Chapter 105

They truly didn’t expect the result, and Hiro was dumbfounded seeing how it didn’t go as planned. Even so, Cara’s friend didn’t seem to mind replacing Cara’s position.

After NPC Gruzzal showered Wheelie with various ridiculous compliments, the old man finally turned to approach Hiro with a sunny expression. He was grinning so wide his face began to look a little odd.

“Thank you for giving me such a wonderful gift. I love it very much,” the old dwarf said while patting Hiro’s hand like a close friend.

Cara and Jacob looked at him questioningly, but Hiro only nodded.

“I would usually give anything the wanderer asks for in return, but since the gift I received today is so wonderful, I will give you my most treasured item.”

Ding!

[You have obtained a fairytale book: A Dragon and the Seven Dwarves]

NPC Gruzzal gave him a thick book, and Hiro kept the book in the bag shaped like a sack on his back.

“Thank you.”

After finally getting what he needed, Hiro rushed out to leave the building. He planned to open the book after getting some fresh air later.

Cara and Jacob followed Hiro. The three didn’t immediately get out of the castle area.

“What do we do now?”

“Let’s see what’s in this book.”

Hiro looked for a place secluded enough from the main street to avoid disturbing passersby. The sunlight didn’t reach the gap between the two buildings they chose, so the three could stay there with no worries of getting sunburnt.

While Hiro started to open a page of the book, Cara changed back into her initial costume. She really didn’t care about getting changed in front of two boys looking at her stunned.

“What?” Cara tied the laces of her high boots.

“Never mind.”

…

Long ago, a princess from the human kingdom called Eternity Kingdom was walking in the forest around the castle. She was walking with her seven dwarven friends.

One sunny day, they happily walked while humming with the birds in the forest. But as they were walking, they didn’t realize that they had walked too far into the forest, into the dark side they should never set foot on.

Full of curiosity she was, the princess wanted to see what was there. Thus, she ignored the warnings from her seven friends and decided to check the dark side of the forest for just a little while.

But in the scary forest, the princess found something very beautiful. A pair of lovers was embracing each other full of love. They seemed so bright it was like the sun was with them.

The arrival of the princess disturbed the pair of lovers, and something none of them wanted happened. The man of the pair looked at the princess with his shining red eyes, and before he realized it, he had fallen in love with the princess right in front of his lover.

The princess didn’t know that the lovers she met were actually very scary demons. Angered, the woman of the pair immediately used her powers to curse the princess to become a stone statue.

But…

Just before the curse reached her, the seven loyal dwarves shielded the princess to protect her, and they became stone statues. At the same time, the man of the pair gave the princess another curse to protect her from his lover.

He transformed her into a scary dragon because he knew that only dragons couldn’t be turned into stone.

Ding!

[You have obtained a special quest: A Dragon and the Seven Dwarves]

[With a kiss from a charming knight, the dragon will turn back into a beautiful princess. However, the forest has been sealed by the high priest. To break the seal, blood from all the races in the world must be offered.]

[Requirement: A party with all different bloodlines]

“I can kiss the princess if you mind, bro.” Jacob patted Hiro’s shoulder after he read the contents of the book and the quest he just received.

Hiro knew that the road to obtaining the materials to evolve his pet was still long, but he didn’t expect that he would need to get help from others to achieve it.

“We have a demon, a dragon, and a beast. Only an elf and a dwarf are left.”

Hiro thought for a bit. He had to get an elf and a dwarf to complete the quest.

“I can ask Wheelie if you want,” Cara suggested.

“Can you?”

“Of course. Just wait here.”

Cara ran back into the building where she got separated from her friend. In the meantime, Hiro and Jacob continued to think about how to find an elf.

“I have a lot of elf friends, but they’re all girls.”

“What’s wrong with them being girls?”

“It means only you and I can be the charming knight. What if it doesn’t work?”

Jacob was right. Hiro also thought about it. He even thought of creating a party with five male players including himself, but he knew that it wouldn’t be easy to achieve at the moment.

Hiro could ask BigShow and his friends, but if they weren’t powerful enough to finish the quest? Because it didn’t seem easy at all.

As Hiro was thinking hard, a scream full of despair could suddenly be heard from outside the main gate.

“No! Help!”

“Please stop! I didn’t do anything!”

Hiro immediately hurried toward the source of the sound with Jacob, who quickly ran after him. In a matter of seconds, he could see a crowd of dwarves standing at the side of the market.

In front of them were three players in robes standing in front of a dwarven player Hiro recognized as an antique seller in that market.

The three robed players each wore a mask that covered their face and had a large scythe almost their height. Made them look like grim reapers.

When Hiro tried to read the three players’ names, he only saw a username without a level, job, or even title. And their usernames were dark red.

Player killers, and they were using a special item to hide their identities.

“Don’t you already know the rule?” one of the three mysterious players approached the dwarven player who was now crawling with his legs covered in blood.

“I… I really didn’t do it…” the dwarven player said in a very small voice.

Splat!

“Arghhh!”

Hiro almost jumped in to save the dying player, but Jacob held him back.

“No. Don’t get involved. He’s already dead,” Jacob whispered, warning.

Hiro looked back at the dwarven player once again. His body had been slashed into two. The scythe’s sharp giant blade tore his stomach, causing the dwarf’s organs to scatter out.

But before the dwarven player died, the killer grabbed his shoulder and the two disappeared.

Poof!

“Where did they go?” Hiro didn’t understand.

“Out of the city. He brought him out in that condition, and the system would count it as getting killed outside the safe zone.”

Hearing about the cunning act angered Hiro. He looked at the two other player killers who only smiled under their robes before disappearing, leaving a smoke bomb that made the people around cough.

Poof!

“What the hell. Who are they?”

“They’re the player killers I mentioned yesterday, the people who call themselves WynterRain’s fans.”