Chapter 189: Chapter 189: Monty’s Son Is Count Nicholas?
"Hello, I was wondering which way the nearest town is?"
Monty glanced at her. "You’re leaving?"
Faye Yardley nodded. "Yes. If you have any letters you need delivered, I can take them with me since I’m heading that way."
Hearing her offer to carry a letter, Monty fell silent for a moment. "Come have some breakfast before you go. It takes a full day’s walk to get to the nearest town from here."
If the system hadn’t explicitly stated that helping Monty find her son was one of the ways to clear the Dungeon, she would have thought Monty was just a lonely old woman living by herself.
There were no signs of a second person living in the house, nor were there any things set aside for a son.
But that moment of hesitation let Faye Yardley know that Monty did have someone she cared for; she just didn’t seem willing to talk about it.
Breakfast was mashed potatoes. Faye appreciated the kind gesture but firmly refused.
When she refused, Monty didn’t say anything.
Faye noticed that Monty’s fingernails had grown a bit sharper, but she pretended not to see anything.
Monty finished her breakfast at a leisurely pace, wiped the corner of her mouth, and glanced at the perfectly patient Faye. Finally, seeming to have made up her mind, she said, "I’ll trouble you to deliver a letter for this old woman. If no one is there to receive it, just burn it."
"Alright. I’ll do my best to find the recipient."
Monty turned and walked unsteadily toward a nearby cabinet. She stared at it blankly for a while before opening the top drawer and taking out a letter that looked like it had been prepared long ago.
Taking the envelope, Faye was surprised to see the name written on it: For Nicholas Momo. "Nicholas?"
"What? Do you know him?"
Faye shook her head, but she pulled her left hand out from her wide cloak and held up her thumb. "Do you recognize this ring? It belongs to Count Nicholas. I wonder if he’s the person you’re looking for."
’This is too much of a coincidence,’ she thought. ’Is it because I got this ring first that I appeared near someone connected to it after entering the Dungeon?’
Monty’s eyes lit up when she saw the ring. "This... yes, it’s his. But what did you just say? He’s become an Earl?"
"Yes, that’s how it was described when I received this ring." Faye tried to take the ring off to give to Monty, but Monty refused.
"If you were able to obtain it, then it’s yours now. At least this tells me Momo is doing well." Monty was very happy when she said this, even adding, "In that case, there’s no need to deliver the letter anymore. He most likely isn’t in that town anyway."
It was clear that she was genuinely happy, but there was also an inexplicable sadness, as if this wasn’t the resolution she had been hoping for.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the type of player who focused on lore, so she didn’t have the habit of digging for every last detail.
"Why don’t I take the letter and try to deliver it anyway? What if the Earl has been waiting for a letter from you all this time?"
Besides, the method for clearing the Dungeon also mentioned finding this person. An Earl, no less. Having a token would make finding him much easier.
Perhaps Faye’s words moved her, because Monty nodded in agreement.
"Then let me walk you to the village entrance." As she spoke, Monty gave her two silver coins. "You have to pay a fee to enter the town. Take these."
Although Faye had her own money, she suspected this was payment for delivering the letter, so she didn’t refuse. "Thank you. You’re very thoughtful."
Monty opened the door, and Faye followed her out.
Then she saw the little boy from yesterday who had come asking questions. He was peeking out from the doorway across from them, sizing her up with curiosity.
Faye couldn’t help but give him a second look.
She saw his nose twitch as an expression of both rapture and anticipation crossed his face. Then, a hand from behind him yanked him back inside. A moment later, a burly man emerged. "Miss Monroe, is the outsider leaving?"
"Yes."
Faye glanced at the burly man and saw that his expression was guarded, even laced with a trace of hostility.
The rest of the walk out of the village was much the same. Most of the villagers she encountered were unfriendly, treating her as if she had committed some unforgivable crime.
There were curious onlookers, of course, but just like when she had arrived, they did their best to stay out of her way as she left.
What a strange little village.
A short distance from the village, she looked back and saw a crowd of people—tall and short, fat and thin—standing at the entrance.
Faye thought, ’Don’t tell me the entire village is seeing me off?’
Come to think of it, she had been going in the right direction yesterday. She had only turned off the path when she saw villagers working, but before she knew it, night had fallen.
As she continued onward, the trees lining the path grew taller and taller.
Her presence occasionally startled flocks of small birds, which would take flight with a great flutter, flying from one side to the other.
But the sky here remained overcast. The further she walked, the thicker the fog became, making it impossible to see the environment ahead.
Faye wasn’t in a hurry, however, and just walked at a slow pace. She had thought about trying out the pumpkin coach, but unfortunately, it was just a coach; it didn’t come with any animals to pull it.
So, she could only summon it as a temporary stop, a private space where she could change her sanitary pad.
But after changing once, she felt that not only was the fog ahead getting thicker, but it seemed to be closing in from all sides.
Following Monty’s advice, she took out a Fire Pit and tossed the used one in to burn it.
After it was burnt, the fog seemed to thin out a little.
Putting away the pumpkin coach and the Fire Pit, Faye, beneath her wide cloak, now held a small silver sword in her left palm and the Shallow Wound Divine Sword in her right hand.
A sudden palpitation made her realize that an unknown danger was approaching.
CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP. The sound of horse hooves came from the dense fog ahead.
Along the sides of the road, many small birds took flight in a terrified flutter, chaotically flying every which way.
The sound of the carriage grew ever closer. Faye simply stopped and stepped to the side of the road.
Then she saw a black swarm of bats up ahead, diving toward the birds. Some of them charged toward her as well.
Wearing a cloak during a fight would only get in the way, so Faye directly stored it in her backpack. She was just about to attack the incoming swarm when the bats abruptly split to either side, bypassing her completely.
???
’Her mind was full of question marks. Faye couldn’t figure it out. Weren’t they clearly charging right at me just now?’
’So the cloak was blocking the ring’s power? Now that I’ve taken it off, its intimidating aura is being emitted?’
She had heard the clip-clop of hooves and the rumbling of wheels for a while now, but aside from the sounds getting closer, she still hadn’t seen the carriage.
The bats flew into the woods on either side to hunt the flocks of birds.
The dense fog, however, drew closer and closer to her.
She simply placed a Fire Pit in front of herself to drive away the chill of the fog and waited for the carriage to appear.
