Putting on all my armour, I saw that my chestpiece really was broken in the Menu, and that it didn’t give me 5% Physical Damage Reduction anymore. “The rest of the pieces are still good, maybe I’ll just buy a chestpiece from Drune’s.” I thought to myself, walking down the stairs.

Like always, I found Rayna behind the bar, and I sat down and ordered some breakfast. “Sure thing handsome, same as last time?” I nodded yes, as she went through the door by the stairs and came back right after. “Haven’t seen you in a day or two, have anything to do with that Guild thing you mentioned last time?”

“It was, but now you girls don’t have to worry about the goblins anymore.” I informed her.

“I see, then on behalf of the town, I thank you.” Rayna did a fun little curtsy, and then asked “Did you change something about yourself, or have you always look this...regal?”

Remembering, I said “Oh, right.” putting my hood on to cover the crown. “Maybe it was just my hair.”

“Hmm...maybe it was.” She then went back to the subject, “So where were the little insects hiding?”

“Just in Creedmor’s Castle, a Dungeon formed there so the Guild created a Party to clear it out.” I explained.

Rayna chuckled a little, “It's always the same story with that place, but please, go on.” Smiling as she said “We innkeepers love our stories.” Since I was waiting for the food anyway, I gave her the details.

Starting from the beginning, I told her about how I infiltrated the army of 10,000 goblins, met with the Goblin King and his Chieftains, became the Royal Guard, and personally killed Goblin King myself. After I explained that my Party alone decimated most of the army and the Chieftains by themselves, and that we saved a bunch of slaves and brought them back to town. I did however omit the meeting with the Twin Goddesses, not really wanting to bring even more attention to myself. “And that’s about all that happened.”

“Wow, if that were all true, you would be much more capable than I thought you were.” Rayna said, not believing it entirely.

“But it is true, and if you're looking for proof, here’s the deed for Creedmor’s Castle I got as my reward.” Showing her the deed from my Inventory.

Rayna's eyes slowly widened as she read the deed, exclaiming “Wait, this is real! It even has Lord Creedmor’s signature and seal at the bottom!” Pointing it out to me.

“I told you.” I said, feeling validated. “And I guess that means you're looking at the Castle’s new owner, even if it’s pretty much a worthless dump at the moment.”

But she just gazed at me intently, saying “You are no ordinary man, Eyes…”

Then breaking her gaze, a waitress brought a full breakfast plate and placed it in front of me. "Thank you." I said, with the waitress smiling back.

“I wouldn’t say the Castle’s worthless by the way.” Rayna said, taking my fork and eating some of my scrambled eggs.

“It pretty much was, everything was either ransacked or destroyed, plus it’s a day or two away from Asheton.” Taking the fork back, “Unless you’re talking about its beautiful and private location, other than that, I don’t know what else there would be.” Eating my scrambled eggs.

“You’re missing something.” Seeing my clueless face, Rayna explained. “Lord Creedmor was a Lord after all, you don’t actually think he would waste his days on traveling from such a secluded area, do you?”

Remembering the room with a runic circle on the ground, I said “That’s what the circle was, it was a Teleportation Circle.”

“Exactly.” She said, grabbing my fork again and eating my food.

“But when I stood in it nothing happened?”

Rayna laughed a little, “Of course not, you need to be a person who can use the Teleportation Skill, and seeing how you didn’t even know that, you must not be one.”

“Can anyone learn it?” Curious if I could.

“Not everyone, but I heard the ones that do just need a lot of time, mana, and a good memory to learn it. So usually just high level Mage types do.” She explained.

“Interesting, I should message the Top 10 about it later, it’d be really useful if one or more of us could learn it.” I noted to myself.

“Though I wouldn’t say that’s the only thing of value in the castle.” Rayna added, continuing to eat my food.

“Huh? What else could there be?” Not remembering anything else that stood out.

“Well when Lord Creedmor died, it was said he died inside the castle.”

“It was said? Didn’t he have servants or something that found his body?”

“Nope, not a single one.” Telling me “Lord Creedmor forbade anybody from coming into his castle, nobles and peasants alike.”

“Now that’s sus.” I thought, asking “Then what about the body?”

“Right, the body.” Continuing to slowly eat my food. “When the town sent people to collect it, it was nowhere to be found.”

“Wait, then how do we even know he’s actually dead? Couldn't he just be somewhere else?”

“No, he’s definitely dead.” Rayna stated so matter of fact. “Lord Creedmor was 98 years old ten years ago, and unlike you Elves or Dwarves, for us Humans that’s pretty much our limit.”

“Where’s this story going, Rayna?”

“I’m getting there.” Continuing, “When the people searched the entirety of the castle and the castle grounds for the body, they found that the castle was completely void of life, almost like no one has lived there for years. Except for the Teleportation Circle that seemed to be used often.”

“Lord Creedmor didn’t live in his castle? Then where was he staying?” I wondered.

“When the people got to the back of the castle, they saw a bridge in the back garden leading to a tunnel inside the mountain.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that.” Completely forgetting about it. “I also found that bridge, but I didn’t get to check out where it led to.”

“Well you're in luck, the people checked for you. Crossing the bridge and going all the way to the end of the tunnel, they found two solid doors made completely out of perfectly refined Adamantite, sealed with old runic symbols and extremely strong magics.”

“I’m guessing they couldn’t open it, right? And whatever’s inside is the value I’m looking for?”

“Exactly!” She exclaimed, while finishing my breakfast and then noticing what she did. “Oh...I’m so sorry, it was such a long night last night.”

Happy with what I learned, I smiled “It’s fine, but next time we have breakfast, why don’t we order two plates, okay?”

“Next time?” She smiled back, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Leaving the inn and starting to walk to Drune’s, I heard a girl shout behind me. “Eyes, wait up!” Looking back, I saw Mako trying to catch up to me. “You're going to Master Drune’s, right? Let’s go together.” While we walked, Mako told me about the crown’s notification she got yesterday, and I explained to her that since Drune and her were in my servitude they both received the bonus.

Genuinely curious, I asked Mako “How’s the blacksmithing going?”

“It’s great, my Blacksmithing Skill is already at Lv.5, and helping Master Drune make armour and other weapons is really hard but fun.” Adding, “I’m also working on my new sword in my spare time.”

“Awesome, I’m so hype for when you guys can make me the armour and weapons that I won't just outlevel.” Imagining the cool and personalized items I could get.

“Hey, I’m not like Master Drune by the way, so don't think you’re getting a discount from me.” And I chuckled a little at her seriousness. “Speaking of armour, I see you already wrecked yours.” Pointing at my chest.

“Not my fault, the PKers and the Captain of the Guards attacked me.” I explained.

“PKers? You mean Player Killers?” Mako questioned, not knowing the news.

Continuing to Drune’s, I relayed the information I got from Dream, warning Mako about the Players Killers, and suggesting she should message Global to join the World Chat so she can stay informed. “That’s about it, but I also think you should ask Drune to let you Level Up when you get the time, just in case there’s trouble you need to deal with.”

“I was planning to.” Mako said confidently, smiling and walking in front of me.

Entering the shop, we were greeted to the sight of Odelia and Drune kneeling to us. “Huh? What’s going on? Is something wrong, Master? Are you feeling ill?” Mako questioned, checking Drune for signs of something wrong.

“Ignore them Mako.” I said, walking by them and browsing the room for a chestpiece. “I expected Odelia, but not you too, Old man.”

“Ki—” Drune tried to speak, but Odelia elbowed him in the side. “I mean Lord Eyes, Odelia is forc—asked me to, even though I’m clearly not an Elf and have no obligation to.”

“Lord Eyes?” Mako repeated, confused.

“I’ll tell you later, for now just go with it.” Mako gave me a strange look, but agreed.

“I see your chestpiece is destroyed Ki—Lord Eyes, do you need help finding a new one?” Drune asked, unkneeling.

“I do, I’m also looking for a few cloaks—good or bad—but ideally with big hoods, and I’ll take any arrows you have in stock.”

“K-Lord Eyes, what level are you looking for this time?” Drune asked, trying his best to be courteous.

“Okay, okay, I’ve had my fun, stop torturing yourself.” Telling Drune, “Like I told Odelia yesterday, just call me Eyes, and if you want to, Kid is also fine. Alright, Old man?”

“He will not dare call the Heir to the Elves, Kid!” Odelia stated, stomping towards us, while Mako looked at me confused by the statement, but then shrugged her shoulders and went to the forge in the back.

“She’s right, even without forcing me to, calling you Kid when I’ve been told who you really are is not an option. And since you allowed it, Eyes is how I’ll address you from now on.” Bowing to me, Drune said “It has become my greatest honour to be the future King of the Elves’ personal blacksmith.” Odelia smiled at him.

I sighed, “Okay whatever, I’m Lv.23 now so something in the Lv.20s would be good.”

“Lv.23?! How? Weren't you just Lv.3 a few days ago?” Drune questioned.

“Hmm...” Odelia hummed to herself.

Trying to brush it off, I said “Don’t worry about the details, let’s just say I went and killed the source of goblin attacks.” Odelia and Drune stared at each other, and I could tell they knew what the source of the goblin attacks were, and then looked back at me in surprise.

Shaking his head, Drune repeated “Lv.20, Lv.20, Lv.20…” and searched around the shop.

Letting him search, I said to Odelia “You wouldn't happen to know how to use the Teleportation Skill, would you?”

“I do not, Lord Eyes, but a Member of our House does. Why do you ask?” Odelia wondered.

“I just found out that my new castle has a Teleportation Circle inside, and I thought we could've travel there instead of Leon since it's closer.” I explained.

“You have a castle? I should have expected as much from the Heir, but sadly with no one able to use Teleportation, we’ll still have to go to Leon.” She stated.

“I thought as much.” Then remembering, I said “You know that Skill you used to make an arrow in the prison, can you teach me that one?”

“I am sorry my Lord, but that Skill is a highly advanced technique from the High Elf's Archery Style. It takes years to learn and master, and it is not something I can just teach you here.”

“Does it make a difference if I’m an Archer Class?”

Odelia just laughed at me, “I apologize Lord Eyes, I mean no offense. It is just that an Archer Class does not even compare to any of the 3 Elven Archer Classes, and I would say it is no better than a Ranger.” But hearing that only made me more excited about learning the Skill and the other Archery Styles.

Drune then called us over to the counter where he had almost everything I asked for. “Here’s all 500 arrows I got in stock, crafted by Odelia when she came into town, and made from the extra iron ore you brought me the other day.” Picking one up, the Stats for it popped up.

Odelia's Iron Arrow

Uncommon

Attack: 30

“30 Attack!? That seems crazy good, it’s 25 more than the training and goblin arrows I’ve been using.” Admiring the simple but well made arrows.

Next, Drune gestured to the cloaks. “I don’t have any really special cloaks in the shop right now, so I just grabbed 4 random ones that had big hoods.” Then pointing to a large plain white cloak, Drune said “I do have this cosmetic one if you’d like, it’s very popular with the people who like to wear different colours a lot.” Grabbing it, I read the info.

Cloak of Colour

Uncommon

Effect: Changes into any colour the wearer desires.

“Cool, and the chestpiece?” I asked, not seeing it.

Drune brought up a chestpiece from under the counter, and I could see it was made partly of leather and iron. “There was nothing really I could find that suited your elven physique perfectly, but this should protect you until you can find something better in Ven’Thyl with Odelia.”

Leather Iron Chestpiece

Common

+7% Physical Damage Reduction

Requirement: Lv.20

Putting it on, my total physical damage reduction went to 12%—2% more than my last piece. “Nice, I’ll take all of it, how much for everything?” I asked.

“Nonsense, I’m your personal blacksmith now, everything’s on the house.” Drune declined.

Feeling too spoiled by Odelia and Drune, I said “What’re you talking about, just because you're my personal blacksmith doesn’t mean I shouldn’t pay you, look at how much money you would lose.” Pointing at all the arrows and gear. “And if you refuse my money now, maybe I’ll just have to decide never to become the Heir to the Elves.” Looking directly at Odelia.

Odelia nudged Drune, and he sighed “If that’s what you want, Kid—I mean Eyes. I’m still gonna give you your discount though.” Drune quickly calculated, saying “The arrows are bought in bulk, 50 Gold for 500, down to 40 Gold with the discount. The 4 random cloaks you can have for free, while the Colour one will be 10 Gold, down to 8. And the armour is 4 Gold, so 3 Gold and 20 Silver.”

Handing Drune the 51 Gold and 20 Silver, I took note that I had 719 Gold, 81 Silver, and 30 Copper in the Inventory. “Wow, that’s a lot! I wonder if I should save it, or maybe look for something to spend it on?” Drune thanked me for the business as I left the shop, but to my surprise Odelia followed me. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Following you, my Lord.” She answered bluntly.

“Didn’t you want to spend time with your husband, and that’s why we’re staying a few days?”

“I do, but how can I just leave you unguarded?”

Coming up with an idea, I said “Tell you what, if you can follow me, I’ll let you be my personal guard from now on. But if you can't, then you have to leave me alone whenever I want, sound like a deal?”

“I think you highly underestimate me, my Lord, but that is an offer I cannot let slip away.” Odelia smiled, readying herself for whatever I was gonna do. “Please, try your best to lose me.”

“I’ll be going then.” Smirking at her, I activated Return Home, and in an instant a blue magic enveloped me entirely, then in a blink of an eye I found myself in the familiar room of the Teleportation Circle in the castle. Stepping out of the now lit up runic circle, a bunch of notifications suddenly appeared.

You are now entering a Lv.2 Closed Dungeon, and are unable to leave until the Boss is killed. Only 4 more people are allowed to enter the Closed Dungeon. Your regeneration is now halved.