Sitting in a cafe, Hera was thinking about what she would do today. Being by herself was freeing in its own way, but she also felt a bit lost. She opened the quest she already had. Aside from the frog hunt, there was also the one about the legends of the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Legends of Brinefront

Explorer exclusive quest

Brinefront has many legends that were created through time. Discover the three central points of its mythology.

Type the name of the central figure of the legend in the box to confirm your discovery.

[ ]????????????

[ ]????????????

[ ]????????????

[_________Enter text here_________]

Reward: Information on a low-rank skill of your choosing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the first time she saw a quest like that. It was something given by the guild and not the system, so she had to input her discovery manually. There was something comforting about the guild not being able to tell when she found something. If she discovered something that was best kept hidden, she could just pretend it never happened.

That was a new line of thinking. After meeting Peaches and getting the guide skill, Hera changed. What if, at some point, she found something that should be protected? Maybe an item, or a tribe, or even the place where the guides live. Not only that, but she also had to consider that other people could do the same. They could find things and keep it to themselves. It wouldn't be a surprise if someone found a good place to gather some resources and didn't share the location. No one would announce that they found a gold mine unless they could profit from that. It was the sad reality of the world.

"Dude, I'm telling you. That was Frostbite."

Hera snapped out of her trance, hearing that name. To her left, a pair of men talked while drinking coffee. She adjusted herself in the chair, trying not to be too obvious about listening to their conversation.

"Yeah, right. What would she be doing here?" a man with a bow resting on his legs said.

"I dunno, maybe she needs to do a job around here," a man with a pair of daggers on his waist replied.

"I doubt it. Someone like her wouldn't be wasting her time here. She probably got a boat to go to the next layer. You said she was heading towards the docks."

"No, I said that she took a right before reaching the guild. That leads to the docks, but she could do something else. Aw man, I should have asked her for an autograph."

Hera opened the map app on her tablet, trying to see where Frostbite could be going. Looking around, she noticed that the inn she was staying was between the guild and the docks. Could the controller be here to try to recruit Blue again?

Maybe she should warn Blue, but what if the girl went looking for Frostbite? Perhaps she should pretend nothing happened. But, if Blue was really being scouted, knowing she did nothing to stop would weigh heavily on Hera's conscience.

She finished eating, still struggling to make a decision. As Hera left the cafe, she sent a text to Blue.

"Hey, I have something to tell you. Can we talk later? Just don't join any groups before our talk, please."

Right after that, she sent a message to Helena, asking her if Blue would be a good fit for her the order.

Feeling a bit better about the whole situation, Hera made her way towards the library. If there was a good place to start her search, it would be there.

It didn't take long for Hera to arrive at her destination. The library was a huge three stories building with soft yellow walls and a green roof. She entered the place and talked to the librarian in the reception. It wasn't hard to find a few books about Brinefront and its story.

The first book told about the rulers of the town, how it was once a kingdom, but with time it changed to a democracy. It went to talk about political matters and economics, nothing that Hera felt the need to learn right now.

The next book talked about the geography of the land. The whole layer was inside the cave. The only way to get out of it was by boat, but the room wall would stop anyone from getting too far from the cave. The most interesting part of that was that people talked like it was a lake, but it was closer to the ocean. Outside the cave there was a vast expanse of salt water. Inside the cave, it was mostly forest and grassland, but going towards the west, things got darker since the trees and pillars blocked more of the sun rays. Aside from the room wall in the east, the other directions seemed to have natural rock walls. There was even a footnote about a mining expedition to excavate the rock, but Hera could not find any more information about that.

She found a book that seemed to have a more fantastic ring to it. It looked like various tales to tell children, not that she had seen any children here. A story about a hero who defeated an evil duke. The tale of a fisherman who caught the heart of an underwater city. The adventures of the first dog the MAZE ever saw.

One of the most interesting stories was about a great invasion that came from the water. It told the tale of a tribe of giants from the upper layers and tried to conquer the town. They came from the doorway near the edge of the cave. It was only accessible by boat, but the giant could simply walk towards the city. Along with the explorers, the guard rallied under the banner of a commander to defend the city. After three days of fighting, the town seemed to be lost, when the largest troupe of giant shrimp anyone had ever seen appeared and attacked the giants inside the lake. They called the shrimps giant, but they weren't bigger than a cat. With their help, the city was saved, and the giants defeated. After that, the town changed its name to honor the grand battle.

"So that's where Brinefront comes from, they could have made a better name. Maybe Prawn Bay or Barnacle city, or even Shrimptown... Ok, I suck at this," Hera sighed.

Thinking about that story, maybe it was grand enough to be a legend. She typed Brinefront in the quest's text field, but a message saying 'that is not one of the legends' appeared. She tried giants, the name of the commander, explorers, and battle, but all with no luck.

"Wait... could it be?" she mumbled.

Typing shrimp, the quest was updated. One of the sets of question marks now read, 'The miracle of the shrimp.'

"I know this is a legend, and it probably happened. But the name is just...." Hera said.

She read the rest of the book, trying to place any names or groups as the answer. Sadly, nothing else triggered a change in the quest. Reading through all the tales, she only had found three possible leads. There was the monument of the first dog near the docks, a hidden grotto by the water. Her last option was the ruins of a fallen tower deep into the woods to the west.

Looking at the quest, Hera considered going online and asking for some help. But that felt like cheating. She knew she should ask for help when she was in trouble, but this quest was supposed to teach how to perform your role. She opened the map and deactivated all the markers. Looking around the topography of the region, Hera tried to discern where there could be ruins.

Since it was a tower, she needed to find a place where it would be advantageous. She found a few places that seemed interesting, but they were blocked by a close by pillar. In another spot, the tower would have been build in a depression. She marked it as a possibility, although that would mean the tower wouldn't get as high as possible. There was a last spot that seemed interesting. It was farther away from the town than the others. In the middle of a forest, there was this clearing. If the tower was ancient, the vegetation could have hidden it from the pictures she was seeing.

Feeling she had gotten everything she could from here, Hera left the library. She thought about looking for Bonnie, but the girl was probably knee-deep in books. It was better to let her study.

Heading to the docks, Hera kept trying to feel the surrounding mana. It was hard, but now and then, she felt a tingle around her. Some times she would pass by someone holding a staff or some item, and the tingle would be stronger. Maybe being near things with high mana quality could help with the exercise.

After a few minutes, Hera arrived on the docks. Asking around, it wasn't hard to find out the monument's location.

The memorial was in the middle of a small square. It seemed to be the central part of the docks, even if the place was towards the south of the town. The statue itself was a large dog house with a short-haired Yorkshire sitting on top with his ears standing up.

The house under it was not just a sculpture. Some dogs were lying inside it. There was a water fountain to the side and a food dispenser. It looked like the monument was also a shelter for the dogs in the city.

Inspecting the dogs, Hera could see that they all had names. Not only that, but the dogs were really friendly. The workers in the docks all greeted one or another. She turned her attention towards the statue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Statue of the first dog

Creator: Unknown

A statue carved out of stone. It represents the happiness and love that the first dog brought to the MAZE. It is unknown if the dog came from the outside world or if the MAZE spawned it.

After the first dog's appearance in the city of Brinefront, other dogs appeared in different layers.

This monument was upgraded to become a shelter for all dogs that might wander inside the MAZE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Hera was reading the description, she heard a bark from a dog near her leg. Looking down, there was a Yorkshire, much like the one in the statue. Unintentionally Hera had the inspect skill active, and the dog's information appeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trickle

Breed: Yorkshire Terrier

A breed that is known for its lustrous fur and small size. They are recommended for people with allergies, for its coat being closer to human hair than to fur.

Trickle was born in Brinefront and never had a single owner. Instead, most of the fishermen treat him as their own.

[An unique specimen, being a direct descendant of the first dog. Not only they have similar appearances, but they also share the same name.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That notification surprised Hera. Not only the notification popped on its own, but the last paragraph seemed odd. Instead of the usual white text, it was a light yellow.

Before trying to figure out why that happened, Hera sat on a bench and opened the quest since this dog shared the same name as the first one that could be the answer to the quest. Typing 'trickle' in the text box, the second set of question marks changed to 'Trickle the first dog.'

Hera opened a big smile. She wasn't expecting to get two of the legends in a single day. But the extra information was still bothering her. Scratching the dog's head, Hera picked the tablet. She searched for additional details in the inspect window.

It didn't take very long. A few articles were talking about that. According to them, it was something that only those with the explorer role could see. Not everything would have some additional information, though. That's why most explorers had the habit of inspecting everything they could find.

It was something Hera considered doing, but she didn't want to be rude to others. Although... animals and objects would count, right? She could inspect them as much as she wanted without having problems.

Stretching herself, Hera got ready to leave when Trickle jumped into her lap.

"Well, I can't leave now, can I?" She said with a smile, scratching the dog's belly.