Chương 83: Disappointment
Arthur regaled Ian with the stories from inside the underground crypt as they made their way to the mine exit. Ian's heart flew and sank following the trajectory of Arthur's journey. He was worried on Arthur's behalf when the young man told him about the battle he had with the zombie general.
"I have no idea there is such a powerful enemy lying in wait down in that crypt." Ian said with apparent shock. "Thankfully you've come to deal with that hidden threat for us."
That was also when Arthur brought up the issue about the general's staff. Arthur noticed Ian and the other miners they met along the way had been eyeing it with curiosity but none said anything probably out of respect to him.
Arthur introduced it as the zombie general's weapon and asked Ian for permission to take it away with him. After all, the weapon could be considered as something excavated at the mine. The ownership of it was something debatable.
Ian honestly had not even considered that. Without stopping to think, he answered openly, "Of course you can take it with you. After all, you rightfully won it after you defeated the zombie general. It will be uncouth of me to contest its ownership. It's your loot."
Arthur thanked Ian again, something that the mine foreman waved right off. "I should be thanking you on the behalf of the miners, Arthur, not the other way round."
The conversation was friendly as they continued to make their way to the exit. When Arthur mentioned he used 3 vials of health potion to make quick work of the zombie general, Ian was gobsmacked. A common household item was able to destroy such a powerful menace, who would have thought.
During one of the small talks, Arthur asked, "Brother Ian, does this happen often? Is it common for miners to run into underground crypt?"
"Thankfully it doesn't happen that often but even so, it has happened far too often for me, particularly as someone responsible for the livelihood of these hardworking men and women, to feel comfortable." Ian had a rueful smile. "This is because we can never tell what is inside these crypts. They could be perfectly harmless or we could have accidentally unloaded a horde of undead."
Arthur nodded as they turned the corner. The glare of the sun made the young man shield his eyes. He needed some time to adjust to natural light after spending what felt like days in the underground crypt.
As someone who worked at the mine daily, Ian was more susceptible to the change in light sensitivity. He recovered faster than Arthur and commented in a means to conclude the things that happened that day. "Thank you again Arthur for coming to our aid. I sincerely would not have known what to do without your help.
"The monsters are such a threat to human lives. Without brave adventurers like yourself, so many normal lives would have been lost already."
Arthur was embarrassed by the compliment. He smiled.
What Ian mentioned was a reflection of the shaky relationship between the monsters and the human beings in this world. The monsters are evil and they are always out there to harm us, that was the zeitgeist of the day.
In fact, the whole premise behind the adventurer's guild existence was to eradicate these monsters. Due to the social environment, that was the idea that was hammered into most people's mind, including Arthur's, since they were young.
Therefore, Arthur actually agreed with Ian. The monsters were indeed a threat. However, little did the young man know, he was about to come across a new quest that would show him the many different ways that human beings and monsters could coexist in the world.
…
Arthur left the coal mine with promise from Ian that should the young man need any help from him in the future, he would always be glad to lend it to him.
After Arthur made his way back from the countryside and entered the city, he realized the atmosphere was rather tense. Quite a few times, Arthur caught several people looking over their shoulders as they rushed through the street with frantic and hurried gait.
Arthur did not stop anyone of them to ask because one, it had nothing to do with him, at least for now, and two, he had more important thing to attend to.
The young man avoided the crowd and went to his hiding spot. He waded through the bushes and found himself detached from the hustle and bustle of the big city.
After making sure there was no one around him, Arthur planted the staff into the ground and rapped on the bell several times. The ringing of the bell was as crisp as he remembered.
Arthur looked around, there was no zombies that crawled out from the ground underneath his feet. Perhaps it was because he was not standing on a mass grave?
Then again, Arthur doubted that was the case. He could not feel the magic in the ringing of the bell anymore. It appeared like for some reason, Arthur was unable to tap into the instrument's power. Maybe he was not that good of an instrument player. Arthur had to keep his disappointment in check.
In any case, Arthur quickly recovered from the disappointment. At the very least, he was able to sacrifice the instrument to his patroness. That helped a lot in alleviating his dissatisfaction.
The familiarity of his surrounding fell away as the young man made his return to the Voice Library. The first thing he did after travelling to this unique dimension was to check whether there was an update to the voices that he could learn.
There was none. It could not be said that Arthur was surprised or even disappointed. All the undead inside the crypt did was groan and moan. There was nothing magical about those creatures' vocalization.
Nevertheless, that was not the real reason why Arthur was there.
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