Who told you I am an NPC

Chapter : 146

I really didn't expect Adrien to be here to submit his resume.

Was this some kind of kill-for-hire app?

The expression on my face couldn't help but twist for a moment. Adrien was actually telling me he wanted to kill people for me with such a dead-serious face...?

So weird, really so weird.

The corner of my mouth twitched. "That won't be necessary. I never planned on killing the King of Barto."

Adrien nodded thoughtfully. "So you just cut off his XX?"

I thought I had misheard and was utterly shocked. "What? What did you say I cut off?"

"XX," Adrien repeated, once again harmonized by the great god of censorship.

I froze, my mouth agape. "XX?"

Adrien frowned. "The assassin wasn't one of your people?"

I instantly shut my mouth. In my surprise, I had accidentally revealed that Cornelia and I were not on the same side at all.

Wait, when did this guy's brain start working so fast? Didn't he used to leave his brain to be controlled by his external brain, Anthony?

Seeing that I wasn't speaking, Adrien didn't press further.

I barely managed to straighten out the current situation and couldn't help but ask, "How did you find me?"

Adrien had clearly already torn off my Joker persona. It would be awkward to keep pretending I didn't know, and besides, I was really curious about how my cover was blown again.

If there was another skill with the same effect as [Eye of Truth], I could really consider using the Joker persona less for stirring up trouble in the future.

Or get an item that could completely conceal my true identity as soon as possible.

Adrien hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I felt it was you."

I was like, "...?"

"What do you mean?"

"When I saw him, I felt it was you," Adrien answered.

"Just a feeling?"

Adrien nodded.

I had nothing more to say. Alright, this one was an intuition type. Different from Alice who had a cheat-like skill, this one's brain was just simpler; whatever his intuition told him, that's what it was.

And you know what, that intuition was pretty accurate.

It dawned on me. "So by admitting it just now, I exposed myself?"

Adrien comforted me, "Even if you didn't admit it, I would have known it was you."

Me: Very good, this is truly an intuition type, and a stubborn one at that.

I really wanted to facepalm, but I didn't want to appear too relaxed in front of Adrien, so I could only sigh in my heart.

"I get it. So, can you tell me now, have you seen that group of masked people?"

I pulled the topic back. I hadn't forgotten my purpose for coming here. As for the matter of Cornelia cruelly severing the King of Barto's lineage, I temporarily pushed it to the back of my mind.

Returning to the original topic, Adrien pondered for a moment and shook his head. "I haven't seen anyone in Skarn City with the features you described."

I was a little disappointed. The quest guide told me to ask Adrien, and I'd been exposed down to my underwear, but it turned out Adrien knew nothing?

"But I think I know who they are," Adrien added after a dramatic pause.

My gaze immediately fell upon Adrien. "What did you say? You know who those people are?"

Adrien nodded. "There were some rumors circulating in Skarn City before, which were somewhat similar to your description."

"What rumors?"

"The 'Demon King' has been resurrected..."

I let out a sky-shattering cough, almost choking to death on my own saliva. "What did you say? The Demon King has been resurrected? Who said that? Where is he?"

Hold on, I, the Demon King, had just arrived in Skarn City, how did the news of my 'resurrection' already reach here?

Wait, I'm not dead either. What do you mean, resurrected??

Adrien wasn't angry about me interrupting him. He continued, "The Demon King's horn sounds again, the Demon King's knights return from death, and the eternal brilliance will once again shine upon the entire continent."

"This was the rumor that was spreading before," Adrien said. "It's said that the Demon King's knights are all dressed in long black cloaks and wear masks with white patterns on their faces. Each pattern is different; that is the 'name' bestowed upon them by the Demon King."

I opened my mouth, wanting to curse, 'Nonsense, when did I ever bestow names upon my retainers? And in the form of masks?' The only one I've ever given a proper name to is Boros, okay!

At most, I've only given others nicknames! How could I, the 'Demon King', be so tyrannical and despotic!

Also, I don't have any Demon King's knights. At most, there was a Demon King's Guard back then, and the head of the guard, Theodore, was suspected of wanting to kill the king due to love turning into hate!

Stop spreading rumors about me! I'm already miserable enough as the Demon King!

I never would have thought that while investigating a mysterious evil cult, the boomerang would circle back and hit me?

Who was it! Doing bad things under the Demon King's name! All the blame was being pushed onto me, and now the Demon King's reputation was even worse!

I covered my face and calmed down for a moment before looking up to continue asking, "So from what you've heard, those who call themselves the Demon King's knights are the ones wearing black robes and masks with complex patterns?"

Adrien nodded. "Not just the Demon King's knights. The ordinary people they recruit call themselves the Eternal God Cult. They were indeed found in the city before. Most of them were outsiders. The Sawyer army drove those people away, and only then did the rumors gradually die down."

"It's just that recently, one or two people have occasionally been secretly promoting the Eternal God Cult, but those are people who grew up in Skarn. The Sawyer army can't drive them away, so they can only give verbal warnings."

Religion was the easiest way to brainwash ordinary people, especially in a border city like this. The common folk here lived a precarious existence, possibly losing their lives at any moment.

Since life was so hard, of course, they had to find some spiritual sustenance to numb themselves.

Therefore, the poorer, more war-torn, and more backward a place was, the faster faith would spread. The Eternal God Cult was no exception.

In the historical records written by Romunik and Bartovita, the Demon King was not a good person.

All sorts of smearing tactics were used to prove that the initial founders of the Two Great Empires, their raising of the banner of revolt, was correct and meaningful.

So the Demon King's reputation had never been very good, but it was undeniable that during the time the Demon King of the Eternal Empire was on the throne, it was the most prosperous era in the entire history of the Ailman Continent, and also the most harmonious era for humans and other races.

At that time, the wars had completely ended, and there were no demonic beasts. It was simply a peaceful and prosperous age that would only appear in dreams.

The contrast was so tragic that there was even a small group of people who believed that the appearance of demonic beasts was precisely because the initial founders of Romunik and Bartovita tried to overthrow the Demon King's rule, angering the Creator God, which was why a natural disaster like demonic beasts was sent down.

Heaven knows how much the Demon King himself wanted to laugh when he heard that.

Overthrowing the Demon King's rule would anger the gods? Only the gods who were killed by the Demon King knew how much they wanted to dismember the Demon King himself.

However, precisely because of the terrifying ability of religious belief to control the hearts of the people, the Sawyer family had quickly driven those people away the moment the rumors started spreading.

Skarn City was one of the most important border cities, situated right next to the Skarn Front.

If the morale of the people in the city was controlled and brainwashed by some unknown religion, the Sawyer army would become incredibly passive, and it could even lead to a situation where there were enemies in the front and rebellion in the back.

This was something the Sawyer family would absolutely not allow.

I understood the meaning behind Adrien's words and said thoughtfully, "Then do you know where those people went after leaving Skarn?"

Since it was an evil cult that could even develop a group of believers, and the believers could even sneak into the city from time to time to proselytize, it meant that there was definitely a proselytizing church near Skarn that was open to the public, at least to these proselytized people.

Adrien thought for a moment. "Anthony handles all this. I'm not clear about these things. Should I call him over to talk to you?"

That was exactly what I wanted!

I waved my hand grandly. "Okay."

Adrien agreed but didn't move, just staring at me.

I was also waiting for him to hurry back and find someone, and also suspected if he had some secret way of contacting his subordinates, so I also stared at Adrien.

For a moment, the two of us stared at each other. Neither of us spoke first, and the room fell into silence.

Being stared at by Adrien made me a little uncomfortable, so I spoke first, "Why haven't you gone yet?"

Adrien was puzzled. "You haven't finished packing?"

I was completely baffled. "What am I packing? What does you going back to find someone have to do with me packing."

Adrien's gaze swept around the room and then returned to me. "You said before to wait for you to finish packing?"

He gestured pointedly at the room that didn't need organizing at all, and Adrien added, "Come back with me after you've packed."

Me: .

When did I agree to that?

"I'm not going with you." I refused outright. "I still have many things to do. Hurry up and call Anthony over."

Adrien paused, but he didn't show any disappointed expression. He tried to negotiate, "The Sawyer family is safer."

"I'm not afraid of danger, and this inn seems quite safe."

"The Sawyer family has bigger rooms. More comfortable."

My expression didn't change. "This room is quite nice too. It's more than enough for me alone."

Adrien wanted to say more, but I stopped him. "Alright, I really have something important to do. My younger brother is still in the hands of those people. Hurry up and call Anthony over. I need to ask about those people's situation in detail!"

Although one layer of my persona had been peeled off, I still stubbornly defended my character's background story.

Besides, Alice was my student, and William was Alice's older brother, so why couldn't William be my younger brother?

I wasn't lying! In terms of age, there was no problem at all.

***

Adrien was eventually kicked out by me. Not long after, Anthony came to report, and surprisingly, Adrien wasn't following behind him. I thought he would follow along again!

Anthony saw me glance behind him a few times and explained with a smile, "Something happened on the front line. A few high-level demonic beasts escaped. The General has already rushed to the front line."

"Does he often rush over like this on short notice?" I asked curiously.

Anthony had a strange expression. "Not really. Actually, the General doesn't often return to the city. He spends most of his time on the front line, ready to join the battle at any time. Sometimes he even launches surprise attacks on the front line late at night. The soldiers on the front line are basically on standby all day, and the General is no exception."

"After all, demonic beasts aren't like humans, having the virtue of leaving early and returning late." He shrugged. "This time, the General suddenly returned to the city. I was thinking something might have happened in the family..."

Anthony secretly glanced at me. "Turns out you're here."

Anthony had a deep impression of me. This ordinary-looking alchemist had captured our General's heart in just a few short days. Ever since returning from the royal capital, our General had been somewhat out of his mind.

Although he still ate, slept, and fought demonic beasts as usual every day, Anthony could feel that the General's heart was no longer in Skarn. His heart had already flown away! It had flown far, far away, completely hung up on someone else.

At first, Anthony was wondering if the General had met that Princess Alice at the banquet and accidentally fell for her.

Just as Anthony was secretly considering whether to tell the old general, he discovered that the object of the General's affection wasn't Princess Alice at all!

It was that mage whom he had only met a few times!

Damn it, what kind of magic did that mage have? Didn't our General used to hate troublesome mages the most?

Anthony secretly sized me up again and evaluated in his heart: His looks are indeed average, and his aura is strangely gloomy...

Could it be that the General has been fighting demonic beasts since he was a child, and the type he likes has also become the demonic beast type? Is this what you call being imperceptibly influenced?

"Adrien told you why I asked you to come over, right?"

Anthony collected his thoughts and nodded seriously. "I know, it's about that Eternal God Cult from a while ago, right? I was indeed in charge of this matter."

"When those believers first appeared, I arranged for people to drive them away. You should be able to understand, right? Our city here is afraid of disloyalty. If any problem arises in the rear, the soldiers on the front line will have to sacrifice their lives in vain."

Anthony said sincerely, "But I don't know where they went at that time, and I didn't send anyone to follow them."

I was puzzled. "This Eternal God Cult doesn't look like a good organization at first glance. You were actually at ease with just driving them away?"

Anthony smiled bitterly. "You may not know."

"This border city is too harsh. Resources are scarce, and it's often invaded by demonic beasts. To put it bluntly, the people living here don't even know if they'll be alive tomorrow. It's tough. These beliefs are the only thing they can get without spending money, so belief is not a rare thing in Skarn."

"In other words, Skarn is not short of people who come to preach. There are too many of them. If you take a stroll down the street, you'll find all sorts of beliefs. There are even those who believe in our General."

"Those who come to preach actually don't cause much trouble, and they can provide some benefits to those less fortunate, so we don't really bother with them. It was only when we discovered that the scale of this Eternal God Cult was a bit too large, and the rumors were spreading a bit strangely, that I had people expel them from Skarn City."

Anthony continued, "Since they've been expelled, I thought it wouldn't cause too much trouble. After all, with our General's strength suppressing things here, very few people would dare to offend the General, so I didn't take it too seriously."

"Later, I discovered that even after expelling those believers, a believer of the Eternal God Cult would still pop up in the city from time to time. They were all people who had previously believed in other gods, but then turned to believe in the Demon King, all showing a fanatical state. That's when I realized something was wrong."

"I sent people to follow them, but those people from the Eternal God Cult were too cautious. The people I sent out were shaken off by them several times. Currently, I only know a general location. You might have to find the specific location yourself."

Anthony was very sincere. "The General asked us to protect your safety. I'll send a team of personal guards to follow you later and find their base together with you. What do you think?"

Me: .

"The personal guards won't be necessary. Do you have a map here? Just give me a map of the vicinity and mark the approximate location for me." I said.

Unexpectedly, Anthony showed a troubled expression. I frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"Um..." Anthony thought for a moment and then said honestly, "I can't give you the specific map. This map involves the border defense layout of Skarn City. I can only personally draw a simple map for you and point you in a direction. Is that okay?"

He had an apologetic look on his face. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that this is really not convenient to give to an outsider..."

I understood. It was presumptuous of me. I myself had the minimap cheat, so I thought everyone could know the map, forgetting that this was also a military strategic point.

An ordinary person would at most know which direction the city gate opened, where the market usually was. How could they possibly know the specific map?

Otherwise, in ancient warfare, why would they go to steal the enemy's border defense map?

Although Skarn's biggest enemy was the demonic beasts, it was right next to Romunik's border city.

The two sides were now united against the demonic beasts. If a conflict arose between the two sides in the future, they would also become enemies.

"Alright, then just roughly draw a location for me. I'll go investigate myself." I agreed. "The personal guards are really not necessary. Is your personal guard's strength higher than mine?"

Anthony was stunned. He didn't expect me to speak so arrogantly. He subconsciously threw a probe at me, only to find that he couldn't detect my level information.

There were generally two possibilities for this. One was that I had no talent at all and couldn't become a mage or a swordsman, so I had no level, and naturally, it couldn't be detected.

The other was that my level was far higher than his, which was why his probe came up with nothing.

Anthony was secretly shocked. His current level was not low, and he was considered one of the best in the Sawyer army. But this mage's level was even higher than his?

How did he level up? Even consuming heavenly materials and earthly treasures wouldn't be this fast, right???

Anthony thought along my lines. The personal guards in the personal guard team were not much different from his level, even a little lower.

If he sent a group of people who were obviously lower level than this mage, who would be protecting whom?

Remembering the General's instructions before he left, Anthony's face couldn't help but twist for a moment. He really wanted to shout: General, don't be so in love, this guy doesn't need protection at all, okay!

But he couldn't. He could only maintain a smile. "Okay, okay, I'll draw a simple map for you now."

I found paper and a pen for Anthony. He closed his eyes to recall for a moment, then began to write and draw on the paper, occasionally marking a character or two on the map.

I watched the map Anthony was drawing while comparing it with the system's minimap, and they were basically consistent.

This made me look at Anthony in a new light.

One had to know that he was now reciting the map from memory, yet he could still draw it almost identically to my cheat minimap.

This showed that Anthony was a person with an excellent sense of direction and spatial imagination.

He was truly smart.

After getting [Map Drawn by Anthony] x1, I also kicked out Anthony who wanted to chat with me a bit more. I compared it with my own minimap and found the location that Anthony had marked as a possible secret base of the Eternal God Cult.

This area was quite large, but I had a cheat. I directly enlarged the minimap and began to check this area inch by inch for any special buildings on the surface.

Although I couldn't see if there were any people in this area from a distance, the small icons of the buildings were still visible.

This was called skillfully using a cheat.

After a round of investigation, I finally found a trace in a forest near the southeast direction. It looked like an abandoned village or town.

The scale was not large. It was displayed in gray on my minimap, which clearly indicated that it was an abandoned human settlement.

This was not surprising. Small villages and towns like this could often be seen when approaching Skarn.

After all, this place was constantly attacked by demonic beasts, and from time to time, a high-level demonic beast would emerge to attack these human settlements.

The people living inside Skarn City were fine. There were troops stationed in the city, and support was very fast.

Those small villages living outside the city, in more remote places, were the ones who suffered. When a demonic beast suddenly appeared late at night, they wouldn't even have time to react before the entire village was massacred by the demonic beast.

So the closer to the Skarn Front, the villages outside the city here were basically in ruins. The people inside had either moved away or were all dead.

The reason I noticed this ruin was purely because this village ruin was the closest to Skarn City. According to an ordinary person's pace, a round trip wouldn't take too much time.

At the same time, there was a large forest for cover. If someone were to follow them to their base, they would be discovered very quickly.

Moreover, this ruined village was located at the center of the area Anthony had marked out. For Anthony to be able to draw this area, he must have conducted several investigations and confirmed that members of the Eternal God Cult frequently appeared in these areas before they were included in this range.

By circling the areas of frequent activity, the most densely overlapping part of the circles would most likely be their long-term residence.

And it just so happened that this small village ruin was located right in the center of the intersection of these circles.

I overlapped the hand-drawn map in my hand with my own minimap cheat and gently flicked the location of the small village with my fingertip.

"Caught you."

The little black rats who were secretly doing bad things in the Demon King's name.