Even after Kaizen wielded the Sword of Ignis, it did not burst into flames as he thought it would. In fact, no orange sparks appeared, which was disappointing to Psyker. However, he was not discouraged, for what mattered was not the sword itself, but one of its components, which Kaizen would obtain by disassembling it and using it to forge a new legendary sword.
Linus clapped, impressed, as Kaizen raised the sword. "Ow! How did you do that?"
Kaizen shrugged, a little disappointed. "I don't know. I guess I just got lucky." He looked at the sword again and felt a shiver run down his spine. Then he put the sword in his inventory and turned to Linus. "All right, I will help you as I promised. But first, I want to know the whole story that brought you here to find me. Wouldn't it have been easier just to stay in the shop?"
As they walked out of the dark, deserted cave, Linus gave Farwynn more details about how he had learned that Kaizen would be looking for the Sword of Ignis in this cave, and why he had found him there.
According to Linus, after Kaizen failed to appear in the grand finale of Midgard's most famous international tournament, his name spread around the world faster than ever. Since the Tretidian capital was his best-known area of activity, the city was filled with comments and theories about him. So the best thing for Linus to do was not to arouse suspicion and also not to jeopardize Kaizen's secret identity by waiting for him in such a place, not to mention that after the attack on the capital, all The Eye of Hermodr wanted was to be far away from any place where there were comments or mentions of Kaizen's name.
With that in mind, Linus went to the Raven Feather shop, introduced himself to the lady there, explained who he was, and his relationship with Kaizen. Alina was very excited and, even without knowing the suspicious-looking man, led him to some places where Kaizen would be in a few days, because Kaizen had already asked the day he returned home for items that could help him forge a legendary sword. By the way, Alina didn't help Linus because she was an idiot, much less because she trusted Linus, she did it because she knew that few people in this world could leave Kaizen in trouble, and Linus' aura was not that of someone like that, even though he looked very strong.
"Well, that explains a few things. So if you're here, the first place I came to look for an item, that means either you got lucky or the Eye of Hermodr is somewhere nearby." Kaizen said.
Linus smiled, holding his hat so that the wind from outside the cave wouldn't blow it far away.
"You are very good at deductions."
"Where are they?"
"About five kilometers northeast. They found an ancient centaur labyrinth and are trying to capture it for their private army of monsters."
"What about the people you mentioned who are searching for an unknown power?"
"We of the Order of Dalamyr have dubbed them the Cursed Ones. A pair of investigators we sent to a ghost village in a small duchy near Mibothen did not return even after two weeks, so we sent three of our best exterminators to the same village. Only one of them returned. He said that what they faced was hardly human, it looked more like a fusion between a paranormal monster and a middle-aged man with a low power level."
"Low level and still defeated two exterminators... That explains the concern."
"Yes. Since then, there have been a few more cases where we have found Cursed Ones. We have found that some of them can be exorcised as ghosts, but only if the level of the exterminator or cleric is higher than the level of the Cursed One."
Kaizen listened intently to Linus' information as they walked along the path to where he had left Black Cloud. He had never heard of the Cursed before, but he had encountered things he couldn't even explain, so he had no doubt that this was real. The idea of a being that was half man and half monster was frightening, but he knew that it was not so far off, considering that he had already encountered a vampire in this game.
"Thank you for sharing this information with me, Linus," Kaizen said. "And now that we know where the Eye of Hermodr is, we must act quickly. Let's go there immediately."
Linus agreed, and together they headed northeast. The road was bumpy and dangerous, with many wild monsters along the way, but these creatures were nothing to Kaizen, who, because he needed to level up, wouldn't let Linus lift a finger to keep from stealing his XP. And Linus didn't complain because he didn't have to get his hands dirty with monster blood.
After an hour of walking, they finally reached the place where the Eye of Hermodr was. The outside of the place was full of monsters of all kinds, trapped in cages that were on top of wagons and carriages, like a caravan going somewhere. Kaizen and Linus immediately realized that they had to be careful not to be discovered, or else all these monsters would be released in their direction.
They hid behind some rocks and watched the situation. There were several knights in black leather armor, and many occultists as well, all around the makeshift camp, keeping watch and going over some things.
If Kaizen were to deduce anything, he would say that the knights in leather armor were mercenaries hired to be used as disposable pawns by the cult, and that at this very moment, inside the stone building, hidden amidst the vegetation of the place, were most of the mercenaries and cultists, trying to capture the Minotaur from the labyrinth without killing him.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
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