CHAPTER 50: ONYXSILK TOWN

’Haha, HAHAHA!’

Dante laughed inwardly, seeing his luck much smaller than before. If it was compared, it’d be around 70% of its former size.

A few days ago, he was attacked by strange green creatures, which the driver called ’goblins’. And as the strongest in the carriage, it was his ’duty’ to kill them with his own hands.

Of course, he had killed every single one of them after linking his misfortune with them first. In this process, he discovered a small thing.

’Some of them made me lose more misfortune than others.’

What he realized was that the amount of misfortune he was losing was never a fixed amount.

Tkiee was the one who made him lose the most misfortune, and some of the goblins barely affected his misfortune at all.

There was definitely a factor that affected the misfortune he lost, and Dante guessed it was related to a power of some kind.

’After all, you need more misfortune to affect someone who is more experienced, smarter, or stronger.’

Still, Dante was happy with the result. For some reason, they were attacked several times continuously in the past few days, so Dante was able to reduce his misfortune significantly and learn a few things.

"Cough."

The sound of someone coughing snapped Dante out of his daze. He looked at the source of the sound and saw three guards looking at him with their noses covered.

’Tsk, you all are too sensitive. It’s not even that bad.’ Dante shook his head in frustration, remembering how Elizabeth and the driver had been treating him like a source of pollution.

One of the guards approached Dante, acknowledging him as the strongest, and asked: "Welcome to Onyxsilk Town. May I know where you came from and your purpose of your visit?"

"Oh, yes." Dante cleared his throat: "I’m just a wanderer. I came here to rent or buy a house and work as a mercenary."

Elizabeth and the driver approached the guard, with Elizabeth giving him the same reason as Dante and the driver asking for some supplies and offering a ride.

Just then, Dante noticed a guard holding a strange rod made of onyx-black material and black wood. His jaw almost dropped as he recognised it.

’Is this a fucking rifle?!’

What the guard wielded looked like the old rifles Dante had read about in history class before leaving his school.

But wasn’t this world supposed to be using primal weapons like swords and arrows? Even if that was an old rifle, it was strange to see it here.

"To enter the town as foreigners, you have two options." The leader of the guards raised two fingers: "You can either pay a small fee, which you’ll have to pay again if you left and tried to re-enter the town, or you can pay for a monthly token that makes you treated as a temporary civilian."

The driver chose to pay a small fee, while Dante and Elizabeth chose to pay for the token.

Elizabeth was planning to stay for a long time in this town, while Dante wanted to leave it freely to kill and reduce his misfortune.

After being scanned by the guards for some safety, they finally handed Dante and Elizabeth their tokens, which cost them 5 gold coins.

’Fucking scam!’

They were smooth and black like onyx and had the town’s name engraved on it. In addition to that, there was a strange emblem of a spear piercing the skull of a dragon.

’Wait, what the hell is this.’

As Dante scanned the guards’ armors and the gate carefully, he saw similar emblems engraved on all of them. The same spear piercing the skull of a dragon.

"...."

Moving to the side to let them pass, the rifle guard warned: "Remember, you’ll have to pay again if you lose your tokens, so take care of them if you love your money. And don’t dare to cause any troubles in the town unless you want to spend the rest of your life in prison. There are a lot of guards inside."

Elizabeth and Dante thanked him before paying farewell to the driver, finally moving to the town.

But as the guards were about to open a small door in the gate, Dante suddenly looked at the rifle guard and asked: "Can I ask about this thing you’re holding? And how did you get it?"

The guard smirked: "This? This little girl is called Ignition Rod, a weapon that even a farmer can use as it can shoot small objects. I got it from a dwarf that I had saved when I was an adventurer. If you want a cheap one, you’d need to visit the Southern Region, where the dwarves live."

Dante raised an eyebrow: "Dwarves?"

The guard nodded: "You know, those short people who have anger issues, know how to make machines, and love alcohol more than their mothers."

Dante thanked him for the information and moved to the gate, glancing at Elizabeth unconsciously.

’Short people, huh?’

The leader of the guards brought a strange token before one of the doors in the middle of the gate. Immediately, the door opened magically, revealing a path that led into the town.

’Finally!’

Thanking the guards for the last time, Dante held Elizabeth’s hand—ignoring her reaction from the slimy blood—and moved into the town.

Soon after, the door closed as the guards returned to reading the newspaper.

"Damn it! More bad news!"

¢¢¢

’Phew, they didn’t notice anything.’ Dante sighed in relief as he walked deeper into the town, not bothering himself with some homeless people.

The guards didn’t notice Dante’s race nor the crown in the middle of his forehead. Skylar’s recommendation wasn’t that bad at all.

"What will we do now?" Elizabeth asked as she stopped walking.

Dante thought for a moment before answering: "I’ll register myself in the Mercenary Guild as Skylar advised me, find an inn to sleep in until I get myself a house, and visit the library."

As they started walking again, Elizabeth tilted her head: "Library?"

Dante nodded: "Yes, I chose this town because it’s supposed to have one of the biggest libraries in this duchy."

Dante planned to learn as much as he could in this town. From runes and magic to the most ’common’ knowledge that he lacked.

"I’ll register as a mercenary too, then. And I think... you should take a shower first." Elizabeth said as she kept trying to take her hand away from Dante’s grip.

Dante ignored her last remark and started asking random people for directions.

Some of them looked at him with disgust and avoided him, but a few others simply laughed and told him where to go.

As he walked through the town, he scanned every part of it, and was certainly amazed by what he was seeing.

Unlike the village, where all the buildings were poorly made and were random, the houses here were good-looking and sorted in a well-organized way.

There were alleys between the buildings, main roads for people and carriages, and a few traders here and there.

Although there were a few homeless people, the majority of the civilians were good-looking and had good luck.

After walking and asking for an hour, they finally reached a building that looked like a fancy inn, made completely of onyx-like material, highlighting the wealth of its owners.

Looking at the sign above the door, Dante smiled as he confirmed that it was the right place.

[The Mercenary Guild]

Dante immediately pushed the door and entered the inn, only to be met with the strong smell of alcohol and the loud noises of the people inside.

’Argh, I hate this smell. And what is this door made from?’

Before entering the inn, he hadn’t smelled or heard anything at all. It was a bit scary, because if a massacre happened here, no one outside would notice.

"Am I too high or this boy is made of green slime?"

"Can it be turned into wine?"

"You fools, it’s goblin blood. Use your noses for once."

Some people murmured and laughed at Dante, but he ignored them and scanned the inn.

The inn was so big compared to the inns he had seen in the village. There were tens of people on this floor, and he saw stairs that hinted to more floors upward.

There were several doors on the sides, either rentable rooms or for private use and storage.

Ignoring them, Dante noticed two women wearing fancy black suits at the inn counter. They sat silently and were doing some kind of paperwork instead of serving the people.

’It should be them.’

But as Dante was about to approach the women, he noticed that the wall on the right side and the wall on the left side were different and had many people standing at them.

At one of them, [Wanted Posters] was written in a bold font, and at the other, [The Quest Board Wall] was written in a bold font as well.

’Is this...’

Pulling Elizabeth with him, Dante took her to the wanted posters. His gaze focused on the drawing of a familiar person on one poster.

As Dante read it, his jaw dropped instantly.

[WANTED: SKYLAR BLOODBORNE]

``The youngest prince of the Vampire Kingdom lost his mind and left the kingdom secretly. The queen is offering a great reward for whoever brings him healthy and alive. Any serious harm to the prince will turn you into an enemy of the kingdom.``

{Recommended Mercenary Rank: Silver Rank 2}

{Rewards: 1000 Medium-sized Mana Crystals, Grade 4 Artifact With Rank 4 Enchantments Of Your Choice}

"...."

Noticing Dante’s silence, Elizabeth asked: "What’s wrong?"

Dante sighed: "...I miss Skylar."