Likewise, Torry and Jom sat by the fire, waiting for the old man to finish reading the letter.
There was no telling if it was due to the altitude or the climate, but it was still freezing around Crookes even though Lancaster was slowly warming up.
It was fortunate that the cottage was very warm, and entering it from the outside was as comfortable as stepping into a hot spring.
'I'm definitely going back to the Unnamed Town for a dip in the hot spring after this mission.' For some reason, Jom felt a little more motivated at the thought.
Torry was fidgeting in his chair, which was not very sturdy in the first place, and was creaking as if it would fall apart at any moment.
Jom glared at him, but it was completely useless — Torry wasn't looking at him at all.
Moments later, Torry finally couldn't help asking the old man, "Gramps, do you have anything to eat here? I'm starving! "
The old man's eyesight wasn't too good, and he could only read the letter word by word against the firelight. His eyes lifted from the letter at Torry's interruption, and after a glance at Torry's naive look, he lowered his head again.
But just when Torry thought that the old man wasn't going to serve them anything, the old man's voice quietly spoke from behind the letter.
"There's some salted sausages in the wooden barrel in the corner. You can roast them over the stove, and the poker is by the fireplace. You don't need me to teach you, do you?"
"Thanks!" Torry excitedly ran off to get the sausages, while Jom sat still.
Weird. Why wasn't the chain quest updated on the System's quest page?
Could it be that he had to think of a way to progress the quest for an update?
At that thought, Jom looked at the old man's furrowed brow and couldn't help asking, "What's in the letter?"
"The unrealistic ravings of an old man." The old man glanced at Jom. "Don't you know what's in it?"
"We're just messengers." Jom shrugged.
The quest log still hadn't been updated.
"Do you know Tierra?" The old man asked out of the blue.
"Of course. It's a fallen kingdom." Since he wasn't sure what the old man meant, Jom tried his best to filter out the more normal and ambiguous answers.
He couldn't say something like 'Princess Tierra is my big brother!', could he?
In truth, Princess Leia, who possessed dozens of auras and buff skills and was loved by all in group battles, was indeed addressed as Big Brother by most Players due to her valiant combat style.
Although she hated this title, if anyone dared to mention it in front of her, they would be beaten up by her with the legendary weapon Iron Knuckles.
It was worth mentioning that even if Princess Leah's steel knuckles came with the hidden attribute of 20% increased pain, there were still many Players who would never tire of provoking her so that they would be beaten up … One could only say that the Players' idiotic nature was becoming richer …
"And this letter is a defeated dog of that perished kingdom, baring its fangs and howling at the other stray dogs. It wants those stray dogs to regroup and take revenge for that perished kingdom."
The old man threw the letter into the fire and watched as it was engulfed by the flames and gradually disappeared.
Though it was a little vague, Jom could understand the gist of it.
Corinth Atherton, the mayor of Lancaster, had been a traitor who had defected to the Valla Empire to protect his family and survive until now.
Technically speaking, Corinth Atherton was still a former subject of the former empire and a subject of the fallen Tierra, and it was no problem for him to be called a defeated dog.
Still, the appearance of Aojo at the embassy had directly led to the death of the new emperor's envoy, and a war against the Valla Empire was unavoidable.
Still, the success of the Twin City Cup and the Players' display of power in the fight against Aojo had given Corinth a little confidence to stand against the Valla Empire.
Even though the Players had a few leaders in command, the Players in charge of commanding were inexperienced. Though they were good at ambushing their troops, they didn't have the experience of leading an army in a steady and steady battle.
That was why it wasn't inconceivable that Corinth would seek out his former comrades from Tierra and have them head to Lancaster for help.
Unlike Corinth who had defected on his own accord and thus received preferential treatment, Corinth's comrades, including the old man before him, were most likely wanted by the Valla Empire after Tierra's fall, forced to leave their homes and live in hiding. In other words, they were 'lost dogs'.
And from the old man's attitude, it was clear that he had no intention of helping Corinth.
Jom guessed from that information. Could his next quest be to help Corinth convince the old man to head to Lancaster?
He glanced at his System page, but the quest information still hadn't been updated.
That was when Terry approached him with sausages in hand.
Jom had assumed that the old man had come to grill his sausages, but Terry drew his sword and slashed at the old man when he got close!
The old man must have been a soldier. Even though he looked rather old, his movements were still very agile. He flipped off the recliner and rolled, avoiding Terry Rui's sword.
"Wait, Terry! What are you doing?!"
Jom tried to stop him, but Terry glared coldly at the old man before turning to Jom. "Jom, do you remember someone mentioned that the old man had a granddaughter and a dog when we were asking for directions?"
Jom did a double take. That did happen before, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
"What are you trying to say? Maybe he was just afraid of bad guys and had them hide? "
"See for yourself."
Terry didn't argue, and simply threw the sausage to Jom.
As mentioned before, the Players had a certain level of Identify, which was why the information of the sausage appeared before Jom's eyes the moment he saw it.
[Sausage of human and dog meat (marinated with green barley)]
Jom stared in disbelief at the sausage in his hand, before looking up at the old man in the corner.
The yellow name 'elderly citizen' over the old man's head, which symbolized neutrality, had turned into 'swampman' so bright red it was as if it was dripping blood.
"There's nothing I can do since I've been discovered, and I don't have much marinated stuff left anyway." The 'old man' grinned, revealing jagged teeth full of yellow tartar. "Blame yourself for being a busybody, and curse the unfairness of fate …"
Then, before it could finish its sentence, it was cut in half by Terry, who had advanced to become a Swordsman and was walking the path of [Berserker].
Jom then unleashed a skill to summon an aquatic creature that resembled a lump of flesh. The thing opened what appeared to be its mouth and ate the swampman who was squirming about to do something, before devouring itself and vanishing into thin air without a trace. * * *
"Ah, the quest has been updated." Jom turned on the System's quest page and looked at the new quest. "But I'm not happy at all …"
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