A new job?

Our orders arrived soon. We didn't wait for too long. Aura got honey garlic salmon. Hazel's breakfast menu consists of a soft scrambled egg, toasted bread and bacons. Fay's pancakes arrived as well.

My salmon bagels and Eden's parfaits too. Eden ordered a strawberry parfait. How does this world have parfait? I haven't asked that yet. But ice isn't that rare so maybe they made it eventually.

I take a bite. The bagels are nice and firm. I like it with a chew to it. The salmon is smoked. The flavor is light but not too light. Well, let's just stop being a critique and eat it.

My five bagels were gone in no time. Soon my coffee arrived. And I drank that as well. I won't bother explaining the flavor of a cup of coffee. It's bitter. That's all.

Our breakfast was over soon. No one took much time. Even Eden was done with her parfait.

"Anything else?"

I ask them if they wanted anything more. But it seems that they are done for the moment. I ask for the check.

The same waitress brings the check. Now that I notice it, there are no other workers here aside from her. A few people did enter after us but she took and delivered their orders by herself.

"Are you the only worker here?"

I was curious. I mean, even a small eatery would have at least two servers. While this place only has one for the moment.

"This tavern is owned by our family. I mainly handle the customers while my husband is the chef. But when it gets too busy, my younger sisters help me."

So a family owned tavern. Not a bad idea.

"The food was good. We'll definitely stop by again."

I pay her the bill. It all came to a grand total of 3 silvers. It's cheap. I mean I had only spent gold coins since coming here so I think this is how regular people eat.

"Are you traveling to Galdur?"

"Yes. We all were at the capital but I thought why not travel to a different place? So we are going to Galdur."

"Are you perhaps a merchant? No, that doesn't seem like it. But you aren't peddlers either. Adventurers, but you have no weapons or anything like that."

She is trying to guess what we are. Hmm…let's just give her the answers.

"We are adventurers. And we are a party as well."

"But you don't seem to be in possession of any weapons."

"We all have our weapons in the storage. My name is Clive Belmont. I am an S rank adventurer."

She froze for a moment. But she soon came back to her senses.

"Ah…you must be quite talented. You don't seem much older than me but you are an S rank adventurer. The name's Bethany." (Bethany)

She is cheerful but I sense something else. Is this a hidden objective?

"Ahh…this village is at a prime location but it seems to be suffering. Is something wrong with it?"

I am gonna be a bit nosy. Seeing this, my companions have taken their seats again. It's gonna take a while here.

"You noticed it. Well, this village is a prosperous village. Or at least that was the case until 6 months ago. Suddenly one of our main food sources, The Beryl lake, became contaminated." (Bethany)

Another contaminated lake? Is that the fad?

"A contaminated lake? Did someone pollute it?"

"We don't know. But the water is oddly murky. We searched the entire lake but there are no signs of anything. We suspect that tue source itself is contaminated. But we don't have the manpower for a through investigation." (Bethany)

The source itself is contaminated. I take out my map. A lake around this place? Found it! It's along the way to Galdur. That makes ot easier for us.

"I'll look into it. Since the lake is on our way anyway."

"Thank you. If you successfully purify this lake, I will put in a word for you to the village chief." (Bethany)

"That probably won't be necessary. Then, we'll be off."

I get up and leave with my group. But this case isn't a random pollution case, is it? I feel like someone is trying to weaken the humans.

The road is now a bit crowded than before. Maybe we should move to a more secluded place to bring out my car.

We walk to the other gate and exit the village. After walking away from the gate a bit, I bring out the car and head for the lake.

I won't have to make a big detour if it's just a simple case. But the plot thickens.

It took me another five minutes to arrive at the lake. The lakeside is clear. A big lake but not as big as Yves lake. Beryl lake, it's murky.

(Doris, can you come out for a moment?)

I ask Doris and she comes out immediately. We all get off of the car.

"Master, this lake has been cursed." (Doris)

"Again a curse? This world has to stop with curses."

Another curse? This is getting too ridiculous.

"Can you find the source of the curse?"

"Yes. I have already located it. The main spring has been cursed. So the cursed water is flowing to this lake and this entire lake has been contaminated." (Doris)

"I'll go with you. You should wait here."

I tell them and they didn't seem like they wanted to go with me anyway. So, I take Doris and tell her to teleport directly to the source.

I shared some with her and she teleported.

We arrived at a clear spring. It's flowing down towards the lake.

"This spring is old. I sense an unnatural presence near its source. It feels like a cursed wraith." (Doris)

"A wraith? Those ghosts?"

"Yes. But this is odd. This one is significantly stronger than normal wraiths. It has taken residence near the source because its a natural mana spot." (Doris)

I don't want to deal with it any longer. I broaden my search range and look for this unnatural presence. I got a hit. It's pretty deep in the earth. But I just use to swat it.

It vanished as soon as yhe hit it. I search again. No reactions.

"Doris, do you feel anything?"

"No, master. The unnatural presence is completely gone. I think you have exorcised that wraith." (Doris)

"Then purify the water."

She holds my hands takes some mana. The water glowed faintly amd became clear. The spring was already clear but I looked down and saw that the Beryl lake is also clear. The water is blue. Hmm…I would say it's a job well done.

We teleport back to the car.

"You sure made short work of it." (Fay)

"Yeah. There was a cursed wraith polluting the water source so I just hit it with some and it vanished."

"May it rest in peace." (Fay)

We all got in the car. Doris went back to singularity. I told her to stay with us but she insisted. She said that they were in the middle of a game. What could they be playing?

I'll have to ask them after we get to Galdur. I hope I can easily spend my time in Galdur.