Prior to attacking his chasers, Leo had purchased the quest that required him to defeat an F-Rank Adventurer.
After tossing the Void Spear, Leo calmly approached the flipped vehicle.
“Fuck… What just happened…”
He could see someone crawling out of a hole in the vehicle.
“He’s the only one that’s alive.” Lilith said after scouting inside the vehicle and seeing four bloodied corpses inside.
“Good.”
Leo said as he retrieved his sword and stabbed it into the man’s hand, pinning him to the ground.
“Aaaaaah! Fuuuuck!” The man screamed in pain.
“Y-You! Please! Spare me! Why are you doing this?! What did we do to offend you?!” The man cried out loud.
“Acting innocent, huh? You were going to kill me, so I had no choice but to act, or did you expect me to just sit there and let you take my head?” Leo spoke in a cold voice.
“What?! That’s nonsense! We didn’t want to kill you!”
“Then why were you chasing after me?”
“W-We just wanted to ask you for directions! We even signaled for you to stop, but you didn’t, so we had no choice but to chase after you!” The man exclaimed.
Leo raised his eyebrows.
‘Oh, so that’s why their lights were flickering.’ He thought to himself.
Of course, Leo didn’t believe the man when he said that they were only trying to ask for directions.
“By the way, you can stop the act now. I know you’re chasing after me because of my bounty. I have a few questions for you. If you answer them truthfully, maybe I will spare your life.” Leo said a moment later.
“…”
Seeing the vicious glare from Leo, the man silently nodded his head.
“Who put the bounty on my head?” Leo started asking questions.
“I don’t know. Most bounties won’t reveal the person who created it.”
“Then how did you find me? And don’t tell me it was just a coincidence. I won’t believe it.”
“W-We were given information about your whereabouts when we accepted your bounty! However, it was information about your route!”
“My route?” Leo raised his eyebrows.
‘Is he talking about the navigation that I have been following? I guess it makes sense if I am following a certain route.’
“If you had managed to kill me, what do you plan on doing? Who do you go to for the bounty rewards?”
“The Adventurers’ Guild handles all bounties and their rewards!”
“The Adventurers’ Guild, huh? Thanks for the information.”
“A-Are you going to spare me now?” The man asked him in a desperate voice.
“Huh? You want me to let you go after you admitted to wanting my head? Fuck off.”
“You—”
The man’s eyes widened with shock, but before he could say anything, Leo flicked his sword, severing the man’s head.
Leo stared at the headless corpse with a tranquil expression on his face.
“Hey, Lilith, is there something wrong with me?” He suddenly asked her.
“Why are you asking that?”
“It hasn’t been that long since I killed another human being for the first time, yet I don’t feel anything when I killed this guy. My heart is beating calmly, and I don’t even feel any guilt. It’s almost as though I have been doing this for a long time. Am I a sociopath?”
Lilith shrugged and said, “No matter what you do, it always gets easier after doing it for the first time, and that applies to murder as well. I wouldn’t be worried if I were you, and even if you were a sociopath, who cares? That would actually benefit you and make it easier for you to survive in this world.”
Sometime later, Leo returned to his own vehicle.
“Ah, damn it! I forgot! I should’ve purchased another quest before I killed him! I was too hasty!” Leo cried out loud after realizing this.
He proceeded to purchase the quest in case he gets attacked by other Adventurers again.
[Purchased Quest for 1 Magic Points]
[Quest: Defeat an F-Rank Adventurer]
[Reward: 10 Magic Points]
Several hours later, Leo had to stop the vehicle to deal with another group of monsters.
<Black Flame’s Mastery Rank has increased to ‘E’>
As they got close to Stellar City, another vehicle could be seen approaching them from behind, and Lilith immediately warned him.
Once the vehicle got close enough, Lilith went to spy on the situation inside.
There were 8 Adventurers sitting inside this vehicle, and most of them were wounded.
After spending a couple of minutes inside this vehicle, Lilith returned to Leo and reported to him, “You can relax. They don’t seem to be here for you. Since we’re nearing the city, it’s normal to encounter other Adventurers.”
“Alright.” Leo sighed in relief after hearing her words.
Since he didn’t like the feeling of another car following him from behind, Leo purposefully slowed down to let the vehicle pass him.
Eventually, Leo could see the city walls.
“I am finally home.” He sighed in relief after realizing that he’d survived the Wilderness.
Once he reached the city walls, Leo parked the car at the location given to him by the navigator.
Before even exiting the vehicle, Leo could see a short man with red hair approaching his direction.
“Hello, I am Robin. Is this Mister Tami’s cargo?” Robin asked him sometime later.
“Yes, it is.”
“Great. By the way, where are the others?” Robin asked when he noticed nobody else coming out of the vehicle.
“About that… We ran into some complications, so I am alone.” Leo said with a stiff expression on his face.
“Complications? What happened? Are the supplies okay?” Robin immediately frowned.
“The cargo is fine. As for what happened to the others… I think it would be better if I reported it to the Adventurers’ Guild instead.” Leo said.
“I understand. As long as the cargo is fine, I have no reason to bother you. Give us a moment to inspect the cargo. Once we confirm everything is there, we will let you go.”
“Alright.” He nodded.
Robin and his group proceeded to inspect the cargo.
Half an hour later, Robin returned to Leo and said, “Can you sign this? It’s just to confirm that you have completed your mission. You can leave after this.”
Leo nodded and signed the paper.
“Thank you, Leon. I will let Mister Tami know that the cargo has arrived safely. Thank you for your hard work. For your reward, please pick it up at the Adventurers’ Guild.”
Leo called for a taxi and went straight to the Adventurers’ Guild after leaving the cargo with Robin.
Sometime later, Leo entered the Adventurers’ Guild.
He went to the front desk and said to the worker, “I am here to report back from my mission. I would also like to report about an incident that had happened during the mission.”
“I understand. Can I see your ID?” The worker asked him.
After handing his ID to the worker, Leo waited for a response.
“I have confirmed that you have indeed completed your mission. Your reward is 100,000 dollars. How do you want the payment?”
“You can put it in here.” Leo handed her his bank card.
“All done.” The worker returned his bank card before continuing, “Now about the incident… You can either give me a brief explanation here, or I can call someone to take your full report. Either way, we will investigate it according to the situation.”
“I’d like to speak with someone.” Leo said.
“I understand. I will put in a request for you right now. Do you have a phone number that we can call? It could take a while before we find somebody.”
“Sorry… I don’t have a phone number…” Leo said.
Even in his old world, Leo never owned a cell phone, mostly because he couldn’t afford one and he had no need for one.
“There’s no need to wait. I will listen to your report.” A familiar suddenly sounded.
Leo and the worker turned to look at the person who just spoke.
“G-Guildmaster!” The worker was surprised to see him, even more so that someone of his status would be willing to do such work.
“Follow me.” Guildmaster Borus said while looking at Leo.
“Okay.” Leo nodded and followed him to his office.
“Make yourself at home.” Guildmaster Borus said to him after closing the door.
After Leo sat down on the soft couch, Guildmaster Borus sat across from him.
“I would normally prepare tea, but you seem to be in distress, so I will skip that and get straight to the point. What happened?”
Leo took a deep breath and proceeded to explain the situation to Guildmaster Borus.
“The mission went smoothly at first, but when we were on our way back, my teammates attacked me, claiming that I had a bounty on my head, and in self-defense, I killed all of them, including the drivers, who shot at me with their rifles.”
Guildmaster Borus’ eyes widened with surprise after hearing Leo’s story.
“To think such a thing happened on your first official mission… I am terribly sorry to hear it.”
“Can you help me with the bounty issue? I want to know who created it and why. I don’t remember offending anyone, and I became an Adventurer very recently.” Leo asked him.
“Don’t worry, I will definitely investigate your issue. If anything were to happen to you, Camille would definitely throw a fit, and nobody likes it when she’s angry.” Guildmaster Borus shook his head.
And he continued, “It might take a while before we have any results, so in the meantime, would you like to take the C-Rank promotion examination?”
“Huh?” Leo raised his eyebrows in a surprised manner after hearing such words.