Chapter 2145: Chapter 2145

A little beggar—a character who could probably provide some information. And just as Jenkins had expected, the boy held out his hand, so Jenkins added four more dice.

The little beggar of the town whispered, his voice incredibly raspy.

It wasn't a lie. Jenkins pulled out his compass, picturing his target as he glanced down at the spinning needle. The compass was exceptionally precise for locating ordinary objects, but when searching for anything that contained spirit, its accuracy became distorted, the degree of which depended on the item's power.

This time, however, the needle whirled erratically, refusing to settle.

He summoned the monocle from his spirit and scanned the shadowy corners of the room. The house was only a single story and not particularly large. Even though the candlelight couldn't reach every nook and cranny, the monocle, combined with his Eye of Reality, allowed him to see every detail at such close range, despite the distorting black aura of the Mysterious Realm.

Jenkins asked the little beggar again, who was now fiddling with the five crimson dice. The boy simply shook his head, clearly unwilling to trade any more information.

He stood and scanned the room once more:

"I can only see two people here, but I know a third person is in this house. If I can't see them, it means they have some way of concealing themselves, both physically and spiritually. But no matter how well they're hidden, they can't escape my eyes at this range. So, it's not that I can't see them... it's that I haven't looked closely enough..."

He lowered his gaze to the candle in front of the little beggar, focusing on the core of the flame:

"No normal person would stare directly into the heart of a candle flame," he declared. "So, come on out."

He spoke to the candle. As he did, the black dot at the very center of the flame, almost indistinguishable from the wick, began to expand. A dark figure leaped from the fire, landed silently on the floor, and resolved into a person clad in a crimson robe.

Their head was concealed by a hood, making it impossible to discern their gender or age. The figure stood before Jenkins and, without waiting for him to speak, held out a piece of cardboard detailing the items they had for trade.

Among the offerings was the very map of the town Jenkins had been after.

This special merchant's wares were not only rare but also reasonably priced. The few common items on their list were cheaper than what Jenkins had seen elsewhere in town; it seemed everything here was discounted. The map itself was a steal at only ninety-five dice, so Jenkins bought it on the spot.

It was a roll of ancient parchment with crudely cut edges. Meticulously drawn in pencil upon its surface was a complete map of the town. The bell-ringer's lighthouse was, as expected, at the very center. After locating the church, Jenkins could easily pinpoint his own position:

"This is bad. I'm still so far away."

Despite its low price, the map was incredibly detailed. From his current location, even taking the shortest, most dangerous route, and assuming he rolled a perfect twenty every single time, he would still need to make at least twenty-three rolls.

He certainly had enough dice for that, but it wasn't a simple matter of moving forward without interacting with the buildings around him to reach the edge of town. Along the way, there were more than a few obstacles—like wooden fences or private lanes—that would require an extra toll of dice to pass.

All told, even if he could defeat every monster and solve every puzzle along that path, he would need to have about one hundred and fifty dice on hand just to scrape by with the tolls.

Choosing a path that avoided the tolls meant taking a massive detour to get out of town. There were only five exits, and they just so happened to correspond with the five streets leading away from the lighthouse. Whether that was a coincidence or not, he couldn't say.

Taking the shortest route, factoring in the time needed to earn more dice, would take about three hours, and that was assuming nothing went wrong. The easiest route would take roughly six hours, and that was only if he averaged a roll of ten or higher each time.

"Isn't there a better way?"

He muttered to himself.

"Of course there is."

He hadn't expected the child hunched over the candle to speak. Jenkins looked down at him as the boy held up three fingers. Three dice wasn't a lot, but after buying the map, his total had dwindled. One hundred and four, minus five for the initial information, minus ninety-five for the map... that left him with just four. He had a strong suspicion the boy had just peeked into his pouch.

He tossed out three dice. The beggar glanced at the red-robed merchant, who took the hint and discreetly left the house.

"Look at the street that turns left at the next corner."

Following the beggar's instruction, Jenkins looked down at the map and was surprised by what he saw. The entire left side of the street that turned left was occupied by the town hospital. That meant with every roll on that street, as long as he didn't leave it, he had a fifty-percent chance of entering the hospital.

"The hospital is one of the most important buildings in town—blood therapy and all that... It has more than one exit, and not just onto this street. There's a door inside, one that isn't marked on your map, that leads out onto the street running diagonally upward."

Jenkins followed the beggar's words, his eyes tracing the diagonally upward street on the map. If he could really take that route, it would be like being stuck at a dead end right before a maze's exit, only to tunnel straight through the wall and emerge on the final, straight path to the finish.

That diagonal street was the road out of town.

"You're telling me all this for only three dice?"

The information was so cheap that Jenkins couldn't help but question its authenticity.

"The rule for this kind of information is that the outlander must possess a map. The fee is set to leave the outlander with just a single die for their journey." Fınd the newest release on novel•fire.net

In that case, Jenkins had gotten a real bargain.

The beggar didn't tell him where the other door in the hospital was, so Jenkins would have to find it himself. He said goodbye to the boy and set off once more. As he rolled his die, he couldn't help but hope his next stop would be a building where he could earn more. If he ran out completely, he really would be stuck here forever.

But his luck was holding. Before he left the street, all but his last roll landed him in ordinary buildings. First, he endured an old woman's curse—"Despicable outlander!"—then he managed to earn four dice by injecting blood with a rusty metal syringe. His final stop before leaving the street was a blacksmith's shop. By the time he left, he had nine crimson dice in his hand.