"Then, we'll follow Lumilia plan and you will pretend that you're sick, Souta?" Brando looked at Souta and asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, I'll pretend and will sneak inside the Duke's mansion at night." Souta nodded at Brando.
Souta then stood up and went on the receptionist. He submitted the quest said that they will finish it tomorrow. It's just a simple material-gathering quest so Souta could leave it at his party.
Taking this quest, Souta received the quest in his system.
*Ding!*
[Your party triggered a quest!]
[Gathering]: Gather three blue lamp herb and two night chili grass. Rewards: 5,000 exp, 5 free attribute points, and 3 skill points
"Oh?" Souta was surprised when he saw the notification in his mind.
So that's how it is...
Souta, Bryan, Brando, and Lumilia was officially in a party right now. To create a party, they needed four people and they meet the requirements. Their party was recorded in the Adventurers Guild just like the Gale Group.
In any case, this was a good news to Souta. Because he will receive the quest in the system as long as any of his party members take any quest. Also, he would receive rewards from the system if they completed it even without his help.
Bryan, Brando, and Lumilia just needed to complete this materials gathering quest and he would receive the rewards of his system.
'If I expanded my party and all of them take different quests at the same time then I would receive all the quest and rewards from my system.' Souta said inwardly as he rubbed his chin. Thinking about this, Souta couldn't help but smirk.
This gave him another reason to expand his party.
Before, only three of them were in a party so Souta wouldn't receive the quest that Bryan and Brando took. But it was different now. Give him one month and Souta would be able to promote his class to a higher tier class. And that class was the Battle Mage.
The skills points that he will receive this month will experience a change and Souta was looking forward to it.
"What's wrong, Sir?" The receptionist asked Souta with a confused expression when she saw him grinning to himself.
"Ah, nothing." Souta snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her voice. He shook his head before he turned around.
He went back to his seat and talked with his party about his plan while listening to the conversation of the adventurers around them.
After listening for a while, Souta and his party heard a shocking news.
"Did you take the quest to investigate about the murders?"
"No, I wouldn't take a quest like that. Remember what happened before? Thirty adventurers and five of them are C-rank but all of them still died."
"That quest is not something that we D-rank could handle."
"Yeah, it's not something we could handle but a lot of our fellow adventurers still took the quest."
"That's understandable. After all, some of the victims are their family members or friends."
Souta and Lumilia looked at each other when they heard the adventurers' conversation. There's no doubt about it. This was about the recent killings that were happening in this dukedom.
But how...
Taking that quest means that the Duke took back his words and let the adventures investigate the killings in their dukedom.
"Let's talk to them," Souta said before he stood up and approached the table of the adventurers that were talking about the murders.
Bryan and Brando were about to stand and follow Souta but Lumilia stopped them before they could do so. She looked at them and shook her head.
"Souta can handle it on his own. You don't have to be present when he talked to them." Lumilia said to the two.
Brando nodded before he went back on his seat. Bryan also sat down when he saw Brando sat back.
"I heard your conversation. Can you tell me more about it?" Souta said to the adventurers and he showed his adventurers' ID.
The three adventurers looked at him from head to toe before they took a look at his ID. They were surprised when they saw that he was a C-rank adventurer and was stationed in the Hebrei Kingdom.
"What do you want to know?" The adventurers asked Souta.
Souta sat down before he opened his mouth and said, "I want to know more about the killings. I just arrived here in this place and your conversation took my attention."
"I see... You're a C-rank and you must be confident in your strength but I advise you to don't let yourself be involved in this situation." One of the adventurers said with a solemn expression to Souta.
"Don't worry, I'll leave this place in a few days. I'm just interested in the story about it." Souta said as he assured them. He didn't forget to mention that he will leave this place. It's important because if someone asked these adventurers they would know that Souta didn't have a time to be involved in this case as he would leave this dukedom in a few days.
"A lot of people already died in this case. Even C-rank adventurers aren't an exception from this. All of it started a few months ago." The adventurers began to narrate what happened to Souta.
Lumilia, Brando, and Bryan's table were near them so they could hear what they were talking about.
Souta listened to their story and found that their story was the same as old man Jared. It seems that old man Jared wasn't lying to them as all the things that he said were exactly the same as these adventurers.
"From your words, the Duke shut down all the quest related to the case but he took it back this morning, am I right?" Souta asked the adventurers in front of him.
"Yes, that's right. The Duke took it back this morning. Dozens of quest related to it were posted on the quest board this morning but now... you can see it. There's nothing left anymore." The adventurer shrugged his shoulders. He then cursed the adventurers who took the quest. "They are all idiots!"
"Why?" Souta asked the adventurers with a simple look.
"You can see it right! There's something wrong here, something wrong in this place! Why would they accept such a strange quest? Did they want to die?!" The adventurers cursed loudly.
"Yeah, it's really a strange case." Souta couldn't help but nod at the adventurer's words.
"See... Even you find it strange. So don't ever think about investigating it. I advise you to leave this place as soon as possible. This place is different from before." The adventurer said to Souta.
"Thanks. I'll pay for your drinks." Souta said and he placed a few silver coins on top of the table before he stood up.
"Hoho~ you're a good man. Thanks for this and I hope you heed my words." The adventurers laughed and thanked him.
Souta waved his hand at them before he went to his party. He looked at them and said, "Let's go. We're going to rest so that we have enough strength for tomorrow."
Lumilia and the others nodded at him. They went back to the inn.
...
Souta was looking at the Duke's mansion through the window in his room. The cold breeze of the night gently blew his face.
After a few moments, Souta grinned and muttered, "Just what are you hiding there. I can't wait to discover it. No matter what I will discover your secret."
This quest was very crucial to him because once he received the reward of this quest he will have enough points to level up his spells. No, just the quest he just received was already enough for him.
'What do you think about this place?' Saya asked him in his mind.
"What's the point in asking me that question?" Souta shook his head and he closed the window.
...
Souta woke up early in the morning. He washed his face and stayed inside his room. He waited for a while until Lumilia, Brando, and Bryan knocked on his door.
"Come in," Souta said as he glanced at the door.
Lumilia, Brando, and Bryan went inside his room. They were wearing their adventurers' outfit.
He looked at them and asked, "Do you know what you're going to do?"
"I know," Lumilia and Brando answered him at the same time.
"Yeah, we just need to finish this quest," Bryan said with an excited expression. He couldn't wait to do the quest.
"You two will follow Lumilia's instruction," Souta said to the two with a serious expression.
"Y-Yes!" Bryan replied as he straightened his body.
"I'll do my best to help Lumilia," Brando said as he glanced at Lumilia before he looked at Souta.
After talking to Bryan and Brando, Souta turned his attention to Lumilia. The corner of his mouth curved into a smile.
"I will leave everything to you, Lumilia. Don't disappoint me. I will wait for your return."
"I... I'll do my best and bring you a good result!" Lumilia hesitated at first but she managed to gather her courage and said these words to Souta.
"I'll wait for it. I'll go to the Duke's mansion after you left." Souta said before he turned around.
"Be careful, Souta. Don't let them get you." Bryan said and he exited the room with Brando.
"Be careful." Lumilia looked at Souta's back and said. She then followed the two.
...
"Everything is ready... I just hope that they can handle it on their own." Souta muttered as he looked at his party members from the window of his room.