Ragnar studied the floating text sneakily, careful not to draw the twin's attention.
The rewards of this quest were significantly better than the last quest, and even though there was no penalty or deadline, Ragnar felt the need to complete the urgent quest as soon as possible.
He turned to the twin, who was observing the area surrounding the storage house, searching for clues.
"We should act at once, we cannot let others eat the fruit of our labor," he said.
Noah nodded, and Merlina replied, "If the others find out this, they will be very disheartened, we should hurry and solve this case discreetly."
Ragnar agreed with her, as no one would be happy to hear that others were stealing their hard work.
At the same time, Ragnar also thought about his innate skill, which required him to offer sacrifices.
"Onyx, we have never discussed my innate skill," he spoke to Onyx telepathically.
|| Is host wondering what kind of items could be sacrificed? ||
"Yes."
|| Host can sacrifice any items belonging to them or their territory. Loot and equipment obtained from defeated adversaries or conquered lands can also be offered. Each sacrifice is graded by quality, and rewards are determined by its grade. Offering large quantities of low-grade sacrifices at once raises the overall grade and unlocks superior rewards. At Lvl 1, it can only be used once in twenty-four hours. ||
Listening to Onyx's answer, Ragnar understood how his innate skill worked.
"I will try using the skill later," Ragnar concluded.
He joined Merlina and Noah, the three of them circled around the storage house, searching for any clue.
When a passer-by spotted them and questioned their actions, they replied that they were checking for any leakage.
They observed the surroundings of the storage house for about two minutes but found no clue.
"At night, we should station ourselves nearby and see if the thief would attempt another heist," Ragnar suggested.
The twins easily agreed.
There hasn't been any case of someone breaking into their storage house since it was built about a year ago, hence it was left unprotected at night.
Now that there was a case of theft, the three of them decided to task themselves with the job of guarding it.
"See you two later, I promised old man James that I would assist him on his farmland today," Noah bade the two of them farewell and left.
Left alone, Ragnar decided to gather as much information about the 10th Hamlet and the surrounding hamlets from Merlina.
Merlina did not question his curiosity this time, as she was aware of his memory loss due to his recent resurrection.
"There are up to twelve hamlets surrounding us, each of them is as small as ours but their population is almost twice ours.
A small gang is currently ruling over several hamlets, I heard the leaders of this gang have magical powers and one of them is a strong fire mage named Barnabas.
The other members of this gang are not ordinary people as well, some of them have incredible speed and strength. The guys you had a fight with are members of this gang."
"Oh…" Ragnar exclaimed.
Learning that the killer of the original Ragnar of this world wasn't an ordinary person was kind of a relief.
"What is the name of this gang and what are their goals?"
"They have no name, or none that I've heard of, and their sole goal is uniting all the hamlets to rule over them," Merlina spoke in a heated tone that revealed her hatred for the gang.
Ragnar did not find their goal that odd.
In fact, to complete his mission in this world, he would have to one day unite the hamlets into a bigger territory and form a village. Once he has formed a village, he would continue improving his territory, amassing land and population till he owns the strongest territory to ever exist.
Ragnar asked other questions about the gang including their strength and the number of people in the gang.
He was shocked to learn that the gang consisted of more than two hundred people, especially young men.
The brutal nature of the gang has easily nominated them as the uncrowned rulers of the entire hamlets in this region.
According to Merlina, they usually collect weekly taxes from hamlets under their protection. The higher-ups in the gang even have the authority to seize any girl they find attractive and commit all sorts of atrocities on them.
Most hamlets who could not pay their weekly tax would have to give up some of their beautiful ladies in exchange for more protection.
'No wonder the original Ragnar of this world fought against them. I would also do the same,' Ragnar was irritated. 'I despise people who abuse their powers in such a manner.'
Merlina observed the serious expression on Ragnar's face.
She reached out and held his hand, causing him to look up, and their eyes met.
With a soft tone, she whispered, "You have to get stronger now that you've gotten a second chance, Ragnar. The people see you as a leader and look up to you, you need to be strong enough to protect them from people like that."
Her closeness, gentle grasp on his hands, and her soft voice created a tense atmosphere for Ragnar.
'Stay calm, you damn virgin!'
'Stay calm!'
Ragnar's thoughts ran wild as he struggled to keep cool.
"I promise you, no harm would come to anyone as long as I am present," he managed to utter.
Merlina flashed him a sweet and gentle smile, one that could warm the heart of any man that gazed upon them.
Upon seeing her beautiful smile, Ragnar found it even more difficult to maintain his seriousness.
In that instant, he couldn't help but regret having been a shut-in virgin in his previous life.
But the tension was short-lived as Merlina soon readied herself to leave.
"I'm going to bake an onion cake. Would you like some?"
Ragnar nodded with a smile, "I'd love some."
"Nice. When it's done, I'll bring you a slice. Also, since you've lost your memory, you have to taste my cooking to know how good I am," she joked, then strolled away.
Ragnar stared at her departing figure for a few seconds, the smile on his face brightening.
|| Host smiles like a stalker creep. ||
His expression then turned serious as he muttered in a cold tone, "Go mute for two hours, Onyx."
.....
DEATHSKETCHER:-Second chaps for today, do not forgot to drop comments and vote