The Lancaster Hideout.
Edward's party appeared at the Lifestone, their faces covered in dirt.
It wasn't that they had died fighting some powerful monster, but that they had used a new item from the shop, the Return Scroll, to return to the place where they were last revived.
But it was also because of this that, unlike the refreshing feeling of resurrection, the group of people now looked rather disheveled.
Apart from Eleena who looked the same as always, the others were covered in colorful slime, some of which were even dripping down their clothes to the ground, making them look absolutely disgusting.
"Joe, there's still a spider on your head." Gou Dan said, drooping his head.
"Damn it!" Charle shuddered and grabbed the black spider off his head, which looked like a crab baring its fangs and claws, and threw it to the ground.
The spider's green blood exploded on the ground, its HP bar that wasn't that thick in the first place emptying instantly. Its broken limbs and flesh turned into dust that vanished into the air, while Joe sat down as if his body had been hollowed out. "I don't want to deal with those nobles anymore!"
Before this, Edward's party had been entrusted by a noble in Lancaster, hoping to hire them to retrieve the title deed and a flag that was said to have been bestowed by the late emperor from his family's old mansion.
Since the corresponding quest had appeared in the System, Edward's party didn't think too much about it. Being a quest maniac, Edward accepted the quest and led his party to complete it.
In the end, the old mansion was occupied by a monster called Spider Shadow that came out of nowhere. It was only Level 24, and its template was only an elite. It wasn't all that powerful, and any member of Edward's party could take it on alone.
But the problem was that the Spider Shadow was a shadow creature. Although its level limit prevented it from developing spells that could hide in the shadows, it didn't have the concept of 'thickness' as a shadow creature.
In other words, no matter how narrow or small it was, as long as there was a gap, even if it was thinner than a strand of hair, it could pass through it.
In addition, this thing was particularly fertile, and the entire mansion was filled with small spiders like the one on Charle's head.
Due to the laws of this world, the creatures of this world could not completely inherit the abilities of their parents (otherwise, the Prime Material Plane would have been filled with demons). Only a small portion of the little spiders had awakened the bloodline of the Shadow Creatures, and could move between the cracks like their mother. The rest of the little spiders were between level 1 to 8, and Charle, who had higher strength attributes, could send them to their deaths with a single punch …
But there were just too many of them!
Not to mention that these things were especially good at exploding. If you blew them up with a punch, they would return a vomit-like mucus to your face!
Jessica, a Holy Lancer who was proficient in defense and cleansing spells, had also temporarily left the party, making the situation even worse.
After all, Jessica had used Sefarim's ultimate skill, the greatest treasure of the elves, and burned off a considerable amount of EXP, dropping her level to around thirty. If she hadn't received EXP from defeating Aojo, the Artificial Abomination, she might have dropped back to the novice echelon of Level 20.
Moreover, Sefarim appeared to be feeling unwell after killing Aojo. To prevent any problems, Jessica had to temporarily leave the party and return to Trinia with Sefarim alone.
At first, Edward and the others did not want to leave Jessica alone and wanted to go with her. However, since Sefarim was the greatest treasure of the elves, her maintenance had to be carried out at the Moon Pavilion, a secret location that the elves forbade outsiders from entering. Aside from Jessica, who was qualified to be Sefarim, everyone else could only wait outside.
At first, the wood elf siblings Selene and her younger brother who were friendly with the Players swore that the maintenance would take no time at all. That was why Edward and the others believed them, and really waited outside for three days without seeing Sefarim.
That was until Princess Leah, who was passing by, said, 'Can't you just ask Jessica directly on the forums?' It was only then that the group came to a realization and tried contacting Jessica, only to learn that the adjustment would take a long time … as for the elven siblings' words, it was purely because the wood elves and humans had a different concept of time, and anything that took less than a year was considered 'very soon'.
After gaining Jessica's understanding, the group decided to continue adventuring and doing quests on their own, while preaching the gospel of the God of Games …
But they digressed.
Either way, it was only after Edward and the others used the dye orb to track down the Spider Shadow and took some time to kill it that the little spiders that had been attacking them with suicidal tactics finally scattered and fled.
Be that as it may, the dilapidated old mansion that was on the verge of collapse naturally collapsed after Edward's group and the Spider Shadow's repeated attacks.
Even though the Players, who were Extraordinaires, were able to show their prowess and not be suppressed, it still took them a lot of time to dig out the so-called title deeds and flags from the pile of rubble.
They had thought that everything was fine with that, but when the noble saw the title deed and flag dyed bright green by the spiders' body fluids, his face turned ashen and he turned to leave.
The quest that they had worked so hard to get to this step was stuck just like that.
If not for the oily green name over the noble's head which indicated that he was considered an ally, the hot-tempered Joe would have drawn his Legendary weapon, Giant Toe, and had him hand over the noble's head — he might even let him scatter his ashes!
Edward quickly went to smooth things over when he saw that. Either way, the quest description stated that the quest was completed as long as the noble could accept the quest item, and everything was fine as long as he could convince the noble to take the item.
In the end, the other party started scolding Edward, saying that he was trying to imitate a noble, whether it was the way he saluted or the way he spoke. Not only did he not have the temperament of a noble, but he was also tarnishing the image of a noble. Edward, who had a good temper, was scolded until his veins bulged.
It was fortunate that Eleena, who usually did not like to speak, stood up and used her sweet and adorable appearance as a child and her flawless noble etiquette to stop the noble from hurling insults at her.
In the end, with Eleena's request (as well as Joe's smile that didn't reach his chest muscles as he slowly approached), the noble let go of some of his prejudices and accepted the title deed and flag with a sour face, allowing the Players to barely complete their quest.
"By the way, I knew that Uncle had you learn noble etiquette, but I didn't think that it was all real." Edward sighed.
Etiquette lessons were a very important part of the education the nobles gave to their offspring, even more so than the teaching of morality. Many young noble heirs were domineering, tyrannical, and tyrannical in all aspects, but there was nothing wrong with their etiquette.
In the eyes of many nobles, even if a person was rich enough to rival a nation, they would be a vulgar nouveau riche if their noble etiquette wasn't up to standard, and not a member of the upper class.
That was precisely why mastering noble etiquette was seen as a threshold to enter the upper class. Hiring a professional etiquette teacher was quite expensive.
That was why Edward was surprised that Eleena had really grasped noble etiquette.
"Still, compared to the rigid Eleena from before, I prefer the lively Eleena now." Joe said happily, taking off his clothes and wringing them dry, squeezing copious amounts of stinking spider body fluids onto the ground (drawing angry glares from the Players around him).
"Because noble etiquette is too troublesome." As a Saintess-in-training, Eleena, who had a purification spell and wouldn't be contaminated by filth peeled off a lollipop and popped it into her mouth, a blissful expression on her face. Unlike other Players' quest rewards, Eleena's quest rewards always included all sorts of sweets and desserts. "It's better this way."
"By the way, what's Eleena's surname?" Gou Dan asked curiously. "I know that Uncle's surname is Redkin, but he did mention that Eleena took her mother's surname, but never said it."
"Probably because it would cause trouble," Edward said to Eleena. "If that's the case, it's fine if you don't say it."
"Meredith." Eleena didn't hesitate. "Father said that it would bring me trouble and that I can't reveal it … Well, it's fine now. I'm Eleena Meredith."
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