Isekai For Hire Chapter 42: A Shady Quest Dealer

Read chapter 42 of Isekai For Hire by wk_rust on NovelPedia.

A Shady Quest Dealer At least this potion is working. Lorena said to Ren. Mhmm. Super great. Ren didn’t do a great job at hiding her annoyance. She had been upset since they had left the safe house, but Lorena didn’t mind. She knew the past few hours had been stressful, beyond stressful. They just needed to push a little more and it would all be worth it; the festival of mending hands was less than a week away. At least we don’t have to deliver the dust to Lord Shade. That’s true. Lorena rolled her eyes and crossed into the Trade District, the early light of dawn casting beautiful colors on the walls of the buildings. Her waypoint for the quest led her to the fountain in the middle of the square. She stood there and looked around the empty square, several vendors had left their carts out overnight. It was still early enough that not even the most entrepreneurially motivated person was out, but she could see lights flickering on in the buildings around the square. She walked around the fountain, trying to see if there was an object or something on the floor she was supposed to go to, but the waypoint kept redirecting her toward the fountain. She looked into its clear water, the tiled bottom showing beneath her reflection. She looked ragged, her hair a mess of flyaways despite the braid she’d managed to wrangle it into. There were deep circles under her eyes that looked closer to bruises than the markers of a lack of sleep. What do you think I’m supposed to do here? The waypoint directed me to the fountain then just stopped. Maybe you should take a bath. Lorena shrugged, then stepped into the fountain. I wasn’t being serious. What are you— They were falling, the floor of the fountain gone and blackness engulfed them as they fell for what felt like minutes until they landed with a splash in a small pool of knee deep water. Are we okay? Lorena kept her senses outward, already in Stealth. I think so. And look, the waypoint updated. Was that some kind of… Portal? I’ve never seen a portal not in a frame before. Lorena swallowed past the anxiety lumping in her throat and stepped out of the pool of water, following the waypoint down a narrow tunnel, a lone torch in the distant flickering light down the passageway. Why does this seem like a very obvious trap? I would like to disagree with you, but I’m getting that feeling too. She came to a large iron gate with a simple lock, roughly half way down the tunnel. She activated her Lock Picking skill and slipped her tension rod and rake into the keyhole. After a few seconds she heard a click and the door swung open. The lock was surprisingly easy, at least compared to the ones she had been practicing on around the city. As she passed through the gate she got a notification, Lock Picking Skill Tree unlocked +1 Lock Picking skill point Ooh, that sounds interesting. We can look at it later. She came to a large, cavernous room lit by a roaring bonfire in the center. Shadows danced on the wall, triggering her Lingering Shadows as light touched her boots. She took a step to the side and hugged the wall, just out of reach of the light from the bonfire. The quiet sound of water dripping echoed in the distance that pulled at her attention. Please focus on the ominous room around us. Lorena’s cheeks reddened, that side effect of the potion had sounded inconsequential, but it was proving to be annoying. She found a spot about halfway around the room where the shadows seemed to unnaturally resist the flickering light. She stood in the space and tried to peer into the darkness. Her night vision was hampered significantly by the bonfire. The dripping continued to echo. “Glad to see you weren’t too busy to start this important lesson,” a familiar voice said from her left. She glanced at her buff bar and confirmed she was still in Stealth. She peered into the darkness but she couldn’t make out anything. She took a few tentative steps toward the voice, arcing to the side to give it a wide berth. “Do you real