Unexpected Ascension Chapter 22

“You’ve gotten yourself involved with quite the bad crowd this time around, eh?” the guard chuckled as he glanced back at the two thugs who were being escorted further into the barracks. “To think Madam Chanda the Crime Lady of the Hovik District is coming after you… what did you do this time, Bhodan?”

“I told you, Mittri, I did nothing!” Bhodan exclaimed as he raised his hands protestingly.

Mittri, the guard, raised a brow. “You don’t expect me to believe that, do you? You’ve made a living out of scamming folks, selling them an impossible dream…”

“It’s not an impossible dream— there are plenty of Delvers who make more money than either of us will ever make… but that’s besides the point!” Bhodan shook his head, before glancing back at Adrian who had been waiting to the side. “The reason why those thugs came after me was because of him.”

Adrian nodded as the guard peered at him. “Uh, hey.”

“What would the Crime Lady of the Hovik District want with that human?” Mittri asked, furrowing his brows. “Did you do something to offend her?”

“As far as I know, I’ve done nothing,” Adrian said simply. “But I believe that my presence in this city… may have to do with why she’s coming after me.”

Mittri ran a hand through his beard. “Figures. Well, we’ll be sure to lock up these two thugs and interrogate them— maybe we can finally find some leads to bust their operation.”

“Right…” Adrian stared at the guardsman hesitantly.

Bhodan noticed this, turning to the human with a raised brow. “Is something wrong?”

“I was just under the impression that we needed to pay the city guard to do anything here,” Adrian said as he shook his head.

“Oh, for this? You don’t have to pay us anything.” Mittri chuckled as he drew back. “We won’t charge you for handing over a criminal right to us. But…”

He trailed off, grinning at Bhodan. The latter dwarf sighed.

“If you want the city guards to come to your house to help you, you have to pay them. But for this? It’s their duty to lock up criminals, regardless.”

Adrian pursed his lips. “I see.” 

He didn’t quite understand it fully. After all, what did the city guards have to gain for locking up criminals or going after them? Bhodan picked up on this confusion as he elaborated.

“If you have been found guilty of committing a crime, the city guard has a right to confiscate your belongings to compensate them for the time they spent dealing with you. That’s also why the city guards are incentivized to bust crime lords— because they can confiscate their hoard of wealth.” 

This is really such a mercenary society, huh? Adrian thought, nodding along at what Bhodan had to say.

“Suffice to say, it’s a pretty big motivation for us to go after big criminals,” Mittri said with a grin. “Although for petty crime, less so…”

“That makes sense.” Adrian nodded, before looking towards the guardsman with a raised brow. “So is there anything you can tell us about Madam Chanda?”

Mittri scratched his chin, and Bhodan drew back. The latter dwarf went to take a seat, letting out a tired sigh.

Meanwhile, the guardsman shrugged. “Well… I am sure you already know most of the basic details.”

“Such as?” Adrian prodded.

“That Madam Chanda is one of the largest crime lords in all of the City of Dorn— that she has a death grip over the Hovik District, and she even has C-rankers working under her. But there is something which nobody really knows…”

Mittri hesitated, before glancing over his shoulder. There were a few other guards further in the barracks, laughing and chatting over some ale. Leaning closer, Mittri whispered into Adrian’s ear.

“But I hear that the reason why Madam Chanda has managed to grow so big is because of some… corruption.” 

“How so?” Adrian asked, frowning.

“It’s only a rumor, so I don’t know if this is true for sure. But I hear that Captain Senator Godhi, who is in charge of the Hovik District, lets Madam Chanda get away with her operations in exchange for some of her help.”

Adrian’s brows snapped together upon hearing that. Mittri shook his head, before taking a step back.

“Again, it’s only a rumor. So take it as you may.”

“I see.” Adrian placed a hand on his chin, before nodding gratefully at the guardsman. “Thank you for the information.”

Adrian strode past Bhodan, ushering the dwarf forward.

“Come on, let’s get going,” Adrian said.

And Bhodan groaned as he massaged his shoulder. “Ugh, but I am still— fine.”

***

Adrian and Bhodan made their way to the Delvers HQ. As they did, Bhodan gave a short ‘tour’ of sorts about the various districts in the City of Dorn.

“We’re currently in the Rasha District,” Bhodan explained, gesturing at the various vendors lining the side of the street. “And it’s also known as the market district of the city. It is the second largest of the Twelve Districts of Dorn.”

Adrian tapped a finger on his chin. “And I’m assuming every single district a so-called ‘Captain Senator’?”

Bhodan nodded. “That’s correct. Although the smallest district— the Rhavin District— is controlled by War King Rhavin Dorn the Third himself.”

“And where is that located?” Adrian asked with a raised brow.

Bhodan continued forward, until the two of them arrived at the center of the city. There, they came to a halt before the crater that led into the Silk Mines. 

“This,” Bhodan said as he gestured at the marble buildings around them, “this is the Rhavin District.”

“I see.”

Adrian nodded and swept his gaze over the area. He knew this region was profitable, but he didn’t realize how small it was. And he certainly didn’t expect War King Rhavin Dorn the Third to be in charge of it.

Pausing, Adrian noticed a barrier had been erected, surrounding the crater.

That hadn’t been there before. And Adrian had only just left the Silk Mines no more than six hours ago.

Is this because of Sath? But no… As far as Adrian knew, Luxe was the only one who was currently with Sath, and she had no authority to do this. Then it must mean that Kabir and Malin must have gotten out of the Silk Mines and reported what Sath saw. That’s why they’re setting up a small barrier, but they haven’t completely closed off the area for now.

Adrian was surprised the area hadn’t been sealed off earlier. But even now, it was only partially closed. Probably to do an investigation, because a handful of eyewitnesses wasn’t enough to confirm the existence of a diamond spider.

“The Hovik District is that way,” Bhodan said, drawing Adrian’s attention. The dwarf pointed westward as he shook his head. “My house is at the very edge of the Arbun District, that’s in between the Rasha District and the Hovik District. But my house was neighboring the Rasha District. That’s probably why Madam Chanda only sent two of her goons to my place.”

Adrian pursed his lips when he heard that. “Well, I don’t want her to target you again. So let’s figure out how to deal with that after we get to HQ.”

“Right, right.” Bhodan rolled his eyes. He winced as he took a step forward, clinging onto his bruises with a small scowl. “And after this, I’m going to take a long nap.”

***

When Adrian and Bhodan arrived at the Delvers HQ, it was crowded. There were a lot of angry Delvers gathered around, demanding to know what happened.

“What do you mean the Silk Mines is closed?” an angry voice demanded.

“How are we supposed to get paid if we can’t work!” another upset voice shouted.

“That’s ridiculous! Half an expedition was massacred last week, and you didn’t even care! What is going on now?”

Adrian pursed his lips, seeing the few receptionists lining the front of the room being inundated by a deluge of folks from all sides. It’s going to be a while before I can even sell anything, huh?

Or at the very least, that was what Adrian thought. But Bhodan sighed and pulled the human aside.

“Come on, let’s get away from this crowd.” 

Blinking, Adrian followed Bhodan. The two of them squeezed through the crowd and made their way to a side door. There was a rather buff-looking dwarf standing in the way with his arms crossed, but Bhodan flashed a badge. And the buff-looking dwarf stepped to the side, letting Adrian and Bhodan in.

They made their way inside to an emptier room, before Bhodan sighed in relief.

“It’s a good thing I am directly employed by the Delvers Company, huh?” Bhodan chuckled, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. “Come on, we can sell your scraps here.”

Bhodan brought Adrian to a large table there as a few worried-looking dwarves peeked out the doorway. But Bhodan waved down one of them.

“Oi, Ruhi, get over here, we need your help!” Bhodan called out.

“R-right.” A young dwarven lady responded, hurrying to Bhodan’s side. “What do you need, Mr Bhodan—”

And she paused as she caught a glimpse of Adrian. Apparently, she hadn’t noticed him before.

“You’re… the human everyone’s talking about?”

“Yeah, I am.” Adrian shrugged, before crossing his arms. “Will that be a problem?”

“N-no,” Ruhi said as she shrank back. “I just… I’ve never seen a human before. You’re so tall.”

Adrian exchanged a glance with Bhodan. The dwarf shrugged. 

“We need your help, Ruhi,” Bhodan continued. “Adrian here has a few trinkets he’d like you to evaluate and sell to the company. You can do that, right?”

“O-of course!” Ruhi nodded as she turned to Adrian. “So what would you like appraised?”

Adrian had prepared for this, having grabbed a bag from Bhodan’s place before leaving. He reached for the bag, pretending to pull out items from within. But in reality, he was reaching for his [Spatial Inventory].

Slowly, he unloaded all the loot he had collected down in the Silk Mines for the past few days. Ruhi and Bhodan just watched patiently, seeing Adrian empty out the silver mites onto the table. 

And then they began to pale when Adrian didn’t stop.

“Um, how are you—” Ruhi started, but then caught herself when Adrian pulled out the corpse of a crystal rat.

“That’s a crystal rat?” Bhodan stared with round eyes. “You weren’t kidding when you said you reached Level 33…”

Adrian snorted, continuing to pull out corpse after corpse of the monsters he had killed. “I have no reason to lie.”

“I know, but it still is quite the ridiculous feat,” Bhodan remarked, shaking his head.

As Adrian continued to empty out his [Spatial Inventory], the attention of everyone in the room slowly turned towards him. The various receptionists and employees of the Delvers Company in this staff room looked at Adrian in shock and awe.

And when he dumped the corpse of the two sapphire spiders he had killed, they could only gawk.

“Nobody has been able to bring back the corpse of a jewel spider so far…” someone said.

“So how…?” someone else asked.

Adrian looked towards Ruhi who was wobbling where she stood. She was sweating, intimidated by the size of the pile of the dead monsters. There was over a hundred dead silver mites lying on the table, while neither the crystal rats nor the sapphire spiders could fit there, so they had been set to the side.

She looked back towards Adrian hesitantly. “I-I… I don’t think I’ll be able to appraise this all by the end of today.”

“Then can I come back and collect my reward by tomorrow?” Adrian asked, cocking a brow.

Ruhi bit her lower lip, before nodding. “I will try my best.”

“Alright.” Adrian nodded as he drew back. “That’s good enough for me. For now, I’d like to head over to Dorn’s Armor And Weapons Trading Company…”

He looked towards Bhodan. The dwarf, who had been sitting to the side, groaned. 

“You’re a cruel boss, you know that, right?”

“I’m not your boss,” Adrian just snorted. “You don’t have to come with me if you can’t. Just tell me where I can find this company.”

“I’ll get a map for you,” Bhodan sighed. “I’m going to take a nap after you leave.”

“Sure. That works for me.”