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A Day Later...
Firestorm Guild
"What the fuck is this?" Yuri exclaimed as he looked at a poster showing Eliss's face on it. "Eliss, what the hell are you doing out there?"
"Well, I'm sure she'll obey my commands when we meet again," Yuri sighed. "She's just killing the ones she hates in literal broad daylight!"
"This'll turn into a bounty hunter action movie pretty soon," he muttered as soon as he thought about it. "But instead of guns and cool badass hollywood effects, it's magical guns and explosions and tons of anime fighting."
There was a brief pause of silence, apart from the background noise of constant chattering amongst the adventurers.
"I forgot what Eliss's goals were," said Yuri as he scratched his head. "Was she supposed to eliminate the organizations called Kripton and Noxious poison or something?"
"I'm gonna have to learn about the organizations of this world. Fortunately, there's a nearby library here, so I think I could get info from there."
"Do they even have info about those groups?" he wondered. "Maybe, or maybe not."
"I'll just try," Yuri said as he slowly walked out of the guild.
----------------
Later...
Yuri's currently sat on a table at the library, reading informational books about the market and trade given to him by the receptionist. He's read through half of it already, and he's ready to take on another book about it
"Aha! Here it is!" he exclaimed, gaining the attention of the receptionist.
"Shh!" the receptionist warned him.
"O-Oh, sorry," Yuri apologized before continuing reading the book.
'So this is it! The Church of Kretlin,' he thought as he flipped the page, revealing more info about the organization.
[The Church of Kretlin was founded in 1799 by Robert Redflien as a religious organization. It describes itself to be the one and only true church who worships a true god, and according to them, all other churches are "fake," meaning that they've been worshipping the wrong god or they've been believing in an non-existent god their whole lives.
Officially recognized by the Emperor of Stardust, "Vilmar the lll" during the 12th day of Frie, 1801, as a religious corporation to the Kingdom of Stardust, the church had spread its influence to other countries in just a couple of years, having already multiple branches all over the continent built to increase their worshippers.
Redflien was upheld by the members as a hero during the Great Demonic Invasion in 1829. Having been gifted with advanced Light and Dark magic at an early age, he easily eliminated high-ranking demons who emerged from the portals that appeared all over the world. It was said that during one of his battles, the god Kretlin, the being the church's been worshipping, came down from the skies and told him to prepare for a greater threat in the future. It's unknown whether these rumors were true since there were no witnesses of the event, but major controversies were made after this rumor was spread throughout the organization.
By the time of his death (1868), the organization now had 1,200+ chapels and 23 cathedrals all over the world. His successor, James Gretvar, led a campaign to further expand the church until his death in 1872 due to complications from mana degeneration. His son, Edward Gretvar, became the successor of the church.]
'This is the history of the church, huh? They seem to be real fanatics for this god,' he then flipped the pages, revealing more information about the organization. 'Hm, they've done many sketchy things in their career.'
'Is this the reason why Eliss hates them so much?' he thought. 'Maybe there's more to them than meets the eye.'
...
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'Alright, let's move on since I've already seen all info on Kretlin that this library could offer,' he walked towards the library counter and asked the receptionist there.
"Do you have any books about... Noxious?" he asked. "Is that what you call it?"
"Oh, you mean Nexious?" she replied. "Hold on for a second--"
'It's Nexious!' he thought. 'It's an E, not an O.'
She walked towards the shelves behind her and plucked out a book. She then went back and gave the item. Yuri walked away while inspecting the cover. It was a book about the most popular merchant companies that affect the country's trade and market.
Yuri sat down on his previous table and opened the book. He quickly went to the table of contents to find the page that contained information about Nexious.
'Nexious... Flexious... Aha! There it is,' he thought to himself as he turned to page 47 of the book and began to read.
[Nexious Trading Company (NTC) is a multinational trading corporation that operates a chain of markets (or N-Markets), mini-stores, and trading ports on the coasts of Stardust. The company was founded by brothers Samuel and Bill Jhernvan in 1863 and was recognized as a major business by Emperor "Vilmar the V" a year later.
As of 1891, NTC has 3000+ stores and hubs in multiple countries all over the continent.]
...
"That was it?" he muttered as he flipped a page, revealing another company's description on the other side. "That was short!"
After searching for a bit in the library about the company, he finally gave up and exited the building after returning the books. His curiosity about the company got the best of him, and he wanted to know more about them.
"I wonder why information about them in the libraries are just their description and their founding history?" he thought as he scratched his head. "Maybe it's on purpose, since they don't want to reveal too much."
"What do their stores look like? I should visit a branch to get a picture," he muttered as he walked down the street, trying to find one.
After a bit of walking around, he found a medium-sized store across the street that had a huge sign on the top of the building.
[Nexious Underground Market
!OPEN 24/7!
"Service for you, Service for all"]
'Underground? Better not be any sketchy shit going on down there,' he thought as he crossed the street and approached the entrance. There, he was stopped by a man wearing a black leather jacket, black pants and sunglasses.
"Item check," said the man to Yuri. He complied and raised his arms for the guard to search him. The man found a pouch filled with silver and gold coins and nothing else.
"Clear," the man proceeded to let Yuri inside the market.
----------------
Underground, it was bustling with people. You could find almost every kind of humanoid inside. From elves, to beastkins, to dwarves, etc. Yuri became fascinated from the sight and started to look around the place.
The floors were tiled with concrete, and metal patches were seen scattered all over the ground, presumably to temporarily fix the holes that were a nuisance. Many stalls in the area were made of scrap junk the owners found at a junkyard or made of fine materials such as plank wood, or sheets of metal. Everything looked like it came from a sci-fi movie in space, and Yuri liked the scenery.
He walked down an alley of stalls where the stench of fish could be smelled nearby. He took a corner and found the area where seafood was being sold. He looked around, seeing different kinds of fish placed on a table or a platform, with price tags beside them.
[Rainbow Spikefish - Co: 20 per Kil
Yellow Seahand - Co: 25
Doomfish - Co: 10
Squid - Co: 32 per Kil]
'Do they use the metric system as measurement here?' he thought as he looked at the squids lined up at the metal platform. 'All of the fishes here have unique names, and then there's the name 'Squid' beside them. Kinda comical to the average person maybe.'
After accidentally tripping and diving his hand straight into a bucket filled with fish guts inside, he began to explore the other sectors of the underground market.
'So "Co" means copper, not cost?' he thought after asking a vendor about the prices. 'I should buy something since I'm in a market afterall--'
'No! Don't get fooled Yuri, this is investigation time, where I should be looking for information about this sketchy company!' he exclaimed in his thoughts. 'But, buying stuff's also needed in investigation moments to get the scene, right? Maybe?'
...
'Ah fuck, I got carried away.'
Yuri bought a ton of things, almost emptying his supply of copper and silver coins. He grabbed a piece of candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, and threw it into his mouth.
'Nexious's quite good in selling shit, I give it to them,' he thought as he struggled to move past the bypassers due to the bags he's currently holding. 'Now, since I got the feeling of being a customer here, I need to get to the backstage of this show and see what's happening behind the scenes--'
'Wait, i-is that a SMARTPHONE?!'
...
'Fuck, not again.' Yuri exclaimed in his thoughts and sighed. Currently scrolling through the screen of his newly bought smartphone, he became fascinated that modern tech like this somehow ended up in another world. 'It was 6 silver, quite expensive, but it was worth it. Now I get to film fight scenes in 4k ultra-high definition due to the phone being powered by magic instead of circuits and motherboards or something. I'm gonna watch those scenes on repeat for hours.'
'Apparently, I could become an influencer using this! Just record the anime fights that appear in the city, them post it onto my channel!' he thought as he checked the app called "Stream," and looked at its contents.
Tons of videos of adventurers posting their adventures through dungeons, caves, and fights through strong monsters that almost got them killed. He clicked on a video to watch it, but instead he got a notifier that alerts him to create an account first before you could watch videos. Annoyed, he then created an account and signed into the site.
[Raiding a B+ Ranked Dungeon! What's inside this place?]
Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked behind him and saw a man holding a shopping bag.
"Sir, you're blocking the path," the man said to him, to which Yuri only realized now since he was indulged in his phone.
"O- Oh shit, sorry about that--" Yuri hastily put the phone in his pocket and walked away, carrying his bags with him.
'AAAA-- That's cringe!' he exclaimed in his thoughts. 'I wish a disaster happened here.'
He walked through the stalls that were selling food, ranging from barbequed meat to ramen noodles. He became engrossed at the sight and he almost drooled over the food.
'Should I eat first before--' Yuri dropped the bags on his right hand and slapped himself in the face. 'You bitch, wake up.'
The customers looked on him strangely as he continued to slap himself in the face. After, he grabbed the bags he dropped earlier and left the area hastily.
"Uuuu--- I want to get out of here," he muttered. "I'm getting pressured..."
Just as he was about to walk towards the exit of the place, he suddenly sees something strange at the ventilation shafts above him. He looked up and saw a blue-green mist of smoke emitting from one of the cracks in the vents.
...
"Hey, what's that?" Yuri asked one of the bystanders.
"Hm, I don't know, maybe some kind of leak?" he replied.
"If it's a leak, then should we get out of here?" Yuri became more worried.
"Eh, I'm sure it's going to be minor--"
Suddenly, screams of terror erupted from behind them as a crowd of people rushed towards Yuri's position. He ran towards the side, avoiding the crowd. He looked to his left and saw mists of blue-green smoke enveloping the area coming from the ventilation shafts. He looked above him and also saw blue-green smoke coming down from the exit of the shaft he saw earlier.
"O-Oh no..." said Yuri as he dropped his bags and pulled out a gray cloth from his pocket, covering his mouth. "I-I'm gonna need a face mask here!"
"No-- a gas mask would be better!"
----------------
At the entrance to the market, crowds of people could be seen rushing out of the building, terrified.
On top of the market, a group of individuals composed of seven people stood at the edge of the building in front of the entrance. They were wearing dark robes with emblems on their backs. Two of the individuals in the group have a large scythe and a broadsword strapped behind them. One of them had a staff, and the others had swords and submachine guns. Only one of them looked unarmed, yet the presence of this person was pressuring, to say the least.
A man suddenly appeared next to what seemed to be the leader of the group. He brought out a tablet, showing a video of the underground market being gassed.
"There she is, sir."
The man pointed to a female wearing a white robe inside the market when the gas enveloped everything inside. She laid on the ground, unconscious.
"Good, we finally have her upon our grasp," said the man to the other.
"Masks on!" the man exclaimed as the group jumped down from the top and entered the building.
"Diana Griffonvale, you have nowhere to run."