Chapter 47: Prologue - Bounty-Hunting Quest

"Did you perhaps get a positive result on your test?" The very misleading question—not just in choice of words but also in the teasing tone—came from Lynn, who bore her usual mischievous smile as she lounged on the couch in one of the Adventurers' Guild's private conference rooms. "Are you perhaps testing the limits of my patience with your audacity?" The annoyed yet flustered reply came from Sylvia, the elf woman who served as head of the Research and Investigation Department of the Adventurers' Guild, seated on the couch across the low table from Lynn. As for the "test" Lynn was referring to—and hoping would yield a positive result—it involved the investigation of two things. Both were similar in nature, yet stemmed from different events. The first was the half-broken Dungeon Core that Arezu had destroyed and Lynn had recovered during their previous goblin-slaying quest. The second was the intact Dungeon Core left at the uncharted dungeon, the one Lynn and Arezu had recently conquered alongside Gwen's party. Despite Lynn's playful grin, teasing words, and cheeky demeanor, Sylvia could sense the seriousness beneath it all. Thus, she promptly shared the investigation results concerning the two Dungeon Cores. Working in collaboration with Marionette—a woman deeply involved in curse research and someone Lynn was also acquainted with—the guild had uncovered the true nature of the curse residing in the half-broken Dungeon Core from the goblin-slaying quest. It was a curse based on, or at least similar to, one of the Seven Curses: the Curse of Lust. While it exhibited the same corruptive influence—inducing monsters with insatiable lust and prompting the birth of evolved variants—the Curse of Lust in the incomplete dungeon had an additional effect. According to Marionette, the overwhelming surge of curse miasma, or more specifically, the Curse of Lust within the monster cores of all the goblin flashers, had altered its influence. As a result, these goblins developed lustful desires for men. Even more disturbing was that this mutated Curse of Lust caused the goblin flashers to grow stronger the more they violated the abducted male villagers. The findings surprised even Marionette during her inspection of the half-broken Dungeon Core, and shocked Sylvia when she first received the report. But to Lynn—thanks to the unique ability of her eccentric eyes to perceive curse corruption—it had only confirmed what she had suspected during the goblin-slaying quest. As for the intact Dungeon Core of the new and still-unnamed dungeon—preserved thanks to Lynn's intervention to stop Arezu from destroying it—the investigation pointed toward a curse akin to the Curse of Pride. While dungeon artifacts weren't Marionette's area of expertise, she was able to identify the curse's influence within the abandoned cursed weapons. It was a prideful curse—one that allowed the cursed weapons to pass the skills of their previous wielders to new ones, compelling them to fight endlessly. Regardless of how this variation of the Curse of Pride had manifested in those cursed weapons, it suggested that the inhabitants of the Dungeon's originating world had all perished. A world of warriors, who fought with pride in their abilities, who vanquished their enemies—only to meet their inevitable end and leave behind the weapons that had once defined their strength. This assumption aligned with what Lynn had already heard from Arezu, following Rust's confession. It was all useful information—confirmation of her suspicions—but it still wasn't the result Lynn had been hoping for. There was something else, something far more pressing on her mind, that she wanted to confirm. "Can you please get to the point, Ms. Sc—Sylvia?" Ignoring the obvious slip of her name, Sylvia continued with the report. "The Dungeon Core from the orc-hunting quest is clearly a remnant from the ancient era. But the one from the goblin-slaying quest is not. Unexpectedly... it was a failed imitation—" At that instant, a murderous aura engulfed the room—thick with animosity and hate. And its source was none other than Lynn, rage burning on her face and fury glowing in her eccentric eyes. Though Sylvia knew the hostility wasn't directed at her, she couldn't help but feel threatened and instinctively raised her guard. Not because she was weak. As an elf and a high-ranking guild official, Sylvia was among the strongest adventurers in the capital's Adventurers' Guild. She could take Lynn on if necessary. But never before, in all her long life, had she felt such overwhelming animosity from anyone. "My, my... I'm sorry. That was rude of me, wasn't it?" The murderous aura vanished the moment Lynn spoke, as if the previous seconds had been no more than a hallucination—or an illusion conjured by Sylvia's own fear. Behind her innocent act and mischievous smile, Lynn waved the subject away, pretending to have lost interest as she smoothly shifted the conversation. "What about the announcement for the new Dungeon Conquerors?" Lynn asked, flashing an excited yet subtly threatening grin. "You really have the guts to threaten me, huh?" Sylvia shot back, still on edge from the earlier outburst. "But it's already been a few days!" "I told you to just fucking wait!" "Hey! Language!" After a bit of bickering, a new topic emerged. "Then do you have any new and interesting quests for me and Mr. Arezu?!" To satisfy Lynn's relentless pestering—as Sylvia often thought of it—she searched her memory for any new quests posted in the last few days. Or perhaps one that had been sitting around, ignored and undone for far too long, until she recalled one that actually concerned Lynn. "Then try taking a look at that new bounty-hunting quest." "Bounty-hunting quest?" Lynn repeated, surprised by the suggestion. She fell silent for a moment, tilting her head left and right, back and forth, eyes closed and hand resting under her chin—as if carefully weighing her options. Then came her answer. "Nope. That sounds like too much of a hassle." With that, Lynn rose from the couch and made her way toward the door. But before leaving the room, she offered Sylvia one last remark to end their conversation. "I already have a prey I'm currently hunting. So Mr. Arezu and I might be a little busy over the next few days." As Lynn slowly walked out and gently closed the door behind her, a murderous glint flashing in her eyes, Sylvia couldn't help but have a sudden thought: "That girl... Just what kind of crime is she planning to drag her poor companion into?"