Chapter 26
“Excuse me?”
Such a great opportunity?! Why?
I don’t know for sure, but the mana crystal I had was among the top-tier ones. Even when I played the game, traders would praise it and buy it right away. So why…
“Why is this happening?”
“There’s no reason to make a deal with someone I don’t trust.”
I was taken aback by the unexpected response.
I tilted my head, suddenly feeling something strange.
For some reason…
“But trust is something that can be built more easily than you might think.”
Ah, yes! Every word from this man felt like the words of an NPC offering a quest.
Wait, now that I think about it…
[SYSTEM] Cannot access information on the ‘Suspicious Knight.’
· Unlock condition: Achieve a trusted relationship by completing the quest.
Right. In order to know more about this man, I would have to clear a quest to build trust with him.
I might not be entirely wrong in thinking that this guy might be trying to give me a quest.
“Don’t cross that river, please…”
A line from a poem flickered across my mind.
However, as any Arc user would know, the rewards for quests from hidden characters are often incomparable to normal ones.
High risk, high return.
“I really should sell the mana crystals…”
I thought to myself, trying not to fall into his trap, but at the same time, I really wanted to get rid of the mana crystals piling up and become wealthy.
“Shouldn’t be too bad, right?”
After all, the system didn’t show any warning that this man wasn’t a suitable trading partner, and there was no message warning that he would throw me under the bus.
So, in the end, I fell into his trap.
“…How can I prove it?”
“It’s simple. Just prove that I can trust you.”
At that moment, the system displayed the quest message.
[SYSTEM] A sudden quest has arrived! Gain the trust of the ‘Suspicious Knight’ and trade mana crystals!
· Quest completion conditions (Time limit: 66:00:00)
Uncover the identity of ‘someone’ who infiltrated the imperial palace.
※ This quest will use the clue-tracking system.
· Rewards:
-
Proceed to related quests.
-
Gain information on the ‘Suspicious Knight.’
-
Double the current market price for the top-tier mana crystal.
This reward is exclusive to the ‘Suspicious Knight,’ regardless of ‘foolishness’ stat.
-
Charm +5
Wait a minute. Double the price for the mana crystal?!
I blinked in astonishment.
I had only dealt with people who exploited me, but now, not only was I going to get the actual value for it, but I also had the opportunity to sell it at double the price?
Since the mana crystals were currently priced at 5,000 Darling each, if I could sell them for 10,000 Darling, it would cut the number of mana crystals I needed to sell for this quest from 2,000 to 1,000!
Although the related quest was a concern, the double-price selling opportunity for the top-tier mana crystal was enough to overshadow that fear.
No matter the penalty, I decided to accept the quest.
[SYSTEM] If you fail, the information on the ‘Suspicious Knight’ will be permanently inaccessible, and your ‘foolishness’ stat will greatly increase, while your persuasion will decrease by half.
Foolishness? Let it increase. I could always dig up more.
Persuasion? Well, that would sting a bit, but… my persuasion stat was so low anyway that it barely mattered.
Although the permanent loss of information on the ‘Suspicious Knight’ was a downside, I figured…
“Anyway, if I don’t accept it, I’ll never know.”
Money-driven, I had already tilted too far into temptation.
“Will you prove it to me?”
“Yes. I’ll repay the debt of my life too.”
To prevent being deceived, I made it clear that by accepting this quest, I was also paying off the debt of my life.
Once again, like last time, the man explained the system’s message.
“Someone has infiltrated the sewers of the palace using dark magic. They’re likely already inside the imperial palace.”
“….”
“Find them. Information or clues will do. After that, we can discuss the trade.”
Wait, you want me to do this so vaguely?
I looked up at him, clearly confused, but he looked completely unmoved, as if what he was saying was perfectly normal.
“Well, you’re important, so why don’t you do it yourself?”
At my counter-question, the man chuckled as if he’d heard the funniest thing.
“Me?”
Yes, you.
“Why would I do something like that?”
Ah, so it’s not that he can’t do it, but he won’t?
I shot him a look filled with all sorts of meanings, but…
“Let’s start then. I’ll see you here in three hours.”
With that, he seemed to have no further business with me and took out a scroll from his pocket.
Suddenly…
“What, what’s this?”
To my surprise, I was now standing in front of a secret passage leading into the imperial palace from the sewer dungeon.
So here I was.
I had casually made my way into the imperial palace.
How did I end up with a scroll that lets me move through the sewer dungeon into the palace?
Was it because of power? Or money?
“Hmmm.”
Anyway, I quickly began looking around for the quest’s completion.
As soon as I stepped into the hallway, I saw the busy palace attendants rushing about.
Next, I noticed several nobles mingling and socializing… and, scattered here and there, I spotted a few knights, although not many.
I hadn’t expected there to be so many inside. This is… overwhelming.
‘So now I have to dodge all of them.’
And I had no idea what I was even looking for.
At least the tracking map provided by the quest was helpful.
The system, thankfully, showed me a semi-transparent map that wouldn’t obstruct my view.
So, the palace looks like this, huh…
I quickly took in the layout. Perhaps it was because I had already been running around this vast palace in the game that I had some familiarity with the layout.
At the time, I’d thought the map was unnecessarily large, but now it seemed well-done.
Anyway, those red markings on the map… those must be the clues.
On the map, there were red markers scattered here and there. Some were moving, while others were stationary.
I figured the red-marked clues could be people, objects, or something else entirely unexpected.
‘Well, let’s go check them out.’
The double-price mana crystal was too sweet a reward to let go of.
I started moving quickly, determined to find the clues faster than anyone else.
“…Huh?”
But soon, I hit a wall.
Why? Because while the reward was tempting, I wasn’t fond of this kind of tracking quest.
Why is it so huge? Why is it so big?!
The palace was ridiculously vast.
I thought I was moving quickly, but judging by how little the map showed my position moving, I felt utterly defeated.
I’d walked around so much and yet hadn’t gotten far. On top of that, I had to be careful not to arouse any suspicions while trying to avoid running into anyone I knew, especially Paula. If I ran into her, it would be a disaster.
‘What do I do?’
At this rate, I could be searching for days and still find nothing.
Luckily, there were still around 65 hours left before the Spring Ball, so at least I had time.
‘Let me check the closest clue first.’
Fortunately, the closest clue was near.
Since the clue wasn’t moving, I guessed it was an object. It was a bit strange that it was in the middle of the hallway, but…
I followed the map, keeping my head down to avoid drawing attention.
After some time, I found myself standing in front of the first clue’s red marker. As I looked around, the system window appeared in my field of view.
[SYSTEM] You have reached the destination. Clue tracking has ended.
At the same time, the red marker I’d been following disappeared from the map. It seemed that once the clue was found, the system automatically removed it from the map.
That’s convenient, but the real problem is…
What was this clue? How was I supposed to find it?
Looking around, I could tell that the clue was definitely an object, since it had stayed still this whole time.
The marked area on the map was small, but the actual radius seemed huge, so I searched for quite a while.
While I was doing that, I spotted something unusual.
“Ah.”
I had finally discovered something that seemed out of place.
