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Chapter 211: Back to the Catacombs (7)

Countless slimes roamed around the streets of the den, going about with their lives. The gloomy atmosphere from before had disappeared away and it was instead replaced by a peaceful and calming one. With the curse gone, it seemed that everything had gone back to normal.

"Wow... This place feels totally different..." Raina muttered out in amazement whilst glancing around the area. "Within three days... Everything just went back to normal like that?"

"Well... The Sleras are free-spirited beings, so it's only natural that things will go back to normal as if nothing happened," Madam Ru calmly stated whilst she leapt forward through the streets. "Now come, with everything wrapped up and done... You should rest by at the castle's quartersunless you prefer the inn?"

"Anything will do," Shinto stated. "But... I've got a question before that."

"...what is it?" Madam Ru stopped at her steps as she turned around to Shinto. "Is there a problem?"

"You said that everything went back to normal as if nothing happened but..." he thought to himself. "...are they ignorant of the king's comatose state?"

"Well... Thing's are back to normal for the normal slimes," Madam Ru averted gaze away from Shinto as she continued walking. "As for within the castle... Well, you'll see for yourself."

"...that sounds like a bad omen," Raina uttered out.

"Isn't it really a bad omen?" Frey shivered at the thought.

"Meh... Just get moving," Ethaniel said in a lazy tone. "We've been gone for three days, and you guys wanted a break... So, should we really be worrying about that?"

"You're not worried we might get dragged into another ordeal?" Raina tilted her head. "Just a few moments ago... You were complaining about wanting to take a break too."

"...do you think I have the energy to spare thinking about it? I just want to do something leisure in this game that is unrelated to combat for the time being," Ethaniel scoffed. "What better than to head out and go equipment shopping? Or heck... Even just combat against lower levelled enemies would do."

"But isn't that just combat-related stuff?" Raina blinked at Ethaniel's line of thought. "Though... In any case, you won't be able to do that if we end up in another ordeal... Are you really sure you're not worried?"

"Bah... I'm not repeating myself," Ethaniel sighed as he walked on ahead of the group. "See you at the castle. Or maybe in Parm... I don't know. Depends on whatever we're doing before dispersing."

"...hah," Shinto sighed helplessly at Ethaniel's demeanour. "To do something leisure that doesn't involve combat... Well, I guess I've got one," Shinto turned towards the worn-down equipment on him and then to Hikari and Crowelin who were seemingly glancing around the village in astonishment.

"H-Hikari..." Crowelin muttered out. "Did you get the notification...?"

"...I did," Hikari stated. "But this is..."

"So following Shinto was the right thing!" Crowelin cheered. "Our goal back in Fal wasn't in vain after all!"

"Yeah... But..." Hikari was about to continue on with her sentence as she was quickly interrupted by the excited Crowelin.

"Hold on! Shinto's whispering to me regarding this, give me a sec," Crowelin quickly turned her attention over to her messages. In the next moment, she replied. "Yeah, this is apparently the village. Who knew that a coincidence would come after coincidences..."

"Oh? Really?" Shinto replied. "Well, that's good. Are you going to follow us to the castle or..."

"Yea-" As she was continuing to send out whispers over to Shinto, Hikari hurriedly interjected.

"Crowelin! Listen!" Hikari muttered out in a hushed voice. "Go read the quest we got right after that!"

"...huh?" Crowelin blinked in a dumbfounded manner at Hikari. "...another quest?" As her eyes turned towards the notification window, it soon widened. "...t-this is..."

"That's what I've been trying to say!" Hikari pouted as she turned towards Shinto who had stopped at his footsteps in the confusion of Crowelin's sudden interjected reply. With him slowly turning towards the two girls with brows raised, Crowelin coughed as she sent him a whisper. "Ahem... Sorry about that Zay... We seemed to have gotten another quest here... So, we might need to part ways for a bit during your visit to the castle."

"...oh," Shinto nodded his head as he turned back towards his front. "If that's so, then... No biggie. We can meet up here in the Townsquare when we leave for Parm. Or... Do you want to lie low?"

"Anything will do!" Hikari whispered. "I'll see you soon," ending the whisper, Hikari turned towards Crowelin. "Now... About this quest..."

"Didn't Shinto solve the problem already? About a curse here?" Crowelin raised her brow in confusion. "Why on earth did we get something like this?"

[ Doer of Evil ]

Difficulty: A+

Defeat the evil being who brought about the curse of the dead. He who aims for the sacred artefact must be defeated before the Night of Stars.

Quest Condition: The sealing or death of the evildoer.

Quest Rewards: Good Will +10, Holy Hail Potions 10x, Star of Eden Ticket (Temp.), Level +1

Quest Failure: Audience of Eden Ticket (Temp.)

...

"Perhaps it's something else..." Hikari stated. "But... The details are way too vague."

"Sigh... Why did I do this for the Star of Eden Ticket..." Crowelin shook her head. "Ahem! Let's get right to it. We've got about a month or two in real life, right?"

"Seeing as how it took a week to find this place..." Hikari sighed. "Well, let's just head to the unexplored areas for a bit and check things out there. There must be a clue to this."

"...we're going back there?" Crowelin frowned. "Well... Anything for this ticket!"

...

As the gates of the castle opened wide, the slimes from the group who were upfront led the rest of the party through the halls. Upon entering the castle, they were greeted by a quiet and eerie atmosphereseemingly much worse than before.

"...this is definitely a bad omen," Frey shivered. "We're not going to be... The task to do something again, are we?"

"Discussions relating to this is for later, for now..." Madam Ru turned towards Renryth. "Renryth, please take the humans to suitable sleeping quarters for them to rest. As for the rest of you..." Moments after giving out her orders, she turned to look at the slimes. "Follow me."

"...right," Renryth nodded his head as he wasted no time in making his way through the hallway. "The quarters are this way."

"...this is so much different in comparison to the outside," Raina uttered out as the group followed after Renryth. "The king being in a comatose state can't be the only reason for this, right?"

"...well there are other reasons. However... That doesn't concern you as much," Renryth shook his head. "You've already helped us enough by forcing Sanke out of his quarters to the throne room. We handled the rest."

"I don't understand..." Kon tilted his head. "Isn't Sanke like... Bad? You asked us to defeat him... But you say 'forcing Sanke out of his quarters'? I'm confused..."

"..." Renryth kept quiet as he continued down the hall.

"You never did give us any sort of context to all this," Shinto sighed. "We were just caught up in the storm, I guess?"

"Well technically speaking... This was the guy who brought us here!"  Frey stated. "Renryth was the one who I escorted here and then got the key as a reward... So um... An explanation is needed?"

"You guys are seriously asking for more weight..." Ethaniel lazily stated. "Are we here in the quarters yet?"

"...yes, it's in this room," Renryth stated whilst gesturing over to the few rooms by the hallway. "...I'll be going now. Just rest for the day."

"Hey! An explanation?" Frey pouted. "Don't leave us hanging like that!"

"...just rest for the day, alright?"

"He's really avoiding the question, huh?" Raina sighed.

"..." Shinto who had been deep in thought throughout the entire journey here, took a deep breath as he turned towards Renryth with a firm look. "...Renryth, I think if you wanted us to help, you would explain things, even if it was vague," he continued. "But... Seeing as how you and everyone else covered up a lot of the story and made it ambiguous..."

Shinto's eyes turned into a glare as his sentence continued. "That makes me think that there's a very important piece that you all are purposefully keeping us in the dark for. I don't mean the goals of Sanke, the usage of the pendant or heck... Why there are humans here. But... There seems more to it than just Rustly visiting an abandoned village because he was curious."

"Yeah!" Frey nodded her head. "What gives?!"

"Although we're tired... I don't think it's right to just keep us in the dark like that after all that we've been through," Raina stated. "There's also the Flames of Etheral that was said to defeat Sanke... Or even the items that he gave us. All of this just doesn't make sense."

"..." Renryth kept quiet throughout the interrogation. "Do you really want to know?"

"...yes," the four including Kon nodded their head.

"Bah!" Ethaniel scoffed. "You're just going to drag me into this aren't you?"

"...sigh," Renryth shook his head helplessly. "This old man who is growing with time... I guess I should just get this off my chest before it becomes unbearable. Follow me into your quarters, we have... A long night to discuss this."