Chapter 9: The City of Beniham
I managed to get to the city of Beniham when it was well into the night.
I had deliberated if I wanted to make camp and get to Beniham the next day, but I really wanted to get somewhere where I could find a nice bed to rest on.
Unfortunately, the city gates closed at night, and no outsiders were allowed in until daylight.
It was unfortunate, but I was relieved to have finally reached my destination. I decided to set up camp close to the city walls.
Not being able to enter the city turned out to be a small blessing, as I had several things I needed to do before I got into the city anyway.
First, I needed a way to sneak Biggie in without having him get caught and attacked. I sent Biggie out to stealthily scout out the walls in hopes of finding a way to avoid detection.
Second, I needed to check my status as killing the four bandits had increased my level to 20.
[Status Condition: (Curse, Undead Spite (rank: E)) has been inflicted by class "Evil of Humanity".]
[Curse Details: Upon death, the remains will reanimate as an undead that will attack all living things around it. Curse can be strengthened by a Lich. (Special strengthening condition unlocked): Curse can be strengthened by dying several times.]
Wait, how would that work? I only stay dead for a few minutes, so would I just stay as an undead until I died again or would I just revive when [Eternal Suffering] activated?
Not willing to die to test the curse and worried about the possibility that I would stay as a low level undead if I died, I decided I would figure it out eventually. Just not anytime soon.
................
As I tried to enter the city in the morning, one of the five guardsmen at the gates stopped me.
"Halt. state your business, young traveler."
I had spent all night racking my brain to make a realistic backstory I could give to the guardsmen, and I hoped it would work.
"Ah, my mother has sent me to Beniham to meet the requirements to class as a scholar. My mother wanted me to have a better future than a Farmer class civilian. I come from a poor farming hamlet, so becoming a scholar there is impossible...."
The guardsman I was talking to looked me up and down. With my permission, the other guards searched through my travel bag for any suspicious items.
"We will hold onto your hunting knife until you leave the city. If you cause any trouble, you will be banished from the city immediately and put onto a blacklist.... Young man, I understand the desire for a class that can provide a steady income, but becoming a successful scholar with so little money is impossible. The most you could become is a novice. I would suggest you choose a different class, perhaps a smith or a woodsman..."
"Thank you, but I promised my mother I would succeed. Farewell!"
As I left, the guards looked at me with concerned looks on their faces. They were good guys with good hearts, and were really just looking out for me.
Though I appreciated their concern, I had no time to waste dwelling on their character.
I needed information as soon as possible. I needed to become as powerful as possible, and I needed to find out how to reach the God-Thing and kill his sadistic ass.
I began wandering the city, in search of a library or information outlet. Beniham was quite a large city, with streets paved of brick and tall, looming buildings bordering them. Street vendors had begun selling their wares, haggling with the citizens of the town. Everyone seemed different from the village I had been living in. There was a genuine kindness radiating from their eyes, unlike the dull and jaded looks the villagers had.
I eventually found the library, but was denied access to it as only nobility or the upper class citizens could enter.
"Where could I find information for commoners?"
The library clerk, a dark haired young lady, pondered for a second.
"Well, you could always buy information from an information broker if you needed access to need-to-know information. There are book vendors further into the center of the city, but books can be quite expensive depending on the information within. Adventurers in this city are usually pretty kind towards young wanderers like you, so as long as you ask for information not regarding monster hunting you could get information for free. Oh! And if you'd like, we do have a free pamphlet regarding Beniham's history and current state! It even comes with a map!"
Thanking the vendor, I took a pamphlet and began walking towards the Adventurer's Guild indicated on the map inside the paper.
The pamphlet was well written, and by the time I had reached the Adventurer's Guild I had a decent understanding of the city's history.
Beniham was one of the few heretical cities left alone by the main religious force in this world, The High Inquisition. Beniham's patron deity was Bennavfor, Wild God of Peace of Prosperity. Thanks to Bennavfor's blessings, Beniham prospered economically. Bennavfor's tenets also taught the citizens and adventurers within the city the ideals of true kindness, and resulted in a close to zero crime rate within and near the city walls. The High Inquisition knew this, and left Beniham alone as Beniham would never pose a threat to their religious and military rule. Plus, Beniham provided a needed economic boost to the Inquisition's kingdom.
Most other heretical cities had been completely annihilated by the Inquisition, but the ones left alone operated independently of the Inquisition and each other, either not seen as a threat or too powerful for the Inquisition to attack without losing too many of their forces.
That explains why everyone is so nice and it explained the lack of the God-Thing's emblems around the city.
I could get used to this.
Feeling more secure of my safety within the city, I opened the Adventurer's Guild building doors almost happily.
A bespectacled woman with green eyes and long, straight brown hair greeted me with a smile and bubbly enthusiasm.
"Hello, welcome to the Adventurer's guild! Are you here to submit a quest? Oh, you're rather young aren't you? Are you here to apply as an adventurer, then?"
Overwhelmed by her positive energy, I almost stepped backwards in an attempt to recover.
"U-uhmm, ahem, uh, neither actually. I was wondering if I could talk to some adventurers and get some travel advice?"
"Oh certainly! The mess hall is to the left! Feel free to talk to anyone, the barkeep will make sure you stay out of trouble. Though you won't need to worry, the adventurers here are all incredibly kind!"
"T-thank you, I'll be going now."
Miss, your bubbly light of positivity, it's blinding me!!
I hurried down to the mess hall, fleeing from the clerk's radiating wholesomeness. Being around her made me feel like I was about to become a saint of righteousness through wholesome-mitosis.
Luckily, the mess hall seemed unaffected by the clerk. Adventurers, human and demi-human alike, were drinking and laughing, eating and chatting loudly with one another. On one of the walls, a bulletin board was covered in flyers with quests written on them. The barkeep, a muscled, handsome satyr dressed only in a pair of tight black pants and a red bow-tie over his shirtless chest, smiled at me as I walked in, then resumed polishing a glass mug.
I was surprised to see the variety of demi-humans. I knew the God-Thing's religion on the world preached of human supremacy, so I figured I would never see a demi-human outside of slavery. But Beniham was a heretical city, and demi-humans had equal rights as humans within the city walls. It was nice to see human and demi-humans getting along, and it made my hatred for the God-Thing rise even more.
I eventually got the nerve to sit down with a couple of adventurers, asking for information about how to get stronger and if there were any good travel tip the could offer. A lot of them told me to train a lot and practice the use of my skills frequently, something I already understood but appreciated nonetheless. What was very helpful were the travel tips, like what were the most common monsters in certain well-traveled areas, where bandits had been sighted, how to tie certain knots, what herbs were useful for medicine (though if I touched them, they would just rot), certain recipes, what monsters were edible, what monsters tasted good, and the list of things went on.
I got to a dwarf when he said something that caught my attention the most out of all the things.
"We gots a Witch Priestess in town an' she can cleanse pesky curses right off ya! Does yer first cleansin' fer free! Though if you wants to avoid curses in the first place, ya best talk to old man Tyr, the geezer moping in the corner there. He knows where all the cursed objects, places, and monsters be in the area."
Before I could thank the dwarf, he had resumed drinking and chatting with his Beastman friend before laughing loudly and boisterously.
I quickly scanned the area, and sure enough I found an old man alone at the corner of the bar, muttering to himself over a tall glass of beer. I sat next to him, and immediately he began to smile.
"Oh young one, I can feel the curses radiating from you. How tragic has your life been, how much have you suffered? Ah, it matters not, for I already know the Witch Priestess could not cleanse you of anything that ails you...."
He began to quietly chuckle while I sat, stunned at he already knew so much about me.
"How do you know of my curses?"
"Ah young lad, I am a dark sorcerer, but more precisely I am a Hexer. A weaver and inflicter of curses. If I could not sense the dark energies clinging to you, I would be a failure to all who possess the same class."
"The dwarf over there told me that you know of all the cursed things in the area, is that true?"
"Aye, it is my lad."
"Do you have a map of them all?"
Tyr reached into his robe and from it produced a rolled up map with various markings on it.
"Lad, these marks mean a cursed location. These, cursed monsters. And these, cursed objects."
South of the city, a cave had been marked with an attention-grabbing, bright red rune.
"What about this mark right here? It's different from all the rest."
"Ah, avoid that mark my lad, if you can. There lies a powerful relic that can bestow incredible power to its wielder. However, its curse is unimaginably brutal, and you should avoid it at all costs..."
However, in my head, I had already been drawing a path between the city and the special marking, with a few pit stops at other marks along the way.
I jumped up to my feet excitedly, and began to run out the building.
"Lad, where are you off to in such a hurry?!"
"Thank you Tyr! I'm off to pick up some things!"
And thus began my curse hunt.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Dracoex1
Dracoex1 Sorry for the late update, I was aiming to update every Wednesday but things have happened. Hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!
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