"Huh? Is there something for me in it?" The thug asked.
"Of course," Souta said as he threw a piece of gold coin in the air.
The thug stretched out his hand and caught the piece of gold coin. Opening his palm, he observed the coin in his hand.
"Oh, go on. You can tell me what you wanted to know." The thug said as he put the gold coin in his pocket.
"Do you know something about the recent incident regarding the people that died because of their own bite?" Souta asked.
The thug opened his eyes widely before he looked left and right trying to find if there were people around him.
After finding that there's no one around him, he breathed a sigh of relief. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Souta.
"You're not from this place, right?" He asked.
"What makes you think so?" Souta raised his eyebrows at the reaction of the thug.
"That topic is forbidden in the streets. People believe that as long as you don't mention it, you will not suffer the curse." The thug explained.
"Curse?"
"Yeah, we believe that it is a curse that's haunting the Dukedom of Halbun. This is not the first time that this happen. My pops told me that this incident also occurred exactly twenty-seven years ago. He told me that some people excavated a cursed artifact that day and it leads to the series of curses across the entire dukedom." The thug explained slowly.
"Then, do you believe in that story?" Souta asked.
"I have no choice but to believe it. Nothing will happen to me anything if I didn't mention it so it's better to be safe but... You, you had to be careful. You've mentioned it. According to my father, you will become the target of the curse." The thug warned.
"Oh? But I heard that drunkards in the pub mentioning it several times." Souta tilted his head.
"Not everyone knows about it. That's why people kept dying from the same curse. Do you think those people will mention it if they know that they shouldn't utter those words?" The thug said with a serious expression. "Since you gave me a silver coin, I'll just warn you."
He then turned around and left. "Be careful."
Souta looked at the back of the thug with a deep frown.
This incident wasn't new. It happened decades ago. It seems that the background of the culprit was deeply rooted in this city.
Some people know that it was a curse but Souta thought that it didn't come from a cursed artifact. Instead, it comes from a person with a curse attribute.
"Twenty-seven years ago... I need to investigate what really happened that day." Souta muttered to himself.
'It seems that your guess is right. If this incident occurred in the past then there's a high possibility that some organizations are involved with it. You need to be careful.' Saya's voice sounded in his mind.
'I know.' Souta nodded before he disappeared. He reappeared on the rooftop of a six-storey building.
Swoosh!
Even though it was dark, Souta could clearly see what was happening below him. His eyes followed the thug's movement until he reached his home.
After all, Souta wanted to talk to a person that know the events decades ago and the father of the thug know it. Before he began his investigation with the other noble families he had to meet the thug's father.
"But... I mentioned the curse before. It would be better if I became the target of the culprit so that I could finish this mission as soon as possible." Souta muttered as he turned his head.
Swoosh!
He jumped on the other roof as he followed the thug.
Half an hour later...
Souta was standing in front of a small wooden house. He slowly raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Knock! Knock!
"Who is it?! It's already dark!!"
A voice sounded from the house and after a few moments, the door slowly opened.
"Hello, sir." Souta greeted the middle-aged man behind the door.
"Who are you?" The middle-aged man asked warily.
"Me...? Hmm... You can call me Fate." Souta smiled faintly. "Please, excuse me for my rudeness. I know that you're wary about me but I just want to know something."
The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes and asked in a strong tone, "What do you want to know?"
Souta looked left and right before he placed his mouth near the middle-aged man's ear.
He whispered, "About the curse..."
The man opened his eyes widely as he step back in shock while looking at him.
"You! You! How?!"
"I just heard that you know some details of the curse spreading the entire Dukedom of Halbun." Souta lowered his voice so that no one could hear it. For security, he even used some of the mana he stocked in his parasite to isolate the sound.
"Where did you learn it?" The man asked.
"I will not tell you my source but I assured you that I will not spread what I will hear from you." Souta looked at the small house and added, "Also, it seems that you lack money so I will give you one silver coin."
The value of a silver coin was higher than a gold coin.
The middle-aged man turned silent. After a while, he looked at Souta and said, "Come inside."
Souta's smile grew wider when he heard it. "You pick a good choice. I appreciate it."
He stepped forward and followed the man inside the wooden house. The moment he entered the house, he felt something.
Hmm...
He looked down and tapped his boots on the wooden floor.
"Oh, it seems that your background isn't ordinary at all. This wood came from a rare tree called Ardoni."
"I got this house from my father. I couldn't sell the woods because it's too old and already lost its luster." The man waved his hand as if it was nothing.
"At least you will earn one hundred to two hundred gold coins with it."
"Don't worry about it. I'm used to living here anyway. I still managed to live through this life."
Souta looked at the middle-aged man's back without saying any more words. The life of weak creatures was really pitiful. They could hardly get any money to buy their daily necessities.
Money? For powerful creatures money wasn't a problem. Money was automatically coming to them every time they make a move.
Before Souta could hardly get any money from his quest but now... Just simple carcasses or loots from high-level dungeons could earn him tons of money.
"You can sit anywhere." The middle-aged man said.
Souta just sat on a vacant chair and observed the room. He snapped his fingers and a barrier that isolated sounds enveloped the house.
"You don't need to worry, I've erected a barrier to prevent eavesdropping."
He assured the man.
"...As expected you're not an ordinary person." The middle-aged man replied.
"That doesn't matter. I'll just want to know everything that you know about the curses. I just arrived in this place the other day and I found this case quite intriguing." Souta said with a small smile.
"Is that so? I must warn you that this is dangerous." The middle-aged man said with a gloomy look.
"I know. I've conquered tons of dungeons housing powerful monsters so I'm used to danger. I even encountered gods before." Souta shrugged his shoulder.
"Um... Actually, I don't know the exact details of the curse." The man said hesitantly.
"Don't worry, just tell me everything that you know about the curse. After this, you can even forget about me and I will not bother you. No people have seen me entering this place and no one is listening to our conversation." Souta assured the middle-aged man.
"Fine... All of this started twenty-seven years ago. The Dukedom of Halbun isn't as prosperous as of right now. At that time, a group of treasure hunters discovered a passage under the city." The man took a deep breath before he continued, "I'm just a bystander so I don't know what happened in their exploration but according to the survivors. They've opened a coffin containing an artifact with a powerful curse."
The survivors planned to sell this but on the next day, the survivor died because of the curse. Their bodies had bite marks that correspond to their teeth. No one believed it but the curse slowly spread to the people that talked about it.
More than three hundred people had died because of that curse and it lasted for three months.
The man didn't know why the curse stopped but he was glad that the disaster had disappeared.
Souta frown grew deeper after he heard the middle-aged man's story.
Is it really because of an artifact? Just like the incident with Saya or maybe not?
He moved his eyes and looked at the rewards.
'This will not be an easy mission.'
