CHAPTER 833: CHAPTER 650: MYSTERY

At this moment, everyone in the tavern stopped what they were doing.

They uniformly shifted their gaze to Reiger, who was smiling calmly, and their eyes simultaneously filled with a wary emotion, with some even quietly gripping their weapons under the table.

"..."

The golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman keenly sensed something was amiss.

She noticed that the nerves of all the adventurers in the tavern had tensed up the moment Reiger approached the white-robed figure, displaying an unusual sense of coordination.

That appearance was as if their vital point had been seized, or as if their leader had fallen into the enemy’s hands.

That’s right.

These people were clearly a group.

So, Ais silently gripped the hilt of the Sword of Despair, exuding a chilling aura that suggested she might draw her sword and strike at any moment.

This seemed to further stimulate everyone present.

The fact that the Sword Princess, who had ascended to Lv.6, was entering a standby state and could be activated at any time was unfortunately recognized by them.

This caused them immense pressure, leading some with lower stress tolerance to involuntarily draw their weapons and stand up, preparing to act.

"Stop!"

Finally, the white-robed figure could no longer sit idly by.

With a sigh that seemed to express a headache, the figure stood up.

"The opponents are two first-tier adventurers known as the ’strongest.’ Even if you act, the result will only be disastrous defeat."

The figure said this while sighing.

"Put down your weapons and sit down."

Upon hearing this, the adventurers in the tavern looked at each other and eventually released their weapons and sat down.

"I am Reiger Brillhaut."

Standing beside the white-robed figure, Reiger acted as if he hadn’t seen any of this, calmly introducing himself according to the ’getting to know each other’ premise he had just mentioned.

"... Of course, I know you, the monstrous newcomer of the Loki Familia, the city’s strongest magic swordsman."

The figure paused for a moment before speaking.

"It seems I’ve been exposed. No choice, I can only be open and honest."

As the figure said this, they pulled back the hood covering their face, revealing their true appearance.

Under the hood was the face of a beautiful female adventurer.

She had neat water-colored short hair with just one strand dyed white, and eyes that were a similar shade of aqua, wearing silver glasses, giving an impression of elegance and intelligence.

She was equipped with a pure white cloak and sandal-shaped boots adorned with golden wing designs, revealing a belt at her waist from which hung a short sword and several pouches.

"You are..."

Upon seeing this female adventurer, Ais widened her eyes.

"Asafi Al Andromeda..."

Clearly, Ais recognized the person’s identity.

And that’s understandable.

Because the female adventurer with the aqua-colored hair before them was a significant figure, no less renowned than herself.

She possessed a developmental ability known as — "Mystery."

It was said to enable the performer of miracles, as the gods would, turning mundane things into divine objects with miraculous effects, and turning the impossible into possible developmental abilities.

Those with this developmental ability often had dexterous hands capable of crafting artifacts with mysterious powers.

Long ago, a sage with the "Mystery" developmental ability maximized its potential, successfully crafting an artifact known as the "Wise Man’s Stone," allowing one to achieve eternal life and immortality, exemplifying the extraordinary skill of those possessing the "Mystery" developmental ability.

In the modern Orario, there are said to be less than five people with the "Mystery" developmental ability.

Among those less than five bearers of "Mystery," Reiger had only met one before, the one known as the Battlefield Saintess, Amide Tyasina Ray.

She, possessing the highest level of healing magic in the city, reputed to support an entire front line single-handedly, had not only once utilized the "Mystery" developmental ability to create various medical magic artifacts beneficial for the injured.

Now, standing before Reiger and Ais was this aqua-haired beauty, like Amide, a magic artifact master with "Mystery," who had invented countless secret potions and artifacts, some of which were still being sold in the Dungeon City, used exclusively for underground city exploration and various other fields.

For her countless great inventions, the gods bestowed upon her such a title — "Omnipotent."

The "Omnipotent One," Asafi Al Andromeda, regarded as a treasured magic artifact creator among humans, now appeared in the 18th layer of the underground city, in this very tavern.

"It’s been a long time, Sword Princess."

Asafi looked at Ais and nodded at her.

"I didn’t expect to see you here."

... Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?

Ais thought to herself.

She was also quite surprised, shocked even, to see the renowned Omnipotent One here.

"This is our first meeting." Asafi then looked at Reiger, adjusting her glasses, extended a hand toward him, and said, "As you can see, I’m Asafi Al Andromeda. It’s a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Reiger smiled faintly, extended his hand as well, and shook hands with Asafi, "It’s an honor to meet the most famous Magic Artifact Master."

"I’m just a mere creator, not worthy of the title master." Asafi shook her head and said, "Of course, if you need any magic artifact made, you can come to me, and I can offer you a friendly price."

"That would be wonderful." Whether Reiger truly had this thought or was just making conversation wasn’t clear. After exchanging pleasantries with Asafi, he glanced at the adventurers around them intently watching and said, "Are these people all your subordinates?"

Asafi nodded silently.

"They, like me, are adventurers of the Hermes Clan."

The Hermes Clan is a very unique clan.

The reason for its uniqueness is twofold.

One is its nature.

This clan publicly claims to be an exploration-oriented clan like the Loki Clan and other large clans, adventurers who specifically explore the underground city, but in reality, they rarely venture into the underground city openly. If there’s money to be made, whether in business or other fields, they take it all on.

Some mockingly call them a business clan disguised as an exploration clan, while others openly criticize them for having no integrity, willing to do any dirty or hard work, blatantly stealing business.

Hence, although the Hermes Clan is not highly ranked, with the highest publicly acknowledged member level being only Lv.2, they are quite famous both inside and outside the labyrinth city, whether for better or worse.

The other reason lies with this clan’s main god.

The chief deity of this clan, Hermes, is infamous even among the odd crowd of gods for his free-spirited nature.

He set the clan’s headquarters in Orario but frequently travels outside the labyrinth city, wandering the world freely, a lifestyle some call liberating and others call idle.

Thanks to this, the Hermes Clan operates so uniquely. With a god so free-spirited, the clan’s members naturally find it hard not to be influenced, appearing chaotic, with hands in every trade.

Asafi is the leader of this clan, maintaining neutrality among the numerous factional clan dynamics in the labyrinth city.

And the adventurers in this tavern are all Asafi’s subordinates, members of the Hermes Clan.

Ais seemed to have realized something.

"... Are you the helpers the magician mentioned?"

Ais’s words made Asafi pause in silence for a moment before letting out a big sigh.

"Since you put it that way, it means you are the helpers that magician spoke of."

Without a doubt, Asafi... or rather the Hermes Clan, were the helpers the mysterious magician had prepared for Reiger and Ais.

Evidently, they also received a request from the mysterious magician to wait here for the help mentioned by the magician, not expecting it to be the famed first-level adventurers of the Loki Clan, Reiger and Ais, who had been causing a stir in Orario with their recent upgrades.

"Let me first confirm the content of the commission." Asafi switched to a businesslike demeanor, adjusting her glasses, "Our joint goal this time is to investigate the anomalies appearing on the 24th level and address them as much as possible, correct?"

Asafi said this while casting her gaze toward Reiger.

This clever and perceptive young woman seemed to realize that among Reiger and Ais, the renowned monster prodigy Reiger was the one taking the lead.

Although this situation seemed a bit strange, as logically Ais should be the higher-level one and the senior, with Reiger being the newcomer to the Loki Clan who should follow Ais’s lead. However, Ais had entrusted leadership to Reiger.

This wasn’t just due to trust but also due to tacit understanding.

Ais left all the decisions to her companion, Reiger, and Reiger understood that the girl, Ais, struggled with words and managing such matters, so he naturally took over.

"How much information have you gathered?"

Reiger tentatively asked Asafi this question.

"Not much." Asafi put on a serious expression and said, "The reason behind the monstrous increase is yet to be determined. While it seems like an anomaly, it feels unnatural, almost like the phenomenon isn’t a spontaneous action from the underground city, but rather due to some sort of human interference."

"We only know that the source of the monster increase may trace back to the food storage area."

"The food storage on the 24th level has shown anomalies."