Chương 352: Chapter 338

Investigation quests. Something that he hated doing. There clearly was a reason his first acts in the game were hunting down Lucy. She was much better at looking for clues and organizing things. He was mostly good at fighting and maybe at the big picture stuff – even then, that was because of his knowledge of the future. Standing before the northern officer, he continued smiling.

"Am I to find them on my own, or do we have some clues to their whereabouts?" he asked, hoping for a negative answer. The woman in front of him looked at him stone-faced, while he tried not to sweat. Finally, after an uncomfortably long pause, she smirked, sending a jolt of panic through Sam.

"No," she finally spoke after another pause.

"We know where they are generally. Their ring of malcontents was broken up, and they scattered to the winds. Your task is to hunt down the leader of the movement," she explained, pushing one of the paper maps in front of him. Sam saw it contained a crudely drawn map of one of the city's wards, with several buildings marked with large red crosses. She took up a quill pen, inked it, and began to circle buildings until she had three.

"These three are the most likely hiding places of the insurrectionist." Sam memorized the locations and nodded.

"Anything else?"

"Keep the civilian casualties to a minimum, if possible," came the careless comment. Not, no civilian casualties. Just… keep them to a minimum. Told a lot about the current administration and the empress ruling this country. Once again, Sam saluted, imitating the salutes he had seen, and walked out of the tent with a frown on his face. [New Quest Acquired!] [Mole Hunt] [You were tasked with hunting down the leader of a rebel ring. Make sure to work hard and fast, and keep an eye out for those pesky civilians.] [Time Limit: 4 hours] [Penalty: Traitor designation] A very simple quest. However, if the game system and developers expected Sam to go out and play Sherlock Holmes, they weren't really paying attention. Leaving the small officer camp in what had once been a park, surrounded by hordes of soldiers, he quickly found his way to the city's ward with a bit of help from the soldiers. They were grumpy and moody, but they still gave him the directions.

Instead of using the streets, surrounded by the relatively tall stone buildings, he took a sharp turn in an alley, making sure nobody saw him, and with a few deft jumps landed on the roof of a building. Quickly looking around, using his mana sense to see if there were any watchers – none he could sense – Sam searched for the tallest building from where he could survey the situation. A square stone construction with dozens of chimneys belching hazy smoke out of them caught his eye.

With a few mana-assisted jumps, he was there, hiding behind a collection of eclectic chimneys, looking down at the locked-down ward. Barricades manned by serious-looking soldiers blocked the way in and out, while the people who lived in these buildings walked around listlessly, or lay on different surfaces, staring blankly. The entire mood of the area could be described by one word: bleak. Sitting down in the cover of the chimney, he closed his eyes and took a minute just calming his breath and getting comfortable.

Well, as comfortable as a crudely built building's roof could be with all the detritus covering it. It was a miracle he could find a square foot that was not covered in animal droppings. When he was done with his preparation, he began to slowly and carefully spread his mana through the area, saturating every inch of the building, letting his mana sense get a feel for the space and objects in it.

A crude map of the ward appeared in front of him – the game's interpretation of his mana sense and skills – and he spent a moment observing it.

"Let's see, blue for buildings and green for loose objects," he muttered, and the screen – looking like a 3D projection with extremely limited graphics – changed, following his words.

"Then people are red." Instantly, he saw red colored forms moving or idling around in the area. Next came the part where he would find the leader of the rebels. His assumption was that the rebel leader was a mini-boss, thus had above-average mana. His senses covered everything like a blanket as his mental eyes flitted from person to person. First, he eliminated the people around the ward, mentally labeling them soldiers. Powerful compared to a civilian, but nothing to write home about.

Then came the people on the streets. None of them was anything special, so he simply moved past them. Then one by one, he went over every building from the top to bottom, including the basements, checking every room for anybody with a strong mana signature.

'Man… Tim would've been much better at this…' he grumbled inwardly as he continued the search. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. It was in the third building – near the barricades with windows directly overlooking them – that something finally happened. As he scanned an ordinary room around the middle of the building, he felt a large mana signature.

The moment his mana stretched as thin as possible, they touched the person; they jumped into action, rapidly moving around.

'Probably why they managed to escape the army…' Sam smiled to himself as he refocused on the person rushing toward the staircase, their mana turning inward, trying to be as small as possible. Unfortunately, before Sam's senses it was a bit too late. Opening his eyes, he slowly stood up, keeping an errant eye on the rushing person. He would be happy to claim it was a novel idea, but sadly, he couldn't. He had just made use of the most effective speedrun tactic for these kinds of missions.

Most NPCs who were in hiding had a high level of mana sensing as a skill. A bit of poking, and they always went running. Or they exploded… depending on the situation. But it always solved the issue. Waiting for the NPC to frantically leave the building, he got into a position and began slowly and as stealthily as possible to summon up his magic. It formed into a thin needle, no larger than his forearm, quietly seething void mana that yearned to be unleashed.

He raised his hand, blindly tracking the rushing person of interest as they descended, ran through several corridors, then emerged into the gray streets of the old capital. PFZZZZT The man – able to make out his body now that he wasn't watching him through mana sense – ran a few stops before freezing and falling over.

People on the street didn't even notice for a few seconds, then a curious child walked closer and noticed the blood dripping from the almost impossibly tiny hole in his skull and let out a frightened scream. As Sam left the roof behind – dismissing the quest complete screen – he heard the street behind descend into chaos.

'Job well done…' he congratulated himself.

'I wonder how the others are doing…' He returned to the army tents and sought out the tent the officer woman used. After a bit of waiting, he was told that the officer wasn't available, but the rest of his team was nearby. So, he allowed the aide to lead him to them. Sam was led to a small area where the old bench and table from the park were left, to see his team sitting around with a long-suffering look on their faces. He walked over to his despondent team and called out.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" Katie let out a sad sigh, with Isabella sitting next to her and gently patting her head.

"I had to…ugh…guard the gates."

"Ah…" Standing still was never Katie's strong suit. Apparently, the game system also recognized it.

"I had to cover their retreat! I couldn't even destroy a trebuchet! Not even a little one…" she whined rather pitifully.

"There… there…" Isabella mumbled. Deciding that there was nothing he could say to that, Sam turned to Clarissa with a raised eyebrow, the question implied. She frowned.

"I had to help the returning officers."

"Oh, that doesn't sound bad…"

"They were very… opinionated about the place of women in society," she stated flatly.

"Poor Melody almost skewered them several times." It was at that moment that Sam noticed that Melody had reverted to his goose form and was firmly seated in Clarissa's lap, getting pampered not unlike Katie was by Isabella.

"Well… at least nobody died," he commented, then he paused.

"Right?" Clarissa snorted.

"Sure, but not because they didn't try their best to piss me off."

"You're a blessing and grace granted unto humanity…" Sam told her with a smile and graceful bow. She sent him a look, but then returned to running her fingers through Melody's feathery back. If Sam hadn't known how bloodthirsty the bird was usually, then he would have called him cute.

"Izzy? What about you?" he asked, turning toward the girl. She also grimaced.

"I was made to dance before people left the walls to harass the people outside," she explained.

"It seems my experience was similar to Clarissa's."

"Oh, I hope they didn't–""Nah!" she waved his worries away.

"I was joined by several other dancers, so I got lost in the crowd. Plus, it's too cold for that." She smiled a little.

"It was harder to follow the crowd and mesh with their rhythm." Nodding, he finally turned to Dan.

"And you? Did they send you to the kitchen?"

"No," the muscled mage shook his head.

"All I had to do for an hour was to stand in a ritual circle and supply mana and do whatever the lead mage told me."

"Huh, that should've been child's play to you…"

"It was so boooring…" he exclaimed while falling forward onto the table.

"I thought I would die of boredom…" Sam smiled. Isabella always had trouble working with larger groups, wanting to either take the lead or go her way. Katie was also always rushing forward – a bit of standing around would do her good. Clarissa hated handling people, and her bedside manner could be described as 'it exists'. Dan was always thinking about the possibilities of mana and magic, never really just doing it. Maybe this would catalyze them to think a bit differently about their techniques and skills…

It was Katie who asked about his task.

"What about you, boss?"

"Had to hunt some kind of rebel down…" The look she sent him was rather dirty. Sam had taught them the mana sensor trick in case they came across it when they were doing solo content. Apparently, she had remembered. However, before he could start defending himself, a loud horn sounded. All their heads snapped up, looking toward the walls, where the soldiers began to run around animatedly.

The scene instantly dissolved, allowing them to watch as the army stationed outside of the old capital launched a final attack against the walls, an enormous number of humans smashing against the defenses. Sam and his team watched silently as the walls held for a while before they crumbled under the relentless assault, and the army started streaming into the city. However, then it felt as if the very air froze. A small person emerged from the palace and walked toward the approaching attackers. One step. Two steps.

Then the first person simply turned into ice. Then the next one. And from then on, the transformation began to spread, until she was calmly walking toward an army of ice sculptures. She raised a hand and waved it negligently, shattering the sculptures. However, the ice shards didn't vanish. They stayed in the air, then began moving around her like a swarm of birds. Soon, the city streets were running red with blood as the cloud of ice shards moved through them.

They reappeared in a humongous garden that screamed luxury. Yet, instead of radiating beauty or resplendent radiance, it was abandoned. Plants and flowers grew wild, covering every available surface. Beyond the walls of the garden, they could see the sprawling spires of the old capital. In front of them was a terrace where a very familiar woman was muttering to herself as she walked up and down the terrace. Her beautiful dress was in tatters, her hair in disarray, and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.

She was biting her nails, and occasionally her eyes were darting around, as if looking for something. It didn't take her long to notice Sam and his team.

"You!" she yelled, pointing at them.

"You're here to kill me! Don't deny it!" They stayed silent. She continued to rant.

"I won't have it! NO! I won't!" she shouted, hands waving around erratically.

"I'm the empress! I brought peace and prosperity to this warmth forsaken place!"

"Yet they demand I step down!"

"But I won't! I AM the empress! I am the most powerful! I am their leader!" Her ranting continued as snow began to fall. Yet the snowflakes weren't white; instead, they were charcoal gray, leaving behind a dark coating on everything in sight. Finally, after a minute, the woman stopped her ranting, and magic began radiating from her. Shadows began to grow, turning into tentacles behind her, as the dark gray snow started to form into a storm around her. Her eyes also started to glow with eldritch green.

"It is all MINE! You can't take it!" she screeched, and a screen appeared in front of Sam and the others. [The Heart's Torment] [The empress of the empire has been driven into isolation and paranoia by those who sought her power for their own gain; she reached beyond the world to soothe her pain. Unfortunately, she had received an answer. Defeat her and put her to rest.] [Time Limit: None] [Penalty: Death] Sam exchanged a look with the rest of the team, and they all nodded.

Another screech from the empress, and the fight began.