208 Quest Loophole (2/2)

Although the curfew hadn't ended yet, this time of day was close to dawn, so the night curfew wasn't really that important anymore.

Moreover, Roland was a Mage, and even if he was caught violating the curfew at this time, the patrol would most likely turn a blind eye.

Although the queen's disappearance was orchestrated by a Mage, a few days had passed and the king's anger had subsided quite a bit.

It was a simple desire of the rank-and-file soldiers to not offend a Mage if they could.

Roland got up and left the hotel, heading straight to the location of the kidnappers.

Since the spider had been following the black-robed men, Roland wasn't worried about them getting away.

Halfway there, Roland did encounter a patrol.

But just as he guessed, the heavily armed patrol didn't show any hostile intent when they saw Roland, and the lead officer even gave him a slight nod in greeting.

Roland naturally nodded lightly as well.

The two sides simply walked past each other.

Roland could feel that the soldiers let out a light breath of relief.

Arriving at the entrance of the alley, Roland walked right in.

It was dark inside, and Roland subconsciously wanted to illuminate it with a Light Ball, but he was afraid of being caught off guard and had to stop.

The alley stunk, the disgusting smell of urine mixed with that of feces.

Roland held his nose and walked forward slowly; it was dark after all. After a few turns, he stopped at the corner, thinking about how he should deal with the dozen or so black-robed men.

There weren't any houses here, just two walls, and further back, a wide wasteland, and even further away, the city walls.

The dull sound of a beating came from ahead.

It was accompanied by talking.

”Sironato, now it's time for you to tell me where the hell you've been hiding the person.”

”I don't… know.” A suppressed voice could be heard.

”It doesn't matter if you don't say anything, I'll kill you, and then your wife and son.” A voice that sounded quite gentle said these disturbing words. ”I'm a very reasonable person. You wronged me first, but for the sake of old friendship, I don't want to trouble you. But now you actually hid the person. Don't you know they're very important to me? If the person can't be found, I'll have to die.”

”I really don't know!” the voice yelled and coughed twice.

”Alas, I really don't want to do anything to you,” this gentle voice said. ”Even though you betrayed me, my life and the safety of my brothers are truly at stake.”

This seems… a little off.

Roland looked at the panel given by the quest system and then thought about the quest area, narrowing his eyes slightly.

”Dyat, I really don't know,” the voice cried out. ”I know I've wronged you, but I really don't know about this.”

”You really don't know?”

”I don't know!” The man's cries grew louder.

”Then forget it.” The gentle voice sighed. ”You can go now. I'll trust you one more time, and if you're still lying to me, you know the consequences…”

Then there was the sound of stumbling and hurried footsteps moving away.

Roland looked at his system's panel.

Quest failed: Save the Poor Commoner.

Roland tsked inwardly. He was looking for clues about the queen, but instead, he saw a bug, or loophole, in the quest system!

[1] Not really goblins fighting