Chương 216: Those Were The Days

Hilene, Hortus, Yeldt, and Gontra found themselves back around the same table in the same tavern they had been in prior to the hunt beginning… The Abyssal had completely left everyone in the dust. It had just run away without even looking behind. The exterminators had not prepared well enough at all for this job. They hadn't thought of the possibility of having to deal with an underground tunnel–All of them had gathered like moths drawn to a flame, leaving the other side of the tunnel completely free…

Their target had had ample time to run away, and even the fastest amongst its pursuers couldn't catch up due to the sheer headstart it had on them. Thus, the team sat in silence. The tavern was packed with other people who had been with them on this job. No one was in a celebratory mood, but some still felt like getting drunk to the point of imitating corpses. Although used to such occurrences, there had been quite a few casualties on this job, where nothing had been accomplished whatsoever.

Two whole teams had been slain by the Abyssal, which called for a reevaluation of its danger level. There weren't any true ways to classify the strength of a monster. Too many parameters had to be taken into account to do so properly. Nonetheless, it was clear that many of the teams that had been present on the hunt hadn't been qualified to deal with something like this. The only intel they had had was what Hilene and her team had gathered during the first encounter and a few other scraps of information.

All of this had clearly been awfully outdated. If they hadn't all gathered into one big mass and instead all gone in one by one… Many more groups would have definitely been wiped out. Slayer Blade sighed, sinking into her chair.

"This damned thing is way stronger than we thought. We already knew that it was smart, but…" She stopped herself mid-sentence. Hilene didn't know the adventurer group that had been slain, but she was familiar with the band of mercenaries that had gone in first. Their leader was freakishly powerful with his warhammer. She had seen him do some pretty insane manoeuvres–Such as hit the wall of a cave to cause it to partly collapse, while he was still inside and nowhere near an exit.

This guy had been no pushover, especially not with the full might of his team behind him, but he had seemingly not even stood a chance. This was getting to the point that adventurers and alike might need to step aside and let an agent of the crown deal with the problem…

"... Say, what other extermination requests are there?" Hortus raised his head, having been staring into his still-full glass of cheap alcohol.

"You want to switch target?"

"The Abyssal is way too slippery, and I am starting to doubt our ability to take it down now. We can't do it alone, so we'll have to wait for others to join us in this regard. In the meantime, we should do other jobs. We need to get ourselves paid, right?" Yeldt scratched one of his pointy ears, bringing out a surprisingly thick pile of paper that had somehow been tucked against his chest beneath his shirt. He dropped it on the table before stretching his arms.

"Alright! There are actually quite a lot of extermination requests lately" Gontra leaned against the table.

"How long have you been collecting requests for…?"

"Just a little while, I think–Anyway! The first one is about a bunch of Hell-Scorched Creatures. Apparently, a farmer's cows were suddenly transformed in the middle of the night, and they've breached their enclosure, escaping into the wild""Then, there's the matter of some giant locust. Apparently, it had a master, but the man died, and his beast has just been roaming around, picking up livestock and eating them–It isn't an extermination quest, though.

The man's son wants us to bring the beast alive and unhurt""Also, a good old ogre has established residence too close to a small town, and has been often terrorising carriages going in and out of the town" As Yeldt rambled on and on, Hilene reached out for a piece of paper that was differently coloured compared to the rest. Its red shade was a sign that it was considered a difficult request. Which didn't often happen, as most people submitting requests wouldn't bother with this.

Hello, my name is Kaarl, and I am the mayor of a small town that has only recently earned the status of city. I am myself a retired adventurer… This explained why the paper was red. He was actually familiar with how things worked for people taking these requests. Like many, this old man had probably taken on requests in the past that hadn't been properly marked with their true difficulty. It was a common tale…

Inside my city and several other places, residents have had terrifying encounters with a monster of unknown origins. It is suspected to be either a kind of mimic, a being associated with nightmares, or a Fleshspawn. The hateful being takes the form of a young woman dressed like a typical clown: Baggy, ample one-piece clothing covering the whole body except for limb extremities and the head. Despite being a clown, she wears small black shoes of good manufacture.

She wears no gloves and has skin as white as chalk with raven-black hair. Her eyes are a light shade of purple. She is approximately one-hundred and seventy centimeters tall, and has been described as somewhat 'petite' and 'cute' by some witnesses–I didn't deem it important, but all information matters. Her entire colour scheme is black and white. She should be quite recognisable. This clown woman tends to lurk in alleys and dark streets past sundown.

She typically ambushes unsuspecting people and presumably devours them whole, alongside their clothes and whatever item they may be in possession of. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. However, she will also sometimes pose the body and leave it. The third thing she is known to do is willfully cause extreme fear in some of her victims, but let them run away. She has no known name, but most simply refer to her as 'The Clown'.

The Clown has gone to cities, towns, villages, and even been spotted by carriage riders on desolate roads. The number of victims is unknown, but possibly nears the hundred mark. I, alongside many other local leaders, have put together this extermination request. The rewards are as follows…

"Mmh… These are quite good items… But a clown?" Hilene shivered.

"Oh, you got the clown one? From the sound of it, this monster isn't exceptionally powerful, but finding it could be difficult""Mmh? How do you know it isn't powerful?"

"Flip the paper over, there's more written on the back""Oh…" Her only known ability is the manipulation of her own body. She is said to be capable of warping and transforming her form at will to extreme levels. What followed were a bunch of examples, and indeed, it didn't sound like this creature was a powerhouse, but it was versatile and intelligent. To Hilene, this sounded like yet another creature weak to flames.

There was even a small hand-drawn map depicting the places the monster had been to–And it was only then that Hilene realised that The Clown's trail had already exited Rootriska and instead went into Heldinot before everything had seemingly stopped for no apparent reason.

"This particular one you are holding is a newer version. It also informs that several teams tried to take the quest, but eventually had to give up due to being unable to find any trace of the target.

Apparently, The Clown just went and vanished after quite a long time of causing trouble all over the place""I even heard that-" Yeldt stopped himself as he sensed something and turned around to find someone standing behind him, someone whom he still had to crank his neck down to look in the eyes, despite currently being seated.

"You are interested in the black and white clown? What a coincidence! So am I! I haven't seen you at all since graduation, Yeldt" The other three adventurers took a good look at the stranger, but the appearance of this person was simply far too noteworthy for them not to recognise her nearly immediately.

"Ah… Hello, Binibelle… H-How have you been?"

"Just fine. Are those your friends? Knowing you, I bet neither of those girls is your girlfriends–Anyway, over there is my disciple, Jupo. Isn't he a handsome devil?" By the way, Yeldt seemed to turn into a puddle. He wasn't exactly too thrilled about the halfling's presence–His friends had no mercy for him, though.

"You never told us you were at the magic academy with someone so famous!" Gontra slapped the elf's back, making him lean forward from the force of the strike.

"Why do you have an interest in this clown creature, Miss Binibelle?"

"You can just call me Binibelle, you are quite famous yourself, Slayer Blade…"

"Ahahah… Not as much as you""... Well, let's just say that the black and white clown is directly connected to a case I am working on, and she already gave me the slip once before as well. If I can get my hands on her, I should be able to break through an annoying roadblock that's been messing with me since the start of the investigation""You guys are quite the competent folks. Perhaps we could cooperate on this one" Hearing this, Yeldt stood up.

"Can we… Can we talk a bit, Binibelle?"

"Sure, what's the matter?" The elf and halfling headed away from the rest of the group.

"Jupo, why don't you try socialising while I am busy?" Her disciple felt incredibly awkward. Not only was he in an unfamiliar place filled with strangers, but his master was making him actually speak with them–One of whom he was especially nervous about meeting. Jupo remembered how Benait would often speak about other swordmasters, telling him to take inspiration from them and to learn about their styles… Well, during Jupo's research, he had stumbled upon a certain one…

"Hello…" Whilst Jupo faced the deadly trial known as 'speaking with total strangers', Binibelle and Yeldt found themselves on their own.

"Don't tell me you're still feeling weird about-""Don't mention that! I just want to know what you're doing here of all places""I just said why, I am investigating""Your clown didn't even come through here!"

"Louwoods is nearby, and some intel I gathered told me that I might find something linked to my investigation there. What? Do you think I am here specifically to make fun of you? It's been a long time since we last saw each other. You shouldn't squirm like this just because I am in your vicinity. Aren't you a great and powerful mage now?"

"Listen. I just don't want you to start mentioning old stuff in front of friends, alright? I don't want to get humiliated like this""Humiliated is a big word""Please, I beg of you!"

"Right, I guess I can lay off making fun of you a bit… But tell me, which of those two are you trying to get with, heh? I know you catch feelings easily""Neither of them! I… Huh… Maybe Gontra, but only on some days""Typical""What's typical about this?!"

"The mage liking big, burly warrior women is a well-earned stereotype, you know?" Yeldt stayed silent for a moment.

"... Alright, I can't argue against that–Let's just go back to the others" Binibelle peeked around the corner.

"Wait a second, let my disciple experience the world on his own a little bit. He's never left Tolten before, and… Would you look at that? He's having some success with a lady. That's so cute""Success?" Yeldt peeked his head out as well. Somehow, within that short amount of time, Hilene had managed to convince Jupo to draw his sword and show her some moves and was now giving him advice.

"Hilene has always had a fascination with swordsmanship, but I've never seen her like this…"

"Really? I always knew my boy would be coveted by the ladies""Isn't he a bit young for her, though?"

"Is an elf talking about this?"

"I… There aren't many elves roaming around…"

"Excuses are all I'm hearing""Just tell me about your investigation…"