The Insider System

This chapter is updated by 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑏𝓃ℴ𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝘮

After Lake separated from Lucas, he was able to make it to the city on his own with no problems. He did see a few things on the way that worried him though, and it continued after making it inside the wall. He guessed it made sense that with the deal the Demon Lord had struck with the God of Metal, that they would be allowed in the streets, but it was weird with what the Demon Worshipers had done to the people of the city that they were around as the rebuilding was happening.

It wasn't his concern though, so he ignored them and all the other people around, running straight to the Temple. With the metal scrap and hand, Lake walked up the stairs and presented it to the guard outside. "I was given this and promised a reward by one of the oracles guards after I helped them. Would you find them for me and tell them I'm here?"

After the guard stared at him for a while, he reached out and took the scrap before talking to the guard on the other side of the door about what they should do. When their exchange was done, the scrap was handed back to him before the guard said. "Listen, this isn't a good time. You should come back at a later date to receive your reward." (f)reenovelkiss

This was not what Lake wanted to hear. First, he was already here, so coming back later would mean he wasted a lot of time. Secondly, the fact that the guard had said this was a bad time could mean that there was trouble waiting for anyone who went inside. These two things made both of his options bad choices.

"When do you think a good time would be?" Lake still planned to get inside, but pretending to play along for now would get him information. "If it was me, I would come back in a few weeks, or if you heard that the Oracle returned to the temple, that would probably be a good time too."

Lake had honestly forgotten that the Temple of Light was holding the Metal Oracle hostage. Since the guard knew he was a member of the Temple of Light, Lake was sure that if he went inside now, he would somehow get caught up in the situation between the two temples.

Deciding the gold he would receive wouldn't be worth the trouble, Lake began to think about what he should do until Lucas was done in the city as he walked away from the temple. There were a lot of items on his map that were here, but a lot of them belonged to Demon Worshipers, and he was sure they were also spread out underground, so it would take a lot of time for him to get back to the surface if Lucas called for him.

He could use Detector to separate the ones on the surface from the others, but going on a stealing spree in the city now would probably draw a lot of attention, even if they didn't catch him in the act.

After thinking about an activity that wasn't a crime he could spend his time on, Lake remembered Nia. He still didn't know if she was dead, and with her being here during the crisis, this was also the best place to look for her or her body. Taking out his arrow, Lake spun it before using Detector to look for Nia.

After a few seconds, it started to glow, and excited, Lake took out his map and used it to look for her location. Seeing a spot light up inside the city on the map, Lake once again used his arrow to try and gauge how many levels below the surface Nia would be.

Realizing there was a better way to get an answer, Lake headed for the elevator before using Detector to find the tier that Nia was on. Seeing the number 5 start to glow, Lake used the weight on the wall that would bring him to that tier.

A few minutes later, he stepped off the elevator and used the arrow to point him in the right direction. When he was near the middle of the city, he switched Detector to look for Nia without the map or the arrow as a medium.

Because of how much Detector's range increased recently, Lake spotted her right away. He couldn't tell what her situation was though, so he quickly got closer to try and understand why she would be hiding underground even after all this time. The crisis had been over for days, and he had assumed everyone knew, but he guessed some people might still be hiding, unwilling to go up and check.

Once he was closer, Lake saw that it looked like Nia was sitting, and for whatever reason, he thought maybe she might be in trouble. There were still a lot of Demon Worshipers around, so her being imprisoned by them was possible.

Using Detector, Lake set it to look for people kidnapped by Demon Worshipers and saw not only Nia but what he estimated to be around twenty other people in the same area as Nia lit up as well. At first, he was surprised at the audacity of the Demon worshipers but quickly realized that just because they were supposed to be at peace didn't mean they weren't allowed to have prisoners.

The Demon Worshipers also had the advantage of people assuming the people they'd kidnapped were dead, so no one was even looking for them. Unluckily for them, he'd found them, and he wasn't going to let Nia stay in prison. He just wished there was a way for him to talk to Lucas before he attacked the Demon Worshipers.

Slipping into the ground with Ghost Touch, Lake used Mana Vision to start scouting the area around Nia. he also went ahead and counted out the exact number of prisoners the Demon Worshipers had to see if it was feasible to take all of them away before the Demon Worshipers noticed what was happening.

There seemed to be guards near the prison cell, and he would have to make around twelve trips back and forth if he took two people each time to get everyone out, and he felt the guards would notice this. That meant his two options were to kill the Demon Worshipers or only take Nia now before asking Lucas what he thought they should do about the rest.

Choosing not to kill anyone until he had the opportunity to talk to Lucas, Lake reached through the wall and grabbed Nia. Putting her onto his shoulder, he could tell she was unconscious because she didn't start fighting right away, even though she'd been pulled into a wall with no warning, and no normal person could help but struggle if that happened to them.

Reaching the street, Lake didn't stick around for even a second before heading back to the elevator. Getting onto the elevator to head back to the surface, he ignored all the people giving him looks and used the mark he had on Lucas to locate him. He knew the Demon Worshipers probably wouldn't chase him, but he couldn't help but think it would be for the best to get as close as possible to Lucas on the off chance they did.

Getting off first when they reached the surface, Lake started running towards the temple, only briefly stopping when he almost ran past a group of Demon Worshipers standing outside of a house. After going around them, Lake made it to the steps of the Temple before running up to the same guard who turned him away earlier and said. "Could you tell Lucas of the Alchemist Guild that an important member of his guild is here for him?"

As he said this, Lake pointed at Nia on his shoulder with his thumb. "Uhhhm. You know what, just follow me inside. I don't think people would be happy if I let a member of the Alchemist Guild die on the steps."

Lake hadn't expected his words to overwhelm the guard as much as they had, but even with all the reasons he decided not to go in earlier, he still wanted to speak to Lucas bad enough that he followed the guard inside.

On the inside, Lake saw the interior of the Temple, or at least the lobby had been rebuilt to its previous state, but that wasn't why he was here, so he stopped looking around and asked the guard. "Are you bringing me to Lucas or an infirmary?" Nia looked rough enough that he would have already healed her using his potions if he wasn't in such a hurry, so he was okay with either answer. "I'm bringing you to the healers. Once that's taken care of, I'll find Guild Leader Lucas for you two."

"Okay, thank you." Having them heal her would save his potions for any emergencies he encountered before returning to the guild. That might not seem like such a big deal, but he was starting to realize the Metal Domain could still be considered hostile even if there was an illusion of peace.