CHAPTER 29: CH 29: ENTER THE RUINS

"Sir, I don’t think we should do that. What if something goes wrong? Having the Adventurer’s Guild on standby would be the safest thing to do-"

"Oh, come on-! Those people will ask us to come back and go through proper channels to investigate. In the worst-case scenario, they might ask us to stop investigating altogether. I cannot risk that. Hey, you-! Don’t you dare-! You are on my side, right?"

The journalist asked Cane. Lloyd turned toward Cane as well to see what he would decide.

However, Cane already had his answer.

"I was the one who suggested we don’t tell the Adventurer’s Guild. I am not going to go back on my words now."

After all, he had almost 100k viewers ready to spread the word if he was in trouble. That confidence made him decide what he needed to do.

[HaremKingXXX: Wow-! That’s some confidence. Let’s hope that you are able to maintain it until the end.]

Those words almost sounded like a curse, but Cane shook them off as he entered the second chamber. This time, he entered first because Lloyd was a little hesitant.

The hired help sighed as he had no choice but to follow along.

"Hmm, let me see. Where is my camera? I need to record everything in here."

Paul spoke as he quickly looked around and started snapping photos of the walls. He was not only precise but also muttered to himself. Paul, on the other hand, was much more cautious as he looked around.

Cane was the only one who had his map open for any dangers.

The ground shook a little, and Cane immediately shot at the place where the monster was about to spring up from.

[Shura:

Wow-! So OP]

[Bugcontrol: Are you serious? Can’t you tell that it’s a hack? Stop trying to be impressed by every little thing that man does.]

Cane smiled at the reply before he opened his mouth.

"For someone who keeps on saying that I have hacked my account, you all sure like to stick around. I think you secretly love me and appreciate me."

The chat suddenly quietened for a second before they all went loud. The commenter whom this was addressed to also defended himself.

[Bugcontrol: ME? LIKE YOU-? AS IF! I AM ONLY HERE TO SEE YOUR DEMISE. THAT’S ALL.]

"Well, that sounds more like denial to me. But whatever makes you happy."

Cane replied back, and the commenter went quiet. He went back and forth a few times with different people before Paul skipped over to him with a happy smile on his face.

"Oh my god-! This place is amazing. It’s a treasure trove of information. Listen to this. The story of how our town came to be starts at..."

The journalist seemed passionate about his job, and he muttered sentence after sentence of what he had discovered.

But Cane was not a lore player, so he could not say that he cared much about it... or understood it for that matter.

’Ugh, if I wanted to study history, I would have chosen it as a major. But well, since Paul is happy, then that means that my quest is going well, right?’

There was no precedent to this quest, so Cane could only trust his intuition.

Finally, after an hour or so, Paul finished speaking and realized that he was wasting time while talking to Cane.

"Oh no-! I needed to capture more of the world around us. Everyone deserves to know the truth. Here, you record as well."

Cane got handed a camera as well, and the journalist went back to work. Only Lloyd was left alone to guard them, but he looked more and more tense as time went on.

Finally, the first chamber was recorded, and Cane wondered if he should tell the journalist about the second chamber.

Going in there could be dangerous, especially since they had no preparation. But Cane still felt a tug that caused him to want to explore.

[Sidequest found: Secrets of Louve. Please proceed to the second chamber to start this side quest.]

The system suddenly prompted the quest, and Cane felt obligated to start it now.

"Is it finally time to head back?"

Lloyd asked, and Cane immediately jumped in.

"Not yet. There is a second chamber here. Should we go and explore it as well?"

The journalist was ready to head in anytime. He did not even give the hired help a chance to speak before he piped in.

"Of course. We can’t let this opportunity pass us like this. Come, follow me. Or rather, you show us the way."

Cane nodded as he headed toward the section of the map that showed the second room. As soon as he opened the door, something jumped toward them.

He shot at it, and Lloyd attacked that monster as well. The monster finally died, and Cane looked at the map.

There was no sign of any other monster, but the sudden attack had left them all winded.

The journalist was the first one to calm down and react. He looked at the room in front of him with a determined expression.

"I am not about to let that jump scare stop me. You both can follow me if you want to. But I am going in."

The journalist was the most extreme NPC Cane had ever met in this game. He was not only determined but also willing to forgo his own health to get what he wanted.

Cane followed the man inside, and Lloyd also let out a sigh as he followed the pair.

"It is not too late for us to turn back. If you decide to do that, please tell me."

He told the two but was ignored. Cane’s chat kept talking about this quest, and soon, it reached outside the circles and to the top players of the server as well.

Those who had never heard of this quest before, even while doing their best to look for all possible quests, could not help but question how that happened.

And one of these people was the server rank #1 — Joseph.