Chapter 279 - A Lot Of Commissions, So Little Time.

Although other adventurers were not allowed to take commissions that led to going out of the city walls, it didn't mean they had no jobs left for them. The entire chain of events had caused a surge in the number of both good and bad activities going on in the city.

Although the noble families were now involved in policing the city, they couldn't properly fill the shoes of the ash corps who had been doing it for centuries now.

It wasn't that they were bad at their jobs, it was just that during periods of the beast tide, crime rates in the city soared because many saw it as an opportunity to become wealthy in the midst of the chaos.

This was where normal adventurers came into play. For example, some merchants saw traveling in the major trade routes as too risky because accidents happen even though the adventurers were protecting the routes.

Even at that, they wouldn't be liable for the deaths and damages to the goods because the area was too dangerous and merchants were traveling at their own risks.

Because of this, they choose to store their goods in warehouses, but with the increase in crime rates, they would definitely get robbed so they end up hiring adventurer parties to protect the warehouse from gangs.

These types of missions were called protection missions and it was considered the hardest only second to exploration missions, but the bright side was that they paid highly.

This was because when protecting stationary objects you have no info on the people that might attack, but the worst part was that the enemy could get info on the party protecting the location and plan accordingly.

Apart from protection missions, adventurers could be hired to investigate matters and submit reports to the ash corps. Then once approved, they could be redeployed to arrest the said party if needed. Also, once the beast tide begins they could apply to protect the city and get paid for their achievements.

…

As for Blake who hadn't left the school in weeks, he had no idea of how busy the world outside the walls of the school was.

It was after Instructor Zirrack's class that Blake received a call from Susan telling him about the commissions they had piled up.

When the info was sent to his communication amulet, he gathered Brian and Castiel for them to decide on which commissions to take.

"Apart from the protection mission, I don't see anything wrong with the other commissions. They aren't too difficult and the pay is good, but the problem is that we don't have enough time to complete all of them." Blake said.

Out of a list of more than 10 commissions, the team had selected out 6 that wasn't too dangerous and were within their power. Among the 6 were 2 gang raid missions, 2 escort missions, and 2 investigation missions.

The problem here was that some of the commissions were already placed almost 2 weeks ago and they had to act quickly before they were given to another party. Also, their class free days was in 3 days time meaning they couldn't wait till then.

"I think we should also eliminate time-consuming commissions too." Castiel suggested.

"I agree. So let's take a look at the detail of the gang elimination commission." Blake opened up the info of the hideout provided to them.

The name of the gang was the bleeding streets gang and they were slightly below the Black scorpion gang in terms of power.

Their hideout was located underground and its size was a little bit below the size of that of the Black scorpion gang.

Unlike that of the Black scorpion gang that branched into two corridors, that of the bleeding street gang was just one corridor that stretched down to a hall that was used as a dining hall and meetings. The hall led to the cooking and storage area, hideout's core, the boss' office.

The gang wasn't rich enough to purchase a warp array, so they created a manual escape route to prevent being cornered in case they were attacked.

"This doesn't look difficult. All we have to do is attack from the escape route and the entrance." Blake said after analyzing the entire information.

The number of gang members was below 50 and the layout of the hideout made it easier for them to attack.

"Yeah. We can't remove that." Brian said.

After checking the rest of the missions they had decided to remove the 2 escort commissions if they couldn't meet up.

So Blake didn't waste time to call Susan and tell her that they were taking care of the gang mission the next day and stated their price was 65k gold coins.

On hearing the confirmation, Susan contacted the merchant who had placed the commission.

"Mister Kadri the order of chaos party had accepted your commission and would be taking action tomorrow only for 65k gold coins." Susan reported to the potbelly merchant who was in his late 50's.

"60k gold coins! This is daylight robbery, I won't pay for that." The merchant complained.

"Mister Kadri, You know this is the beast tide season and adventurers are usually very busy at this time. I can assure you that you won't find any better offer." Susan said.

'65k gold is quite costly, but it is worth the reputation points that come with it.' After taking some time to think about it, the merchant prioritized gaining a noble title over a few thousand gold coins.

"Alright, I agree to the price. The gold coins would be brought to the association early in the morning and I shall await the good news.' The Merchant canceled the communication link.

…

The next day immediately after classes, Blake and the team left the school and went straight to slums. It took only a few minutes for them to get to locate the entrance of the underground hideout.

The plan was for Blake to enter from the escape route, while Brian and Castiel and went through the entrance, but that was when he activated the clairvoyant lights of a locator to lead them to the escape route and discovered something.

"Why are there 2 lights?" Brian couldn't help but ask when the ash light went in 2 directions.

To be sure, Blake pulled up the map provided by the merchant and once again inspected the layout of the hideout.

One of the ash lights led to the escape route on the map and since the clairvoyant ash light had never been wrong so far, it meant there was another escape route no one knew about.

At this point, Blake's brows were furrowed and he was clearly angry at the merchant for not providing accurate information.

If not for his careful nature this might have led to them failing or causing complications.

To avoid the unexpected from happening, Blake didn't waste time following the other light to know where it led to.

Activating mana vision to detect any detection arrays, the second ash light led them to what seemed to be a dead-end in the sewer.

"Not bad." Blake said as mana vision showed that a portion of the wall by the side had mana circulating around it.

"Change of plans guys." Blake said to Castiel and Brian. "Castiel you are to attack from the entrance. Brian, you are to go to the other escape route, if you can't beat them just hold them off for some time."

"I will be going through the 2nd entrance because if it is this hidden from the map, then it will most likely be a special escape route for the boss." Blake explained.

"We have to be quick about it, so there is no need for us to be silent. Break into the hideout and plant the mana disruptors."

With the orders given everyone began moving to their different positions. Using the cover of darkbringer, Castiel took Brian to the escape route before returning to the entrance.

"Here we go!" Castiel took in a deep breath before charging a massive flame burst twice the size of a soccer ball.

BOOM!

With little resistance the concealed door of the hideout was blown to bits, killing the 2 guards that were directly behind it.

"That's my cue." Hearing the sound of the explosion, Blake used the system's mana vision and took a closer look at the stone door.