He coughed up more blood as he made his way to his bedroom. There was not much time. He was going to die and he knew it. Harados had failed. The invasion had failed. Artorios was still standing. And he was not happy.

He wondered where he had gone wrong. He thought the deal he had made with Harados was iron tight and there was no way that gorking demon would be able to wiggle out of it or find a loophole. It was true that the cost of Harados’ deal was high for him but he had a plan and it did not just involve Harados.

He had met with another demon lord. Marbas. Another gorking detestable demon. But he had made a deal with him too. He had been satisfied with his plan. A plan which would weaken the game masters. It would cost a whole land mass and a majority of its people but he had been ready to sacrifice them and himself, if need be to hurt the game masters.

However, it had all gone wrong. Harados had somehow gotten into a duel with an adventurer named Marcus Blank and the gorking problem was that he had lost. He wondered where he had gone wrong in his deal made with Harados. Harados and his hellhounds were the major part of his army. Without Harados, his plan had fallen apart and the adventurers had managed to defeat the demon horde and demon lords. Moreover, the arrival of champions was unprecedented. As per his information, they were doing quests for the undead and they should not have been able to come to Artorios. How the gork had that happened?

He was not happy. However, he was not done. He was dying. His insides were slowly deteriorating. However, it was not over for him. He had a contingency plan. He entered his bedroom and went up to the bed. There he knelt down and checked on the false bottom. With a series of taps and applying pressure to the right switch, he opened the false bottom.

He smiled. It was still there. The potion with red swirling mist was still where he had left it. It was his way out. Something which would aid him if all went wrong and it had gone wrong.

He sighed as he took the potion out of its hidden place. Maybe he should not have done this alone without other agents but it was too late to regret now. He had executed his plan and he had failed. And now, as per his deal with Harados, he was dying and the potion was the only thing that would save him, or so he believed.

He downed the potion fast, ensuring that he drank every single drop of the potion. He should not have worried because the potion flask was enchanted such that it would ensure all of the potion would be consumed by the user. After he was finished he gave a sigh. He could feel the effects of the potion taking place. He was feeling better. He was in no more pain. He smiled. He had done it. He had found out a way to not deal with Harados’ consequences of the deal.

His sense of relief lasted for a few moments when he felt it. Immense pain. What the gork was happening? Had Marbas lied to him. Marbas had told him that the potion would save him from Harados’ deal’s consequences. It did not feel like that. The pain was worse than what he had been feeling before.

Betrayed. Broken. In immense pain. He dropped down to the floor. As his vision blackened, he saw the flask in which the potion was disappearing. That was the last thing he saw. The last thing that crossed his mind was rage. Rage towards Harados and Marbas. Rage towards himself for doing this alone. Rage against the game masters for what they had done to Una. Then he was no more.

***

It was two days later after the war against the five demon lords that Marcus found himself in a large auditorium. On the stage, the council members who ruled Treedos were seated. There used to be seven but currently six were seated. One was found dead with no explanation and it was assumed that demons had somehow gotten to him. Marcus somehow found the explanation flimsy. There had to be more to that but it was not his problem. It was Zoey’s. And she had not yet asked him to help, so he was not concerned or interested.

The council members were talking with Zoey, Tamara and Tanniv. They were discussing the demon attack, the death of the council member and finding out regarding the progress of Zoey’s investigation as to who was behind this all and why. Marcus was really bored and kept nodding off from time to time. Kyrie kept on waking him. He wished she would let him sleep.

The meeting was long and Marcus half listened to what was being said. He continued to nod off from time to time and Kyrie never failed to wake him up.

After the meeting, Marcus went to meet with the champions while Kyrie rushed to the arena. There had been good news for her. The arenas all across Artorios were open to let adventurers blow off some steam after the harrowing experience of a large-scale demonic invasion. Marcus felt as if this was a diversionary tactic, but Kyrie was happy.

As Marcus was walking towards the champions and their teams who were huddled together, Selena noticed him. She waved and told him to wait. Marcus stopped walking and waited for her.

They stopped talking and dispersed. Selena walked up to Marcus.

“Hey you”, said Selena.

“Hello”, said Marcus.

“Did you want to talk to the champions?”

“I wanted to thank them for their help. And thank you too for reading my message on time and getting everyone here. And I wanted to discuss how the champions can be accessed in the future if such an event took place.”

Selena laughed and said, “You do know that the contact details of the champions are not shared with everyone for a reason. Every adventurer is expected to contribute and not leave every little thing for the champions and their team members.”

“Yes, I know”, said Marcus slowly, “I understand that. However, look at the situation here. Don’t tell me that the champions would not have made a difference if they had been here from the beginning.”

“I don’t know. It is true that the demons invaded on a larger scale here. However, it seemed that the adventurers over here had quite everything under control. I mean, if we had not arrived, then it is possible that more non adventurers had died, but would it have made an impact in the long run?”

Marcus looked weirdly at Selena and said slowly, “You do remember that the non adventurers do not have the resurrection ability like adventurers.”

Selena looked at Marcus and blinked. Then, as if she had realized what she had said, she gasped and put her hands on her mouth.

“I am so sorry”, said Selena, “I just didn’t realize. I forgot. How could I forget! I mean, have I died so many times that I am starting to consider death pretty normal. Have I gorking normalized death?”

“That is for you to answer for yourself”, said Marcus and looked towards the champions. They seemed to be walking towards him and Selena.

“Come on Selena”, said Tanniv as they approached, “Time to go back to undead land. Nice seeing you, Marcus.” Tanniv gave Marcus a nod of acknowledgement.

“Don’t call it undead land”, said Tamara following Tanniv, “Hey Marcus. The landmass is Urtor of the Undead kingdom. It is not undead land Tanniv.”

The others followed acknowledging Marcus as they passed. Selena still stood beside him.

“Well”, said Selena, “Till we meet again.”

Marcus grinned and said, “Till we meet again, Selena.”

“Keep in touch. You have my contact not only for business purposes. You can text me whenever you feel like it. Or you just want to chat. Or, you know.”

Selena shuffled awkwardly. Marcus nodded and said, “I will, Selena. I think you should go though. They seem to be calling you.”

Selena could see Tanniv waving at her, calling towards the group. She let out a sigh of disappointment and started walking towards the champions and their team. Marcus watched them go.

“What the fuck was that about?” he wondered. Then he went to the library. He had some down time, and he was going to make the most use of it.

On his way to the library, he met Zoey. With her were Nadia and Nassir. Nadia and Zoey seemed to be deep in discussion while Nassir seemed to be simply trailing behind them.

“What are you up to Marcus?” asked Zoey.

“I am going to do some light reading. Am going to the library”, replied Marcus.

Nadia and Nassir snorted at light reading and Zoey looked at them with slight surprise on her face.

“Marcus’ light reading is at least two three huge tomes”, said Nadia as a way of explanation.

Zoey nodded and turned to Marcus, “Do you want to do something fun? I have been tasked to investigate the death of the council leader Duront Fannel. Do you wish to join us?”

Marcus saw a prompt. It was an optional quest. The first one he had gotten.

Optional Quest

Investigate the Death of Council Member Duront Fannel

Duront Fannel, one of the seven council members of the Council of Treedos was found dead in his bedroom after the battle of Treedos in mysterious circumstances. It is suspected demons had a hand in his death but the Council is not satisfied. Zoey has been tasked with finding the truth. Brave adventurer, you have the option of aiding her in her search. Will you help?

Yes No

Marcus selected Yes and an optional quest became visible in the upper right corner of his vision. He minimized the description and turned to Zoey.

“I will help”, said Marcus.

“So, you accepted the quest”, said Zoey, more as a statement rather than a question.

Zoey started to lead, and Marcus stepped just behind her. The four adventurers made their way to councilman Fannel’s house.

Duront Fannel lived in the central part of Treedos. His house seemed to be well away from the destruction that the demons had caused while invading the city. And yet people suspected demonic influence. Marcus wondered how that was possible.

Duront’s house was two storeys tall and quite large. It had a curved roof like those of the Umaru houses that Marcus had seen. Two guards were standing at the gate, and they let the adventurers through once the adventurers had provided identification.

They entered the house. The first thing Marcus observed was that it was spotlessly clean. The second thing he observed was that it was empty.

“Did Fannel not have any family?” asked Marcus out loud. He looked around for family pictures. He found some of them depicting an Umaru male, an Umaru female and a child. There were family photos and some individual shots.

Zoey said, “He had a wife and a daughter. But they died in an accident about ten years ago. He had been alone since then.”

Nadia asked, “How did they die? Do you know?”

Zoey nodded, “They were in the wrong place at a wrong time. It was a monster attack, and some adventurers were chasing a slythworm. Very fast and very dangerous. Fannel’s wife and daughter somehow got caught in the crossfire. Did not survive. Flannel had not liked it. Had been verbal about it, taking out his anger on the Game Masters. However, nothing came out of it, and it seemed that he was chastised as he was behaving considerably normally after a few months.”

“Chastised how?” asked Nadia.

Zoey shrugged, “I don’t know.”

The four of them started to look around the house, trying to find something suspicious. The ground floor had nothing. There was a living room, a kitchen and a small bedroom on the ground floor. The small bedroom looked like it was for guests considering the minimal furnishing and no personal items.

The first floor consisted of two rooms. One was Fannel’s bedroom while the other was converted into a gym. Marcus could tell it was converted from a bedroom considering the faded colour of the walls and the ceiling.

The gym did not have anything out of place and so they went to the bedroom which was the site of crime. Tape was placed in the shape of Duront Fannel where his body had been found. The place had already been investigated by the guards and according to Zoey they had done a thorough work but found nothing.

Nadia and Nassir sniffed as they entered the room. Then they both sneezed and looked at each other.

“What is it?” asked Zoey.

“Something smells not right”, said Nadia.

Marcus wondered what she meant by that. He had read that feliurs’ noses were sensitive and they could distinguish various scents, but he had never seen their sense of smell in action.

“It would be good if you could explain what you are smelling”, said Marcus, “Our noses are not as sensitive as yours.”

Nadia said slowly, “I will explain the best I can. Normally, a normal bedroom in a normal house would not smell like this. I cannot describe the smell. But for explanation purposes let us say that a normal house smells like fresh flowers and the bedroom would smell like a specific flower. However, the bedroom here smells like the flower has wilted, decayed and now is rotting like gork. It is bad but there is still a hint of some fresh flower in the bedroom. That is why it is bad and odd. Do you kind of get it?”

Both Marcus and Zoey nodded.

“Could it be the stench the body left?” asked Zoey.

“Oh, I can smell the lingering smell of the body” said Nadia, “It is different from the bedroom. A different flower smell for your reference.”

Marcus looked around. What was odd with the bedroom? Nothing seemed out of place except for the body mark. Marcus started to look around. The others joined him. Marcus went slowly and deliberately around the room but nothing seemed to jump out to him that would help him understand what happened here. Duront Fannel seemed to have just died. Could be stress from the attack. He did not know much about Umaru physiology to comment whether extreme stress would have caused him a heart attack or not. He continued to look around the room.

Marcus looked under the bed to see if there was anything there. There was enough space for him to get underneath the bed and so he did exactly that. The underside of the bed seemed normal till he saw an opening. It looked like a hidden compartment. Inside the bed and which could be accessed from the bottom. It was near one of the corners at the foot of the bed.

Marcus put his hand in it to find it empty. Weird. Then why was it open? Marcus got out from under the bed and told everyone what he had found. The others checked the compartment out. Nadia and Nassir sniffed the compartment and made a face.

Nadia said, “The rotting flower smell is definitely associated with this compartment.”

Zoey said, “It isn’t a rotting flower smell exactly, is it?”

Nadia shook her head, “I am using the analogy of flower to explain what I am smelling. I told you, didn’t I?”

“Sorry. I got confused a bit.”

Zoey bent down and examined the compartment. Marcus could see that she did not find anything considering the look of disappointment on her face.

“There was definitely something here”, said Zoey, “However, it cannot be determined what it was. We cannot also say whether whatever the object in the compartment was, was responsible for the councilman's death.”

“It has to be the cause of his death”, said Nassir slowly, “It just smells wrong. Something which smells wrong usually causes harm.”

“Can you tell what it was based on the smell?” asked Marcus.

Both Nadia and Nassir shook their heads. Well, this was a clue, but it was still a dead end.

Nadia said, “Did the guards who investigated the room find the compartment or any object in the compartment?”

Zoey displayed the report which the guards had sent to her and shared it with the others. Marcus looked at it.

Zoey said, “The guards did find the compartment. However, they found it empty too and so they did not put much thought on it.”

Marcus read the report of the guards. It was well written, but it did not give him more information than what was shared to him by Zoey verbally. He was disappointed but did not show it.

“Well, what now?” asked Marcus.

Zoey said, “I want to look around a bit more. Then we go and talk with the neighbours. Maybe they would have seen or heard something. Maybe it would help.”

Zoey continued to look around. Nadia and Nassir went downstairs and into the kitchen, talking in hushed whispers. Marcus also went downstairs and into the living room. He stood there for some time and then went out of the house. The house was surrounded by a small garden which did not seem to be well maintained. The plants did not seem to be dying but they did not seem to be taken care of by a professional.

As Marcus walked around the house, he did not find anything unusual. He walked around the entire perimeter and came back to the front door. He stared at it hard as if it would provide him all the answers that he needed. He contemplated whether to simply ditch Zoey and go to the library. He was good at research work. Detective work was not his forte.

As he pondered on what to do, Marcus looked up at the house. Through one of the windows, he could see Zoey. It must be Duront’s bedroom. She did not seem to have gone out of it. He saw her raise her hand and say something. Then a look of bewilderment passed on her face. Marcus knew something was up. He quickly went up asking Nadia and Nassir to follow him.

They reached upstairs to find Zoey rushing out of Duront’s bedroom.

“What happened?” asked Marcus.

Zoey replied, “I cast [Detect Magic]. It has caught on something. Something downstairs.”

They followed Zoey to the center of the living room. Zoey stood there, looking down with a frown on her face.

“The magic is telling me to go further down.”

“There is no mention of a basement in the report”, said Marcus glancing through the report quickly.

Zoey looked at the others. They were all looking at each other in surprise.

“There must be a hidden entrance”, said Zoey.

“How could the guards have missed it?” asked Nadia.

“Maybe they did not cast [Detect Magic] as I did.”

“Are the guards not usually thorough?”

“They might be tired from the fighting they just went through.”

“Alright”, said Nassir, “Enough bickering. Let’s find the hidden entrance if there is one. We need to find whatever [Detect Magic] is pointing at.”

All of them cast [Detect Magic]. Marcus felt magical energy beneath him. There was definitely a basement. Now they just needed to find out where the entrance was. Nadia and Nassir decided to explore the first floor, but Marcus doubted whether they would find anything there. Zoey decided to check the ground floor while Marcus decided to explore the outside grounds. Marcus remembered something about doors leading to the basement had entrances from back of the house.

Marcus kept the spell on and went to the back. There, at a corner, the air shimmered. As Marcus closed, he could see the traces of magic and when he was almost on top of the shimmering, a double door appeared at a slant. Marcus was sure that this was the door to the basement.

Marcus called the others who came to him rushing. Marcus ensured them there was no danger, just that he had found the entrance. They debated for a moment and then decided to explore it. Just the four of them. Zoey did not want to involve anyone yet.

The stairs went down longer than Marcus had anticipated. The basement was a huge space. Marcus had not seen any basement so huge. Then, he did not remember visiting any basements on Una. The basement was at least as large as a ballroom and just as high. Pillars sprouted at regular intervals and were circular in shape. However, the center of the basement was quite clear, and Marcus could see it. In fact, everyone could see the ritual circle. Marcus identified it immediately.

“This is the ritual circle to summon Harados”, commented Marcus.

Zoey looked at him sharply and then at the circle on the floor. Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Sometime later Zoey said, “I think we can safely presume what happened to Councilman Fannel. I think we can also safely say who was responsible for the demonic attack on Artorios.”

Marcus nodded. It seemed that he and Zoey had come to the same conclusion. Duront Fannel had summoned Harados and had made a deal with him. The deal would be regarding the invasion of Artorios and considering how much Duront was asking of Harados, Marcus presumed that the cost would be Duront’s death.

“Why though?” asked Nadia, “Why would Duront do this?”

“Let’s look around”, said Zoey, “Maybe we would find something.”

They did so. They even cast [Detect Magic]. However, they only found materials for rituals and some other magical devices which did not give them much answers regarding Duront’s motives.

An hour later, they had thoroughly explored the basement but had come up empty. They were at a loss as to what to do next.

“Well”, said Zoey, “We know that Duron Fannel was after the attack, but we don’t know why. Let me report this to the rest of the council today. We shall regroup tomorrow morning at the adventurer’s guild to discuss our next steps. Does that sound okay?”

They all nodded their assent. Nadia and Nassir decided to do a quest while Marcus went to the library. He would see what tomorrow would bring.

***

Tomorrow brought Kyrie poking Marcus to wake him up while he drooled with his head down on the library table.

“I thought I would find you here”, said Kyrie, “I don’t understand why you bother paying for an inn when you simply live in a library.”

“Whazza… Whasta… What?” Marcus opened his eyes and looked around dazed. It was too bright. Why was it too bright? And why did his back hurt? He tried to straighten it and definitely heard a crick. What was going on?

Kyrie flicked him on the forehead and Marcus fell down from the chair. He was definitely awake now. He had fallen asleep in the library. How lovely.

“Good morning, Kyrie. What time is it?”

Even though he asked the question, he looked at the system time from his utility belt. It was the fifth hour of the morning. When had he fallen asleep last night? How long had he been sleeping?

“Come on, sleepy head. Let’s get some breakfast. Then you need to go and meet Zoey. It seems that she was trying to contact you but you did not respond.”

“I did not even hear her call. He looked at his notifications and found out that he had three missed calls from Zoey, two from Nadia and one from Nassir. He also had messages from all three of them and he replied to them.

They went back to their inn briefly and Marcus freshened up. He grabbed a sandwich and ate on his way to the adventurers’ guild. Kyrie had decided to join him for the time being till she went back to the arena.

Marcus and Kyrie entered the common room of the guild. Marcus saw Zoey, Nadia and Nassir sitting together on one of the tables. Zoey waved as she saw Marcus and Kyrie. Marcus and Kyrie walked towards the table and sat down when they reached it. Everyone said their greetings.

“Good to find you alive and well, Marcus”, said Zoey, “When we could not contact you, we were worried.”

“We contacted Kyrie”, said Nadia, “Who was not at all concerned and told us you might be in the library not aware of time at all.”

“Just like last time”, said Nassir, “When you fell asleep in the private room of the adventurer’s guild in Galados.”

“We did not bet this time”, said Nadia.

Marcus groaned and shook his head.

“Can we do this thing already?” said Marcus, “What did the council members say?”

Everyone looked at Zoey, “The quest is officially over. We have found out how councilman Duront Fannel died. We also found out the cause of the demon army attacking Artorios. We did not find the reason why but the council was not concerned about it.”

Marcus got a notification that the optional quest was complete and he got 2,000 points of experience for completing it.

“Well, that was anticlimactic and disappointing”, said Nadia.

“Yes”, said Nassir, “Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye.”

“Maybe”, shrugged Zoey, “But we have not been asked to look into this. This chapter of Harados and demonic invasion is officially over. We can now lead our normal adventuring lives.”

There was a small round of laughter at that from those present.

“What are you going to do now?” asked Marcus of others.

Zoey said, “I am going to go to another landmass. I don’t know which. I am done with Artorios for the time being.”

“We will be going back to Filinile”, said Nadia looking at Nassir, “We got a message from our guild. I believe it is linked to the next part of our major quest. What about you?”

Marcus and Kyrie looked at each other. What about them? Marcus knew Kyrie would want to fight in each arena around Artorios. As for him. He just wanted to relax.

Kyrie said, “We have not talked yet. But I think I want to go and fight in all arenas in Artorios before someone decides to shut them off. Marcus, I don’t know. What do you want?”

Marcus said, “I will be accompanying you, obviously. And I will do some research. Take some time off quests. Me time and all that.”

The adventurers then said their goodbyes. Zoey was taking a portal to Florianne, the capital city of Filinile first and Nadia and Nassir wanted to wrap things up in Galados. Marcus and Kyrie went back to their room at the inn.

“Well”, said Kyrie, “Are you ready to relax and enjoy a bit, Marcus?”

Marcus grinned at her. It was going to be a fun month. He promised himself that.