(C14) Chest of Ukano

Leader's tent was easy to spot, mostly because of how big it was compared to the others.

Being in the middle of the camp (just next to the empty area they celebrated) and having some small decorations over it to show superiority helped a lot as well.

As I entered the tent I heard her voice behind me.

''You don't think I would let you go in alone, did you?''

Nope.

We looked around the tent and got to work.

After rummaging through the leader's tent, we came across a large chest with an elaborate and elegant design that's covered in golden dragons, all of them meeting in the middle of the chest to join an insignia.

''That's the insignia of the strongest noble house in the Fire Nation. Their influence, power and wealth is only surpassed by the Fire Lord himself.''

June explained with a mesmerized face.

''Now we know why they were celebrating so lavishly.'' I gulped.

''Dibs.'' I tried my chance.

''That's not how it works big boy, good try though.''

Shit.

''Alright, it seems to have a good lock on it. Let's take a look at the rest of the tents and gather them to the middle of the camp. We can distribute after that.''

She nodded and left, I followed. She might be hot, but I'm not letting her go through the tents alone and possibly hide something from me. Sorry June, even the neet inside of me wasn't this much of a simp.

''You hurt my feelings.'' She said casually. She probably didn't give a shit and expected it. It would be ridiculous if I trusted her with something like this even though we just met yesterday.

'I feel bad for being so distrustful, but seeing the loot here she might get too greedy and betray me. I better watch my back even more carefully from now on.'

For the next hour, we carefully looked through every tent with the small hopes of finding something like the chest we found. 'Maybe one of the bandits hid a good treasure in greed.'

But no.

There were only above average weapons and gold. No treasure other than the chest we found.

I sighed. This is the troublesome part.

''How do you want to do this?''

''... How about a gamble?''

''Pardon?'' Is she serious? God, I wish I had a luck attribute.

''Are you willing to take the chest and the chest only and leave everything else to me?''

What?

'That's all?'

Seeing my confused expression she was about to start explaining, but I stopped her. I got it.

''It's because the risk isn't worth the prize. It's not worth fighting over it, you would be satisfied with the shit ton of gold we got here. But I'm already rich and I don't need the gold. Not to mention, you can't dare to offend the second strongest family in the world.''

If she took the chest and they learned she had what it had inside she would get in trouble. Lots of trouble.

Besides, she didn't even know what was in the chest. For all she knows, it might be something sentimental or special bedroom toys for the rich people.

It's a gamble for me, not her. She wins either way.

'But what she doesn't know is that I can hide whatever comes out of it perfectly. Not to mention I know it's valuable.' I held back a smirk.

Observe was really really useful.

{Chest of Ukano}

Something extremely valuable and rare lays inside.

What observe told me was brief, but it told me enough. It's actually a win-win.

''Only if you agree to not collect any bounty. We leave this town right now and never come back.'' I didn't want to deal with the nobles. This job should be done anonymously.

''Deal.''

With smiles, I came towards the girl we rescued.

Thankfully, I knew she had my back.

Observe had already told me she was blind. One of the bandits accidentally blinded her. She didn't know our faces or names, so it should be fine to let her live.

After guiding her to the town, we left for the next town with big bags of gold behind our backs.

-

'I'm confused. Happy, but confused.

I was checking out my quest and status after the battle but there were two anomalies.

First, the quest.

[Main Quest is finished.]

[Would you like to collect the rewards?]

[Warning! You haven't finished the Side Quest 3. If you finish the quest now, you won't be able to collect the rewards for the Side Quest 3.]

'I thought I did everything perfectly?'

I checked the reward. It was a single stat rank up. Nothing much but still valuable.

I hesitantly clicked yes. The bandit camp was already destroyed, there was no going back.

--

[Quest: Be the Hero for Once!]

[Details: Destroy the bandit group that has been terrorizing this town and the merchants that pass from it.]

[Rewards: Random Stat Rank UpX3]

[Secret Reward 1: Stat Rank Upx1 (Find out something is fishy with the situation, complete)]

[Secret Reward 2: Shirshu Mount (Complete the quest with June (the mercenary). Both June and Nyla should have a positive opinion of you by the end of the mission, complete)]

[Secret Reward 3: Stat Rank Upx1 (Find out who is the traitor in the town and bring him to justice, failed)]

--

'Ohh. That makes sense. Yeah, I kinda forgot about that. I was thinking of interrogating and maybe torturing some of the bandits but I just forgot.'

'Well, it doesn't really matter. I couldn't finish the last quest anyway. 'Bring him to justice' part means I have to reveal the fact that I destroyed the bandit camp and took the loot in it. Single stat rank up isn't worth it.'

Second is the chest.

I still haven't found a way to open it. I know it's valuable so I'm hesitant in breaking it, but if it goes like this I might need to use some firebending for it.

'I obviously can't explode it. What if the contents of the chest get damaged. Best I can do is slowly melt the lock.'

Third is my stats.

I expected them to rise. But not this much... Not this much...