275. Interlude Daniel's Desire Part One

The Elutra Kingdom. It was a place familiar to Daniel Song. It was the first country he’d stepped foot on when he arrived in this world. Summoned by their [Mages]— grand magic that took a toll on the entire country’s resources to even cast.

It was almost nostalgic, returning to where he started. He saw the same monsters that had one threatened— that had chased after him when he was too weak and afraid to do anything. Now, they were the ones that fled at his sight.

He spotted the same cities. He walked along the same cobbled roads. He saw the same faces of those who had once turned to him in adoration. Yet, things were different now.

Even with these same sights, the atmosphere had completely changed. The Inoria Empire had taken over these cities. A dour mood hung over the former citizens of Elutra. They walked the streets with their heads ducked beneath an overcast sky. So, it was not nostalgic. It was anything but that.

It was a truly depressing sight.

“Are we there yet?”

A voice drew Daniel’s attention. He turned around, raising his hood slightly to face his female companion. She… was not not the friendly Demon girl he’d gotten to know over the past few years. And she was certainly not Edithe Dawnrise, the hard-headed but kind-hearted [Mage]. Daniel would’ve preferred their company to this woman any day— it wasn’t even a question.

“No, we’re not.”

He gave a curt response, turning back to the city ahead.

“So, this isn’t Ertos? I thought we were going to the Capital of Elutra— seriously, why are we wasting our time here?”

Amanda sighed, flicking her brown hair back as she walked up to him.

“This is taking forever. If you really wanted to get there as soon as possible, you wouldn’t be dilly dallying and stopping by every single city we see. We can just grab a map and sprint straight for Ertos— we’d have arrived there over a week ago.”

“I need to assess the situation.”

Daniel’s lips twisted, annoyed by the former assassin’s incessant pestering.

“If you don’t want to be here, Amanda, you can just leave.”

His eyes didn’t depart from what it was following. The guards around the walled city just up ahead stopped a wagon driver— they ransacked his cart as he helplessly watched from the side. Once they got what they wanted, they kicked him and let him through.

He clicked his tongue as Amanda’s face peered over his shoulder.

“Does that upset you? Does that draw out your inherent sense of justice, oh great [Hero]?”

She spoke in a mocking voice, and he shrugged her off. Chuckling, Amanda shook her head casually.

“I’m here because there’s no other place for me to go. I can’t return to the Harrowed Vindicators because, first of all, I have a bounty on my head. And second of all, our headquarters was taken over by a bunch of Demons who’ll kill me and use me as a sacrifice in their blood rituals.”

“I don’t see how that’s my problem.”

“Have some empathy. You’re the only person out there who’s strong enough to help me out if I’m attacked for betraying the Harrowed Vindicators.”

Daniel glanced back at her as she followed him down the hill, heading for the city.

“And what makes you think I’ll help you if an assassin or a Demon comes for your head?”

“Well, it’s a [Hero]’s job to save a damsel in distress like me, right?”

Amanda feigned like she was falling over, and he gave her a flat stare.

“No.”

She crossed her arms as he turned and continued for the city.

“Could’ve at least played along. How dull.”

They reached the city’s gates not long after. It was Elis— one of the larger cities not far from the Capital of Ertos. It had only recently been taken over, so the walls were still damaged and many buildings lay collapsed. That wasn’t surprising to Daniel. War extracted its toll. But what he didn’t like was how there didn’t seem to be any attempts to repair the damage done.

No [Builders] or [Architects] toiling away to return the city to its former state. Everything was left in disrepair.

Daniel kept his head low as he paid the entrance fee to the guards. They snickered amongst each other, clearly charging him an outrageously exorbitant amount. He didn’t protest, instead choosing to ask some questions.

“I’m looking for the Adventurers Guild in this city. Do you know where it’s located?”

“The Adventurers Guild?”

The guards laughed, just as Daniel expected.

“Sorry, it was destroyed during the battle for the city. Unfortunate, but you’ll probably want to find work somewhere else. Not like you adventurers are needed around here— us soldiers are strong enough to deal with any monster threats around the city.”

The young man’s eyes flickered. Same answer, huh? The reason why Daniel had wanted to stop at Elis was simple— he wanted to investigate if the Inoria Empire was truly as evil as he was led to believe, and he wanted to ascertain the state of the Adventurers Guild.

He’d gone to three former major cities of Elutra. Each one had been captured by Inoria, and coincidentally, the Adventurers Guild had been completely wrecked. There was no place for adventurers to find work or spread information amongst each other. Even though the basis of the Adventurers Guild made it a decentralized organization, they’d at least communicate with each other if something truly wrong was happening in a city.

Not that that could be a problem if there was no Adventurers Guild. That made four, now. Four major former cities of Elutra that had lost their Adventurers Guild during their capture. It was beyond mere coincidence now. With what Daniel knew about Inoria— or at least, the rumors he had been told— he believed that this had been carried out on purpose.

Demons were in charge of the empire. They had to be. And if that was true, then they were going to bring the return of the Demon King himself.

Would they sacrifice all of Elutra? Or, perhaps, they’d only sacrifice the prisoners of war. Maybe even a single city. The scope and scale needed to summon the Demon King wasn’t something Daniel understood. He just knew that something had to be done.

He couldn’t do it by himself. He needed proof. Evidence. To gather help from nations and adventurers. That was why he continued to investigate.

The young man took a single step through the gates of Elis, only to pause when he heard a commotion occurring behind him.

“Sorry, I don’t have enough gold for the entrance fee.”

Amanda opened her hands and shrugged as the guards pestered her to make payment for entry. The guard captain crossed his arms.

“No payment, no entry.”

“Well, I don’t have any money. Now, if only there were a strong, young man nearby who can help me out.”

She winked at Daniel, and he rolled his eyes.

“No.”

He turned around and continued on, leaving her outside of the city, speechless. She blinked.

“Hey, wait—”

Amanda called out to him, but the guard captain stopped her. He grabbed her by the shoulder, sneering.

“I said no payment, no entry.”

Then he paused as he took in the brown-haired woman. A creepy smile spread across his face.

“Unless, of course, you want to offer some… other method of payment.”

Daniel halted, and Amanda stared at the guard captain. Her eyes narrowed.

“What kind of alternative payment?”

The guard captain ogled her with his eyes, reaching a hand for her face.

“Oh, how about you follow me to the guardhouse and find—”

“That’s enough.”

Daniel grabbed the guard captain by the forearm, tossing a bag of coins at his feet. All of the guards stared. Then one of them barked in outrage.

“Don't you dare talk to the captain like that!”

They drew their weapons, surrounding Daniel in an instant. He craned his neck slightly, taking in the levels of his opponents. None of them but the captain were even above Level 70. Although, they did have quite a high average level for a bunch of guards. No— these were veteran soldiers who’d been given guard duty for the sake of intimidation.

The guard captain glared at the young man.

“Unhand me this instant, adventurer, and you won’t get in trouble.”

“I have given you more than enough gold for both our entrance into the city. If that is not enough, then I believe I must protest. However— I really do not want to cause a scene.”

Daniel tightened his grip. The guard captain’s enchanted gloves bent under the pressure, and his eyes widened. He tried to identify Daniel’s level, but his true level was hidden under an obfuscation artifact. And Amanda was showing her second Class.

“T-that’s…”

“I suggest you just take the gold and let us be.”

Amanda raised an amused brow as the guard captain struggled to escape Daniel’s grip. Finally, he acquiesced.

“Fine.”

Daniel let go of the man, and he spun around.

“Let them pass. And pick up this damn gold, you bloody morons.”

He shouted at the other guards as they scrambled to collect the payment off the floor. Meanwhile, Daniel just briskly turned and walked away. Amanda followed after him as he entered an alleyway. The moment they were away from view, he grabbed her by her collar and sputtered.

“What do you think you’re doing? You almost got us both in trouble.”

“Hey, I asked for your help before it came to that. You didn’t butt in then, so things became tense. It’s not my fault it turned out that way.”

“And what about the entrance fee? Aren’t you some kind of high grade assassin? What’s that load of crap about not being able to afford the entrance fee?”

He gritted his teeth, and she gave him an innocent smile.

“I used to be a high grade assassin. Not anymore. Also, I could’ve been able to pay the entrance fee if someone didn’t take all my gold from me when he kept me as his slave.”

“I didn’t keep you as my slave. You were my prisoner.”

“Same thing. Either way, I was a helpless young woman who had to obey everything you said.”

Amanda scoffed, and he drew back.

“You can handle yourself, but you just wanted to mess with me so I’d get in trouble. If you wanted to, you could’ve snuck in after me without even being detected.”

She tapped a finger on her chin, speaking indifferently.

“I wasn’t opposed to letting that man have his way with me. I didn’t have any gold, and what’s so bad about having a little fun for free stuff?”

A small grin spread across her face as Daniel scowled.

“Whatever— the next time you get yourself in a mess, I won’t help you out.”

“Aw…but I enjoyed being saved by you. It was almost like you were an actual [Hero].”

He ignored her, leaving the alleyway and heading down the streets of Elis. Just like in the previous three cities he’d visited, Daniel found the streets being heavily patrolled by Inorian soldiers. Not to maintain peace. It was clearly a show of force.

They weren’t acting to prevent crime. If they wanted to do that, they’d have been roaming the back alleyways and keeping a lookout for possible looters at the current city’s state. Instead, they marched down the busiest streets, making their presence known while staying far away from where the criminals lurked.

Good, Daniel thought as he passed by a large patrol of chanting soldiers. He kept his head down just like every other citizen in the city, blending in and maintaining a low profile. Amanda, meanwhile, trailed a few feet behind him, not bothering to even pretend to be scared. She stopped a guard just to have a small chat, and helped a crying young boy find his mom. If she wasn’t doing it to annoy Daniel, he’d have thought she was a good person.

The young man eventually strayed away from the main streets, finding himself in lesser maintained parts of the city. Here, there were broken shops— those that had been destroyed during the battle for Elis, or those that had been looted and abandoned in the ensuing chaos in the changing of power. Smoke rose up all sound Daniel, smearing the orange-stained twilight sky with streaks of gray.

Men and women huddled around small fires to keep warm as their homes were no longer standing. Daniel really wished he could help them all, but he had another goal. He stopped a raggedy-looking man, and after a short conversation, gave him a piece of platinum and headed to an even more dubious part of the city.

He nearly thought he lost Amanda when she was swarmed by a bunch of kids for showing off a trick with her knife. However, much to his displeasure, she suddenly appeared next to him as he arrived at his destination.

It was a run-down blacksmith’s shop. The flames of its forges had died out as the doorway was buried under rubble. But behind the sturdy brick walls of the building, in the empty armory that had been raided by the Inoria Empire, Daniel found a handful of shadowed figures milling about.

One of them spotted his presence and approached him with a gentle smile.

“Welcome to the unofficial Adventurers Guild of Elis. Tell us, strangers, are you friend…?”

A curved sword appeared by the man’s side as his smile vanished.

“Or are you foe?”

[Rogue - Lvl. 96]