HC: Pacifist | Ch. 192 - Spy Report

Roth stood at the bottom of the well, which led into the sewers. As he put on the [Plumber Set], and went from looking like the king of the mountain to a city plumber, he pouted. Roth hadn’t expected it to be so hard for him to unequip the [Lambswool Forest Set]. The decrease in his overall level of coolness was hard to bear.

As Roth entered the dark hole that led into the sewers, the familiar darkness and grime that had kept him company for so long came into view. Even though he kept his [Plumber Flashlight] on his belt, he didn’t even bother turning it on. Compared to the pitch-black darkness of Antioch, walking in the sewers was like walking in daylight.

Lin emerged from the fold in his clothes, sniffing at the air curiously. He had expected the little kitten to react poorly to the powerful smell, but instead, he only seemed more curious than ever. Moreover, it seemed that not even the stench of the sewers could ruin Lin’s appetite.

“Food. Now.” Lin is hungry.

Roth took out one of the many milk bottles in his inventory and gave it to the little kitten as he headed toward Toxy’s nest. He looked at the little furball lovingly. With each tiny gulp, his ears also twitched in unison, making the kitty look incredibly cute. It was amazing how much of an appetite it had.

Roth looked over the calendar and could hardly believe it when he realized it had only been 12 days since he’d been here. So much had happened that it felt longer. Between escorting the sheep to safety, being stuck in the lab, exploring Antioch, and then getting the Ogres to take him in, a little under two weeks had elapsed.

In that short period of time, not only had he gained nine levels, discovered a new world region, entered the Hall of Fame, gained multiple titles, and three pets, and was on his way to completing a full equipment makeover, but he had also unlocked his first-class advancement and had become a peacekeeper.

Feeling smug about his progress, Roth went past the different intersections and finally saw the tunnel where Toxy’s nest was. The sword mark Athos had left on the stone was still there, but the locations blackened by the gunpowder of Athos’ musket were on their way to losing a battle with the moss and grime of the sewers. To the side, the pile of rags where the ratan pups lived was lively with squeaky sounds of young ones playing, and having fun.

Catching sight of him, the leader of this crew of sewer rats ran to him. “Martyr! You’re back. How we’ve missed you!” greeted Toxy. The other ratans in the nest were already coming to join Toxy in greeting Roth. “And you’re carrying our flag. What an honor! Uh? What is this smell?”

Toxy sniffed at something in the air and finally noticed little Lin in Roth’s arms. “C-c-at! There’s a cat! Run! Run for your lives!”

Before Roth could say anything, the nest was thrown into chaos. Several ratans dove into the filthy water, while others ran in the opposite direction or disappeared into pipes and side tunnels. Roth had never known that rats could run so fast. All the while they screamed.

“A cat! A cat!”

As the rats ran for their dear lives in a way they hadn’t back when the oozing monsters were plaguing the sewers, Toxy and two courageous ratan volunteers were left behind, taking their pups from their nests.

“Martyr, hold the beast off while we save our young,” said Toxy as he picked up the sixth ratan pup.

“Wait, Toxy!”

“I can’t stay, martyr. I have a family to take care of. But you’re single and childless. Oh… you’re so selfless. Thank you for your friendship.”

“Toxy!”

“Your sacrifice will not be in vain!” Toxy screamed as he ran away.

“Toxy, this cat is my friend. He won’t hurt you.”

The rat didn’t stop running, but once he was a safe distance from Roth, he turned back and shouted, “Friend? You’re friends with a cat?”

The whole thing made Roth think of Greta screaming while he was in the City Riders. It seemed that today was a day reserved for chatting. “Yes. I’m its guardian. I’m supposed to take care of it.”

“People don’t own cats. Cats own people, human!”

This was the least friendly that he’d seen any ratan behave. He hadn’t considered how taking in a pet kitten would affect his relationship with the ratans. “I promise you he won’t do anything. Look. He’s just a baby,” Roth said, bringing his arms down so that Toxy could see little Lin burp adorably as he went through yet another bottle of milk.

“No need to show me the beast. I can see he’s a bloodthirsty monster from here, thank you very much.”

“Come on, Toxy. Don’t be like that. I promise you. He’s harmless.”

“Are you telling me that you haven’t blended some rat meat into that milk?”

“Yuck. No. Of course not. It’s just normal milk.”

Toxy twitched his nose while rubbing his paws, a sign that a ratan was thinking. After a few moments, he sighed. “Everyone, come back. It should be safe. The martyr vouches for the ugly furball.”

One by one, the ratans approached cautiously, but Roth didn’t miss how everyone stood behind their leader. It was a big difference to how they usually crowded around him, joking playfully. This was something that Roth could do very little about. The enmity between cats and mice went way back. He wondered if he would have to find a catsitter when visiting the Rat Cave. Were there even petsitters in the game? Maybe he could issue a petsitting quest to Mario. How much would the alligator charge an hour?

“Not meaning to be rude, but what brings you here?” Roth grinned, seeing how Toxy wanted to get this encounter over with.

“Right, right. Last time I was here, you told me you would collect information on the Gazpachos. What do you have for me?”

Hearing Roth’s wishes to report their mission, Toxy assumed a more professional look and stopped staring at Lin drinking milk. “Very well, then. As you requested, we’ve been keeping track of the Gazpachos’ movements. After the Peace Corps raided them, they lost a lot of business, and many of their supporters went over to the competition. However, they seem to have found some new business.”

“What’s that?”

“Have you heard of the renovation project?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“The city’s been planning to renovate some of its infrastructure. The recent war with the aliens has made the city hurry its plans. The shield generator needs replacing, some of the walls need repairs, and there’s a lot of outdated equipment in the garrison the city wants to update.”

Roth was thrown off by the sudden change in topic, but he imagined Toxy would explain. “So?”

“Anyway, from the conversations we’ve been eavesdropping on, the Gazpachos are planning something big related to the renewal project.”

“Really? What does a bunch of racketeers want with a construction project?”

Toxy shrugged. Although scared by Lin’s presence, the ratans behind him seemed to be less aggressive and more relaxed now, seeing that the little kitten kept drinking bottle after bottle of milk while completely disregarding the rat meat around it.

“There’s something else,” continued Toxy, “One of our spies, Scruffy, discovered a clue about where the Gazpacho’s brass meets.”

“Really? Where is the underboss, now?”

“No. Not the underboss. The boss,” Toxy spoke ominously. Roth could hear the fear in the ratan’s voice and somehow knew that this portion of terror was due to Lin’s presence.

“Scruffy heard two captains say something about ‘the workshop.’”

“Great! Where is that?”

“Somewhere in the crafting district. Scruffy tried to find out more, but we didn’t hear anything more from him. We suspect they found him.”

Roth nodded gravely. When he broke into the vault at Baldwins and was found out, he had drawn too much attention. Perhaps the Gazpacho’s underboss had connected the dots and associated the mouse he saw in his office at the Baldwins with the raid they suffered from the Peace Corps and had taken precautions to ensure no more rats could spy on them. Clicking his tongue, Roth imagined this poor Scruffy caught in a rat trap somewhere.

“Well, thank you for a job well done. I’ll take it from here.”

Toxy and his crew have finished [What Happened to the Gazpachos?]

You’ve given Toxy and his crew 200,000XP and four gold.

As Roth saw his XP bar decrease and his four gold going away, he sighed. They had been spying on the Gazpachos for nearly two weeks, so he had to pay them double what he had originally promised. He had to be careful about this in the future and make sure he specified in the quest if he wanted hired NPCs to repeat the quest or if they should just do it once and leave it alone.

After receiving the report, the quest that Roth had issued was transformed into a new quest.

[What Happened to the Gazpachos] has been changed to [Gazpachos’ Plans].

Gazpacho’s Plans (Uncommon)

Word on the street is that the Gazpachos are planning something big related to the city’s renewal project. It seems like the management meets in a place called ‘The Workshop,’ somewhere in the crafting district.

Objectives:

Follow up on these leads, and stop the Gazpachos.

Looking at this quest, Roth had bittersweet feelings. Did he want to get caught up with the mafia in Hilsford again? He would have to leave town in a few hours and go on an excursion to the Dark Abyss. How did he have the time to follow through on this?

“Well, thank you all for everything.”

“Whatever. Take that monster away from here.”

Toxy practically kicked him out of the nest, and Roth pursed his lips in thought. Throughout this whole encounter, he hadn’t unlocked one single reputation point with the ratans. It looked like Lin wasn’t good for his rep.

Roth grabbed a fresh bottle of milk and fed the baby.

“Milk. Yummy.”

+2 affection with Lin.

[Lin Level Up]

+1 subterfuge;

+1 dexterity.

Lin has learned a new skill: [Naughty Antics].

After feeding it several bottles of milk, Lin had finally reached level 5 and had learned a new skill. Roth checked what it did.

Naughty Antics (Pet Skill)

Skill description: How boring would life be if we didn’t walk on the edge, and pushed the boundaries? Life is a big adventure!

Skill effects:

Passive. Your pet has gained some independence and will act on his own sometimes.

Your pet can help you trigger unlikely scenarios. Scales with subterfuge.

Roth looked at the little kitten who, after having a full belly, seemed ready to play and explore. He tried now to climb out of Roth’s clothes. Roth picked him up and put him on the ground. With incredible confidence, the kitten began walking around, smelling and licking everything. Was that a natural result of growth or the new skill kicking in?

He wasn’t sure of what to make of this skill. Did this mean that Lin was going to misbehave from now on? He did have Oli’s DNA, and from the little he knew about the cat, he was a handful. It wouldn’t be surprising if his clone followed in his cat-burgling footsteps. He shrugged. He doubted a little kitten like this could do any serious damage. Besides, the way the skill was phrased made it sound like it would be a good thing.

Roth knew everyone in the sewers and was pretty sure that the kitty was safe. He sat down and as he watched Lin walking around exploring, Roth scratched his chin in thought. He had come to a decision on how to tackle the Gazpacho’s problem without wasting a lot of time. He would outsource the quest to an expert in all mafia-related matters.

He looked at his friend's list and made a call to Drake.

Ch. 191 - Freedom

INDEX

Ch. 193 - Getting In