(Book 1 Complete!) Side Quest [Isekai / LitRPG]

"Oh, you found Louie and Asher."

Logan nodded, handing the two chickens to Liorna. The second bird had been resting behind the barn, right in plain sight. He hadn't noticed it when leaving the coop, but on his return, it was hard to miss.

Easy. And the ten coins I earn from this little fella won't have been at the cost of risking my life.

"That's twenty coppers. Would you like to claim the money now and stop there, or keep going?"

With the Adventurers' Guild covering Logan's room and board, twenty coins would be enough to buy a pair of pants, pay back Senna, and have some change.

But he was still processing everything Mariv had told him. He had never asked to get summoned to this world and save the gnomes' homeland. Nor had he wanted to draw the Adventurers' Guild's attention. Some quests on that board looked simple enough, like the herb collection. But things lived out in the wild and, according to Mariv, the world was getting more dangerous.

He could always set up with a simple life like Liorna. Although if he did that, he probably wouldn't have much opportunity to continue leveling up. That experience boost felt awful good.

"Um, Logan?" Liorna fidgeted with her hands, waiting for his answer.

"I'll keep searching, thanks." He still had time to make a decision on how to handle the Adventurers' Guild and what to make of Mariv's predicament. For now, he had a gig making easy money.

Almost too easy. Was he swindling the girl? That one chicken was seriously just around her coop.

Maybe he would refuse pay for that one. But more importantly, if he kept busy with this, he didn't have to entertain any more conversations and it kept him from thinking too far ahead.

"Wonderful! I'll stay here and make sure none wander out while you go check for more."

"Sure." His mind went to the two chickens that hitched the hayride. "Do you know anybody who drives bales of hay on a cart?"

Stealth is level 6!

Logan smirked as he crept behind the horse stall. The chicken on top of the thatched overhang didn't stand a chance against him.

He stepped over a haphazardly laying pitchfork, avoided treading on as much loose straw as possible, and climbed onto the long rectangular wooden crate that backed up to the stall.

Feet spread wide, he walked its length, stepping only on the crate's reinforced edges. The lid was made of loose boards with gaps between each plank, and he didn't want to risk them wobbling on him and giving away his position.

At the crate's end, he took care not to rustle the heap of hay overlapping onto the lip. Now came the tricky part of getting onto the barrel stacked here.

Its huge drum seemed big enough for industrial beer brewing, and its curved rim and concave bilge siding made it a challenge to hoist himself up. He took his time, and when he finally planted his last foot on top, he flung his arms wide to balance himself as the entire kettle wobbled. Whatever was in it was lighter than he expected, and his added weight made the whole thing top heavy.

Tightrope walkers had nothing on him with his impeccable balance, and when the barrel settled beneath his feet, he tucked his arms in and crouched.

The chicken was none the wiser.

He poked his head over the thatched eaves, and the chicken clucked, but not at him. Two people wearing Adventurers' Guild officer uniforms huddled behind the stall's corner. One was Thessin the wood elf. The other was the Robin Hood guy who had the different insignia from the others. Jorek, Logan thought his name was.

Stealth is level 7!
Stealth is level 8!

"Shoo," said Thessin, throwing a pebble at the bird. It bokked as the small stone ricocheted off the chicken's wing and lightly struck Logan's forehead. He didn't move to rub the small stinging spot, not wanting to upset his balance on the unsteady barrel.

As the chicken fluttered toward the roof's flat edge and further out of Logan's reach, Logan rolled his eyes. He kept silent so the two guild members would carry on their way and leave him to his chicken-herding espionage, but they hunkered down.

"How hard can it be for that girl to keep her chickens cooped?"

"Focus, Thessin. Why did you bring me out here?"

"Sorry, Chief Inspector Hane. It's about Vellia. I don't know if we can trust her."

"For the last time, Thessin, just call me Jorek. What is it about Vellia?"

"Yessir. She's been too eager lately. Too interested in the details of how we're managing the alarms."

Jorek gave a tired sigh. "Vellia is only excited to learn under you, Thessin. She wouldn't jeopardize her opportunities to train beneath you."

Thessin started to say something but stopped.

Logan hoped they hadn't seen him. It would be difficult to explain his eavesdropping as another chicken-induced accident, and he didn't want them to have any more excuses to keep him on their radar. He stole a peek, but the guildmates hadn't seen him. Thessin just looked fidgety, opening and closing his mouth.

Jorek cleared his throat. "Speak plainly, Thessin. We're alone. I watched the ostler leave. If you suspect something, say so."

Logan ducked again. Hidden and silent, he strained to catch every word. His quads burned from holding the squat, though.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"It's not just the alarms, Jorek. It's the way she thinks. She doesn't strike me as someone who is new to mana field diagnostics."

"Are you suggesting she is acting with malintent?"

"It's possible." Thessin sounded like the words tasted bitter. "You are leading the investigation in the blight. If Vellia altered the calibrations, what if it caused more disturbances than just what we saw locally?"

"Hm. We have covered the near valley already and I have seen no signs of scarred mana beyond normal ranges. Quite frankly, I thought the bureau made a mistake in stationing me here. But you pose an interesting question. We could delve deeper into the valley. Have you taken this to Krett?"

"Of course. She has removed Vellia from the reconfiguration project and has assigned her to watch that suspicious human boy." The wood elf snorted. "Krett wants him in our ranks the moment we resume standard operations." Lips smacked. "She actually didn't want me to bother you, either." A small scuffle made Logan suspect Thessin had leaned in. "I think she's worried you would call for a convention of the guilds. If the Mage's Guild catches wind of the advancements we've made in mana field diagnostics, they could easily outpace us. We are a minor field office, and I think she wants to impress the bureau so they promote her. But we're not quite there yet."

"I appreciate that, Thessin. And I do not want the Mage's Guild involved anymore than her, or your division, I'm sure."

Logan's brow furrowed as he tried to ignore the pressure building in his lower back. What did the Mage's Guild matter to Jorek? If the two guilds could work together for a more reliable alarm, why not let them? Was Krett risking people's safety so she would look better, or were Thessin and Jorek going behind her back? Logan didn't know enough about guild politics to have the slightest clue, but his instincts screamed something wasn't right.

After a pause, Jorek sighed. "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'll keep an eye on Vellia. I can propose deeper excursions into the blight, too, and will check for signs of mana field tampering or monster breaches. We have found more eviscerated beasts lately, some even above level 50."

Logan immediately thought of the level 19 dragon lady. He doubted that was her real level. She probably masked herself like Mariv did somehow. That would explain how she had overpowered a level 67 prowler.

Was she related to whatever the Adventurers' Guild was up to? If so, it was another reason to avoid getting entangled.

The conversation appeared over, to Logan's relief. His quads burned, and he wanted to grab that chicken and be on his way. Relief turned to panic, though, when he realized the guild members were going the long way around the stall.

Which meant they would pass directly by him.

Logan sprang onto the roof, stretching his limbs like a flying squirrel.

The following sequence happened all at once: an alarmed Thessin asking What was that?, the chicken squawking as it hopped over Logan and fluttered to the ground, and the barrel crashing to the dirt from the force of Logan kicking off it. The kettle promptly hit the pitchfork, which rose with a twang and flew into the air like a catapult, where it almost speared the two guild members. Fortunately, the incoming pitchfork kept their attention off him, and even when they took stock of their surroundings, it was the chicken they cursed.

"Truly, the worst! Why do we keep accepting Liorna's bounty requests if they just escape her again?"

Logan's lungs ached as he fought to breathe quietly through the stuffy straw.

After a bout of mutters, the tone of their conversation immediately flipped to a casual discussion of weather and the ranking of various bounties.

Stealth is level 9!

When they left earshot, Logan scrabbled to his knees.

I cannot believe these chickens are such a hassle.

After picking stray thatching out of his shirt, he aimed and pounced from the stall, successfully catching the troublesome chicken.

The two hitchhiking birds from earlier were still nestled in the hay cart, and they gave him no trouble. They were equally content to doze in his arms or on their bed.

And so, Logan awkwardly waddled his way with a chicken in each elbow and one held in his two hands all the way back to Liorna's coop. She didn't pick up on his annoyance over the troublemaker one, and instead cooed with gratitude at her precious Miss Josephine.

On his next trip, he grabbed the chicken by the town's front gate. When he spotted Vellia window-shopping on the main road and stealing glances at him, he sidestepped into the narrow strip behind the buildings. He didn't need Captain Dalia keeping tabs on him through her lackeys and drawing him into guild drama.

Walking along the unpaved stretch, Logan had to tamp down tall grass with his shoes. The buildings here backed up almost directly to the mountain, with only two feet separating the rear of the dwellings and stores from the bluff.

At first, he thought the cluck of the chicken in his arms was echoing against the stone. But something about the echo sounded off. Logan tilted his ear and scanned higher up the steep cliff face.

When he glimpsed another chicken perched a dozen feet up, he rolled his eyes. "How is that even possible?"

The only way he could make sense of it was that the animal had hopped up a series of nooks and crannies in the ridge wall. It had to be more billy goat than bird.

It clucked as it went higher in front of his eyes.

Logan groaned. If he didn't get it now, how much further would it climb?

With a sigh, he set the chicken he was holding down. "You, stay put."

Instead of heeding him, it immediately bolted back toward the gate. "Well, I guess I know where to find you."

He glowered at the daredevil above him.

Logan observed the mountainside. His prowler-claw gauntlet was sharp enough for cork, but not stone, and he definitely didn't know how to spot grips in the wall.

He instead turned his attention to the backside of the houses. He tested his claws against the stacked log siding. It was more difficult to sink his grip into than tree bark or the archery wall's cork, but it still worked. In fact, the natural shaping of the logs gave him easy footholds.

Logan began scaling the wall with ease.

Climbing is level 12!

"I think I've gained more levels from these chickens than I ever did with torch slugs."

He climbed until he was directly parallel to the bird. With his feet wedged at the curved meeting point between two logs, he dug one clawed fist into the timber siding. Secured at three points, he stretched his other hand and tried to direct the chicken down. If he gently bumped it off, it would flap its way to the ground and he could bring it back to Liorna.

When he successfully nudged it off, though, the chicken jumped onto his head.

Its talons dug unexpectedly deep into his scalp. It didn't hurt as much as it shocked Logan, and he lost his balance, falling to the ground. To add insult to injury, the chicken had used him as a launch pad to jump to a higher stony bumpout.

Logan landed on his side, and a loud crack made him worry he had broken a bone. However, nothing hurt. When he looked down, though, he saw the familiar purple mist from when the Ripper had formed out of nowhere.

He scrambled to his feet and readied his claws for a fight. Hopefully the tight quarters would work to his advantage, although that Ripper had been able to jump high.

No monster came, though. No, the purple mist was not converging, but rather spilling out of the monster core, which had rolled out of his pocket and lay shattered in the dirt. "That thing was probably pretty valuable," Logan said with a reluctant sigh.

Then the rising mist froze in the air and, in an instant, surged into Logan's chest before he could cry out.

Synergy detected: Exalted Kin.
Additional heritage boon unlocked!

Core Cracker
You have the ability to decipher the power of the world's most terrible abominations by absorbing the essence from their monster cores. What does that make you?
+1 to PER and DEX per level

Retroactive level bonuses applied.

Congratulations! You have learned a new skill by absorbing a Ripper core!
Null Pulse (Epic), Level 1
+4 AGI, +8 DEX
Focus force mana into a single condensed point as a volatile anchor that hurls you forward with explosive momentum. It's exhilarating if you survive the landing! But beware: once you start, you can't back out. Force output increases with mana input. mana drain lessens with skill level.

You have assumed the Void affinity!