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Chapter 15

After leaving the training hall, I headed to a tavern in the bustling area near my lodging.

It was the place where I had been gathering information every night.

But today\'s purpose wasn\'t information.

"I\'ve run out of money."

Due to recent expenses and inflation, I had spent most of the gold coins I brought from the hideout.

Even what remained would be gone after buying the necessities for today.

In short, I was flat broke without a penny to my name.

I stopped by here today to solve this problem before entering the Magic Tower.

"It\'s open, as expected."

True to the claim of 24-hour service, the light was seeping out from inside despite the early evening hour.

Entering without delay, the owner greeted me familiarly.

"You\'re early today?"

Usually a busy place, I was the only customer at this hour.

As I took a seat at the bar, the owner brought a menu and asked.

"The usual beer?"

Instead of ordering, I waved my hand slightly and said.

"I\'m not here to drink today."

"Oh? Then?"

"It\'s about what you mentioned a few days ago."

"A few days ago? Ah..."

The owner spoke with a deliberately serious face.

"You\'re going to do it?"

"Yes."

"...I see, you\'ve thought it through. I knew we\'d end up connected like this. Follow me."

The owner stood in front of a display case of expensive liquor.

I wondered why we came here, but soon understood.

Rumble rumble.

As he pushed the display case, a hidden open space appeared.

\'So there was a place like this.\'

A barrier to prevent intrusion hung at the entrance, with stairs leading underground inside.

Usually, they set up separate facilities outside, but it seems they set this up in the basement of the store.

Soon, the owner handed me a piece of copper-colored paper and spoke.

"This is your permit. It may not look like much, but it\'ll let you pass through the barrier here."

"An artifact, you mean."

"That\'s right. Take that, go down there, pass a simple test, and you\'ll be able to do the job you want. Are you ready?"

"Of course."

As I was about to enter with a nod, the owner casually added.

"Oh, by the way, I heard the existing members can be quite territorial. You might need to prepare yourself for that."

"Ah, territorialism..."

It wouldn\'t be a problem.

Well, that sort of thing exists wherever you go.

"Don\'t worry."

The owner nodded in response, and I started moving again.

As the owner said, I was able to pass through the barrier without any resistance.

A soundproofing spell must have been on the barrier, as noisy sounds from below started to become audible.

It seemed they were already having a drinking party.

Soon, I entered an open space, the noise suddenly stopped and everyone\'s attention turned to me.

"What\'s this? Who\'s this weakling?"

"How did he get in here?"

Certainly not a welcoming atmosphere.

Unpleasant gazes.

However, I couldn\'t show weakness in a place like this.

Calmly receiving their stares, I pretended not to notice and looked around.

It was the same size as the tavern above with similar decor.

The difference was the absence of windows and a darker ambiance created by purple lighting.

"...A face I haven\'t seen before."

The one who addressed me in a calm voice was a woman with deep black hair and copper-colored skin.

She seemed reasonable, so I spoke up.

"I\'m here for work."

"Your permit?"

I waved the copper-colored paper scrap I received from the owner.

The woman nodded slightly and patted the seat next to her.

"Sit here for now."

As I sat down, the woman brought me a glass of whiskey.

When I didn\'t pick up the glass, she spoke first.

"Interesting. It\'s rare for someone to come with a direct recommendation from Rior."

"...Rior?"

"The tavern owner upstairs."

"Ah."

"What\'s your secret?"

"...Well, I didn\'t do anything special."

"Is that so?"

Glug glug-.

The woman filled her own glass and took a sip before continuing.

"We do two main types of work. Simply put, one is bounty hunting, and the other is information gathering. What do you want to do?"

"I don\'t really mind either, but if I had to choose, bounty hunting would be better."

"Bounty hunting requires skill to back it up..."

"That\'s not a problem."

"Hmm, you seem confident?"

"Enough not to die, at least."

"Alright."

The woman pushed her glass aside and leaned forward.

"But even with Rior\'s recommendation, you can\'t start work right away. We need to verify a few things, is that okay?"

"Verify?"

"It won\'t be anything too difficult."

This must be the simple test the owner mentioned.

As I nodded in understanding, the woman handed me a piece of paper.

Looking at it, I saw it was a wanted poster with a sketch of a man wearing a fedora.

"His name is Shane. He\'s known for turning into a beast when he drinks, and three months ago, he was wanted for murder charges."

"You want me to catch this man?"

"As far as your abilities allow. Catch him if you can, or just gather information if that\'s all you can do. The most important thing is not to get caught by the patrol. It would be quite troublesome."

"How is this different from the actual job?"

Just then.

"Hey, kid."

One of the guys who had been listening from behind sat down next to me and interrupted.

He was a man with half his face covered in rough stubble.

The scar on his forehead made his appearance even more intimidating.

"Are you comparing catching some neighborhood punk to what we do? This is a matter of life and death here. It\'s not something to take lightly."

"..."

"Do you know how many cocky guys like you have come here and disappeared without a trace? If you value your life, get out of here nicely. Don\'t be greedy."

As the man finished speaking, I heard snickering from behind.

It felt like I was being bullied.

From experience, it\'s better to respond strongly in situations like this.

"Felix, that\'s enough."

The black-haired woman was trying to stop the man when I spoke.

"You\'re so noisy it\'s killing me."

"...What did you say?"

I began gathering mana from the surroundings.

At the same time, I imbued it with my will.

The image I conjured was of an electric current.

Crackle-!

Flashing electricity illuminated the dark interior.

That\'s all I did.

No further action, no more words.

But this was enough.

"Uh...uh...?"

"A-A mage?"

"Damn...a mage? That weakling?"

The man sitting next to me just gaped with a dumbfounded expression, while those behind stammered and babbled.

Feeling things had settled down a bit, I turned back to the woman and asked.

"Where do I take the man if I catch him?"

"Huh? Oh...bring him to our place through that back door over there."

"Any items to help with tracking?"

"...Here, I\'ll give you some of his hair. The request just came in, so you\'ll have to find the rest yourself."

After receiving the well-sealed hair sample, I immediately stood up.

Naturally, I made eye contact with the guys who had been laughing earlier.

Their expressions had completely changed from before.

I was reminded once again of the status mages held in this world.

I gave them a slight smile before leaving.

***

The way the [Request Office] works in the game is simple.

They receive requests from other NPCs, distribute them to users, and operate on the fees they get from this.

It\'s similar to [Guilds], but the difference is that the [Request Office] itself is illegal in the game\'s lore.

In exchange, they give a larger cut of the reward to the users.

\'It\'s perfect for someone like me who urgently needs money.\'

Moreover, unlike [Guilds] which meticulously grade based on various factors like status, reputation, and skill, the [Request Office] only looks at \'ability\'.

Simply put, the more skilled you are, the better quests you can receive and the higher income you can earn.

In that sense, the current moment was quite crucial.

Because this first request, which I received under the pretext of verification, will determine my future position.

I needed to make an impact.

"…Let’s resolve this as quickly as possible."

The approach I chose was to leave a good impression in terms of ‘time’.

The faster I handled it, the more it would prove my skills.

Because of that…

"…"

My pouch of gold had completely run dry.

In my rush to solve things quickly, I had spent every last coin.

"…Let’s think positively. This is an investment."

With my remaining gold, I had bought something from the marketplace.

An artifact called [Path of Pursuit].

It’s a one-time-use artifact that allows the user to track a target by channeling their mana into it.

It\'s a shame that it\'s a one-time thing, but there\'s no better item to use in the beginning for \'tracking\' purposes.

I placed the scroll-shaped [Path of Pursuit] on the ground and laid a strand of hair I had received earlier on top of it.

Then, I infused it with mana.

Vroom.

The artifact reacted to my mana and began to tremble.

Soon, a thin wisp of mist rose from the wanted man’s hair.

Swish.

The flickering wisp began to stretch and move toward somewhere.

It was guiding me to the owner of the hair, the wanted man Shane.

Though I had seen this kind of thing often in games, witnessing it firsthand gave it a completely different feel.

“Let’s go.”

I got up and followed the wisp.

After about an hour of walking.

I reached the end of the wisp’s trail and found a man I presumed to be Shane.

He was puffing away at a cigarette, leaning against the mouth of a dark alley.

I kept my distance and observed him.

"Hah...why the hell do I have to keep hiding? All I did was kill one lousy piece of trash. What’s the big deal?"

Through the clouds of smoke, I saw his face.

Sparse hair, gray pupils, sagging cheeks, and a bulbous nose.

He matched the wanted poster perfectly.

Crackle!

I immediately charged my body with lightning magic.

As my legs swelled with power, I closed the distance in an instant, appearing right in front of him.

"W-What the—!"

Wham!

“Urgh!”

The man doubled over, vomiting after the blow to his stomach.

After a while, he lifted his head.

"You...you bastard...who the hell are you?"

He glared at me with murderous intent.

But fear lingered in his eyes.

I responded calmly.

"What do you think? I’m here for the bounty."

"A bounty hunter…?"

There was no need to drag this out any longer.

I channeled lightning into the edge of my right hand and struck him at the base of his neck.

“Ugh!”

His pupils rolled back, and he collapsed.

I hoisted his limp body over my shoulder and ran again.

This time at full speed, using lightning magic to push me forward.

It had been an hour and a half since I left the request office.

Everything was going according to plan.

***

After Yuhan left, the atmosphere at the Request Office quickly returned to its usual bustling state.

However, the conversations had shifted somewhat.

“Did you see that earlier? The way he looked at us, like we were bugs.”

“Yeah, damn, typical mage attitude.”

“Why are mages always such arrogant bastards?”

“Is now really the time to be talking about that? Our livelihoods are on the line here.”

All eyes turned toward one man.

The man who had drawn their attention was Felix, the one who had been chatting next to Yuhan earlier.

“What do you mean by that?”

Felix glanced at the man who had asked the question, then continued.

“You all saw it too. That guy’s magic. No matter how you look at it, he’s not some amateur.”

“Hmm...While his magic wasn’t refined, he did seem impressive.”

“His skills are probably top-tier. If that’s the case, he’ll hog all the good jobs from now on. Are you just going to sit back and watch?”

“…So, what’s your plan?”

“Let’s teach him a lesson. All of us together.”

“What…?”

The people listening were taken aback by the unexpected words, but Felix spoke firmly.

“It’s either him or us. If we want to stay, we have to do something.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“No matter how much of a mage he is, he can’t handle numbers. We’ll just beat him down.”

“Hm.”

Even though they had been with Felix for years, no one could easily agree. The thought of fighting a mage made them hesitate.

At that moment, one man slowly raised his hand.

“I’ll do it. If we catch him after he finishes his test, he’ll be tired. We might have a chance.”

“Good, Garen.”

That broke the ice, and others who had been hesitant started raising their hands one by one.

“…I’m in too. We’ve fought hard to survive here. I’m not going to stand by and let some mage ruin everything.”

“Whew...Fine, let’s do this. It’s not like we’re going to die, right?”

“Damn it, guess I have no choice but to join too.”

“Great! That’s the spirit!”

Felix raised his glass with a smile as he watched them unite.

It was then that they drank together and made a toast, vowing to beat up those arrogant mages.

Just then—knock, knock, knock.

Someone was at the back door.