“Sure enough... I’ve walked to this place again?”
Messai was standing before the Hearthstone Tavern. Complicated emotions filled her heart.
Messai came to the capital of magic to complete the secret mission Saintess Herolia gave her.
Today, she was supposed to stroll around Norland as a patrol and seek out for the traces left behind by the demons.
But, as she strolled, she ended up inexplicably arriving at the entrance to the Hearthstone Tavern.
This tavern was run by a dangerous Chaos Demon. There was also a succubus being a server in the tavern. Thus, if one wanted to find traces of demons in Norland, coming to this tavern was most definitely the correct choice!
Messai persuaded herself with such justifications. She pushed open the tavern’s door.
“Welcome.”
It was none other than the succubus Ynor that came to greet her. When Ynor saw that Messai was wearing templar armor, the smile on his face immediately froze.
But, when Ynor noticed that it was actually Messai, a frequent tavern guest, the frozen smile on his face became friendly and enthusiastic again.
“Big sis Messai! It’s been a long time... Where have you been all this time?” Ynor asked curiously.
However, the female knight pursed her lips. She didn’t know how to answer Ynor’s question.
Was she really this familiar with this demon that she was addressed as ‘big sis’ in such a natural manner?!
During the half month she returned to the Nation of the Holy Church, Messai remembered her status and identity.
As a templar, it was most definitely not right for her to be so intimate with a demon.
Because of that, Messai did not return Ynor’s warm enthusiasm and walked to a corner of the tavern.
There was already no vacant table left in the tavern. The dwarves and the mages had already occupied the tavern’s two hundred-plus arcanotech devices with Hearthstone installed.
If it wasn’t for the fact that there were ‘air purification’ runes inscribed all over the tavern, the tavern might be stinking with the smell of dwarves’ alcohol.
Hearing the dwarves’ shouts, Messai felt an indescribable sort of comfort.
In the near month-long period she was away from Norland, the atmosphere of the tavern did not change at all. There were only some new playthings.
Apart from the new ‘Goblins vs Gnomes’ expansion, Messai noticed that at the other corner of the tavern, at the area that used to be a stage, a movie ‘projection screen’ like object was there.
Advertisements for a ‘World’s Singers’ was being broadcasted on the screen repeatedly.
In addition to words that appeared at the beginning, Messai also saw the faces of the Frost Elf Tylene and the Flower of Farucci Gallolie.
“Messai? Messai, you’ve finally escaped from those despicable swindlers?”
A voice interrupted Messai’s train of thought. A little girl with snowy white hair walked over to Messai.
“Cheryl... what are you talking about?”
Messai should be placing her hand on the sword on her waist at this time. There were countless reasons for her to capture this traitor back to the Heresy Tribunal.
Regretfully, Messai’s mission in coming to Norland was not to capture this Heresy Tribunal’s traitor.
“Well, whatever. As long as you managed to get out of that senseless Holy City. Quickly, come here!”
Cheryl ran over to a Hearthstone arcanotech device. It just so happened that the mage playing on that machine just got up. As a ‘legendary’ Hearthstone player, the other players chose to avoid Cheryl when they saw her.
Very few people dared to challenge this expert.
“I came here to keep a close watch over the demons.”
Messai had decided to sever her relationship with Hearthstone the moment she returned to the Holy City.
“The demon you spoke of is not currently in the tavern. But, are you sure you don’t want to open the new card packs?”
When Cheryl asked that question, Messai started hesitating. She looked straight at the defected inquisitor for a couple long seconds...
“If you don’t want to do it, I’ll open them myself.”
Cheryl looked at the determined expression on the female knight and sighed. Skillfully, she opened up Messai’s card storage crystal with the intention of opening up the remaining card packs in her storage crystal.
At this moment, Messai started wavering. In a flash, she arrived beside Cheryl and held her wrist.
“Consider it my... departure ceremony,” said Messai.
Cheryl returned the card packs to the female knight. When Messai saw the number ‘3’ on the card packs, she looked to Cheryl with a confused expression.
“I remember... that the amount of money I’ve left you is enough to purchase over sixty card packs?”
“Over a hundred and seventy to be exact. You have no idea... after you left, the card packs went on a temporary discount of fifty percent. When that ‘50%’ green symbol appeared, people from practically the entire street crowded this tavern. You have no idea how difficult it was for me to purchase a hundred and seventy card packs,” said Cheryl.
“Cheryl, you... you used them all to purchase card packs?”
Messai remembered that the amount of wealth she left to Cheryl was a major sum. At least, it was a major sum for her, a knight with a meager salary.
Messai had thought that Cheryl would spend a portion of that money to support herself. But, it turned out that was not the case at all.
“There’s nothing that I can do about that! It’s fifty percent off! Fifty percent! With three gold coins, you can purchase double the amount of card packs... If I miss an opportunity like this, there might not be another one in the future. Granted, I had no choice but to eat plain vegetables for breakfast every morning because of that,” said Cheryl.
Messai did not say anything toward this defector inquisitor’s behavior of ‘chopping off her own hands.’ She pointed to the singular digit on the card packs, “Then, what happened to the one hundred plus ‘Goblins vs Gnomes’ card packs you spoke of?”
“I’ve opened them all!” said Cheryl with a wide smile, “Got seven legendaries.”
“...”
Perhaps Messai really should capture this defector inquisitor and send her back to the Holy City.
But, that thought only lasted for a moment in Messai’s head before her finger moved to tap at the remaining three card packs.
Messai didn’t believe that she would be able to open up any good cards. After all, her luck in Hearthstone was not that great. That was true even for card packs. Generally speaking, she would only be able to open a legendary per thirty card packs.
Messai planned to completely quit Hearthstone after opening the three card packs. As she would be accompanying the saintess as a knight, she would have no time to be engrossed in a game created by a demon.
The outcome of her card packs was as she anticipated. The first two card packs only gave her commons and rares. There were no epics to be seen at all.
When Messai tapped at the third card pack to open it, a miracle occurred. A burst of orange light shined before her eyes.
“Legendary!” Cheryl cheered beside Messai. “It’s even Doctor Boom, the strongest legendary in ‘Goblins vs Gnomes!’ Messai, I knew that you would’ve accumulated your luck by not touching Hearthstone for so long!”
As Messai looked at the floating legendary card, she once again grew silent.