Chapter 42: General Bercouil

Some time passed.

The time at this time has entered at 6:15 in the morning when the atmosphere outside has begun to brighten. The light mist that previously covered the area of mangrove tree 13 at this time slowly began to dissipate under the light of the sun. Just inside the guild at this time, Garp and Aokiji had already returned from their breakfast. The two of them had breakfast at the Navy Branch Headquarters because they didn't find a single place that could sell them food dishes. At the time of returning, they returned to the guild together with Gion.

Gion had already gotten an explanation of the arrangements they were going to make today in the dungeon and also already knew that the couple he would be with at that time was Vergo. Although Gion doesn't have much of a close relationship with Vergo, Gion knows little about Vergo because of his accomplishments, and also Gion doesn't mind the arrangement.

At this time, it is still not time for the guild's administrative services to open. The Marines are currently discussing information about the monsters in the guild. Garp is the most knowledgeable person among them. Garp explained a lot related to these monsters to his partner. There are three types of monsters that Garp has encountered in the dungeon, namely horned cows, goblins, and wolves.

On this first floor, there are four types of monsters and only one monster that is currently not encountered by Garp.

*Ring!*

The ringing of doorbell rang followed by the sound of the guild entrance being pushed open. The Marines directly stopped the talk they were having at this time and turned their attention toward the entrance to see who was coming to the guild at this time.

"Rayleigh?"

"Mei'O Silver Rayleigh"

"Shichibukai - Boa Hancock"

"Kuja Pirates"

"Navy" Hancock stared coldly at the Marines who were currently staring at her. Hancock was quite surprised at this time that the Navy would give a very large response to this place. They even sent a large number of their main forces here.

"I didn't expect the Navy to respond so much related to this place," Rayleigh said calmly without the slightest fear while looking at Zephyr, "Two Admirals, five Vice Admirals, and the rest..."

"It turns out that what Gion said is true" Zephyr immediately said seriously: "You have the urge to resurrect Roger, Rayleigh?"

"Of course!" Rayleigh grinned excitedly then the look in his eyes narrowed seriously, "Do you guys want to block my way?"

"Do you think we can block your way?" Garp immediately entered the conversation.

"Hahahaha, I don't think it's possible" Rayleigh laughed listening to this question from Garp and immediately said, "Long time no see you, Garp, Zephyr. Especially for you, Zephyr, you had already retreated to the back row even at that time. What caused you to advance to the front row back?"

"The same reason as you," Zephyr said calmly without covering it up.

"The same reason? Like that. Who do you want to resurrect?" Rayleigh asked with interest.

"It's none of your business, pirates"

"Hahaha, that's it" Rayleigh was not angry about getting the sharp words from Zephyr and just laughed. Rayleigh is currently quite happy because he can meet his old friends or can be said to be their old enemies.

"Rayleigh, let's leave right away," Hancock said in a cold tone, and also the tone seemed to imply that she didn't want to be with them in this room.

Rayleigh nodded and immediately walked toward the direction of the portal to enter the dungeon.

"Hey, Rayleigh, did you build a party with Hancock and the others?" Garp asked with interest, "It's not like your character will come along with someone"

"You know me very well, Garp" Rayleigh smiled, "I did build a party with them because the mission they took was something very interesting mission even though this mission was said to be interesting by Ars himself. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"A mission that even Ars finds interesting?"

The entire Navy was shocked by the information revealed by Rayleigh.

"Rayleigh! You don't need to say anything to them! This is our mission! They don't need to know about this" Hancock said in a tone of dissatisfaction and fear until there was an intervention between them.

"Hahaha, sorry-sorry. It's just, I'm pretty excited to go on this mission" Rayleigh said without any guilt at all and immediately said, "Well, Garp, Zephyr. I think we will meet often in the dungeon. Until later"

Under the gaze of Zephyr and others. Finally, Rayleigh and his entire group entered the dungeon.

"Arara, a mission that even Ars finds interesting?" Aokiji immediately opened the conversation at the moment when Rayleigh and the others had walked into the dungeon, "I'm quite interested in what mission it is?"

"If it's a mission that Ars even finds interesting, it's not an ordinary mission," Gion said seriously: "At least the mission will provide them with some kind of valuable information or something commensurate with the mission they're carrying out."

"Is it possible that they got it through Ars directly?" Yamakaji asked in full.

"Got it from Ars directly?" Momonga raised his forehead,

Yamakaji nodded, "They are the first adventurers here. Isn't there a possibility of Ars giving them a little special treatment? It gives them a good mission."

"Impossible!" Gion immediately rejected her, "Although they are adventurers who are ahead of us, there is no reason for Ars to give them special treatment like giving the mission. Ars, he's not that kind of person"

"If that's the case, there's a chance it's just luck from Hancock and the others," Zephyr said calmly, "They must have taken the mission randomly on the mission board and were lucky enough to take the mission where the mission gave a great reward to the person who executed it."

Dungeon, first floor, Atlantis City.

By the time Rayleigh and the others had walked into the dungeon. The members of the Kuja pirates immediately broke away and immediately headed to the mining site to mine iron ore. Yesterday they collected quite a lot of iron ore. However, the numbers are still not enough and Hancock wants to get more to increase its inventory to make it easier to improve the equipment they currently have.

On the other hand, Rayleigh and others immediately rushed in the direction of the location to report related to the mission they were about to carry out. The place where they reported was the Beteng Knight where this place was also the place for Hancock and others to report on their previous missions.

"Stop!"

The moment when they arrived in front of the carriage, the knight who was in charge of being the guard of the entrance directly stopped them. The knight immediately walked over to them and asked, "Here is the Atlantis City Knight Stronghold and this is a forbidden area that people who have no interests can't end! Please tell me the purpose of your coming here!"

"We are adventurers" Rayleigh immediately led the conversation, "The purpose of our arrival is to confirm related to the mission issued"

Along with that, they immediately took out their status panel. They are already very familiar with the rules at hand before being asked about their status. They immediately exposed it.

The knight nodded, "What mission do you guys want to confirm?"

"The mission is related to the investigation and collection of information related to this underground maze that suddenly appeared in the area north of 10 kilometers from Atlantis City," Rayleigh said calmly.

The knight instantly fell silent listening to the mission Rayleigh and the others wanted to take then asked back, "Are you guys going to take that mission?"

"What do you mean?" Hancock asked strangely.

"My suggestion is better to reconsider the mission you want to take," The knight said seriously: "Your current strength. It may not be enough to carry out the mission."

"Huh?"

These words from the Knight made the four of them speechless.

"Are there any particularly powerful monsters in that underground maze?" Rayleigh asked seriously.

"I don't know about it either" The knight shook his head and immediately said before anyone intervened, "However, this mission is a mission issued by General Bercouil the leader of the Knight Fortress of Atlantis City. Every mission issued by him is a mission that has a very high level of uncertainty. There will be many uncertain elements in the mission. As long as your strength is not enough, it is difficult for you to be able to complete the mission issued by him"

"General is a fool? The leader of this Town is Knight Fortress. It means that this person has a great influence. He must have been one of those who knew all sorts of information about this dungeon" Hancock and Rayleigh thought at the same time.

"What do you think, Hancock? This is the mission you guys are taking. You are the one who has the most votes for the time being. Whether we will take it or not" Rayleigh said calmly.

Although Hancock later chose to give up this mission, Rayleigh would not hesitate to re-seek this mission to take it. This mission itself is not a mission for combat and destruction. This mission is just an information-gathering mission. Even if there is an uncertainty factor in those underground labyrinths as are monsters and others. Adventurers can be resurrected. This mission is destined to be completed.

"Hmph! Are you kidding me? How could I take back the mission taken by me?" Hancock asked coldly and proudly then stared at the Knight who was in front of her, "We will take this mission"

For Hancock, this mission is an important mission for them. Hancock has the desire to be able to get a relationship with General Bercouil where which aims to find out about the items they currently got before.

"What is your decision? Alright, then. Come with me. I will take you guys to face General Bercouil directly"

The knight immediately walked over then was followed by Rayleigh and others. But, not towards the inside of the fort but towards the center of the city.

"Where are we going?" Rayleigh asked strangely.

"We are going to the residence of General Bercouil. Generals are usually not at the headquarters. He often spends his time in his home Only if the task is urgent he will be at the headquarters and present the headquarters is only taken care of by the Commanders of his trust."

Rayleigh nodded and calmly followed the Knight.

"Big Sister" Sandersonia walked over to Hancock and whispered, "This mission is likely to have a high mortality rate. We'd better secure our items in advance, especially for the item fragments we found earlier. As long as we die in this mission, all of our items will later fall. It doesn't matter about our equipment, we can get it back. However, it will be different from those fragment items. As long as the item falls, it is difficult for us to get it back"

"I know" Hancock nodded and immediately took out the fragment items stored in the storage space that belonged to her and handed them to Sandersonia, "You take these to the ship and then keep them carefully. We will wait for you at the north gate"

"I understand" Sandersonia nodded and immediately left leaving them.

"Hmmm?" Rayleigh raised his forehead looking at Sandersonia's leaving back, "Where did he go?"

"I asked her to do something. Take it easy, Sonia will be with us on this mission. We just have to wait for her to be in the north by the time we will go to where the mission takes place."

Rayleigh nodded and didn't ask back. Everyone has a secret, Rayleigh knows there is something related to Sandersonia's departure. However, since Hancock and others didn't want to say it, Rayleigh didn't want to discuss it either.

It only took 15 minutes to drive, and finally, they arrived in front of the house that was their destination. The house they visited was a house in the city center. This house has a very large yard size with design of the construction of the house still uses a traditional design that takes a traditional design from Japan.

The knight went straight into the courtyard of the house carrying Rayleigh and others then came to the front entrance of the house and immediately rang the bell of the house. Footsteps could be heard walking towards the entrance of the house followed and it didn't take long for the door of the house to open revealing a man to appear.

The man has a tall and muscular body appearance. She has short blue hair and blue eyebrows. The appearance of this man is like a man who is 30 to 40 years old and currently, he wears a blue kimono.

"General!"

The knight immediately saluted the man.

The man the General mentioned by the knight is General Bercouil!

Bercouil nodded and immediately turned his attention to Rayleigh and others, "Who are they?"

"They are the adventurers of the General. They came here because they wanted to confirm that it was related to the mission you issued before"

"Oh? Adventurers?"

The knight immediately gave way to Bercouil where at this time his attention was directed directly at Rayleigh and others.

"This guy... He's a monster..."

There was only one thought that came to their minds which was the terrible power possessed by Bercouil. Through their Observation of Haki, they can feel how strong the power possessed by Bercouil is. Nonetheless, they did not show faces of fear or intimidation by the force. Their faces were calm to maintain their status as well.

"Do you guys want to carry out this mission?" Bercouil asked seriously, "Although this mission is only an information gathering mission. However, this mission is likely to have a serious impact on you. The underground maze that you are going to collect information about is the main maze with the energy level expended quite terrifying."

"Energy level?" Rayleigh asked in confusion.

"The energy level is something that represents a way for us to measure how terrifying the underground maze is. Usually, the energy level is divided into several levels ranging from E to SS level. The underground maze that is the target of this mission is an underground maze with energy levels reaching level D. This means that this underground maze you will later collect information is an underground maze with difficulty levels like the underground maze on the 30th-60th floor"

"30th—60th floor?"

"If this is the case, why do you have to take out this mission to be performed by us adventurers with a low level of strength? In addition, if indeed the difficulty level of this mission is as you said before. This mission should be able to give us a high amount of rewards compared to the rewards we currently receive" Rayleigh said seriously and at this time he began to consider the mission to be carried out at this time.

"I'm sorry, however, it was a mistake on our part," Bercouil said apologetically, "The underground maze itself has been appearing for a few days now. When the underground maze first appeared, it still did not emit the same energy as it does today. The energy beam produced by that underground maze is just reaching energy level E. However, yesterday, I got a report that there has been a change in the energy level inside. It should be today is the day we made changes related to the mission, especially regarding the level of rewards to be awarded. We will change the reward for today. I just didn't expect that you guys had already taken it first before we made any changes related to the gift that should have been given"

"That still doesn't answer why you have to issue a mission of this level of difficulty for us to do," Rayleigh said flatly.

"I'm sure you already know the answer yourself" Bercouil replied calmly, "You adventurers are the chosen ones. As long as you die, you will immediately be resurrected again. You only need to pay a small fee for the resurrection. On the other hand, on our side, we are citizens living in this dungeon and by the time we are killed by monsters we will die immediately."

"Is that why you guys took out a mission for us to do?" Rayleigh asked calmly.

Bercouil nodded calmly. Information about the abilities possessed by these adventurers not all residents know. Only a few of them, especially those who have reached adulthood, know about this ability. Meanwhile, those who are still children, do not have an understanding of this. For example, Soma.

The adult age in this dungeon is 18 years. While Soma himself is currently 16 years old. That means he's still immature and his understanding of adventurers isn't much more than that of other adults. Later when he reached the age of 18, information about adventurers would be sent to him immediately.

"Regarding the mission issued by us at this time. You can reconsider doing so because it might have an impact on those of you who are working on this mission. However, if you want to carry out this mission, if you wish, wait until 7 a.m. We will immediately change the settings related to the rewards that will be given to you where the rewards will be compared to the difficulty level of the missions you are doing. You only need to reconfirm related to this mission to the guild supervisor"

"We understand" Rayleigh nodded.

"If you intend to take this mission back and have confirmed it, please come see me in person. You don't need to ask him for help to come here. I will confirm the mission directly"

Rayleigh and the others nodded.

Bercouil immediately turned his attention toward the Knights and said, "You can bring them back"

"Okay, General!" The knight saluted and immediately led Rayleigh and others away from the venue.