Chapter 15 - Talk and Quests
"Zafira." Rael took his eyes away from the document. "This is a joke."
"What?" she tilted her head. "Political matters such as these are never a joke, but as I said, the deal does seem too good to be true."
"Because it is," Rael affirmed. "Ygron wants to station its military on the outskirts of Celestara, which might not seem harmful at first and could be downplayed as a training exercise, but given Ygron's long history, that's likely not the case."
"I'm aware," she replied with a nod before pointing to a particular clause near the bottom.
He read through it, and his opinion did not differ.
"They promise huge amounts of money and military aid whenever you might need it, no strings attached," he summarized, a frown forming on his face. "Now, let's say you go out to war, and while you're away, Ygron's stationed troops invade your city and take over."
There was also one interesting part in particular that made him scoff in disgust.
"Zafira, the agreement is issued for only a single year. Do you think they did that just for training and assisting purposes? Something will happen, and once it does, they will seize this city."
"Hmm..." Zafira murmured, looking conflicted, before pocketing the document. "Thanks for your opinion, Rael. I'll run it through my advisors later."
"Happy to help. I expect a feast next time I come here,," Rael said with a chuckle and stood up. "I think I should get going now, Zafira."
"I'll see you out," she stated, and after wiping her mouth with a napkin, she proceeded to lead the way.
Now that he was no longer under the tension of possibly being killed, Rael was able to truly admire the castle.
The paintings on the walls could easily fetch him a decent sum of Trell if he were to sell them to the Premium Shop, and as for the golden vases scattered around aimlessly, he'd become a millionaire overnight.
"Oh!" Zafira halted and turned toward him. "Before I forget, here."
She tapped on the air a few times, making him raise a brow.
But in the next moment, he found out the reason why she was doing that.
A blue system screen appeared, and with that, a message he was not expecting to see.
Huh? Rael's eyes widened as he hit the "Yes" button.
"We can chat together now whenever we want. I'll text you later," Zafira said with a warm smile. "I have some business to attend to now. I'm sure you can find your way out from the inner courtyard, right?"
"Of course." He nodded. "Good luck, Zafira. Talk to you later."
With that, she turned around, and his eyes lingered on her curvy departing figure for only a few seconds before he, too, made his way out.
It was safe to say, going to the coronation—even if it was complete bullshit—turned out to be the right choice.
Thankfully, he truly had no ulterior motives in coming here.
Definitely.
But now that it was all over, he wanted to make some arrangements to earn much more money, and the first thing on his agenda was to go to the adventurer's guild.
It was one of the main ways to gain quests, as each request was stamped onto the board, and all he had to do was walk over and place his hand on the parchment to accept.
I didn't expect NPCs to have a friending function... Rael thought with furrowed brows. I guess they are no longer NPCs—they're humans just like me.
He made his way through several courtyards until, eventually, Rael made it out of the castle grounds and arrived in the outer part of Celestara.
The size of this entire city was overwhelmingly large—he almost wished he had a car to get around quicker.
But...
•—Premium Shop—•
Category: Transport/Cars/Cruise
•—Balance: 242 Trell—•
• Two-Seater Sedan (Common): 50,000 Trell
...Right. He was not surprised at the price.
Nonetheless, he walked through the paved streets and navigated using his memory. Finally, he arrived in front of a large rustic building with the words "Adventurer's Guild" written on the very front.
Not wasting any time, Rael walked inside, and the scent of sweat immediately entered his nose.
I'd barf if the castle's dungeons didn't smell worse. Rael thought and finally arrived before a massive board.
On it were a lot of stamped quests, most of which were simply too difficult for him.
However, there were a few he could definitely attempt.
—
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.
—
These two quests in particular were convenient, as he could do one while also completing the other.
Therefore, Rael placed his hand on those two pieces of parchment, and soon, his interface lit up.
Great... Let's see... Rael pressed on the Skeleton Maze Dungeon quest, and immediately, a compass appeared in his hands, with the arrow pointing straight north.
Works the same. He heaved a relieved breath before clicking on the boar quest.
Thankfully, the arrow was also pointing north, making it perfect.
Since Rael still had plenty of time before midnight and nothing pressing to do, he decided to start the quest immediately.
But... He glanced toward the arrowhead.
North was on the opposite side of where he was. Therefore, the walk toward the other side of outer Celestara and then up the mountain would take a while.
Nonetheless, he began slowly moving over, since if he was correct...
The Skeleton Maze Dungeon would be a massive boon.