Chapter 13.

A girl runs up to me, partly out of breath and partly huffing in anger.

“You!”

“I know I’m too handsome. But no need to scream.”

“They refused to give up! I almost died there.”

Well, from the menu here, I could see her HP did decrease to about 30% but not past that. I now know that her passive ‘Valhalla’s Call’ wouldn’t let her lose that easily.

“You did good work out there.” I say while patting her head.

Can never be too much of a jerk.

“So, where did that guy run off to?”

“He’s hiding somewhere here.”

“Where?”

I gesture towards our surroundings in general.

“But how are we supposed to find him then?”

“Ah, I think I know where it is.” Just as I say that, as if on cue, a message pops up.

Quest complete.

Trip to the capital.

You were able to successfully reach the capital and protect the trade union leader.

Quest Rewards-

You have been awarded with Exp.

You are now level 26.

Favorability with The Greater Good Trade Union has increased.

To get any additional rewards, if they apply. Contact the quest giver.

Hmm, weird. The union’s name was crossed out. Could it be because the union is probably done for since the police got to them? But then why mention it at all?

But certainly, it seems like the merchant variation of the quest was completed, rather than one with the police.

“Aww yeah! I’m level 30!” her voice stops my train of thought.

“And?” I say, feigning disinterest.

“A new skill and the skill tree is unlocked too!”

“Good, we’ll think about that later. Right now, we might be losing crucial time.”

“Okay…”

I walk up to a relatively large stone near the pond, pushing it over.

There was nothing of interest underneath it.

“What are you doing, now?”

For some reason I expected there to be a trapdoor underneath here. Because it’s pretty much the only remotely suspicious thing in this place. Other than the pond itself, of course. But I don’t think the pond has anything to do here.

I touch the ground under the rock. Yes, it’s warm.

No, wait. It isn’t warm, rather this is the feeling of mana transfer, I felt it before with Valentine. It kind of felt like an intentional transfer of heat.

So, there’s mana flowing out from underneath here, suspicious as I expected. There must be something there but how do I access it?

I get up and look around. Maybe a switch of some kind is present here.

As I’m quickly patting down the nearby trees for some kind of a sign, Vera walks up to that spot and touches the ground.

“The soil here feels funny.”

She can feel mana too. I suppose that’s because she’s some kind of a magic spearman.

Wait…

As I see her figure poking the ground, an idea strikes me.

If there really is some kind of a gate or trapdoor underneath then…

“Hey, Vera. How long can you sustain that spear of light skill?”

“Hmm? What are you talking about?”

“When you use that skill, your attacks cause light elemental damage, and your spear extends a little or an aura of a spear forms around it, right?”

She used it in the battle last night, it was a little faint but certainly visible in the night. Her spear had a golden aura around it and it extended a few inches. Not enough to give a reach advantage though.

“Ah, the skill lasts about 3 seconds.”

That just might be enough.

I go near that place again and this time inspect the ground a bit more closely. Trying to discover the edge where the mana stops flowing, thus marking the edge of the possible trapdoor underneath.

“Is something special present there?”

Found it. I mark the spot with an X using a nearby stick.

There wasn’t anything physical present there. Not like a physical trap door that is just covered with soil. But there’s certainly something underneath this.

“Okay, so, use your spear of light skill, then stab the spot that I marked and try to lift it, as if turning a rock over or a door.”

“But why?”

“Just do as I say. It’ll be good if this works.”

“Okay…”

She brandishes her spear and then,

“Ha!” A light shout escapes her as she stabs at the empty air.

Right, unlike me she can’t just cancel her skill movements.

That was a waste of precious seconds of that skill.

She quickly moved her spear as soon as the skill movement ended and stabbed the ground and then used that point as leverage to lift something.

I see something, coming up the soil, or at least it seems to be as the soil moves upwards.

Further hastening her pace, she uses her entire body weight as a leverage.

The 3 seconds of the skill are quickly over.

There’s a lightly glowing, translucent disk above the soil.

I push it aside, since it seems to be possible to interact with that object now. The soil that was underneath it, falls down revealing a ladder leading downwards.

Instead of a trapdoor, it was more like a manhole cover. Close enough I suppose.

“Wow.” I hear Vera exclaim in wonder.

Gesturing towards it, I say, “You first.”

Shaking away her wonder, she says with squinting eyes towards me, “Are you actually trying to be polite or just don’t want to be the first one to enter?”

She caught me…

“Whichever you think is better.” I reply nonchalantly.

“Fine! I’ll go down first, you coward.” She says as she starts climbing down the ladder which seems to be coming out of the soil itself.

Well, I have a reason to be cowardly. I might die if I fall from the ladder, my HP is that low. But now, there would be something to break my fall a little.

Looking around one last time to not miss anything, I follow her and start climbing down the ladder.

This tunnel leading straight down is fairly dark in itself with the small bit of light coming from the top.

Nope, as I glance upwards, the translucent cover comes back and then dirt appears to cover it, topping of off was the sound of the rock rolling back to its position.

But there seems to be some glowing moss in the tunnel which lights up the surroundings a little bit as we descend the ladder.

You have entered an underground hideout of ___

Places like these are connected to the open world directly. And are not instance dungeons. However, they may be a significant part of quests. Examples include the inside of buildings like the city hall or the king’s palace.

But then why didn’t it pop up the previous time when I went to the city call to visit the mayor? Maybe that place just wasn’t as important or something.

Then that would mean this place is quit a bit more important. Need to be even more careful from now on.

“You got that message, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Be extra careful from here. We don’t know what might be hiding here.”

Just as I finish saying that, we reach the bottom of the ladder. It sure felt quite long, but not much deeper than a shallow well, about 25 meters.

But that doesn’t matter, as the only path forward is a staircase leading further downwards.

The surroundings seem to be completely built out of stone. Well, obviously it can’t be wood since that would have rotten underground, so it makes sense.

We reach the end of the short passageway fairly quickly, and it ends with a door which Vera starts to open gently, but it’s quite creaky.

I walk to the front and gesture to do that myself. She steps aside with an expression that says “fancy yourself”, but as I open the door and it doesn’t make a single sound, she’s instantly proved wrong.

It wasn’t because I was able to discover some special way in which to open the door without making a sound, it just didn’t creak. Maybe that can be attributed to my luck.

I peek through the small opening. It’s a hallway. Extending in both directions.

Or rather, in one direction primarily. Towards the north, or at least according to the minimap. Where the capital should be.

Does this thing extend into the city itself? We aren’t that far away from the capital but it’s still a bit too long to dig as a random escape route for one person. There must be something else here too.

As I quietly walk into the hallway, gesturing Vera to follow me and to be careful not to make a sound, I hear light sounds of people talking in the distance. Though it probably is because the sound is quietened since it’s coming from behind a door, and the source is much closer than expected.

We stealthily head towards where the sound is. Or well, mostly because any other door in the hallway can’t be opened or is locked. But from where the sounds are coming seems to have the door slightly open.

Telling Vera to stay back a little, I peek inside the room.

Rather than a room, it’s more like a hall. A fairly big hall. Making it harder to believe this is actually under the ground.

The hall is largely undecorated, except for that stone wall which adds to the ambience. And low sound-insulation properties, as the voices reflect off the walls to reach here quite easily.

In the center of the room is a large table. Like some sort of banquet table which is also used for discussion of sorts. There is some sort of creature present there, talking to what seems to be a glass ball. A magic glass ball I suppose since it is talking to that creature too.

“You have continued to fail in every objective!”

“B-but master, I couldn’t do anything there.”

“Your incompetence even plagues others! Because of you, multiple operations were compromised.”

“A-another chance, master.”

The glass ball clearly seems to be in a dominant position over the other creature. It’s voice quite deep and booming but at the same time a little distorted.

The creature however, on a closer look, with his reddish skin and small figure, with bat-like wings sprouting from his back and higher pitched voice. It seems like an…

Creature spotted.

Demonic: Imp

Approximate level 30.

Imps are of the demonic race. Originating from the Nether and not originally a part of the overworld.

Their mischievous base nature leads them to specialize in disguise, infiltration and other such professions. But their particularly weak combat strength leads to them being not as useful in other aspects.

This creature poses very little threat to you as long as you are aware of its existence.

An imp… Could it be that this is the trade union leader?

So, he wasn’t just some unscrupulous merchant but instead had different objectives?

That policeman said something about them giving those drugs to nobles or influential people in the police. Perhaps it’s related to that?

But the voice coming from the orb interrupts my thoughts.

“No more second chances! You have outlived your usefulness.”

“B-but…” The imp starts to say, but quickly realizing it would have no use, starts to run towards the door where I’m at.

I quickly move away from it, Vera already being at a relatively safe distance, but the imp never reaches the door.

“Oh, trying to run away, are we?”

A much more feminine voice leaks through the opening.

And without giving the imp a chance, the sound of a sword slashing through bones is heard.

The head of that imp rolls towards the door, fear visible in its eyes.

There’s something much more sinister going on here than I initially anticipated. Maybe it’d be better to leave.

“Apologies for you having to deal with that, Sylvia.” The voice of that glass ball reaches here.

“No worries.” That woman’s voice responds.

I gesture towards Vera and we start to slowly move back to where we entered from.

“I actually meant that towards you. There’s no need to run, now.”

A figure steps out from that room, kicking away the imp head. A quite feminine body, covered entirely in tight-fitting black clothes with blood-red accents.

Before I’m able to react, a message pops up-

Disguise successful.