Episode 45.13

"Master Lecan. I am glad to see you well."

"Arios. What's the matter."

"I had some business to attend to in the south for a bit, thus I dropped by to see how you all are doing on my way back."

"Weren't you unable to leave the village cause your dad, the chief is not doing well?"

"It is difficult for me to leave yes, but the matter this time necessitated my presence in person. And my father's condition has stabilized as well."

"I see. So he's still alive."

"He is still alive."

"Well then, this is for you."

Lecan took a small pouch out of <Storage>.

"And this is?"

"A <God Cure>."

"Eh. But I have vowed to never get surprised by whatever you do, Lecan-dono."

"I've heard that already."

"You sound just like Eda-neesan, Father."

"Lecan-dono. Thank you very much. I gratefully accept your kindness."

Arios stood up and bowed deeply.

"The thing just happened to fall on my lap. Realized later that I should have given it to Julius when he was going home back then."

The temptation to use it could get too great if he had it on hands, thus Lecan decided to let go of the <God Cure>. No one is more deserved for it than Arios. Lecan is deeply grateful to have been given the chance to meet this master swordsman. As a person, Arios himself is one of the very few individuals Lecan truly trusts in this world.

"I'm surprised you knew we were here though."

"Yes, well. I have heard from Julius about how you are in the middle of conquering Dungeon Palcimo and this inn."

"Oh yeah, makes sense. By the way, what's this business of yours anyway?"

"We received a request from a certain noble house via another noble house we have long been acquainted with."

"Hmph?"

"I promptly declined the request once I was informed of the details, but as that noble house holds quite the influence, refusing without me speaking it directly to them could potentially spell trouble for our noble acquaintance, as such here I am."

"I see."

"These kinds would crop up every once in a while. Requests based on misunderstandings like this."

"What misunderstandings?"

"Mistaking our clan as assassins by trade."

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"Is that a misunderstanding?"

"It is. We may offer our expertise in swordsmanship, but we do not undertake murders. There have been times where we fought in order to protect our clients, but that's merely the natural outcome of things, we generally do not even accept escort requests. We do not offer the act of fighting itself."

"So the request this time was an assassination."

"According to their side, a nefarious adventurer had injured their house's knight, on top of that he even went and plundered their family heirloom."

"Hou. That's one bad adventurer."

"The request was for me to formally challenge that adventurer, killing him and taking back their family heirloom in the process."

"Sounds reasonable."

"After some investigation, I found out that that adventurer won the duel fair and square, and he took an item belonging to the opponent as per an agreement both sides agreed upon to before the duel. Getting an adventurer killed to take back the item just because they can't accept that result cannot be anything but an assassination no matter how much they try to embellish it."

"So you declined them."

"Yes. Although the weird part is, the other side rescinded their request on their own just as I arrived there."

"Shoulda just take it, could turn out interesting."

"Surely you jest."

Of course, that nefarious adventurer is none other than Lecan. Arios went out of his way to visit them in order to tell Lecan not to worry about assassins anymore.

(Guy's one damn duty-bound man.)

Lecan likes Arios. But he wants <Void Cutter> still. Had Arios undertaken that request, they would have a reason to engage in a deathmatch. Winning that would net him Arios's <Void Cutter>. That was his chance, but now that Arios had declined it, nothing could be done about it.

"But, your timing's perfect. Arios."

"Yes?"

"Come with us into the dungeon."

"That sounds like it will be quite a learning experience, but as I have something to check up on, and the need to deliver <God Cure> as soon as possible, I will have to decline this time."

"Yeah? Where's this village of yours anyway."

"That's a confidential matter."

They talked a lot that day since it's been some time since the last. All the more since it seems like it's gonna get tougher to see Arios in the future. That said, tomorrow is dungeon diving time. Onto floor 80 and beyond to boot. Can't let it go on too late at night, so they went to bed before then.

The following day, they had breakfast and headed to the dungeon's entrance. That's where Jiza should be waiting.

Arios accompanied them since he wanted to see the group off as they go in the dungeon. He's shouldering a big <Box> with two smaller <Boxes> hanging on his waist. All of them bought in Tsubolt.

As they had a chat in front of the dungeon, that happened.

"What the."

"What's up, Lecan?"

"Someone's firing off offensive spells in the town's direction."

"You could sense it from this far, Master?"

"Those are some gigantic magic explosions. Hmu?"

A black smoke went up in the town.

"<Wind>! <Wind>! <Wind>!"

Lecan made use of <Gust> to climb up a tall tree and looked in the direction of the town from atop. As the dungeon's entrance is situated in the mountain side of Mt. Suringa, you could see Town of Palcimo from atop a tree.

The black smoke was rising from the Magic Research Institute.