The Tales of Draconic Warlock

It has been a while with Angela. The last time I saw her, she was upset with something and so our time together was very short, if not none.

I hope that things calmed down by the time I returned and that would be sooner than later.

"Halt, what\'s your purpose?" the guards asked me as they halted my approach.

"Hello, I am here to meet Count Sivel", I replied to them.

"The Count would not meet with anyone without a purpose", they stated.

"Tell him, it\'s about their missing cousins and there is also something important that I had to discuss with him", I stated my purpose to them, though vaguely.

I am not going to discuss something important as a secret realm/dungeon with a bunch of guards.

The guard nodded understanding about it, "Wait here. I\'ll go and inform the Count", he said as he disappeared inside.

I mean, even after I tell the Count about it, it\'s not like he was going to spread the news of its existence at this point in time.

It was common when a new dungeon or any levelling place was found, the nobles would use them to improve their family first and then the guards and the ones who signed up to be a part of their family, before letting the people of their territory are allowed to enjoy the benefits.

It may appear as a wrong thing but it is not.

It is after all their wealth, something that they have to keep guard. They have to maintain order around the entrance or there would be unnecessary conflicts that could lead to deaths.

The dungeons after all give out the best of rewards for first clearance and later clearances may have chances of getting better rewards than the clearances that happen after it was cleared a hundred or thousand times.

As the number of clearances increases, the chances of getting better rewards decreases and after a time they settle at a particular range. Until that point, the ruling family would maintain the sole entry eligibility to their family itself. Moreover, everyone\'s goal would be to become strongest and if there are too many strong as them, then they wouldn\'t considered as strongest, just strong.

This is the main reason, why the nobles keep the news a secret, for years, even if that means reduced income.

After all, entering a dungeon is not free, unless you find that in the wilds. To enter a controlled dungeon, you have to pay a fee. Though the fee is not high, with how many people enter the dungeon daily, the income would not be small.

Though there is a loss of income, they don\'t care about that because, without required strength having a huge wealth doesn\'t mean anything. Someone strong could come and take away their wealth in seconds if they are not strong enough to protect their assets.

"The Count wants to see you", the guard spoke as soon as he returned.

"Follow me", he said, which prompted me to follow the guard into the mansion as he showed me the way to where the Count was present.

---

"Boy, you told the guards that you have something to say about my missing cousins and also something important. I hope that you know what will happen if you waste my time", the Count spoke to me in a stern threatening tone.

Indeed I do. So instead of talking bullshit, I simply pulled out the flag that I found that belong to the merchant company of his cousins and placed it before him.

His hands started to tremble when he saw the flag, as he instantly recognized it.

"Why did you have this?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"Lord Count, let me introduce myself. I am Magnus, a fourth-year student from the Royal Academy. I accepted the mission to search for your missing cousins. In that search I found this flag", I said.

The Count now understood that I did find something and didn\'t come empty-handed here.

"Where did you find it? Did you find anyone?" he asked me.

I signed, "To your second question, No. I didn\'t find anyone or anything besides this after a search of more than a week. As for the first question, it was something that propelled me to come directly to you instead of the Mayor of Endis Town from whom I properly accepted the mission".

"It doesn\'t matter that you came here instead of going to the Mayor. Now tell me", he asked with a bit of pressure. It looks like he genuinely cared about their disappearance.

"In search of them, I came across a secret realm or a dungeon, I have no idea which. It was inside the dungeon/secret realm that I found that flag", I told him.

Hearing my words, the Count gasped in surprise. he wanted to find out what happened to his cousins but found a treasure.

"How sure are you?" he asked.

"I am sure that that place exists but I am not sure what it is. A few features made it appear as a secret realm, while a few features made it appear as a dungeon. You have to investigate and form your own conclusions, Count", I said.

"How much?" he directly asked me.

---

The mayor paid a lot, a lot more than the standard price to keep my mouth shut about this dungeon/secret realm. Even if he hadn\'t paid that much, I am not someone who invites unwanted problems.

Since he paid so much, I drew a perfect map for him to find the cave and how I accidentally activated the portal.

In addition to paying for the information about the secret realm/dungeon, he also signed that I completed the mission and cancelled the mission from other places. It means the mission is no longer active and no one can take it anymore.

Now that everything is done, it\'s time for me to return to the academy.

Luckily, there is a teleportation hub here in this city, which means that the time for travel is reduced by a lot.