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Dale remained silent, waiting, holding his breath as he held his spear.
/Step step…/
/Fwoosh!/
He swung his spear without hesitation!
"!"
But he stopped a moment before it hit his target.
The speed of the spear was so fast that air was blown directly into the person's face…
"You? What are you doing here?" Dale asked as he looked at the person in front of him
"H-Hello, sir…"
In front of Dale was Rodi!
From anyone he could've imagined, Rodi was one of his last options as he was under Misgurd's and Testros' direct supervision.
As the person directly responsible for the previous mess, and also the spokesperson of his Guild, he should've been extremely occupied right now…
However, here he was…
"Are you going to answer me?" Dale asked with a frown
"Ah! Sorry, sir!" Rodi said as a bead of sweat fell from his forehead
'I didn't even see it… The air pressure was seriously intense, my hair is all messed up…'
"So uh… The Guild Master asked me to fetch you since they needed your opinion on a few matters, but I didn't find you there so I went after you…"
'I can only say that I was lucky, I went after the footprints he left but they stopped after a little while…'
'But I found a hole that led to this new Dungeon! And after seeing his footprints again…'
"Is that so?..." Dale asked in a low tone
'I did spend a bit of time here… But not that much.'
'I'm glad they need me, but I'm also upset it had to be now.'
'Sigh, really, what a waste, I should've waited a bit more before exploring this place with David…'
"What do they need me for, exactly?"
'At least that…'
Rodi was caught by surprise, but he thought for a moment and said:
"I think it was something about discussing the future of the Guild…"
'That was everything, please don't ask anything else…'
"Hum… I see. Go back and tell him that I'm occupied and that I'll go back soon."
'I'll at least finish this little adventure and hit Level 30 before leaving.'
"I will!" Rodi said as he checked his in-game notification with a smile
But Dale wasn't done as he said:
"Since that is done, how about we talk?" Dale said with a frown
'He saw a bit too much.'
'The biggest problem is how he saw me holding the Holy relic… Unless David breaks out of his act, people would see my actions as suspicious.'
'After the bandits' attack, I grabbed the holy relic and went on an exploration to the sewers? Yeah…'
"!"
Rodi suddenly froze in place.
'Here it is! I knew it… He wouldn't be happy with me stalking him…'
'Specially since…'
Rodi looked at the holy relic strapped on his waist.
He thought of many possibilities, some good, some bad…
/Buzz…/
"Hm?..."
David suddenly started to tremble on his waist, prompting Dale to grab it…
'What is he planning this time? To move now of all times…'
And as he did so he said:
"Forget what I said, I have a better proposition."
/Flash!/
Dazzling light was released from the Golden head illuminating the walls of the cavern.
The image of a strange object was formed, and Dale immediately understood what David wanted him to do!
A smirk formed on three corners of his lips.
It was time for some acting…
"Before all of this happened, I was on a quest to look for a certain object, but I'm afraid that I'm now short on time…" Dale said in a low but clear tone
"Eh?..."
'Could it be… A quest?!'
"This item was lost somewhere…"
The image on the wall changed, showing a very incomplete blueprint of the sewers.
"As you can see, it was lost somewhere in this place long ago, I have barely started my search and I'm afraid I don't have enough time to search for it."
"This is very important, and I would l prefer that you remained silent about it all this time." Dale said as he looked straight into his eyes
"I still didn't completely pardon you for your previous actions, but I'll give you a decent reward if you can find it and forget about that matter."
"What do you think?"
"Yes! I can do it!"
Dale nodded.
"I'll go back and return soon, see if you can find anything in the meantime."
"Be careful of the creatures that prowl this place…"
[You have created the Quest: The Seal of Promise]
[Please, determine the reward for this task]
[You have delivered the task of completion to another player]
[This quest is currently under the jurisdiction of player: The_Third_Egg]
Without saying much more, Dale left the corridor, leaving an excited Rodi behind…
…
/A few minutes later…/
"We should be far enough to talk now." Dale said as he rested his back against the walls of the sewers
"So tell me, why did you do that?"
David slowly opened his eyes and said:
"... It was an opportunity, and we needed an excuse."
"Since our operation got busted this quickly, it was best to move on and make the best of what we have."
Dale wasn't convinced.
"So you had me give him a task to look for the key? I didn't even know it was here! Nor what it looked like." Dale said with a frown
"It is here… At least this is the most likely place for it to be."
"There is a memory… A long memory of the day the priests left me to seal the lower floors of the Catacombs."
"They threw the key into the river due to desperation, a river that led to this sewer."
"They were in a hurry to leave and complete their mission, so much so that they didn't even properly dispose of the key…"
"My bet is that they came to the conclusion no one would ever be able to use the passage as long as they brought the key of Prosperity with them."
"And since no one apart from them would know the password, that problem was as good as done."
"If it isn't here, then we could search in the place where that river used to be, but that would be hard as it is now covered in sand…"
"And the last option is even worse, we would have to follow the river's course all the way to the forest and that would take forever."
Dale frowned and said:
"First, why would they be so desperate?"
"And second, why not just tell me mentally instead of having me freestyle like that?"
"Waste of resources for such a simple task." David said with a poker face
"..."
"As for the first thing, I don't know precisely."
"I remember the ArchBishop receiving a message and becoming euphoric, and after that, everyone in the church started to pack, and soon enough, I was plucked out of my Altar and brought to that dark place to act as a temporary seal…"
"I swear, if you ever see those guys, give them a beating for leaving me there!"
"..."
'A message… I wonder what could've made him become like that.'
"Still, I am surprised you chose to leave." David said in wonder
"Of course I did. I had to make a choice."
"And opening the sealed door in front of him wasn't really an option." Dale replied as he crossed his arms
"We can sneak there again if necessary though." Dale replied as he looked at the corridor he came from
"There is no need to worry. My power will still last a little longer, so go do your things and when you're done, come back." David said as he looked at Dale
"I will, I want to see what they need my help with."
'Although I'm dying inside since I'll lose the 1 week double XP bonus… I'll treat this as a lesson and only explore places if I have ample time to spare.'
"It's up to you Dale, honestly, I don't really think the kid will find the key before we come back."
"I can help you track it down, but he only has luck to rely on. I even think that by the time we come back, he may be dead due to the creatures that live in the sewers now…"
Dale shrugged and said as he started walking:
"We'll see, for now, try to remember as much as you can, I'll bring you with me for now. I don't think anyone will question me if I say I'm doing so to make sure you are safe."
"Oh! You're bringing me with you! It's been ages since I've gone outside of the Church!"
Dale smiled and said:
"It isn't that amazing…"
Talking about the outside, the two made their way out of the Catacombs…
…
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Notes