The Overseer & The Class S "Hero"

Chapter 27

The blond man, Keto, the mage, Luka, and the broadsword man, Ignis, stared in silence as Aurelius hired a luxurious carriage for our two-way trip. Inside the decadent carriage, Keto placed his hands nervously round his bow, trying to make himself as small as possible.

"Ah, I'm afraid of getting the seat dirty," he laughed awkwardly.

Luka leaned back with a patient's lack of reservations.

"This is the gap between the rich and poor," she sighed.

"Are B Rank adventurers that poor?" Axtca queried.

"Doing missions is tiring work, and we send most of our money back to our families in the countryside." Ignis tightened his grip on the handle of his broadsword. "I am worried about them, what with rumors about demons."

"That's such an inauspicious thing to say," Keto said sharply, shooting Ignis a disapproving look, then smiled at us. "By the way, why did you three sign up as adventurers when you're not short on money? "

Aurelius, elbow propped on the windowsill, continued gazing outside with his chin resting on the back of his hand.

"For the greater good."

Keto, "... ."

"We're travelling East to accomplish something important," I answered, "being adventurers is a way to hone our strength and so we won't get idle."

Keto digested my words, slowly nodding. Beside him, Luka smiled.

"That's pretty similar to our goals."

We chatted idly for a while without Aurelius, the latter producing his knife to continue carving his miniature sculpture. Luka dropped off shortly, slumping against Ignis's shoulder, silence reigning once more. The clip-clip of horse hooves slowed eventually, the carriage pulling into the abandoned mining town.

---<<->>---

Once a flourishing town attracting people to work, trade and settle, now an empty husk after the mines ran dry. A tattered page of ancient newspaper whipped past me on the wind, the sharp edge of a half-buried shard of glass bottle glinting up at me from the sand.

Our driver was resting beneath a tree, his horses trotting around with their muzzles to the grass.

"The commissioner is some rich man who bought the whole town. Something about making it into a resort," Keto said, adjusting his bow strap. "He discovered the bats by...by..." he glanced at Ignis, eyes gesturing helplessly.

His companion grunted.

"The man wanted to fill in the mining shafts, which all but one have collapsed. The whole team didn't return, save for one survivor who was streaked in blood, his body studded with holes. He had sprinted out of the cave and informed his employer of vampiric bats before succumbing to his injuries."

Ignis pointed to the yawning dark mouth before us.

"This is it."

"How far does it go?" Axtca asked ponderingly.

Luka, holding her head in one hand like she was migraine, gave the entrance a side eye.

"We walked for about twenty minutes."

Three glass vials appeared in Aurelius's hand. Uncorking them one by one, he drank the mana replenishing potions and tossed the empty vials away.

"Here's the plan," Aurelius started. The three "NPCs" straightened involuntarily. "Keto, Luka, Ignis, wait outside. Axtca, Seven and I are going in."