The Devil Tears: Lord of the Night
Arc 1 Chapter 17: The First Quest
...First Quest...
The next morning, Luciel and Liz were having breakfast on the 1st floor of the inn.
“ Hey, Ciel. What do you think of a Hunter?“ ask Liz.
“ I once met a hunter and saw the way he exterminated monsters,“ Luciel replied.
At that time when Luciel was newly recruited to be his teacher's student, he was told to find wood for the purposes of his teacher to make various equipment. But he was told by a patrol warrior that there was an extermination of a monster in the forest near the city. Luciel saw how the 3 hunters carefully prepare what must be needed to kill the monster they hunt.
“ They are special – people to hunt monsters, they have even more experience than the knights in dealing with monsters,“ explained Luciel.
Because training Knights was very time-consuming, causing their numbers to not be too many and making the residents get a long response if they pleaded with the knights. Then usually the residents more often ask the Guild to hire their hunters. That's why when dealing with monsters, hunters are more trustworthy.
“ Hunter – hunter who has Silver Rank and above will usually form a team,“ said Luciel.
“ why? “
“ I don't know the exact reason, maybe if they work as a team, then they can defeat more powerful monsters and their level of safety increases.“ explains Luciel.
“ For now it's just me and Ludwig,“ Liz said.
“ I guess it's okay – what if only do – missions low level missions. “
After they finished breakfast, Luciel then went to the forging place while Liz went to the Guild.
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Liz POVs
Liz was waiting for Ludwig to arrive and sat in the corner of the Guild, but four men came to her.
“ Hey sweet girl, join our group,“ said a man.
“ We will have fun – together hehe.“
4 Hunters who have Rank Cooper then invite him to join them.
“ You know, many beginners like you die when running their first Quest, “ said one of the hunters.
“ But, if you are with us. You will be safe and will gain valuable experience,“ he explained.
A man with a slightly thin body smirked to Liz.
Surrounded by a lot of men, Liz started to get nervous
“ Hey you guys step aside, he has decided to do a Quest with me,“ said someone behind them.
Ludwig came to Liz and placed himself among them.
“ Heh, what can a snot boy like you do? Don't be pretentious if you're still a garbage Beginner,“ said one of the hunters.
“ Hey Koszak, why did you bully the Rookies here “ then behind them appeared a big man strapping and carrying a big sword on his back.
“ Ah, bang Ray. I just want to accompany this Rookie in their first Quest. As you know, not a few of the Rookies were overconfident and messed up the Quest even to the point of losing their lives. “ Koszak, the man of the same age as Ludwig then answered him.
“ Go you guys, I heard they were conducting an extermination Quest around the forest. New – recently appeared herd of Goblin in the forest Alema. They had just attacked the Caravan entourage and resulted in many Caravan Guards dying. “
Hearing this, Ludwig became gloomy.
“ Really bang Ray? “ ask Koszak.
“ Yes, this Quest is Classified by Level C because of the large number of goblins.so it is good for those of you who want to upgrade to Silver Rank immediately because there will also be holy knights, too,“ details.
Hearing this the four of them immediately got excited and went over to the Quest Bulletin Board.
“ Forgive them, they originally had 5 members,“ Ray said.
Ray then explains the behavior of the 4 hunters to Liz and Ludwig.
“ When they were Rank Novice, they did an E level Quest. However the difference between an F-level Quest and an E is, an F-level Quest has no death rate at all. As for level E, the monster – monster can result in fatal injuries even death if you are off guard. And you can guess what they went through at that time.“
Ray is the mentor of the 5 hunters. He always felt guilty when he remembered the incident.
“ My advice, if you want to do a Quest that is above your Rank level, then, it is better to hire the services of senior hunters to be able to direct you in the condition of – certain conditions when running Quest “ after Ray gave advice to both of them, he then went to a group of hunters.
“ What do you think Ludwig? “ Liz is the next step.
“ I think we will try the F-level Quest first,“ Ludwig replied.
“ Ok “
The two of them then approached the bulletin board and looked at the Quest that matched them.
...F Level Quest...
Get 20 Minze plants (2 Ral reward)
Keeping Livestock (reward 1 Ral)
Killing Falke Bird Pest (4 Ral reward)
Helping Healing in the Temple (reward 3 Ral )
Liz can already read a little – letters in the newsletter and see the Quest – quests available.
“ Do you want to take which one is Ludwig?“ ask Liz.
“ I think we will eradicate birds today “ Ludwig replied with a smile.
**********
Tang! Tang! Tang! The sound of metal clashing. Luciel was forging a sword with his hammer. Luciel had already forged as many as 3 swords despite his young age, he did not miss with the other workers who were grown up.
“ Heh, you are quite skilled young man “ a man then open a conversation with him while beating a sword.
“ Well not really, I think I've started to get tired haha. My name is Luciel, “ said Luciel.
“ Soon I think the second bell will ring and you can call me Zack. “
They soon heard the bell ringing.
“ Fiuhhh, finally time to rest“ Luciel said.
“ Let's eat together,“ Zack invites Luciel.
Luciel followed the man into a kitchen. He took a loaf of bread and potatoes. They sat at a table near the gate.
“ You know, before the war the boss always gave us cheese and fish when lunch arrived,“ Zack said while biting the bread he had.
“ I think this war will last a long time,“ he said.
“ Why? “ Luciel curious
“ The Nordlands are a nation that loves violence, they have no other skill than fighting you know,“ he explained.
“ Then how did they survive this long? “ ask Luciel.
“ They mostly adventure into mercenaries and most of the pirates in the seas around this continent are Nordlanders. They only rely on the sale of mining products for their daily income,“ he explained.
“ Is it true that warfare will result in a Dimensional Conjunction appearing faster? “ ask Luciel.
Dimensional Conjunction is where the connection of the continent of Asgardia and the Demon Continent that causes the release of the monsters – monsters that are in the demon continent to the continent of Asgardia. The last one was 30 years ago in the Republic of Aquilla.
It took 6 months and 4 countries cooperation to overcome the disaster.
“ yes, the people in Theocracy said, if many humans die at one time and the same place, then the Soulmancer Devil Cult can harvest their spirits to be the catalyst of the Conjunction,“ Zack answer Luciel's question.
Thus, the Geneva Theocracy was always active in mediation when there was war.
“ I hope, humans are more channeling their power to finish off the monsters rather than kill each other.“ said Luciel, issuing his opinion.
“ Even now in the sewer is roaming a lot of big tooth rats, but the Kingdom is more focused on deploying its troops in this war. If left unchecked, they will breed fast and will meet the city, “ reply Zack.
“ Are rats dangerous? “
“ If you get bitten and not dealt with quickly can be fatal, I guess tomorrow the Guild will do an extermination,“ he explained.
After they finished their lunch, they continued their work.
**********
Liz POVs
In the outer area around the city there are several farms, but today there is a man and girl who are eradicating Falke birds that often prey on the livestock of the city residents.
Falke bird has a size of 1 meter that makes residents quite difficult to hunt it.
“ Hey Liz, how many birds have you killed? “
“ 8 tails,“ Liz replied.
Liz concentrated on gathering mana and channeling it into her sword, then slashed her sword towards one of the hovering birds. Akaikkk!!! The bird then burned and there was an incision wound on his body.
“ Now 9,“ replied Liz with satisfaction after showing her new technique.
“ Hey since when can you do magic? “ Ludwig who has been hunting birds – birds for 2 hours only can only kill 2 tails only.
“Ciel taught me some of the magic techniques she had just learned on the magic scroll,“.
“ That. “
“ Yes, can I teach you? “ Liz then stood up with her two hands pressing the sword to the ground like a master was advising his disciple
Ludwig who saw it felt very irritated because he was used to teaching Liz about sword techniques.
“ Alright-well, we clear up this Quest first and collect one of the bird body parts for us to give as proof to Guild “
After a few hours, they were able to eradicate all the birds around the farm.
“ hahh...hah..I am tired once keep – channel jump,“ said Ludwig.
“ Yes, my mana is also running out. “
“ Let's go back to the Guild and make a report, “ invite Ludwig.
Arriving at the Guild, they then approached the reception desk
“ How can I help young people? “ tanyanya.
“ We want to report the Quest we completed “ Ludwig then put the sack containing the body part of the Falke bird
“ Go and bring the sack in the back shed of the building, and give it to a middle-aged man there “ Ludwig then go out carrying the sack.
“ Please give me your hunter card, I will update the information,“ said the receptionist.
“ Alright. “
After finishing with his affairs at the reception desk, they then get rewarded for the Quest they completed.
“ Want to find food before going home? “ Ludwig invites Liz to forage for food
“ alright “
They both stopped at a stall and ordered a meat soup that cost – each 15 torches.
“ Hey Liz, I saw in the bulletin earlier, aka the tone of the extermination mission in the waterways of this city. I think there will be some start-up teams participating “
“ What kind of quest will we do tomorrow? “
“ Quest is level E. we are assigned to eradicate rats and insects – insects in the aqueduct “
“ How is the detail? “
“ This aqueduct is connected until the river that we passed when traveling here, this aqueduct directs waste and rain water to the river.so the place is a bit less pleasant when we do the mission later.
“ But, I still don't even have armor like you. Is it okay – what? “ Ludwig wears light leather armor as his body protector, while Liz does not have what – is for his protection.
“ It's okay – what and not only we will be there, but many other beginner teams will participate,“ replied Ludwig.
“ Alright. “
“ Before the first bell sounds we should already be in the Guild to receive direction from the Guild,“ explains Ludwig.
They then heard the sound of the third bell indicating that it was evening and night was coming, but they did not go home and talk about the Quest they were going to do tomorrow.
Liz returned to the inn when it was night, and she knocked on Luciel's door to talk about the Quest he was about to take, but there is no answer ‘ maybe he has fallen asleep ‘ Liz then went to his room and went straight to sleep.