Deadmeat Saga

After arriving at the dining hall, Gerhart was approached by an authoritative-looking man in his early 60s wearing upper-middle-class casual wear.

"Hello, I am Captain Antonis. Are you a new volunteer for the Sewer Sweep?" The man asked.

"I am Gerhart from the guild... But why do you call it Volunteering?" Gerhart curiously asked.

"You go into a vermin-infested, stinky sewer filled with disease, filth, and danger, and you only get the standard bounty for what you kill and some food and lodging. If that isn't volunteering, I don't know what is." Antonis replied.

"Well... I can't argue with that." Gerhart thought.

"Now, I believe you must be hungry. Eat breakfast, and then I will brief you on your sweeping route with the others." Antonis patted Gerhart's shoulder.

"Okay," Gerhart replied and got some grub.

There was a bowl of oatmeal porridge mixed with bacon and vegetables, cheddar cheese, a small apple, and milk.

Since the adventurers were going to fight monsters, they were fed well to give them energy. Gerhart knew that eating well was crucial for even laborers, not to mention warriors.

After receiving his meal, Gerhart was about to find a seat when he saw someone at a table with two others waving at him. Curious, Gerhart approached them.

"Hey! You must be the fourth guy, right?" The blond young man who waved at him said. He was your typical warrior with a sheathed sword at his waist and a shield on his back, wearing leather armor.

"Yes, I am Gerhart. I just recently registered for this request in the guild." Gerhart replied.

"Nice to meet you, Gerhart! I am Troy, an F-rank warrior. And these two are city guards on sweeping duty, Axel and Kaiden." Troy smiled.

"Hello, Gerhart. Nice to be working with you." Axel, a middle-aged man with a short beard and bald cap, nodded. He wore chainmail and had a mace and a hatchet on his waist, with a buckler on his side.

"I haven't seen you around, so this must be your first time, right?" Kaiden, a stubbled, short-statured man, asked. He also wore chainmail but had a one-handed axe and a dagger.

"Nice to be working with you, too. And yes, this is my first time on this job," Gerhart replied.

"No worries. It isn't too difficult or dangerous, just disgusting. It isn't like the Deep Sewer Sweep." Kaiden said.

"Deep Sewer Sweep?" Gerhart asked while taking a seat beside Troy and started eating.

"You don't know?" Troy asked, surprised. "That is a minimum D-rank subjugation request to kill whatever lies deep within the sewers. Although our shallow sweep reduces the frequency, they still need to do deep cleaning." He explained.

"Luckily, we will only face a few rats and other critters. They usually come alone or in pairs, rarely more than three, so expect about 20-30 kills. Even we can handle this much. And even if we get bitten and injured along the way, we get treated at the end of the shift. Just watch out for spider and centipede bites since they carry some poison. It isn't fast-acting or deadly, but you should get out of the sewer since it would numb your body... And hurts like a bitch." Axel explained with a grimace. "Even after being cured, it took a week for the phantom pains to wear off..." 

"Yeah. Just note that there is a chance you will encounter something nastier than lone rats, roaches, spiders, and centipedes. At best, you will face a skeleton or zombie. Just lop their head off, and they should be dead, and don't let them grab you. You might need to smash their head to make sure they die for good. You might also encounter some criminals, but they would avoid you if you don't bother them. They know you are down there doing this dirty job so this city can survive and face fewer critters on the way, and you know that confronting them is suicidal, so we have mutual respect and keep our distance. If you meet a rat swarm, there is a good chance you will die... But they don't appear on the routes we take. As for sewer horrors... Yeah... Don't get me started on this one. Even a D-rank will likely die facing something like that." Kaiden said with a look of fear.

"And that's how it is." Troy shrugged.

"Hah... Must be rough..." Gerhart nodded.

"Yeah... But at least we get the bounties. You don't need to look hard to find those critters. They come at you like rabid dogs, aggressive little fuckers. You can expect to earn 20-30 silver coins, which is over double the daily wage of your average laborer." Troy said.

"But it is also several times more risky, and even with perfumed masks, it smells horrible. I would take night patrol any day." Kaiden cringed.

"Good point." Troy acknowledged.

Giant Rats and similar sewer critters were diseased and inedible, so to incentivize killing them, there was a standard bounty of 1 Silver Coin for each rat or roach, 3 for Spiders and Centipedes. Your average laborer makes 150-200 Silver Coins a month, which means you must kill 150-200 such rats to match a laborer. If the adventurer only works five days a week, he must kill around ten a day, double if he wants it to be worth his while... And this doesn't include weapon and armor costs, injuries, the horrible smell, the risk of crippling and death, and whatever else. So, in a sense, this job was indeed volunteering since the risk-to-pay ratio was painfully poor.

That was why this job was unpopular among rookies and favored hunting horned rabbits in the fields. At least, they could sell the rabbit carcasses for extra income, even if they ran at half the market price.

"I guess I'll do this for a few runs and then do something else." Gerhart thought.

After breakfast, the four went to the planning room, where Captain Antonis briefed them on their patrol route for the day.

The sewers were like a complex maze running under the city. Every branching point had a letter and mark for navigation, and the routes were marked on a map.

"Today is Tuesday, starting from entrance number 2, taking sweeping routes A2, B2, C2, and D2. Kaiden, you are on A2. Troy, you take B2. Axel, you take C2. Gerhart, you are on D2. Gerhart, you are new. When you finish your route, priests from the temple of Taelia will come and heal your wounds, cure any disease you got there, and cast a cleaning spell on you. And whatever you do, don't stray from your route. Do you have any questions?" Antonis asked.

"What do we do if we run into something dangerous like a Giant Rat swarm?" Gerhart asked.

"It depends on the situation, but there are several hatches you can use to climb outside in an emergency. They are marked on the map and should be visible on your route. Encountering a regular rat swarm is possible, although rare, and you should be able to handle a small swarm, but if you are unlucky enough to encounter a Giant Rat swarm... I can only say your luck is poor." Antonis shrugged.

"What if I accidentally forget the route?" Gerhart asked.

"You are getting a note with the route symbols, so it is hard to miss even if you are illiterate... But you can use a hatch to escape if you lose the note." Antonis explained. "Any more questions?"

"No. Thank you, Sir." Gerhart shook his head.

"Good. I also trust you already know how to harvest the subjugation proofs. Anyway, I wish you luck, men, and don't forget your lanterns, notes, and perfumed masks. Dismissed." Antonis said.

"Yes, Sir." The four men replied and left the room.

.

.

.

Half an hour later, the four men arrived at sewer entrance #2, a steel door near a waterway leading out of the city.

"Everyone, wear your masks unless you want to puke your breakfast," Axel said, putting on a piece of perfumed linen.

Gerhart and the other two nodded and put on their masks. Gerhart could smell a potent floral perfume, enough to make him wince.

"This is one strong perfume..." Gerhart remarked.

"Beats the scent of fermented shit, that's for certain," Troy said. "And a word of warning, don't remove that mask for a moment, or you will regret it."

"Noted," Gerhart replied.

"Okay, quick chattering. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get a hot bath and meal." Kaiden said and opened the door.

Although Gerhart's mouth and nose were covered, his exposed eye started to water.

Once the four entered the sewer, they took out their lanterns, lit by glowing crystals, an almost perpetual light source. Although not as strong as a torch or oil lantern, these lanterns had the advantage of never burning out and being sturdy. The more obvious downside was that glowing crystals were more expensive, around 20 SC, but they quickly paid off. It was okay to lose or destroy the lantern since accidents happen, but they needed to pay a 30 SC fine to replace it.

"Let's go," Axel said, taking the lead.

The four men started walking deeper into the sewer until they noticed a Giant Rat as large as a medium-sized dog. Gerhart estimated it was around 30-40 pounds and had sharp teeth that could tear flesh and break bones, their primary attack method. To a human, getting bitten by them would be painful but not deadly unless they got you in an artery. At least, any adult can kill it, given they have a decent weapon and don't panic.

"I'll handle it," Axel said, walking toward the rat and drawing his mace.

"Chii!!!" The rat, noticing the human approaching, shrieked and dashed at him.

"Hm... RAH!" Axel readied his mace and swung down when the rat pounced on him.

Crunch*

The mace hit it squarely in the head, smashing it on the sewer walkway. It died instantly. Axel put away his mace, drawing his hatchet before cutting off the tail and storing it inside his backpack. Monsters didn't have magic stones, and rats didn't have anything worthwhile.

To improve their strength, or as they call it, level up, Adventurers had several options. Magic and Aura meditation, buying magic stones, becoming Dungeon Explorers, using special potions, or eating monster meat. Of course, they also had a so-called level cap, and to raise it, they pushed themselves beyond their limits by fighting challenging enemies or training like maniacs.

"Let's continue," Axel said, standing up.

The four men wordlessly continued walking, their senses sharp for hiding monsters. Sparse light cascaded from above, lighting parts of the sewers. They walked on raised walkways while the sewage moved in the middle. Although it wasn't too hot, it would gradually become hotter as the day passed.

Soon, they reached a T-section.

"Kaiden and Troy, you're on the left. Gerhart is with me." Axel said.

"Okay. Good luck. Troy, come." Kaiden said and walked to the left path.

"Good luck, Gerhart." Troy said and followed Kaiden.

"You too." Gerhart waved his hand.

"Gerhart, follow," Axel said, taking the right path.

"Okay," Gerhart replied and followed Axel.

After walking for about a minute, they ran into a Giant Cockroach, the second most common monster in the sewers. It was smaller than the rat, between the size of a small and medium dog or 20lb. Although it wasn't as strong as a rat, it had a nasty and infectious bite that could kill if bitten in a major blood vessel, used its wings to fly short distances, and, most importantly, tenacious. It was arguably a worse opponent than the rat.

Luckily, they were also the natural prey of the rats, so there was no cockroach swarm, and they rarely left the sewers.

"Gerhart, it's yours." Axel said.

"Okay." Gerhart put down the lantern and unsheathed his sword.

Trkrkrk*

The cockroach flapped its wings before charging toward Gerhart without fear.

Gerhart readied his shield in front, watching as the cockroach advanced on his location, ready to stab with his sword rather than do a full swing.

Once the cockroach was close enough, it flapped its wings and pounced on Gerhart's left leg, but Gerhart used his shield to bash it away. While the cockroach was disoriented, Gerhart stabbed it in the abdomen, holding it against the pavement, but the cockroach had strong vitality and tenacity and continued struggling. Gerhart was forced to stomp on its head with his steel-reinforced boot.

Crunch* Crunch* Crunch*

Gerhart had to stomp on it three times with all his power to make the cockroach die. Even if its head was crushed, the body was still alive, forcing Gerhart to stomp multiple times. It was indeed tenacious.

Once it was dead, Gerhart sheathed his sword and pulled out his knife before cutting off its crushed head, removed the antennae, and put it in his bag.

Although it was his first live monster outside a dungeon, he found the whole process easy... Albeit somewhat disgusting.

"Good. I see you won't have an issue hunting. Let's move." Axel approvingly said while handing over Gerhart's lantern.

"I was a Dungeon Explorer, so it isn't too different... Minus the gore and stench." Gerhart took the lantern.

"What made you change career?" Axel curiously asked.

"Things happened," Gerhart replied but didn't give details.

"Understandable," Axel said and continued walking without prying further.

They soon arrived at another T-section.

"We are parting ways here. I am going left, and you are going right. Don't forget to use your notes if you get lost, and don't stray away from the sewers. Good luck." Axel said.

"Good luck to you too." Gerhart gestured farewell.

The two men then started walking their separate ways.

"Finally... I can now start my experiment!" Gerhart smiled under his mask.