Chapter 505 - I Think Something Is Wrong With You (1/2)

That was an epic quest. Schuck commented with mixed feelings across from Roland in the Moonlight Stone Tavern as he looked at the mission Roland just shared with him.

“Both you and Betta are unbelievably lucky. You can get epic quests for yourselves everywhere you go.” Roland: Huh???

It is well known that when I type a question mark, it doesn’t mean that I have a question; it means that I feel something is wrong with you.

You are the only Saint Samurai among the players in the whole server. You have ultimate equipment offered by a G.o.ddess. You ride a beautiful dragoness as your mount. As a powerful Saint Samurai, you can even show disrespect to the pope.

You’ve achieved so many things that the other players don’t even dare to dream of with nothing but your pretty face. Yet, you are saying that Betta and I, who have been either working hard or doing magic experiments all the time without any rest, are lucky?

Can you be more shameless?

Looking at Roland’s weird gaze and seeing the glimpse of mockery, Schuck realized that he was being too pretentious. He coughed and said, “Since this mission is shareable, should we ask Li Lin and the others to come here? It’s not easy to run into an epic quest.” “I talked to them in the guild system last night, but…” Roland covered his forehead helplessly. “They said that their level was too low, and they were fooling around with the believers of the G.o.d of Love again after they recovered. They’re exhausted again and are now resting in Hollevin. At the moment, they can protect themselves, but they can’t really partic.i.p.ate in anything important.” Schuck clicked his tongue. “Those guys are completely addicted.”

“That can’t be helped. For them, this is a fast and enjoyable way of leveling up. They are open-minded people in the first place. You must know that very well.”

Then, a waitress in revealing clothes came to serve the food. She brushed Schuck’s shoulder intentionally or unintentionally.

But Schuck was completely unmoved. A moment later, the waitress left again in disappointment.

Roland wasn’t surprised at all.

After all, he had seen similar scenes a million times since childhood.

Schuck drank a mouthful of the wine and said, “Let’s go back to the quest. I told you yesterday that the atmosphere in the capital didn’t feel right. I didn’t expect that the deputy chairman of the a.s.sociation of Mages would be a.s.sa.s.sinated just like that. I paid special attention to the news and obtained secondhand files from my acquaintances from the Pagan Interrogation Bureau.”

Pagan Interrogation Bureau. It sounded like a mighty and dangerous agency.

Every religious group had similar agencies.

“So you know what happened exactly?” Schuck shook his head. “I know a thing or two, but it’s still a mystery to me in general. The deputy chairman of the a.s.sociation of Mages was a very unyielding woman. It’s said that she was more inclined to Stephanie the First Princess, so I’ve been considering if her death was a result of political contention.”

“Anything else?” asked Roland.

Schuck thought for a moment before he continued. “She was very talented in magic. She was only 67, but she was already on her way to becoming a Legend, so the a.s.sociation of Mages had high hopes for her. It’s understandable why the a.s.sociation of Mages burst into fury after she was a.s.sa.s.sinated.”

“If she was already a half-Legend, whoever killed her couldn’t have been much weaker than her, right?” Roland thought for a moment and asked, “Have any good a.s.sa.s.sins come to the capital recently?”

Schuck spread his hands and said with a smile, “What do you think? The capital of Fareins is not a place that any organization can play around in. It’s fine for groups such as the a.s.sociation of Warriors, but the moment clandestine organizations such as the Guild of a.s.sa.s.sins or the Guild of Rogues reach their hands into this place, the Church of Light will break their hands with a rod. This place is both the capital of Fareins and the Holy Realm of Light.”

Schuck’s declaration was understandable.

For all of time, the Church of Light had been hostile to organizations such as the Guild of Rogues and the Guild of a.s.sa.s.sins.

They considered themselves to be light and always despised the scoundrels who hid in the shadows.

Most people loathed the Rogues and the a.s.sa.s.sins because they feared them and were wary of the dangers lurking in the dark. But the clerics of the Church of Light were different. They spurned the people who dared not walk in the sunlight from the bottom of their hearts, and believed that those people were maggots in the dark who reeked of bad smell all over their body.

In other cities, the Church of Light turned a blind eye to the maggots, but they would not allow any disgusting creatures to approach the Holy Realm of Light, the place that was closest to the G.o.ddess of Light, in case the dignity of the G.o.ddess was tarnished.

However, every force had a counterforce. The shadow-walkers were naturally p.i.s.sed when they were discriminated against, so they sought retaliation.

They often caused trouble to the Church of Light’s temples in other cities, or ruined the Church of Light’s operations when they had nothing better to do.

The two parties had a long history with each other.

In the eyes of the outsiders, they were somewhat like a quarrelsome and loving couple.

Because the Church of Light loathed Rogues and a.s.sa.s.sins, few people of their organizations ever visited the capital. Even if some of them came occasionally, they would be unimportant and unknown. The Legendary killers wouldn’t come to the capital of Fareins easily to be humiliated. Not only were there three skills in the theurgy of light to break stealth, but the Pope of Light, the Holy Lady, thirteen Saint Samurai, and a dozen Legendary archbishops always stayed in the Holy Realm too.

They were all capable fighters.

An a.s.sa.s.sin would never come to the Holy Realm of Light to p.i.s.s them off unless their head was full of seaweed.

Having read a lot of books in this world, Roland knew a thing or two about the matter. After Schuck finished, he thought for a moment and asked, “Therefore, the Church of Light has ruled out the possibility that a powerful a.s.sa.s.sin or killer came here and murdered her?” “The possibility hasn’t been completely ruled out yet, but it’s unlikely to be true.” Schuck thought for a moment and said, “From what I’ve learned from the Pagan Interrogation Bureau, the deputy chairman of the a.s.sociation of Mages died from a backstabbing. Someone pierced into her heart from her back and killed her with one attack. The murder weapon should be a short dagger, but it can’t be found. No items or clues have been left by the murderer either.”

“That’s everything you know?” Roland scratched his head.

Schuck heaved a helpless sigh too. “Yes, that’s all that I know. The Church of Light is barely involved in the political struggles of mortals. We only try to ensure balance.”

“Well, this is really a mystery.” Roland heaved a sigh. “It isn’t easy to complete this epic quest with so little information.”

Schuck thought for a moment and said, “That’s fine. Don’t be hasty. I’m a Saint Samurai anyway, and I have some power. Next, I’ll apply to establish a squad to investigate this case.”

“Tss, that’s really powerful,” said Roland admirably. He paused for a moment and said again, “But the leaders.h.i.+p of the Church of Light would think less of you if you use your power for selfish reasons, wouldn’t they?”

Schuck laughed for a moment and said, “Roland, you’ve made a common mistake. You think that a church is just a regular organization. However, all the churches are centered around the G.o.ds they believe in. Everything churches do is meant to disseminate the G.o.ds’ doctrines and increase the number of believers. For that purpose, many methods that you can’t even imagine can be adopted, except that the churches that wors.h.i.+p the kind G.o.ds have boundaries and aren’t so radical. Nothing that concerns faith is a small thing.”

“Does this matter concern faith?” Roland was rather curious.

“Not for now, but it might after we investigate the case.” Schuck finished the fruit wine in his cup and said, “I’ve already understood the nature of Saint Samurai now. You may consider me a relative to the G.o.ddess. Not just establis.h.i.+ng a squad and asking them to run errands with my power, I can even launch a crusade without asking for the pope’s permission as long as I have a good reason.”

Roland looked around and found that n.o.body was eavesdropping.

He sighed a long breath of relief. “I know that you’re very powerful, but don’t get too c.o.c.ky. After all, the pope is the second-in-command in your church, at least nominally. If he hears what you said just now, he may hold a grudge against you.”

Roland spoke bluntly and warningly. Under normal circ.u.mstances, only one’s family or those who were very close to him would say something like that. Schuck was briefly stunned. He touched the center of his eyebrow in a trance.

Then, his expression became very weird, as if he thought of something horrible. His face became rather pale.

Roland couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

“No, something is wrong with my mental status.” Schuck frowned and said, “I shouldn’t be so c.o.c.ky. You know that I’ve always kept a low profile.”

Roland nodded. That was why he felt strange and warned Schuck a moment ago.

“I’ll go back first and ask the Holy Lady to check if there’s anything wrong with my soul.” Schuck stood up and said, “I’ve already set up an investigation squad. That’s not difficult at all. I think you can run the investigation within the a.s.sociation of Mages with your ident.i.ty as a Mage first. We’ll talk via the guild chat system if anything happens.”

“Okay.” Roland nodded.

Schuck paid for the meal and left quite hastily.

Roland stayed behind and enjoyed the fruit wine.

According to logic, the Golden Sons, or the players, were immune to mental influences, unless someone was powerful enough to break the system’s protection.

Was it possible?

From the perspective of a game, it was not possible. After all, the rules of the system were above anything else. However, the problem was that anything could be possible if this game world was considered real.

All skills and specializations had their power.

If this was a real world, the protection of the system definitely had a power too.

Then, how strong must a person be in order to break the mental power influence on the system’s level?

The person must be as strong as the natural laws.

The bikinis that the game authorities prepared for the female players in the game were exactly a piece of natural-law-level protection equipment.

To comprehend and make use of natural-law-level abilities, one had to be a demiG.o.d or above.

Schuck spent most of his time in the Holy Realm of Light, which had always been watched over by the G.o.ddess of Light.

Who could possibly influence a Saint Samurai’s mind under the watch of a G.o.ddess?

Roland subconsciously looked at the sky, where the brilliant scorching sun was hanging behind the lonely clouds.

“Heh!”

Roland finished the wine in his cup. He felt that he was overthinking.

Leaving the Moonlight Stone Tavern, Roland returned to the a.s.sociation of Mages. The atmosphere here was a lot graver than it was on the previous day. Occasionally, teams of soldiers in black robes could be seen patrolling inside the building.

Roland came back to his room. He opened the door and saw three women having afternoon tea in the room.

They were Andonara, Stephanie, and Sharon.

All the three women were very beautiful. Even Sharon, the least gorgeous of them all, was still plumply attractive. They all stood up upon seeing Roland.

Roland found the First Princess quite idle, as she had come to his place for afternoon tea for two days in a row.

Andonara walked to Roland and helped Roland brush off the nonexistent dust on his clothes. She couldn’t have looked more gentle and caring.

Roland nodded at the First Princess and said, “Sorry to interrupt your conversation. Excuse me. You carry on, don’t mind me.” Stephanie said with a smile, “Wait a moment, Mr. Roland. We’re here mainly to talk to you.”

Briefly stunned, Roland extended his hand and gestured for Stephanie to sit down. Then he sat down himself.

Andonara immediately brought a cup of fruit wine to him.

Sipping the fruit wine, Roland asked, “I didn’t expect you to come visit me, First Princess. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Though she was a princess of Fareins, Roland didn’t think that he needed to feel humble. If worse came to worst, he could always leave Fareins.

After all, he had never been fond of this country, since he was discriminated against in Fareins before.

Stephanie’s eyebrow slightly twitched as she saw how calm and casual Roland was. She had never seen any peer who could face her with such a neutral att.i.tude.

They were either awed by her power and ident.i.ty, or fascinated by her gorgeous appearance.

Only the big shots who were too old to sleep with anyone could talk to her with a peaceful mind.

As expected of the man who Andonara has picked for herself. Stephanie secretly heaved a sigh of disappointment and said, “I’m sure you already know that the deputy chairman of the a.s.sociation of Mages has been a.s.sa.s.sinated, right?”

Roland nodded. Of course he knew that.

He and Andonara were almost considered the murderers last night. Had it not been for the support and endors.e.m.e.nt of the mentors of the Red Magic Tower, it was possible that he would’ve fought his way out of the capital of Fareins to avoid being captured.

“Then I’ll be honest with you. The deputy chairman of the a.s.sociation of Mages was on my side. Her death might be an indirect attack aimed at me,” said Stephanie in a low voice. “The deputy chairman was very, very strong, and she was protected by special magic equipment. But even so, she was still killed. I’m feeling very unsafe at this moment, so I’m hoping that I can hire someone I can trust to protect me for a while.” After she said that, she looked at Andonara. Roland understood what the First Princess meant.

He had been considering how to complete the epic quest, or how to start working on it at all. The request that Stephanie submitted met his needs precisely.

It was related to the epic quest, and he could find something useful while Andonara worked for her.

There was just one thing… Roland looked at Andonara.

Then he smiled and said, “It’s up to Andonara. If she wants to protect you, she can go with you. If she’s unwilling to, then I’m afraid I’ll have to pa.s.s.”

Hearing that, Stephanie immediately looked at Andonara with s.h.i.+ning eyes.

Andonara hesitated for a moment and said to Roland with an uncertain tone, “If so… I can protect her in the next fortnight, can’t I?”

After the two days of company, and especially after Stephanie was nice to her, Andonara found her to be a rather good friend.

Now that her friend was in trouble, she naturally had to help her if she could.

However… In Andonara’s eyes, she still needed to ask for Roland’s permission.

“I already said it’s up to you.” Roland walked over and hugged Andonara gently. “Don’t worry, and try to have some fun. I’ll be staying here to study magic. You can come back and find me when everything is over.”

Andonara smiled and nodded quickly.

Ever since he knew Andonara, Roland found that she had never left home, her comfort zone, on her own initiative, which was a sign of a severe lack of security.

In Andonara’s world, Roland was the most important and the only thing that mattered.

Now that she was willing to get out of her world and make new friends, Roland naturally had to support her.

Stephanie was greatly relieved hearing that Roland accepted her request.

She was worried that Roland would say no. After all, there was hardly a time when Andonara didn’t talk about Roland while they had afternoon tea together during these days.

From Andonara’s gentle gaze and happy face, Stephanie could see that the woman before her eyes had been living a great life. In comparison, she was a widow who had beaten her husband to death personally. She made a bold statement during Andonara’s wedding, but she had been slapped in the face by reality only a couple of years later.

Andonara picked up her sword and was reluctant to leave. She wanted to protect the friend she newly made, but she wanted to stay with Roland too.

She was as hesitant as before.

At this moment, however, Stephanie thought of something and said, “Why don’t you come to my manor too, Mr. Roland?”

“That’s unnecessary. I’ll just stay here and study magic.” Roland waved his hands.

“But there’s a huge library in my manor. It’s very large and contains a lot of books,” said Stephanie with a smile. “My late husband was a Mage too. After we were married, he spent almost all his money on books and spell models. The library in my manor has never been opened since he died, but I think that some of the books in that library are definitely new to you.”

Huh?

If you put it that way, then I won’t feel bored at all.

Roland’s eyes suddenly glittered. “Okay. Then I’ll talk to my mentors first. You wait here for a moment.”

Andonara couldn’t be happier hearing that Roland was willing to go to the princess’s manor with her.

She hugged Roland first and then Stephanie.

The headquarters of the a.s.sociation of Mages were so large that it took Roland a long time before he finally came to the place where the leaders.h.i.+p of the a.s.sociation of Mages lived even though he had asked for directions. He accidentally ran into a mentor from the Red Magic Tower, so he asked the mentor to tell Alfred that he would stay in Stephanie’s manor for a while.

This mentor was an informant. He knew perfectly well why Alfred had brought Roland to this place.

Upon hearing Roland’s request, he immediately accepted it on behalf of Alfred.

After Roland turned around and walked away, the mentor said in admiration, “We haven’t even tried yet, but you have already made an acquaintance of Stephanie. Are you really so into mature ladies?”

Having no idea that the misconceptions about himself were still spreading, Roland returned to his room and left the headquarters with the three women. A carriage took them to a manor about three hundred meters away from the royal palace.

This manor was surrounded by a square wood which completely hid the manor.

Inside the manor, everything was arranged enjoyably.

There was a huge green lawn, a pavilion on the left side, and an orchard on the right side.

There was a bright golden building in the middle. Behind the building was farmland that was being tilted. There was no telling what would be planted there.

She hugged Roland first and then Stephanie.

The headquarters of the a.s.sociation of Mages were so large that it took Roland a long time

Put in such a way, it sounded like everything in the manor was very simple.

However, if a man was informed that the gra.s.ses on the lawn were Starlight Flowers, the bright green pavilion was made of Green Moss Stone from the elves, and the bright golden building was built on the Yellow Eucalypt from the elves, he would know how astoundingly costly the manor was as long as he knew the prices of those materials.

In the square wood around the manor were hidden a dozen cottages where more than a hundred elite soldiers were hiding.

After they entered the manor, Stephanie personally led Roland and Andonara to the second floor and gave them the best and biggest guest room.

After that, she showed Roland the way to the bas.e.m.e.nt.

The bas.e.m.e.nt of the building was already half empty. There was a pa.s.sage here that led to a very large library.

Stephanie gave a slightly rusty bronze key to Roland and pointed at the green door before her. “The library is right ahead of us. I’ve not set foot in this place since my late husband died. The maids told me that they heard my late husband crying from the library. It could’ve been his ghost. However, my late husband was far weaker than you. He died soon after he became an official Mage. He’s not nearly as good as you, so I don’t think you should be scared even if his ghost is still haunting this place.”

Roland shrugged.

He had seen too many ghosts. He killed one on his way out of Red Mountain Town. Then, in paradise, he saw countless residents who were all essentially ghosts.

Smiling, Stephanie dragged Andonara away and said, “Let’s go and have some afternoon tea. I’ve got some elven honey. It’s very precious. I wonder if you’ve ever heard of it. It’s as valuable as gold coins of the same weight.”

After the two women left, Roland opened the door to the library with the bronze key.

Nasty creaks echoed in the pa.s.sage as the door opened. After it opened, there was nothing but darkness before his eyes.

Roland snapped his fingers and threw a light ball into the library.

When he saw what was before his eyes, Roland couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.

Rows of bookshelves extended before him. Each of those bookshelves was laden with books.

Smelling the intense scent of paper, Roland walked in and touched the bookshelves gently.

All the bookshelves were exquisitely manufactured. Although they were of the same size, the engravings on the bookshelves were completely different.

But they were all very beautiful. On every bookshelf, the category that the books on it belonged to was written in special ink. “Biography,” “Customs,” “Spell Catalog”… Almost all the categories of books could be found here. Roland came to the Spell Catalog section first. At first, he found a lot of books containing tips for spellcasting that were written by different Mages.

There were more than four hundred of such books. Roland picked up a few random books and skimmed through them. He found that the previous owner of these books had left detailed notes as well as his personal understandings.

Then, Roland found the bookshelf of spell models.

It had almost all of the level-one and level-two spells, a lot of level-three spells, and a couple of level-four spells. Roland even found the model of a level-five spell named Fiery Meteor Fall.

This is truly an unexpected discovery!

Roland was so thrilled that he hurriedly activated the system camera and scanned all the spell models that he had never seen before. This Fiery Meteor Fall was not particularly powerful for a level-five spell. But still, it was a level-five spell!

The model of any level-five spell cost at least fifty gold coins.

In fact, money was only a secondary motive. In the Red Magic Tower, in order to learn magic, one had to make contributions apart from paying the money. Contributions could hardly be measured. When the leaders.h.i.+p of the Red Magic Tower believed that a man could learn a spell, the man would have made enough contributions.

After scanning all of the spell models, Roland went to the other bookshelves to see if there were any books that deserved his attention.

Then, Roland realized that Stephanie’s late husband had a variety of interests.

Apart from the books in different categories that had been examined by Roland, the man had also collected many books on daily life, such as books that taught fis.h.i.+ng and cooking. Of course, these books’ paper was of awful quality, and it felt like papyrus as Roland touched it.

He estimated that these books would crumble into pieces very soon even though they were very well-preserved.

Apart from the books on life, the man also had a collection of p.o.r.n, such as “Aaron’s Scorching Spear and Baked Bread,” “Fall of the Innocent Girl,” and “The Daily Life of Me and My Sister-In-Law.”

Roland even found a few princess-themed books, including “The Crying Princess at Night,” “Princess and Slave,” etc.

Huh? Wait, isn’t your wife a princess? Why do you like these novels?

Roland took a deep breath. He was quite amazed by the princess’s husband’s interests. Browsing through a few random p.o.r.n novels, Roland shook his head in boredom.

This world was a cultural desert anyway, with few written communications.

These novels all had cliche plots that were elaborated on very boringly.

Most of the p.o.r.n on the Internet in modern days was much more attractive than such stories.

After all, whoever wrote the p.o.r.n on the Internet had likely received more than twelve years of systematic education. If they were to compile all the essays they wrote, they could’ve published a lot of books.

Besides, they could also learn from each other’s strengths and support each other.

Their works were much more enticing than the p.o.r.n writers in this age.

Putting those boring books back on the bookshelf, Roland couldn’t help but wonder whether or not the First Princess killed her husband because she saw those princess novels too.

After all, all the princesses had pitiful fates in those novels.

Roland returned to the bookshelves on magic and read the records left by a random Mage.

Paper was very expensive in this world, so whoever recorded their understanding in a book must know what they were doing.

Roland was fascinated after reading it for only three minutes.

He read the book carefully without skipping over a single word. Sometimes, he would read a sentence again and again and then cross-check it with his own experience.

Time went by bit by bit as he turned all the pages.