He first started by removing the stone covering parts of the damaged chests and then spent a moment admiring the small hill of wealth in front of him.
Finally, he retrieved several bags holding expanded spaces and began carefully putting away the treasure. The first bag got the tarnished silver, the second the bronze coins, and the final one got the gold coins. The bank would probably charge him a fee for cleaning those coins, but it should be a negligible amount compared to their value.
Then came the time to look for any artifacts.
In his inherited memories, people could find the amulet as a rare drop after defeating the drake at the end of the dungeon, which then could be given to the Quest NPC. But it never amounted to anything more than a few more pieces of money and some additional experience points. It was rather disappointing to see all that treasure and come away with only a dinky amulet.
It didn’t take Sam much time to find the amulet Old Thomas was looking for, as he could feel the tightly wound mana around the item under one of the chests hidden in its own small chest and bundled in rotting fabric.
[Congratulations, you found the amulet belonging to Old Thomas’s family!]
[Amulet of ???: Grants its bearer +10 Mana Regeneration, Stamina Regeneration, Health Regeneration as well as an Artificial Mana Shield. The artificial Mana Shield can be filled with 1000 Mana, currently 0/1000. For each Mana point, it protects the wearer for 2 direct damage. Additionally, it does ??? and ???.]
[You have the choice of using the artifact or returning it to Old Thomas!]
Sam stared at the amulet for a long while.
‘That’s suspicious as frick…’ he thought while contemplating the situation. He could probably take it to somebody who could properly identify it because he sure as hell would not inject his mana into it to try to identify it. ‘To chance it or not?’
For a long while he stared at it, turning it this way and that way, hoping to discover some clue about it. But the only thing on the amulet was some lines acting as decoration on the edge and in the middle was a coat of arms of some family (probably Old Thomas’) but he didn’t recognize it.
In the end, he shrugged and chucked the amulet into his inventory. He would deal with it later.
After removing the coins from the ground and the remains of the chests, he found a small metal box that opened without trouble. Inside were three spell books, but as the covers were blank, he couldn’t say if they were worth anything. He would have to read to see…
Then he spent some time looking around, making sure he gathered every last piece of coin and item. Sadly, he didn’t find any more artifacts. Even so, he was pretty much happy with the gold coins as this wealth added to his bank account, or more like to the company’s bank account, would make him fabulously wealthy later on.
Even more so than he was now…
----------------------------------------
The return trip was peaceful, even though Sam expected the four idiots to rush back and attack him again to regain their lost reputation. At least that was how it went in the novels he had read in his past life. Apparently, people in real life were smarter… who knew?
He walked through the gates and immediately headed for the bank.
In the bank, he was met by a smiling woman, dressed to impress, with a rather airier shirt than last time.
It seemed they really liked his money.
“How can we help you today, sir?” she asked with a gentle bow.
“Deposit today too,” he stated simply.
The woman’s eyes lit up with excitement and gestured for him to follow her.
They walked through the lobby, ignoring all the players that were standing in line and glaring at Sam for the preferential treatment.
Soon they arrived in a room where he was led through a giant metal door that shut behind him, surprisingly silently. Already used to it, he waited until the woman motioned at the desk in the middle and simply retrieved the bags and placed them there.
The woman immediately began examining them. Credit where credit is due, the moment she opened the bag containing the gold she only let out a small ‘oh’ sound. Otherwise, she acted very professionally.
It took a while, but his money was counted and ready to be deposited. The moment the woman slid over the piece of paper listing the value of the money he brought with him, her top two buttons were mysteriously missing.
Sam thanked her with a polite smile, looked over the document, then began to list his instructions for the money.
The woman was initially a little disappointed, but she was still professional and began taking notes.
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Sam left the bank happily with a new stack of documents to hand over to Lucy and a smiling bank employee waving him goodbye.
He put away the documents and began walking towards the Administration Building.
An amulet was looking for its owner.
The Administration Building was full of people queuing as always, but Sam just ignored the lines and headed directly for the very long and dirty corridor.
This time he ignored everything as the unknown parts on the amulet were somewhat freaking him out and he wanted to know what it was about, one way or another.
He reached the door that hid the old man from casual observers and stopped for a second.
Sam took a deep breath and activated all his protective spells and skill. It was probably unnecessary, but he wanted to make sure…
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With a final sigh he knocked on the door and when he heard the weak ‘come in’, opened the door with a deft motion.
Old Thomas was sitting on his rolling chair in front of his desk, drawing something, but the moment Sam entered the room, he looked up and gave Sam a giant toothy smile that showed that he had a few of them missing.
“Young man! You’ve returned!”
“Indeed, I did, sir,” Sam answered with a forced cheer.
The old man leaned forward with hope basically radiating from him.
“Did..did you…did you find it?” he asked, stuttering a little.
Sam reached into his pocket and retrieved the artifact in question.
Instantly, the old man’s eyes zeroed in on the amulet and as Sam offered it to him, he reached forward with trembling hands.
Sam watched as Thomas brought the amulet closer to himself and basically hunched over it. Just to be sure, he took a step back and watched the old man.
At first, he was scared that the old man would have a heart attack as seemingly he began to take short and sharp breaths and the hunching got worse while mumbling under his breath. Sadly, thanks to the beard, Sam couldn’t understand anything.
He was about to call out when he felt the mana in the air move.
Focusing on his senses, he directed them directly at the old man and the amulet held in his arms. The previously minimal amount of mana in the amulet seemingly unwound from its dormant status, and now it was as if a blazing light was present in the room.
Sam raised his Mana Shield even stronger and took another step back. Sadly, he was stopped moving even more backward by the door.
Meanwhile, the old man’s mumbling turned into quiet laughter that frighteningly began to grow and grow in volume.
Sam watched with his senses as the mana surged from the amulet and swirled around the man for a second, then seemingly it was absorbed by the old man.
“HA HA HA HA!”
Sam watched equally fascinated and horrified as the mana visibly swirled around the man, and the old man’s body began to grow and twist in unnatural ways. Most of all, the years seemingly began to melt from his body.
Even if he wanted to interfere, it happened so fast that by the time he prepared a strike, the swirling mana was settling down, and in the middle of the room was a tall man, head full of black hair instead of the sparse yellowish white hair that Old Thomas had. Notably, he had a grayish pallor, with a rather satisfied smirk on his face.
And the room around them was in shambles, with shelves broken and buried under uncountable piles of shredded documents. The maps on the wall were also torn to shreds and the area where Old Thomas stood was surrounded by grooves carved into the flooring. The windows were letting in a gentle breeze as the mana explosion had summarily blown them out.
The mana that was radiating from him told Sam that while he was strong compared to other players, the being in front of him could crush him with a snap of his finger.
“Finally!” the being exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “After hundreds of years, I’m finally free!”
Sam swallowed and moved his hand on the pommel but before he could even grasp it the newly appeared being’s eyes found his eyes, and Sam found himself frozen in place.
“Well, well, well… If it isn’t my savior...” he spoke, enunciating the word ‘savior’ rather weirdly. “How should I thank you, I wonder…”
Sam wanted to answer, but because he was frozen in place, he couldn’t even open his mouth. ‘
The being in front of him hummed a little, then snapped his fingers.
“I know!” he exclaimed happily, showing his menacing smile. “Come find me in the Dark Lands, adventurer! If you can find me, I’ll reward you!”
Then Sam just stared at the being helplessly, having finally recognized their race from his inherited memories as a cliché demon (which weren’t all full-blown evil, but they were all rather mercurial). The demon looked around with a scoff, then gave Sam a thumbs up.
“Later, my new friend!”
And then vanished in a swirl of dark magic, leaving Sam alone in the trashed room. Thankfully, his body was released at the same time, so he could grab a cloak out of his inventory, throw it on, and jump out of the window.
He wanted nothing to do with the entire thing.
Sneaking around in the shadows, changing his face a few times, he managed to get out of the area even as he heard the alarmed cries of the guards of the Administration Building.
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Half an hour later, he was in his apartment petting Lucky and staring at his notification screens.
[The quest, ‘Go without my axe!’ is completed!]
[You chose to return the amulet to Old Thomas. Big mistake! Or is it?]
[New quest acquired!]
[Just walk in there!]
[A mysterious being was freed from their mortal prison thanks to your actions. They bid you to find them in the Dark Lands. Supposedly, to reward you. Go and find out what they want!]
[Penalty: If you don’t go, they will come to you. You don’t want that.]
[Reward: They won’t come to you if you go.]
He reread the quest a few times, then closed the screens and laid back in his armchair with a sigh and closed his eyes.
In the end, he came to the conclusion that the game made sure to balance the acquisition of the treasure with something bad. As he didn’t get the recommendation and got the attention of somebody rather powerful.
Still, it wasn’t like he really needed that recommendation, as he had other ways to acquire it and a contact in the Dark Land would be rather useful in the future, no matter how nebulous.
----------------------------------------
He entered Lucy’s office with renewed vigor, putting the entire thing with the demon out of his mind for now. The Dark Lands were beyond his abilities as of now, so there was no need to worry about it.
Lucy was sitting behind her giant desk, furiously writing something while several stacks of documents surrounded her.
As the door clicked shut behind Sam, she looked up at him and smiled.
“Welcome back, Sam. How are you doing?”
Sam simply walked to one of the chairs in front of her desk and unceremoniously plopped down while letting out a sigh.
“Could be better…”
“Anything I need to know?”
“I was never near the Administration building if somebody asks…”
There was silence as Lucy also sighed.
“So, should we plan to rapidly relocate?”
Sam shook his head ruefully. “Not yet.”
“Alright, but please warn me next time…”
“It wasn’t like I planned any of it. It just happened!”
“Why do I feel like I’ll hear that excuse a few more times in the future?” asked Lucy with a wry smile.
He just shrugged helplessly. Then, with a mischievous smile, retrieved the documents and put them on the desk.
“Here! These might cheer you up…”
Lucy cautiously reached for the documents, then Sam watched with glee as her eyes progressively grew in size while reading about his latest windfall.
“Is this.. is this real, Sam?”
“Yup!”
“How the hell did you get this much money?”
“Just don’t ask… it’s rather stupid…”
Lucy took a few minutes to read the documents again, then finally placed them on the desk and steepled her fingers together and looked at Sam.
“Alright. We have more money. What do you want me to do with it?”
“Hasten the constructions. I want Project Honey to be ready before the announcement. How is the warehouse going?”
“Because it is so simple they are doing the finishing touches on the security enchantments.”
“Did you pay for encrypted enchantments?”
“As you instructed.”
“Good. For now, it’s useless, but later it will be a godsend.”
“If you say so…”
“How about the management team?”
“Already doing the interviews. We already have the in-house blacksmith and armorsmith. The kitchen and cleaning staff are full.”
“Good,” Sam said, then stood up. Before he headed for the door, he reached into his inventory and took out the three skill books, and placed them on the desk in front of Lucy.
“Take a look at these. Either I don’t need them or already have them…”
Lucy stared at the books, then back at Sam, and nodded.
“Thanks…”
As Sam left the room, he heard Lucy paging through the skill books. It was a pity that none of them were right for him, but that is life.
With the announcement coming soon, and the most recent quest done, he would need to spend some time grinding.
It was time for the local population of a certain animal to learn of him.