The Grand Duelist

Joseph suppressed his primal fear of the unknown, as he stared right at the door surrounded by darkness.

The stench lingering in the air further exacerbated his nervousness.

A figure made out of smoke soon appeared in front of the door. That figure swept his gaze at the three before his eyes landed on James.

"A Rank 4 Soldier... You do have enough capabilities so that you won't succumb to the effects of the darkness within this dungeon. But I didn't expect that you'd be so ballsy to the extent that you'd visit here.

The figure that looked like a shadow spoke in a voice that gave Joseph the idea that he was a middle-aged man.

"But I wonder, just what is your purpose for coming in here?" He asked and the Rank 4 Soldier James calmed himself down before he went forward and presented a letter to the Jail Warden.

The Jail Warden stared at the letter and a barely imperceptible glint shone within his eyes.

"That aura and seal, it indeed came from a Great Inquisitor. But..." The figure made out of smoke deeply gazed at Ezreal and Joseph before he stared at the Rank 4 Soldier.

"I hope that word about what happened today in here wouldn't spread in the outside world. I am sure that you know about the matters of Inquisitors, right?"

James hurriedly nodded his head like chicken pecking rice and both Ezreal and Joseph couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious and nervous about what was going on.

Particularly Joseph who expected a warm reception.

Why was the Jail Warden acting somewhat cold to the two of them when they came here due to a recommendation by a Great Inquisitor?

"You are now dismissed."

The Jail Warden said and James hurriedly retreated without even turning back to look at the two whom he left behind.

"How long have you known sir Fausto for?"

The Jail Warden turned to look at Joseph and said in a neutral manner.

Joseph lightly smiled, "I actually don't know sir Fausto that much."

The Jail Warden was slightly taken aback when he heard what Joseph said: "Then, why do you have a recommendation letter that's infused with his aura and stamp? I don't understand..."

"As per my knowledge, sir Fausto isn't someone kind that could easily give benefits to any people without benefiting himself."

Joseph bitterly laughed, "That's the reason why he recommended me, sir. He greatly benefited from what I did and what he gave me in return was a recommendation letter." Joseph stared at the Jail Warden and realized that he wasn't as scary as he seemed.

In fact, his tone of voice indicated that he was somewhat good-natured.

"Why are you acting so bitter? I think that you know that sir Fausto was a Great Inquisitor. Someone that is ranked higher than a normal Inquisitor."

"His status alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of everyone who hears his name..."

"A recommendation coming from someone like him is incredibly valuable but why are you acting like you're taking a loss?"

Joseph turned to look at the indiscernible figure of the Jail Warden made out of smoke before he lightly chuckled: "You jest me, sir. You know more about sir Fausto than me so I am pretty sure that you understand my plight, right? Sir Jail Warden?"

"Hohoho, you are an interesting kid." The Jail Warden's figure made out of smoke trembled in a manner that indicated that he was currently laughing.

"But why do you say that I know sir Fausto more than you?"

"Apart from me being a Jail Warden, of course..."

Ezreal glanced at Joseph in confusion. He didn't understand how Joseph could act so confident against the Jail Warden's question.

Since from what he heard from Joseph...

Joseph really didn't know Fausto that much apart from the fact that he was swindled out of his rewards by Fausto.

Yet, why was he smiling right now like he knew the answer from the start?

"Well, I hope that sir doesn't take any offense about what I am going to say but this is merely a guess sir..." Joseph paused as if wanting to ask for permission so that he could continue.

The Jail Warden obliged and said: "Go on, don't worry."

Joseph nodded his head and continued: "The vocabulary and tone of voice that sir is using when he mentions sir Fausto signifies that he greatly respects sir Fausto. Because of that, I am pretty sure that you know more about sir Fausto more than me, sir."

"But I also can't understand." Joseph stared at the Jail Warden in confusion: "Why would a Jail Warden act so amiable with a Great Inquisitor, and why would a Great Inquisitor act so kindly with a mere Jail Warden..."

"Not only that, sir Fausto was wrongfully banished from the Capital to a village at the outskirts of the Kingdom..."

"To have the ability to banish a Great Inquisitor such as sir Fausto. That can only mean that the one who did that was a noble who is quite high-ranking. I suppose, maybe even a duke that's second only to the king..." As soon as Joseph started his speech, he observed the Jail Warden's body language.

Joseph learned the ability to observe a person's body language due to the fact that Joseph was basically swindled out of money, and assets by those greedy companies almost every day since his parents died.

There was even one instance where Joseph got convinced by them to pawn a gold-plated fountain pen owned by his mother.

That particular company promised that they would accept it for a higher rate than the market price, but the company took 40% of the money in commissions from the sale of that pen.

In other words, Joseph got swindled out of almost half of his money and deeply regretted it.

From that day onwards, he browsed free tutorials on the internet regarding how to read someone's body language. He was determined that he would never let himself get swindled once again.

Even though the Jail Warden's body right now was made out of smoke-like mist.

When Joseph saw the trembling of his body as if he was laughing, earlier...

Joseph saw that the body made out of smoke really did imitate the human body and in that case. He could apply what he learned into the current body of the Jail Warden.

Joseph gambled on rambling about some facts that he learned from the Jail Warden just so he could earn benefits by capitalizing on the relationship between the Jail Warden and the previous Great Inquisitor.

Joseph wasn't someone that was called an opportunist by every hawker back in the City of Sibu for nothing after all.

"Hahaha... Interesting... You're really an interesting kid..." The Jail Warden's figure trembled once again as if he was laughing as he stared at Joseph: "I'm sure that you have probably guessed by now, but I and sir Fausto were close friends even before we became members of the Underground Penitentiary."

Joseph's smile deepened as he inwardly celebrated his achievement: 'I knew it!'

"Seeing that you can guess the mind of someone just by how their body moved. You have the talent of an Inquisitor. But unfortunately, Judging from the attitude of sir Fausto. I don't think that he recommended you as an Inquisitor." The Jail Warden said in a slightly humorous voice.

Ezreal and Joseph bitterly smiled. Ezreal didn't really mind a filthy environment for he was someone who disguised himself as the Great Wandering Bard for a long time. He was used to filth and stink.

He had far many experiences when it came to the vicissitudes in life than Joseph who was only a mere player and lived within the safe confines of the modern world...

Being inside such a filthy and dangerous environment was really uncomfortable for Joseph.

But who was he?

He was someone that could endure anything.

He had endured the curses and trash-talking of those whom he owed money.

How could something like this bother him?

Also, the benefits that he would get if he succeeded on his quest was far greater than the disadvantages that he would have inside such a filthy and mentally dangerous environment.

"Judging from those bitter smiles that the two of you have on your lips. I guess, his recommendation is far worse than I expect..." The Jail Warden said in a light-hearted manner.

Joseph's interest was piqued and he asked: "Just what does sir expect from the recommendation of sir Fausto?"

The Jail Warden turned to look at him. His deep eyes that looked similar to the abyss radiated a humorous glint as he replied: "Clean-up staff? If both of you really got his recommendation for that kind of a job, then I guess. I can only hope that both of your minds and guts are really strong."

"Clean-up staff?" Ezreal frowned and Joseph continued on asking: "Clean-up staff? Are their jobs according to my expectations?" Joseph thought that the Jail Warden was talking about the Jail Janitors and he merely used a synonym to express what he wanted to say.

But since he wasn't sure himself.

He continued on asking...

The Jail Warden's figure that was made out of smoke swept his gaze at them in a playful manner: "If that expectation includes the cleaning up of tortured corpses and the capture of anguished souls. Then your expectations were right..."

Ezreal's expression turned serious, while Joseph gulped a mouthful of saliva.

He was now cursing Fausto: 'You old fucking bastard. It's only right that you got banished since you are so shameless and evil! Recommending a mere player like me that don't have any experience in such fucked up things like this, are you out of your mind?!'

But on the outside...

He maintained a cool and composed facade as the Jail Warden continued on speaking.

"Don't be so gloomy. We won't know for sure about the results until we open this Recommendation Letter." He tore the seal on Fausto's Recommendation Letter and he also erased the former's aura before reading the message contained within the letter.

After a short moment, he swept his gaze at the two and sighed: "You are really lucky... He recommended you as a Jail Janitor, not a part of the clean-up staff or even directly as Inquisitors."

"Interestingly, my expectations of sir Fausto are wrong and that means that his shameless and disgusting self is finally somewhat disappearing."

Joseph was concerned about the hidden intricacies within the Jail Warden's words so, he asked: "Just what does sir Warden mean about we're lucky that sir Fausto didn't directly recommend us as Inquisitors?"

Ezreal nodded his head, he also wanted to know the answer. I mean, wouldn't it be much better as a reward if Fausto recommended Joseph directly as an Inquisitor?

The Jail Warden deeply gazed at the two before replying in a solemn manner: "You do know that sir Fausto was dismissed and banished to a faraway village, right? And as per what you said earlier, I can say that you are right. Sir Fausto was really deliberately punished by a noble and a duke at that!"

Joseph and Ezreal turned silent.

Their expressions looked like they were on the verge of grasping something but couldn't quite understand it.

"That noble had a grudge against sir Fausto and if word came out that you were recommended by sir Fausto to be an Inquisitor. Wouldn't you be closely investigated and observed at by that noble?"

"If that really happened then I can only guess that your fate would be much worse than what happened to sir Fausto..."

"Sir Fausto at least escaped the title of colluding with traitors and he was merely stripped off his title and banished to a faraway land. But what about you two?"

"If you were directly recommended as an Inquisitor, and that noble saw that you didn't have any connections with any noble nor anyone heard about your name. I bet you'd be instantly branded as a traitor!"

Ezreal nodded in understanding, while Joseph's eyes widened in shock.

"Could he really do that though? I mean he's only a duke. He's not the King. How could he do something as outrageous like that?"

The Jail Warden froze for a moment before he replied in a slightly mocking voice: "Kid, you are quite smart. I praise you for that, but I hope that you won't be naive!"

"The outside world is vastly different from the world that nobles lived in. As for what you are saying. it is precisely because he's a duke that he could get whatever he wanted apart from the throne!"

"So, I hope that you won't be so naive and so blasphemous such as saying such words. The influence of that duke is far larger than anyone could hope on imagining."

"Keep your mouth shut if you want to live!" The Jail Warden turned around and said: "Follow me, I'll lead the way to where both of you shall stay."

Afterward, he didn't talk anymore as the two silently followed him from behind.

Today was the second day since Joseph accepted his class-specific quest. Now, he realized that he had been too naive. He expected that such a quest wouldn't possess that much difficulty for completion aside from the difficulty that he would meet on becoming an Inquisitor.

But now that he found out that the waters within the Kingdom of Nether were deeper than what he expected. Cold sweat couldn't help but form on his back as he walked forwards.

But still, despite the huge difficulty of the quest that he could finally see right now. He didn't lose heart.

After all, who was he?

He was Joseph!

The so-called Madman of the Festival of Battles!

"If worse comes to worst. I'd just forcefully break my way out of this jail using Ezreal's strength. Since the quest said that I can use any means possible. I guess I can also do that if I had no other choice."

Joseph thought to himself as the three continued on their journey, deeper into the Underground Penitentiary.