The Return of the God Level Assassin [BL]

THERE were two important points in what the Gatekeeper just told them. One – the fact that Finnea didn't grow up here, and two – what happened to her most likely involved this Tower of Edia. In this task, the focus should be on these two points. After all, if they're not important to the task, the Gatekeeper wouldn't mention it at all.

He glanced at Shen Ji Yun. It also happened that the other also glanced at him. When their gazes met, he could see in Shen Ji Yun's amethyst eyes that he was also thinking of the same thing. He secretly smiled. This kind of tacit understanding was really a bit, well, magical to say the least. It's like 'you look at me, I look at you, and we both know what we want to convey', that kind of feeling. The only reason he could think of was because they were both smart people.

Of course, the premise was it didn't involve anything that dealt with emotion. If they also have tacit understanding on that front, then Shen Ji Yun would have long discovered that Luo Yan already knew about his feelings for him. But alas, when it came to things related to emotion, this cinnamon roll was a bit slow. He could now flirt a bit. But he was only doing it unconsciously. After he realized what he'd done, he would be the first one to be embarrassed. 

It's kind of adorable in a way. And a bit problematic as well. 

Because he was doing it unconsciously, Luo Yan was always caught off-guard. Which resulted in his heartbeat beating abnormally. If this continued, his judgement might soon be affected by it. 

He looked at the guy sitting beside him with a bit of resentment in his gaze. This hidden Casanova. 

Shen Ji Yun thought he saw Luo Yan looking at him resentfully. But when he looked again, his expression was already back to normal. He shook his head. It might have been just his imagination. Because there's no reason his rabbit would hate him. So, he just turned his attention back to the NPC sitting in front of them.

"Could you tell us more about the childhood of your wife? Like how come she didn't grow up in the village?" he asked.

"When her mother died, her father decided to live outside the village. I'm not really sure about all the details, but she told me once that her father was working as a member of a mercenary group. From her stories, I could tell that she was taken care of by them. When we decided to get married, she agreed to live here in the village," the Gatekeeper answered.

If Finnea's father was a mercenary and she grew up under the care of a mercenary group, then there's a big chance that she also became one. Luo Yan didn't hesitate to voice his suspicion. "Was there a chance that your wife was also a mercenary?"

The Gatekeeper looked down. "Yes, I also suspected as much. But I didn't ask her much about it. I wanted to respect her privacy. If she didn't want to tell me about it, I shouldn't delve too much into it. But now that I think about it, maybe I should have asked more. Maybe… maybe I wouldn't be left in the dark as to what really happened to her." He looked at them. "Do you perhaps think that what happened to her was related to that mercenary group?"

"It's possible," Luo Yan answered.

If Finnea really was a member of this mercenary group, then the 'friend' she was planning to meet might also be a mercenary that belonged to the same group. Maybe every time she went out of the village, she was doing some kind of task for that mercenary group. That time too, it was probably the same. And the task she had to do was most likely related to the Tower of Edia. 

"Do you know the name of this mercenary group and where we could find them?" Shen Ji Yun followed up.

"Crimson Corps, that's the name. If I remember correctly, their headquarters is in Alryne City."

Luo Yan almost didn't wince. Alryne City again?

"Then, does the Gatekeeper have additional information about the Tower of Edia?" he asked.

The Gatekeeper shook his head. "I don't know much aside from the obvious that they're a powerful group that heavily worship the moon goddess."

Luo Yan was not really familiar with the stories surrounding Arcadia. He just knew some of the most common ones. Like the king of Arcadia for example. He's the one and only ruler of Arcadia. It was said that he was the son of the moon goddess, that's why he was very powerful. One of his more popular back stories was about his rivalry with the Demon King of the Cursed Land – it's a place outside the jurisdiction of Arcadia where all criminals were exiled. That place was sealed. All beings living there were forever trapped in that place.

There was a rumor in Arcadia's gaming community that the Demon King was actually the King of Arcadia's half-brother. The Demon King wanted the throne for himself so he staged a rebellion. But the King of Arcadia defeated him and he was thrown to the Cursed Land. Of course, that was not really proven. But it made for a good story, so, a lot of players believed it.

But Luo Yan had never heard much about this so-called Tower of Edia. He did know about the moon goddess. Just like the moon elves, most races in the game worshiped her. And that's the extent of his knowledge about her. It's not really surprising that this 'moon goddess' was special. After all, he had already long noticed that 'moon' was a recurring theme in this game.

They talked with the Gatekeeper for a bit more. When they couldn't get any more viable information, they decided to leave. 

"Don't worry, Gatekeeper. We will definitely do our best to find out what really happened to your wife," Luo Yan assured the Gatekeeper.

The Gatekeeper bowed deeply to them. "Thank you very much."

After saying their goodbyes, the two walked out of the Gatekeeper's small cottage.