Chapter 129 New Quest 2



Since I had already finished the business I had in Lismore City, there was no need for me to stay there unless I just wanted to lock myself and train.

'This is what I am going to do after I apply for the academy.'

Now that the academy admission time is getting closer and closer, I needed to travel to the Capital of the Reagan Empire, Aurora City. 

But I still have some time left before that. Therefore using that time to finish some quests would still be better for me, and coupled with the system-issued quests, I started riding to the place while reading the intel shown here.

'System, show me the quest.'

Saying that I started looking at the panel appearing beside me.

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Questline – Hunter's Path

Quest – Criminal Hunting 

Definition – As a hunter, you need to hunt, but your only prey is not monsters with ugly looks. You need to hunt the ones in human skin as well.

Conditions – Hunt the criminals you have seen in the file given to you

Reward – Rewards will be distributed according to the competition rate of the quest

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Looking at the system panel appearing beside me, a smile bloomed on my face.

'Whenever the system issues such quests, rewards are never disappointing. Let's see what the rewards are this time.'

Thinking that I started focusing on the files that the guild employee gave to me while riding the Night.

'The Scarlet Jackals. It was first a local criminal organization founded by three adventurer brothers. Thomas Logan, Arthur Logan, and Finn Logan….'

'They suddenly appeared on the side city of Washburn, got the control of the gangs over there. After that, they made a deal with the gangs of a bigger city and took part in the gang wars, gaining a seat there, strengthening their business.'

'Human trafficking, slavery, drugs, backstreet potioneering, brothels, demon commissions, cursing, robbery…. Wow, what a long list of crimes we have right here.'

'But, Thomas Logan, huh? Wasn't this guy the one that had a huge bounty over his head?

I thought, looking at the files in front of me.

'If that is the case, then being a bounty hunter might not be bad. I can gain a good reputation from this.'

Thinking that, I kept reading the file.

'Arthur Logan. He is a half-stage four-star knight and uses a spear. His affinity is fire, and he is rumored to be proficient with his fire magic.'

'Finn Logan. He is the youngest of the three, and he has some weird tendencies. He uses a sword and has an affinity with Earth magic.'

'Thomas Logan, he is a peak four-star knight. He uses an axe, and he has a bulky build. His affinity is unknown since he had never been spotted while using magic.'

'According to the intel written here, the last place they have been spotted was the wilderness between the Elven Kingdom and the Empire. Hmm…. I have everything I would need for a long road and for camping in the wilderness, so that won't be much of a problem.'

With that, my direction was set.

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The wilderness between the borders.

Those places would be considered one of the most dangerous places since basically most of them are unexplored.

Although thanks to the familiars that could fly and share the vision from the above, there are maps showing the outline of the location, in the end, they are still not detailed enough.

In the first place, there were a lot of things that would happen while traveling in the wilderness, so one should always be prepared.

However, that doesn't mean something will certainly happen.

Most of the time, if you are careful enough, you might not put yourself in any danger at all.

And that was exactly what I was trying to do.

Since I was pursuing a criminal group, I needed to be in top condition as much as possible. Therefore, avoiding some challenges was a must. 

/CLIP/ /CLOP/

With the sound of hard ground and nails touching, I woke up from my stupor.

'A village, huh?'

It has been three days since I started traveling while looking for the traces that were left by the Scarlet Jackals.

And this is the first human settlement I came across after I entered the wilderness.

'This place should be the Kilead Village.'

"According to the information written here, this village has just recently been registered, and they have been living their life in seclusion so far."

Looking at the document, I mumbled.

'But, something is not right.'

Feeling the ominous aura coming from the town, I thought.

'Why can't I sense any aura or mana trace in the air at all?'

Normally while we are in a place filled with humans, a person with good mana sensitivity would be able to feel the mana of others, and this became a habit of mine subconsciously.

Thus, the absence of mana traces in the village was bothering me.

'All Seeing Eye.'

With my [All Seeing Eye] activated, I stared, looking around.

And there I saw a bright red colored aura leaving the ground.

'Blood? No, this is not blood, but it is a red-colored mana. Blood magic?'

/CLIP/ /CLOP/

"There, my girl, slow down."

Hopping down from the Night, Callius landed on the ground with his senses right open.

"This smell of blood…. It is fresh."

Smelling the air, he mumbled.

Slowly walking towards the village, the scene that was before his eyes was devastating.

"What a massacre."

In the middle of the town, there were people.

People who were with some of the body parts missing.

Women, children, men, elderly, none of them were spared.

It was a scene that looked like it was just out of a horror movie.

The heavy smell of blood was lingering around, with the ground being muddy.

/SPLASH/

Stepping up on the town square, Callius' boots made a splashing sound.

'It hadn't rained for a while. That means…..'

'This is blood.'

Slowly reaching the corpse pile in the middle of the square, he looked at the traces.

'They had tried to conduct a ritual here…..'