Chapter 290 - DETAILS OF FINNEA'S CURSE (I)

[THIS is a chain task, the first of which was 'Save Filli'. Successfully finishing that and bringing a member of Legendary race with you to meet the Gatekeeper are the trigger for the next task – 'Finnea's Curse'!]

Hearing what the Gamekeeper said just proved what Luo Yan already guessed. So, he wasn't that surprised.

[Finnea was the beautiful wife of the Gatekeeper who died tragically from a curse. Help the Gatekeeper find out all the details regarding his wife's death and get excellent rewards after. Good luck, dear players!]

Then the Gamekeeper disappeared.

Luo Yan looked at the Gatekeeper who was still looking at them earnestly as if he didn't saw the Gamekeeper. Well, he probably didn't. After all, it's not part of his given script. Then Luo Yan glanced at Shen Ji Yun. 

He moved closer and whispered, "Did Brother Ji Yun see the Gamekeeper just now?"

Because he didn't do the 'Save Filli' task with Shen Ji Yun, he was worried that the other wouldn't be able to do the task with him. Wait- why was he worried about that? Could it be… he's actually getting used to doing task together with Shen Ji Yun?

Because he was too immersed in that thought, he didn't notice the reddening of Shen Ji Yun's ear tip.

Shen Ji Yun wanted to raised his hand and scratch the ear where Luo Yan whispered. Every time the other does that, not only his ear felt itchy but his heart as well. But he wouldn't deny the fact that he liked it. For some reason, he felt that he was being a bit perverted again.

He cleared his throat to hide his embarrassing thoughts. "Yes, I saw him," he whispered back.

Luo Yan no longer cared about his own careful thoughts and was simply relieved to hear Shen Ji Yun's answer. "Then, we could do this task together?" 

Because of Luo Yan's question, Shen Ji Yun couldn't help but glanced down. He saw relief and a little bit of happiness on his rabbit's beautiful face. Does this mean that Luo Yan enjoyed being with him? Before his thoughts veered off again to another direction, he nodded and said, "Yes."

Luo Yan was very satisfied with this answer. He turned his attention back to the Gatekeeper. "Can the Gatekeeper tell us about the clue that you found? It would be better if you could also tell us all the details of what happened back then?" he said, the last one referring to what happened to the Gatekeeper's wife.

"Of course, of course. My wife – Finnea – died five years ago. As I've already mentioned, she went back with a curse put on her. She went out of the village because she received a message from a friend. I didn't know who this friend was and I didn't ask much. You see, Finnea grew up outside the village. So, she had a lot of friends outside. She only lived here after we married. There were times when she went out of the village to meet up with her friends. I thought it was the same that time, she would come back and tell me all the interesting thing that happened to her. Who would have thought that…"

The Gatekeeper stopped and closed his eyes tightly as if suppressing the sadness and pain he was feeling. Luo Yan could only applaud the game developers for programming NPCs that could show such raw emotions. When the Gatekeeper opened his eyes once again, he continued;

"She was badly wounded when she returned, bleeding from all seven orifices. The Elder tried to heal her but the bleeding just wouldn't stop. It continued for the next few days until her blood slowly turned from red to dark red and finally to black. Black, vein like marks also appeared on her skin. And on the fifth day, her body couldn't support the extreme blood loss and she- she passed away. The Elder said that it was most probably a curse. A very strong curse. 

"Finnea most likely encountered something and was attacked by someone. She barely managed to escape. And the first thing she did was to return here. The Elder said that it took a lot of willpower for her to be able to teleport her one last time. Probably just so she could see me and Filli. Because she knew that she most likely would—she was in a coma after that. But before she lost consciousness, she uttered the word, 'tower'. 

"No one thought more about it. Even myself didn't think much when I heard it. But then, a few days ago, when I was cleaning up my wife's tomes, so I could put them on a new shelf that I made, I accidentally let go of a few volumes and a piece of small paper flew out. Written on it with my wife's handwriting were the words – 'Tower of Edia'.

"Seeing that, I suddenly remembered the last word that my wife said. I couldn't help but think that she was referring to this 'Tower of Edia'. So, I asked the Elder if he could cast a spell on the paper to know when it was written. And sure enough, it was written just the day before my wife left to meet her friend. So, I was much more certain of my guess. 

"The 'Tower of Edia' is a place where people worship the moon goddess – Edia. Most of the its priests are very powerful beings. It was even rumored that the High Priest sitting at its very top belongs to a Legendary race. That's why the Elder warned me not to do anything rash. But I just- I just couldn't do nothing! I—" 

The Gatekeeper clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. It was obvious that his emotion was agitated to the extreme. He wasn't even breathing normally, as if he would have a panic attack any second now.

"We understand, Gatekeeper," Luo Yan quickly said before this NPC really did have a panic attack. "We already promised to help you. And so, we will."

Then he gathered everything the Gatekeeper said and fell into a deep thought.