Chapter 29

Adventurers and other obnoxious onlookers alike were gathering all across the city square, a new quest had been posted. They orderly made a line to see the contents of the quest.

 

I walked closer to the wooden platform on which the billboard was located. There, two knights stood guard side by side, their only purpose - to enforce politeness.

 

I glanced at the quest from a short distance, but no notification appeared on my screen.

 

‘Dammit, I truly wish I had an appraisal skill.’

 

Like the rest of the adventurers, Allisa and I had to wait in line for a few minutes to read what the quest said.

 

‘Mantis Extermination quest,’

 

I looked at Allisa. She stared back at me.

 

It was hard to tell who said it first. But it turned into a double “Fuck.”

 

The details were not clear. It was just a brief note with the overall location of where the Mantis was last sighted, the reward that would be given, and the signature of the duke.

 

The location was not far from here. It was not far at all. In fact, we were standing on top of it.

 

The last sighting of mantis was as she made her way deep into the sewers. If that was her route of escape. It was clear that she was wounded. Her pride otherwise would not allow her to meddle in excrement and piss.

 

I did not dare to open the notifications that loomed at the bottom of my field of view. Either for fear of seeing how wounded Mantis was, or because I did not want to carry the burden of all the adventurers she had slain.

 

“What are we going to do?” I asked Allisa.

 

She gave me that look. No words needed to be spoken. I could read it from her lips. ‘This is your problem. You fix it.’

 

She knew that I knew.

 

“I will help you in whichever way I can. But my top priority right now is finding Joanne,” Allisa said.

 

Ultimately, I descended down into the sewers alone.

 

The sewers were very dark, and they reeked like crap.

 

The smell was the least of my concerns. I had to be very careful with the paths that I followed, for rats infested the place. The wild fiends reacted very violently towards torch light and quite a few novice and unprepared adventurers got swarmed by dozens of them.

 

The rats were very weak opponent for someone with my skills. But I had no crowd control and no healing potions. If only Joanne was here…

 

Allisa was only kind enough to provide me with a single torch light and many blessings, but not the type of blessing that would give me a bonus to my stats.

 

The sewers were more complex than what I thought. They spread in multiple directions, like streets on the road. Without a map, it would be easy to get lost.

 

‘Dammit system, why do you not at least give me a mini map or quest marker!’

 

The system did not respond.

 

I followed the lead of other adventurer groups that seemed just slightly more prepared than me. Then, by mere chance; I ran into Darthmage and his childhood friend.

 

He stood out like a sore thumb. For he was the only adventurer not holding a torch. Instead, he was using orbs of light. I could hear as other adventurers sneered at him for using advanced magic for a task that a torch light could easily accomplish.

 

I did not want to look weird and get the attention of other adventurers by joining Darthmage and his party. So instead, I extinguished my torch and just silently stalked him from a far, well within the shadows.

 

At some point, the idiot began to rush through the dungeon, and we got separated from the main adventurer group.

 

I chased him down well into the second floor of the sewers. The place began to look less civilized than before. Cave like features began to appear periodically. The rats for sure got bigger.

 

I killed about five to ten cave rats. Their EXP was not the best. But a SOLO adventurer could potentially farm all the way to level five in a week by just killing these rats.

 

Darthmage’s companion began to complain about the rats. I just watched silently. It was whatever.

 

It was not a bad place to grind for experience. I just stomped on the little critters and they exploded into gory pieces of jelly-like meat.

 

It was quite funny.

 

STOMP STOMP STOMP.

 

‘Ohohohoh,’

 

[Evil action performed. Bonus EXP +10%]

 

I guess I must have gotten a bit too carried away by stomping on the stupid rats, that I began to giggle too loudly, and got too close to Darthmage. For he got startled and misfired his fire-based spell into the ceiling, causing it to rain a fiery hell.

 

I sustained little damage, for he quickly used a shield-like spell that covered his party and me under a magical dome.

 

“Bloody moron!” I yelled.

 

“B-Berry!” He yelled back.

 

‘Dammit, that is not fair. He clearly has an appraisal skill. I doubt he even remembered my name.’

 

“It seems that fate favors our reunion.”

 

He was quick to assume a very heroic posture. Gently stroking his hair, as he looked into the cave’s ceiling with his eyes closed. Almost as if he had not almost incinerated all of us by accident just a minute ago.

 

His female companion looked at me with eyes devoid of any light. No different from the eyes Jasper made when Baal invited me to be part of his harem.

 

I coughed very loudly. “Oh yeah, it’s you. I remember you. You are that weird guy.”

 

Darthmage violently recoiled into a more natural posture, almost as if my words pierced his ribs. His cheeks turned almost immediately red.

 

His childhood friend made an imaginary ‘X’ cross with her arms.

 

“Enough,” she said. “Would like to team up with us? We lack party members, and the Mantis without doubt will be a formidable opponent.”

 

“Eh, sorry. I am already in a party. But I am willing to help the two of you,” I said.

 

They needed to know nothing more. Who knows what could happen if I dissolved my party with Mantis.

 

The girl was quick to introduce herself as Elly.

 

“So how did the two of you met each other?” I asked.

 

I needed to gather all the information that I could about a potential reincarnator.

 

“We grew up together in a Village very far away from the Capital,” Elly said. “Arthur was-“

 

“Ahem,” Darthmage corrected her.

 

“Darthmage was a rather quiet and timid child. The only time he would come out of his manor was when his father, the baron, took him to the local blacksmith’s shop,” Elly continued.

 

Darthmage looked embarrassed by this story. Then he quickly grew concerned.

 

“The blacksmith happened to be my father. Which meant that while the adults conducted business, the Baron’s son and the Blacksmith’s daughter got to play together. Eventually, we became friends.”

 

“Elly’s dad makes pretty good sword!” Darthmage said. He was trying to interrupt the conversation and switch to a different topic, but Elly ignored him. She seemed very serious all of the sudden.

 

“Then one day. He sends word for me to await for him under a tree, near the sunflower meadows. But,” Elly said.

 

Darthmage began to laugh awkwardly. “Come on guys, our quest awaits.”

 

Elly realized that she was over-sharing.

 

It was very clear to me. That Darthmage had reincarnated, or regained, memories of his previous life right about that time. Causing a personality shift. Which somehow caused a rift with Elly.

 

I wanted to inquire more. But it seems like if inquired more, it would make Elly cry.

 

“So, what brings the two of you here?” I asked.

 

“I was told that a great evil was attacking the poor innocent inhabitants of Ban… Ban… do….”

 

Darthmage was having issues pronouncing the name of the city.

 

“Bandolier,” Elly said.

 

“Yes. Bandolier!” Darthmage said. “I have a very good hunch that the undead are being controlled by a necromancer.”

 

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

 

“Ahem. A very good hunch,” He repeated.

 

He clearly did not want to say out loud that he played too many video games.

 

“Then, shouldn’t you be trying to slay the necromancer instead? That seems like a more pressing matter than hunting down a mantis in the sewers,” I said.

 

Maybe I could talk him out of the quest.

 

“Yes, but. The necromancer would never make his appearance during daylight. Which means I can take my time doing side quests,” Darthmage said.

 

“And you say this… because?”

 

“Ahem, a very good hunch.”

 

A very good hunch, my ass. He was making stuff up.

 

“You will be surprised,” Elly said. “He somehow is right most of the time,”

 

Now I had to be very careful.

 

There were three potential scenarios at play here.

 

Either Darthmage knew in advance what was going to happen because this was a video game world and he had played it before.

 

Or, this was a video game world, and he was winging it using his knowledge of video game logic.

 

Or, this was a non-game world, and Darthmage is an absolute moron with a luck-based cheat skill.

 

However, there was no way I could ask him outright without revealing I was a reincarnator myself. In fact, I probably already had raised some of Darthmage’s suspicion by running into him and asking him personal questions without being his friend.

 

If he did the same, he probably would not give it a second thought. But if he had an MC complex, he might find it very odd that an NPC was asking him questions.

 

‘Hmmm. Given how cringe he is, he for sure sees himself as the only player or as the only reincarnator. He might not even be so sure which one he is either. Come on Berry. Think of a way to clear yourself of all suspicion. What would an NPC say at a time like this?’

 

“Sugoi!” I said.

 

Darthmage immediately took a cringe but heroic stance. “He-he-he, my genius. It knows no bounds. But worry not. For as long as we are together bounded by fate. I shall share my utmost inte-“

 

Elly gave Darthmage a very good blow in the head. Then crossed her arms and formed an imaginary ‘X’ sign.

 

“NO. Do not feed his delusions, please,” Elly said.

 

By the time we reached the 3rd floor of the sewers, the orderly, brick-layered municipal sewer architecture was beginning to crumble away to more ancient, but polished walls made out of pitch black stone. An evil miasma covered the dungeon walls. It was almost like a dungeon of an old school MMO RPG.

 

“Are you guys sure this is the right way?” I asked. We had long lost the other adventurers.

 

“YES! This looks dangerous. We must be going the right way!” Darthmage said. His eyes were full of excitement.

 

“Stupid, danger is not something you should be exited about!” Elly responded.

 

“Eh?”

 

But then, we reached a dead-end.

 

There was nothing in the hallway other than an eerie statue of a crying saint and two unlit torches.

 

The statue had a red stain coming out of her eyes. Almost as if the statue had been crying blood. Right at the feet of the statue, chicken bones and rotten fish were presented as an offering by what likely was a previous visitor.

 

“A ritual for a dark god?” Darthmage asked out loud.

 

“Welp, I guess this is it. The entrance is cursed by some dark ritual. We should head back,” I said. “We better not touch anything and return here better prepared.”

 

‘Please. Do not touch anything. Please do not touch anything.’

 

“Oh!” Darthmage said. “Don’t worry Berry. I know exactly what to do,”

 

He snapped his fingers and lit the two torches with quick-casting fire magic.

 

Two seconds later. The ground around us began to tremble.

 

“BLOODY FUCKING IDIOT! I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH SHIT.”

 

*MAAAAAAAAH*

 

I am not so sure how much of my cussing he got to hear. But everything faded to black as we all got teleported away.

 

A prominent notification appeared on my field of view;

 

[Welcome to the Dungeon of The Whispering Witch]