Touch of Fate

After formally registering his move with the Guild's front desk, Mike headed back to the inn and met up with the rest of the party to discuss what he'd learned.

"So, let me get this straight. You have to delve into one of the most dangerous dungeons on the continent by yourself, immobilize a dangerous monster, and then carve pieces of it off to bring back to the Guild?" Morris asked with a rueful smile. "And only then will we have the liberty to go into the dungeons ourselves?"

"More or less. There are other options, of course, but this seems to be the fastest and easiest."

"Really? And you all are alright with him doing this?" The bard asked the others.

Tal merely shrugged as if to say that it wasn't all that unusual, and that they shouldn't be too concerned about the matter. Lily and William kept their silence, although the butler did have the decency to look uncertain about it. As expected, Sera chose to make a comment, albeit an unexpected one.

"It's fine. I'm sure he wanted to go by himself at first anyway. This just gives him an excuse." She replied dryly.

"That's true." Mike said. "I had been intending on scouting out both of the dungeons with the intention of identifying any hazards that might cause problems during our delves. This way, I can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak."

Morris frowned at that. "Aren't you...doesn't this make you a bit angry?"

She glanced over at him briefly before sighing. "I would have been in the past, but frankly I'm beginning to understand his side in this."

"Oh? You aren't worried about him encountering something too difficult for him to handle on his own?"

"Mike is the Hero, and a Tier 4 to boot. Short of a few other Tier 4s and the gods themselves, I don't think there are many things left in this world that could actually threaten him. Besides, if he really ran into a situation that he couldn't manage himself, do you think our help would be enough to turn the tables."

Grimacing, Morris muttered, "If he didn't know what it was...Alright, I see your point. For the record, I wasn't arguing against the move by itself, I was just playing devil's advocate and trying to determine the group's opinion on the matter."

Sensing they'd reached a consensus, Mike stood up. "Alright then, I'll go ahead and get started. The sooner I clear this request, the sooner I can start running you guys through the dungeons."

"Whoa, whoa, you're going to the dungeon right now?" Morris asked, a bit taken aback. "It's almost night...which I guess doesn't really matter to you, but you haven't done any kind of research into the dangers you might face inside. It's one thing to be confident about your ability to overcome any challenges, it's quite another to blindly walk into a dangerous situation."

"Right, right. That's what I meant. Of course I wasn't planning on just going there directly." Mike replied quickly while trying to maintain a straight face.

His friend sighed, "Alright, I won't complain, just be careful. I know from first-hand experience how you can quickly get in over your head."

"Come on, it's been ages since the Vargulf. Cut me some slack." He shot back. Then, feeling slightly guilty about giving Morris a hard time, he added. "I'll be careful, and if I end up somewhere too dangerous, I'll make sure to run away."

"Good. I figured this kind of situation would come up, so I've taken the liberty of jotting down some information about the dungeons in this area that is publicly available. While it may not have all the answers, and can't compare to what the local experts can come up with, it should be enough to see you through to the lower floors."

Mike accepted the stack of papers covered in the bard's neat writing, and glanced through it quickly. "This is...amazing. How did you manage it so quickly?"

"It's nothing much…"

"He's been working on a few of those things over the last few weeks." Sera broke in. "I think he builds a framework based on his own personal knowledge and then fills in the details when he has access to reference materials. He finished up this one while you were gone, after questioning several knights he happened to run into."

He looked at Morris questioningly.

The bard scratched the side of his neck, obviously uncomfortable. "Well, since I can't really help all that much in combat, I can at least make sure we go into situations armed with enough information."

Mike walked over and patted his friend on the shoulder. "Thanks. This will really come in handy."

"Right, well. It's getting pretty late. If you want to question the experts at the Guild before they close, you'll probably need to head back there soon."

[I seriously doubt those idiots could tell me anything useful, but I suppose I need to go officially accept the request.]

"Yeah, I need to be heading out. If you have any troubles while I'm gone, make sure to use the necklaces."

As he was heading to the door, Lily stopped him and handed him an apple without any explanation. Once he'd accepted it, she nodded once and wandered away.

"Thanks?"

[Does she think I'm hungry?]

Dismissing the unusual behavior of the woman, he headed back out into the street and ambled in the direction of the guild while reading through Morris's notes.

[He's really...detailed. I don't think the ecology of one particular variety of cave moss that can be found on the first floor is important enough to devote an entire page to. I'll have to have a talk with him about what actually matters for a dungeon delve. That said, there's a lot of good information here.]

Mike was about to take a bite of the apple when he felt a sudden burst of hostility from his right, well within the range of his detection abilities. He caught a glint of something metallic out of the corner of his eye, and leaned back out of instinct.

It was good that he did, as a narrow bladed weapon ripped through the space his head had occupied a second ago, flickering across his vision almost too quickly to track.

Knowing he needed to get some space between him and his attacker, he channeled his mana, and tried to launch himself away with a blast of Air Magic, but he had to stop as the unknown assailant unleashed a flurry of thrusting attacks with his weapon. It was all he could do to avoid them.

Thinking quickly, he used one of his dodging motions to release the apple he'd been holding in an underarm throw at the enemy, hoping to at least distract him long enough to back away. Unfortunately, the attacker simply cut the fruit in two with a flick of his wrist, and was in the process of resuming his assault when the bisected apple exploded.

As his world filled with heat and light, he had the time to think, [Dammit Lily!] before impacting the ground.

Mike rolled back to his feet a few meters away from the blast radius. He drew his sword and readied his mana with the intention of blasting the assailant before he had a chance to recover, but stopped himself when he heard the stranger start to laugh.

"Hahaha, that's great! An exploding apple! I can safely say that I've never seen anything like that before. Got to give it to you kid, that caught me by surprise."

The man's voice was rough and gravelly, indicative of someone who'd lived a hard life. His appearance matched the voice, with an untamed mane of grey hair surrounding a face mostly covered by a scraggly beard. His clothes were little more than rags, and he was barefoot. In fact, were it not for the exquisite rapier he held lightly in one hand, Mike would've had a hard time connecting the man to his agile attacker.

"I'm glad you liked it. Perhaps you can stand there for a few minutes while I throw a few more at you." He quipped to buy time while using Appraise.

---------------------

Daisy

Age: 19

Race: Human

Class: Farmer

Title: Milkmaid

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[...That can't be right.]

The man laughed again. "Ha! I'll pass on that. And don't think I'm not aware of what you are doing. If you want to figure out my identity, Hero, you'll have to do better than that."

Mike felt cold. "Then how about introducing yourself? It only seems fair after you attacked me for no reason."

"Come now," The beggar swordsman replied with a grin. "That wouldn't be any fun, but since you did ask nicely, I suppose it is only fair to give you a hint. Let's just say that I am acquainted with someone who used to be quite close to you, but has decided to move on to other things."

[Unless he's speaking figuratively, that means Brenden. Could he be a member of the underworld?...No. They didn't have anyone this capable in their arsenal. Unless I miss my guess, he's probably also a Tier 4. That does raise another possibility...]

"I'm not sure what this has to do with our mutual friend, but I think I might have an inkling of who you might be." He said confidently while walking towards the middle of the street. Thankfully, there weren't many pedestrians out at the moment, and the few that were around had evidently decided that they had somewhere else to be.

"Is that right? Why don't you take a stab at it, then?"

"Judging from your presence while you were attacking me, you are also a Tier 4, which really narrows down the options. Since there are only two well-known Tier 4s in the Riverlands, and you don't really look like a Sable Enchantress to me, I'm guessing you're the other one."

The man grinned again. "The Sword Saint? That's who you think I am? What a compliment!"

"Well, am I right?" Mike asked while falling into a combat stance.

"Who knows?" The swordsman said with a shrug. "Honestly, I'm getting tired of all this conversation. I came here to have a fight with the legendary Hero of Almir. The man who took down Kultanis. While a little bit of mid-combat banter is always entertaining, this is really too much."

"Is that why you attacked me? Just to have a fight?"

His only answer was a sudden blur of motion as the man stabbed forward in a blindingly fast thrust that forced Mike to parry. They exchanged a few lightning fast blows before he used a burst of Air Magic to throw himself back onto the roof of a nearby building.

Glancing down at the healing cuts that covered his arms, Mike realized that he was outmatched in terms of pure swordsmanship. The brief exchange had told him that not only was the other man a more experienced fighter, but his style of fighting was too deceptive and flexible to be adequately countered using his own style.

At least so long as he relied purely on his physical skills.

[In that case, I'll just have to level the playing field a little.]

His reprieve was put to an end as the swordsman vaulted the lip of the rooftop, easily leaping over three meters vertically to do so. Not wanting to give him a chance to resume the attack, Mike took the opportunity to unleash a ball of concentrated flame.

Unsurprisingly, the man dodged aside, allowing the projectile to fly past him, and was in the process of running forward again when the fireball exploded behind him, momentarily distracting him as Mike fired a hail of stone javelins in his direction.

The attacker slipped between the spears, and even managed to avoid the spike of concentrated darkness summoned from his shadow. Despite his successful evasions, his momentum carried him within Mike's striking range, and only with a desperate block was he able to avoid being impaled by a sword. Nevertheless he was left unbalanced by his exertions.

Feeling a degree of admiration towards the swordsman, who was still grinning, Mike followed through on his mana-infused kick, delivering a crushing blow to the man's midsection that sent him careening across the street and embedding him in the masonry of a two-story house.

[While satisfying, that was a bit more destructive than I'd anticipated. It's going to be challenging to limit the collateral damage from here on out.] He thought while jumping back down to the ground and approaching the already stirring pile of debris.