The Unquiet Town

Quite a few people in Rivira Town noticed the arrival of Leo and his group.

Unlike on the surface, the people here didn't talk much about Leo and the others.

In this safe floor accessible only to advanced adventurers, there are certainly no shortage of renowned adventurers visiting Rivira Town, including first-level adventurer teams and members of the city's strongest factions. Therefore, their reactions are no greater than they would be on the surface.

The only purpose these people have in staying here is to make money, and to make a killing off their competitors who come here.

So what about Loki Familia?

So what if you're a level 1 adventurer?

When you enter the Dungeon, don't you still have to spend money here?

In the minds of these unscrupulous merchants, no matter who comes here, they are all customers and easy prey.

Especially those like Leo, who belong to the core elites of the city's strongest faction, are the fattest sheep among the fattest sheep, commonly known as the biggest fat sheep.

So, when they saw Leo and the others arrive, aside from some surprise, they could only look forward to their visit.

That's why Leo didn't wear a hood here, revealing his true face.

As a result, Ais and the others did not cause much discussion, but he, the "newcomer" who was the only green one in the sea of flowers, attracted some discussion.

"That must be the legendary Leo Eligos, right?"

"I heard he's already at Lv.4?"

Wow, that was fast!

"He challenged Goliath with only a Lv.2 ability level just a month ago, and before a month has even been completely over, he's already Lv.4. It's outrageous!"

"By the way, did you guys see his fight against Goliath?"

"I didn't see it myself, but quite a few people next door did. They happened to stumble upon the battle on their way back here, and they were so excited when they got back that they were telling everyone they'd seen something incredible."

"So, that battle was real, and not just some fabricated story?"

"Of course, with so many people coming forward to affirm it, how could anyone still have doubts?"

"I don't want to doubt it, but isn't that going too far?"

"Yeah, a Lv.2 can solo kill a Lv.4 floor master Goliath. If so many people hadn't actually witnessed it, no one would believe it, right?"

"Now that they're already at Lv.4, dealing with Goliath will be a piece of cake for them, won't it?"

"Wow, I really envy these talented guys. We've been training for so many years and we still haven't reached Lv.4, let alone taking on the floor master one-on-one. But they did it so easily."

"Who isn't?"

The murmurs weren't loud, but they weren't quiet either; Leo and his group, walking through the town, could vaguely hear them.

"Now do you still dare to say you're not famous?"

Tiona smiled and nudged Leo with her elbow, her tone somewhat sarcastic.

Leo didn't want to discuss the topic anymore. He just looked at the surrounding stalls and shops and muttered "What a rip-off!" to himself.

The prices here are outrageously high. Everything costs several times more than on the ground. There isn't a single item that costs less than five figures, not even a bag of personal rations.

The stall owners and shopkeepers who sell these things at such high prices act as if they don't care whether you buy or not. They don't drink any drinks or solicit customers. They just sit there with their mouths wide open, grinning like unscrupulous merchants waiting for fat sheep to come to their door.

They are taking advantage of the fact that adventurers cannot easily replenish their supplies in Dungeon and that they can only carry a limited amount of luggage. They are not afraid of not having customers, which is why they are so arrogant.

No wonder Tiona and the others always look so annoyed whenever this place is mentioned.

Tione, on the other hand, was very familiar with the place. She went straight to the trading post where Magic Stone and other items were exchanged for money, and dumped out all the spoils she and Lefiya Viridis had collected.

"Sell them all."

Tione's attitude was far from pleasant, but the shopkeeper didn't seem to care, giving a casual glance before offering a price.

"One hundred thousand Valis."

Upon hearing this number, Leo's eyes twitched violently.

Goodness, this is at least five times less than the recycling price on the ground.

Although only half a day had passed, and Leo and his group were mainly focused on traveling and hadn't seriously fought monsters to earn money, their efficiency in killing monsters together was naturally unparalleled. If those loot were taken to the surface to sell, they could easily fetch four or five hundred thousand Valis, but here they only got one hundred thousand Valis, which was outrageously cheap.

But Tione seemed completely unfazed, not even bothering to negotiate the price, or rather, he understood that there was no point in haggling here, so he simply handed over the goods and paid immediately.

The owner of the purchasing station was an Amazon dressed as a dancer, and she was of the same race as Tiona and Tione.

"Since you've been so generous, I'll tell you some news," the Amazon shopkeeper said with a mischievous grin. "Things aren't very peaceful in town today; most people have gone to see what's going on. You can go if you're interested."

Upon hearing this, everyone was immediately taken aback.

"It's lively?" Lefiya asked doubtfully, "What's so lively?"

The Amazon seller glanced at Lefiya Viridis, then gave a cold laugh.

"Someone died in town, isn't that a big deal?"

The air fell silent the moment those words were spoken.

Ais, Tiona, Tione frowned, while Lefiya Viridis looked surprised.

Leo, however, had a slight glint in his eyes, revealing an emotion that others could not understand.

"How could someone die in a small town?"

Tione spoke in a deep voice, breaking the silence.

This might seem like a trivial matter, since people can die anytime in the Dungeon; death is nothing new and certainly not a big deal.

But that's when you're fighting against monsters.

This is a town, albeit one located in Dungeon. In theory, unless attacked by monsters, it's highly unlikely that anyone would die here.

If it were a monster attack, how could the town be so peaceful?

When monsters attack this place, there are usually only two outcomes: either a lone monster attacks by chance and is discovered and defeated by the adventurers in the town, or a large army of monsters attacks, and the adventurers in the town flee when they see that things are not going well, leaving the place to be destroyed.

But now it's different; people are dying inexplicably inside the town, which couldn't possibly be the work of a monster.

The Amazon seller simply said that with an indifferent expression.

"Who knows why that unfortunate guy died in this small town? I only heard that his death was quite gruesome; his head was crushed, so much so that even now, no one can recognize him at all."

As she spoke, the Amazonian shopkeeper opened the purse she was about to hand to Tione, took out a large amount of gold coins, and then handed the purse back to her.

Why would we tell them this out of generosity? This is clearly a deliberate deal to collect intelligence fees!

"So, that poor guy was murdered?"

Tione simply tossed the entire money bag to the Amazon shopkeeper and continued asking questions.

"Almost certainly, it's a done deal, right?" The Amazon shopkeeper took the money bag and said cheerfully, "While monsters can blow people's heads off, sneaking into the town like this, blowing people's heads off, and then quietly slipping away—that's not the kind of intelligence a monster should have."

"So, apart from being murdered, that person couldn't possibly have died from any other cause."

"The killer might still be lurking around this town, so you'd better be careful."

The Amazon seller, as if waking from a dream, slapped his forehead as he spoke.

"I almost forgot you're from the Loki Familia, and you're even Level 1 adventurers. Others might be afraid, but you don't need to, do you?"

As he said this, the Amazon shop owner glanced at Lefiya Viridis and grinned.

"Of course, it's always best to be careful. The murderer might not dare to do anything to a Level 5, Level 1 adventurer, but they might not be so daring to do anything to some seemingly easy-to-bully, delicate Level 3 girls."

Lefiya Viridis's face turned pale with fright upon hearing this.

The group looked at each other, and finally left the purchasing station.

"Murder!"

Walking down the streets of Rivira Town, Tiona murmured to herself.

"It's not exactly something new, but it still makes me uncomfortable to hear about it."

In principle, it is still forbidden for adventurers to kill each other. Once confirmed, it is an inescapable crime, and at the very least, the guild and the city guards will not ignore it.

For the guild, every adventurer in the city is a vital force for exploring Dungeon and an important fighting force within the city, and cannot be easily lost.

Therefore, although fights between adventurers often occur, they rarely escalate to the point of causing death.

If someone dies, it could lead to a direct war between the two related clans. The guild cannot ignore this and must intervene.

Although Rivira Town is located in the Dungeon and the guild has no jurisdiction over it, if things get out of hand and the news reaches the surface, it will still attract attention and even be taken seriously.

Therefore, despite its dark past, Rivira Town rarely sees murders.

The sudden death of someone here, clearly murdered by someone else, has undoubtedly cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.

"Smack!"

At this moment, Leo, who had been silent all along, clapped his hands, waking everyone from the somber atmosphere.

"Alright, this isn't our business, and you'd better not overthink it." Leo said calmly, as if trying to dispel the gloom in everyone's hearts, "We're not guild employees, nor are we city guards. Murder cases are best left to the professionals."

"As long as the deceased wasn't a member of our clan, and the murderer wasn't from our clan, then it has nothing to do with us."

Although Leo's words were somewhat cold and ruthless, none of the people present were meddlesome saints, and their expressions brightened somewhat after hearing them say that.

"Leo is right, this has nothing to do with us, there's no need to dwell on it." Tione patted his face and said to Ais and the others, "If the captain were here, he might be interested in that murder case, but we don't need to get involved."

"Sigh, you're right." Tiona scratched her head and said, "But after what's happened, are we still going to stay here?"

"Uh—" Lefiya Viridis shrank back, saying timidly, "W-maybe we shouldn't stay here? It's kind of scary—"

Clearly, Lefiya Viridis hadn't forgotten what the Amazon seller had just said.

In her opinion, the murderer definitely wouldn't dare to cause trouble for Ais and the others. Leo was already a Level 4, and he even had the record of single-handedly killing the floor master. Unless the other party was a Level 1 adventurer, they wouldn't dare to cause trouble for Leo either.

Therefore, the person most likely to be targeted and also the most dangerous in the group is undoubtedly Lv.

I'm 0.3 myself now.

She was a well-known defensive Mage, and as long as she couldn't use magic, she was just an extremely easy-to-bully little girl. The probability that the murderer would be afraid of her was Infinity close to zero.

Thinking about this, Lefiya Viridis didn't want to stay there any longer at all.

"Then—"

Just as Leo was about to say something, he noticed that Ais was staring in a certain direction.

"What's wrong, Ais?"

As Leo asked the question, he followed Ais's gaze.

Upon closer inspection, Leo immediately spotted a suspicious figure.

She was a young dog-woman.

The dog-girl had wheat-colored skin and carried a medium-sized handbag. Her attire wasn't particularly eye-catching, so she shouldn't have been noticed by Ais. However, she was in a hurry and left quickly, looking suspicious.

"Miss Ais?"

"Ais?"

What are you looking at?

Lefiya Viridis, Tiona, Tione also noticed Ais's unusual behavior and looked over at her.

"That person----"

Ais didn't look away, her gaze remaining fixed on the dog-woman who was hurrying away.

It wasn't just because the other person was suspicious, but also because, for some reason, Ais felt a strange concern for her.

Or perhaps it's some inexplicable fascination with something she carries around—?

Ais clutched her chest, feeling inexplicably irritated.

Looking at Ais like this, Leo remained silent for a moment, then spoke softly.

"If you care, then go after them."

After saying this, Leo didn't wait for Ais's response and strode towards the dog-woman who was walking in a hurry.

Ais paused for a moment, hesitated, and then followed.

"Hey, what's wrong with you guys?"

Where are we going?

19

"Wait, wait for us!"

Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya Viridis exchanged bewildered glances and could only follow suit.

The dog-woman, who was walking in a hurry, seemed to realize that someone was following her, and as if frightened, she immediately ran away.

Without a second thought, Leo and Ais quickly gave chase, causing Lefiya Viridis and the others to inexplicably start running as well.

The group chased each other, quickly running out of the street and attracting the attention of those who were watching.