The Hunter of the Low Streets (2)
Dalen replied in a nonchalant tone.
“A place thrives when it has more customers. Seems like business is good here.”
A flicker of surprise crossed the woman’s face, but it quickly vanished.
She blinked rapidly, sizing Dalen up and down. Her eyes, framed by long lashes, were quite striking.
“I do have a knack for it. You speak well for someone from the north.”
She gave a slight smile, her eyes teasing.
“Was that a roundabout way of calling me a barbarian? Did you catch that?”
“I caught it. And even a second-generation immigrant barbarian can speak quite well, don’t you think?”
The woman’s smile twisted slightly at his response, which included a bit of Korean.
“Immigrant… what?”
“It means civilized. I heard this was an information guild, but you seem a bit lacking in foreign languages. That’s disappointing.”
An information broker who can’t handle foreign languages.
Dalen smiled back, returning the provocation.
The woman widened her eyes for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Sorry about that. Usually, when you provoke someone from the north, they answer with their fists. I didn’t expect such a gentlemanly comeback. My apologies.”
“It’s fine. I did feel a slight urge to answer with my fists.”
“Good thing I apologized quickly. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of those fists.”
She glanced at Dalen’s fists with a smile.
“Come in. As you said, you’re a guest, so I should at least offer you some tea. It’s before business hours, so no alcohol.”
With that, she turned around, and only then did Dalen notice the crossbow in her hand.
She had been aiming it from behind the door all along—a repeating crossbow with five bolts loaded.
“If I’d answered with my fists, I’d have been riddled with arrows. Her temperament is something else.”
Dalen followed her, calming his suddenly chilled heart.
The two walked down a short hallway into a small room. Like the tavern, this room was softly lit by magic stone lamps.
Several large bookshelves filled with books and scrolls lined the back. In front of them was a wide desk with a comfortable-looking chair, and several wooden chairs for guests.
The furniture, combined with the lighting, created an antique atmosphere, quite different from the Bronze District.
The woman placed the crossbow on the desk and walked over to a wardrobe in the corner.
On top of the low wardrobe were a teapot, elegant teacups, and glass jars filled with dried tea leaves.
“You’ve probably heard of me, but we should introduce ourselves properly. I’m Sienna. I run the Crow’s Nest here. It’s nothing much, just a small tavern and a modest information brokerage.”
“Dalen. I heard you take on various requests here.”
“If you want, that’s possible. Is black tea okay?”
Clink.
Sienna scooped some tea leaves into the teapot and poured in water, setting it by the fireplace.
“By the way, was that your native language earlier? I can handle northern dialects, but that was a language I’ve never heard. Do different tribes have completely different languages?”
“I’m no linguist.”
Though he said that, he wondered if anyone in the north actually spoke it. Korean would be an alien language in this world, not just a foreign one.
The teapot soon began to steam and bubble. Sienna poured the tea into two elegant wooden cups and brought over a tray with dried fruit and bread pieces.
She took a sip from her cup first.
“Oh, I forgot to ask. Who referred you here?”
“A Silver Shield mercenary.”
“Do you think this is some backwater town? There are plenty of Silver Shield mercenaries in the Bronze District. What’s their name?”
“Bookban.”
The sipping sound paused for a moment. Dalen tapped the cup in front of him with his large hand and continued.
“He told me this when he referred me here: If they offer you alcohol, drink it. But if they offer you tea, don’t.”
”…He really says all sorts of things. Did you save his life or something?”
“Something like that.”
In countless playthroughs, he’d taken him as a companion a few times.
He’d saved his life more than ten times. Though he’d also killed him a couple of times.
“I thought he was dead since there was no news for a year after he left the city. Seems he’s doing well.”
“Yes.”
At least for now.
He left the rest unsaid.
Bookban was one of the main NPCs in the game. He could be taken as a companion, or he could become the catalyst for a major event.
The problem was that he ends up brutally murdered in that event. But that was a future not worth discussing.
“The code you knocked with, I only share that with people I consider true friends. Normally, people don’t go around blabbing it. So I was curious how a stranger knew it. That’s why I tested you.”
“For a mere test, the stakes were high. A life, no less.”
“The information business often requires staking one’s life. What if you’d tortured one of my friends to the brink of death to get it?”
Sienna took back the cup in front of Dalen.
Sizzle!
She poured the tea into the fireplace and brought another identical cup, filling it with tea.
“Is black tea okay? This one’s not poisoned.”
“As long as it’s not radioactive.”
”…Could you not say things I can’t understand? It sounds like an insult.”
“Understood.”
Dalen downed the tea in one go. It tasted decent enough.
That was the extent of his appreciation. He’d always preferred alcohol over tea, even on Earth.
“So, you’re looking for a fight, like other northern visitors. To enter Hadash’s Celestial Palace or whatever it is.”
“Hadash’s Eternal Palace. That’s right.”
Dalen nodded.
In the game’s lore, barbarians crossing the Frost Highlands all sought battle. It was a custom tied to their faith.
Whether this body was truly born in the north was uncertain.
But since everyone assumed he was from the north, Dalen played along.
With his current lack of power, it was best to avoid standing out.
This world was full of superhumans who could crush even Dalen with ease.
“To be honest, I don’t know you well yet. Whether you saved Bookban’s life or coerced him for information, today is our first meeting. Right?”
“Correct.”
Sienna nodded. She set down her teacup and clasped her hands.
“You said you wanted a fight? I’ll find you such requests. But for now, I can only offer minor tasks that won’t affect my business much if you fail.”
“That’s fine. As I said, this is our first meeting.”
“Good.”
Sienna grinned.
“Let’s see what our great warrior, who supposedly slices goblins in half, can do.”
Dalen walked through the alleys of the Bronze District.
In his hand was a bounty request.
The request was neatly written, detailing the necessary information.
From the task description to the reward, and the target’s general whereabouts. All penned by Sienna.
As he read the writing, her teasing smile came to mind. Seeing it in reality was quite different from the game screen.
She was prettier, too. Dalen scratched his chin.
“She’s a sly one.”
The idea that she didn’t know him was nonsense.
In truth, she already knew about Dalen. From the stories the merchant guilds spread to the thugs he beat up in the back alleys last night.
She was undoubtedly the top information broker in the Bronze District. In the game, she would soon become one of the leading figures in the labyrinth city’s information guilds.
Dalen chose her among the many brokers in the Bronze District for that reason.
No matter how strong he became, he couldn’t face the apocalypse alone.
Splash.
A splash sounded beneath his feet. Dalen glanced down.
His leather shoes had stepped into a puddle. A small stream trickled from a corner.
The damp, muddy path indicated he was nearing his destination.
He had ventured deep into the heart of the Bronze District.
“A bounty request from the Low Streets.”
Of the seven districts surrounded by seven walls, the outermost Bronze District was the largest.
Yet even the Bronze District couldn’t accommodate the growing population of Falcion.
Those who were pushed out of even the most remote back alleys chose to go down, not out beyond the walls.
Parts of the labyrinth city’s vast and complex sewer system, home to millions, had turned into slums known as the “Low Streets.”
The target of this request was at the entrance of the Low Streets, in a slum half-buried underground. People had been disappearing there for a month.
The missing were mostly women or children alone. Disappearances occurred every three to five days.
The scenes showed signs of fierce struggle, and local residents had tried to find the culprit but failed.
“And the last missing person was a grown man.”
Whoever the culprit was, they were growing bolder. Or perhaps more confident in their abilities.
Splash.
Dalen sensed the ground sloping downward with his keen senses.
The path beneath his feet was now half-mud. The buildings were all single-story or low two-story structures, many so dilapidated they seemed ready to collapse.
And the sunlight grew fainter and fainter, despite it not being dusk yet.
The only sources of light in the sewer came from the cracks in the ceiling and the occasional drain scattered throughout.
“It should be around here,” Dalen muttered to himself.
The writing on the paper was too smudged to read clearly, but Dalen’s sharp mind had memorized the details perfectly.
This area was notorious for disappearances. Not a soul was in sight.
People must have heard the rumors and started avoiding this place.
“It’s too dark. Maybe I should’ve brought a torch.”
Just as he was considering this, he heard a splash.
Footsteps echoed from deeper within the alley.
Dalen turned his head toward the sound. He squinted, but the alley was shrouded in darkness.
He could only see about thirty steps ahead.
He decided to move forward. Whatever emerged from the shadows, his enhanced abilities would protect him. At least, for now.
“Hun…gry…”
A voice broke the silence.
It was more of a grating, metallic rasp than a human voice, closer to that of a beast.
“So… hungry…”
A grotesque figure emerged from the darkness. Its appearance was monstrous.
But Dalen’s attention wasn’t on its hideous form. Instead, he focused on the words that appeared above it.
[You have discovered the corpse of a hunter devoured by the experiment.]
[TIP: A body consumed or absorbed by another can be inherited by defeating the entity responsible.]