This is a castle located south of Nimgofo and west of Morn City. Although it is dilapidated, it still maintains basic conditions for living people to survive.
It was originally occupied by a zombie-turned-"Grek Knight" and some demi-human minions, but thanks to a young wizard who was taking on quests everywhere, the original owner of this castle, Kenneth Hyde, had successfully
Take back control of the castle and put it back into the hands of "still living" humans.
Regarding these "living" aborigines, Sherlock specifically consulted Melina on some questions, such as: If they became immortal due to the shattering of the 'Deathly Hallows', why would their homes be occupied by demi-humans and living corpses?
Melina's answer was: Unless protected by a "blessing" like Sherlock, ordinary people would die and be resurrected repeatedly, and their memories would continue to be lost, and eventually they would become a muddleheaded "living corpse" with only a little instinct of life.
Whether the territory that originally belonged to them will be considered "occupied" by then remains to be discussed.
"Well done, Faded One," City Lord Kenneth changed his tone from his previous submissive lover's help and became very bold: "You are now the 'lifelong magic consultant' of Hede Castle. There is a gift here, please be sure to accept it.
"
Maybe people will become more confident after they have their own career? Sherlock guessed casually and reached out to take the gift.
It was a strange brass dagger. Sherlock confirmed that it had no special function, but after looking at it for a long time, he would have unfounded fantasies: it was once given to a person with a lower status by a person with a higher status, but it was given to a person with a lower status.
Someone of lower status stabbed him in the back.
If there is a reason for this kind of thing, then the pride, confidence and stinginess that Kenneth shows now must be one of them.
But I will not betray the city lord just because he has a bad attitude. After all, it takes Rune to complete the mission.
"【Oh, really?】"
At this moment, the whole world "frozen", everything in sight was covered with a layer of gray-white, but a flame ignited out of thin air in front of Sherlock, and then, out of the flame, a tall and thin man with dark skin and a mask on his face walked out.
A bald man with a hearty smile.
"[My name is 'Fan Lei', and I am keen to expose all lies,]" the man ignored Sherlock's vigilance: "[This Lord of Hyde City withheld the three 'Golden Tree Seeds' that were originally supposed to be given to you.
He plans to wait until you complete a certain number of 'reconstruction tasks' here at Hyde Castle before handing them over to you in batches. It's really insidious and despicable, don't you think?"
"Maybe that's true, so what?" Sherlock was unmoved.
"[So, you should directly kill this 'city lord' who has no subordinates, and obtain the ownership of the castle and the 'golden tree seeds' without spending extra energy working for him. Time is money, my friend, you
Don't you think so?]" Fan Lei said while taking out a pale and stiff finger from his pocket: "[Oh, don't be too busy to refuse, even if you don't plan to deal with the stingy Hyde, you will always encounter someone who is so annoying that you want to
If you want to kill someone but can resurrect him, then Old Fan Lei’s ‘gift’ will come in handy.]”
Without giving Sherlock a chance to refuse, a strange prop appeared in Sherlock's backpack, and Fan Lei, who suddenly appeared, disappeared, and the solidified world began to move again.
[Pale Finger: After being used on a specific character, it will temporarily break the opponent's 'immortality', making it impossible to resurrect after being killed. 】
To sum up, a prop that can be used to attack NPCs and snatch items from them? Its versatility seems to be very average, because no one can confirm how many tasks a communicable NPC will have, or how many tasks it is part of.
It would be unwise to kill them hastily for a small profit.
"Hmm...huh? Has that guy Fan Lei been here?" Melina shrugged her nose, looking like a hound smelling a fox: "Be careful, Lord Faded One, don't believe even a single punctuation mark he says."
"Of course." Sherlock looked at Kenneth again, put away the brass dagger, and turned to leave.
————
In the process of searching for elite monsters and side tasks, Sherlock discovered something:
Although Melina can be called omniscient, when Sherlock has questions about side tasks, she will try her best to answer them, but she has no interest in the tasks themselves. When looking at the people or things related to them, she always has a hidden feeling.
It's very good, with a vague looking down at it.
This is normal. Her duty is to guide Sherlock, the "Faded One", to defeat the "Fragment King" and become the "Supreme Mage". In contrast to the "main mission" that is so grand that it can change the entire junction, those who run errands and defeat
"Side missions" such as monsters, puzzles and treasure hunts are meaningless.
"Witch Rani" is just the opposite. She almost never appears in the "main process", but she can always be seen in "side tasks". Her achievements include but are not limited to: rescuing a wandering businessman from a violent bear.
column, take away the trapped summoner Roderica, treat the infected magic swordsman Roger, send the reckless Lenia back to his employer, kick the warrior Pot Alexander out of the pit, and kick Parker off the cliff.
Go down and wait.
Although Sherlock is not good at predicting things, judging from the events he has come into contact with, if Rani had not intervened in these tasks, the subsequent development would not have been wonderful.
In other words, Melina is busy saving the world, while Lani is trying to give everyone who is still living in this world - some of whom are not human beings - a relatively happy ending. It's hard to say which one is more important.
, but there is no conflict between them for the time being, so it should be okay to leave it alone.
————
Finally, after Sherlock had visited almost all of Nimgofu to make sure that he had not missed any elite monsters or runes, and was just wandering around for the purpose of "opening maps", he met a man in the basement of a forest ruins.
A female wizard trapped there.
It was a woman wearing an orange mage robe, with sharp eyebrows, extraordinary bearing, and a bald head. She was chained to the basement wall by several translucent chains that emitted bursts of colorful light, and she could hardly move.
However, even if the situation was so bad, she did not have any dissatisfaction or resentment. She was not surprised that Sherlock broke the ceiling and fell, and she even felt a little dissatisfied that he came too late.
"My name is [Selian]," the bald woman said to Sherlock: "I am a wizard who was expelled from the magic academy for conducting forbidden research. If you have any questions related to magic, you can come to me for consultation. Haha
, you are still far from the taboo, there is no need to worry about those chains in advance? That is also not something you can do with your current magic level..."
"[Alohomora opens!]"
With a snap, the colorful transparent chains fell to the ground.
