I'm back again.

This time it takes longer than expected since I'm quite busy with real life.

Please enjoy the continuation of the cliffhanger.

Chapter 5 - The Witch and Gingerbread House

I rush to the house and open the door.

*crumble...

The door was made of cookies. The knob crumbled as I closed the door. The interior had a horror feel to it. It was decorated with bones and skulls. There were traces of blood on the floor. A giant cauldron can be seen near an oven.

'Did she make the cookies in here?'

A sweet scent is lingering in the air.

"It smells good."

"Really?"

"Woah!"

I was surprised to see a young boy walking beside me... or not. He got no legs, I mean no foot. He looks transparent from head to thigh.

'A ghost NPC. Really?'

"Who are you?"

"Who am I?"

"..."

"I... don't know."

His expression changed to a bitter one. His sight glued to the ground. He didn't stop walking. Each step he took felt heavy like it was chained to something.

"..."

"..."

Silence continued until we arrived at the witch's cauldron.

The ghost points at the shelf.

"The necklace should be somewhere around here."

I nod and proceed to check the shelf looking for his mother's necklace.

"What does it made of?"

"It's made from wood. Father made it for mother's birthday present."

'A wooden necklace. Not enough info.'

"What does it looks like?"

"It was... a bird."

'If only I had that keen eye skill.'

I keep checking every item on the shelf. My HP dropped to 49%. The curses still work even if I'm separated from the witch.

I start picking up my pace.

'Faster, faster. I can't waste too much time.'

I search the shelf in a hurry.

*Klak...

'Hmmm?'

It seems I knocked over something. I look at the ground and find a dusty object.

It is a round object covered with spider threads and dust. It feels squishy and elastic.

I peel off the threads and wipe it with some rag that I found at the shelf. After the cleaning was done, a red colour emanated from the object.

The round object cracked open revealing a bird-like figure within it. Its beak pointed to the sky, its wing shaped like a bird was flying, its tail was split into two.

'A swallow?'

I don't really know much about birds, but this one seems familiar to the drinking ads. When I take it out of the red ball, a chain comes out tied up to the bird's body.

You've obtained Rosalina's Necklace

Rosalina's Necklace

*Reduce elemental damage taken by 5%.

A necklace made with nearly perfect precision. You can feel the maker's affection from it.

'How is this going to help me?'

"How do I use this?"

"Wear it."

I registered the necklace in my equipment screen.

The ghost is running towards me. It flew inside the necklace. A bright light emanates from the necklace.

I notice all my curses are gone. Out of curiosity, I check the necklace again.

Rosalina's Necklace (Unsealed)

*Reduce elemental damage taken by 5%

*Allow you to use "Purification" once every 2 hours

*Restore your mana by 50% once per day

A necklace made with nearly perfect precision. A gift from Rosalina's husband and passed down to her children. It contains the maker's affection and Rosalina's blessing.

Immediately I cast > to bring up my health.

'The necklace belongs to the witch, but passed down to her children. The ghosts are her children? I'm going to read this hansel and gratel story later on.'

Okay, my first objective is not completed yet. To cut off the source of her power, I need to find the source first.

I inspect the cauldron, but it's empty. The shelf is filled with bones and skulls.

'She didn't chase after me to the forest, so her power source should be close. Is it the house?'

I cast > to the roof.

Suddenly the door slammed open.

"You little brat! You dare to burn my house!"

She throws a > at me. I dodge and let it burn her floor.

'Taste your own medicine!'

I cast > in the shelf. The witch keeps throwing > towards me, so I keep running in a circle around her and let her burn her own house.

After a while, we go out of the house since the house has been burnt to a crisp.

"Nooo! My house! You'll pay for this!"

She casts > and starts charging towards me.

'No more fireball?'

My speed is higher than the witch and dodging her attack is quite easy. I just keep my distance and throw > at her. She didn't throw a single > ever since she activates her >, maybe she ran out of mana since her house has been burnt.

After a while, the witch drops down. A boy comes out of nowhere and stars walking towards me.

'He's the one who bumped into me in town!'

"Thank you, mister. My colleagues are suffering because the witch bound their souls to her. Now that you had defeated the witch, they can rest in peace."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be alright."

As he said that, a light enveloped his body. What comes out of the light is the old man from the fountain. At the same time, a ghost coming out of the light flies towards the witch’s body.

"Amazing!”

"Thank you, young traveller. I offer you my gratitude for releasing the young children souls from suffering. My name is Grimm. I hope we meet again.”

*Triiiinggg....

A sound indicating a complete quest was heard.

Quest Completed

Tale of the Old Story

You’d found Grimm the “Story Teller” and participate in banishing the witch and the gingerbread house.

The witch feeds upon young children and bind their souls to her resulting in a curfew restriction on Cross Town. If you brought the proof of witch extermination to the Castle Lord, the curfew restriction will be lifted.

Quest Rewards :

3,200 Silver Coins

25,000 Experience

Rosalina’s Necklace (Unsealed)

Relationship with Grimm established

*Report your finding to the castle to receive additional rewards.

Level Up!

Level Up!

The Missing Children

A curfew restriction was put in Cross Town, because a lot of children were reported missing. Help the Castle Lord find the missing children.

Update :

*You’ve found the missing children, but they’re no longer alive.

*You’ve found the witch who kidnapped and ate young child.

*You’ve banished the witch and release the children souls.

Report the findings to the Castle Lord to help ease the tension among the residents.

The ghosts are swarming around the witch’s body and they ascend together to the sky in a trail of light.

'Well, that's a lot of ghosts.'

Some items were left on the ground. I walk towards it to check it.

Crystal Memory (Quest Item)

A crystal filled with the memory of Rosalina. You can bring this to the Castle Lord as a proof of the witch’s deeds.

Mantle of Salamander

Fire Resistance: 20%

A coat made from salamander skins. It has a flying swallow logo embed in the back. Wearing this will improve your resistance to fire magic.

‘Oho, necklace and mantle. I’m so lucky to actually earned two accessories items this early.’

Game Information

Helmet = 1 slot

Shoulder Armor = 1 slot

Upper Armor = 1 slot

Lower Armor = 1 slot

Glove = 1 slot

Shoes = 1 slot

Main Weapon = 1 slot

Offset Weapon = 1 slot

Accessories = 10 slot (Ring, necklace, bracelet, earring, mantle, coat, head ornament)

The gingerbread house has been burnt to a crisp. I walk towards it to see if I can find some useful items among the rubbish.

Voodoo Straw Doll (Quest Item)

The doll made by the children kidnapped from Cross Town. It resembles the kidnapper figure. A name Rosalina was pasted in the middle with blood.

‘Voodoo? Children making voodoo doll?’

I wonder whose child it is to be able to make a voodoo doll after being kidnapped. Since it’s a quest item, this should trigger something if I bring it to a certain person.

‘Too bad it doesn’t drop weapon.’

I check my character information.

Character InfoNameRenRaceHalf ElfClassElementalistLevel1911%Physical Strength584%Magical Power1796%Physical Resistance1232%Magic Resistance144%Endurance1488%Speed1774%Focus1747%

‘One more level to the next class promotion.’

In Eden Online, you can upgrade your class when you reach lv 20 and 40. Although this information was stated in the official website, they didn’t put any other information about promotion after lv 40.

After searching for a while, I see there are no more items in the vicinity. I decided to go back to town and report my quest.

Back in the Cross Town, I check my friend list, everybody’s online.

‘I should contact the others after reporting the quest.’

I go straight to the castle.

In front of the castle gate, two guard NPCs are blocking my way.

“What business brought you here, traveller?”

“I’m here to report the missing children progress.”

“You found them?!”

The voice was a bit louder than usual, but it showed they’re concerned about the missing children.

“I found what remains of them. I’m sorry.”

The guards face look sad and depressed.

“It’s still a progress. Okay, you can pass through.”

The gate opened and they returned back to their position.

Inside the gate, another two guards appeared. It seems they’re guarding the castle gate very tightly.

A few steps from the gate, I was met by an old man. He got less hair than your average old man, a handlebar moustache but no beard, all in white colour. His height is slightly smaller than me whose height is 173 cm.

“Hello traveller. I received a report stating you have information regarding the missing children. Is this true?”

“Yes sir. I brought something to prove my information.”

“Keep it. We’ll continue this in the Great Hall. You two, go inform Derek and Ernest to keep guest away from the castle.”

“Yes sir.”

The two guards immediately go towards the gate.

The old man lead my way to the Great Hall.

Inside the Great Hall, the Castle Lord is sitting in his throne. There are five attendants on the left, six attendants on the right.

The old man who brought me here stop in front of the Castle Lord and kneel. I copied his posture and kneel down behind him.

“Greetings, My Lord. I ask for this urgent meeting since we have new information regarding the missing children.”

“You can rise. Continue with the report.”

“This young traveller brought something related to the kidnapping incident. Go and state your information to the Lord.”

“Greetings, My Lord. My name is Ren. I stumbled upon this information when I went to search Mr. Grimm.”

“Oh, you knew Grimm?”

I open my inventory and take out the crystal memory. The old man bow to the Lord and proceed to extract information from the crystal. He asked one of the attendants on the left to bring some kind of projector from his room.

A while later the attendant comes back with a bright green box. He gives it to the old man beside me. The old man put the crystal memory inside the box and cast something.

“...”

The box reacts and shines brightly. The lights gathered inside the box and from the top of the box, images were projected. It was like looking at a 3D video running in open space.

The video start when Rosalina was baking some cookies in her oven. The house doesn’t look like the gingerbread house that I saw in the woods. It is neat and rich coloured. There are two children in there, a boy and a girl running around happily while sneaking a taste from the cookies batch.

It gave off a warm feeling, seeing this scene played out in front of me. Without realizing it, tears roll down on my cheek.

The scene changed, the room is no longer neat and everything was scrambled on the floor. A person who looks like her husband can be seen yelling at her. The two children can’t be found inside the scene. The husband keeps yelling at her when suddenly the two children appeared in the front door. Both of them look surprised by the children sudden appearance.

The scene changed again. It seems only certain memories can be recalled from the crystal.

‘Perhaps they can only recall memory with strongest feeling or impression. The first is happiness, the second is maybe sadness?’

The third scene played out with the husband carrying the children away from the house. Rosalina looks depressed; almost every thing from the first scene is gone. The house only has table and chair, no cooking ware though the oven is still there. Rosalina was facing the mirror and her eyes were red and bloodshot, her hair dishevelled, her figure was thin from lack of eating.

If you take a close enough look, you can actually see rage in her eyes.

The fourth scene played out with her on the gingerbread house. The shelf contained animal bones and skulls. A giant cauldron can be seen near the oven. She looks towards the window and discovered two children eating her house. Her reflection on the window shows a wicked smile. She invites the children to come in and gives them some cookies. The children who gnaw at the cookies immediately fall asleep. She moves the children to the cauldron and start boiling them.

*Gasp!

A lot of people are gasping at the scene before them. The witch is boiling the children alive. Bubbles can be seen on the cauldron showing the current temperature is very hot. The children are screaming but no voice can be heard.

“Stop it!”

The Lord can’t seem to handle it anymore. The old man reacts very quickly and turns off the projector.

“This kind of thing is happening on our watch. We... How do we explain this to the townspeople?”

“I think we should tell them the truth, sire. We always uphold truth as our base foundation, we shouldn’t tell lies even if it was this cruel.” (Old man)

“I know what you mean, but this... this blasphemy will certainly cause the townspeople to lose moral and trust, not to mention the panic it will cause.”

“Ah, but the witch is already dead, sire. So there’s no reason for the townspeople to panic over it.” (Ren)

“Did you kill her?”

“I did. I, myself almost caught in her trap and become food. Luckily the spirits of the children help me defeat the witch.”

“What proof do you have?”

“The crystal memory can only be harvested from a dead person with strong mana. I assume the witch is dead since the crystal is here.” (Old man)

“That’s right. The crystal should be able to proof it.”

“Hmm, I see. Noel, reward him sufficiently and lift up the curfew. We have to raise the townspeople’s moral.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Follow me, traveller.”

The old man was named Noel. He bowed to the Lord and left the Hall with me. He walks beside me and start a conversation with me.

“You are young enough to be my grandson and yet you already accomplished a very difficult task. For this, I thank you. You have saved us from a very difficult situation.”

“It’s okay. It’s by accident that I stumbled upon the witch. She tried to eat me so I retaliate.”

We arrived at the underground dungeon. Passing through a secret door behind the prison wall, we make our way towards the treasure room.

“Fu fu fu, don’t be so modest. Come, this is the treasure room. You can pick one treasure as a reward.”

Inside the room, a lot of treasures are placed neatly. Weapons on the right, armor to the left, further along you can see a shelf containing a lot of books.

I try to see the info on each weapon, but only a bit description can be read.

‘Shit! If only I still had that Keen Eye skill.’

Golden Sword

Dragon Spear

Frozen Heart

It seems I can only read half of the weapons name. This way, I can’t really sure with what I picked. I left the weaponry and proceed towards the shelf.

‘I’ll just pick a skill book.’

Alchemy

Herbology

Skinning

I skimmed through all of the books in the shelf. I'm trying to find one that suit my needs.

'I don't think I need to copy > since I already got purification. I might need something connected to mana.'

I keep searching until I found a book with Mana on its title.

'Oh a mana title, but there're more than one word in its title. Damn! Shall I risk it?'

End of Chapter 5