Chapter 18 Marchelle Town

Clarice and Maria returned after a few minutes when Nicholas arrived. Along with Maria and Clarice were two men from their outfit: one was a guard and the other was a civilian.

Maria: "Master, we helped them as you ordered. They came with us because they want to thank you personally, Master."

The two men saw Nicholas and bowed to thank him; they didn't forget to use formal language since he looked like a noble.

Bardet: "Young master, this one's name is Bardet. I was the leader of the guards in charge of protecting and transporting civilians to the town of Marchelle. I would like to thank you for your assistance today. Without your help, we would not leave that ambush without any casualties."

Hans: "It's a pleasure to meet Young Master. My name is Hans, and I would like to reiterate what Bardet said and thank you for your generosity. If you need anything or request assistance, we would gladly follow your orders."

By the tone of this Hans guy, he wanted to follow Nicholas under the guise of gaining protection. Nicholas looked at both men; he didn't mind helping them a bit. 

He rubbed his chin a bit to contemplate if he had any requests from them. And then he thought.

Nicholas: "You guys are going to Marchelle, right?"

Both of the guys nodded timidly at Nicholas.

Nicholas: "Well, I'll let you tag along, but you must follow my rules."

Both of them then nodded again.

Nicholas: "First, you guys should stay in front. Second, you guys should feed the horses when we arrive at the encampment. Third, I need some information about Marchelle since some of you guys are from there. Just send someone to tell me information about the town. Fourth... Fifth..."

Nicholas continued to dictate some terms for them to follow Nicholas and his carriage.

Nicholas: "That should be reasonable demands, I guess," he said as he looked at the two men.

Both of them nodded; they really didn't want to anger a noble since he just saved their lives. But they have no choice but to nod along silently since they are seeking protection.

Hans and Bardet went back to their group and began to explain the situation. They also checked the civilians condition; if anyone was injured, they were healed by a healer within the guard group.

So the small group of Nicholas and his team became a lot larger. From a single carriage, their group turned into six carriages.

----------------

At one of the civilian carriages

Hans: "Hey girl, you are from Marchelle, right?"

????: "Yes..."

She nodded timidly to the question of Hans. He was the leader of the group that hired the guards, and she was only a passenger, which paid a portion of the expense.

Hans: "Well, the lord who saved us wants to know more about Marchelle. Since you are originally from there, you should be able to tell him more about the town, right?"

????: "Ughh. It has been a since I have commu-eeep!!"

Hans: "Right?!?" he said with a sinister glare

????: "Yes..." she bowed her head

---------------

At the adventuring town called Marchelle

A day had passed since the bandit incident happened. Nicholas and his makeshift entourage finally arrived at their destination. Both the Bardet and Hans thanked him again for the assistance.

They are currently at the entrance of the adventure town, and seeing the building and surrounding area was quite gloomy. The town is really as what Mayden described; she was the girl who gave information about the town. She was quite an interesting person, but later on,.

However, contrary to the structures and antique-looking walls, the scenery here is quite lively. There are a lot of people talking and conversing while walking around the town of Marchelle; it was quite different from what Mayden described.

Nicholas: *There must be an event or something going on* He thought

As they walked throughout the town, the first thing they immediately searched for was a suitable place to stay. Looking around, searching and asking for a decent inn to stay indefinitely. After a while, they found the best inn around town under the guidance of several helpful individuals.

Before entering the inn, Nicholas and Maria decided to separate from Clarice. Clarice will be in charge of booking the rooms, inspecting the inn rooms, and cleaning while simultaneously preparing the things not available in the inn. It might be quite unfair to Clarice, but she lost the bet with Maria, so she had to comply with this.

On the other hand, both Nicholas and Maria began exploring the vicinity of the town, and while exploring the town, they realized that the scenery was even more disappointing than Mayden described it. Well on the bright side, it seemed that this place was slowly gaining relevance again.

The current town is bustling with a lot of people; this weird combination puzzled Nicholas. Why were there a lot of people this time? he asked himself. Maybe he was wrong on the information that this town doesn't have much to offer.

With that, Nicholas and Maria continued having fun exploring around Marchelle, and simultaneously, they decided to gather more information about the town that might be relevant since they will be staying here for a while.

At the end of the day, the sun was setting on the horizon. Maria and Nicholas found themselves sitting at the top of a hill just outside the town, enjoying the scenery of the setting sun and breezy wind. They decided to rest here for a while since they had roughly circled and explored the dungeon town, gathering enough necessary information; it was a small town after all. 

Most of the adventurers coming here were recently staying as well. They had heard a certain news story about dungeons that would be breaking in the next couple of days. There was a coincidence or not that two large-scale fluctuating dungeons near each other will be reaching their end and will be breaking soon.

This information was disseminated by the townspeople and merchants on the orders of the head of the adventurer's guild of this town. And most of the adventurers had come from nearby towns to participate in this large-scale dungeon break. 

One of the dungeons that will be breaking is a labyrinth-type fluctuated dungeon. Several awakeners have decided to clear this dungeon but have failed. So, after some time, the decision from the adventurer's guild was to put this dungeon off-limits to fellow adventurers.

Their strategy was to wait for the dungeon break, which would make the extermination of monsters much easier than exploring the complicated labyrinth.

[Monster Lord's Labyrinth]

[Level Recommendation: – 20-35]

[Party Size 10-15]

[Scene: A confined space of a monster lord, it was trapped in the labyrinth with no way out, so it decided to rule over the space.]

[Clear Reward 0/1]

This was all the information about the dungeons circulating around the town right now. Additionally, there will be a lot of diverse monsters coming out of the dungeon.

The conclusion was that the other dungeon is a low-leveled dungeon, but like the monster lord's labyrinth, it is also a fluctuating dungeon. Rumors said that the owner of the fluctuated dungeon was the guild master of the Marchelle town.

The information is still classified, but from the news and advertisements being spread, it was being treated as a hunting festival or experience for low-level awakeners. Talk about a crafty guy, advertising the dungeons to gain relevance for the town.

Hence, the adventurer's guild decided to spread the information that there will be a lot of spoils available for everyone.

---

At the same time, a side quest popped up in the system.

[Side Quest]

[Survive the monster horde].

[Survive the horde of monster 0/1]

[Kill at least 200 monsters during the dungeon break 0/200]

[Time remaining: 1 month and 10 days]

[Rewards: Ability to choose [common] to [rare] skill scrolls x20]

After seeing and reading the information about the side quest, Nicholas was quite startled. It required him to 200 monster was a lot of monsters to kill. It was not a difficult task for Nicholas because he had the stats from Gacha. However, for others of a similar level to him, it will be a monumental task to kill a hundred monsters in a day.

Normally, dungeon breaks release 100–150 monsters. However, this is ridiculous. The information about dungeons that is in a large-scale dungeon must be immensely undercalculated, or else I would have to clear most of the monsters in the dungeon by myself to complete this task.

But after contemplating a bit, he realized that either way it would be an opportunity. It can be a great boon to their team; they can earn a lot of experience, loot, and maybe even an achievement when participating in this event.

Maria: "Master, what are you thinking about?"

Nicholas: "Nothing; I was just considering our plans to move forward after hearing about the impending dungeon break."

Maria: "And what would that plan be?"

Nicholas: "I think we need to double our effort in leveling up until the estimated time in which the dungeon break will occur; this event will give us a large amount of benefits if we play our cards right," Nicholas replied.

Maria thought for a little bit, then she replied to Nicholas.

Maria: "Well, Master, if you insist, we can double our efforts. It's not that we are currently struggling when clearing dungeons; it's just that your tactics are too careful."

Nicholas: "Safety is the number one priority. Well, we'll just adjust our plans on what's considered "safe" for now. HAHA"

Nicholas: "Also, I forgot to give you something."

Nicholas took out a small box from his pockets and gave it to Maria.

Maria: "Maste-r, what is this?"

Maria was stuttering, clearly agitated with what Nicholas had given her. To keep her mind running on weird possibilities, he said while flicking her forehead:

Nicholas: "Don't misunderstand, this is an amazing accessory for improving your power. Also, we're too young to think about this kind of thing."

Maria: "Moouu"

Maria was dissatisfied with Nicholas's answer, so she pouted for a bit while answering him, then suddenly hugged him. Then whispering in his ear

Maria: "You're such a tease master."

They just laid there for a while, talking and chatting. When the sun was close to its exit, they decided to go back to town. Then they returned to the inn where Clarice had booked them to stay.

Clarice was hanging out in the cafeteria inside the inn, waiting for Nicholas and Maria to arrive. When both of them returned, they saw Clarice chatting with people since she was quite bored herself.

They greeted her and had dinner; afterwards, they convened in Nicholas's room to discuss the changes in their plans.