I Explore Urban Legends - Chapter 158: S-Class Incident: Hell (Patreon)

Everyone had met Betty over the past few days and benefited from her guidance. They knew she was a good person, so they were delighted to welcome her into the group.

Liam introduced his companions to Betty one by one, briefly explaining their circumstances. Of everyone there, Watson surprised her the most.

She crouched down, took one of his paws, and smiled. “I had no idea you were so good at pretending. You even fooled me the day you came into the park.”

Things had been too hectic earlier for her to take a proper look at the bear cub. Now that she finally had the chance, she couldn't resist giving his cheeks a little squeeze.

Once everything was settled, Liam relaxed into the driver's seat of the bus.

It looked as though the police were starting to arrive nearby. Time to get out of here.

“Kids, vacation's over. We're heading home.”

The children were a little disappointed, but they'd had so much fun that there was hardly anything to complain about. As for the dangers they'd encountered along the way, children didn't see danger. They saw exciting adventures.

Liam carefully steered the bus out of the parking lot and drove straight out of Florida without stopping.

Only after crossing the state line did he finally relax. He called Lily over to take the wheel, settled into the passenger seat for a rest, and pulled out his Events Logbook.

First was the incident involving the deformed people. To his surprise, even after killing so many of them, he'd made very little progress.

[The Tribe of the Deformed]

[Event Level: B]

[Exploration Progress: 40%]

There was clearly much more behind this incident than he'd uncovered. Unfortunately, none of those deformed people had mentioned where they came from, so tracking down their origins wouldn't be easy.

That wasn't the incident he was most interested in right now, though. Liam turned to another page.

[Bendy Land]

[Event Level: B]

[Exploration Progress: 100%]

[Reward: Cartoon World (Infuse toys with spiritual energy. Once activated, they temporarily gain unique personalities.)]

Now that was an interesting ability.

His experience at Bendy Land had made him realize something. Until now, he had to control every toy personally. If an accident severed the connection, the consequences could be disastrous.

If the power leaking from the park hadn't awakened the toys' spiritual energy on its own, rescuing those children would have been much more difficult.

With this new ability, however, his toys would have a degree of independence. That was both entertaining and extremely useful.

He took out a toy soldier, infused it with spiritual energy, and set it on the floor. The soldier immediately sprang to attention and saluted.

“Awaiting orders, sir!”

Liam nodded. “Go over to that brown bear and bring me one of his hairs.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldier shouted the response, but he was so tiny that his voice was almost lost in the noise of the crowded bus.

After surveying his surroundings and spotting Watson, the soldier dropped onto his stomach and stealthily crawled toward him.

Watson was concentrating on the accelerator and didn't notice the tiny figure approaching.

The soldier edged up beside Watson's backside and plucked out a single hair.

Watson felt a slight sting on his rear, scratched at it with one paw, and thought nothing more of it.

The soldier narrowly avoided the paw. Rather than standing up right away, he carefully crawled a safe distance away before returning to Liam.

He handed over the bear hair and snapped another salute.

“Mission accomplished, sir!”

“Good work. You're dismissed.”

“Understood, sir!”

The little soldier immediately went rigid, returning to the exact pose he'd held before being activated.

Liam tried the ability on several more toys. He discovered it didn't truly bring them to life. Instead, it gave them preset personalities appropriate to what they were.

A rag doll, for example, might speak in a little child's voice and ask to be hugged. A toy based on a cartoon character would act like the character it represented.

Whatever their personalities, they all had one thing in common. They obeyed whoever activated them.

It was an excellent tool for giving his toys a little intelligence.

With that experiment finished, Liam moved on to the real prize. He couldn't wait to see what sort of event he'd unlocked by defeating a devil.

[Hell]

[Event Level: S]

[Exploration Progress: 10% (Phase 1: 100%)]

[Reward: Contract (Infuse an existing contract with spiritual energy, or create one directly from spiritual energy, to give it genuine binding force.) (Evolvable)]

Liam immediately sat up straighter.

This was the first time he'd encountered an ability so abstract. From its description, it sounded as though any contract he infused with spiritual energy could be forcibly enforced.

Exactly how far that enforcement could go was another question. He'd have to experiment to find out.

He certainly wasn't going to try it on the bus. There was something unsettling about this ability, and he had no intention of testing it on anyone he cared about.

Ideally, he needed someone he could torment without feeling even a hint of guilt.

An insurance company immediately came to mind. They would make perfect test subjects. Unfortunately, there was no way to know when a policy would actually have to pay out, which made them unsuitable for a quick experiment.

While he was considering the possibilities, night fell.

On earlier journeys, stopping in remote places had often led to all kinds of minor trouble. Those encounters had been interesting enough, but he was on his way home now and had no desire to meet any more strange people.

He found a motel in the nearest large city and spent the night there.

Thanks to the route he'd deliberately planned, nothing unusual happened over the following two days. He did, however, keep thinking about situations in which [Contract] might prove useful.

On the final day of the return journey, Liam and the children had just come out of a restaurant when a smartly dressed man approached them with an overly friendly smile.

“Hey, buddy! Long time no see. How've you been?”

Liam had never visited this city before, let alone met the man. Yet one glance was enough to tell him what he was dealing with.

The most dangerous creature in modern society.

A salesman.

Once a salesman decided you had money to spare and a taste for strange purchases, he'd pursue you to the ends of the earth until you bought whatever useless, overpriced junk he was selling.

Liam was about to turn him down when he realized this was the perfect person to test his new ability on.

“Great, actually. I've just had a wonderful vacation. I only wish it had lasted longer.”

The salesman's smile widened. Just as he'd thought, this was someone with money to burn.

“Well, if you like traveling, you've got to see this! Our all-in-one travel tool kit!”

He reached into his briefcase and produced a small box.

“Take a look. There's a screwdriver, a wrench, a bottle opener, a knife, a can opener, a magnifying glass, a saw, and even a laser emitter!”

He opened the box and displayed the tools one after another.

“Oh, I see. That really does look useful,” Liam said, putting on the air of someone who knew nothing about tools.

In reality, he could tell at a glance that the box was far too small to contain anything worthwhile. Every tool was a miniature piece of shoddy workmanship. The set looked impressive, as though it contained something for every possible situation, but the tools were nearly useless.

The salesman was privately delighted. Another sucker had fallen for it.

“And right now we're running a special offer! Normally, this set costs two hundred dollars, but today it's yours for just forty-nine ninety!

“Think about it. A single tool can cost twenty or thirty dollars in a store, and you can have all of these for less than fifty!”

He spoke with great enthusiasm, but Liam hesitated.

“It is cheap, but I don't know the first thing about tools. What if they don't work?”

Afraid his customer might slip away, the salesman rushed to reassure him.

“No chance of that! Every tool is simple to use. You could practically rebuild a collapsed house with this kit!

“And if you're still worried, we'll sign a purchase agreement. I guarantee that if anything turns out to be counterfeit, I'll pay you ten times what you spent!”

“Perfect. It's a deal!”

Liam agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Finally. That was what he'd been waiting for.

The salesman blinked in confusion. He had a dozen more sales pitches prepared and hadn't even needed to use them. He hadn't expected the man to agree so quickly.

Delighted, he immediately produced a contract and handed it over.

“Here you go. See? Our company makes these tools right here in town, and most of our customers are regulars.”

Naturally, every bit of company information on the paper was fake. Salesmen like him would say anything to make a sale.

Liam skimmed the contract, ignoring all the meaningless fine print. The only thing he checked was whether the promise to pay ten times the purchase price for counterfeit goods was actually there.

“Excellent. I'll buy it.”

He infused the agreement with a little spiritual energy, signed it, and exchanged copies with the salesman.

Both men were thoroughly satisfied.

The salesman, sensing he'd found an especially lucrative customer, decided to try selling him something else. He pulled out a map and unfolded it until the sheet stood taller than a person.

“Sir, have a look at this! It's got every city and town in the entire United States. You can find absolutely anything on it!”

When he finished speaking, he noticed there was no response from the other side of the map. He leaned around it to look.

“Damn it! Where'd he go?”

Furious, he tried to fold the enormous map away. Just then a gust of wind blew it against his body.

“Damn it! How do you even fold this thing?”

Back in the vehicle, Liam opened the tool kit and discovered that it was even worse than he'd expected.

He could snap the wrenches and screwdrivers in half with his bare hands. There was no chance they'd survive actually turning a screw.

Counterfeit goods, without a doubt.

Just then, the copy of the contract tucked against his chest began to grow warm. When he took it out, it spontaneously burst into flames.

As soon as the paper burned to ash, he felt something unfamiliar appear in his pocket.

He reached inside and pulled out exactly 499 dollars. Not a cent more or less.

The worn bills and coins were unmistakably the salesman's. Liam had seen the man checking his wallet when Lily drove past him a moment earlier.

What a fascinating ability. It might turn out to be useful in ways he couldn't even imagine.