Chapter 16: Reward
"You’ve come."
The middle-aged man called Albreto stood with his back slightly hunched, dressed in gray robes, his footsteps light and ghost-like.
Darius properly cupped his hands this time.
"Greetings, Elder Albreto."
A few minutes earlier, Albreto had informed him that such matters could not be discussed openly in front of everyone and had instructed him to enter through the back entrance for a private conversation.
Darius had felt relieved hearing those words and immediately followed his instructions. He too was worried that if more details regarding the demon’s identity were revealed publicly, others might snatch the mission without hesitation.
He was not foolish.
If he wanted to balance the Pavilion’s quest system while also ensuring rewards for his members, several conditions needed to be established. Most importantly, both the mission and reward had to remain exclusive to Pavilion members for a certain period of time.
Just as Darius was deeply thinking about how to enforce such rules, Albreto interrupted his thoughts midway.
Albreto gently nodded upon seeing the respectful conduct of the young man before him.
"Come with me then."
However, internally, he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.
Merely hearing that a demon had disguised itself as a human beneath their noses was enough to make his scalp tingle. Now that he saw how composed the young man remained despite such information, Albreto became even more cautious while dealing with this matter.
There were only two possibilities for someone capable of discovering a disguised demon.
And neither possibility was something to be taken lightly.
Darius closely followed behind Albreto before eventually arriving inside a modest room furnished with several bookshelves, a table, and two chairs.
Albreto took a seat before pouring tea into two cups. Then, raising his eyes toward Darius, he spoke seriously.
"What do you want in exchange for such information?"
’Straight to the point, huh?’
Darius appreciated straightforward personalities and immediately stated his conditions.
"I will provide the Demon Suppression Office with the demon’s identity. You may conduct a thorough investigation to confirm whether the target truly is a demon. However..."
Darius paused briefly.
He had carefully thought about what kind of conditions he should propose and whether his demands would be excessive, causing him to choose his next words cautiously.
"I only ask that you confirm the demon’s identity—nothing more, nothing less. After that, my team will handle the elimination."
The moment he finished speaking, Darius carefully observed Albreto’s expression, hoping to discern some reaction, but the attempt proved futile.
"That will not do." Albreto calmly shook his head. "I can agree to the first part, but granting you unlimited time to eliminate the target is impossible. If the demon escapes and spreads news of the incident, Dragon City will suffer immense humiliation."
Darius frowned slightly.
"How exactly would the city be humiliated if the mission failed?"
While failure was certainly possible, Darius still didn’t fully understand why the demon escaping would create such a serious issue.
Sigh...
"Young man, have you lived in the Sanctuary for so long that you forgot about Earth’s media?"
The moment he heard those words, realization instantly dawned upon Darius.
He had truly overlooked such an obvious matter.
For the past several days, he had subconsciously treated the Sanctuary as nothing more than a fantasy cultivation world, almost forgetting the existence of Earth altogether.
"The influence of the media is terrifying," Albreto explained seriously. "If news spreads across Earth that a demon infiltrated Dragon City and escaped under our watch, public outrage would erupt instantly. Every official involved, including myself, would either be replaced, imprisoned, or interrogated."
Albreto paused briefly before continuing.
"Here is my proposal. I will give your team one day to eliminate the demon. During that time, I will secretly station a Demon Slayer nearby in case the situation spirals out of control or the target attempts to flee."
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"As for the reward, if you succeed, it will naturally not be lower than thirty Spirit Stones and five thousand gold coins."
Darius inhaled sharply.
Even he had not expected the bounty to be this generous.
Albreto’s expression turned colder.
"However, false reports carry severe punishment."
Darius silently pondered the proposal for a moment before eventually nodding his head and shaking hands with Albreto.
As for the exact value of the reward, Darius understood what the man truly meant.
Thirty Spirit Stones and five thousand gold coins was merely the minimum. Depending on the demon’s actual strength and crimes, the reward could rise further.
Still, that hardly mattered to Darius since the demon’s strength was already close to the estimated value.
’System, are you satisfied now? I’ve fulfilled my responsibility, haven’t I?’
Although slightly annoyed, a smile still appeared on Darius’s face.
Unlike the protagonists from many novels where everything was handed directly to them, Darius genuinely felt that he was actively building the Pavilion through his own efforts.
For the first time, he truly understood the meaning behind the system’s quests.
Even if everything had proceeded smoothly, he still felt a sense of accomplishment from personally handling the matter.
At that moment, the system’s solemn voice echoed inside his mind once more.
[Mission reward successfully registered.]
Back at the Pavilion, the previously blank reward section beneath the mission finally changed.
[Reward: Thirty-five Spirit Stones, Six Thousand Gold Coins.]
[Warning: Members who attempt to privately claim government rewards while bypassing the Pavilion shall suffer severe punishment.]
Seeing the final warning, Darius immediately felt much more at ease.
"Good."
A satisfied expression appeared on his face.
"If people could freely bypass the Pavilion after taking missions, the entire system would collapse sooner or later."
Then, another thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
’Doesn’t this also mean people will grow even more fearful of the Pavilion once they realize it can discover such missions before even the Demon Suppression Office?’
Thinking about the possible reactions of future members, Darius suddenly found himself impatient for morning to arrive so he could open the store.
The Pavilion...
Thinking about how things are finally beginning to take shape, Darius felt delighted.
