Time always flies by unnoticed…
Especially the real-world time in game novels.
Wu Zui Zhi Jie, Pato City, Early Morning
Cole, who had barely slept all night, left the Black Rye Inn early and arrived in front of a small tavern called 'Woodland Residence' in the city. The gentleman had told him this should be the place.
This place was very famous in Pato City, not just because 'Woodland Residence' was almost always open, operating twenty-four hours a day without rest, but more so because its nature was too unique, absolutely qualifying it as a non-mainstream tavern.
It had no high-purity strong liquor; the elegant and fresh drinks it offered were better described as 'flower dew' rather than wine. Perhaps there was indeed a small amount of alcohol mixed in, but even an unknowledgeable farmer would not be willing to spend three copper coins here on a weak, non-diuretic, non-warming, non-courage-boosting, neither-heady-nor-flushing 'beverage'.
There were no sexy and hot waitresses, only a flower elf proprietress who served as a waitress, bartender, and front desk all in one. Although she was not bad-looking, her not-so-pronounced figure and a not-so-clever innate magic were still enough to keep many people at a respectful distance.
And the most important point was that, although Woodland Residence was open 24 hours a day, after sunset it no longer provided any drinks, loud noise was forbidden, and sitting at the bar was not allowed. If one wanted to stay overnight, they could make do in a few small compartments on the second floor, which, of course, cost money.
So, famous as it was, its popularity here had always been sluggish; hardly anyone came to visit on weekdays. But Cole was very familiar with this place because Luo Na… liked to come here to drink and eat small snacks when she was alive, often sitting for an entire afternoon.
Whether it was Cole or La Da as her pursuers, or Ai Fan Ye as her best friend, they often came here to find her, and when they had time, they would sit down and rest for a while.
But now… Luo Na was dead… La Da was also dead… and Ai Fan Ye, who had escaped death, was very likely hiding inside…
Cole, who had also narrowly escaped with his life, stood in front of Woodland Residence, feeling as if an eternity had passed.
However, he finally composed himself, pushed aside the curtain made of strings of unfading petals, and slowly walked in, softly saying to the flower elf boss who was alone wiping tables in the lobby, “Hello, I’m looking for…”
“Second floor, first room.” Ms. Lei Duo, who looked no older than twenty, pointed towards the stairs and said, seemingly absentmindedly, “Bring her something to eat.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a plate of pastries on the bar floated up and slowly flew towards Cole.
“Thank you.” Cole bowed slightly to the flower elf, who had already turned her back, then took the plate in front of him and quickly went upstairs. The gentleman had not lied; it seemed Ai Fan Ye was indeed here, and he had so many things he wanted to ask her!
As soon as he pushed open the door, Cole saw a small figure in front of him tremble and retreat several steps, then stare at him for a long moment before letting out a painful sob and rushing over, directly collapsing into his arms, weeping uncontrollably.
“Cole!” Ai Fan Ye clutched his lapels in agony, crystal tears streaming down her cheeks like broken pearls. Her thin shoulders were still trembling, as if she hadn’t woken from a nightmare, and she choked out in a low voice, “La Da…Woo…he died…right in front of me…Woo woo woo…he had a chance to escape…to escape…I couldn’t save him! I couldn’t save him, Cole!!”
Feeling the girl’s body still trembling in his arms from fear and self-blame, Cole, who was also enduring internal torment, remained calmer. He gently patted Ai Fan Ye’s back, helped her to a chair, turned to close the door behind him, and then asked in a low voice, “Tell me, Ai Fan Ye, tell me everything you know… Please!”
“It was Dave…” Ai Fan Ye lifted her head, her eyes, red and bloodshot from a sleepless night, filled with terror. She said tremblingly, “He attacked La Da… then let go of his lance and drew his longsword, rushing towards me… It hurts so much… It hurts so much…”
It took Ai Fan Ye, still in shock, more than ten minutes to explain the situation clearly. The general content was that during their escape, Dave, who had been lagging half a step behind, suddenly erupted and attacked La Da, who was carrying Ai Fan Ye. That extraordinarily powerful blow could have even pierced both of them simultaneously, but La Da, at the moment of being attacked, used all his strength to throw the Priestess off his shoulder, while he himself died on the spot from a pierced heart.
Then Dave attacked Ai Fan Ye with a black longsword, hidden who knows where. The Priestess, with her magic exhausted, naturally had no chance against a Knight and was quickly stabbed through the lower abdomen, severely wounded and near death.
However, Dave, who was just about to deliver the final blow, suddenly stopped moving. After a moment, he mumbled something in a low voice, then left the dying Ai Fan Ye and quickly departed…
A while later, the gentleman appeared. He first helped Ai Fan Ye with a simple bandage for her injuries, fed her some very effective magic potions, and then used a few slaps to force the girl, who couldn’t even speak clearly, to calm down and explain what had just happened.
Then he gave Ai Fan Ye some money (thanks again to the generous Medi) and instructed her to sneak back to Pato City as quickly as possible to find a secluded place where she could rest and recover, waiting for news.
Finally, after Ai Fan Ye indicated her intention to go to the Woodland Residence tavern, that person quickly left.
“So you snuck back into the city and haven’t left Woodland Residence since?” Cole asked softly, “You must be very scared…”
Ai Fan Ye nodded vigorously, then shook her head, stammering, “Before I left that place, I spent a little time burying La Da. The doctrine says… only then will the dead rest in peace…”
“Is that so?” Cole sighed, then shook his head, “No, even so, La Da will not rest in peace. I know his bad temper too well, so we must…”
He glanced at Ai Fan Ye, who was still trembling, and turned his head away, not continuing his sentence.
“Revenge, then…” Ai Fan Ye, however, took the initiative to continue, staring at Cole’s profile, and said in her already hoarse voice from crying, “We must avenge them, right?”
With that, the girl slowly slumped down; if Cole hadn’t caught her quickly, she would have almost fallen to the ground.
“Eat something, then rest.” Cole carried Ai Fan Ye, who was so weak she nearly fainted, to the bed, placed the plate full of pastries in front of her, and said in a low voice, “We will get revenge, we definitely will! That gentleman… he will help us…”
“Is that so?” Not looking at the food on the plate, pale-faced Ai Fan Ye just smiled with relief: “If it can truly be done, I swear by the name of the Holy Church, I am willing to pay any price to follow that person…”
“Ai Fan Ye?!” Cole’s eyes widened.
“Anyway, I already have nothing; my parents who raised me are also dead.” Ai Fan Ye, who had just lost her loved ones half a year ago, picked up a pastry, lowered her eyes, and whispered, “I only have my own life left, and you few companions. As it turns out, my life was saved by ‘that gentleman’ you mentioned. If he can also help avenge my companions…”
“No need to say more, I understand. Get some good rest.”
“Mm…”
…
At the same time
Pato City, ‘Brass’ General Store
“What are you buying?” The bald Dwarf, who was picking his nose in front of the shelves, greeted his first customer of the day without much enthusiasm.
Mo Tan casually looked around and replied, “A lamp.”
“What kind of lamp?” The Dwarf raised an eyebrow, “Wall-mounted or portable? Or one for confessing to some girl?”
Mo Tan shrugged at him, “The kind that illuminates nothing.”
The Dwarf reluctantly stood up, walked to the counter that was about his height, and turned his head to ask, “Who are you?”
“No Wrongdoing.” Mo Tan smiled.
“Come over.” The other party beckoned, his body slightly shifted to the side.
Revealing a very inconspicuous secret passage.
Mo Tan bowed exaggeratedly, then walked down the secret passage leading underground, while the bald Dwarf boss walked to the door, looked left and right, then closed the shop door and turned back to go down the secret passage as well.
This was a small stronghold of the Thieves' Guild in Pato City, an intelligence exchange used only by internal personnel, and the general store owner was in charge here.
At the end of the passage was a fairly large space, surrounded by tall wooden shelves, on which a large number of dossiers, record crystals, letters, and some iron boxes that appeared to be highly confidential were neatly stacked.
“What do you have? What do you want?” The Dwarf got straight to the point as soon as he came down.
“Information on Medi. Le Wen, a former Holy Church United Priest.” Mo Tan didn’t waste words, turning directly to him, “By the way, he already changed his profession to a Necromancer seven years ago.”
The Dwarf showed no unusual expression, merely nodding, “I do think some people would be interested in this matter.”
If the intelligence was true, at least some relevant individuals from the Holy Church United or many other Necromancers would be interested.
“I agree.” Mo Tan echoed, then said seriously, “I need all the information on this person named Dave Sager, a second-year student at Pading Knight Academy, the more detailed the better. I also need some basic Thief equipment, plus a practical shadow technique training manual, the kind from Pading Academy will do, I know you definitely have it here.”
The other party immediately shook his head like a rattle drum: “Impossible, this is too unfair. You should know that not many people would be interested in a Priest who disappeared seven years ago, even if he also researches some forbidden knowledge.”
“Is that so?” Mo Tan smiled noncommittally, “Then there’s nothing to discuss, goodbye.”
With that, he lifted his leg, ready to leave.
“Wait a moment!” Sure enough, after a moment of silence, the other party called out to him: “You can’t take those materials, and I really can’t get the training manual from Pading Academy here.”
Mo Tan sneered, “Not taking the materials is fine, and the training manual doesn’t matter. Just give me a handwritten copy of all the skills an apprentice Thief can master, and a set of good quality poisons.”
Bao De, Black-Skin, the High-Rank Thief responsible for intelligence in Pato City, immediately became anxious upon hearing this: “What kind of ridiculous demand is that?!”
“As far as I know, Mr. Medi. Le Wen’s research into Necromancy has already yielded initial results over the past seven years,” Mo Tan said unhurriedly, “and he has profound attainments in soul studies, specializing in knowledge related to the resurrection of the dead.”
Bao De immediately shuddered, widening his eyes and asking, “He succeeded?”
“No, he failed, and even if you gave him another ten years, he might not succeed.” Mo Tan smirked, “At the end of the day, he’s still a pretty useless Old Man.”
Bao De nearly fainted, gritting his teeth, “Then why are you talking so much useless nonsense! This intelligence still has no value!”
“How can that be~” Mo Tan whistled, “Do you really have to ‘hear’ my final supplementary remark? Or is the intelligence of the Thieves' Guild now so simple, almost… uh… I’m sorry, to the point of being foolish?”
Bao De stopped talking. He had thought this young man, who seemed (and indeed was) frail, had merely stumbled upon some information and wanted to sell it for a good price. He never expected this guy to have such a huge appetite from the start, and then after a bit of haggling…
He realized that calling him a 'lion opening his mouth wide' was a grave understatement. Looking at his attitude of raising prices on the spot, this guy was practically a Kun!
“Should I scare him?”
Just as Bao De thought this, he noticed the other party’s expression suddenly become very playful…
“Boss.” Mo Tan politely extended his right hand to Bao De, saying softly, “You and I both know that for someone as ‘unfamiliar’ as me to find this place, I must have asked others. The number of people who know I’m coming is at least one, and at most countless. So, those threats that everyone knows are nonsense… we don’t need to say them, do we?”
Honestly, Bao De felt that if he were twenty or thirty years younger, he would definitely… probably still not be able to do anything to this kid…
So he had no choice but to extend his hand and shake Mo Tan’s perfunctorily, saying with a sour face, “Deal.”
Then he turned to rummage through the shelves around him.
Damn it, why are these shelves so high…
…
Two hours later
Mo Tan sat by the low table in the secret room of the general store (a space pre-reserved during construction using certain techniques), looking at a thin stack of documents in front of him, and a Black-Skin bag filled with potion bottles and a few handwritten papers beside him, smiling very happily.
To be honest, if Bao De had the chance to meet the vendors at the market near Mo Tan’s home, he would definitely have a lot of common topics to chat about with those hardworking people.
For example—
‘I met a Kun today!’
‘Heh heh, you’ll get used to it. There’s a Kun who comes here every now and then to play whale swallowing. You should be burning incense if you can just let him take it at cost price.’
‘Cost price?! See that silly fat guy next door? He got talked into a daze that day, and gave away two catties of pork loin for free…’
“@#￥%*&…”
Chapter 23: End
