Luz followed Nighty's advice and immediately rushed to the guild while still wearing his reeking armor. 'Hopefully, my information is helpful, and I can earn a quick buck,' Luz thought on his way.
By now, it was late afternoon, and the guild hall was filled with mercenaries and hunters talking and feasting loudly.
'I hate crowds of people,' Luz sighed while wandering his gaze through the place, searching for the only guild staffer he was familiar with. 'Strange, she isn't in her usual spot next to the guild quests,' he wondered as he continued searching.
But upon seeing someone winking at him, Luz immediately found Erena. 'Wait!? She works as a barkeeper too!?' Luz was surprised to see the girl refill glasses and immediately made his way towards her, pushing some random NPCs to the side.
Upon seeing him, Erena remarked, amused, "Oy, I thought you and Lewis were like the gay version of Romeo and Julia, inseparable no matter what."
A chuckle escaped from Luz, and with heavy breathing, Luz took a seat at the counter before remarking, "funny."
"My, my, you really seem tired," Erena stated with a warm smile before asking, "What would you like to drink?"
Luz was a bit surprised since he didn't plan on drinking here.
Erena chuckled upon seeing him being clueless. "Well, I will just give you some orange juice, sweety.~"
"Wait-," before Luz could say anything, Erena placed a hug jug in front of him. "So tell me, what urgent matter brings you here, Luz?~," she asked with a gentle smile while filling a jug for herself.
Luz sighed before confessing to the guild staff, "On our last hunt, we encountered something abhorrent… something cruel and unnatural."
Her warm smile immediately vanished, and she turned serious. "I see… We should talk about that in private…give me a second," Erena replied to Luz before walking up to one of her coworkers and whispering something into the person's ear.
After receiving a nod from her colleague, Erena winked at Luz. "Follow me and take your drink with you."
Luz nodded, and the two soon ended up in a quiet room. Upon taking a seat, Erena asked with a raised brow after taking a sip. "Tell me, Luz, what have you two seen that made even Lewis refrain from telling me anything?"
The room's temperature immediately got colder, and Luz gulped before answering. "Deep inside the forest, we heard someone scream, and we headed to aid. But when we reached the person in need, we saw something grotesque… a swarm made up of millions of insects surrounded the indiviudal… But that wasn't all… The skin of her whole upper body… was missing. But it got worse. It was filled with millions of tiny holes out of which insects crawled… every second as she screamed in pain while coughing even further insects."
Erena nodded before asking about the aftermath.
Luz closed his eyes before resuming his story. "I killed her… I burned her to ash to ease the pain she felt."
Hesitantly, Erena stated, "Luz… I'm sorry, but I must call my higher-ups since my clearance isn't enough to handle the matter."
"It's fine," Luz nodded while immediately taking out Master Brian's sigil as a last resort that depicted a two-headed eagle. 'If things go south, that thing might as well save my ass,' he thought while his eyes remained closed. 'Wait a second… what the hell is Master Brian right now doing!?'
As he waited, the schizophrenic voices in his head began to continue demanding food. However, these annoying voices stopped pestering him the moment he heard the squeaking door getting opened.
The man opening the door was in his early thirties and wore former clothes that were blood red. He had a more athletic build with tanned skin. As for his hair, they were curly with a mixture of black and white. If it weren't for him missing an eye, he would have looked ordinary.
But after the man took his first step into the room, the room immediately began to tremble slightly, and Luz got pressed into the chair as the pressure tripled.
The pressure he experienced almost rivaled what he felt upon first meeting Master Brian, and in desperation, Luz tightly gripped his sigil as sweat began to roll down his brow.
The man casually took a seat before shifting his attention to Luz. "Oho, I haven't seen you here. Are you affiliated with any higher magician!?" he asked as he mustered Luz's armor.
But before Luz could answer, the man immediately commented, "Pssht, hold on. That armor was definitely made by Liv, so you greenhorn probably belong to Master Brian, right, hehehe?"
Luz nodded and only realized now that the man resembled someone he had met earlier in this city. 'He looks kinda like that mage knight that saved my ass in the market. What was his name again… Hmm… was it Alex Bennedick?'
The man mustered Luz again before stating, "ah, you are probably Luz. My younger brother, Ajax Bennett, well, you probably forgot him by now, already told me about you."
"Ah yes, I remember him," Luz answered respectfully while questioning himself, 'why the hell are we having a small talk instead of talking about the things I saw!? I want to leave this place as fast as possible….'
Luz continued maintaining a smile as he let the other party continue with his rambling. "He told me how shocked he was when he discovered you had the space talent. Anyway, Luz, my name is Girard Genet." After stating that, Girard leaned toward Luz, whispering, "By the way, you can always join my family. If you agree, I will make you a part of a noble household if you want to get away from Brian, of course."
"I'm grateful for the offer Master Girard, but I'm unfortunally not interested in changing my current family since I'm quite content with the circumstances I'm living with," Luz hastily replied as he wanted to end this conversation as quickly as possible.
"That's understandable," Girard sighed before taking a sip. "But… you could also marry into my family too… I just want a few kids, at least."
Luz declined with a forceful smile again. "Master Girard, I will consider it for the future, but right now, I really have no interest in that, and I didn't come here to meet you because of that."
"Fine… I just want to get a space mage into my family," the latter sighed, dispirited, before turning serious. "You are right. Time to talk about that matter. I've heard what you told Erena, but could you please recount what happened in the forest." After stating that, he placed a crystal clear orb onto the table.
Luz heaved a sigh before retelling the event as Master Girard calmly listened to him. As for the orb, it glowed slightly during Luz's narration, and upon finishing the story, Master Girard mumbled to himself, "Insects… human experiment. Hmm, is it a dark mage or someone from here!?"
Upon realizing that Luz had heard his speculation, Girard shook his head. "Thanks for reporting it, Luz. I will compensate you for the information. Also, I will look into the matter myself, but I'm currently short on men, so it will take time. But if you find more information, please report it to me urgently."
Author note: Sorry, that my chapters are currently dialogue-heavy. Nevertheless, action will come in either the next or in two chapters. I don't really know because I have no stockpiles of chapters, ehe