Chapter 28 – Velderath City (Part 10)

"You want to go home?" Dyren asked.

Mara scratched her head. She looked hesitant. Dyren had just invited her to join him on another mission, but she had refused.

"I have to go home first. My father's probably worried since I came back late last night," Mara replied.

Dyren and Mira exchanged glances. Both of them felt something was off about Mara's behavior. It was as if she didn't actually want to go home, but her mouth said otherwise.

They both nodded and looked at Mara again.

"Can she come with you?" Dyren asked, pointing toward Mira.

Mara scratched her head again. "I don't know."

"Ah, well then, Mira will accompany you," Dyren said as he turned around and casually waved his hand. "See you, and have fun!"

He walked away. Mira and Mara looked at each other. It was a little awkward, but since it was already decided, Mara couldn't really refuse.

She let out a long sigh, then smiled toward Mira.

"Do you want to come with me?" she asked politely.

"Of course. Isn't that what Dyren just said?"

Mara nodded. "Alright, let's go!"

The two of them began walking toward the Hill family residence. During the walk, they barely spoke. The atmosphere was thick with awkwardness.

Mara still remembered what had happened in the forest—Mira slaughtering other adventurers and Dyren summoning a terrifying creature.

It had been terrifying for Mara. "Who exactly are they?" she wondered silently.

***

Dyren walked alone to the adventurers' guild. He wanted to pick up a quest, but since he was by himself, he could only take Rank F or E missions.

Missions that could be done within Velderath City. Dyren felt a little embarrassed, but he couldn't just stay idle. He also wanted to raise his adventurer rank by accumulating points from completing missions.

"I'm an E-rank adventurer now. There should be more challenging missions than finding cats or cleaning horse stalls," Dyren muttered.

He pushed open the guild door. As he stepped inside, every pair of eyes immediately turned toward him. But the moment Dyren looked back at them, all of them quickly turned away.

Dyren had just arrived and didn't understand why everyone was looking at him like they were seeing a monster. It wasn't something he had experienced before.

He ignored it and walked toward the receptionist's desk. "Are there any missions suitable for me?" he asked.

The elf girl rubbed her chin, trying to remember, but there were no E or D rank missions left for the day.

"There's only Rank F missions left. You can take one of those," she replied.

"You mean sewer cleaning missions?"

The elf girl nodded. "That's all that's available. If you prefer, you could wait like the others."

Dyren was silent for a few seconds before finally deciding to take the sewer-cleaning mission. The reward was only 10 Thorne coins.

That was equivalent to just 0.1 Tharv coin. A ridiculously small amount, considering how tiring and troublesome the job was.

Dyren sighed. "Can I take all of the sewer cleaning missions?"

"Up to you. For every 10 meters of sewer you clean, you'll get 10 Thorne coins. Do as much as you can," the elf girl replied.

Dyren came up with an idea to get around the inefficiency so he wouldn't waste too much time on a Rank F mission.

He had turned around, ready to accept the mission, but stopped suddenly. He walked back toward the receptionist's desk.

Dyren leaned in closer. "Why were people looking at me like that?" he whispered, loud enough for other adventurers to hear.

The elf girl hesitated to share what had happened that morning, but Dyren's gaze made her nod. Besides, it was already too late to hide it.

"Since yesterday, Party Drakkon hasn't been seen. And this morning, Drakkon's corpse was found in the forest... his whole body was full of holes, like he was eaten by flesh-eating insects," she explained.

She paused for a moment—this was the part she hadn't wanted to share.

"Drakkon's body was found in the same forest where you all hunted the Nightfang Thornboars. That's why some adventurers believe your group is the one who killed Party Drakkon. I'm not accusing you, but… the timing of their death and your presence there is a little too coincidental."

Dyren nodded in understanding. His expression was calm, as if he hadn't committed the murder. In fact, he was so relaxed it became slightly suspicious.

The elf girl watched Dyren for a while, hoping to see a hint of worry or fear in his face—some sign that he knew what he'd done had been discovered.

But Dyren showed none of that.

"We didn't do it," Dyren said. He stroked his chin as if trying to recall something. "If I'm not mistaken, we were in the western part of the forest. Where exactly was the body found?"

The elf girl furrowed her brows. Now she was the one trying to remember. She couldn't quite recall where the Nightfang Thornboars normally lived.

But one thing she did know—those monsters would never be near the edge of the forest close to the city.

"Maybe they did enter from the west."

Still, she remained a bit suspicious. What kind of person would enter the forest from the west, when the northern entrance was the closest?

But she didn't have any evidence to accuse Dyren or his party of being the murderers. They were still looking for the other members of Party Drakkon.

So far, only Drakkon's corpse had been found. The others were still missing, and information was still being gathered.

"We're not entirely sure, but it seems Drakkon was found near the northern edge of the forest," the elf girl finally answered.

Dyren nodded. "I see. I should've gone that way that night. If we had entered from the same side… maybe none of this would've happened."

Dyren's face showed deep regret. His expression was so convincing, it looked like he truly felt guilty and sorrowful.

The elf girl was genuinely confused by Dyren's demeanor. It was hard to accuse someone who looked like that of lying.

"Don't worry! If you're not the culprit, then everything will be fine. Besides, there's a big chance this was just a monster attack."

Dyren nodded. "I think so too."

They both fell silent, and the air became even more awkward than before. Dyren took a deep breath and smiled afterward. Then he turned around and began walking toward the mission board.

"Thanks for the information."

He continued walking.