In the deeper area of the West District, known to some as the West Slum—
"Hey, what's with all the commotion outside?" A man voice was heard from inside one of the wooden building in the darker side of the district.
Surrounded with all the bigger buildings and cobblestone towers, was a small area that were occupied by the unfortunates, garbage and rotten corpse of rodents scattered all across the dirty roads, people in torn clothes and the infected roamed around with their drowsy eyes. For the normal people out there, this place was almost unbearable to live in, yet they who doesn't have any money, family, or works in shady businesses, had no choice but to stay in seclusion, away from the authorities.
The man voice who just spoke earlier came from a civilized goblin, he was sitting inside of what seems to be a run down tavern, his green skin and elongated ears made him quite unpleasant for the eyes, but in this place where everyone was struggling, an ugly appearance was the least thing they could be worried about.
"How should i know, someone probably got caught." Another man answered that was sitting beside the goblin fella, his hair was stretching to his shoulder and messy, with his face still covered with dirt and the leftovers of whatever he ate earlier.
"Tch, for crying out loud, whoever it is, they must've been desperate to commit a crime on the main street– Though it's not like we never did that aswell." The goblin said.
"What's the point in thinking about their insignificant lives, we already had our hands full by trying to survive day by day." The man responded before drinking a mug of black liquids infront of the goblin.
Slam!
Amidst the ruckust that happened outside the slum, the tavern door was suddenly opened with a bang, a man in casual tunic that have been torn slightly while wearing a small leather armor appeared, he looked at the goblin and the man that was drinking in the tavern before telling them the information that he heard.
"Huh? Feret? What the fuck are you doing—" The goblin man was slightly frustrated at the man who just barged in uninvited and unannounced.
"You! Everyone! The mayor just gave every adventurer in the city a quest! And he promised a ton of rewards for whoever that managed to do it!" Feret shouted.
"What!? The mayor? Direwell's mayor? Marrick Gourhorn?" The man that drank the black liquid from earlier then stood up upon hearing the news. "What kind of quest— Wait, is it related to the commotion that we heard a while ago?"
"Probably! Anyway.. The mayor said that there's a criminal that has been kidnapping multiple adventurers and even normal pedestrian over the past few days, and right now as we talked, the mayor had already mobilized almost every guards in the town to search for this criminal! Most likely, a few guards would come to this place soon for questioning—
"And as you know, this shithole is literally the perfect place for a hiding spot, although working with the government isn't our thing, we can finally leave this kind of life if we managed to be the one that captured that criminal bastards." Feret explained, his breathing became heavier the longer he talks.
"Urghh.. Are you fucking serious— If you said it like that– Hey, Gobarg! What do you think?" The man asked the goblin.
"—Hmm, if there's a possibility that i can leave this shitty place, then i'd rather bet on that chance then staying still waiting for a miracle to happen." Gobarg grunted, he scratched the back of his bald head before approaching Feret, he tucked his short dagger on his waist and prepared to depart. "Let's go fuckers, im sure we're not the only one that has the same thing in mind, we need to beat all the others and win this odds."
"Heh, now we're talking." The man said as he followed Gobarg and also suited himself for battle. "Yo gramps! I'll pay for this later when i get the reward! That's not a problem right?"
"You! You damn bastards! You haven't even paid for the drinks yesterday! Come here you son of a bitch! Im not done talking! Oy!!" The owner of the tavern who looked old screamed at the three guys, his shaky legs couldn't keep up with them as they left the tavern fairly quickly and ran away.
.
.
Meanwhile, at the Adventurer's Guild—
"Huh? the mayor is giving every adventurer an urgent quest?— A kidnapper huh, i guess they're really serious in catching these guys, as expected of Marrick." One of the adventurer in the main hall talked curiously, they had just received a paper from all the receptionist, calling every one of them to read the quest and announced it as urgent.
The quest demanded them to search for the base of a kidnapper in the west district of Direwell, however it is also possible that the base can aslo be found in other side of the town, so thorough checks at every inch and corner of the town was needed. The quest promised a 'reward that has never been done before' while having a text in brackets that said 'Gold coins, Weapons, Rare Materials, etc.'
Of course, many adventurers were interested, they stared at the quest paper with contemplation, thinking if they should do it or not.
"Im not sure if im gonna take it– i mean, someone out there would probably find it first than us, the odds are too low." An adventurer said.
"This is exciting, a criminal base huh, that'd be hard to find.. If they're in this town, then that means their base is either inside one of the houses or underground through a secret passage like the sewers or basement." Another adventurer added.
"Alright everyone! We'll find this bastard's home! And secure the rewards for ourselves!!" A particularly energetic adventurer in the main hall seemed to have faith in his luck and skills.
"Do you think the criminal is strong?" A group of adventurer was discussing their next plan together at the corner of the main hall.
"Probably, but even if they're strong, they can't exactly defeat almost a thousand adventurers coming at them at the same time, most likely case is that they're B-Rank if they're brazen enough to operate in Direwell, with the worst case being they're an A-Rank.." One of the people in the group replied.
"Hmm, let's atleast try, and if we somehow found the criminal and noticed that he's stronger than we thought, we'll back off and invite others to fight together."
"That's a good idea."
.
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Beneath a certain house in the West District of Direwell—
"—Mrrggh.." Syla could feel her conciousness slowly regaining, when she was met with the void of darkness, she tried to open her eyes, as it gradually lifted up, a bright yellow light quickly seeped through her cornea, Syla had a brief moment of blindness before she could finally see what's around her, and after her vision came back, she noticed that she was in a room.
A room made out of moist and cold cobblestone, with torches that was lit up at the side of it.
'What..' Syla thought, confused with her current situation.
Once her brain had finally worked again, Syla suddenly got bombarded with the memories of what happened before she lost conciousness, it was a painful feeling that could only be described as having her brain pierced with a needle.
"Keukk!!..." Syla writhed in pain as she saw herself at the dark alleyway from before and was caught in a fireball explosion.
She remembered seeing a man face with terrifying smile coming straight at her from above right after the fireball exploded, his hand reaching out to grab her face before he slammed her to the ground.
'Urgh.. no way.. Did i get ambushed?' Syla thought as she tried to rub her forehead with one of her hand.
Clang clang!
"Huh?.." Syla noticed that her arms was stuck in a fixed spot and turned her head to the side to see what is holding her.
She saw the chains that was wrapped around her hand and her feets, keeping her from fleeing or standing up.
Other than the chains, Syla also realized that both her tunic and her pants had been torn apart, leaving most of her bare skin exposed.
That's when Syla knew, that she was in a bad, bad spot. Her face instantly turn grim as her pupils shrinked, she looked around to see many people who are also sharing the same fate as her, they groaned, they sobbed, yet no one could hear their plea except themselves and the others who are also trapped.