Blood Assimilation

Randy did not hesitate and sat on a couch right across from him.

The grey-haired middle-aged man proceeded to speak: “First and foremost, I didn’t call you here because you have caused any trouble. I only wanted to hear your side of the story regarding what happened three days ago.”

The middle-aged man then narrowed his eyes at him and continued: “Especially regarding the demons that appeared near the Meistic Forest.”

Randy’s eyebrows raised slightly in shock when he heard him, as he didn’t know how the Society Leader knew about the demons.

‘How did he know?’

Even if he could sense their presence, he shouldn’t have been able to discern that he fought with them. And yet, he spoke with confidence, hinting that he knew that he fought against the demons.

Unbeknownst to him, Eliana had already met with the Society Leader a few days ago and informed him of their findings. Of course, this included her speculation on the identities of the ones who fought against the demons.

However, she later found out from Liena and the others that they didn’t fight any demons, so only Randy became the prime suspect. After all, there was conclusive evidence to support the claim. And that was the blood they found at the site of the battle.

.....

Since things had already come to this, Randy didn’t bother to hide anything.

Furthermore, he had intended to tell him about it anyway, since he was implicated this time, and he doesn’t want to get involved in this world’s battles too much.

Therefore, it was better to leave everything to this world’s people to handle. Doing this would take some of the pressure off him, rather than keeping to himself and letting the dangers escalate without anyone in this world knowing about it.

At that time, even if he didn’t want to be implicated and choose to remain low-key, he would still be drawn into the chaos of their battles.

Thus, Randy took a deep breath and proceeded to recall his encounter with the demons while he was fulfilling his first request.

He also mentioned how he had no choice but to fight them to death since they wanted to kill him upon their encounter with him.

However, he held back on telling him about what he heard them talk about since he wasn’t sure whether it was the kind of ‘sacrifice’ he was thinking about. After all, it could mean something else entirely, and him mentioning it without any proof would most likely lead them astray.

But that doesn’t mean that he would not find a way to tell him about it.

“And you won...?” The Society Leader was still baffled even though he already expected it to be the case.

“It was a difficult battle, but yes.” Randy said in confirmation.

“Unbelievable... To think you were able to defeat two demons with power levels above level 60 while being only level 55... Do you have any of their corpses with you right now?”

“I do. Do you want me to bring them out here? I have them in my spatial ring.”

“...No, that won’t be necessary. That can wait until later. Anyway, continue.”

“Okay.”

Randy nodded and then continued to recount his experience about how the magical beasts were scarce around the village he was assigned. Therefore, he had to venture deeper to find and hunt the closest ones.

He then narrated his encounter with the green-clothed young man and her group, who were running from a horde of magical beasts to their encounter with the black-cloaked vampire man.

“So you mean you not only fought against a horde of magical beasts to protect Sylvana, but you also fought against this vampire that they encountered on their way out of the forest?”

‘Sylvana? Is that the name of that woman?’ Randy silently wondered to himself.

“That’s right.” Randy then nodded.

“Amazing. You’re quite a fascinating young man. I knew I wasn’t wrong about my initial judgment of you.” The Society Leader praised, and then continued: “The power and strength required to accomplish the feats you mentioned were not small. I would say that to be able to defeat the two demons, your physical and mana points must be quite considerable.”

“But if I add you fighting the magical beasts and the vampire man afterward, then your stamina must also be exceptional.”

“Anyway, good job on your first request. Furthermore, I would like to thank you for protecting one of our city’s strongest Dungeon Hunters. You may or may not know this, but they were an A-Rank party of hunters. Their leader is actually an A-Rank Dungeon Hunter. Moreover, your contribution is not small this time if I had the information regarding you defeating the two demons.”

“Ah, that reminds me, did you try searching for that Knight Captain from the church while you ventured into the forest, by any chance?” The Society Leader suddenly asked him.

‘This again... He is already dead, because I killed him, so what would be the point in searching for a dead man in my storage bracelet? But of course, I can’t tell you that.’ Randy inwardly sighed.

He then curtly replied: “No.”

“Do you mean you searched for him but didn’t find him? Or you didn’t bother to search for him?” The Society Leader asked.

Randy opened his mouth, but he paused for a moment and then said: “Yes, I tried searching, but I couldn’t find anyone. And since I didn’t want to linger in the forest for too long, I left right after dealing with the magical beasts.”

Since the Society Leader hopes that he finds this ‘Knight Captain’ for some reason, it was better for him to claim that he tried searching but couldn’t find them. This way, he wouldn’t be pestered by him anymore after this.

Hearing his words, the Society Leader sighed in disappointment and then said dejectedly: “So even you couldn’t find him after all that, huh? What a pity.”

“Why do you want me to search for him anyway? I only joined the Society just two days ago– no, six days ago.” Randy couldn’t help but ask.

The Society Leader said: “Didn’t you say that you used to live near the Meistic Forest? I thought you would at least know the terrain around the periphery of the forest. This was the reason why I wanted you to aid in the search in the first place.”

“Not to mention that if you had indeed managed to find him, our Society’s reputation in this small place would soar. This would mean that more people would commission us to deal with all sorts of things. In other words, more money would come our way. But alas, it’s such a pity.”

‘So that was the real reason and your real intention from the beginning?’ Randy silently thought when he heard him.

‘It seems that this city is quite small, so there isn’t much work for the Dungeon Hunters in this place.”

Earlier, Randy noticed that there weren’t many requests or missions on the Quest Board, and most of them are recurring requests and missions.

The Society Leader continued: “But more importantly, if those demons are snooping around at that place, then it could only mean that they’re planning something. I would need to report this to the Royal Family in the Imperial City after this.”

“Since that is the case, you have contributed a lot more to the Society and more so to the Royal Family than you could ever imagine. So expect to be summoned, or some kind of reward coming your way anytime soon after my report.”

Randy could only silently nod his head when he heard him. Even though he would rather reject this reward, it was not a wise choice.

This was the Royal Family of this world we are talking about. If he carelessly rejects their summons or their rewards, it will only bring him trouble.

Meanwhile, the Society Leader noticed his silence.

He pondered and then added with encouragement: “Don’t be discouraged by your encounter this time and continue to support the Society. Also, if the Royal Family summons you, you don’t have to worry too much about it. Rather, it’s actually a good thing for the current you. You’ll find out later.”

“Furthermore, with your strength, sooner or later, you would be recruited by the Royal Family to provide support on the battlefield.”

“Judging by your equipment from your first run in the dungeon, I can tell you did not simply play around in there.”

“Most people usually die in that place, as they blindly seek power without thinking about their limits, but that was not the same with you.”

“You’re more than talented enough just from your initial attributes, so I wasn’t worried about your safety at first, only when you were spending more time than necessary on the rank mission that I was anxious that we’d lose a new member. But now I am certain that you are more than qualified to participate on the battlefield.”

The Society Leader threw a plethora of praises his way as he looked at him with a pleased expression as if looking at a treasure.

Moments later, he then suggested: “How about I introduce you to some friends? You have already met them in the morning when we had our first meeting, three days ago.”

“They’re one of the most talented Dungeon Hunters in Alpheotus City right now. They came from the Imperial City, after all. If you join their party, you’ll be able to accomplish more things in the future. So how about it?”

Recalling his experience when he met those people, Randy’s face turned pale as he quickly refuted his suggestion.

“I prefer to work alone.”

The society leader sighed as if he expected this response and said: “Too bad, you would’ve gotten along very well if you were to spend some time with them. Moreover, if you met on the battlefield in the future, you’d have been able to coordinate better.”

“Well, okay, you can leave now. From today onwards, you will be able to choose your own missions and requests at your own pace.”

“However, make sure you complete at least one mission or request within each month. Otherwise, you would be stripped of your Dungeon Hunter Card.”

“I understand.”

“Then I would take my leave.” After saying these words, Randy immediately stood up, turned around, walked away, and then left through the door moments later.

He didn’t bother to wait for the Society Leader to say anything else before leaving the room right after that conversation ended.