me. Finding that thing is indeed not that easy but if you try hard enough you will find it. Until then do not enter this laboratory again!

“Now that I think about it he always mentioned that he hates being disturbed by people. Or was it that he hate people in general?”

-we already found ‘that thing’ so quit the nagging and tell us the next part.

Rin calmly responded to Wizard.

-but you couldn’t find it in one day.

-here is your gate activator.

Arata took it out and showed it to the Wizard. Wizard looked at it from afar. After seeing it the Wizard waved his hand and a book in white cover come flying to him, from one of the bookshelf. Before the book landed on the desk, it opened itself on some page. On that page there was a picture of the statue that looked exactly like the one Arata was holding.

-throw it to me in a low course.

The Wizard suddenly said that to Arata.

-ha?

-just do it!

-okay, fine, fine.

Arata ended up throwing the statue to the wizard. It wasn’t a small statue. It had about 30 cm in height and it was quite heavy.

But then the moment the statue left Arata’s hand, a lighting come out from Wizard’s hands right into Arata’s direction. Even with his amazing dodge skills it was not something Arata could dodge, especially when he was completely surprised by it. Still the lightning bolt did not hit Arata but the statue that he threw. The statue bounced back from it and Arata caught it again.

-what are you doing!?

-calm down. I was just testing if it’s a real thing.

Wizard quickly explained after Arata shouted at him.

-testing? What if it scattered into the pieces?

-if it did, then it would mean that it’s an imitation. Still seeing that nothing has happened to it means you have found what I asked for…

[Quest: Silver temple in the heavens. Part one completed]

[You have leveled up by 500%]

[You have gained a level, current level 109]

“Wow, that’s a lot. I didn’t think I will get anything till we complete the whole questline but I guess the exp is here. Five levels… Muahahahahahaha!”

Seeing the incredible level bonus from completing the quest Arata had an inner evil laugh. He did hold it back and did not laugh out loud only because Rin was already few steps away from thinking that he is a complete weirdo and he didn’t want to destroy his image completely.

-by the way, no that it matter, but where did you found it?

Wizard ended up asking.

-don’t you know that they sell gate activators like that on bazaar for five gold each? We simply bought it there.

Levi answered him with an explanation which explained as much as Wizard usually explained them in the quest.

-I see, I must visit that bazaar once in a while as well. Anyway now that you got that thing, all that’s left is to use it. Although, I am not sure if it will work.

-what do you mean that it won’t work!?

-as I said it has good chances of working, about fifty/fifty. I do have plan B so don’t worry. Although you guys probably don’t want to use it. Well plan B chances of success is around 20% so we better go with plan A.

“I have bad feelings about this.”

Actually Arata never had a good feelings when it came to quest from this guy.

-plan A is going to the silver temple with the use of heaven gate, right? So our next stage is finding the heaven’s gate and trying to activate it?

Rin asked.

-as suspected of you Rin, you already know everything even if I don’t say anything. Yes, your next job is simply going to heaven’s gate and activating it with this statue. Then you next objective would be go through hopefully opened portal and hopefully you will end up in heavens. From there it shouldn’t be that hard to get to silver temple but on that you can focus when you actually succeed in your current objective…

[Quest: Silver temple in the heavens. Part two.

There was a legend that a silver temple exists. You meet a madman who asked you to reach that place and prove that it does indeed exist. Following the legend the madman explains that the mentioned silver temple is located in the heavens.

You have found the heaven’s gate activator just like madman asked you, now you have to find the heaven’s gate and see if the legends are true and if a gate to heaven really existed and if it’s still in useable state.

Rank of the quest 3

Reward unknown

Warning: What madman says may be a complete lie. There is no recorded truth that someone ever reached the heavens or the silver temple. Whatever you believe in the story of madman is up to you.]

The Wizard stood up from the chair and started walking in the direction of one of the closed doors.

-follow me…

He said that and ventured to one of the other rooms that could be reached from the main hall through one of numberous doors. The room was quite small compared to the big entrance hall. It was just a small rectangular room. It was filled with many paper scrolls that were both on the shelves as well as floor. Wizard picked up one of them and then he spread it on the empty table.

-as I already mentioned before, this time I will tell you exactly where the heaven’s gate is located so let’s get it over with. Here…

The Wizard pointed at one place on the map.

-this is the city we are currently in, Karma. As you can see following road to the south you will get to the tomb where your prequest was held. Here is the north, here is the east, south and west. Now you should have a general idea of where we are and the direction in which you will have to go. Now then, going south-west from on the map Karma we reach this point. This is where gate of heavens are. I did ‘far seered’ it few times last time it was about month ago. The heaven gate is a four meter in height construction made from silver stone. As you can see on the map it’s surrounded by mountains but not completely and if you go from the east you will see the gate with no problems from a great distance…

“Hmm, quite far. Judging from the map, it’s about five-six days trip if we went straight in that direction without many stops. So practically it would at least take two weeks. And it’s only if we go straight.”

Arata thought to himself seeing the map.

-so, with this I did my job of quest-giver for now the rest is up to you. Don’t bother me if you have nothing important to say. If everything goes right you won’t need my help again.

With that being said, Wizard left the room leaving the party behind.

-ah, once again we got an impossible challenge and I don’t think we can buy our way out from it this time.

Levi commented.

-Levi, don’t bring your negative thoughts once again.

Arata quickly interrupted him.

-those are realistic thoughts. You have no idea how hard it is to travel to the west from here. Did you ever wondered why people call this city the west end of the world?

-you are overstating it again. It’s should be better than fighting demons right?

-well I guess. It’s true that it’s better than fighting demons.

-see, that’s the positive thinking. Hey, Rin we really ended up going to the west just like you said.

-… .

Rin nodded while still looking at the map.

-what are you looking at?

Levi asked.

-it’s the first time I see a map as detailed as that. It shows quite large area. Not only Karma is here but few other cities as well. From what I know all those locations do exist in those places. Still what I look at right now is the map of the west. From what I know people never actually ventured that far, so no one ever was at the end of this map. See, no one arrived here or here or here.

Rin started to point at random locations of the map at the left part of it.

-she is right, it’s rare to see a map but a map of unknown area is even more rare.

-still you can’t trust that Wizard that the map is definitely correct. The east part was confirmed by Rin but no one can confirm the west part. Also seeing that there is not even one city drawn on this map means that few things are lose.

Arata commented.

-it might be that but Arata you heard how the other expeditions did when they ventured to the west. They could not find the cities, no matter how hard they tried and how far they went. They all ended up dying without finding a resurrection place. This fact confirms that this map may be correct.

Rin answered.

-well, we don’t have to find any cities but just the heaven’s gate and we already know where to look for it. It should be a walk in the park.

-ah, you are as optimistic as always.

-Rin, you said you already were in west once, can you share with us what can we expect there.

-I already told you pretty much everything. Also, me going to the west looked something like this. I was going through forests and fields and tried to avoid getting caught by monsters. Sometimes sprinting at maximum speed to get away from them and so forth till I fall into some cave that turned out to be a dungeon with demons in which I died after ten minutes of fighting without actually killing any of them as they had somewhat strong regenerate abilities that I did not know how to counter. From where I saw it they were immortal as even after I cut of the head of one of them he still regenerated it in five minute or so.

“Ah, it’s good that we don’t have to fight demons.”

-how about monsters in the fields? How good they were?

-well, they are beatable if you fight them one on one but when they gang up on you then it’s really hard to survive. If I had to compare then it would be on a level of ten man raid dungeon bosses.

-it’s not that bad then.

-well those are average monsters that you find everywhere there. But like everywhere you can sometime find something much stronger. I did fight there against one boar that was about as strong as the crimson knight in the tomb challenge. I managed to run away from it somehow as after five hours of running away he finally let me go.

-… .

-… .

Rin’s story became somewhat scary.

-then there was also a colossal stone giant that was as big as small mountains. Luckily I managed to hide away from him and he didn’t see me. For him killing me would be as simple as stamping on the ant.

-… .

-… .

Also fact that it was Rin who was saying all that, made this story even scarier.

-there were more scary looking things there as well but I didn’t get too close to them just to be save. Still I really don’t know much about the west Arata, so don’t count on my knowledge there.

-it’s not like we need knowledge when we know our destination. We just have to go straight south-west and look for mountain range. I have a compass so we won’t get lost.

-if we go straight south west we will get right into those mountains here… .

Rin showed a long range of mountains between the location of the Karma and the gate. The mountains were not blocking only that. Even going south would be still blocked.

-I think that we need to plan our route a little better.

Arata quickly changed his mind.

-I think that the best way would be to first go east, around the mountain and then travel west…

Levi showed a line on which they would go.

“That’s seems like an idea.”

-still speaking of going to the west, wasn’t Yume doing to do something like that? She told me about it.

Levi suddenly mentioned.

-is it true Rin?

Arata also asked.

-well, yes. You remember how yesterday I took a break and left you two for the whole day even though we were working in library together. That day I spend with Mary. I did leave you because it was the last day that she had a free time as after that she travels with her party to the west and she don’t know when she will actually be coming back. It might be few weeks or even months, depending on how well her party will do. I wouldn’t have left if it were for anything else.

-don’t worry, we also took a break. Still why is someone like Yume going to the west?

-since some time now Mary is a part of a group that often goes for dungeons, raids and play together in general. Even though previously she thought of fighting as a chore that she needed to do in order to travel to new places, she started to like the battles that her party had and she started to enjoy participating in them. Then one day she said that they were planning to go to the west, just like that.

-so she doesn’t have any objective in that?

-probably not. In the first place, her party is probably not what you think. It’s a spontaneous group that does whatever comes to their mind. Going to the west is also an idea like that from what Mary told me.

-but if you said that west is so difficult, how do they plan to survive there?

-they are probably optimistic like you Arata. They are like ‘let’s go what bad could happen?’

Levi cut in.

-I am not like that.

-yes, you are Arata… .

Rin answered and continued..

-but still even though they are spontaneous group they are quite able. Also although going to the west is something that is considered suicidal in general, Mary’s party is not really worrying about that but it’s also not ‘let’s go what bad could happen?’ but rather ‘let’s go if something bad happens, Shin will think of something’. Mary said that it’s their motto and not only for going to the west but wherever they do something dangerous.

“It think that Yume did mention that guy once when I first time meet her in Karma. Vivi was also from that group and that dwarf with her. I forgot his name. Well I am bad with names anyway. Still if we want to find out something about the west, it wouldn’t be bad to ask Yume about it or some of her party member. We could always use a black market but I feel like prices for their services are little bit too much so I am not going to use it if not necessary.”

-Rin, when does Yume take off to the west?

-today at 17:00 she have a last party meeting. It should be starting soon. Then after it in the evening they are leaving Karma. That’s what Mary told me yesterday.

“We don’t have much time then.”

-then is it possible to speak with her before she leave?

-probably but I don’t think that Mary is the right person to ask about the west either. For her going to the west is just like another journey with her friends and as always she goes there blindly. She will only be told the most necessary things that she needs to know.

Rin explained her easy going friend usual behavior.

-we don’t need any great details but a quick summary on the subject.

-if you say so. Well, I know where Mary usually has her meeting so we can wait there till she finish and catch her afterwards. She should have some time for us. Anyway Arata, what will we do with that map? It could prove useful to have it with us on this journey?

-well, that stupid Wizard won’t notice if it’s missing so of course we are taking it.

Arata answered.

-you are saying it, like stealing the map is the most natural thing to do.

-because stealing the map from this guy is the most natural thing to do, is it not?

-hahaha.

-hold on to it for now Rin and let’s go see if we can find out something from Yume. Yume.

Rin picked up the map, scrolled it. After that the party left the room and the Wizard’s hideout as well. Then, they ventured to where Yume had a meeting with her party.

Next Chapter