Chapter 242: Let’s find that place
"Holy shit! She’s not just working with demons, she’s working with the demon king! That’s some insane lore right there." Kai teleported everyone out of the lab and onto the clock tower they were on before. He expected Lady Cucombar to definitely be working with the demons after seeing the lab, but he was not expecting her to be working for the demon king.
"I thought the demon king was doing his own thing on Gozonga Island?" Gwen recalled what Kai had told them after speaking with Goddess Aquaphina.
He nodded, thinking the same thing as Gwen. "Yeah. I assumed he was keeping to himself while building an army or something. But it turns out that he has people all over the inside of the kingdom. Each Island may be compromised."
"What are we going to do about it?" Kyana asked, thinking about what could happen if things were left the way they were.
Kai pulled everyone into a group huddle. His expression was serious, and the vibe he gave off told the girls that he was going to say something important.
"Nothing." He said with a straight face.
"H-Huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean what I said. We’re going to do nothing. Don’t get me wrong, we’re definitely reporting this incident, but we aren’t going to actively go out of our way to find these places where the demons have overrun. That’s the church’s job. We are tourists."
"What if we run into more demon sightings?" Nadya wondered.
"Then we’ll handle it and report it. Like I said, we’re not going out of our way to deal with these threats. If danger finds us, then we take care of it. If not, then we just continue with our adventure. Sound good?"
Amaya didn’t care. "I’m okay with it."
Gwen also thought that it was fine. Kyana and Nadya, too, weren’t bothered by this proposition and agreed with Kai.
"Sweet. Now, let’s go back to Picklenose and report to him what we found. Then, we’ll head to the nearest temple of Gracia and tell them what we learned as well."
---
Picklenose was leaning back in his chair while sorting through papers. He was visibly stressed and hoped his wife was not connected to the demons. Still, he had to take precautions and not blindly have faith in his wife.
Marriages are built on trust, but after noticing her suspicious activity, he would rather be safe than sorry.
Picklenose was separating their finances, removing himself from anything that could tie him to his wife. He removed his name from fundraisers, products, charities, and more if his wife’s name was also there.
As a businessman, some things that he learned were to never trust anyone, always secure your assets, and make sure to have a backup plan for everything.
’Honey, I hope you’re not doing anything bad.’ Picklenose took a deep breath, rubbed his tired eyes, and brushed his hand through his hair. When he leaned forward to continue working, the space in front of him warped, and six people popped out of nowhere.
"AHHHH!"
"Sup, Picklenose, we’re back." Kai jumped on a chair and placed his feet on Picklenose’s desk.
"You’re back early." He said, moving his papers away from Kai’s feet.
"Yeah, we already got everything we need. Here." The letter was tossed onto the table.
Picklenose was confused. He was under the impression that it would take a few days to gather enough evidence to prove his wife was working with demons, but they were back after a few hours instead.
He opened the letter and read the contents inside. With each sentence he read, his eyes got wider and wider until they nearly popped out of his face.
"T-This...This is...I don’t even know what to say." He put the letter down and rested his face in his palm.
"Well, there is some good news to this bad news."
"What? Please, tell me!"
"Your wife still loves you. In fact, she’s doing this for you. She believes that the hero cannot beat the demon king, so she’s ensuring your survival by working with the demon king." Kai informed him of the things they heard in her office.
"I-I guess that’s good news. But I’d never work with demons just for that. I’ll have to inform the church about this."
"Good man. We’ll also be informing the church. Is there any temple nearby?" Kai wondered.
Picklenose shook his head. "No. The closest one is the main church, but that’s a few islands away, on the main island, the capital."
"How far?"
"From here by boat, around a week. Probably a bit longer since you will have to pass through multiple checkpoints."
"Damn. Okay, thanks. We’ll be on our way now. Our pay, please."
Picklenose reached into his drawer and pulled out a bag of gold coins, handing it to Kai.
"Fifteen gold. Since this was personal, I made sure to reward the person who took this job well."
Kai smiled and nodded. "Pleasure doing business with you." Everyone teleported out of the office.
"Dill!" Picklenose called out for.
"Yes, Lord Picklenose?" A servant came upon being called for.
"Take this letter and send it to the Church. We need them to know about this information asap!"
"Yes, my lord."
---
"Time for our treasure hunt!" Kai was excited to embark on another adventure that was vastly different from the other ones he had been on.
Usually, they would be on a quest to fight some monster or something, then they randomly run into a place with treasure, like in the Rolimont forest.
"Let’s see. Finding a lost relic? Nah, sounds boring."
"Oooo! How about this? The tome of the first sorcerer! That sounds cool, right?" Gwen geeked out over seeing that quest. As a mage, she loved all things magic. She wasn’t as crazy as Kassandra, though.
Kai thought about it, but it wasn’t really that interesting to him. "I mean, that sounds cool, but I’m not feeling the Adventure, if you know what I’m saying."
"What about finding an ancient monster whose blood makes you immortal if you drink it?" Amaya handed Kai the job request.
"I’m already immortal. And I can make you all immortal as well. This is lame."
"What? You can make us immortal?!" Sasha looked at Kai as if he were a bastard for not mentioning that sooner.
"Yeah. I’ll tell you all more about it later."
"How about this one? It says that there is a lost city under the central sea of the archipelago." Nadya handed Kai the job, and after reading it, he was sold.
"Finding a secret civilization? Hell yeah!"