Quota 0/270 - Last Day

6:30 AM

The day had left its marks. Victor had woken up several times during the night due to nightmares involving Jesters. He had gone through every horror movie scenario imaginable: a Jester breaking down his bathroom door with an axe in hand or a Jester swimming underwater like a shark, trying to eat him.

He ended his night with dark circles reaching the base of his nose, without even the desire to go back to sleep. He managed to get out of bed, clutching his ribs with one hand. His bones creaked after yesterday's fall, but it was the result of his failed jump that was really painful.

"At least I'm still alive," Victor thought as he tried to get dressed. Every movement made him grimace and grit his teeth. However, the mysterious man had assured him the day before that nothing was broken and that the pain would be temporary.

"I'll have to schedule a doctor's appointment as soon as I get back to France," Victor muttered as he took the elevator to join the others.

As he crossed the hotel lobby to reach the restaurant, Charon, the receptionist, called out to him in impeccable French:

"Good morning, Mr. De la Fayette. The hotel can provide you with painkillers for your last day if you wish."

"Good morning, Charon. Are you a pharmacist in your spare time?" Victor asked.

"I do many things in my spare time, Mr. De la Fayette, but being a pharmacist is not one of them," he replied with a cordial smile before adding, "It's a service the hotel offers, and I’m merely responsible for sharing it with you."

"It's unusual for a hotel to offer that, but don't worry, I'm tough, so I shouldn't need it."

Victor made a slight hand gesture to demonstrate his point to the receptionist while inwardly thinking, "It really hurts like hell! I would’ve gladly taken those meds, but I doubt they're covered by my insurance."

He continued on his way confidently, back straight and head held high, unaware that the medication would have been provided to him by the hotel branch manager. But Charon had refrained from telling him that, to avoid hurting his pride.

Victor entered the restaurant.

Usually, he would have followed the smell of pastries and fresh bread, but not today. Today, he headed straight for the person preparing the coffee. Victor still didn’t speak English, but gestures should suffice for this kind of interaction.

He greeted the man with a wave of his hand. The man smiled and greeted him back with a nod. Victor held up two fingers. The man pointed to different coffee beans, asking him to choose. Victor shrugged. The man then selected two different types of beans for each coffee. Victor watched him work with a vacant look.

The man finished both coffees in record time. Victor gave him a thumbs-up.

"Have a great day, Mr. De la Fontaine," the man said with a big smile. His French wasn’t perfect, but it was perfectly understandable.

Victor returned to his table, holding his ribs. His gaze was empty, and his shoulders seemed to sag toward the ground.

“**Don’t worry, next time will be better,**” Shirley said, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. Victor couldn’t understand what she was saying, but seeing her slight smirk, he didn’t really want to know.

He focused instead on the two cups of coffee in front of him, which he was going to struggle to swallow.

Olivia was nibbling on her pastry, and the mysterious man was standing a few steps from the table, on the phone. He was speaking quietly in a foreign language that Victor didn’t recognize. The call lasted only a few seconds. The man returned to the table with furrowed brows. He didn’t speak about what had just happened, and no one asked him any questions. Even Shirley, who seemed to be a big fan of gossip, remained silent.

The entire breakfast passed in this atmosphere. Victor sipped his coffee, grimacing; Olivia ate her pastry in small bites like a squirrel; the mysterious man frowned, and Shirley was bored.

When Olivia finally finished her croissant, the group set off. They had already agreed the night before on the plan for the day. They would first explore dead ends in pairs before venturing into the maze. Once they started exploring the maze, Victor would stay near the entrance hall so he could quickly get out if there was a problem, despite his injuries. They had made this decision to ensure he would have time to escape if necessary. He would also handle carrying the loot bags to the entrance.

That was the whole idea behind the strategy for the day.

The journey to the interior was becoming almost automatic for the group. There were no suspicious footsteps outside, and they quickly reached the steel door. The man once again took ten minutes to overcome the lock. Once the steel behemoth was open, the quartet moved like a well-oiled machine. The dead ends took only about ten minutes, but the loot wasn't great.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Hairbrush: x1 - value 14

Screw: x1 - value 23

They had only found two items, which weren’t worth much.

"Let’s hope we don’t encounter a Jester, or the day’s going to be tough," Victor thought as he followed the group toward the door leading to the maze.

The trio plunged into the labyrinth while Victor waited by the doorstep. He had left it open and turned around every ten seconds due to the trauma from the previous day. He didn’t know if the Jester could sneak up behind him to scare him, but he wouldn’t take the risk.

"Just wait, you little bastard, one day I’ll get my revenge," Victor muttered, gripping the shovel in his hands. He had brought one today to feel more secure.

"Victor!"

A shout snapped him out of his daydream. He grabbed a bag and headed in the direction of the noise.

Since electronic devices weren’t working, they hadn’t found another solution. The mysterious man had even brought walkie-talkies, but something seemed to be blocking their signals.

They had decided to shout to alert Victor if there was loot to be collected. As for the consequences, the system had answered Victor’s question with one of its most reassuring phrases.

Don’t worry, host! Only a minority of creatures can hear you when you're inside, and the Jester is not one of them!

It had then fallen silent when Victor asked what creatures it was referring to. In summary, he needed to be prepared for anything, and the system hadn’t reassured him at all.

Victor was therefore heading toward the source of the shout, walking on tiptoe. Olivia had placed a painting on the ground, which was, once again, the same as the others.

'They need to start getting creative,' Victor thought as he carried it back to the entrance hall.

Painting: x1 - value 69

They had found more expensive ones before, but it was still a good start. Victor went back upstairs to get into position. The silence of the place was somewhat reassuring. However, Victor knew it wouldn’t last. It was only a matter of time before something went wrong.

For now, he waited in silence, a shovel in hand.

“Victor!”

Shirley had called him with her strong American accent.

“I’m coming!”

She probably wouldn’t understand what he meant, but it didn’t matter. Victor dashed into the maze, following the sound of her voice. She couldn’t be too deep inside, but he could only hear a faint murmur. The walls weren’t thick, yet they had remarkable soundproofing.

Victor approached the sound of her voice before noticing a problem.

He had entered a large room. In one corner near the door stood a couch and a fireplace. A fire burned in the hearth, the sound of crackling wood filling the air. It wasn’t the first time Victor had stumbled upon this room layout, but something was troubling him.

He had already figured out from seeing three identical copies of the same painting that some elements in this place seemed to repeat.

Painting: x1 - value 82

There was a painting in the middle of the room, lying on the floor, but no sign of Shirley.

“Something’s not right…” Victor thought as he hurriedly picked up the painting from the floor.

“Victor!”

He looked at the floor beneath him.

'There must be a room below me. I just have no idea how to get down there.'

There had to be a staircase somewhere inside the maze that could lead down, but Victor hadn’t found it.

“You should bring your loot up yourself. I don’t know how to get down!”

“**I found lots of money! Come join me to help carry it all up.**”

Needless to say, two deaf people would have had a better chance of understanding each other.

Just as Victor was about to leave the room and return to the entrance hall, a door creaked behind him. It had opened very slowly, with a sound that was far from not being creepy.

“I guess it’s not a delivery guy wanting me to sign for a package…” Victor thought, frozen with fear.

A creature had opened the door, but Victor hadn’t managed to catch a glimpse of it. It hadn’t made a sound as it approached the room, which worried Victor.

'At least it’s not a Jester. That’s something, I guess,' he muttered as he gradually regained control of his limbs.

He backed out of the room without even looking behind him.

“Victor!”

'It’s going to take Victor a little while to arrive,' he thought as he continued retracing his steps with his shovel and a painting in hand.

He didn’t know what was lurking in the shadows ten meters away from him, but someone seemed to know.

Good luck, host ! You only need three shovel hits to defeat it, but be careful : it’s very deceitful !

“Why do I feel like it’s really happy about my misfortune?”

Victor didn’t doubt that three hits with the shovel would be enough to kill it. The system had never lied to him about such crucial information, but it must have omitted on purpose equally important one.

'Deceitful huh ? We’ll see what our mysterious guest is made of.'

As brave as he tried to appear, Victor kept backing away, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. He walked several hundred meters before feeling his back hit a wooden railing.

“What’s going on, Victor?”

It was Olivia. She had returned to the entrance hall after searching her entire section. She had arrived just a few seconds ago to see Victor backing up. It made for a rather amusing sight, but it was also a sign that something was wrong.

“Let’s go find the others. Something opened a door right in front of me, and I don’t think it’s friendly.”

“Did you see what the creature looked like?”

“No, the room was dark, and it didn’t seem like it wanted to attack me head-on.”

They had already re-entered the maze while they were talking. In moments like these, every second could count.

“**Victor has been targeted by an unwanted visitor! We have no idea how to defend ourselves, so we need to start getting out of here!**”

“**I’m on my way!**”

The mysterious man was the first to respond and join them. He was carrying a shoulder bag that didn’t seem very heavy. He was scanning his surroundings every second, his eyes always alert to the slightest unexpected event.

“**Where’s Shirley?**” he asked the other two as he arrived.

The answer came from Shirley herself, who had just entered the room. She was carrying a cash register that must have weighed a shit ton and was likely the cause of her delay.

“**I found a kitchen with lots of items. Maybe we still have time to go get them.**”

The man’s watch indicated that they had already spent several hours inside. They could have left with their current loot and easily exceeded the desired quota, but they seemed to want more for a reason that escaped Victor.

'We should all already be financially comfortable for several months with our current loot. So why are they willing to take even more risks?'

He had never questioned his teammates' motivations before, but today, he was.

Especially after hearing young Olivia’s response.

“Let’s go get them before we leave if they’re not too far away.”