Dragon Ball: Saiyan's Gourmet Journey

Chapter 723 The Murder in Rivera

“Loki, there’s another person’s scent here.”

After dealing with the man-eating plant, the werewolf Bert spoke to the chief god behind him.

"who?"

Loki instinctively pressed for an answer.

"Ha, how would I know? I can only smell other people here, but as for who they are, they're not people I know. How can I answer that?"

"Well, that's true. However, if there are no other clues here, this mission probably won't be considered a success."

"So, you're saying we made a wasted trip?"

"It can't be said that we went for nothing. At least we solved the danger lurking in the Orario sewers, so I think the guild will give us some reward."

. . . .

"Lord Enio, the carnivorous plants over at the reservoir have been eliminated."

"As expected of the guild, their reaction is swift. Ye En, didn't you take care of the pursuers?"

"I'm sorry, the person who came was Loki with a wolf. I wasn't confident I could take down the wolf, so I chose to retreat."

"The wolf Bert, with his unique magic absorption attribute weaponry in Orario, is indeed not someone you, as a magic swordsman, can easily defeat. Your decision not to attack them was correct; otherwise, you might have failed to capture them and instead exposed more of our intelligence."

"Yes, but although I retreated in time, the other side seemed to have sensed my presence and smelled the scent I left at the reservoir. Could this be a problem?"

"Ugh, orcs' noses are so sensitive, it's really troublesome. Loki isn't easy to deal with either. The guild really knows how to send people to investigate..."

Dionysus downed his wine in one gulp and then called to the elf beside him, "Philweiss, buy a bouquet of flowers. Let's go pay our respects to Slo and the others. Then, on our way back, we'll run into Loki and the wolf, and they'll recognize the familiar scent."

"Yes."

Although she didn't know what the supreme god wanted to do, the black-haired elf nodded in agreement.

. . . .

In Dionysus's plan, he successfully met Loki on the street, who had just emerged from the sewers. After the meeting, the werewolf Bert recognized the smell of the sewers, grabbed Loki's hand, and stopped his chief god from approaching the blond god: "Loki, the smell that came out of the sewers belongs to that guy over there."

"Dionysus, I think you need to explain why the scent of your child appears in the place where I'm investigating the monster's trail."

Could it be that you are the mastermind behind those monsters that appeared yesterday?
"Come to think of it, you've always been against the monster festival, yet you also had a motive to disrupt it."

"Is there some misunderstanding, Loki? Perhaps we can find a place to talk."

"it is good."

Loki agreed. In the city, she wasn't afraid of being attacked; she just wanted to hear how the other party had an explanation.

At a nearby coffee shop, she sat down and chatted with the handsome blond man.

“I admit that my child went to the sewers of the reservoir, but I am not the mastermind behind the monsters that appeared in the city yesterday.”

In fact, three of my children died just a month ago; they were murdered, apparently because they saw something they shouldn't have seen.

Their deaths were related to monsters that possessed these special magic stones.

As Dionysus spoke, he took out a magic stone from his pocket, which was basically the same as the magic stone that had fallen from the giant man-eating flower, and placed it on the table.

"Eh, really?!"

Loki widened his squinty eyes.

"Do I look like I'm lying about my own child's death?"

Dionysus did not lie; he simply told the truth when he had insufficient information.

His three dead children did indeed see things they shouldn't have seen, and he ordered Ye En to kill them.

Ye En is the embodiment of Phil Weiss's evil side.

After being transformed by the Fallen Fairy Spirit six years ago, Philweis now also has a magic stone similar to a desktop inside her body.

Therefore, the statement that it was related to monsters possessing this special magic stone was not a lie.

"Dionysus, who do you think is the mastermind behind Orario?"

Loki, failing to see through the deception of the god before him, instead asked for the other's opinion.

"But the appearance of these monsters on the day of the monster festival suggests that it must be related to the monster festival."

"You mean Ganesha?"

“No, Ganesha isn’t that kind of god. I’m referring to the entity behind the Monster Festival, the guild, or rather…”

"Uranus."

Loki spoke the rest of the sentence for him.

"That's impossible. The one who commissioned me to investigate the truth behind the monsters that appeared yesterday was the guild's chief god, Uranus himself. If the monsters that appeared yesterday were related to him, then why would he commission me to investigate himself?"

"Loki, is it possible that this is a trap set for you?"

"You mean he wants to use those monsters hidden in the sewers to kill me?"

“Uranus once made a pact with the other gods to restrain his own behavior. He could not arbitrarily expand his own kinship members. Therefore, it is not impossible for an opponent who lacks combat power to do so.”

"Okay, assuming Uranus is the mastermind, what is his purpose in doing this? Getting the guild to push for the monster festival, letting special monsters run out and cause trouble yesterday, and then asking me to investigate the truth behind it all. Is that old man just doing this because he has nothing better to do?"

"I don't know about that, it's still under investigation, but perhaps Loki, you'll find out sooner than I do."

Loki left, and Philweis, after the Joker God departed, asked her own chief god a question.

"Lord Dionysus, will the god Loki believe your testimony regarding the god Uranus?"

“Loki won’t believe it, but she will definitely investigate. Once she investigates, she will find that the guild and Uranus have been hiding something from her.”

"You mean heretics?"

"That's right, heretic. Those intelligent monsters are the reason Uranus initiated the Monster Festival. And if the time wasn't right, that Uranus would never have revealed the information to a god like Loki. The seed of doubt was bound to be planted..."

After Dionysus finished speaking, the black-haired elf remained silent, as if he could see what she was thinking. Then he said, "The idea of ​​humans and monsters living in harmony is just a naive one. People on the ground only regard the monsters that come out of the ground as monsters that will harm them, and they don't care whether they have intelligence."

The aliens of the underworld, if they want recognition in the world above, can only do so by overturning the normal world. Only when the "abnormal" replaces the "normal," Philvis, can your existence be given a definite affirmation.

"Yes, Lord Dionysus."

The black-haired elf nodded. She had been turned into a monster six years ago and would be a monster for the rest of her life. The only way to avoid being treated as a monster was to turn all the other normal people into monsters like herself.

Philweis firmly believed this, because it was the only thing she hadn't said to the god who treated her as a monster after her return from the dead.

Yes, she felt ashamed and guilty for the slight wavering she had felt just now.

Dionysus, who saw through this, simply smiled slightly.

. . . .

"Lorne, I'm really sorry. I said I was going to help you improve your strength, but now I've made you do the work of my supporter."

On the nineteenth floor of the dungeon, Broly looked at the red-haired dwarf who was picking up the fallen items and said to him somewhat apologetically.

“Mr. Broly, you don’t need to worry about it. I’m rather slow-witted, and my strength can’t improve as quickly as Bell and Miss Lily Luca…”

Without the help of overpowered abilities like "You are all my wings" and "Unwavering Aspiration," even if Broly were willing to mentor Lorne, the progress of the dwarves would be very limited.

"On the contrary, I'm already very satisfied that you're willing to bring me to the middle zone and let me gain experience as a supporter."

Lorne waved his hand and said.

The leveling up of a God-giver is not limited to defeating powerful monsters and achieving great feats.

Defeating powerful monsters is simply the easiest and most effective way to level up.

The difficulty of obtaining great achievements actually varies from person to person. It will be more difficult for someone who is already very capable to obtain great achievements that can be recognized by their ability panel.

For ordinary people, the difficulty of achieving great deeds that can be recognized by the ability value panel will be correspondingly reduced.

To give an analogy, it's like a policeman catching a thief; it's their duty, and unless the thief is exceptionally skilled, they generally won't be publicly commended.

But if it were an ordinary citizen catching a thief, even a not-so-skilled one, they would be commended and recognized for their act of bravery.

"Great achievements" is something like a "public notice of commendation".

Of course, the so-called difficulty in achieving great things is actually an objective statement.

Subjectively speaking, the difficulty of achieving great things should be the same for everyone.

It is only natural for professionals to do what they are good at.

When ordinary people do professional things, that is a great achievement.

However, the ability panel is rigid; it only records one's own experiences and accumulated knowledge.

Therefore, this creates an operational space where professionals can guide ordinary people to do professional things.

To use the example of the police catching a thief, it would be like this: I and the police catch an ordinary thief, but the police do not receive a commendation, while I do.

This is why, within large clans, logistics personnel who possess divine favor are generally not of low rank.

Although those people were not capable of leveling up on their own, they gained experience and achievements by following behind high-level adventurers in dungeons and assisting them, thus qualifying them to level up.

Of course, people who rise through the ranks by leeching experience and achievements are generally much weaker than those who rise through their own abilities.

However, Lorne's desire to level up was not originally for the purpose of becoming stronger, but rather to pursue the pig-man girl he admired.

Therefore, he only focused on the result of leveling up, not the process. He had no complaints about Broly, who was willing to help him gain experience, and the supporter role he was given. On the contrary, he was very grateful.

"Brother Broly, our backpacks are almost full. We'll probably have to go back to Rivera town to deal with this."

Bell then walked over carrying a heavy bundle, with Yamato and his two companions from the Takemikazuchi Familia beside him.

The three met in the fourteenth floor of the labyrinth. After hearing that Broly needed strong adventurers to help escort the supporters to transport supplies, the three volunteered to join the team.

"Without Mr. Broly's guidance, we probably wouldn't have been able to establish ourselves in the middle zone so quickly. So please be sure to let us repay you."

These are the original words of Yamato and the other two. Unable to refuse their kind invitation, Broly agreed to let them join the team.

"Okay, remember to be careful on your way back to the eighteenth level of the maze."

Bell and Lorne, carrying the supporter packs, along with the three members of the Takemikazuchi Familia who were guarding them, and Lefia, headed towards the eighteenth floor of the labyrinth.

Broly, along with Ais and Tiona, continued their efficient monster-slaying activity on floor 19.

. . . .

"That's about it for today..."

Time flies, and soon it was afternoon.

“Let’s go back to Rivera Town, sort out the valuable loot from today and sell it outside the maze. As for the low-value loot that we can’t take with us, we can sell it all in Rivera Town.”

Just as Broly and his group returned to Rivera Town, sold their low-value loot, and were preparing to leave with their high-value loot, the local tyrant of Rivera Town led his men to block their way.

"What are you trying to do? Are you planning to force us to buy or sell?"

Seeing the group of people blocking his way, Bell became a little nervous.

"Looking for trouble?"

Ais tilted her head, gripped the hilt of her sword, and asked the leader of Rivera Town.

"Don't get me wrong, Fiora, we're not here to cause trouble."

Upon seeing this, Modo quickly explained.

"Someone died."

He wouldn't bother explaining if there weren't high-level adventurers on the other side.

"Dungeons are dangerous places, and most of the people who come here are adventurers. It's not uncommon for adventurers to die while adventuring, is it?"

"Yes, it would be relatively normal to die in the dungeon labyrinth, or even in the wilderness on a safe floor. But the person who died was in a hotel in Rivera town, and was even strangled to death."

What Modo meant was that it wasn't monsters that killed people, but humans, and only humans could strangle others in Rivera.

"Wait a minute, you don't think we're the murderers, do you?"

Tiona stared wide-eyed at the burly man and asked.

"Ahem, the person who died was Steel Fist Hasana, a Level 4 adventurer of the Ganesha Familia. Although he was killed while doing 'that' with a woman, it would have been impossible for the murderer to do this without considerable strength."

We've already investigated the residents of Rivera and found no murderer. Now, all that's left is to investigate the outsiders, and you are the outsiders who arrived in Rivera in the last two days.

"Huh, so he's actually being treated as a murder suspect?!"

Tiona started complaining.

"We are innocent."

"Refia shouted."

"Yes, I'm willing to believe you."

As Modo spoke, he subconsciously glanced at the women in the group. When he looked at the Sword Maiden, his eyes were filled with trust, as if he believed she would only kill with a sword.

When he looked at the Amazon girl, he trusted her completely, but he felt that she was too flat-chested and wouldn't be able to seduce the eyes of a seasoned adventurer with normal aesthetic sense.

As for Lefia and the two girls from the Takemikazuchi Familia, he finally showed a hint of suspicion, as if to say, "I can't rule out the possibility that you are the murderers."

"The town of Rivera is in a state of panic right now. You don't want to be the murderers, do you? So, we hope you can cooperate with our investigation."

"How to cooperate?"

“The deceased’s belongings have been rummaged through; the murderer must have taken something. I would like to check your backpacks.”

"This is loot we just got today. You wouldn't be taking advantage of the inspection to steal it, would you?"

"Rest assured, you can watch us inspect. If there's anyone trying to take advantage of the situation and steal something, I, Modo, will be the first to stop them!"

Although proving one's innocence is a bit of a hassle, and one could simply kick the other party out the door, none of the three girls from the Loki Familia are domineering individuals.

Fortunately, it was just a package inspection, and there was nothing suspicious inside. Modo and the others promised to repack the package after the inspection and proof of their innocence, so Broly didn't say anything.

Just as everyone was gathered around, checking the contents of the Broly Squad supporter's large bag, the red-haired dwarf's sleeve was suddenly tugged by someone behind him.

Lorne turned around and was about to exclaim in surprise when the dog-woman behind him covered his mouth: "Don't speak, Lorne, help me."

. . . .

"There really is nothing there..."

After the contents of the supporter's bag were taken out and put back in, Modo apologized to the swordswoman.

"The person who died last night, the killer must have already escaped long ago. Sorry, we were a bit too tense."

"No, it's nothing."

Mordo left with his men, and just as Broly and the others were about to leave as well, Lorne spoke up: "Mr. Broly, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Ok?"

Broly turned to look.

"This is Lulune, my companion from the Familia. She seems to be in some trouble."

(End of this chapter)