Chapter 303 - The Blooming Lilac and the Duke (2/2)

In the beginning, this Warrior seemed calm and composed. However, the moment Link mentioned Her Majesty, the Dragon Warrior shivered, and his pupils dilated.

“I have no idea what you are talking about!” He answered in a manner that exposed his guilty conscience.

Link laughed as he retrieved the leather letter from the Dragon Warrior’s armor, “Stop pretending. Why do you think this letter appeared in the mailbox on Bluestone Road Number 92? I was the one who placed it inside.”

Garoff stared at Link with widened eyes. He was already extremely careful this time around. In fact, he had already discovered the presence of the letter two days before. However, he was afraid of any peculiarities and stopped himself from retrieving it. It was only until two days later when he decided that it was safe enough to take action. Little did he know that this person was even more patient than him, waiting for him to take the bait.

He was akin to a fish swimming in the water, circling around a grain of food for a long time and finally deciding to go in for the kill, only to realize that it was a poisonous bait.

After several moments of silence, he spoke in a raspy voice, “I was left with no choice. You do not have to ask me anything. I won’t and cannot tell you. I can only choose death…”

At the end of the sentence, the Dragon Warrior started spouting large amounts of blood from his mouth. This blood was black in color and was sizzling when it poured out from his mouth, causing smoke to rise into the air.

This Warrior actually decided to commit suicide. The poison must have been in his mouth this whole time.

He chuckled as he said his final words, “May the Queen be safe.”

He breathed his last.

How much resolution must it take?

Link frowned as he stared at the Dragon Warrior. His opponent acted too fast. He simply had no time to stop it from happening. This way, the clue that he had just gotten was severed.

However, although this Dragon Warrior did not provide him with any information, Link could determine his next course of action from something on his body.

Link sniffed the warm leather letter that was in the Dragon Warrior’s armor. There was no lilac smell on it. This meant that the person who had tasked ordinary dragon Polot with a mission that day was not this Dragon Warrior, but someone else.

Link then inspected his weapon.

This was a high-quality dragon blade crafted with good workmanship. However, the other party was extremely careful and had eradicated all markings of the weapon. There was thus no way to trace its origin.

That was not all.

Link then began to inspect his boots. More specifically, he was checking the soil stains on the soles.

This Warrior had clearly traveled a long way. There were many layers of dirt stuck to his soles with very minute differences between the different layers. Ordinary people would not have been able to tell the difference, though this was a simple task for a Magician.

Link inspected them carefully and used a Detection spell in the end to obtain more information.

Link even cast a Guiding spell.

This was an extremely simple Level-2 Secret Spell. Link learned this spell to track down his enemies. As this was a Low-level spell, it would not be effective when used against a High-level Magician or Warrior. However, it was extremely effective when used simply to track the origin of a soil sample on the sole of a Dragon Warrior.

After casting the spell, Link felt himself go into a trance. Following which, a faint misty trace appeared in his field of vision, leading him to the place where this Dragon Warrior came from.

“Nana, pierce his heart, and we will leave.”

“I understand,” Nana swiftly made another attack through the Dragon Warrior’s heart to eliminate any further threats and trailed behind Link.

Link walked a distance of 18 miles before he finally reached a forest. The trail seemed to have dissipated at this point. However, Link did not panic and carefully observed his surroundings.

This forest was situated on high ground. Looking out from this point, one could clearly see a magnificent stone castle on a field some distance away.

There was a stone tablet in front of that castle. Link then cast an Eagle’s Eye spell to improve his vision. The words written on the stone tablet read “Territory of Duke Osiris.”

There were many fields around the stone castle as many dragon race farmers were hard at work. The entire territory seemed calm, peaceful and ordinary enough.

However, a sighting confirmed Link’s suspicion that this place was the beginning of a heinous plan!

On the two sides of the road leading to the stone castle, and also within the gardens of the stone castle were lilacs. Thousands of them filled the area in full bloom.

Upon this sight, an in-game message filled Link’s field of vision.

Mission: Mastermind Completed

Player Omni Points +100

Activated Second Step: Investigate

Content: Enter the territory of Duke Osiris and investigate his true motive, obtaining the key evidence of the Duke’s betrayal. Note, you must not be discovered by the Duke!

Reward: 200 Omni Points

Link already had 660 Omni Points. Furthermore, this mission’s text was blood-red color, signifying the extreme danger and difficulty.

After all, this Duke Osiris might be a Legendary individual and have at least Level-9　strength. He must also have many underlings. If Link made even a single mistake, he might not escape this castle alive.

After some consideration, Link still decided to accept the mission, though he needed some time to plan his course of action.