Souta rubbed his chin as he realized that the old master before him know some details about the things that were happening in this city.
"Master, can you elaborate it?" He asked.
"I'm sorry young man, although I'm staying in this city for several decades, I still don't know the full details." The old man shook his head.
"Is that so... Thanks for the warning. I'll keep your words in my mind." Souta smiled before he took a sip of his coffee.
"Do you have any questions?" The old man asked.
"Nothing." Souta shook his head.
"Then, I'll go now. I still have something to do." The old man smiled before he left.
Souta just stared at the old man's back before he closed his eyes.
The curse and the several organization that was moving in the dark. It seems that the Grain Leader was right. This mission could lead them to another organization.
But for now, if he wanted to know the truth about the case, he had to find the origin of the curse. A battle will erupt in this dukedom and he had a bad feeling about it.
After a while, he paid the bill and left the coffee shop. He will not force the master to work for him.
'What do you think about it, Saya?' He asked while walking on the streets.
'Mmm... We gained some important information. According to the master of the coffee shop and the father of the thug, some treasure hunter found a cursed artifact underground.' Saya said.
'So do you think that I should check the place below this city?' Souta asked as he looked at the floor.
But according to the information that he gathered, the sewers of this dukedom were small. Maybe, this was just a camouflage to hide the place deep under the dukedom. But there's a chance that the said place wasn't located in this city.
There were too many variables so he had to eliminate some of them.
...
Souta, Alice, and Eztein gathered in their room.
"Have you found anything suspicious?" Souta asked.
"I investigated the outskirts of the duke households and some part of the households but I found nothing. The security in the deeper part was tight so I couldn't enter." Alice explained.
But that's the most suspicious part. The duke households felt like they were turning a blind eye to the mysterious case. The authority or guards were the only ones investigating the case.
"Really... The duke family seems like they know something about it." Souta said with a sigh.
"How about we make contact with them?" Eztein asked.
Souta shook his head and said, "No, it's too early to reveal ourselves."
"Then, what are we going to do next?" Eztein asked.
"Hmm... From my information, the curse came from an artifact that the treasure hunters found in an underground place decades ago." Souta said while rubbing his chin.
"Underground?"
Souta nodded at Eztein.
"Are we going to try to find it? If the underground place is located here in this dukedom then we would be able to find it after we thoroughly examine this city." Alice commented.
"Yeah, but if it was located outside the city... It would take a lot of time." Souta added.
"I understand so..." Eztein glanced at the two before he continued, "when are we going to start?"
"Tonight." Souta paused. "Alice will examine the surrounding area outside the dukedom and I'm going to examine the sewers. You, Eztein, will observe the city while the two of us are gone."
"Okay, boss." Eztein nodded.
"I have no problem with it." Alice nodded too.
The three quickly departed to finish their job. Alice went out of the dukedom while Souta snuck into the sewers. Eztein was simply walking on the streets looking around to see any suspicious movement regarding the incident.
They were lacking in manpower. If they had more people, they would be able to find more clues.
Just like that, a week had passed in the blink of an eye.
Three more incidents occurred. The victims were two adult females and one young boy. The three victims died in different locations and they weren't related to each other but they died from a similar cause.
'It's tiring... This dukedom is huge so it's hard for me to observe this whole city alone. Hundreds of thousands of people are living here.' Eztein said inwardly.
He was standing in front of a stall eating street foods.
"At least, the street foods here are good."
He said with a satisfied look.
Suddenly, he looked around and narrowed his eyes.
'I sense something...'
Eztein turned his head as he secretly look at the people around him. He couldn't accurately guess the power level of the people around him but his instinct was telling him that there was at least an S-rank around him.
'Did someone know that we're investigating the case?'
He contemplated as he walked into the alley and placed his hand on his face. His face had distorted and his appearance quickly changed.
While he was walking he heard a faint groan.
Hmm?
What's that?
Turning his head on his left side, a young woman was writhing on the ground while grabbing her neck with both of her hands. Veins were popping out of her body as dark green energy oozed out of her mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.
"This is..."
Eztein widened his eyes. He quickly looked around and swept his aura in the surrounding area.
So this was the reason why his instinct was telling him that there was danger. The mysterious case occurred right before him and the culprit was nowhere to be found.
'Don't tell me the culprit can use a long-range curse...'
He stopped five meters away from the young woman and saw bite marks appearing all over her body. Then, black blood flows out of her seven orifices.
The moment the black blood landed on the ground it quickly evaporated. It disappeared into nothingness.
'Is this the curse they are talking about...?'
Eztein watched the process intently.
But something occurred.
The dark green energy rushed at him suddenly.
"Shit!"
Eztein quickly moved back but he was too late to react. It was outside of his expectations. He didn't approach the young woman because of danger but he didn't expect that the energy would fly at him.
Ohm!
The dark green energy landed on his left hand.
"What the fuck is this?"
Eztein quickly gathered his energy in his left hand to resist it and used his right hand to chop his left hand.
"Argh!!"
Blood splattered and a left hand fall on the ground creating a small pool of blood.
His fast response to cut his hand considering this mysterious curse was incredible. He had a parasitic essence eater in his body and it could quickly regenerate his lost hand.
But the dark green energy was much worse than he imagined. Even though he already chopped his left hand it still managed to latch itself onto his body.
"Fuck! This is bad! If I couldn't resist it then it would swallow me!"
Eztein cursed as he tried to circulate all of his energy on his body. His resistance as a person that solidified a mana pool was great but this was no ordinary curse.
It kept latching on his protective field trying to contaminate his mana.
'It could even affect my mana field...'
The only thing he could do was to resist it with his own energy. He realized that using physical was useless.
Footsteps sounded in every direction causing him to turn his head. He saw that the authorities were here and suddenly realized something.
"Shit! I was set up! The culprit knew it!"
The guards surrounded him while brandishing their weapons. The dark green aura around him confirmed that he was related to the mysterious curse that was disturbing the city.
Although they didn't witness the crime scene, Eztein will become the biggest suspect.
'Fuck this shit! I messed up! How am I going to explain this to boss?!' Eztein said inwardly as he glanced at the guards.
"You!!"
"Don't resist!!"
The guards shouted at him.
"I know, I will not resist. I'm just going to tell you that I'm a victim too." Eztein said as he raised both of his hands above his head.
He could only sigh at his misfortune. Luckily, he already changed his appearance using the parasite but if someone really set him up then the culprit knew their identity.
'Boss needed to know this information... I will let myself capture first to know what they are planning. I will not create a commotion with the boss's approval.'
With that in his mind, Eztein looked at the young woman. The young woman was already dead with bite marks on her body. All the black blood had already evaporated leaving no traces on the ground.
Then, he looked at his hands. He was still trying to resist the dark green energy using his mana but the guards around him couldn't tell it. They only thought that the dark green energy came from him.
'Curse... I could still hold it for a long time.'
