Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 23

“Ah, here you are!”

Alisa, who had entered through the door, exclaimed. Aile also spotted her amidst the boisterous atmosphere of the restaurant’s second floor. She was waving her hand while leaning against the railing, having secured a table. He quickly made his way upstairs.

“I apologize. I was pickpocketed at the exchange.”

“…Really? Are you alright?”

“Of course, I caught him quickly. I even made some extra money thanks to it.”

Alisa wore a surprised expression as Aile chuckled and took a seat.

Just then, a waiter from the restaurant arrived with the dishes Alisa had ordered in advance, perfectly timed.

This was thanks to Aile messaging ahead about his estimated arrival time after catching the pickpocket.

Stew, seafood pasta, sirloin steak, braised bird meat, and butterscotch cinnamon pie.

Steaming dishes were placed on the table.

It seemed like a bit much for the two of them, but their satiety levels were bottoming out. The amount of food set for players in Warlord was quite generous, so this amount was more than enough for two people.

First of all, the visuals were unbelievably perfect, so Aile carefully cut a piece of the steak in front of him and took a bite.

‘Crazy…….’

As expected, it was incomparably more delicious than the rabbit meat he had grilled with his cooking rank of 0.

Even though simply raising the satiety stat was similar whether it was roughly baked bread or a fancy dish, he deeply realized why most users paid money to visit the Warlord’s restaurant district.

If the food here at a reasonable price range was this good, he shuddered to think what the food completed by high-ranking chefs or users at high-end restaurants would be like.

Most of the basic ingredients in reality existed in Warlord as well, and it was even more delicious because it was possible to implement tastes that did not actually exist with all kinds of ingredients and spices that only existed in Warlord.

Aile, who was mindlessly savoring the taste, suddenly snapped to his senses and took out the quest item ‘Cassano’s Sealed Letter’ from his inventory.

Since there was no information in the system message except for the location of the city, he had to find something using this item as a clue.

Aile placed the letter on one side of the table, took a sip of the beer that came with it, and continued.

“I searched for more information about this guy on the way here to Queens Blonde, but we are the first to obtain such an item. There was no information anywhere.”

He had scoured almost all information sites, but not a single comment came out about the item ‘Cassano’s Sealed Letter’.

Of course, it was possible that a few users who had obtained it so far had kept their mouths shut, but if so, it was also an item with a very rare probability. Above all, the latter possibility was overwhelmingly high.

In Warlord, incidents constantly occurred even if players did not directly intervene, and accordingly, new stories, items, and quests arose.

And that was the same with quest items that came from hunting monsters.

Even items that never appeared before could appear newly over time, even when catching the same monster.

“Have you ever heard of the name Cassano?”

“No, I don’t think he’s a famous guy for sure.”

Aile shook his head at Alisa’s question.

He had searched even the Warlord NPC encyclopedia, which was said to be the most extensive on paid information sharing sites, but could not find anything about Cassano.

There was a high probability that he was an NPC who had never been revealed, and even if he had been discovered, there was a high possibility that he was just a village resident with no presence.

“Hmm… then it seems like there’s a clue here.”

Alisa pointed to the seal stamped on the outside of the letter with her finger.

Aile, who was drinking beer again, nodded in agreement.

As she said, Aile was also thinking that the only clue in this letter was this seal.

Outside the letter, a red seal was stamped for sealing, and it was a very unique pattern.

Seeing that Aile, who knew most of the symbols or patterns, did not know the shape of the seal, it was not a common one.

“I definitely think we should look into this mainly.”

Aile put a piece of food in his mouth and meticulously drew the shape of the seal on paper.

He was planning to collect information by asking around the NPCs in the city using this seal and the name Cassano.

“Anyway, I think this quest is worth looking forward to. It seems like it will take some time, but the signs are not bad.”

“Right?”

Quest items, the name of the NPC, and even a uniquely shaped seal.

Since none of them were the first clues that had been discovered by other players, it indicated that at least this quest was not a common type.

As they emptied the food bowls one by one, Alisa suddenly opened her mouth as if she had thought of something.

“You said the source of obtaining this item was Trageul?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Aile replied.

As she said, this letter was a quest item dropped by Trageul, whom he had caught in the forbidden ruins.

And Trageul was the guy who changed into a pattern after the Necromancer Rathma died.

“Then there must be some hints from that side…….”

Alisa chewed on the noodles and pondered.

Listening to her words, Aile also briefly recalled Trageul and Rathma, and the story about him came to mind.

“Alisa, do you know about Rathma’s story?”

“Yes, I know.”

The story of Rathma, the boss who had been guarding under the forbidden ruins since the launch of Warlord, was famous among the users in the surrounding area.

Once a genius with talent, Rathma was able to become a royal wizard, an elite group, at a young age, and continued to rise, showing meaningful results in training, research, and work.

However, Rathma, who had fallen into such arrogance, laid his hand on a place where he should not have laid his hand.

It was forbidden magic.

Rathma, who single-handedly subdued a group of black magicians who were holed up underground learning forbidden magic, discovered a grimoire [a book of magic spells and incantations] that they cherished, and could not resist the temptation and opened the book.

It was just a curiosity that was extremely wizard-like.

However, as if possessed by something, Rathma was fascinated by the forbidden magic book and read it to the last page. The moment he closed the book, he was frightened by his actions and hurriedly left the place.

But in that short moment, the black magic that was created from Rathma, who had perfectly learned everything from theory to practical application, did not leave him.

Then, the royal family, who realized this fact, removed all of Rathma’s magic power and exiled him for touching strictly forbidden magic.

As a result, Rathma, who had lost all the magic power he had accumulated and could not accumulate it again from the beginning, was completely deprived of his place as a wizard.

All that was left for him was the faint black magic that had arisen when he touched the grimoire.

Rathma, who was ruined in an instant and was filled with regret and hatred, ironically laid his hand on the forbidden magic that had made him lose everything, but was the only thing left.

Thanks to his genius talent, he had already acquired all the forbidden magic he had read only once.

Although he could no longer increase the amount of magic power, it was possible to start with the faint black magic that remained.

In this way, Rathma used the forbidden magic that he could only use to contaminate a village on the outskirts and mass-produce corpses, turning them into zombies that moved according to the caster’s will.

And Rathma was planning to take revenge on the royal family who had kicked him out someday by using the zombies he had created, and he gladly welcomed adventurers who set foot in his village and made them new puppets…….

That was the story of Rathma, and the identity of the forbidden ruins of the hunting ground.

“…Then is it possibly related to the royal family?”

“Hey, no way.”

Aile chuckled at Alisa’s words.

No matter how much, he didn’t think that such a large case would come into his hands so easily.

Monsters didn’t always drop related items.

Aile, who had organized his thoughts, continued.

“I think I should start looking from the back alleys.”

“I definitely think that would be good.”

He didn’t know who Cassano, the sender of this letter, was, but if it was a letter sent to the Necromancer Rathma, it was at least not something that could be mentioned openly in the sun.

The plan was roughly organized, and Aile and Alisa got up from the table.

The restaurant owner was standing in front of the checkout counter near the entrance of the store, and he seemed to be counting the money he had earned today.

Aile, who approached first, put his arm on the wooden checkout counter and spoke to the owner, when suddenly something fell out of Aile’s sleeve with a thud.

“That’s……?”

It was Cassano’s letter, which was a quest item, that had fallen. Before Aile could pick it up again, the restaurant owner looked at the letter and wore a surprised expression.

Aile felt something strange when he saw that.

‘What is it? I didn’t even take it out…….’

Clearly, when he got up from the table, Aile put the letter back into his inventory.

But the item flowed out of his sleeve, where he had never put anything, and the owner’s reaction was suspicious as if he knew something.

‘Could it be…….’

The restaurant owner, who quickly managed his expression in the meantime, handed the dropped letter back to Aile.

Then he looked at the two and said.

“Follow me.”

The restaurant owner, who spoke bluntly, opened the door and went out without giving them a chance to ask anything.

Most users don’t even know what’s going on here, and it’s a situation where they’re likely to be stunned.

But they didn’t.

‘So that’s what it was…….’