Chapter 275: back to the silent marsh

"OH, Noctis! It's good to see you again. Have you been doing well?" the Gatekeeper suddenly said when he saw Luo Yan.

He glanced at the NPC. The other seemed to be much more energetic compared to the last time he saw him. In fact, he looked like he drank a gallon of coffee. "Yes, I've been doing quite well."

When the Gatekeeper noticed Shen Ji Yun's presence, he became even more excited. Luo Yan was no longer surprised seeing that after the scene of the other moon elves clamoring over Shen Ji Yun. He was already expecting the Gatekeeper to go on fanboy mode the next moment. But he didn't. Instead, he bowed respectfully to Shen Ji Yun.

"Welcome to our village, exalted one," the Gatekeeper said.

Luo Yan raised one of his brows when he saw that. 

After Shen Ji Yun nodded, the Gatekeeper walked towards Luo Yan and whispered, "Are you friends with the Qilin?"

"Yes."

The Gatekeeper's eyes suddenly turned brighter. "Then could you drop by later at my cottage together with your friend?"

Luo Yan suddenly became suspicious. Why did the Gatekeeper's reaction differ from the other NPCs here? Could this lead to another hidden task? "Sure. But may I ask why?"

"You see, when you left the village, I found a clue as to what happened to my wife. And I think your Qilin friend might be able to shed some light to it."

Luo Yan remembered that when he saved Filli – the Gatekeeper's son – the other mentioned that his wife died from a curse after doing an errand outside the village. He smiled wryly. So, that was really some kind of chain task event and this would be the follow up. He glanced at Shen Ji Yun. This guy's presence was probably the trigger. The most probable reason he could think of was because he's from a Legendary race.

He looked again at the Gatekeeper. So, this was the reason why he seemed to be more energetic.

"I'll try to drop by later," he just said, though he really wasn't sure if he could. Since he wasn't sure if they had enough time to capture that black dragon. Because later he still had to go back to his pavilion to meet with that Alchemist. He wondered if he would have enough time.

After the Gatekeeper said his thanks, they bid farewell and walked to the forest.

"Did that NPC said something to you?" Shen Ji Yun inquired.

"Oh, that."

Luo Yan explained how he triggered a hidden event task when he was still in this village that involved the Gatekeeper and his son. And they most likely just triggered the follow up event to that task because of Shen Ji Yun's presence.

"I see. Maybe what happened to the Gatekeeper's wife was connected to one of the Legendary races," Shen Ji Yun commented. "Let's go later. Chain task like this usually give some good reward. And since it's a hidden event, the reward would probably be even better."

"I have no problem with that," Luo Yan agreed because he also thought the same. "I'm just worried that we wouldn't have enough time. I need to go back to the pavilion later in the evening, you see."

"Is there anything important you need to do at the pavilion?"

"Yeah. I made an appointment with the current top Alchemist. Last night, he asked if he could make a business deal with the pavilion and I told him that we could meet tonight to discuss that."

Top Alchemist? That Bian Que? If Shen Ji Yun remembered correctly, that Bian Que was known for making a lot of money from the potions he made. It was mostly because he made deals with a number of profitable business establishments. Making them sell the potions he made.

Bian Que seemed to be a bit addicted to money and didn't really care about other things unrelated to it. But Shen Ji Yun still couldn't help but feel a little bit sour in his heart thinking that Luo Yan would meet Bian Que alone later. He sighed. Really, he never expected that he would actually be this possessive of someone. 

It's not a very attractive trait and Luo Yan might be turned-off by it once he found out. But he just couldn't help it. The heart would feel whatever it wanted to feel even if the brain tells it to do otherwise. If he couldn't help but feel this possessive tendency, then he at least had to learn to curb it. After all, he didn't want Luo Yan to ever feel that he was someone's possession.

That would just be plain disrespect to Luo Yan. So, even if it's hard, he would curb it. 

"I see," he only said.

[Mashter, look, Eclipse thinks that Captain is feeling jealous because you would meet alone with some other man. He might think that you're cheating on him! Quickly, Mashter, explain yourself to Captain!]

When Luo Yan heard what Eclipse said inside his mind, he felt like squeezing this little thing into a ball wasn't enough anymore. [Eclipse, what did I say earlier? Do you really want to be squeezed into a ball?]

Eclipse shrunk his neck. [Mashter, Eclipse won't say anything about Captain for now. So, Mashter should not engage in domestic violence with Eclipse.]

For now? So, you still planned to do it later? But Luo Yan didn't comment and just flicked the little fox's forehead.

"Where should we go next?" Shen Ji Yun asked.

"The cave where the dragon is was in a place called Silent Marsh. It's located at the West side part of this forest," Luo Yan answered.

He opened the map of Crescent Woodlands – the forest they were in – and led Shen Ji Yun towards the Silent Marsh.

As they walked in the forest, the encountered a lot of monsters. But Shen Ji Yun dealt with all of them easily. He didn't even have to use his sword for that. Well, that's understandable. Since this place was just for beginners. So, most of the monsters were low levels. 

And soon, they reached their destination – the Silent Marsh.