It's a Credit Card.
Looking at the collapsed Edmund, I let out a sigh.
Barkal.
You bastard, how are you going to clean this up?
"What is the reason?"
Blaz, looking flustered as he looked at the fallen Edmund. I asked him.
"Why is this person here?"
Only then did Blaz seem to co to his senses and gave a little cough.
Then Blaz explained the reason why Edmund Steldian, a high official of Iushil, had co here.
The existence of the Adventurer Guild. The gaze of the Kerval Kingdom.
Multiplying dungeons, the threat of necromancers, the fears of the citizens.
We should avoid causing chaos for the ti being. And so on.
"Barbarians cannot listen to long stories! Summarize in three sentences!"
Barkal, who had been listening, spoke.
Please give us a one-liner summary.
"He ca to make sure you all keep your mouths shut to prevent chaos."
Keep our mouths shut?
Ah, so it ans we are to keep silent about what happened under Iushil.
"Not just you, but all the other adventurers who accepted this request as well."
"Why must we stay quiet!"
Barkal shouted, unable to accept it.
Though I understood why they wanted us to stay silent, I wondered if it was really necessary to consider things that far.
Rumors would spread with ti anyway.
I looked at the collapsed Edmund. He wasn't moving, as if he had fainted.
Unable to leave him lying there, Blaz called in the guild's guides.
"Take him."
At Blaz's words, Edmund was dragged out of the room.
What a ss. We've ended up stirring up trouble with the high officials of Iushil.
"Brother! Is there any reason for us to listen to that Branch Manager... the one whose na is just long!?"
Barkal pressed with a question and I answered nonchalantly.
"Everyone will know in ti anyway."
"Know what!?"
"That we accomplished sothing honorable beneath Iushil."
What's more important is sothing else.
"Blaz."
At my words, Blaz looked at . It felt a little odd calling an old man by his na, but thanks to my 'short tongue', there was no helping it.
"As you requested, we saved Iushil from crisis."
"That is true."
"I will hold you to your promise."
Blaz nodded at my words.
He had promised to buy our mana stones at a high price, but that wasn't the only promise we had made.
He would help find soone.
That was one of the reasons I accepted this request.
"Is there sothing you want to find?"
At Blaz's question, I looked at Serena.
"If you have sothing you wish to ask, ask it."
"?"
"I took this task for your sake."
Though she wasn't from the Red Wolf tribe, she was a comrade who risked her life to explore dungeons alongside us strangers.
Even if she was a crazy cleric, I couldn't help but grow attached to her.
"Hic."
Serena uttered a sob as if trying to hold back tears.
"Waaaah!"
And finally, she burst into tears.
W-what's gotten into her all of a sudden?
"A g-ghost possessed !"
Startled by her sudden outburst, Barkal also seed bewildered.
"I-I'm sorry brothers... it's just, I suddenly felt like I truly beca one of the party... buwaaaang!"
I was startled.
It sounded like an elephant crying.
I helped her regain her composure. Before long, Serena cald down, and at Blaz's instruction, a guild staff entered the room.
If you tell the staff what you're looking for, the search will begin.
"The more details, the better."
Serena left the room with the staff. From afar, her "buwang!" cries echoed back, but eventually faded away.
"Is there nothing you wish to find?"
I asked Barkal.
"Brother, I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine!"
He shook his head. The eyes visible through his skull-shaped helt were full of conviction.
"It is about finding corpses. There is no need to rely on others."
His voice rang with strength, and even a sense of faith.
"How was the dungeon undergoing Abyssification?"
Blaz asked . It was similar to the question I'd been mulling over.
"There was a single monster."
"Monster?"
Blaz showed great interest.
I explained in detail what had happened inside. The Abyssification had progressed, with veins sprouting, and they had started multiplying.
And within, there was a Black Knight trying to kill the dungeon master.
I also explained the strength of the Black Knight. I added that, unable to defeat him, I sealed him in the dungeon and escaped.
"A Black Knight trying to kill the dungeon master..."
Blaz closed his eyes in ditation, as if pondering sothing.
"Is he dead?"
With no response, Barkal asked, yet Blaz remained lost in thought.
"I rember now."
Before long, Blaz spoke. He rose from his seat and walked to a nearby bookshelf.
He brought out a large scroll and unfurled it on the table.
It was a map centered on the Kerval Kingdom.
Blaz pointed to the city marked 'Iushil'. Then he slowly moved his finger upward.
Past the Rerudan Forest and further. He pointed to a place marked 'Silverwood'.
I examined this 'Silverwood' closely.
I'd been there while playing 《Dungeon God》, but I didn't rember much.
Why?
Because there was nothing there.
"Three hundred years ago, an incident like this happened in these Silverwood ruins."
An incident like this?
"Indeed! I thought you were old, but are you over 300!?"
He read it in a book, idiot.
I cald Barkal and listened on.
"A dungeon deeply Abyssified. According to records, the Abyssification was even further along than in Iushil's dungeon."
Blaz continued his explanation.
"Many adventurers were dispatched. And those that returned, all said the sa thing."
What was it?
"A White Knight riding a white horse was chasing the dungeon master."
A white horse?
White Knight?
Listening to Blaz, I realized it was almost identical to what we experienced in the dungeon.
But that wasn't the problem.
If there was a 'White Knight,' doesn't that an, besides the Black Knight, there's another out there?
My head began to ache.
Black Knight, white Knight.
And who knows? There could be even more.
Maybe they'll have a full set: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—a rainbow of knights.
"In the end, they closed the dungeon, but the destruction to Silverwood was catastrophic. That's why Silverwood beca ruins."
"Is there any other information?"
There were too many oddities.
At least it was clear there was a connection to the 'Abyss'. The 'White Knight' that Blaz ntioned also appeared in a dungeon undergoing Abyssification.
It's only speculation, but there seems to be so connection to the 'Rune of the Abyss' as well.
That being was highly sensitive to my 'Rune of the Abyss'. The 'rune' in my possession also responded to it.
"Hmm..."
Blaz stroked his beard in contemplation.
Seeing that, Barkal tried to approach to pull Blaz's beard, but I barely managed to stop him.
"Now that I recall, the record said there was an adventurer who lured the White Knight."
Lured him?
"It was written that the adventurer showed sothing to the White Knight who was chasing the dungeon master. Looking at other records... it was a phrase engraved like a rune."
"A rune?"
Hearing Blaz's words, I couldn't hide my surprise.
The adventurer showed sothing to the White Knight, who was pursuing the dungeon master. After that, the White Knight chased the adventurer as if entranced.
It was just like my own experience in the dungeon.
Wait.
Then, what the adventurer showed might have been the 'Rune of the Abyss'?
Perhaps he, seeing the rune react like mine did, showed it to lure the Knight.
"Are you trying to make a riddle?! I hate riddles!"
"I-it's what I read in the records."
Barkal and Blaz made a fuss, but I was too busy organizing my thoughts to pay them any mind.
Soone else able to carry the Rune of the Abyss as I do. If my guess is correct, I definitely want to et them.
No matter how many healthy tonics you down, you wouldn't live to 300.
They must be dead.
If, by so chance, they survived, that's even scarier.
* * *
After finishing our conversation with Blaz, we went down to the first floor of the Adventurer Guild.
My first order of business was to have the 'Hydra mana stone' appraised.
"The result is in—this mana stone is classified as grade B."
As expected, the mana stone was B-grade. It was the highest-grade mana stone we've obtained so far, though its size wasn't big enough to fetch much.
Why is the Hydra's mana stone so small? Did Camila skim a bit off the top?
That crossed my mind, but then I realized that a Hydra's power is proportional to how many heads it has.
The Black Knight.
Maybe, because he cut off so many heads, the mana stone turned out small.
Of course, I sold the mana stone.
As promised, Blaz paid more than usual, and we received an extra twelve gold coins.
"Ah! I forgot to ntion this."
The receptionist who took the mana stone seed to rember sothing and turned to address us.
"Starting from Silver-rank adventurers, you can use credit cards approved by the Adventurer Guild."
"Credit card?"
"Yes!"
What's that?
I looked at the receptionist with a puzzled expression, so she began explaining about credit cards.
From Silver-rank parties and up, you can deposit money into the Adventurer Guild.
A credit card can be used instead of cash to make paynts, and at the beginning of each month, the amount spent is deducted from the guild account.
"Isn't that a credit card?"
"Excuse ? C-credit...?"
"It's nothing."
The words popped out of my mouth before I realized.
This is a credit card.
"Of course, society doesn't favor credit cards just yet. In the neighboring city of Veldoa, the city bank caused a big incident, so there's a bad perception."
"What kind of incident?"
"It was nothing much. The city just recovered a bit of the deposited money for itself!"
That's not a small thing at all.
That's a huge disaster! Is this woman insane!?
A curse almost burst out before I barely managed to swallow it.
Anyway, I listened to the receptionist and received a credit card.
It's just temporary, but 'Silver-Rank'.
If this card is one of the perks of being Silver-Rank, it's better than nothing.
"Did you understand everything I said?"
Maybe because her audience was a barbarian, she asked again. I nodded to show I understood.
"You're amazingly smart! Most barbarians don't get it even after I explain it ten tis!"
Knowing what I do about barbarian intelligence, it makes sense. Still, not understanding after hearing it ten tis is a big problem.
"Why are you not giving us money! I heard checks with the credit card seal can be redeed for money at the Adventurer Guild!"
"I-I've already told you over twenty tis! That's not a guild seal, it's the Iushil Bank's stamp!"
"Explain the difference imdiately!"
Not understanding at this level is definitely a problem.
That thought popped into my mind as, right beside , the receptionist's point was imdiately being emphasized.
"Grunt?"
Barkal glanced at the barbarian arguing and called out.
Grunt?
Is that Urak's brother?
I looked over too, and sure enough, it was Grunt.
"Brothers!"
Grunt also caught our eyes.
Uh, uh-oh.
Why is he suddenly pulling out a weapon?
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