Chapter 8 Gathering Information

As Jack's vomit flew through the air, everyone's eyes widened, except for Jezelle's. She was too focused on filling up her mug to notice what was coming her way. By the time she realized Jack had thrown up, it was already all over her arms and hair.

"I'm so sorry Jezelle!" yelled Jack as he got up to try and help her.

She put her hand up to stop him and took a few deep breaths. Jack's nervousness grew further as he saw her slowly look up and meet his gaze with indifferent eyes.

To him, he wasn't afraid of people getting mad, he was afraid of those who could hide their anger and scheme against him. This was why he hated forming parties and only did so when necessary for quests in "A Hero's Tale." Jezelle blinked and sighed, "You only made it halfway? You disappoint me."

Those calm words jabbed into Jack's chest, catching him completely off guard. He was expecting something far worse and he began waiting for the moment she blew her top. Jack pointed at Zariff behind him and said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself after this old fart forced it out of me."

Jezelle peeked at the laughing man behind Jack and shook her head. Seeing the situation with an open mind and keeping a level head allowed her to understand what happened.

It was obvious to her that Jack was going to lose soon anyway, and she could easily end it like usual and charge him for everything. But she found Jack to be interesting and desired to get on his good side in hopes to better understand him. Seeing that an easy scapegoat was banging his hand on Jack's back, she took advantage of the unexpected development.

"So that's what happened. Well, you did barf, so you lose. But since it was due to interference, I'm afraid that big lug will have to pay up instead," stated Jezelle. Everyone was startled to see her so calm, cool, and collected while wearing Jack's vomit. Maura, Rydel, and the other adventurers burst into laughter as Zariff got a rude awakening from his drunken stupor.

"Huh!? Jezelle, what are you talking about? You know he was going to—" Zariff tried to defend himself but was cut short.

"Everyone! Bring your mugs and fill them up! This round is on Chief Zariff," Jezelle shouted at the top of her lungs, making sure that everyone in the pub had reason to cheer and giving Zariff all the credit.

Zariff understood Jezelle's character and knew that it was too late for him to complain. If he tried anything else, he would only find himself in a deeper hole. Embracing the moment, he resumed his laughter, "For every person that can best me in strength, I'll offer another round! Lose and you owe me a drink!"

The restaurant was filled with cheers of happy customers and grunts from everyone trying to arm wrestle Zariff. By the end of the night, Zariff had gotten over half of the people present to owe him a drink and pay off part of his debt without a single loss.

In a corner of the restaurant, Jack sat down and let his body slowly recuperate. After almost half an hour of hearing everyone's cheers, he was feeling better. Just then, a few plates of food made their way to his table and were placed in front of him. He knew that he hadn't ordered a thing and could only look up to see Jezelle placing it down in front of him before sitting across from him. "I already told you I can't pay."

"I know. It's on the house," said Jezelle with a flirtatious smile. "Consider it a gift for giving me a chance to stick it to that old lug over there."

"I thought you two were friends?" asked Jack. "Let me guess, he beat you, didn't he?"

"Are you always so straightforward with women?" she chuckled. "Yeah, after losing a couple of times, he finally got the best of me one day. All of his drinks and food are free, so he's always coming over and eating me out of house and home. But if he's treating others, he still has to pay me. If anything, it's nice to even the score a little."

"Sounds like that old fart for sure," said Jack. "So, I'm just a means of vengeance, is that right?"

"A little, but I find you interesting. You're different than everyone else I've met. I've never heard of someone with a hero class and a different set of subclasses."

"How do you know about that?" questioned Jack, giving off a sense of caution. "You're an oracle, right? And you're at least lv. 25 but not quite lv. 30 if my guess is correct"

Hearing Jack's response, Jezelle was surprised and didn't hide her curiosity any longer. "You're right, I'm a lv. 27 oracle. You know your stuff for a lv. 1. Why is that?"

"Let's just say that I'm not from around here."

She sighed and a soft laugh escaped her mouth, "So the king was trying to summon a hero after all. But why are you here and as a member of the Adventurers Association?"

"That idiot king and I don't really get along. I'm very particular about how I do things. When he wouldn't trust me and tried to force me to do what I hate most, I walked out of the castle without giving him a second thought," explained Jack.

"Sounds like Leodoro alright," said Jezelle. "He can be a jerk at times, but he's not too bad as long as you're not on his bad side."

"Looks like it's too late for me then," Jack smiled and shook his head to try and clear his mind. "Besides, I'm a free spirit. An adventurer's life is more fitting for me."

"Hmm, a summoned hero becoming an adventurer. What an interesting development," said Jezelle. "Either way, you're always welcome here at the pub. Don't tell anyone, but I'll give you 50% off since I like you."

Shocked by Jezelle's commentary and her generosity, Jack said, "Then you can expect to see me whenever I can find the time, thank you." Jezelle prepared to stand up and leave but Jack stopped her and continued, "So tell me, what the situation here? And I don't mean just this kingdom, I mean the world in general."

She smiled and answered, "Chaos continues to grow no matter what we do. I don't know too much about what's happening outside the borders, but I know that we aren't the worst off on the continent."

Jack squinted his eyes at her remark and pondered something for a moment before saying, "How big is this continent exactly?"

"There are thirty-two countries that make up the continent. The Reinolt Kingdom is by far one of the strongest and most powerful of the bunch, that's why the king could afford to summon you here," said Jezelle.

"What do you mean 'afford?'"

"Exactly what it sounds like. To summon a hero, it takes a tremendous amount of mana from powerful mages, many rare treasures, and some perishable treasures that you can't get back, even if you fail. With the success rates being lower than 20%, who knows how many times they had to perform the ritual," she explained it simply.

Jack began to laugh heartily and spoke up, "That what he gets! He deserves at least that much."

"Seems like it's mutual hate after all. Anyways, all thirty-two countries make up the only continent in our world known as Kartonia. There are some islands and places far off the coast, but they're insignificant compared to the continent," said Jezelle.

Jack was surprised to hear that there were so many countries. In "A Hero's Tale" there were only a handful of large countries that made up the continent, and none of them were named the Reinolt Kingdom. He asked, "What do you know about the chaos? Or should I say the Chaos Syndicate?"

"Not much to be honest. All I know is that the Chaos Syndicate uses chaos as a source of their power, just like Skaryn the god of the underworld in ancient times. I have no clue how they do it, especially since Skaryn has been sealed away for who knows how long," stated Jezelle.

"Sealed away? Who was strong enough to seal Skaryn? Isn't he the second strongest of all the gods?" questioned Jack as the gears in his mind began to turn.

"Who other than the strongest of all the gods? As the god of the heavens, Halmut fought with Skaryn centuries ago. Their battle lasted over a month without any clear winner, but in the end, Halmut found a way to seal him away into another dimension of vast nothingness. According to legend, chaos was nearly nonexistent after that."

Jezelle continued, "But during these past few decades, chaos has been growing nonstop and no one knows why. All we know is that the Chaos Syndicate, as the only organization that grows stronger with chaos, is most likely the source."

"Wow…" said Jack, mulling it over. "Seems like this Chaos Syndicate will be more troublesome than I thought."