Crimson Servant

Chapter 10 Contact with Informants
  Elena was slightly surprised, and it was difficult for John to tell whether the expression was out of surprise or forced politeness. For a moment, the boy doubted whether he had accurately performed the arrogance of a down-and-out nobleman. Fortunately, the kind-hearted landlady still gave John a kind response.

She suggested that John go to the Adventurer's Guild to submit a team application. The Adventurer's Guild established with funding from the Merchant Alliance was less than 500 steps away from her bar. Walking there wouldn't take more than a glass of refreshing beer. She also asked Tracy to help John. Add some lemon slices to the wine glass.

……

Adventurers Guild.

The marble reliefs are painted with patterns of adventurers fighting various monsters. When you step up the steps and walk inside, there are long lines of people in front of every counter. There is an entire wall inside the guild covered with task commissions, and those slightly curled parchments have formed another wall.

John walked silently to the end of the line. From the moment he stepped into this space, he could feel several eyes locked on him. I just don’t know if I have any “new friends” among them.

Within an hour, John met the waiter at the counter. This female half-demon waiter with hellish blood said hello to John with a stiff smile. Her skin color was dark purple, darker than the skin color of the dark elf. John could easily ignore the interference of her skin and observed her fatigue.

"Is there anything I can do to help, adventurer-sama?"

"An identity registration. I'm looking for a team of adventurers. The requirement is that they must explore below the fourth floor of Optitdam."

"Okay, Sir Adventurer!" The half-demon quickly and skillfully took out a form and wrote quickly on the paper, "I need your name, occupation, and as complete information as possible. This will help You look for the right partner.”

"John Crenzo, warlock, veteran adventurer."

"that's it?"

"that's it."

Without another word, the waiter threw back the paper with John's adventurer's information. A catman wearing the same guild uniform grabbed the registration form from the air, jumped in a few steps and rushed to the second floor where the mission registration board was. The response staff who had already prepared the glue took the paper and posted it on the commission board that was rotated on a regular basis.

"It usually takes more than seven hours to apply for a team with difficulty level four in the dungeon. Lord Warlock, the guild will definitely notify you of any news about the team as soon as possible. Before that, if you find a suitable team in advance , you can change or cancel the team application at any time."

"Ok."

"The processing fee is 135 gold coins." Her smile came to life, like a newly bloomed night lily nourished by melted snow water. It was like a magic force climbed up her spine and poured into her brain, making her feel refreshed. Super magic focus. This fascination reached its peak when she took the money bag, and withered the moment she put the money bag into the cashier. This waiter obviously enjoyed the process of harvesting wealth. Even if she knew the next second that the gold coin did not belong to her, she still enjoyed it.

Regaining his dejected yet brave appearance, the waiter received the next adventurer.

Efficient and expensive, this is the entire impression the Adventurer's Guild left on John. John would not consider himself more efficient than these professional organizers. During this waiting time, he could just handle some trivial matters.

For example, contact the informant from the ogre gambling house.

There are two trading markets in Grimmjow City, one in the central area of ​​Grimmjow City, and one outside the city, just outside the underground city of Optitdam. There was an endless stream of businessmen, turning the gathering area into a small camp. Grimmjow's municipal officials have thought of countless ways to suppress the adventurer camp, but none of them have worked, because exemption from the excessive transaction tax is a big temptation for many people.

In this tent-lined camp, John took out the dirty cloth left by the troll. At the bottom of the dirty handwriting, there is a conspicuous mark of the Ogre Gambling House. He folded the cloth in half like a napkin into a small triangle, with the imprint facing out, and strolled around the market nonchalantly.

It wasn't until John looked at the third stall and heard the stall owner bragging about the priceless antique jars he had brought out of the dungeon that John felt prying eyes. A look that was so direct and almost provocative came from the corner of the tent in front of him. John looked in that direction and saw an unkempt little boy staring at him.

He was wearing an khaki jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His exposed tanned arms were stained with a small amount of dust. His shorts were a little worn and he wore a pair of leather boots that were obviously too big.

He was not afraid of John's gaze. The two looked at each other for two or three seconds. The boy shook his head and slipped into the alley.

"Not even close." John said softly, walking towards the corner where the boy disappeared. When he reached the boy's spot, a red ribbon pushed through the gravel and blended into his robe.

The shrewd boy kept an absolutely safe distance, sometimes deliberately pausing to take John around a few corners, and finally got into a relatively hidden tent. When John stepped inside, he found that he was surrounded. Three men wearing hoods and holding short swords surrounded John with horns.

The boy with the sly eyebrows was standing outside the encirclement and asked in a high-pitched voice: "Where did that piece of cloth come from?"

"I'm a guest."

"Whose guest?"

"Ogre Gambling House."

The boy raised his hand to tell the three of them to put away their weapons, acting like a talker.

"It's always good to be cautious. Doing business with gambling houses is not a glorious thing." But it is also very profitable. The boy muttered and took off a ring from his left middle finger. His body began to deform, his skin stretched and some wrinkles appeared, and his bones grew a little, but not too much. In less than ten seconds, the boy transformed into a halfling.

"Charla Ed is at your service, guest." Charla, the halfling, opened his arms as if for a hug. "I want more detailed information about the woman Nora Sebas." John raised his hand to stop Chara's progress. It was troublesome to hug the halfling because of the mismatch in height. And John would not have unprotected physical contact with a thief leader.

Charla showed an innocent look and spread her hands.

"All my information was traded to the gambling house, guest."

"Come on, Charla." John narrowed his eyes, "Who would give all the information to the troll? You want to sell the information for a good price. But you also understand that it is not valuable in itself, and that woman does not have many enemies. , except for the Ogre Gambling House, I am the only one who will take the trouble to track her. And as time goes by, the information you hold will become more and more inaccurate. As long as she is here, I don't need your information. , we will be able to catch her sooner or later, it’s just a little more troublesome.”

John stared at Chara, judged that his professional level was not high, and secretly used the spell [Charm Human].

"Charla, you actually don't have many valuable details, right? Why don't you leave those trivial matters to me, the only buyer, Charla Ed." John's eyes turned bright red, and the aura of the spell will The two people's eyes were connected, and the annoying pink aura was not conspicuous in other people's eyes.

"...You are right, guest." Chara compromised. He ordered the three men to exit the tent, took out a silver coin from his pocket and showed it to John.

"Ten gold coins, guest."

John understood that this was Chara's lowest psychological price, so he handed several gold coins to Chara and took away the silver coin. Chara showed a tangled look, but did not stop.

John tried to find some familiar outlines on the silver coin, but there was no other impression except that special mint smell. Did Nora steal this along the way?
  "The girl suddenly appeared in the camp. No one saw how she came. A few gangsters tried to follow her, but lost her. She stayed in Rust's antique shop for about an hour, and later she and A group of strangers in black cloaks met, and I followed them until they all entered a tent together."

"It didn't take long before the tent was empty. Some people said they saw them entering the underground city of Optitdam overnight. That girl should be in the team."

John frowned, trying to analyze the information in the words.

"You can't be sure she's on the team or not."

Charla explained: "She may be there, but as long as she wears a black cloak, no one dares to take a closer look, and no one counts the number of people."

"this is all?"

"All."

John narrowed his eyes and let go of his mental power to suppress.

"No, that's not it. I know the greed of you informants. When you find a target, you will never just watch from a distance. You sneaked into the tent, at least got close and heard something. What are you hiding?"

Chara's expression quickly distorted, reaching a threshold and actually breaking out of the charmed state, but he did not notice John's mental interference and hostility, because he had already fallen into fear and was mumbling uncontrollably.

"No! No! I didn't hear anything! Because he will kill me! There is a monster in that tent! A...a demon!"

John knew there were no demons, because a real demon of the abyss would just tear him apart. It might be another terrifying creature that can plunge people into terror, or an hallucination caused by a fear spell. Either way, John knew that those who seduced Nora Sebas were not good people. It's really... troublesome for such people to mix with Nora.

Chara had not yet gotten rid of the state of fear. His eyes were rolling wildly, his forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he was uttering suppressed murmurs. Without John's mental oppression, Charla Ed would have screamed in terror, scurrying around like a headless fly. Then the thieves outside the tent will be alerted, and they will blame it all on me.

John Kemp took out the silver coin and began to imagine how Charla got it.

[She brought my Holy Emblem and just came here when she noticed an unkempt and dirty boy looking at her with dull eyes. Her keen perception will detect that the boy wants something from her. If it were in the past, she would not hesitate to see through the disguise. But she was nervous and distracted by other things, so her mind allowed motherhood to take over. She called the boy and gave him a silver coin. 】

John sighed and asked Charla Ed: "Did you see red in that line?"

"What red?"

John gave the answer.

His black robe gradually dyed red, and the fibers exploded, like a blooming bloody flower, and like a bloody mouth that can eat people.

Charla Ed panicked at the sight before him, and his fear of the tent demon was overridden. He screamed, and the men outside the door rushed in quickly, but they saw that only his leader was screaming in the corner and yelling curses.

"Damn, he's that John Kemp!"

"I should sell it more expensively!"

(End of this chapter)