Chapter 123: A Rain Falls (Part 1)

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Zhao Nan looked at the married couple and smiled. “How have you two been lately?”

He had a fairly good impression of them. Back in the kindergarten safe zone, they had been among the first to step forward and join the battle.

The one-armed enchanter was named Zhan Zhao. He had a square face. Unlike the unkempt appearance he had once worn, he was now neatly groomed, giving off an air of righteousness. Whether he truly possessed such a righteous heart, however, remained to be seen. His wife was named He Ping, and she was an archer.

Both of them had undergone a complete transformation and no longer looked as wretched as they once had.

“Thank you for asking.” Zhan Zhao gave him a grateful smile. “We never had the chance to thank you in person for helping us back then.”

“It was nothing. I said it before: as long as you were willing to fight, I wouldn’t let you starve.” Zhao Nan shook his head.

Zhan Zhao and He Ping exchanged a glance. Then they both rose to their feet, only to drop swiftly to their knees before him.

…

…

Their sudden kneeling did not frighten anyone, but it still left Zhao Nan stunned for a moment. He gave a wry smile. “That was merely a fair trade. What are you two doing? Get up quickly. If someone sees this, they’ll think I’m some kind of villain.”

Finina hurriedly helped He Ping to her feet and settled the couple back into their seats.

Zhao Nan said, “You came to find me for another reason, didn’t you?”

To prevent them from doing anything else he could not possibly endure, Zhao Nan steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.

Zhan Zhao looked troubled. “I have a quest scroll that I happened to discover by chance. I want to exchange it with you for a job.”

Zhao Nan wondered if he had misheard. He furrowed his brows. “A job?”

Zhan Zhao nodded and sighed. “Perhaps you think a piece of equipment or a sum of money would be more useful. But to me, nothing is better than a stable job.”

Zhao Nan nodded as well and waited for him to continue.

Zhan Zhao worked up his courage. “To be honest, my wife is pregnant. Given the current circumstances, I don’t want her leaving the city to hunt monsters, or even going out to work. I only want her to stay somewhere safe and focus on carrying the child. As for my own situation, everyone in Lin Yu’s guild has been kind enough to lend me a hand, but that isn’t a long-term solution. I already owe many people favors, and I’m too embarrassed to ask for help again. So I truly had no choice but to come here. To tell you the truth, I originally intended to keep this quest scroll for myself. But you once did me a great favor, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask you for help without offering anything in return. After thinking it over, an exchange was the only solution I could come up with.”

Zhao Nan suddenly smiled, without mentioning the quest scroll at all. In a clear voice, he said, “There are still a few positions available at the castle, such as personal guards. If you don’t mind, Big Brother Zhan, why don’t both of you take the positions?”

“Really?”

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Zhan Zhao and He Ping immediately cried out in delight.

Zhao Nan nodded. “Although you’ll be called personal guards, there isn’t actually much work involved. You’ll simply have to live here and not leave. I was worried you might not like it.”

“How could we?” Zhan Zhao hurriedly replied.

Zhao Nan smiled. “That’s good. I’ll have the steward arrange quarters for you later. The surroundings here are quite pleasant and should be suitable for raising a child.”

He Ping’s face flushed crimson. She lowered her head and said nothing. Zhan Zhao merely chuckled, his heart overflowing with joy.

Zhao Nan, however, frowned. “How do you plan to explain this to Lin Yu?”

“Lin Yu manages the guild fairly democratically. We’re free to work as we please, and only have to assemble when something major happens,” Zhan Zhao quickly explained.

…

…

Before long, Blade Edge led the couple away to arrange their move into the castle, while Zhao Nan toyed with the scroll in his hand.

A quest scroll.

Unlike the method of accepting quests by interacting with the natives encountered in the streets, a quest scroll would produce a quest as soon as it was opened.

Moreover, the quests it contained were generally of high quality—at least purple grade or above. Although their quality was usually excellent, the odds of obtaining one were comparable to those of discovering a hidden quest. In other words, quest scrolls were actually a type of hidden quest.

“The level required to open it is actually twenty.”

Zhao Nan’s interest in the quest scroll began to soar. Since the map of Listening Wind City had yet to be unlocked, the highest-level quests available were only level twenty.

Curious, Zhao Nan opened the scroll. One line of golden text after another began to emerge across its surface.

It was a gold-grade quest!

After reading it carefully, he discovered that the quest would open a special area within Listening Wind City where players could obtain pets.

“So it’s this…”

Zhao Nan chuckled softly. A large part of the reason he had organized the exploration teams was to locate the special area where pets could be acquired in Listening Wind City. Once players obtained pets, their overall strength would immediately increase by a considerable amount.

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“The rewards are… two Pet Elixirs. Each one can raise a pet’s level by three, up to level twenty-five. Not bad.”

“Indeed, not bad.” After Finina took the scroll and read it, she immediately smiled. “It’s been so difficult to level up Saya and Olysses lately. This will save us a great deal of effort.”

Zhao Nan considered the matter. “That’s true. We should also give the others some time to think it over. Let’s go now.”

Finina naturally agreed.

After giving Blade Edge instructions to handle a few miscellaneous matters, Zhao Nan headed straight for the teleportation point in the square and teleported to the village nearest to the quest location.

A stretch of emerald green spread out before them. Blue sky and white clouds met a sea of dense mist. Beneath the sky, countless flying monsters circled and cried out, while all around them were simply dressed natives.

Farther away, golden rice paddies stretched across the land. The rice ears swayed gently in the breeze, sending waves of fragrance through the air. Green mountains encircled the distance, forming what appeared to be a valley.

Zhao Nan froze for a moment. It was not because there was anything unusual about the valley, but because he remembered that after leaving the dense mist, the first thing he had seen upon opening his eyes was this very valley.

Then the rain began to fall.

Zhao Nan said helplessly, “It seems today isn’t a good day to travel.”

The two of them hurried through the village. Not far away, the farmers quickly gathered their belongings and ran toward the nearest shelter from the rain. Zhao Nan and Finina soon found a pavilion.

There were already quite a few people inside, leaving the two of them no choice but to stand at the edge and watch the rain descend. It was neither heavy nor light, but enough to block the roads.

The rain soaked the ground. The earth grew damp, then gradually turned sticky, while the falling drops bounced against the soil and stirred up a thin veil of mist.

Soft murmurs drifted around them.

Water slid down from the edges of the pavilion, forming a curtain before Zhao Nan and Finina as it streamed toward the ground.

Through that watery veil, a small figure could be seen slowly making its way along the blurred, muddy road.

Closer.

Closer still.

To be continued…