Ch.18Quest Is Best When Made From Scratch

After taking sufficient rest, I reassessed my goals.

My ultimate objective is to behead the Evil God and display it in my front yard.

And to achieve this, what I need first and foremost is growth, and secondly, more growth.

The problem, however, is that my previous growth route essentially needs to be discarded.

This world is full of randomness.

Except for a few fixed hidden pieces, the very existence of most items depends on luck.

And in this situation, there are plenty of other possessed individuals besides me.

There’s a high possibility that there are more hidden pieces already discovered than those still remaining.

‘There are quite a number of possessed people, and many seem to have arrived before me…’

Hidden pieces that only I know about, like Lilly’s summoning book, must still exist somewhere.

There are many hidden pieces with insanely difficult discovery requirements.

The problem is that each one has its own location, and their actual difficulty levels are equally insane.

It would be correct to assume that there are no more easy pickings or things only I would know about, like with the summoning book.

“I can’t just go around looking for hidden pieces either…”

To reach the ending, I needed to steadily build not only strength but also fame and reputation.

But how easy would that be?

It’s not like appropriate situations would arise at every place I visit to find hidden pieces.

“Hmm…”

The more I thought about it, the more variables I had to consider kept increasing.

Thanks to this, I could clearly understand why the returnees in novels were so sensitive to variables.

As I was racking my brain trying to plan my next moves, I noticed that Lilly, who had woken up at some point, was sitting on my head.

“When did you wake up?”

“Just now. But why are you wracking your brain so early in the morning?”

“I was trying to come up with future plans… Ah.”

The moment I saw Lilly, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.

A method I couldn’t even imagine in the game due to its limitations.

“Hm? Why are you suddenly staring at me like that?”

I could build fame while also finding a way to obtain hidden pieces that even the Apostles couldn’t touch.

* * *

With my brilliant idea in mind, I quickly prepared to go out and headed to the church I had visited yesterday.

Of course, since I wasn’t going for an investigation today, I entered proudly through the main entrance.

After entering, it wasn’t long before the Inquisitor I had met yesterday came running out in a hurry.

“What brings you here…?”

I had taken off my robe so he would recognize me, but I was still satisfied with his quick response as I smiled and moved further into the church.

“This isn’t something to discuss outside. Let’s talk inside for a moment.”

“Then please come this way. I’ll guide you to the VIP room.”

The VIP room I was guided to was much nicer compared to the interrogation room.

It was worlds apart from the cheap interrogation room designed to instill fear during questioning.

This isn’t my hometown and I haven’t really made it big, but could this be considered returning home in glory?

Choosing one of the luxurious sofas to sit on, I started talking without beating around the bush.

“Let me get straight to the point. I came to receive a designated request.”

A designated request is simply a system where a specific adventurer is assigned a request.

Anyone can assign a request to anyone, but it’s common for noble families or large organizations like churches to assign them to renowned adventurers.

So it’s quite unusual for someone like me, who just became an adventurer, to receive a designated request.

“A designated request… you say?”

Indeed, the Inquisitor’s expression turned somewhat sour upon hearing my request.

He probably thought I was asking for special treatment disguised as a designated request.

Of course, I wasn’t foolish enough to ask for things that would be immediately exposed if an investigation came from the Vatican.

“I’m not asking for special treatment, so don’t worry.”

“I see… I don’t know what you need, but it’s still problematic…”

Even if I’m not receiving special treatment, a large organization like the church giving a request to a mere C-rank adventurer would raise suspicious eyebrows.

Even if I had received a special promotion right.

Rather, from a third party’s perspective, they might suspect collusion between the guild and the church.

“Don’t worry about my rank. I could go get a B-rank right now if I wanted.”

“Even so, you’ve only met the minimum requirements. There’s not enough justification for a designated request.”

“You don’t need to worry about that either. Just spread the word that I captured Apostles yesterday and use that as justification. It’s enough.”

“That’s…”

While taking down three Apostles is certainly impressive, that alone isn’t reason enough for an organization as significant as the church to send me a designated request.

But it’s sufficient as a justification to send a designated request and use it as an excuse.

Seeing that the conversation had progressed this far, he seemed to realize there was no more reason to refuse and sighed before speaking.

“Sigh, then please explain what kind of request you want.”

“Here and here, oh and here too. Please send requests to investigate these areas.”

I spread out a map and pointed to about five locations, asking for designated requests to be sent.

Hearing this, the Inquisitor rubbed his face as if it was giving him a severe headache.

“Well… even if you tell me the areas you want, whether there will be request material there is another matter…”

“Multiple Apostles are expected to gather in these locations.”

“What? Wait, could you explain in more detail?”

The Inquisitor, who had been looking at me as a troublesome existence, suddenly changed his gaze upon hearing my words.

If his eyes had been those of a tired office worker until just now, they were now the eyes of an Inquisitor willing to risk death to charge forward.

‘Seeing this, I can clearly feel how hated the Apostles are.’

For the inhabitants of this world, the Apostles could probably be called mortal enemies.

“It’s not certain. But I overheard the Apostles who attacked me talking. They said that many Apostles would continue to visit this place because they have business here.”

“Is… that true?”

“Yes, it is. So please keep a close eye on those areas. As soon as anything is confirmed, issue the request, and I’ll go handle it.”

I didn’t actually hear anything.

However, the fact that Apostles would gather is something I deduced.

If we’re talking about probability, it’s probably over 95%.

‘The Apostles came because I obtained a trait. It seems quite important, and they probably won’t give up easily.’

The fact that those three came first doesn’t mean they were the only ones who received the quest.

It’s more likely that they were just the closest among those who received the quest.

And the five locations I pointed out are where the hidden pieces in this region are located.

Since they were also possessed while playing the game, they wouldn’t just pass by if there was a hidden piece right next to where they were.

‘There’s no record of Apostles being active in this area, and unless they share information over the internet, they wouldn’t know if a place has been raided or not.’

So there was a high chance they would be lurking around, trying their luck.

Additionally, since one location in particular was a place rather than an item, there was also a high possibility they would use it as a base if they stayed in this region.

“For now, I’ll continue to investigate the places you mentioned.”

Feeling the sincerity in my words, the Inquisitor promised to issue designated requests if any traces or evidence of Apostles were found.

And separate from that promise, he began to speak in a voice that seemed concerned about me.

“But… if multiple Apostles really gather, will you be okay alone? I don’t know how strong the previous ones were, but I’ve heard there are Apostles on a completely different level.”

The Inquisitor continued to ask if it wouldn’t be better to form a large-scale subjugation team through extensive recruitment if Apostles appeared.

If safety is the priority, that would be the standard approach.

It would be simpler to hunt in a group rather than recklessly charging in alone.

‘But then the contribution points would be divided, which is a loss.’

If my only goal was the Apostles and hidden pieces, I would have handled it alone without coming to the church.

The reason I came all the way here to extract designated requests is mainly for two reasons.

One, as I mentioned earlier, is fame.

Single-handedly defeating dozens of Apostles?

I could gain a very favorable reputation among the people of this world in one go.

And the next reason is none other than contribution points.

Something that can only be obtained from requests issued by the church, not from requests issued elsewhere.

I could exchange accumulated contribution points for items owned by the church.

‘And one of the hidden pieces is in the church.’

Given its location, there was no need to worry about Apostles accumulating church contribution points to claim the hidden piece.

However, since this hidden piece required an enormous amount of contribution points, unnecessary losses were not good.

And above all else.

“Don’t worry too much. I have Lilly with me.”

“That’s right, that’s right. If anything happens, I can handle it all, so there’s no need to gather people unnecessarily.”

I had what could be considered the strongest card among those I could currently use, so I wasn’t worried.

“I’ve heard that fairies have difficulty engaging in direct combat…”

“That’s for the weak ones. I’m different.”

Unless several guild master-level individuals personally intervened, there wouldn’t be much difference whether we went with a large group or just Lilly and me.

After the general discussion was over, I stood up to attend to my next business.

“Then I’ll be going now. Oh, by the way, I haven’t heard your name yet.”

“Ah, I’m Conan. Conan Arthurs.”

Suddenly remembering that I hadn’t asked this person’s name since yesterday, I inquired about it.

And the name that came back sounded like he should have been a detective.