บท 79: The Rodent Brotherhood

In the back alleys of the capital of Leon, near a certain rundown bar, a hooded man was walking, a cloak covering everything, preventing anyone from getting even a glimpse of what he looked like or he was carrying.

The man slowly walked along this desolate part of the capital of the Leon kingdom, Sozra, before entering the bar.

*Creeeeek*

The rusted metal hinges on the rotten wooden door creaked with all their might as though it was alerting the owner of someone's entrance.

The Bar inside was completely empty, with only a single bartender in the process of untouched pristine beer glasses. Seeing those glasses, one would wonder if they were brand new. However, these glasses were in fact many years old, the only reason they were in this condition was because no one had ever used them.

The hooded man slowly approached the bartender, who put down the glass slowly and used one of his hands to distract the customer while reaching for a dagger he had behind him.

"I am sorry, but we are closed for the day. The owner does not wish to hear any commotion for some time."

However, just as the bar tender was getting agitated, the hooded man extended his hand slowly through the cloak.

In his hand was a sliver badge with two daggers and a hood carved onto it.

'S- S- Silver!'

The bartender put back the dagger he had reached for and gulped in shock.

'I was about to attack a silver member!'

However, contradictory to the mess in his mind, his body moved smoothly to push open a door behind him as he waited patiently for the hooded man to enter before closing it. At this point, the bartender pulled a lever that was under the bar, which activated a pulley system.

*Click**Clack*

The room the hooded man had entered was incredibly small, just enough to fit 4 fully grown men inside. When the lever was pulled, the floor of this small room began to lower itself into what seemed like a vertical square-shaped tunnel. The floor moved like this for around 12 meters until is finally came to a stop in line with a door.

Slowly opening the door without displaying much emotion, the hooded man walked into a rather large 'room' carved right into the ground. The underground changer was a complete contrast to the desolate scenery above ground.

Almost 50 hooded people were resting at tables, at the bar, or staring at a wall, while nearly 20 other people were rushing around in black formal suits, serving food and drinks, as well as accommodating the hooded figures at counters.

The hooded man who had just entered walked up to one of the empty counters since no one seemed to pay much attention to his entry into the underground chamber.

However, just as he was reached the counter, a particular golden number shining on the wall that many other hooded figures were looking at caught his attention. The man took a swift turn as he walked up to that particular not at the bottom of the wall which most people who were looking at the wall full of similar notes were avoiding and read it.

<…>

<Reward: 10 Gold +40 Gold + 50 Gold>

The Hooded man ignored everything written within the note and his eyes were fixated on the reward price.

Suddenly, a voice from behind him entered his ears.

"Keke. Looks like this mission caught your eye huh? But I would suggest you to ignore it."

The hooded man looked at the new hooded man that was next to him and was originally looking at another section of the wall, before speaking.

"Why"

"Tch- Look at your attitude to someone who is trying to save your life. Never mind. I'm in a good mood today so I will tell you a little information for free. No one who has accepted this mission has ever been seen again. It was initially at a measly price of 10 Gold, and so many bronze members accepted this mission, and were never heard of again. Around a month later of no one being able to complete the mission, the reward was increased to 50 Gold, and even more bronze members vanished from existence. Then, a silver member, although he was incredibly weak for a silver member, also accepted this mission."

"And?"

"And? What else? He vanished as well. Around a month later, the reward was raised again to 100 Gold. Around 6 Silver members took the mission, 3 of them going separately, and vanishing. However, the other three decided to work together and split the reward, since 100 gold was truly a lot."

"And?"

"Tch. All disappeared together. That is why I am telling you; it would be better to just ignore this mission. This mission should only be solved by the gold, or maybe even platinum members. But the one who requested the mission did not want to give any more gold, and so the mission is now stuck at the level where only silver members would accept it, but none of them would be able to clear it."

"Alright."

The hooded man nodded and thanked the other hooded man, before ripping out that very note and heading to the counter.

'What the hell?' the hooded figure who had spent all that time explaining to the lad about the dangers of this mission was dumbfounded for a while before cursing under his breath and going back to his own business.

"This one"

The hooded man gave the note to the receptionist at the counter along with his badge, at the back of which there was writing.

<Rank: Silver>

This was the badge of the Rodent Brotherhood, which the delegation from Roland had called 'The Rats' in the secret meeting between Roland and Islesat. This was an underground organisation involved in all sorts of shady and illegal activities, most famously for assassinations and other crime.

The only reason it was able to survive in Leon, is because even the council of 12 used this organisation to complete tasks which they did not want to dirty their hands with.

"Alright. Everything is complete. We wish for the mission to be completed successfully."

The hooded man with the codename of Silver Fang nodded and walked out as he read the contents of the mission for the first time.

<Mission: Kill 'The Sage' of the Leon kingdom. Return with any limb or organ as proof of completion>

<Reward: 10 Gold +40 Gold + 50 Gold>