“Tell me. What’s wrong?” Blue Maple didn’t waste any more words as he directly asked about his quest.

“It’s like that. I need the Water of Life to save someone.” The young kimono-clad lady was also very direct, and she only hesitated slightly.

“Water of Life?” Blue Maple was confused.

“Yes. It’s normal that you don’t know what it is, because that doesn’t belong to humans in the first place.”

“That doesn’t belong to humans?”

Blue Maple was even more confused as he started thinking rapidly.

If it doesn’t belong to humans, then it has to belong to another race. The quest looks like it requires the player to have completed his third class advancement, which means this quest was created after the system update.

Several races appeared after the third class advancement, and a player can choose to switch after his or her fourth class advancement after establishing relations. Sometimes, a player can also obtain certain unexpected rewards, such as… a commander’s seal.

Blue Maple quickly figured it out, and he already knew how much the little axe was worth after checking it in the previous night.

The other races’ commander’s seals were exceedingly difficult to obtain. Even if you had switched classes to become a different race, you would have to make great contributions to obtain that race’s commander’s seal.

Blue Maple roughly guessed the reasons why he managed to obtain a commander’s seal. One of them was that the dwarves didn’t really know how to thank him, while Blue Maple had also rescued several important members of their tribe. Blue Maple eventually brought back an excellent item for them, which helped them build the first steps of trust.

And… his strength!

Blue Maple scared a Demon General away, and that kind of power appearing on a human youth who had just descended upon this world meant Blue Maple was definitely someone the dwarves wanted to get close to!

“Yes. Water of Life no longer exists in human territory. Instead, Water of Life now belongs to one of the big races of our Alliance of Divine Races, the Elven race.” The young lady continued explaining as a reluctant look appeared on her face.

“Is there a problem?” Blue Maple could see the reluctant look on her face.

“Yes, because the relationship between the elves and us humans isn’t great. You should know that elves are some of the purest and kindest beings in the mainland, while humans… Us humans are a lot more inferior. We have a lot of self-restraint, but there are just too many humans, and there will always be some who can’t control their wicked desires.” The young lady paused as she spoke.

“The more powerful humans have tried their best to restrain and control other humans not to capture elves or steal and rob their things. However, there are still many humans who have been doing that in secret, and they have been frequently hurting elves for their own benefit. Therefore…”

The young lady’s reluctant look became even stronger.

“Therefore, even if I seek out the elves, I will probably not be able to get their Water of Life because the elves hate us. They will not hand over their Water of Life easily unless it is wartime or in some other unnatural circumstance. This is especially so since the Ancient Tree of Life inside Elven Forest withered and died, so they are even less likely to hand their Water of Life over.”

The young lady’s reluctant look eventually transformed into a despondent one.

“Oh, I see…” Blue Maple muttered in response.

Blue Maple could roughly understand the situation. He was very familiar with the wicked nature of humans. He was someone who moved through the shadows, so how could he not be familiar with darkness?

The Human race was the strongest race after the Divine Races. However, the Divine Races didn’t really meddle with worldly affairs, while humans couldn’t control themselves. Therefore, the other races typically didn’t entertain humans at all.

This was especially so for the Elven race.

Blue Maple roughly knew that elves all had outstanding and attractive physical features, and they all had excellent figures. They were considered the best choices for humans’ forbidden desires, while young and beautiful female elves were favourites for the avaricious scum of human society.

Elves also had long life spans, and they had no problem living for several hundred years. This meant that a human capturing a young and pretty elf at a young age could imprison her for his entire lifetime, and he could even pass her on to the next generation!

Blue Maple knew how corrupted the aristocrats and those higher up in social hierarchy were, so situations like that were definitely not uncommon!

The reason was because there were many similar examples in real life. Furthermore, Blue Maple himself couldn’t remember how many of these human trashes he had slain!

Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that this young lady in a kimono would have great difficulty trying to get something from the elves. Fortunately, elves were considered kind and generous. Otherwise, whether or not she’d be able to return was an entirely different story.

They weren’t in wartime, so nothing significant would happen even if some individuals from other races were slain. After all, whatever hatred that existed was public knowledge.

“What do you need their Water of Life for?” Blue Maple asked. Even though he could guess what that was for, he decided to be careful and ask so that he could confirm his speculation.

“I need some to save someone. I need to save my husband!” The young lady’s eyes were filled with determination.

“Save someone… what happened?” Blue Maple continued asking.

“My husband is a huntsman, and he’s a solder who was discharged from service due to an amputated leg. He can still use his prosthetic leg to enter the forest and hunt with a bow and arrow.” The young lady’s expression became a little gloomy.

“Yesterday, he encountered a wounded demonized wild beast when he was hunting in a forest. He didn’t know who hurt the beast, but demons were the ones who got his leg chopped off, so he got impulsive and wanted to kill that demonized beast.”

“He succeeded, but… but he was tainted with demonic energy. We have already asked a priest to help suppress the demonic energy, but if we don’t find Water of Life to treat him, then…”

The young lady started sobbing.

Blue Maple frowned a little when he saw that because he didn’t like watching girls cry.

Blue Maple roughly understood the situation. Her husband probably encountered a demonized Boss, and the Boss monster probably demonized after another player had wounded it. Eventually, the demonized Boss dealt with the player who had injured it, but it was also injured, and her husband eventually ran into it.

There would never be a case where a demonized Boss would run away because it was heavily wounded because Blue Maple knew that Bosses, once demonized, would fight to its death to the point where it would just throw its life away without any rational thought.

“Is Water of Life the only thing you require? How long can your husband hold out? The earliest time I can depart is tomorrow,” Blue Maple asked.

“Yes. Are you willing to help? That’s fantastic! A Priest has helped suppress my husband’s condition, and the longest he can hold out for is seven days. Once seven days pass…”

The young lady was happy for a little while, but her expression quickly darkened as tears welled up in her eyes.

Blue Maple watched her as she was about to cry, and he immediately felt speechless.

It was just a game, why did they have to do it like this? Anybody who didn’t want to accept this quest would have to do it now with a quest announcer such as her, even though Blue Maple did want to accept this quest out of curiosity in the first place.

“Alright, I’ll try. I wanted to see how the elves are like anyway. Do you know where they live?”

“I’m not sure, exactly. I know their rough location. They’re…”

……

……

The young lady discussed the elves’ rough location along with other things that Blue Maple needed to pay attention to. For example, she told him how he could gain the elves’ trust as much as possible.

They eventually agreed to meet back here after seven days. The young lady also wanted to go out to search, as an extra person out looking gave them higher chances of success.

The young lady also didn’t have money. Otherwise, she could post her quest at the Mercenaries Union. However, she would need to splurge an exorbitant amount of money to get a player who had progressed through his or her third class advancement to do this quest, not to mention the fact that there were hardly any players who had finished their third class advancement.

She was just a normal barber, and her husband was a retired army veteran and a huntsman. How much could they possibly have?

The young lady spoke about her reward for completing the quest when she was giving her final thanks, which was a bangle and also a family heirloom, and it should be an accessory that was purely for decoration. An accessory that was purely for decoration meant it didn’t serve much practical purpose, maybe except for impressing girls, other than the fact that it could fetch a high price on the market…

Blue Maple eventually rejected the reward by telling her that he wasn’t interested.

“I have no use for the bangle, and I only want to use this quest to see the elves. Don’t think too much.” Blue Maple continued explaining coldly.

“As for rewards… you can just give me a good haircut when I bring back what you need.”

Blue Maple finished talking emotionlessly as he departed, and he didn’t give the young lady a chance to respond. Blue Maple still looked so cold and emotionless, as he always did, like he didn’t care about what other people felt or thought, like he was only thinking about himself, and only doing what he liked…

……

……

Blue Maple went for another casual spin around the library for the rest of the day because he had nothing better to do. He wanted to see if libraries in the Japanese region were different, which could be barely considered to be something he was interested in.

Blue Maple ended up strolling around for the rest of the day, and he got nothing done. He didn’t even get his haircut.

At night.

Blue Maple recounted his experience in the day as he was lying on his bed, and he muttered under himself mockingly, “What a strange day.”

This day was a strange one, indeed, but Blue Maple had always been like that.

In this moment inside a hotel inside Gong Liang City.

There was a large room which was fully seated with people from the Common Guild. Smooth Light was chairing the meeting, who was the one who wanted to force White Cherry into his team back at the Mercenaries Union. Ghost Spike was also there, and he was the one who had tried to backstab Blue Maple during their encounter.

Smooth Light was a senior member of the Common Guild sent to Gong Laing City’s management, while Ghost Spike was once a player from Gong Liang City, so he was here to help.

“We have received our guild leader’s order, and the request is to massacre that bitch, Moon Spirit, and her team so that they will drop a level. This will give us the advantage when we fight the Rank 90 Boss.”

“At the same time, according to reliable sources, Moon Spirit and the stronger players in her team will be training near Kunishi Bridge so that they can enjoy the cherry blossoms when they’re resting. We will take this opportunity, when they’re appreciating the cherry blossoms and when their guards are down, to make our move!”

Smooth Light spoke with vengeance in his voice. Their conflict with the Deities Guild wasn’t something recent, and both guilds had their own informants.

“And, I’ve heard that Moon spirit, that bitch, doesn’t like to wear gear when she’s watching the cherry blossoms. She will probably dress herself up before going, so she should be a little later than her team to arrive at Kunishi Bridge.”

“Then… do you know what to do?”

Smooth Light looked around at the people around him as he waited for everyone’s response.

“We understand! Tomorrow, we will gather the quickest party to ambush Moon Spirit and her team.” A Warrior with decent gear spoke.

“Yes, alright. Make your preparations, the rest of you. We have to assemble quickly.” Smooth Light was pleased as he nodded.

“Do you have anything to add, Ghost Spike?” Smooth Light turned around and glanced at Ghost Spike, who was sitting next to him.

Ghost Spike glanced at him plainly as he spoke without any emotion.

“I’m here to help. You decide.”

Smooth Light felt a little displeased at Ghost Spike’s expression, like Ghost Spike wasn’t respecting him at all in front of his own subordinates.

Tch. Aren’t you just powerful? So what? You’re not even as good as I am when leading people into fights! Smooth Light thought to himself unhappily, but he didn’t show that on his face.

He turned towards the rest of the people.

“So, tomorrow’s target is Kunishi Bridge!”

“Yes!!”