The next morning, business as usual in the adventurer’s guild.

The whole incident was kept from the public so as not to tarnish the guild’s reputation.

“I know you’re not in any condition, given what happened yesterday, but we only have one day to squeeze out any information he has before we surrender him to the military.” The guildmaster explains.

Right now he, the guild supervisor, and the investigator mage, are in his office discussing what they need to do with the veteran spellcaster.

After returning to the city last night, the investigator mage reported directly to the guildmaster with the veteran spellcaster as the “Proof of completion of the quest”. Normally, when caught, criminals are handled by the city’s military branch and are put in jail until their trial. But since the criminal was the cause of the disappearances of the adventurers, a quest the guildmaster put out, the adventurer’s guild has a maximum of one day to “process” it.

“Got it…” the investigator mage replied before taking a sip of coffee from his cup.

“Don’t worry, this will be treated as a new quest and a different reward will be issued.” The guildmaster stated.

The guildmaster, along with the investigator mage, make their way towards the storage room where they’re keeping the veteran spellcaster.

“Will you be overseeing this interrogation?” The investigator mage asked, worried about his methods being prohibited.

“Don’t worry, whatever happens in this room will remain a secret. Use whatever method you deem as necessary.” The guildmaster assured.

“I see…” The investigator mage replied before entering the makeshift interrogation room.

Inside the room, in the middle, is the veteran spellcaster seated in a wooden chair and restrained by a Binding magicka spell that restricts the veteran spellcaster’s movement and prevents him from casting any spells.

“Look, you have two options… either you tell us what we want to know, willingly…” The investigator mage said, but before he could finish, the veteran spellcaster interrupted.

“Or what? You gonna beat it out of me?” 

“Not exactly. But, I will force it out of you.” The investigator mage threatened.

“Go ahead, do your worst.” The veteran spellcaster, looking smug, replied. The investigator mage turns his gaze to the guildmaster, looking for confirmation of what he is about to do, with the guildmaster nodding in approval.

The investigator mage walks towards the veteran spellcaster, staring him in the eye.

“Through the dark veil and mist filled world of dreams, show me the records of your subconsciousness…” A dense amount of mana starts to form in the palm of his hands. The veteran spellcaster remained unfazed as it was the first time he had heard of such chanting. All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning,casted stealthily by the investigator mage, knocked him unconscious.

“Mind tap.” With the Binding magicka spell, it was easier for the investigator mage to tap into the veteran spellcaster’s subconsciousness, and was able to get some important information before he almost exhausted his mana, barely reaching the danger zone. 

At the same time, at the church of the holy father in the city, the young cleric is attending the funeral of the fallen adventurers found under the abandoned shack. Though she didn’t know any of them, as a cleric it is her duty to offer prayers for the dead, especially that she’s one of the people who found them; that’s what she keeps telling herself.

The fallen adventurers reminded her of her fallen party members. How she never properly mourned their deaths and, upon seeing the people grieving over the fallen adventurers, thought about how her fallen party members’ loved ones hadn’t received the news of their passing. With her on-going quest to subjugate the Demon king, exhuming the bodies of her fallen comrades and sending them back to the Kingdom’s capital would be impossible at the moment.

“I should send a letter about them to the court wizards later.” She quietly said to herself.

On the other side of the city, the farmer is out gathering supplies for their adventure. He would’ve used his cloak of returning to check on his farm but he’s waiting for the investigator mage to finish what he’s doing. And so, all he can do for now is to procure any supplies needed and get as much information he can, both for their quest and his farm.

It was nearing sun down when the farmer finished his supply run. Wanting to check on the investigator mage, he went to the adventurer’s guild to ask around but with the amount of people in the guild reception, he opted to go to the cafeteria and have an early dinner first…

And there he was, the investigator mage, sitting alone at one of the tables as usual, with only a cup in front of him.

“Hey…” The farmer greeted. The investigator mage looks at him with an exhausted look on his face.

“You look like crap, what happened to you?” The farmer said before sitting in front of him, but the investigator mage remained quiet.

“Seems like you’re in no condition to leave for tonight, get some rest and we’ll leave for the Demon king subjugation tomorrow morning.” The farmer said.

“Right… I don’t think I’ll be able to join you guys.” The investigator mage replied with a look of regret on his face.

“Huh? Why?” Instead of showing anger at him for not fulfilling his end of the bargain, the farmer calmly asked his reasons.

“I read that spellcaster’s memories… and realized a lot of things…” The investigator mage replied before narrating what he saw.

Going back to the events a few hours earlier, when the investigator mage tapped inside the veteran spellcaster’s subconsciousness.

“Why did you do the things you’ve done?” It was the most obvious question people, including the guildmaster, wanted to know therefore it is only appropriate for it to be the first question.

He was then taken to the adventurer’s guild where he met a swordsman and an archer who took a scouting quest to the west mountains. Although the quest was just to scout the mountains for a suspicious demonic activity, they recruited the veteran spellcaster for his experience within the area.

It was at that mountain region that they saw a tower as black as coal, with no visible entrance, and it felt ominous. Even though his party members couldn’t feel it, the dark magicka surrounding the tower was unbearable for a spellcaster; like a thick blanket wrapped around him.

He wanted to turn back but his party members insisted on checking the tower as it is required for the completion of their quest. They thought that it was an abandoned tower as there were no creatures nor signs of life around it, but as soon as they approached it, they were forcibly restrained by the crushing pressure of pure dark magicka. The two, the swordsman and the archer, were unfortunately crushed to death as they have no magicka protection while the veteran spellcaster was incapacitated, barely holding off the immense pressure with his magicka protection.

Right when he’s about to surrender to fate, suddenly the pressure stopped and a figure clad in black robes approached him. The feet were dark and extremely thin, as if they were just skin and bones, then he heard it’s grim voice.

“Serve under me and you shall become powerful, refuse and you shall perish.”

Some people, especially those who have a strong sense of justice, would genuinely refuse.

While others would take the offer, especially when there’s no risk of public persecution.

The veteran spellcaster, as we know it, took the offer and was given knowledge about the Dark Magicka, and although he was given forbidden knowledge, he has yet to master it.

At first, the subjects of his experimentation were monsters. Forest wolves, goblins, and orcs if he’s lucky.

But the more he desecrates their bodies, the more his conscience disappears.

After a few days, a party of beginner adventurers became the subjects of his evil experiments.

They were four childhood friends that recently became adventurers at the same time. Though it was just a simple gathering quest, they let the veteran spellcaster join them as he’s more knowledgeable than them when it comes to the quest. During the quest gathering, a goblin ambush left one of the party members dead, with the two trying to fend the goblin and the other trying to revive the dead party member. It was unfortunate that the veteran spellcaster was away when it happened and this was the event that he came back to.

Being the only veteran, he’s quick to grasp the situation; what needs to be done to survive. But the other party members aren’t having it. Of course, to them, he’s one of their precious childhood friends unlike the veteran spellcaster whom he just met.

Using his knowledge of Dark magicka, though it was just a fluke, he performed Necromancy successfully and was able to raise the fallen party member from the dead, albeit a mindless walking corpse. With the walking corpse, they were able to fend off the goblins completely but now the veteran spellcaster earned the animosity of his party members, which triggered the walking corpse’s instincts to protect its master and attack his former friends. In the end, he returned to the guild as the lone survivor, reporting that a goblin ambush led to the demise of the other members, which is technically true.

Aside from that, he saw a glimmer of hope in his new found magicka knowledge, and would continue to experiment on monsters and adventurers alike, leading to the recent events that happened.

“So why aren’t you coming with us then?” The farmer asked as soon as the investigator mage told the veteran spellcaster’s story.

“Just as I’ve said before, I can’t leave just because of the Demon king. Had I… no… Had we not been in here, then the veteran spellcaster would continue his evil experimentation on the adventurers…” The investigator mage explained.

“You may think that if we had not stopped him, others would have… but how many more would he have victimized before he gets stopped?” He added.

“I understand…” The farmer replied with a calm voice, almost in a sarcastic tone.

“Look, I get that without you guys, I wouldn’t be able to catch the veteran spellcaster. But don’t you think that it’s much better for me to stay and try to catch any bad guys than to come with you and no one is left to do the things I do?” The investigator mage continued to reason.

“No, I get it. Someone needs to fight the evils in the town while we fight that one true evil which is the Demon king.” The farmer said.

“Look, I’m not really here to convince you to come with us, I’m just here to ask if you want to. Now, regardless whether you feel that you have a strong sense of responsibility to this place or just don’t want to come for even the most shallow reason, I will respect it.” The farmer added.

“Sounds like you’re trying to trick me into coming with you…” The investigator mage half-jokingly replied.

“No no no, you’ve already seen me fight right? Do you really think I can’t defeat the Demon king?” The farmer boasted.

“You got a point… but still…” The investigator mage looked worried. Though their time together wasn’t all that long, he still feels like he needed to give the farmer something to aid them in their journey.

“Right!” He uttered.

“When I was tapping through the veteran spellcaster’s subconsciousness, I saw something that may aid you.”

“It was only a glimpse but I saw it on that thing in the tower, on its bony arm… The Sage’s bracelet. An artifact coveted by mages all over the world.” He explained further.

“But…” The farmer interrupted.

“I’m a farmer, not a mage.” He added.