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

STR 21
END 40
DEX 56
AGL 30
INT 56
PER 70
WIL 57
CHA 6

Logan's eyes flicked from his stats to the team as he considered the situation. Their words sounded like accusations, but as he studied their faces, he saw something else beneath the surface.

Alden's challenge wasn't outright suspicion. It was competitive, probing, like someone who didn't enjoy being outmatched. Cassandra's tone held curiosity, not scrutiny. As a whole, this team fought as a cohesive unit and no one betrayed or abandoned one another, let alone him.

Most of all, though, he had a feeling. And this world, the Fold, had rules. His Perception was beyond his other stats, and he couldn't help but guess his conviction resulted from that.

A golden warmth pulsed from his storage ripple, subtle but present. He recalled Razor's words about the unhatched dragon's Rune of Radiant Fortune, and how it was supposed to bring luck by nudging him toward favorable conditions. That golden pull had been what led him to uncover the frostfire elemental's weakness, and now it urged him that sharing some of his truth wasn't a mistake.

"Okay, so yeah. You're right. I can see more of mana than most people."

Alden folded arms, and Cassandra tilted her head, intrigued. Senna elbowed Bromlin, and the two exchanged waggling eyebrows, something Logan had noticed they did when placing silent bets between themselves.

He inhaled through his nose, searching for the best way to ease into it. "You all know about Manasense, right?"

Alden's eyes narrowed slightly, while Cassandra hesitated just long enough for Logan to notice. Bromlin coughed, and Senna let out a quiet snicker. They all probably thought him pedantic.

Cassandra recovered first. "It's a standard skill for anyone who manipulates mana, especially adventurers."

Alden gave her a sharp look. "You don't need to volunteer our skillsets to him, Cassandra. He's not necessarily a permanent member of the team." Then, after a short pause, he sighed. "But yes, that's an assumable enough statement." His gaze flicked back to Logan. "You, however, didn't just track actively used mana. You saw residual signatures in the ambient mana. How?"

"Well, I have a similar skill. It's called Aetherlens."

They had never heard of the skill and they listened quietly as he explained, albeit in a slightly scattered way, how the ability allowed him to perceive not only active mana but also ambient flows, balances, and, distortions.

Logan tensed as they started peppering him with questions.

He wanted to believe they were trustworthy, but he wasn't yet sure how much he could say about where he came from and his hidden race. But he at least wanted to tell them the details about Aetherlens. He might find himself in more unexpected dangerous situations with this team, and if he warned them of mana anomalies and they doubted him, it could be devastating to them all. That hadn't happened during this battle, but now that they were probing, it might happen the next. And he would need to earn their trust.

Alden tilted his head down. "How'd you get it?"

"It started as Manasight. But I was around some really intense mana signatures, and it just kind of upgraded on its own." He didn't specify just how recently that had happened, not to mention it had been mere moments after gaining Manasight in the first place. He also left out that the upgrade happened due to a synergy with his hidden race.

Cassandra mouthed the skill name as she tapped her lips, then shook her head. "Is this in the guild's handbook of archived skills?"

"Uh, I'm not sure?"

Bromlin, who, as far as Logan knew, didn't use magic, casually asked the skill's rarity.

Logan figured that question was coming. But just in case it was in that guild handbook, he didn't want to be caught lying. When he told them it was Legendary, Bromlin grunted in approval, but Alden paled. He doubted Cassandra even heard because she was rifling through a book she had pulled from her storage.

Senna pointed a finger at him and her eyes went small. "Are you lying?"

"If I was, why would I say yes?" It wasn't until she giggled that Logan realized she had been kidding.

"How," Alden said after taking a breath, "can you have a legendary skill when you're only level 10?"

"You're magic is still special too," Senna said to console him.

"It's not impossible, Alden," Cassandra added. She closed her book and shook her head. "I don't see it listed in the registry of known skills, but I'm not surprised. Skills that rare, even when they are discovered, often get held up in the guild's red tape. Sometimes I think they cause more confusion, honestly."

"Actually… that makes me wonder something." Logan gestured to the rod cinched at her waist. "Mind if I see that?" The overall tensions had died down with Logan's forthcoming answers, and Logan was glad for a chance to steer the conversation elsewhere.

The beacon still glowed faintly in the aftermath of their battle, the surrounding ambient mana in clear disarray. Cassandra handed it over, and Logan walked a few paces away from the scorched clearing to an area where the disruption felt less severe. He held the rod out, watching its reaction. The glow flickered, then faded entirely.

"There's something off about this," he muttered after activating Aetherlens briefly.

"How so?" Alden asked, arms crossed.

Logan tapped the rod against his palm. "It's supposed to detect imbalances in ambient mana, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"But the mana here is still unbalanced," he continued. "It's not as noticeable here, further from the fire, but it hasn't stabilized completely. And yet, this thing isn't reacting anymore."

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Senna shifted on her feet. "Are you saying the Adventurers' Guild set us up?"

Logan shook his head. "I don't think it's as simple as that. Remember the monster alarm in town the other day? There really was a breach. A monster appeared, and I killed it. After that, Captain Krett seemed really eager to make sure I joined. I suspect she has an ulterior motive to impress the bureau, and I don't think sabotaging a group of adventurers under her supervision is in her best interest."

Cassandra agreed. "She is hungry for the bureau's approval. I avoid her when I can because every conversation leads back to my parents."

Logan lifted the rod again. "I also heard something about calibration issues with the alarm, so you would think they would have fixed that before making this. But for some reason, this thing still seems pretty unreliable if it only picks up anomalies once it's too late."

Cassandra pursed her lips. "So you're saying the guild's warning systems are set to ignore the existing unnatural mana levels."

Logan nodded. "Exactly. Which begs the question if it was done out of malice or mere ignorance." He mentioned overhearing suspicion of tampered calibrations, and how important it was to the guild to keep the proprietary ambient mana detection methods secret from the Mage's Guild.

Alden rolled his eyes. "I'm sure the Mage's Guild would be better suited to improving the schematics so they actually work."

Bromlin whispered loudly to Logan. "The only reason he's in the Adventurers' Guild is because he can get an affinity faster."

Alden spoke off the cuff. "I've never hidden that."

"But I think," continued Bromlin, "he'll stay with us even afterwards."

Alden made an amused face, as if that would ever happen.

As they remade camp, Logan felt good about how the skill discussion had unfolded. A legendary skill could have raised a lot more questions. Maybe it was the lucky dragon egg keeping the discussion manageable. He still held back from revealing his hidden race and his home being Earth, though, as well as the secrets that weren't his to share, like Razor and the dragon egg.

Cassandra still held the frostfire cores, since they were tied directly to their mission and might be needed for guild investigations. Whatever suspicions lingered around the Gnashridge Heights branch, the Adventurers' Guild as a whole followed protocol, and Cassandra took that seriously.

Later, Logan pulled her aside and handed her the attunement charm Krett had given him.

She took it with a quiet sigh. "I suppose if it makes me stronger, I may as well take it." Her hand lingered on his. "Truth is, I'm a bit of a fraud. The reason I avoid Krett is because the moment she realizes I have no influence in my family, she'll think she wasted her time trying to win me over. And like Senna said… I can only use one type of mana. My family tried to tuck me away in a quiet corner of the Fold."

"It'll make you more powerful, sure," Logan said. "But that doesn't always mean stronger." He hesitated, then smiled. "I wasn't good enough for my father, back home. But you know what? I believed him. I stopped chasing the things that made me happy. Maybe if I had stuck with them, I'd have turned out different."

He looked to the sky. "Now that I have a second shot, you know what I say?"

She waited, quiet.

"Screw him."

Cassandra laughed softly.

"So, yeah, take it. But remember, you didn't need it to defeat those elementals today."

They sat for a moment, neither rushing to speak. The campfire's light flickered in her eyes, and Logan realized he didn't feel out of place here anymore.

"Well," Cassandra said at last, turning to the others. "Good night, everyone. We're close enough to Farrowstead that we ought to check in and make sure they aren't facing any other problems with their hearthfires. We should reach them late morning."

"Aye," said Bromlin. "And I'm overdue for some proper ale. Hopefully their tavern isn't overrun with insects."

As Logan and the others reached Farrowstead, they were ready to tackle the town's fire extinction problem.

Except, evidently, there was no problem.

A massive bonfire blazed at the town square, too, crackling and scenting the air with smoked oak as a lively crowd gathered around it. Laughter and music carried through the streets, a stark contrast to the grim expectations Logan had steeled himself for.

"Looks like their fires are burning just fine," Senna remarked, hands on her hips.

Bromlin lifted a fist. "Aye. I suppose we fixed the problem! And now, I'll see to my festival reward!"

Logan still had some money leftover from his apothecary task and used it to buy everyone meat skewers from a street vendor.

"You've never had philkrin before?" Senna asked, waving her skewer as she watched Logan eying his own.

"No. Is that what this is?"

She nodded.

"What's philkrin?" Logan asked.

Bromlin, who had already taken a big bite, spoke around mouthfuls. "It's good is what it is!" He swallowed and let out a satisfied exhale. "Best not to ask."

Senna agreed and tore a chunk off with her teeth.

Logan shrugged at the vague non-answer and took a bite. It was gamy, chewy, and unexpectedly pungent, but not altogether unpleasant.

Cassandra accepted Logan's gift with a smile, but he never saw her take a bite. The moment he turned away, hers was gone and Bromlin mysteriously had another, but Logan didn't call her out.

Alden refused Logan's offer in the first place. Okay, maybe not fully part of the team just yet. He would figure out Alden later.

"So, how do we finish this quest?" Logan asked. "It still shows on my quest tracker, but I doubt there are any more elementals out here."

"We have to report back to the guild," Cassandra explained. "No specific town resident had filed the quest, so its completion requires us to return." She stood on her toes to see over the crowd. "But I want to check in with the innkeeper and make sure there are no further questions."

"Can you handle that yourself?" Bromlin asked, holding two more skewers in hand. "I've worked up a wee bit of an appetite."

"Yes," Cassandra said. "Let's meet at the tavern later tonight."

"I'll see about arranging a wagonride back to Gnashridge tomorrow," said Alden.

After those two peeled off, Bromlin excused himself to see what the local armory had, and Senna wanted to tag along because she needed to stock up on some explosive powder.

"You coming, newbie?" she asked Logan.

He smiled. "Sure, why not?"

The armorer was a stereotypical gentle giant with a full beard, square jaw, bulging biceps, and friendly smile. A slate board behind him had a list of requested materials. Dreadmaw chitin and joint sacs were in high demand, apparently, and the quantities Senna pulled from her storage dropped the smithy's jaw to the floor.

They had beaten those dreadmaws as a team, and Senna insisted they all share in the rewards.

"I have scrap metal in the back," said the man. "It's all yours."

"Perfect!" Senna nudged Logan. "I have a private bounty for scrap metal back in Gnashridge Heights. This should be worth a ton back there. We'll split the earnings when we get back."

Logan smiled and joined her and Bromlin. They were loading the metal into their storage bags, and Logan started to do the same. However, he grimaced when he noticed how heavy his bag was getting. His strength stat was only 21. If he was going to be part of the team now, he knew this was the kind of thing that would set him up as the brunt of jokes for quite a while. While they weren't looking, he stashed his haul of scrap metal into his storage ripple instead, which didn't weigh him down at all.

Back at the front of the shop, Senna was exchanging stories with the armorer, who was enthusiastically showing her his forge setup. Bromlin was wide-eyed at the enchanted forge.

But Logan was distracted by a minstrel entertaining a small crowd just outside the shop. He excused himself and stepped outside. Within only two seconds, though, the twang of a snapped lute string cut through the air.

The crowd hushed for a beat, then burst into laughter as a nearby drunk hiccupped at the perfect comedic moment. But the bard himself looked less amused, cradling his instrument like a wounded animal.

Logan offered him a sympathetic smile, but at catching his eye, the bard beckoned him and lifted his voice over the din. "I'm so sorry to trouble you, but could you please do me a favor?"

Logan opened his mouth to apologize and say he was busy, but the ripple in the corner of his vision pulsed gold again. He looked from the bard and back through the door where Senna and Bromlin were getting a forge tour.

"You know what? Sure."