I Have a Task Log
Chapter 290 - 289: Progress of the Investigation
Battier nodded thoughtfully.
Watching him, Colin suddenly understood why Yuri had been so impatient when teaching them back then.
When you’re fighting Demons and Cultists, one wrong step can lead to utter damnation. In situations like these, a rookie’s assumptions can cause a world of trouble.
The two of them quickly returned to the team’s hiding spot.
As soon as Colin entered the bear cave, Ale approached with a waterskin.
"This is for you," she said, handing it to him.
"Thanks." Colin took the waterskin and had a drink.
He glanced at her. The Half-Elf had her head lowered, looking uncomfortable.
Colin said casually, "You’re not great at acting or sneaking around, and that’s fine. For now, just trust us. When the time comes, we’ll be trusting in your magic for support. That’s why Adventurers form teams, after all."
"Okay." Ale nodded emphatically.
They waited a little longer, and then Kase and the others returned to the hideout.
Colin asked, "Find anything?"
"Nothing. Sharptail didn’t catch a scent, anyway." Kase shrugged. "I’m guessing it was the same for you guys."
"I actually found a few clues."
Colin said, "The Monastery’s storeroom is completely empty. There’s nothing there. I’m guessing they don’t have some rule about gathering supplies in the main storeroom only to transfer them to some other remote location, right?"
Orelia stared at the ground, worried. After a moment, she said, "There’s only one storeroom in the Monastery. There’s generally no need to move supplies anywhere else."
"So, there are no supplies in the Monastery, Rommon hasn’t received any supplies, and the Church of Morninglord never issued an order to transfer supplies..."
Colin sighed and continued, "Looks like we’re in for the long haul again, everyone."
The group in the bear cave fell silent.
Everyone except Battier and Morne knew they were likely facing a long period of investigation and reconnaissance.
「A week later, in the afternoon.」
Colin returned to the bear cave hideout and sat on a dead log Kase had dragged in a few days prior.
Battier followed him in silence and sat down by himself to rest.
The guy had been shadowing Colin this whole time and was slowly starting to follow his plans without question, just like Kase and the others.
After all, he hadn’t been on many missions himself and had no idea what to do. At his core, he was just an illegitimate son desperate to prove himself.
Just as they had in Three Bays City, the group spent nearly the entire week investigating.
Fortunately, they had Orelia, who had grown up in the area. Plus, the village layout was much less complex than a city’s, with fewer streets to scout.
As a result, they were on track to finish their reconnaissance today.
To be honest, their investigation so far hadn’t turned up anything particularly strange.
If it weren’t for the fact that they absolutely could not find where the Monastery had put the wool, Colin would have probably concluded that everything was fine.
In the past two days, Colin had spent a few more marked coins.
After the second time the coins were delivered to the Monastery, he tailed the Priest during the period he was carrying the money from the carriage and discovered that the coins ultimately vanished inside one of the Monastery’s scriptoriums.
Colin took out the simple map Orelia had drawn and spread it across his lap.
With this information, he began using magic to track the "Lead Box" from various positions around the Monastery.
He marked the locations of all the lead boxes within the Monastery on the map this way.
Additionally, during this time, Colin had also found a moment to spend the materials to learn [See Invisibility]. He also managed to buy the necessary Casting Materials, which was a bit of talcum powder—though silver powder could also be used as a substitute, if one didn’t mind the cost.
A little while later, the sound of footsteps came from the cave entrance.
Kase and Orelia entered the cave. The Half-Orc looked a little tired.
"Did you two find anything today?"
"Still nothing. We’ve covered all the ground around here. Sharptail can’t smell a thing, and this human here went and checked but didn’t sense anything strange about the villagers either," Kase said.
"Orelia, I’ve located just about every Lead Box," Colin said, standing up and showing her the map in his hand. "Today, I discovered another one under the Church, located roughly here."
Orelia hurried over to take a look.
She thought for a moment and said, "That must be the Bone Repository Hall under the Church."
"Bone Repository Hall?"
"To prevent Necromancers or grave robbers from desecrating the dead, most people choose to purchase burial plots within a Church or Monastery to inter their loved ones. However, the space in a Monastery is limited, so once the cemetery is full, the bones from older graves are cleared out and stored beneath the Church. That’s the Bone Repository Hall."
"Hmm... so those little stone huts you sometimes see in the cemetery, those are the entrances to the Bone Repository Hall? I thought they were for storing shovels," Colin said.
"Beneath White Dove Monastery, aside from the Bone Repository Hall for the bones of Ordinary people, there are also the tombs of the nobles who gifted the land to the Monastery and the previous Abbots," Orelia said. "But regular people aren’t allowed inside, so I don’t know what it’s like in there."
"Then that’s what we’ll investigate tomorrow."
Colin let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I guess by tomorrow we’ll finally know what’s really going on inside White Dove Monastery. Right, come help me plan the route first."
「Soon, it was the early hours of the morning.」
After leaving Battier in the bear cave to watch their things, all the others set off for White Dove Monastery with practiced ease.
The weather in the early morning was perfect.
A fog had drifted in from somewhere, which was very convenient for Colin’s next move.
Since his companions were with him, he didn’t bother wearing Armor.
"I said two people would be enough. The rest of you could have stayed behind to rest," Colin said with a hint of resignation to the others following him.
Kase clapped him on the shoulder. "You’re putting yourself on the line this time. Besides, with all this nice water vapor, we thought we’d come out and breathe some of this ’freshly washed’ air."
After speaking, the Half-Orc chuckled twice.
But no one else reacted; they just kept walking.
’Kase is funnier when he’s not trying to tell jokes,’ Colin complained internally.
After a little while, they reached the Monastery. Colin once again found a black fir tree and climbed it using a [Climbing Rope].
Once he was settled securely, he tossed the rope back down and took out a Scroll and the map.
This time, he was using a [Gaseous Form] Scroll.
This magic could transform a creature, along with everything it carried, into a cloud of mist. In this form, the subject could fly at a Speed of three meters per second.
As a cloud of mist, the subject cannot attack or use magic.
They also become much harder to hit—while they still take Damage from swords or magic, the Damage is greatly reduced. Furthermore, they can squeeze through small holes or cracks, though they cannot pass through liquids.
This magic was also an excellent means of reconnaissance.
Without the ability to use Detection Magic, a creature transformed into a cloud of mist is basically impossible to see.
Besides, the fog was thick today. No one would pay any mind to a moving patch of mist on a foggy day.
Colin looked down at the map in his hands, now damp with condensation.