Chapter 173 : Chapter 173
Chapter : 173
"Have you heard? Castellan's youngest son went missing last night."
"What? How did he go missing?"
"It seems he was abducted during the chaos last night. Last night was so chaotic, didn't you know?"
"I didn't know. I only returned to the city this morning. What happened?"
"There was a group of people yesterday..."
The little black cat shook its fur. After eavesdropping on the conversation, it left with light steps. A passing child saw it and their eyes lit up. "Kitty!"
However, the little black cat was an aloof cat. Without even giving a glance, it leaped onto the roof and jumped away from the spot in a few bounds, leaving the child standing there disappointed.
Making sure no one followed, Yan Yunqing deactivated his Roleplay skill and sat cross-legged on a tree.
His status bar still displayed a "Poisoned" debuff, but it didn't affect his player body much. Yan Yunqing left it for now, planning to find Merlin later to resolve it together.
But Castellan's son actually went missing...?
Could it be Isabel who took him? But didn't Isabel and the others plan to find the whereabouts of their missing clansmen by tracking Castellan's son?
Yan Yunqing tried to contact Isabel but got no response.
His player panel and NPC panel were not connected. He couldn't use the chat system under the player panel to contact his NPC friends; he could only contact them through the [Carrier Pigeon] Merlin had asked Torin to forge earlier.
After trying for a while without getting a response, Yan Yunqing sighed and leaned against the tree trunk, resting his head on one hand while looking at the blue sky. Yan Yunqing unconsciously recalled the news he received yesterday.
—"It seems he is the son of a Baron from the Romunik border. I remember the Baron was called... Baron O-something?"
Baron Aldrich.
Yan Yunqing completed Doreen's words in his heart.
Lecherous, suddenly brought back a year ago, extremely talented in magic with high affinity for light elements, and the son of a Baron from the Romunik border.
With these adjectives combined, Yan Yunqing couldn't be more familiar with him. He could even blurt out the person's name.
Xavier Aldrich.
The name of the 'corpse bro' he met on his way to Sigret Academy.
That 'corpse bro' and his guards had died tragically in the wild, clearly attacked by demonic beasts. Yan Yunqing had casually dug a hole and buried them to prevent their corpses from being exposed in the wilderness.
And since the 'corpse bro's' luggage happened to contain a recommendation letter for Sigret Academy, he impersonated Xavier and went to Sigret Academy.
And now he was told there was another Xavier in the Church of Light?
Then who was the 'corpse bro' he buried? There couldn't be two identical people in this world, right? Or did he come back from the dead?
This was simply too absurd.
The most likely possibility was that Xavier didn't die, and someone had deliberately created the illusion that Xavier was dead.
The Church of Light?
It was very likely. After all, it was someone from the Church of Light who gave Xavier the recommendation letter, and after 'Xavier' died, a high-status Saint appeared in the Church of Light.
Unless Yan Yunqing was stupid, he wouldn't believe there was no problem here.
But if that Saint was the real Xavier, then his identity might have been exposed from the beginning. After all, 'Xavier's' death was caused by them personally. How could another Xavier holding a recommendation letter appear at Sigret Academy?
And at that time, because Yan Yunqing borrowed Xavier's identity, he decided to fulfill Xavier's 'last wish' and reclaim the Baron title belonging to the Aldrich family. He even got very close to those sons of Romunik nobles in Class A for this reason.
They even specifically wrote home for him to inquire about the matter of the Aldrich family's Baron title being reclaimed by the royal family.
If the reclamation of the Baron title was also the work of the Church of Light, then when those letters were sent to Romunik, the fact that Yan Yunqing was pretending to be Xavier would have been completely exposed to the Church of Light.
Did the Church of Light do anything against him after discovering it? It seemed not... If anything, there was that field training where his companion was abducted by people from the Eternal Divine Sect, and he went to the rescue. If not for his special abilities and having enough cheats, he might have really perished there.
Wait, if so, does that mean the Church of Light and the Eternal Divine Sect are indeed related?
Yan Yunqing felt his thoughts were in a mess, like a tangled ball of yarn, unable to sort out the threads.
Although the logic fit, he always felt something was weird.
Yan Yunqing rubbed his hair and let out a long sigh.
He increasingly felt like he was being pulled forward by an invisible thread, as if everything he encountered had been arranged.
...Was it that Return Game Studio?
***
Yan Yunqing found a safe place to switch back to his NPC body. As soon as he switched back, he saw that the quest progress he gave to the players was nearing completion. It seemed he had to find time to continue fooling the players.
Yan Yunqing switched to the [Nolan] identity, put on the [Concealment Magic Robe], and became that mysterious NPC again.
Based on the information Merlin accidentally revealed earlier, Yan Yunqing ran to the Romunik Novice Village, his target clearly the Smithy.
He really didn't know how Merlin, amidst such a busy schedule, found the free time to roleplay as an ordinary blacksmith NPC. Even he, a Fourth Calamity with dual panels, couldn't be this hardworking. How on earth did Merlin do it?
Yan Yunqing walked all the way into the novice village. Players who met him on the road stopped to watch in surprise. Just after turning a corner, before he even saw the door of the Smithy, a player rushed up and blocked Yan Yunqing's way.
"Hello, where are you going? Is there anything I can help you with?" The player asked two questions right off the bat and looked at Yan Yunqing with expectant eyes.
Yan Yunqing took a step back imperceptibly, his voice low and hoarse: "Not needed. Please stay away from me."
The player was disappointed but not discouraged. "Then where are you going? I can take you there. I'm very familiar with this village!"
That look of 'I absolutely won't leave unless you give me a quest' was exactly like how Yan Yunqing used to be when playing RPGs. Whenever he met an NPC, he would go up and poke them frantically with the mouse. No NPC that could open a dialogue could escape Yan Yunqing's F key.
Interact, interact, interact...
Only, now that this NPC was himself, it felt quite strange.
Yan Yunqing continued to answer with a cold and hoarse voice: "Not needed."
The player scratched his head, circled the black-robed man, and reached out to poke his arm, but Yan Yunqing agilely dodged.
"What a rude fellow."
Hearing the NPC say this, the player realized that after all this tossing about, he hadn't triggered any hidden quest or exclusive mission. Feeling that the black-robed man was about to get angry, he could only make way.
Yan Yunqing bypassed the player and strode towards the Smithy. Ever since that player rushed in front of Yan Yunqing, other players had been secretly watching from the side. Seeing him return in failure, they looked away one after another.
There were still a few players eyeing the black-robed man, whispering together, "Have you seen this NPC in the novice village before?"
"No, you?"
"Me neither. Can't see the face, dressed so mysteriously... could it be some special NPC?"
"Let's go, follow him and see."
Yan Yunqing could feel a group of little tails trailing behind him, but he didn't care. He strode into the Smithy and saw Merlin lying drunk on the table at a glance.
Yan Yunqing sniffed but didn't smell any alcohol... So why did a guy with low alcohol tolerance give himself the setting of a drunkard blacksmith?
Yan Yunqing was speechless and went up to knock on the table in front of Merlin.
Knock knock. Two sounds, but Merlin didn't react.
Yan Yunqing increased his strength and knocked twice more.
Merlin waved his hand dazedly. "Closed today, come back tomorrow."
Yan Yunqing: ...
Does he really think of himself as a blacksmith?
Yan Yunqing coughed once. He could feel the ardent gazes of the players behind him. Yan Yunqing didn't make any strange movements, just said in a low voice: "Is the thing I asked for before ready?"
Merlin, lying on the table, squirmed a bit. Hearing Yan Yunqing's words, his first reaction was confusion, followed by the feeling that the voice was familiar. Merlin couldn't help but look up and rub his eyes. The familiar black magic robe appeared in front of him.
This outfit...
His old friend lately liked to dress up like this to go out and fool the Descenders.
Merlin perked up a bit and yawned. "Oh, you mean that? It's done."
He stood up crookedly, swaying, looking completely like a drunkard. Any player seeing this wouldn't suspect a thing.
Only Yan Yunqing noticed the clarity in the depths of this guy's eyes.
Yan Yunqing: .
Merlin blinked at him from an angle the players couldn't see.
Good guy, it's all acting?
"You... come with me." Merlin walked into the back room of the Smithy with somewhat messy steps while beckoning to Yan Yunqing. That drunken appearance would have won him a Best Actor award back on Blue Star.
Yan Yunqing was speechless but still followed him.
Bang. The wooden door closed, cutting off the players' line of sight.
As the wooden door closed, more and more players who received the news arrived. They discussed intensely whether this mysterious NPC who suddenly popped up meant some special storyline was about to unfold.
Do NPCs have fortuitous encounters too?
Inside the wooden door, Merlin changed his expression, leisurely sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and casually poured one for Yan Yunqing too. "Why look for me suddenly? I thought you were still in Slanlipa City."
Yesterday morning, Yan Yunqing had passed the information gathered about the auction to Isabel. Given the relationship between Isabel and Merlin, Yan Yunqing wasn't surprised Merlin knew his whereabouts too.
"Used a little trick." (Referring to leaving his main body here and running to Slanlipa with an alt account.)
"Let's not talk about this first. Has Isabel sent you any messages?" Yan Yunqing asked. "I can't reach her here, but I learned this morning that the Castellan's son was taken away. This is different from the plan Isabel told me before."
Merlin frowned. "Can't reach her?"
Merlin paused, closed his eyes to sense for a moment, and his frown deepened. "Hmm... she seems to be fighting someone right now?"
Yan Yunqing: ?
Yan Yunqing leaned back tactically. "You even know what she's doing right now? What's the situation between you two?"
This obviously didn't fit normal logic, did it?
Merlin coughed. "It's a long story..."
"Then keep it short."
Merlin: "...Didn't I tell you before that I fell into a deep sleep for a while after you disappeared? To be precise, I was injured, quite seriously. Isabel used some... curse-like methods to save me."
"The price is this." Merlin sighed. "Consider it a kind of shared life and death. Her lifespan is forced to be shared with me. Over time, we can understand each other's status through the curse."
Yan Yunqing understood. "No wonder you can live this long."
According to human lifespan, Merlin should have been dead as a doornail. Even as the greatest mage in history, he couldn't live two thousand years, as the upper limit of human lifespan was right there.
In contrast, the Dragon race had very long lifespans. They already had difficulty reproducing; if they didn't live long, they would go extinct. Of course, strictly speaking, it was precisely because of their long lifespans that reproduction was difficult. In a sense, the Creator was fair.
"Hey, hey, what are you saying?" Merlin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "So you don't want me to live this long?"
Yan Yunqing blinked. "No, I mean..."
"It's fortunate that Isabel didn't give up on you back then."
The Giant Dragon race believed in strength above all. Perhaps regarding death, they weren't as open-minded as Elves, but their long lives also gave them a different understanding of the meaning of death.
Moreover, not everyone was willing to share their life with another person, especially a dying person of a different race.
If it were anyone else, Yan Yunqing would have called them love-struck fools, but with these two, he could only sigh: true love indeed.
"So who is she fighting? Is it okay?" Yan Yunqing asked.
Merlin spread his hands. "How would I know? I can only vaguely sense that her emotions are okay, so the situation shouldn't be bad. If something was really wrong, how could I still be sitting here?"
Yan Yunqing: ...
Enough, stop showing off your affection, you bastard.
Yan Yunqing rolled his eyes at Merlin, then told him about the information regarding the Church of Light he got from Doreen last night.
Merlin was surprised. "You mean you used a corpse's identity to enter Sigret Academy back then?"
Yan Yunqing: "Is that the main point?"
Merlin coughed twice into his fist against his lips. "Sorry, sorry."
"So back then, you found that the corpse had a recommendation letter from the Pope of the Church of Light, so you took the identity of that Baron's son and went to Sigret Academy. But now you find that the person isn't dead at all and is serving as a Saint in the Church of Light?"
Yan Yunqing corrected him: "Highly likely not dead, but I'm not sure it's definitely him."
Merlin thought for a while. "The Church of Light's style of action a decade or so ago was very high-profile. I did hear that they were searching all over the continent for children with strong affinity for light elements. Those with higher affinity were taken back to be the Church's Saints and Saintesses. Some grew up to become Bishops of the Church, but those were all very young. If they were slightly older, they would be abandoned."
"I haven't heard of them taking back someone who has already grown into an adult..."
Merlin raised a question: "If that Saint is really that Baron's son, why did the Church of Light go through so much trouble to fake his death? And after faking his death, they didn't hide his identity well. Even a thief could find out his identity. Isn't this contradictory?"
Yan Yunqing was stunned. Reminded by Merlin, he suddenly felt enlightened.
That's right. Xavier Aldrich wasn't someone with a particularly noble status, just a Baron's son whose parents died from a demonic beast attack. To take him away, they didn't need to do so much.
Especially such a complex fake death—unless Xavier had some special use for the Church of Light that they didn't want outsiders to discover.
However, Doreen found out about the Saint's origin so easily. Obviously, his identity was not a secret in the Church. In that case, why make 'Xavier' fake his death?
This was what he had felt was wrong all along.
Merlin wanted to say something more, but suddenly his expression changed. He stood up abruptly, his face turning very ugly.
Yan Yunqing looked at him strangely. Seeing his ugly expression, he suddenly remembered what Merlin had just said and realized something, frowning.
"Isabel is in trouble!"