A near unholy scream sounded but soon it turned into bubbling as the hobgoblin choked on its own blood, Rebecca showed a slight smile as she wielded her shortsword, she really wanted to go completely wild but Mike had commanded her not to suck any blood for the time being, so she could only use her shortsword instead of crystalizing her own blood and using it as a weapon, with that said it wasn't like she was struggling, she was level 2 after all and in fact, she was nearly level 3
'I wonder what color their intestines are..?'
While random thoughts went through her head she likewise slaughtered her way through the primitive village with cold and efficient movements, the hobgoblins were in disarray due to the fact that Mike had stormed into the village earlier and were without proper discipline, they came at her one on one, or max in pairs of two thus Rebecca had an easy time killing them with her shortsword. That is until they eventually managed to take her by surprise, the hobgoblins were nothing if not sneaky after all, one hid inside a small tent and managed to sneak up on her or so it thought
"[Mirage flash]"
The hob swiped out with its three claws but when they hit Rebecca's back she turned into a mirage and the hob felt zero resistance, just when it was hit with confusion Rebecca appeared silently behind it and stabbed it in the back of the head from behind, the hob went limp before she then pulled out her shortsword and went on to kill some more hobgoblins, but soon found out there were none left, they had been wiped out
'I better go find my master and see if he has any instructions for me…'
Rebecca followed the trail of dried up bodies and soon found Mike that was standing with his eyes closed and a rather sinister smile on his face, Rebecca recognized this as him enjoying his fix of fresh blood, but it soon passed and he opened his eyes again and saw Rebecca and Elina and commanded
"Gather the carcasses"
""Yes master""
With the two of them working it didn't take long for the remains of the hobgoblins to get gathered in one plie, from there Mike allowed the two of them to suck blood freely from the pile as he already had gotten his fill, leaving the two blood glutens to their feast Mike walked over to Julie that stood and petted Molly a little away, he silently took her hand and then he apologized
"Sorry for being such an asshole the last few days…"
Julie gave a slight smile as she continued to pat Molly, Mike also remained silent as he stood there holding her hand…
After the carcasses had been drained of blood Mike threw some igniter paper on it and the group left the forest and resumed heading the way they were going before that minor distraction, while they rode Mike did some mental calculations
'...So after paying for the fare over to Threa we have 30.000 and some change left… the question is how best to invest it… Maybe we should buy a house in the dungeon city? It would save us inn fees for sure… Yeah I think that's a good idea, the problem is we need someone with some combat abilities to take care of the house while we are in the dungeon… We will need another servant in that case and it's not like one will just fall out of the sky like Elina did…'
"What are you thinking about Mike?"
"Well… I was thinking about getting a house in the dungeon city, to save inn fees and all that, the problem is we need someone to take care of the house, do you have any ideas?"
Julie thought for a bit before she gave a nod
"Why not let Elina and Rebecca take care of it on shifts? Then when we have earned enough money we can buy a slave"
"...Yeah that is really the best idea isn't it? Well then let's do that, assuming we even can afford a house that is…"
"How much do we have left?"
"About 50.000"
"...That should be enough"
"I see, well let's hope that's true"
"Yeah…"
Mike and the rest continued on their journey, other than riding past some heavily guarded convoys from time to time they saw no other travelers which Mike found a little odd, but when he thought about it made sense, after all not everyone had mounts like them and traveling alone would be dangerous, then why not join a caravan and earn some money while one traveled?
'Damn should have thought about that before we left the port…'
While trying his best not to cry over spilled milk the group gradually made their way closer and closer to the dungeon city and after five more days of travel they could finally see the outer walls of the dungeon city, Mike stretched and spoke out to the rest of the group
"Looks like we made it"
Julie gave a nod before she looked up at the sun
"Let's head to the guild after we get into the city, they will be able to point us in the way of an estate manager"
"Sounds like a plan"
The group soon arrived at the gates and found that there were next to no queue so soon it was their turn to be inspected which passed without issue and while receiving smiles from the guards they were let into the dungeon city of Tursk, once inside Mike asked for direction to the guild and soon they made it there without issue, after dismounting the group walked into the guild, Mike looked around and saw that it was mostly like the guilds he had been to before with a request board and a reception counter lined with pretty receptionists that were busy talking with adventures of all kinds, the male to female ratio was about even and Mike also noted that there were a lot more non-humans here than he had seen on Elmlet, Mike gave a glance at Julie and found that she had a frown on her face as she looked at the non-humans so he gave her a clap on the shoulder and spoke
"Of course it's going to be different then Elmlet… Remember we don't want to start any trouble"
Julie gave a nod, but she still kept her hand on the hilt of her sword which caused Mike to give a wry smile before he lead the way towards the counter where he lined up along with Julie in queue, as for Elina and Rebecca, they were looking after Serina and Molly at the entrance of the guild.
Soon it was Mike and Julie's turn at the counter, a pretty receptionist greeted them with a smile
"Welcome to Tursk's guild, what can I help you with today?"
Mike gave a slight smile as he spoke
"Hello, we just arrived at the city today and would like to know a little about the estate market here in the city"
The receptionist gave a nod and maintained her business smile
"Certainly, I can give you directions to the estate manager here in Tursk… Also since it's your first time here I have to give you some information about the dungeon, but if you don't have time now it can wait until your next visit?"
Mike exchanged looks with Julie before he looked back at the receptionist and spoke
"Well we do have some time now"
The receptionist gave a nod before she asked
"Have any of you been to a dungeon before?"
Mike and Julie shook their heads, then the receptionist continued
"Okay, in that case I have to explain some of the unwritten rules first, the first party and or person to attack a monster have the right to that monster unless they ask another party and or person for help to kill said monster, understood?"
Mike gave a nod, he was familiar with this rule from online gaming in his past life, Julie however asked
"What if the monster kills the one that attacked it first?"
"Then it's ownership is reset"
"I see"
"Then next is the issue of banditry in the dungeon, the guild takes no responsibility of any crimes committed by its members while in the dungeon, that said if enough evidence is found that any one person has committed crimes inside the dungeon the guild will issue a bounty, this is also the case if one violated the first rule I talked about"
Mike and Julie gave a nod, then the receptionist continued
"The guild sells maps, but you can feel free to buy maps off other adventures, likewise if you managed to explore a new area of the dungeon you may sell that information to other adventures or to the guild… That's all, let me quickly draw a map to the estate manager"
Mike gave a smile and when the receptionist handed him the map, then he gave a nod
"Thanks"