Vice looked down at Jack with a face filled with curiosity. “Do you have any names of the women affected?”

Jack shook the gold pouch against his ears, and then shrugged whilst his brown eyes glinted mischievously. “I don’t know, I can’t really remember all of the little details you know. It’s the old age, it has finally come for me,” he said.

“Don’t make me jump over the counter, Jack. I know you’re small but I won’t show you any mercy,” Vice snarled as he let his mana run freely to his hands. The arcana in the surroundings surged toward Vice, and a thick, oppressive aura was released into the room.

“O-Okay don’t make a mess in here, fine. I’ll write down a list of the women and where they live. That damn temper of yours, why is it aimed at me every time you come here?” Jack said.

“Because you do dumb shit like that,” Vice said. He tapped against the wooden counter as he glared at Jack.

“Here. Take it before I change my mind,” Jack said, not looking at Vice as he handed over the piece of paper. Almost fifteen different names and locations were written on the piece of paper in red ink.

“Thank you, Jack, I’ll see you soon,” Vice said and walked out of the building. A fresh breeze hit Vice in the face the moment he exited, but only seconds after he’d started to walk away from the shabby shack did the sewage smell hit him.

‘So where to now, buddy?’ Favian asked.

‘We’ll go check out what some of these women have to say. This is almost like a treasure hunt isn’t it? Gotta get information from all these different sources before I can verify the location of the treasure,’Vice thought.

Vice strolled to the Gwabu area of the city. More traditional architecture littered this place, with expertly crafted wooden homes similar in appearance to a pagoda. The colors of the rainbow were dotted across the landscape, with each house as vibrant as the last, creating a unique atmosphere that couldn’t be found anywhere else in Restok.

‘Okay we’re here, let’s see… If we go to Madame Gazelle first, since she’s the closest, then we should be able to talk to almost all of the widows today,’ Vice thought. He walked up to a large building which beamed with a red and blue color and used the door knocker.

“One moment, I’m coming,” a loud female voice replied, which was followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. Only a short moment later did the door open up, revealing to Vice an aged woman with blond hair and green eyes.

“Hello, sorry for the wa-” the woman said. She looked up and down from Vice’s horns to his eyes with a panicked expression and immediately ran back into her home, shutting the door behind her. Vice stared blankly at the door with his mouth wide open.

‘HAHAHA, that’s never happened before. Tell me, why that hasn’t happened more often? That was pure gold,’ Favian said as he laughed.

Vice grabbed his head tightly trying to get the irritating squeal out of his mind. ‘Stop laughing, this isn’t even funny,’ Vice thought before taking a long sigh, after which he crossed out the name Madame Gazelle from the list. ‘On to the next one then. Bring me some better luck please.’

….

‘HAHAHA, ten of them. Ten of them rejected you. Of course, your menacing looks don’t help you here. We should have been doing this type of work from the beginning instead of letting you hunt treasures,’ Favian said. ‘This is just great, I swear there will be stories about you being the bogeyman in this city soon enough, I can’t wait.’

The sun was dropping low in the sky, its light weakly touching the ground. Vice was barely illuminated by the rays as he stood in front of the house belonging to the eleventh name on the list, the wind passing through the space between his two horns. He looked at the door with hesitation, but after slapping himself in the face he proceeded to knock on it.

‘Hmm seems there’s nobody there,’ Vice thought after he’d waited by the door for a minute without response. Instead of turning back, however, he knocked on it once more, much louder than before.

“Yes, I’ll be down in just a second,” a female voice said. Only moments later the blue door was swung open. “How can I help you?” the woman said. Her blue eyes stared back calmly at Vice, who was able to notice her dark circles underneath her eyes.

“Sorry to disturb you, are you Isabelle?” Vice asked.

“Yes, is there something wrong?” Isabelle furrowed her brows.

“I’m hoping that you could give me some information on the rumors of the widow maker,” Vice said quietly. The woman’s expression froze upon hearing the last word. She stared at Vice with a blank expression.

“I-bI don’t know what you’re talking about. Have a nice day,” she said before retreating back into her home.

‘Hey do something. She’s clearly got some of the information we need, just get her to listen to you,’ Favian said.

Vice thrust his foot between the woman and the door, stopping her from closing it completely. She jumped back as a menacing aura was accidentally given off by Vice. “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m here to find and kill the widow maker, so please help me,” he begged. “If we don’t do anything, more children and wives will be left defenseless here. You know how difficult it can be for children to grow up without both of their parents.”

Isabelle stared blankly at the sky as if contemplating very deeply, until finally replying in hushed tones, “Okay, but you’re going to have to be a lot quieter, we don’t need everyone to know about this issue here.”

Isabelle brought Vice into her home. A fruity fragrance of orange wafted through his nose the moment he entered, and the interior was only dimly lit by a few fancy-looking chandeliers on the ceiling. Colorful paintings could be seen on the sides of the walls as Vice was brought through to the living room, where he promptly was asked to sit on a chair.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Isabelle said sweetly.

“No thanks, I’m fine right now,” Vice replied. “So what can you tell me about the widow maker? What is it?”

After taking a sip of the hot liquid in her cup, she sat down on a couch across from Vice and crossed one leg on top of the other. “It all started a couple of months ago. At the annual spring festival here in the Gwabu area, we held the competition for the ‘Best Wife Award’. I know, it sounds stupid and pointless, but we need some excitement every now and then. Well, ever since that day a man has been taken away from us once a week. Without end…” she said. Tears slowly filled the middle-aged woman’s eyes, which she quickly wiped away. “Including my husband.”

“What about kids? Do you know if any of the other women affected had any children?” Vice asked.

“No, I don’t know… Why do you ask?” Isabelle replied with a confused expression.

“No reason. Anyways thanks for your time, I’ll try to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible,” Vice said, after which he got up and left the room, committing the layout to memory.

….

‘So it’s been fifteen weeks since the first death. There hasn’t been a death yet this week, which means the widow maker will show up soon. The last few women were at least able to give me some more information,’ Vice thought as he made his way to the last person he wanted to talk to. This woman wasn’t part of the list, yet as she was the winner of the ‘Best Wife Award’ he simply needed to confirm some suspicions.

“It’s already this dark, there’s probably no point in continuing the search today,” Vice said as he looked up at the dark sky. Out of the corner of his eye, as he decided to turn around and leave the Gwabu area, Vice saw an apparition.

“What was that?” he said as he rubbed his eyes. The image he’d just seen had gone from his vision, disappearing as if it had never existed in the first place.

[DING! Quest objective has been spotted, the host is suggested to proceed with caution.]

‘Already? Well done young one, you’ve got your first proper quest battle on the horizon with a sentient being. As long as you just do what I’ve taught you then I’m confident you have a chance,’ Favian said.

‘Just a chance? That doesn’t sound good at all. Shit, I need to catch up to that thing. System where is it?’ Vice thought as he hurriedly looked for the widow maker.

[DING! Tracking has been initialized, live coordinates are being transferred into the host’s mind.]

“AHHH,” Vice screamed as he frantically clutched at his head. His brain felt like it was being struck by thousands of bolts of lightning.