250 Tragedy (1/2)

All the players were slightly surprised to hear this

Their first thought was that this was a trap, but they did not overreact at all despite their shock.

After all, they wouldn't really die, and even if they were killed in this trap, they could make a comeback after their resurrection.

Seeing that the players wore odd expressions but remained calm, Ans nodded in satisfaction.

He continued, ”Although I'm a radical, I too believe that they're outrageous.”

Realizing that the elf was about to tell a story, the players each found a chair. But there were only six chairs in the lodge, and Ans had claimed one. So, four players had to sit on the ground. Schuck was among them. Margret sat on his thigh, yawning now and then.

Ans's face changed slightly when he saw the cute dragon horns on Margret's forehead. Then he went on: ”Half a year ago, Nature's Wrath annihilated a human village at the border of Urganda. They killed all two hundred people in the village, including the elderly, the women, and the children, just because one of the villagers sold a female elf in the past.”

Everybody's faces changed when they heard that. The players sitting on the ground all stood up.

When Schuck suddenly rose, Margret was flipped off, which was quite unexpected for her.

She didn't blame Schuck. Instead, she glared at Ans, because Schuck wouldn't rise all of a sudden if not for him.

Sensing Margret's anger, Ans was rather nervous, which was understandable as nobody would feel comfortable when a dragon glared at them.

Betta asked indifferently, ”Are you sure it's true?”

”I don't need to lie about that. I'm an elf anyway,” Ans said painfully. ”Nature's Wrath believed in punishing the devils who ruined nature and who polluted the earth with evil magic powers, but now, it has become a group of extremists who believe that human beings are the cancer of the world.”

Ans covered his face with his hands, making it impossible to see his expression, but everybody could hear infinite disappointment in his voice.

They could sympathize with the elf.

The destruction of one's ideal and the corruption of one's community were worse than death, and that was what happened to Ans.

After a brief silence, Ans raised his face from his hands. ”Two months ago, it happened to another village. Half a month ago, they slaughtered a town. None of the three thousand residents survived. They're completely crazy now. A dozen days ago, a brother questioned the justification of their behavior, but then he was brutally murdered and transformed into a tree by the lake.”

Everybody couldn't have looked more awful after hearing that.

Roland couldn't help but ask, ”Sorry, not that we're suspecting you, but do you have any evidence?”

Ans seemed to be expecting that question. He unfolded a piece of paper on the table. It was a map.

Everybody glanced at each other, and then Betta said, ”Please give us a few days to consider.”

Ans nodded. ”Of course.”

They left the lodge. At the edge of the forest, Roland set up a stone house with magic, and everybody got in.

Betta and a friend from Silver Wings took out tables, chairs, fruit wine, and of course, barbecue.

Everybody ate the food unhurriedly and silently. In the end, Roland said, ”How much do you believe what Ans said?”

”Fifty percent.” Schuck put down the barbecue and said, ”In any case, we have to look into it carefully. I don't want to be anyone's pawn or tool.”

At this point, a Warrior of Silver Wings said, ”Don't bother with that. Let's just complete the epic quest. After all, it's not going to be humans that we kill. It's just elves.”

Roland sighed. ”Are you not scared that this is a trick quest that will turn our inclination from Neutral Good to Evil?”

The Warrior immediately shut up.

As frequent visitors to the forum, they had read a lot of posts of other players on ”trick quests.”

One of the players, who accepted every quest he encountered, was directed by a sordid NPC to kill many innocent people.

He didn't realize what was going on until his inclination changed from Neutral Good to Chaotic Evil.

Now, he was wanted by the game system. Multiple players had triggered the quest ”Eliminate the evil Golden Son and reduce him to level zero.”

The EXP reward for that mission was quite high.

The player couldn't even delete his character. The option was unavailable after he entered the Temple of Life.

He could only be killed by other quest maniacs again and again.

Of course, nobody wanted that to happen to them.

”Let's divide into three groups and check the locations marked by Ans,” Schuck suggested. ”Margret and I will go to the farthest place. You can split into two parties and search the other two.”

Hawk pondered for a moment and said, ”I fear that what we see will be what the elf wants us to see.”

Roland smiled. ”But there will definitely be traces. It will be fine as long as we remain careful.”

Everybody nodded and agreed with the plan.

They quickly finished the meat and left in three groups.

On Margret's back, Schuck took off and soon became a black spot in the sky.

Craning his head at them, Betta said enviously, ”I wish I could fly too.”

Roland said with a smile, ”You can try to pick up the flight spells of the wind class later.”