Level 1 to Apex: My Monster Templates Defy Reality!-Chapter 104: The first illegal task

Forsyx walked into one of the empty rooms inside the Prohibited Hall with Xerk following behind him.

As they settled inside the room, he asked,

"So, what did you find?"

Xerk handed him two pieces of paper and said,

"Sir, we tried our best to follow Miss Diana from afar. These days, she and her group usually come out of the Core Region around noon."

Forsyx raised his eyebrows at the mention of her group, but when he read the general information about her, things became clearer.

The two pieces of paper in his hands had separate information.

The first one was more about her recent activity.

The second was general information about her.

On the general page, the very first line read: Within the noble circle, Diana is considered one of the top three beauties among the city nobles.

He couldn’t help but ask,

"Wait, who are the other two top beauties?"

Xerk replied,

"Sir, the other two are the big miss from the House of Sire and the only miss from the House of Pukari.

Though, sir, there’s also the big miss from the House of Leon, but she doesn’t live inside the city anymore."

Forsyx tilted his head.

"She left the city? Why?"

Xerk said,

"Sir, the House of Leon has always been close to the Royal Monster Family.

Many say she was called to serve them, but no one knows the exact truth."

Forsyx rubbed his forehead.

He remembered Zack talking about the House of Leon being backed by royals, but it looked like they were backed by royal monsters, actually.

It was different from the House of Trann and the House of Branneth.

He just nodded his head and read further.

As he read, he realized Diana was your typical noble—surrounded by multiple small to mid-level nobles who followed her around.

Her beauty also attracted many male nobles who acted like her pet dogs.

There were other unrelated details too, so he focused on the recent investigation and asked Xerk,

"What’s her destination?"

Xerk said,

"Sir, she just enters the fighting area to gamble and stays there the entire day until she goes back to the Core Region around 6, before sundown."

Forsyx raised his eyebrow.

"This is weird."

He could understand her enjoying gambling and fighting for an hour or two, but staying there for six hours?

He looked at Xerk.

"Are you sure she stays there the whole time?"

Xerk shook his head.

"Sir, we only kept an eye on the fighting arena from the outside. I’m not sure if she stayed inside the whole time.

But sir, there’s one thing that might explain her behavior."

Forsyx glanced through the papers again and asked,

"What?"

Xerk lowered his voice as he said,

"Sir, it might be because of the mayor’s youngest son."

Forsyx frowned.

"The mayor’s youngest son?"

Xerk nodded.

"Yes, sir. He’s an infamous womanizer within the city who has ruined a lot of girls’ lives.

Not only that—being from the ruling house, he also has a group of people around him who engage in the same behavior."

Forsyx squinted.

"Wait... don’t tell me he’s after Diana now."

Xerk nodded.

"That’s correct, sir.

Miss Diana, being from one of the top houses, stopped him from using any forced methods, but that didn’t stop him from actively pursuing her.

Many say Miss Diana spends so much time in the fighting arena just to avoid him."

Forsyx adjusted his mask and shook his head.

"That makes no sense. If she wanted to avoid him, why not just stay inside her home?

Also, what about House Trann—why are they allowing this?"

Xerk shook his head.

"Sir, those are internal matters of the top households.

There are a variety of rumors I could tell you, but it’s hard to say which ones are true."

Forsyx nodded.

"Yeah, leave it. It doesn’t matter.

So let me ask—did the mayor’s youngest son also come to the fighting area?"

Xerk shook his head.

"Sir, he used to come.

But recently, Miss Diana’s slave humiliated him.

That made him stop coming to the area altogether—for a while, at least.

No one knows what he’s up to now."

Forsyx checked the in-game time.

It was around 11 a.m., so he could still start his task today itself.

He asked,

"Is there anything else you want to add?"

Xerk looked down at the table and said,

"Sir, actually... when my crew was following Miss Diana, we saw multiple other people doing the same.

We even noticed a few getting apprehended by Miss Diana’s guards."

Forsyx raised his eyebrows.

"Wait, don’t tell me this is one of those competition quests.

Even then, I don’t think many would dare to take it."

Xerk nodded.

"True, sir. Even I haven’t seen many Red Skull quests.

But sir, there’s a possibility the quest giver issued a similar quest at higher levels.

That would mean all versions of the quest are valid—doesn’t matter who submits it first."

"Another thing—

the quest requirements are very simple.

Like sir, we could even submit the paper in your hand to complete it.

I noticed many others doing the same.

A few daring ones tried to enter the fighting area to investigate, but they ended up getting caught by the guards from the House of Trann."

Forsyx tapped on the table as he tried to make sense of these quests.

Was the person behind this quest just trying to annoy Diana and her guards?

Xerk asked,

"What do you think, sir? Should I submit the paper as task submission?"

Forsyx shook his head and said,

"Nah, this is a perfect chance to make an impression."

Xerk warned him,

"But sir, these days the guards around Miss Diana have increased."

Forsyx clicked his tongue.

"Doesn’t matter. Just give me the details about this fighting area Diana visits."

Xerk nodded and pulled out a third paper.

"Sir, I just prepared this in case. It has all the information about where the fighting area is and the basic seating arrangement, which I could gather by investigating after Miss Diana left the place."

Forsyx just stared at Xerk, impressed.

This guy had already anticipated his answer.

Well, he was sure there might be other investigators like him who wanted to see everything with their own eyes.

Forsyx grabbed the paper and said,

"I’ll come after 24 hours to submit the report."

With that, he walked out of the Prohibited Hall and soon left the underground market as well.

Once outside, he placed the mask inside his inventory and mumbled,

"Template shift: Pepilar Bird."

The next moment, a foot-long bird appeared in his place as he flapped his wings and flew up into the air.

His white color helped him blend in with the other bird monsters flying above the city.

Most of these creatures were under level 5, making them no threat to anyone inside the city.

The kinds of monsters hunted in the beginner village were nothing but ignored creatures in a Tier 1 city.

More like the small creatures present in real cities—stuff like pigeons, rats, cats.

Small animals that posed no threat were ignored.

Though the Pepilar Bird was a few inches bigger, it was hard to notice the difference while flying.

Forsyx flew above the Middle Market and the outer regions, avoiding the Core Region altogether—he didn’t want to take any risks.

Soon, he saw a massive four-story building at the back end of the market with a big sign that read "Fight."

That building was his target.

Instead of following Diana from the Core Region, Forsyx decided to target the building.

He moved around, trying to find any opening, but every entrance around the building was sealed.

Then he saw this thick wooden frame at the back.

He flew next to it, looked around, and saw that there was no one on the other side.

The next moment, he switched to the Green Hook Snake form and passed through the small gap.

As he moved inside the building, he found himself in a large hall filled with multiple empty tables.

There were a couple of people standing on the balcony, screaming while looking down.

Forsyx looked around and saw that the ceiling of the building was full of chandeliers, along with wooden support beams connecting the side walls and roof.

Forsyx slithered up to one of those beams, hiding his entire body behind it with just a bit of his head sticking out.

He stopped moving altogether, waiting for the fighting arena to fill.

From Xerk’s information, he knew this arena had basically four floors.

There was a mud pit with an iron cage around it on the bottom floor—that was the fighting arena.

Then there were big balconies on the second and third floors from where you could watch the battle.

And then the top balcony—where he currently was—this area was designed for nobles to enjoy the betting and fighting.

It didn’t take long for people to start filling the bottom two balconies.

He heard loud cheers from below.

Then the shift moved to the third floor, one after another, multiple nobles started arriving, a red-haired girl walking like a queen at the center.

Just then, he saw two guards move from the side and slashed at the side wall.

The next moment, he heard a scream as a person suddenly appeared, clutching his stomach. Not caring about him, the guard once again moved.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢