Chapter 32 - Black Castle
“Apparently it’s a beautiful female adventurer.”
“Blond hair, long legs?” Lin Li was surprised at first, but quickly recovered. The only beautiful female adventurer he knew in this Jarrosus City would probably be Ina.
“Seems like it. Why, is it your girlfriend?”
“Kevin, you were infected by Gerian’s nosiness… Where is she now?”
“I had someone settle her down in the reception room. Wonder if she’s still there…”
“…” Lin Li knew the father and daughter too well. If they had not encountered something that could not be solved, they would never have come looking for him. Lin Li was somewhat anxious at the thought of this. He rushed out of the level certification hall and hurried over to the reception room as he complained, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier…”
“I wanted to tell you…” Kevin rolled his eyes. “As soon as you locked yourself in your room, the President warned that anyone who tries to disturb you will have their heads screwed off by him. Do you think I’d still dare to come?”
“This old fellow…” Lin Li grumbled, but in his heart, he was slightly touched. Gerian, that old fellow, was thoughtful, afraid that Lin Li’d be disturbed at the critical moment of his breakthrough.
The two of them reached the reception room promptly. As soon as Lin Li pushed open the door, a weeping beauty came into sight.
“Mr… Mr Felic…” The long-legged beauty choked in between sobs. “Please help my father…”
“Calm down first, Ina. Tell me slowly.” Lin Li was at a loss after hearing the cries from the long-legged beauty. He hurriedly pacified her, “Tell me first, what exactly happened to Mr McGrenn?”
“Father… Father is dying…” Ina’s pretty eyes were red and swollen from all the crying. Under Lin Li’s constant reassurances, she managed to hold back the sadness and began to speak intermittently, describing what’d happened.
That day, after parting at the gate of the Adventurers Guild, McGrenn and his daughter successfully completed the quest with the Manticore’s tail Lin Li had given them. According to their usual habits, they would often rest for a period of time after one quest was completed before taking another. She wasn’t sure what happened that day, but after turning in the quest, McGrenn insisted on going to the quest notice board to have a look.
It was also coincidence that as soon as the father and daughter arrived at the quest notice board, they noticed a new batch of quests had just been announced.
One of the quests was to go to the Forest of Whispers in search of an ancient castle. McGrenn chose this task at first glance. The Forest of Whispers was heaven compared to the Sunset Mountains. The most powerful magical beasts there were no higher than level-ten, and they were pitifully few in numbers. If you were lucky, you wouldn’t run into one even if you stayed there for two or three years.
The quest was also simple—they only had to find out the exact location of the castle.
A detailed map of the Forest of Whispers was sold in the Adventurers Guild for a mere ten gold coins. The features of the castle were also clearly described in the mission—a black castle that appeared only after dark. Completing the quest was only a matter of time with these two clues. Moreover, the reward was as high as 100 gold coins, which was much more cost-effective than hunting for Manticores in the Sunset Mountains.
So, McGrenn coolly took the quest. He did not rest in Jarrosus City that day. After a little restocking of supplies, he took Ina and set off for the Forest of Whispers.
As McGrenn had expected, the quest went smoothly.
Both father and daughter did not encounter any danger along the way. It took a little over a week to find the ancient castle mentioned in the mission.
McGrenn was overjoyed at the time, and after marking the location of the castle on the map, he planned to return to Jarrosus City.
But it was at this moment when the accident happened.
McGrenn, who had just put the map into his backpack, suddenly collapsed without any warning.
Ina was scared stiff at the time…
What was the scariest was that there was no wound on McGrenn’s body, and it didn’t look like he was attacked by any mental spells. Everything seemed the same—except that McGrenn was asleep. According to Ina’s description, McGrenn’s current situation could only be described as being asleep; even after returning to Jarrosus City, he could occasionally be heard snoring softly.
But McGrenn had slept for too long.
From the day the castle was found, to the day the two returned to Jarrosus City, McGrenn had slept for seven days. He did not wake up once or eat anything in those seven days. He was in deep slumber, and his body was languishing day by day.
According to Ina, McGrenn had been worn down to a shadow of his past self when she came this morning.
Lin Li frowned as he listened to Ina, but he could not recall what kind of magic could have caused that. Thus, after much thought, he decided to have a look.
“Ina, bring me to Mr McGrenn first. I can’t think of any solution yet.”
“Yes.” Ina nodded obediently. Since her father collapsed, the girl’s heart had been at sixes and sevens. Under Lin Li’s constant reassurances, she recovered some of her previous vigor.
Lin Li was rather anxious and did not have time to inform Gerian. He found Kevin and told him, “My friend’s in trouble, I have to go take a look. Help me inform Gerian later.”
“Oh, no! I forgot to tell him about this…” Lin Li had already stepped out of the Emerald Tower when Kevin suddenly recalled something important. But when he wanted to chase after them, he found that both of them had long gone out of sight.
McGrenn and his daughter did not stay far. After coming out of the Emerald Tower, they turned a few streets and soon reached an old house.
This house looked like it had been there for ages. As they walked up to the bedroom on the second story, Lin Li could feel the wooden boards tremble under his feet.
The room was clean and tidy, though the furniture was slightly shabby; even the blankets that had been draped over McGrenn had several patches.
He remembered McGrenn telling him that the reward for hunting level-five magical beasts like the Manticores in the Sunset Mountains was only a few dozen gold coins, so Lin Li more or less understood the father and daughter’s situation.
But Lin Li kept it to himself and said nothing to Ina.