Chapter 239 - Fishing
239 Fishing
The capital at this point was not as lively and prosperous as before.
Most people stayed at home, be they regular citizens or small merchants.
The roars at midnight last night had terrified them. They hadn’t completely recovered yet.
Margret was still little. As a girl dragon, her might was not enough, but that was only for the professionals.
For most ordinary people, the roars of the girl dragon penetrated their souls and made them unable to sleep at night. They could only shiver in bed with their spouses.
The fear still lingered even though hours had passed.
Those who could resist the might of a dragon were only professionals and the elite, well-trained soldiers who were in large groups.
After all, one tended to be bolder when one was in the company of others.
In the woods a kilometer outside of the city, a gray, square, three-floored building emerged out of nowhere.
It was not very large and covered only slightly more than a hundred square meters, but any place where one could rest in the wilderness was comfortable.
Besides, inside this building, there were chairs, tables, and even food and wine.
The circumstances couldn’t be more favorable.
Brazil sighed. “Damn it. Why can’t Hunters learn this skill? Not only are we haunted by vermin and beasts in the woods every day, but we can also barely start a fire on a rainy or misty day. If we’re lucky, we may find a cave, but if we’re not, we can only endure the uncomfortable wetness. Our lives would be much easier if we could create buildings like this.”
“I’m told that one of the advanced classes for Hunter is Predator. They seem capable of all skills below level three. Mud to Stone is a level-two spell. You should be able to pick it up by then.”
It was Andonara who spoke. Her smile was quite sweet.
However, the atmosphere in the room was slightly awkward.
She was sitting next to Roland, almost stuck to him.
F6 all looked at her in a weird way.
Brazil, who had made a remark just now, did not know what to say.
F6 had been treating her as an NPC, but the queen had somehow turned into Roland’s “intimate companion.”
So, it was kind of awkward. They couldn’t accept her new identity so quickly.
No matter what Roland thought, that was the opinion of the rest of F6.
It was just like the dragon girl... Though everybody agreed that she was Schuck’s “friend,” they wouldn’t talk to her freely most of the time.
Besides, the dragon girl was always nonchalant and never talked to anyone, so F6 never felt awkward.
Andonara, in comparison, was much more talkative.
Schuck and the rest of them looked at Roland.
Roland found it inappropriate too. He thought for a moment and said to his friends, “It’s fine. Just treat her as a friend of ours.”
He had clarified their relationship to them.
In the eyes of F6, so-called friends in the game all served to expand their social connections.
So, they immediately understood how to keep a distance from Queen Andonara.
Then, the atmosphere was a lot easier.
Husseret said, “Now, let’s talk about the headquarters of the Association of Mages. According to the message of the Guild of Rogues, Rourke, Dalton’s son, is going to publish his new derivative spell.”
Roland frowned coldly.
Andonara looked at him and subconsciously wanted to stroke his eyebrow, but she gave up the thought since so many people were around.
Everybody waited for Roland to speak.
They all knew that Roland’s attitude mattered most in this matter.
After a long silence, Roland said, “Let’s go with assassination. The headquarters are in the downtown of the capital. If we’re engaged in a head-on clash with those Mages, too many civilians would be accidentally killed.”
Roland would love to charge into the headquarters openly to unleash his fury, but it would mean a lot of unnecessary casualties. He had to take that into consideration.
“But the problem is that Dalton prefers staying home to going out.” Husseret dropped the parchment about Dalton on the table. “He never leaves the capital unless it’s for something really important.”
“Then we’ll find a way to lure him out.” Roland asked Husseret, “Does Dalton have any hobbies?”
“He likes to collect powerful magic equipment and models. Does that count?”
“Magic models?” Roland shook his head. “That’s easy, but I fear that he might be alarmed. After all, the matter with Kaka was caused by magic models. He should be more prudent now after the first incident.
“We can only choose magic equipment.” Roland thought for a moment and continued, “I’ll take out the Mind-Calming Necklace. Husseret, you try to draw Dalton to us with that. How about it?”
Schuck remarked, “That’s a piece of epic equipment. What if it’s lost?”
“That’s not a big deal. I can always look for another piece,” Roland said unconcernedly. “I’m not in the mood for learning magic without taking care of Kaka’s issue.”
Schuck nodded. He knew that Roland was a man of his word, so he stopped questioning him.
Husseret thought for a moment and grabbed the Mind-Calming Necklace. “Rest assured, I’ll get it done.”
Andonara listened and watched Roland throw the piece of powerful magic equipment to Husseret casually.
As a Master, she could tell how good the magic equipment was.
It was possible that a family or a whole city would be wiped out just in order to get such a piece of great equipment.
Yet, Roland gave it away just like that.
They seemed to trust each other too much.
Were Golden Sons all so loyal to each other?
At this point, Betta said, “Are we done? Let’s make barbecue then. I’ve prepared beef, mutton, pork. and spices. We’ll enjoy a delicious meal!”
F6 were all rendered speechless by the foodie.
In the next five days, the dragon never showed up again, and people gradually recovered from their fright.
Dalton had been worried that whoever was behind Kaka would come for him. He had prepared two plans. Firstly, he could offer valuable terms and conditions. He believed that the guy’s support for Kaka definitely had a price.
But of course, if the guy was so greedy that his demand was unacceptable, he still had a backup plan.
It had been one month since Kaka’s death, but nobody had shown up yet.
His investigation suggested that Kaka must’ve been backed by the Golden Sons, who were a troublesome group.
A few days earlier, some Golden Sons kidnapped the queen.
The queen had accused Kaka earlier. Did they think that the queen was the culprit?
It would be great if that were the case
Thank you for taking the blame for me, Queen Andonara. I’ll be grateful for you.
With a smile, he watched the release ceremony of the new magic model, knowing that his son would be well-acknowledged as a genius soon.
At this point, someone who looked like a magic apprentice came in and said, “Sir, I’ve got a piece of interesting news.”
“Speak.” Dalton did not raise his head.
“It’s said that an ancient tomb was unearthed thirty kilometers away from the capital, and a team of adventurers found a piece of powerful magic equipment in it.” The magic apprentice said in a low voice, “But they were defeated by the guards in the tomb, and they’re planning to try again.”
Dalton immediately laughed. “That must be a rumor. If the magic equipment is so awesome, they would be looking for help in secret instead of letting everybody know about it.”
The magic apprentice, however, continued, “They didn’t let everybody know about it. I’m the only one who knows apart from you, sir.”
“Huh?” Dalton grew interested.
The magic apprentice proudly told Dalton how he acquired the intelligence.
As it turned out, the magic apprentice ran into a mercenary he knew by chance on the street. The mercenary seemed to be in a hurry.
They talked for a while and the mercenary intended to leave, but the magic apprentice insisted on buying him a drink.
The mercenary got drunk very quickly, partly because the magic apprentice toasted too much.
After he was drunk, the mercenary cockily described what he ran into in the previous day in a low voice.
Then, the magic apprentice immediately put the mercenary to sleep and came to report to Dalton.
Dalton smiled after hearing that. “It must be fake. The mercenaries always exaggerate. The magic equipment must be a common gadget, if it’s a piece of magic equipment at all.”
The magic apprentice, slightly frustrated, hummed a response and backed off.
Dalton did not consider it a big deal.
However, the magic apprentice was different. He didn’t think that his mercenary friend was a liar.
Besides, it was difficult to lie when one was drunk.
He thought that he should look for more evidence. If the magic equipment was a real thing, he would definitely be acknowledged by the chairman.
The magic apprentice found the mercenary again.
At this point, the mercenary had just woken up, still drunk.
He had slept for four hours on the table.
The magic apprentice, however, immediately filled a cup for the mercenary. “Let’s keep going! Don’t say that you’re too drunk to have any more.”
“I’m not drunk at all!” the mercenary shouted crazily, as it was humiliating and unmanly for a mercenary to be drunk. He shouted, “Give me more!”
The magic apprentice asked the tavern boss to serve the hardest liquor.
Half an hour later, the mercenary’s face was as red as a boiled crab, and he seemed to be falling asleep again.
Seeing that it was about enough, the magic apprentice asked in a low voice, “Brother, can you really prove that you found something awesome? You weren’t lying, were you?”
“No... Not at all...”
The mercenary fumbled in his pocket, but he was so drunk that it took him a very long time before he finally took out a parchment, and he even dropped it a moment later.
He stooped, trying to pick it up, but the moment he lowered his head, he fell under the table and fell asleep.
The magic apprentice picked up the parchment.
It was old and yellow. He felt it would be broken if he handled it carelessly.