The Author Is Speechless
Chapter 206: Viktor’s sloppy hands

Chapter 206: Viktor’s sloppy hands

’The quest I choose is finding a lost item. A few days ago, a travelling merchant was passing by the village road that led to the next village. The route is well-paved, has road lights and it’s secured with magic so no harmful monster can cross. It is a safe road that all people use instead of the one beside it.

The time that the merchant was passing by was at midnight. He was carrying gods from the capital city in order to sell them in the village.

But on his way, he was attacked by bandits and unfortunately, he lost his valuable items along with his goods. He said that those items were so valuable and they were supposed to be national treasures. If the king finds out that he has lost the item, he will be executed along with the lord of the territory.’

Viktor looked at the request paper and said, "Damn this expensive hand of mine. Always picks up the most complicated things that I can’t even solve. I wish I could just flip some pages and read what was going on. This quest smells fishy. I need to investigate it before 15 days. So let’s just go and check the place where the incident took place."

Viktor looked around and saw there were no people on the long road in the middle of the vast landscape. The forest was far away so it was impossible for the bandits to hide and attack.

Viktor got off from the floating staff and looked at the broken carriage beside the road. There was no sign of attacks, no arrows, even there were no bloodstains of horses.

"The merchant said his horses were killed on the spot. It has been only 2 days since the incident took place and it said nobody came to check it because of the sudden massive quest from the lord. Yet, the mentioned horses vanished like smoke from the spot. This is really odd. This quest has so many loopholes. The statement doesn’t match with the crime zone, the merchant is nowhere to be seen after he put the quest, there is no description of the national treasure, and there is no sign of any bandits who attacked the carriage. The carriage might look like it was swept by the fight but in reality, someone broke the carriage on purpose."

Viktor sighed and made up his mind. "I should visit the black guild in disguise."

A black guild is a guild situated at the edge of the village. It’s a place where criminals walk around. Thief, robber, murderer, bandits, scammers, black doctors, it’s a place where all the shady things take place.

Viktor bought a few clothing and some short knives before entering the black guild in disguise. He put a white mask on and then entered through the gate by paying the gateman 3 silver coins.

’That was an expensive fee... I should buy a black guild card. This place is going to be my playground in the future anyway. To get my hands on valuable information, I must cooperate with them. But for now, let’s just sit on that bench and examine my surroundings well.’

The black guild was a place secured with tall walls around it. It’s an open place with so many shops, bars, prostitution clubs and so much more a suspicious place can offer. It also comes with an arena where two challengers can duel and earn quick money.

Of course, you have to kill your opponent to get the prize.

’When I looked at the gate, it didn’t look any bigger than a football field. But when I stepped inside, the area stretched 30 times bigger than its original size. This level of magic isn’t some plaything. This is actually a big deal.’

Viktor looked around and saw there were more people than the whole village combined. So he assumed that place was paradise for bandits.

’There must be some kind of gate that allows people to travel between places. Or else, there is no way this crowd of people has entered through the village gate. I never sensed this crowd coming in or out. If it’s true, I’m afraid that the bandits I’m looking for are no longer here. But, let’s give it a try...’

Viktor stood up and went inside the black guild to get a second ID card.

The guild was crowded with muscles and sweaty people.

’Urk... this smell is stinging my brain..’

Viktor covered his nose with his long hoodie and approached the hot lady receptionist.

"An ID," Viktor spoke without any hesitation.

The woman looked at Viktor and said, "What a nice young man you are... Are you sure you came to the right place?"

Viktor dropped 10 silver coins on the table and said, "An ID."

The woman laughed at the coins and said, "You can’t even get a glass of milk with this, young boy."

’So it’s expensive here. Then let’s give her a C-grade stone.. I hope this will do the work.’

Viktor took one demon dog’s core from his pocket and said, "I gave that money for a small information. Sorry, but I think this baby has escaped from your eyes."

The shiny blue core of a demon dog immediately caught her eyes. She quickly snatch the core along with the money and said, "What is your name, young boy?"

"I am called Grimm."

"Pardon?"

"Grimm, a fire magician. Isn’t that all you want to make an ID?"

"Y..yes. Sorry.."

She immediately made a fake ID for him and then said, "What information do you want to have? The core you just paid with can provide you with highest 13 gold worth of information, which is similar to stranded level info."

"Then, tell me who was the merchant that hired a group of bandits to help him escape? I believe they are carrying something valuable."

The lady looked at the picture of the merchant and said, "There seems to be a little problem. Actually, there was a quest for fake kidnapping 2 days ago. This man personally came here and chose the people on his own. He then left with them and after that, they never came back. Since they were an important part of the guild, the guild master personally put up a request. He thinks something bad has happened to them so he wants them back here as soon as possible."

’So this isn’t the end of the story huh? This seems deeper than I anticipated. Well, I might as well take the quest and have my 13 beautiful gold coins in my pocket...

But that was nothing but my delusions. I ended up with only 3 coins because making a new ID cost me 10 gold.’

Viktor took the quest that had no time limitation and headed to the place where the quest said. It was the town of the lords, next to the village so it took him a full day to reach by riding on his floating staff.

"It’s midnight near. I can’t even hear people talking here. This town is so peaceful...’

Viktor entered the town by crossing the town wall using his floating staff and landed on the bell tower. He then took the quest paper out and looked at the picture of a knight from the king’s palace.

"Why is a knight involved in this bandits’ case? I can’t appear in front of anyone with my current state because a knight is at least level 30. I need to check this territory first. Then I should make my moves."

Viktor again sat on his floating staff and headed to the forest where he saw some suspicious lights on his way. He pierced through the clouds at a steady phase and then flew down when his eyes saw the dim lights from above.

He then landed on a tree branch and noticed a big cave with rail tracks. Some people looked so suspicious working and filling big carriages with silver-looking ore. They were stealing ores from the cave.

’Ah... they are dark gold, a rare material that can be turned into high-level weapons. Let’s hear what their leader is talking about.’

Viktor flew closer to the leader’s carriage and saw the man who was mentioned on the quest paper. He was the knight who was in charge. After listening for almost 2 hours, Viktor understood the reason.

The merchant and the bandit were just a small part of a huge plan. The country Viktor was transferred to was called Malciana. It was a small country but it had so many hidden natural resources.

The cave was one of them too.

The second son Lord of the small territory called Pimio had recently discovered a dark gold mine while hunting. He quickly reported it to his father but the Lord kept the information top secret and secretly planned to enjoy its wealth without reporting it to the king.

Somehow, the information was leaked and the king planned to give a small gift. He announced the Pimio land as the holy hand and sent the holy grail in secret.

As planned, the holy grail was stolen by the bandits. The lord of Pimio had no choice but to put up a quest request but sadly, a dungeon suddenly broke out and nobody picked the quest. Of course, he never mentioned anything about the holy grail and now, his head was about to fly off because he lost it.

In the meantime, the knight was secretly mining the dark gold by the order of the king so that they can’t enjoy any ounce of it.

’This is bothersome. Why did I even pick this quest? I don’t want to solve any political problems now. It’s been a while since I got to enjoy this vacation...’

Viktor then looked at the raw materials of the cave and became dazzled by its sparks.

They were silvery and they were so shiny that he failed to hold back. So he said, "It won’t be a problem if I have some of them, right?"

But there is a tremendous amount of gap between human hunger and Viktor’s hunger.