The Insider System

The source of this content is 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝗯𝐧𝗼𝘃𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝐦

The trip to the first place on the map was briefly interrupted when Lucas tapped him on the shoulder and alerted him that they had most likely lost the people watching him. Lake had already assumed this because he couldn't feel anyone looking his way anymore, but he just nodded, not letting Lucas know he had a skill that told him when people were looking his way or thinking about him.

Lake had no plans of hiding things from Lucas because it was too late already, but alerting him of every one of his skills was a bad idea, even if he didn't think the two of them would ever fight. He preferred only to tell Lucas something he could do if it would help them complete some task.

By the end of the day, he was sure Lucas would know about one or two more of his skills, but that was fine as long as he used it when it needed to be and didn't describe just how good the skill was as most of his skills looked like weaker skills people already knew about.

"We're getting close." The first thing they were after today wasn't a journal but an item suspected of being at least level fifty. Taking out his list, Lake used Detector to get the name and told it to Lucas. "Edge Blade is the item we're about to get. It's a sword."

Swords were the most common thing in all the books about items he had read, and while he didn't put many on his list, there were still over four in the Holy Domain. "Okay, how do you want to do this?"

Lake usually didn't kill anyone unless it was necessary because he felt murder was more likely to send some super guard after him, and he was sure Lucas would feel the same, so he said. "I'll go. Just keep your ears peeled because I'll call if I need backup."

With his ability to be quiet and too fast to see, Lake didn't think this would take long, but he changed his tune a bit when he saw the place Detector was saying Edge Blade was. Detector was telling him a random tree was the location of the blade, but when he looked upwards, he didn't see any building the owner could be living in.

Using Mana Vision, Lake looked around until he finally saw something glowing near the middle of the tree about halfway up. He also noticed that there didn't seem to be anyone around who might be the owner, so Lake didn't think for long before jumping up to see why the sword was in a tree.

Landing on a branch close to where the sword was, Lake deactivated Mana Vision to look at the sword's condition. Not seeing rust on the exposed parts of the sword, Lake got closer so he could pull the sword out but stopped when he noticed a scroll on the sword's handle.

Deciding to read this scroll first, Lake unrolled it and started to read out loud on the off chance Lucas could hear him. "I accidentally embedded my sword into this tree while training. If found, please return it to me in Grentel as I plan to retrieve it when I grow stronger, and taking it would be stealing. 1000 gold reward."

Lake couldn't help but giggle a little as he finished the note. There was no way 1000 gold would be even close to what this sword was actually worth, but he was sure whoever had lost it by swinging it at this tree had been unaware of what they had to begin with. Appraiser was an epic job, meaning people didn't have access to it or people with it unless they sought them out, so the person with this sword probably hadn't had a way to apprise it and just thought the sword was sharper than most they had used in the past.

Putting the sword away in his bag, Lake returned to Lucas and handed it over along with the note. "This note makes this legally theft." Lake assumed that to be the case since you couldn't just take something because no one was around, but there was no way he would ever return something like this for so little. "Well, if the yever find me, I'll ask for the gold."

"I don't think they'd buy you were looking for them. Let's get going. I want to get as many journals as possible today, and worrying about the idiot who lost this sword is wasting our time." Nodding, Lake took out the map. A few seconds later, he pointed, saying. "That way next." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝗯𝐧𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦

By taking the time it had taken them to get here, Lake knew it should only be fifteen minutes before they arrived at the sight of the first journal they would retrieve today. His estimate ended up being wrong because a few minutes into their run, Lucas said. "We should divert around this area ahead. I can feel increased mana, and I think it's the Unholy element."

Trying to feel what Lucas was talking about, Lake eventually felt something that felt a bit off and said. "You should lead the way because I can't really feel it." Lake had been in the front for their whole trip since he was the one who knew where they were going and was setting their pace, but if Lucas thought they needed to move around an area, he should be the one to guide them around it.

"Alright, I think it's probably best if we take a road, so let us go this way." After Lucas said this, he turned around ninety degrees and led them onto a road they had just passed over. "Whatever's going on is probably happening in that forest, so going around it on the road should be safe."

Lake had already understood this before Lucas said it, but he was sure Lucas needed to explain most things twice, so he just nodded without saying something like, 'I already knew that.' It was petty, and reacting like that might make Lucas not say something he hadn't figured out on his own later.

"The Unholy zone is behind us now, so take over again." Lake nodded and took the lead position from Lucas before asking. "What do you think the Demon Worshipers were doing that was making the mana in that area more dense?"

"I don't really care, but if you want to know, we'd have to turn around. I know you're a member of the Temple of Light, so I could understand you thinking it's important." At first, Lake was surprised by Lucas being okay with them turning around. Lake then realized Lucas was probably trying to be accommodating in fear that he stop using his skills to help find the journals if he got mad that Lucas didn't care about the Temple. (f)reenovelkiss

"No, I don't care either. I just wanted to hear what you thought." Lake had decided to mind his own business until the Insider made him go back to the Temple, so the only reason he had asked was curiosity at what Lucas was thinking. "In that case, my first guess would be that a giant is getting the space ready for a new fort to go up. That location is between the capital and two other big cities, meaning it's a good place to hold if they think the Temple of Light plans to invade at some point."

"I don't think they'll be doing that anytime soon." Lake had almost started to talk about the things the Temple Head had told him before he left but decided Lucas didn't need to know the inner workings of the Temple of Light.

"Hard to say. The gods don't have much time if the Demon Lord continues to make deals like he is. There's over a fifty percent chance they try an attack, but it won't be on the Holy Domain if they decide to do something about the Demon Lord. They'll go after the Dark Domain."

Seeing that it seemed Lucas already had a good grasp on what was going on between the two sides, he guessed it wouldn't have been such a big deal if he had said what he was going to earlier. "Have you ever been to the dark Domain?"

Lake instantly regretted asking this because the answer was clear if you remembered the old Guild master had been Amanda, the one who became the Dark Goddess, but it was too late. "Yes, I've been many times before and after the Demon Lord took control over it."

Thankfully, Lucas took it as an innocent question and didn't react the way Lake had feared to the mention of his friend's Domain. "What's it like?" He had asked this question to the Temple Head of the Metal Temple in the past, but the dwarf hadn't said much other than it was a chaotic place filled with undead monsters.

"It was much nicer before the Demon Lord took over. It's still not that bad as long as you're supposed to be there, but being invited is rare, so I wouldn't recommend ever going." Lake had never thought of going to the Dark Domain and had only asked what Lucas thought of it in case he was one day forced to head there for some reason.

"We're getting close to the next dot. Will you be going to get the journal, or do you want me to handle it again?" Lake knew this was an abrupt change of subject, but the journal was more important than what they were talking about a second ago. "I'll be going as well. I'd like to see who had it to see if I know them for the guild's old days or not."