Chapter 183. Completing Tasks.
I headed deeper into the city after asking a few of the dock workers about the location of the adventurer’s guild. They gave limited information, just pointing toward the city center, or just grunted in annoyance and ignored me. As I left the docks area, I entered a residential district where people were a bit friendlier, and I had better luck at getting directions.
Past the residential district I entered a much nicer part of the city. The buildings were mostly stone, not wood, and had a look of permanence about them. Just past a library, I found the adventurers guild. It wasn’t the largest building on the street, but the constant flow of armed and armored people coming and going kind of gave it away. A pair of guards, one in robes, and one in plate armor, greeted me as I tried to enter.
“What’s the purpose of your visit today?” the armored guard asked.
“I’m looking for an update to a quest,” I replied, not sure how the whole process worked.
“Very well, proceed inside and ask for assistance at the counter to your left. Since you’re not a guild member, only one of you can enter at a time,” the robed guard said, waiving me through after I ordered my minions to wait for me outside.
The interior of the building had three counters that were separated by stone pillars. On the right, a queue of adventurers waited in line. It moved slowly, and several of the people were grumbling and complaining. At the center counter, poorly armed and equipped adventurers waited. I figured it was probably where the new adventurers signed up to join the guild.
Heading to the leftmost counter, I waited in a short line behind others who were mostly dressed normally, and only a few were armed. If anything, I stood out in this line decked out in my Commander’s Regalia. Thankfully, the wait wasn’t too long, and soon one of the clerks waved me over to her window.
“Hi, I’m looking for an update on quest A232,” I said, following the instructions on the scroll.
“Just a moment, let me check for you,” the woman replied as mana began to glow on her fingers.
Pulling a blank sheet of parchment from a stack near the counter, she began to write. After a few moments, she passed me the paper and asked me to step aside so she could help the next person in line. I left the counter and found a small bench to sit on where I could inspect the update and transfer the information to my scroll.
Quest A232.
One party has accepted this quest and has been active on it for a period of 3 days. They have not checked in since accepting the quest, and given the quest’s danger ranking of 7, the party will be deemed lost if no report from them has been received in the next 48 hours. At that time, the quest will reopen for another party to attempt.
It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I was just tasked with copying over the information, which I did. With my latest errand complete, I had only had one final task. This was the one that could become rather problematic. For now, I’d scope out who these adventurers were and if I felt it was right to kill them.
The location was close, only two blocks over from the adventurer’s guild. I was looking for an inn called The Grey Balloon, which turned out to be exactly where the directions had said. The place was a world of difference from the Leaky Gullet down by the docks. A well painted wooden sign depicting the inn’s name hung over the front door. There was even a doorman who opened the door for me and wished me a good time.
My orders were clear on this one, and they hadn’t led me astray so far. Walking toward the back of the inn, I saw that there were several occupied tables, but nobody seemed to give me and my team more than a casual glance. The bartender, who was well dressed in a crisp white shirt, black pants, and sporting a handlebar mustache, looked like he was going to say something. When I reached the back of the inn, and the stairs leading to the cellar, he turned his attention back to his work.
Heading down the stairs, I found the wine cellar was clear of any employees. Racks of wine bottles lined the place, and several huge casks were also stored down here. Counting the wine casks, I found the third from the stairwell and tried to look for a latch or opening of some sort. I found it quickly enough, a lever under the stand the cask was sitting on.
Pulling the lever opened one end of the cask, revealing the opening to another set of stairs. As soon as we started walking down the stairs, the cask closed behind us with a dull thunk. Hands went to our weapons as I waited for something horrible to happen. After it was clear this wasn’t some elaborate trap, I had Rupert try the cask, and found that he could easily push it open. Our escape route was still in place.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Get ready, this will either be a bloody fight, or I’m going to call off the attack quickly,” I told the team as we descended the stairs. Our path was lit by several lanterns and at the bottom of the stairwell, a stout oak door waited. It proved to be unlocked and led into a small stone room that barely had enough room to fit the entire team. Another thick oak door waited on the far wall.
Grulnok tried to open it, but it remained locked until the first door closed. It was a strange setup and reminded me of going to the gun range with Julio. To get into the shooting range, you had to go through two soundproofed doors. You weren’t supposed to open one unless the first had been closed so the sounds of gunfire wouldn’t wreck the eardrums of the employees and customers outside.
With the first door closed, Grulnok opened the second. We were met with what sounded like a woman’s cries of pain, and the taunting words of a man.
“Ah, see boys, I thought it looked like she could still feel pain. Good, you deserve this for what you’ve done. Wait, who are you people?” the man said as my team entered a larger and very much occupied space. The man held a bloody knife and stood over a young woman that was tied to a wood table. Surrounding the table were a half dozen other young men, all well-dressed like my instructions suggested.
“What kind of sick party did we just interrupt?” I asked as I pushed mana into my javelin and prepared to throw.
“You must be one of them, kill the foul things,” the man with the knife shouted to the others. The men all had blades in their hands in seconds and wasted no time charging my team. These guys appeared to be torturing some woman and had attacked me without asking questions, so as far as I was concerned, the fight was on.
Targeting the man with the knife so he couldn’t do any further harm the young lady, I threw my javelin. The weapon flew true as its magic guided it into the chest of the man. As it hit, a burst of electricity discharged, and sparks appeared all around the wound as he fell. The other six men were on us, and one charged directly at me as I fumbled to draw my sword.
With the rest of my team engaged, I had to deal with this myself. Thinking on my recent training, I waited for the man to close in. He was only armed with a dagger, which had limited reach. As soon as he was in range, I lunged forward with a front thrust kick into his gut. The man grunted as the air left his body and he was knocked off his feet.
I stumbled a bit after the blow landed, almost falling next to the man I was fighting. Keeping on my feet, I finished drawing my sword and stabbed down at my foe who was scrambling for the dagger that he had dropped when he fell. My blade pierced his lower back, driving deep into where I thought his kidney’s might be.
Screaming in pain, the man gave up on the knife and tried to curl up in a ball, allowing me a second strike that finished him off. Looking back at the rest of the fight, things were well in hand. My team, save for Rupert, were all well-armed and armored, and the guys we were fighting were in street clothes and only had daggers for weapons.
The last went down to Lillia’s spear, and I looked around for more threats. It was calm save for the whimpering of the girl. She had a deep cut just below her ear that was pouring blood and several long slashes along her forearms. Lillia handed me one of the men’s jackets that I tore the arm off to use as a makeshift bandage while Grulnok cut her free.
As soon as her hand was free, the young woman grabbed my arm and looked up at me before speaking. “The master sent you, didn’t he?” she asked. I couldn’t stop the bleeding with normal means, so I cast Health Bloom on her.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here,” I tried to assure her.
“No, I’m supposed to be here, just set me free and help to heal my wounds. Just as you have a task to accomplish, so do I,” she muttered, her eyes blank and trancelike.
The wound stopped bleeding and I cast the spell a second time just to be sure. Instead of thanks, the woman began to berate me. “You have been given a task, stop wasting time. I have no further need of your aid,” the young woman demanded.
“Fine, I think your wound is going to be fine now. We’re leaving, you can come with us if you like,” I offered.
“Go, stop delaying,” she demanded. Despite her assertions, I felt bad leaving her behind, but she refused to go, but I didn’t want to order Grulnok to carry her kicking and screaming out of the inn.
“The way out should be clear if you want to follow, but we’re going now,” I advised before having the team backtrack the way we had come. As the door to the room closed behind me, I could see the woman begin to drag the bodies of the fallen men into a pile near the table she had been bound to.
I expected a fight when we entered the inn, but just like before, everyone seemed determined not to pay us any attention. Exiting the inn, a carriage with the curtains drawn waited out front. This was my last task, I quickly jotted down what had happened in the chamber below and retrieved the package from the apothecary before dropping it, and the scroll into the open window of the carriage.
The curtains blocked my view inside, but a breeze blew them open a bit as I made my deposit. A very human arm, with tentacle-like fingers where the hand should have been reached over and gathered the items. Before I could investigate further, the coachman lashed the horses and moved off in a hurry.
“Weird, I hope I was actually on the side of the good guys this time,” I mumbled to myself as I began to follow my final instructions, wandering the city. Nobody attacked or accosted us, and I just kept up a slow stroll as I took in the sights. Hours passed and it began to grow dark when the summoning finally ended.
Your summoning session has expired and is now complete.
Your performance rating is calculated as Very Good.
Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 1, rank 7, and your performance rating of Very Good.
You have earned 11 experience points.
You have earned 9 summoning points.
You will now be returned to your personal space.