Chapter 169: Lieutenants Garrick’s Quest

"We can’t be sure that it’s a dark mage yet." Julian sighed.

It was naturally Lieutenant Garrick who assigned them the mission of hunting down the individual behind the strange death of civilians across the province.

Lieutenant Garrick received reports of their death. As the other officers informed him about the details of their death, he slowly connected it to the demonic cults in the past.

Those who instigated the demonic cult were branded as Dark Mage—a cancer to the Empire.

However, it was only Lieutenant Garrick’s speculation. That was precisely why he gave a mission to Rhayne’s party—Investigate the Cause of Death since they were about to travel anyway.

Lieutenant Garrick’s last words appeared to have instigated Rhayne.

"If it’s confirmed a Dark Mage, Max might have been pursuing him already. Whatever the case, I hope you help him.’

Rhayne’s response was entirely different to how she appeared.

She certainly wanted to defeat Max in this mission.

That was precisely why, the moment they entered the Town, Rhayne instantly ordered them to investigate and report in three hours.

They weren’t even given a chance to sightsee as Rhayne’s order was absolute.

They couldn’t defy her either, she could easily get rid of them in the party.

After all, Rhayne was formally given the quest—being kicked out in the party meant they couldn’t participate in the quest anymore.

Unless they had to return and formally ask Lieutenant Gatrrick to grant the quest to them.

Victor Kahn, a German, responded to Rhayne with a solemn expression. "It’s indeed a Dark Mage."

Julian was shocked. He didn’t expect that Victor was actually investigating after they arrived in the town.

Julian, after all, sightsee first, searching for equipment and establishing friendly relationships to higher ranking NPCs, hoping for a personal quest to be granted.

Rhayne gazed at Victor expectantly. Victor was their High-Priest, so he must be particularly sensitive to dark mana.

Although Godhand of Salvation left the authority that only recognized demonic mana, his followers who got in contact with the cults in the past naturally adapted.

Eventually, they could sense the dark mana until they root out every single cult that slowly destroys the Empire within.

As a High-Priest, not only was Victor sensitive to demonic mana, even dark mana could not escape his senses.

Receiving gazes full of inquiries, Victor explained. "I visited the last corpse that was being dissected in the morgue from the Church.

It was the High-Priest Jonathan, who was responsible for studying their strange deaths.

When I met him, I told him that we were investigating this case.

I stood by his side for an hour, until he finally concluded that it was indeed the work of the Dark Mage."

He paused for a while, swept his gaze around and continued, "He told me about the history of the cults.

Every cult was founded by an ordinary human who was corrupted by a demon ability.

Jonathan told me that every cult founded in the past originated from a single Greater Demon who could not be caught.

Malveris, known as the Pack Keeper."

Rhayne and others frowned.

Jaden asked, "It should be a contract type ability demon."

Victor looked at him and nodded. "Yes. There are many contract type ability demons in the other demon kingdoms as Jonathan said, but they were valued highly by the demon kings. They were busy with their political responsibilities.

Furthermore, the contract ability is more useful to other demons and monsters rather than demons.

Only Malveris, who appeared to be a rogue demon who set his eyes on us."

Julian frowned. He asked, "If demons already have a capability to place a cancer on this place, why did they not go full force in invading the Empire?"

Victor was silent for a while, recalling Jonathan’s words.

"It’s not confirmed, but the Empire speculated that Malveris had probably not told the other demons about it.

The way he acted, he was adamant in conquering the Empire by himself."

Julian’s eyes widened. "If that’s the case, if we catch Malveris, will the Empire generously reward us?"

Rhayne glanced at Julian and said, "If he can easily be captured, the Empire would have succeeded long ago."

Julian was taken aback.

He could not refute her words.

Rhayne swept her gaze around and said, "What we must do is find the Dark Mage first. If we can’t even catch him, then we can’t dream of catching Malveris."

The others nodded.

Victor said, "Perhaps, the Dark Mage behind the strange death might be alone."

Julian asked, "What do you mean?"

His face turned grim. "If we catch a single one of them, Malveris will be alarmed. In the past, his greatest achievement is to possess hundreds of Dark Mage across the Empire.

If we alone fight against his hundreds... even if there are tens of Dark Mage, we will not survive."

The party members, except Rhayne, had their expression turned grave.

Rhayne, with a calm expression, said, "Quests have stages. You are jumping to another stage.

It’s fine to alarm him. If we can confirm that it’s a dark mage behind the deaths of the other NPCs, we can complete the quest and be rewarded handsomely.

Lieutenant Garrick might also grant us another quest to help them catch more dark mages, earning our party’s reputation."

Victor was stunned. He did not expect Rhayne to remain composed and didn’t even hesitate to pursue the mission.

Is this the charm of the First Player?

He was aware of the dramatic change that Rhayne has.

Rhayne usually possessed her cheerful and careless demeanor.

Now, she was far from her past self.

Although it was Julian who mostly founded the party, Rhayne inevitably became the leader.

Victor said, "Since we decided to complete the quest, there’s no need to catch the dark mage behind it. Jonathan speculated that he might be at C-rank now and the seal near his mana core from Malveris’ ability would explode once he’s captured.

That’s why we should choose a recent Dark Mage instead."

Suddenly, he took out a circular silver medallion from his inventory and placed it on the table.

"This is the key to finding and catching the dark mage."

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