NOVEL NEXT chapter 3
3 – Episode 1. How the Lunatic Regains Trust (3)
“Meet Gavi in the slum…… and even take makgeolli, the local liquor produced in the eastern region?”
Huston laughed derisively at my exact words.
“You’re out of your mind. Have being cooped up in your room squandered your sanity? There’s a limit to delusions.”
“It’s not a delusion.”
“Enough!”
Huston reprimands me as if warning me. I flinched at his yell and stared at his hand.
“The information you share has no credibility. You’ve been cooped-up since vacation, how could you get this info?”
Under house arrest? It was the first time I’ve heard that.
It must have been Huston’s extreme decision after he could no longer tolerate Abel’s mishaps.
“Even if this information is true, how am I supposed to trust you who’ve been trying to deceive me until now?”
He got up from his seat relentlessly.
“It was a waste of time, as expected.”
It wasn’t a waste of time…
Even though I didn’t know the truth of the quest, it was clear that I was facing the possibility of death.
Then I should do everything to prevent it.
“When there’s no solution left to solve this situation, please remember what I said. Isn’t it better than nothing?”
“What?”
“Ultimately, information is conveyed through the words of others. If it’s from my son, wouldn’t it be worthwhile to trust it? At least he wouldn’t say anything to ruin the house.”
“The guy who hurt the dignity of the grand house dares to talk like this.”
He sneered and walked out of the restaurant. Carry walked over to me, patted me on the shoulder, and smiled.
“Son, I’m glad to be able to dine with you again.”
With those words left to me, Carry followed Huston. Servants standing near the wall also followed two of them out to the kitchen.
I sighed, watching their retreating figures. Only the Chef remained and slowly approached me.
“Mister Abel, um… Would you like to eat more?”
“Yes, could you serve more? The food is really delicious.”
At my compliment, the chef’s eyes grew wide. He coughed lightly after staring at me for a while.
“…That’s a compliment.”
For now, I’ve done what I could.
If Huston doesn’t move in 5 days, I should take action myself. I have enough money.
* @ *
“Honey, aren’t you being too cold?”
Carry spoke standing next to Huston. Huston snorted.
“You’re too soft on Abel.”
“I won’t deny that, but wasn’t Abel somehow different today?”
“What’s different? I get angry just looking at his face. And the serial murder case is a serious issue. We can’t believe such naive words and act on them, Carry.”
“But it doesn’t seem like Abel said without thinking. Up to now, he didn’t talk without any reason to us, did he?”
At Carry’s words, Huston let out a tense silence.
‘Certainly there was no hesitation in his eyes. It didn’t seem like he was lying. The atmosphere…..’
Huston thought profoundly, recalling Abel who stared straight at him and spoke.
However, no matter how much he spoke the truth, trusting him was impossible due to what Abel had done.
“Anyway, that’s the end of the story. Do not interfere with the serial murder case. Understand?”
“……Yes, I understand.”
Unable to help herself, Carrie responded, nodding her head.
* @ *
It had been 5 days since Abel reported the quest details to Houston. He continued to be vexed by the serial murder case.
“Do you consider it acceptable to still be unable to figure out the problem? Captain Fors, of the knights.”
Fors, the head of the knights owned by Duke Sirius, lowered his head as if embarrassed.
“My apologies, Duke. The murderer appears to be someone skilled in assassination. No traces are being left, not even the faintest of footprints.”
“Hmm….”
Houston clenched his temple with a throbbing pain, his eyes shut tightly. Fors, who had been watching him, hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“However, we have managed to find out something.”
“What?”
“All the victims of the serial killer had something in common.”
“What’s the commonality?”
“Well, all of the victims were ardent followers of Beatra.”
“Followers of Beatra… Are you suggesting this has to do with religious matters?”
‘We’ll need to investigate more to confirm… but it does seem to be going in that direction.”
‘Why would they target religious fanatics….?’
“Is that all?”
“No, there’s one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“All of the victims were assassinated on their way back from spreading the doctrine of Beatra in the slums of the city of Prang.”
“They were preaching in the slums…?”
“Yes.”
Houston’s expression grew darker.
This could potentially give the Beatra religious sect reason to hold the House of Sirius responsible if a straightforward murder issue expanded into a religious one.
Houston had no intention of passively watching as religious institutions ran amok in his domain. This would be an admission of incompetence.
‘Why would they only murder those who preached in the slums? Slums… Slums…’
As he pondered deep in thought, Houston recalled the words of Abel.
“The beggars from the slums…”
Originally, Houston intended to disregard Abel’s words, but he felt the need to thoroughly examine the possibilities. Because if things did go south, Abel’s words wouldn’t be a loss.
“Porus, listen to what I am about to ask for.”
“Yes.”
Houston faithfully relayed to Porus what Abel had said. Then he pulled out a gold coin and placed it in a small money pouch that was nearby.
“Here’s ten gold coins. Take this and some makgeolli produced from the east, go meet someone named Gibi in the slums of the Fran city.”
“Gibi… you mean?”
“If you scatter eastern tales in the slums, you should be able to find his location. Gibi was one of the war heroes who lost his arm in the territorial war with the Pila Kingdom. Make sure to show respect, and report back with the information you get from him.”
“Understood.”
“There’s no time. Make contact as soon as possible, before they begin to question from the clergy.”
“Yes!”
Porus tucked the money he received from Houston into his pocket and bowed his head. A heavy sigh escaped from Houston, who was watching the knight commander leaving the office.
“Abel, I hope what you said is not a lie. If you’ve lied to me… I will no longer believe your words.”
* * *
“Damn it!”
I cursed out loud in my room.
It’s already been 6 days. Seeing that the remaining grace period on the quest window wasn’t even two days, I was getting desperate.
Even with my advice, Houston wasn’t making a move, which seemed to show he had a considerable grudge against Abel.
At this rate, I had no choice but to take matters into my own hands.
If I could persuade Houston, I could easily complete the quest, but since he wasn’t making a move, I had to.
The moment I made my decision, I flung the door open.
“Dana, are you outsi–“
In place of Dana, who should’ve been there, were two men bulkily clad in armor.
Are these men knights?
“What brings you out, Sir Abel?”
“Why are you knights here?”
“The master ordered us to watch you so you couldn’t do anything.”
Oh, this world really wants me to suffer, doesn’t it?
In the end, I couldn’t even make it to the corridor and collapsed back onto the bed.
I tried to sneak out a few times, but each time the knights caught me and I had to return to my room.
Is this even a home? It feels like a prison.
Damn it. If only I was as strong as the main characters, I could have handled the situation with ease.
This damned body is nothing but ordinary, lacking even a basic status window. Any sensible game would have status windows if they have quest windows, wouldn’t it?
The only thing this perfectly ordinary person has is money. No, honestly, he’s not even ordinary, he’s a mess.
And while I was incapable of doing anything, time steadily flowed.
As time passed, my anxiety heightened, resembling a death row prisoner imagining his execution. Another day passed like this, agonizing over the worst possible scenarios, passing the time as if I was in hell.
[“The serial murder case in the city of Fran #1” quest has been completed.]
[Houston Sirius will show a slight interest in you.]
“…Huh?”
A message pops up saying that a quest has been completed.
I blinked in disbelief, rereading the message multiple times. After a moment, I practically leapt out of bed, relieved.
“It’s done? Has Houston finally listened to me?”
That tsundere old man…!
He could have just listened to me from the beginning instead of making it hard.
I can finally breathe easy, now that I know I’m not going to die.
This is actually neat, I mean, completing quests without doing anything.
The reward being earning the slight interest of Houston didn’t mean much, but still.
“Great. The quest is over and now it’s…!”
Ding!
My joy was short-lived, as the incoming bell sound alerted me to another pop-up window.
“What now……”
[A quest has arrived.]
[Would you like to check it out? Y/N]
I just completed a quest, why is there another one already?
I frowned and opened it.
[Serial murder case in the city of Fran #2]
Damn it. It’s a linked quest?!