Restarting From Genesis

Chapter 56: Preparing for departure

A quest that had the chance of interrupting other quests sounded really bad, what made it worse was that the reward and failure punishments were hidden. This was beginning to feel like the quest Kilo had tried to give him earlier, the only thing preventing Merlin from declining it at that very moment was that the quest wasn’t given to him by the thief lord.

Instead the quest was generated after hearing about the world’s lore. The quest was given to him by the world itself, meaning it wasn’t influenced by an NPC’s agenda.

He eventually accepted the quest, the promise of a story that was hidden from him in his previous life was more than enough temptation. But there was also the fact that it was a hidden epic quest offered to him at such a low level.

Merlin made a mental note that this strange family had a lot more secrets to uncover, being the cause of not one, but two hidden epic quests appearing in such a short span of time. He wanted to discover the family’s story, almost purely out of curiosity and self satisfaction, but there was also the reason of wanting to help the elf get his wife back.

Making his way out of the tunnel, following slowly behind the thief lord who had left his side, Merlin had entered the gambler’s den once more. Instead of the strange looks he had expected, the thieves sitting at the gambling tables all stared at him with excitement.

"Give a warm welcome to our new brother!" The elf roared as he grabbed a glass from the bar and raised it into the air. "Merlin, the Ghost!"

"Ghost!" A collective roar rung out in the den as all the thieves in the room raised their cups, causing various liquors to slosh around and spill everywhere, adding to the already abundant alcohol stains on the furniture and floor.

"That’s not the part you should have picked up on!" Merlin’s complaint was drowned out by the drunken laughter of the thieves. But he was happy that at least the elf had used his name.

"I take it you’re not going to stick around for a drink." The elf lord approached him, glass of whiskey in hand.

Merlin gave him a brief smile and shook his head, "I’ve got a couple promises to keep. But I’ll be back eventually."

"I’ve got a few tasks for you, but they aren’t urgent." The elf gave him a nod before turning away, "Don’t get caught."

"Wait, what is the code to get in again?" Merlin quickly asked.

The elf lord turned to face Merlin once more, although he didn’t say anything at first. It looked like he was struggling to hold a straight face, but a few seconds passed and he eventually started laughing, causing his glass of whiskey to spill.

"What kind of stupid organisation has a secret code." The elf began wiping his tears, "That was a joke we used to play on new recruits, forcing them to say something stupid every time they wanted to enter."

"Oh, but we did accidentally catch a rat because of it." The elf had calmed himself down, and began sipping on what was left of his drink. "Don’t worry, we’ll spare you the humiliation. My daughter remembers everyone’s face."

Merlin said his goodbyes and made his way out the den through the secret door in the cellar. Making his way back up, there were only a handful of people sitting around the shady tavern, and they didn’t seem that bothered by his presence anymore. He made his way out into the alleyway, making a mental note of where the guild was as he walked out onto the filthy street.

At this point, the sun was getting low, meaning Merlin would only have a few more hours of daylight before the sun hid behind the treeline. He wanted to get back to Orchomenus before nightfall, he was uncomfortable not knowing when the ghost would attack him again.

As he made his way through the gloomy neighbourhood, the sound of metal clinking together began getting louder. When he turned the corner he saw a bald man wearing a familiar looking armour, the uniform of the town guards, it seemed as though the guard noticed him too.

"What are you looking at?" The guard spat towards Merlin before walking off.

Fortunately the saliva didn’t land anywhere near Merlin, but he still wanted to pummel the guard’s face in. Although he decided against it, being regarded as a criminal for no merit other than self satisfaction would heavily impede his progress.

Eventually he had escaped the slums, walking back onto the bustling streets of Macedonia. There were a few places he wanted to visit before leaving the city, the first being Macedonia’s mercenary guild. It only took him a few minutes to traverse the heavy crowd, weaving through carriages and hoards of people, he eventually found himself at the door of the guild.

Entering the building, the environment was similar to Orchomenus, except it seemed as though the furniture was in a better state. As he entered the building he received the usual stares, and looking around, he eventually found the two mercenaries he travelled with. But upon making eye contact, the two mercenaries turned away and went back to drinking.

Merlin heard the usual whispers, it seems his moniker of ghost had spread to this branch of the mercenary guild too. He walked past everyone and approached the woman who was sitting behind the counter, she stared at him as he approached.

"How can I help you?" The woman seemed friendly, although she looked bored. "Want a job, news, or alcohol?"

"Could I get a list of available jobs near Orchomenus." Merlin asked, "And I’ll hear any interesting news."

The woman shuffled through various envelopes and sheets of paper, but put them all back. "Sorry, I don’t have anything for Orchomenus, how about Asea?"

"No, that’s fine. I’ll just take the news then." Merlin felt a little disappointed, but it was fine.

"Alright, interesting news, lets see." The woman started shifting through various forms again, reading the most interesting ones out loud. "There are rumours of a large creature being spotted around Mount Lykaion. The king has sent patrols into the wildlands to reclaim a safe path to the mountain, but they have been unsuccessful so far.

"What else, attempts have been made to regain contact with Charisia, but they still refuse to respond to our calls. There is a rumour that one of the king’s advisers suggested a siege, but it was denied." She continued. "Tegea has sent reports of suspicious activity from the native Lizardfolk living in the Tegean Marshlands. There are also rumours of them cooperating with the Naga, but we haven’t received confirmation on it."

"And for the nearby rumours, there have been sightings of an undocumented undead roaming near Orchomenus." She finished. "And a rumour from a merchant in Lycoa is that the flash of light a week ago was a sign of otherworlders appearing atop the old temple of Artemis."

There was a lot of information to unpack in the several stories he received, most of which were hinting at future events Merlin was familiar with. It didn’t seem like there was anything special in relation to his lore quest, besides the news about otherworlders.

He was especially worried hearing about the unique undead near Orchomenus, this was no doubt referencing his rose themed ghost, but he wasn’t sure if the rumoured sightings occurred when Merlin was nearby, or if the ghost was freely roaming and attacking people at random.

Merlin thanked her for the information and then walked out of the building, back into the crowded city streets. His next goal was to visit the temple and try to acquire blessed salts before he left. After traversing the crowd once more, he pushed his way through, eventually entering the vacant parkland that the temple was located within.

As he walked through the parkland, he slowly approached the large marble staircase that led into the building. There were a few patrons coming and leaving, it seemed rather busy today. Merlin made his way through the open doorway at the top of the staircase, entering the temple.

There in the room, stood the golden statue of Gaia. As well as the many groups currently praying to her likeness. Merlin walked over to one of the priests who was running around dusting every surface he saw.

"Excuse me," Merlin interrupted, "Would you kindly point me towards anyone capable of selling blessed salts."

The priest seemed surprised at first, but happily pointed Merlin towards one of the priests wearing different designs on their garbs, Merlin assumed this meant that they were higher ranked.

"Excuse me, how much would it be for a small bag of blessed salts?" Merlin walked up to the higher rank priest and asked the question.

"Two silver coins for a bag this big." The priest spoke up while holding roughly half a kilogram of blessed salt.

"Perfect, I’ll take one." Merlin said, pulling out two silver pieces, which now left him with six copper.