Cthulhu Gonfalon

Yue, who had become the weakest member of the team, was not depressed but instead was very angry.

As the most excellent student in the Isuka School of Magic, she never lagged behind in any activities, even if it was a confrontation, something she was not good at.

(The most important thing for a magician was not the ability to cast spells but a clever and clear mind, and rich and practical knowledge.)

But she gradually calmed down after recalling her principal’s instruction.

“I think we should recognize the resources and information,” she said suddenly. “Maybe we will encounter enemies soon. It’s good for us to make preparations beforehand.”

“There will be no enemy,” a younger trainee soldier whose beard had covered the second half of his face said rudely. “I asked when I was on duty. The ghosts only haunt the castle; they never attacked people.”

“But in general, no one would enter this old castle.” Yue, of course, would not be refuted so easily. She pointed out the omission of this piece of information immediately. “So, who on earth found out that there were ghosts haunting this place? Why were they willing to spend money to hire adventurers to deal with problems here?”

Everyone was silent and looked at each other. They did not know how to answer.

After a few seconds, the trainee soldier said uncertainly, “There was no information about the client in the mission but from the large reward... Could it be that the villagers who felt uneasy gathered fifty gold coins to hire us?”

“If you were a villager, would you take out fifty gold coins to deal with those ghosts in the old castle at least two miles from the village?” Yue asked.

“Of course not!” The young trainee soldier, the captain of the adventure team answered. “You are right! There is something wrong.”

Compared with soldiers who concentrated on fighting, there were much more things for knights to learn, such as military command and strategy. In theory, a qualified knight was not only an excellent fighter but also a commander. Although this trainee soldier was not very powerful, he had to be aware of the problems after Yue pointed them out, otherwise, he would not be qualified for his apprenticeship.

“If there are no ghost attacks, or if ghosts really attacked the villagers... there are no injuries. Villagers will not pay for things that have nothing to do them.” the trainee knight thought and said. “What if there are ghosts here? Ghosts rarely leave to attack people, so it’s safe for villagers to avoid this old castle. Compared with fifty gold coins, it’s much easier and cost-effective for the villagers to avoid this area.”

Everyone nodded, and Yue could not help but smile.

She was a little worried about whether her teammates would be fools. Now, it seemed that her worries were superfluous. Although those virtual teammates lacked fighting ability and adventuring experience, at least their minds were clear.

That was enough!

“Captain, do you mean that there have been ghost attacks and people have died, so the villagers are very upset and hired us to solve the problem?” The trainee opened his eyes wide. “Did they tell us lies in the mission information? How dare they deceive a group of adventurers!”

“Maybe this mission was not issued by villagers.” The trainee soldier shook his head. “As I just said above, even if there were ghost attacks and dead people here, the villagers would not care about that. They could just avoid this place and flee. Isn’t that right?”

“Do you mean that those who issued the mission are the ones who have entered this place?” the trainee ranger murmured. “They have been attacked by those ghosts and are very afraid, but they have to come back here again. So they have no choice but to seek the help of the adventurers.”

“Yes. That’s very much possible!” the trainee knight nodded and said. “In theory, they would not tell lies in the mission information, so the fact that ‘no one has ever been killed by a ghost’ is probably true. But this does not mean that there are no ghosts or that those ghosts are weak. It is more likely that those who are attacked acted quickly or retreated in time.”

“Did they react that quickly?” the trainee soldier frowned and asked. “They are just ordinary people.”

“What if they are not ordinary people?” the trainee knight sneered. “What kind of people need to enter such an old castle?”

“Adventurers?” asked the priest.

The knight shook his head. “They are running an underground business, and many of their transactions are not transparent, so they have to find a place that is rarely visited by people as their trading venue. This old castle is not far away from the nearby town, and villagers dare not approach it. Isn’t it the best place to trade?”

Everyone was nervous.

Those who were running the underground business all had some powerful skills in their hands. Those ghosts could make them retreat in a hurry and even hire adventurers to deal with them. Maybe those ghosts were very tough to deal with!

“That’s what I think, so we have to make preparations now,” Yue responded. “Considering that the enemies may be very tough to deal with and even those smugglers had to spend money to hire us, we must be well prepared.”

She paused for a moment and tried to solve the problem more easily. She said, “Actually, we can withdraw now and go back to ask the client for detailed information... For us, this task is a little too difficult, I’m afraid it’s very difficult to guarantee that there will be no casualties.”

The last sentence made everyone’s face gloomy. Even the trainee soldier who was more optimistic than the others could not help but frown.

“You are right, but we have no money,” the trainee knight sneered and said. “We have no money to return to the city. If we want to go back to the city, we have to walk. And after we return to the city, we have no money for accommodation today. The Adventurer’s Guild Hall does not offer free accommodation.”

“Moreover... even if the mission information was wrong, the mission deposit won’t be returned,” the trainee ranger frowned and said. “In addition to the traveling expenses, our last bit of money has paid the deposit, for which we have borrowed money from the Association of Adventurers. It said that we have to return the money in three days at most, otherwise, we have to pay extra interest. If we go back now, we won’t be able to finish the task in three days ... at that time, our qualifications for adventurers will be canceled by the Association of Adventurers.”

Of course, they could go back, but going back meant that they would lose their income and jobs.

Everyone looked at each other, and all felt depressed.

How could this group of people be so poor?

Yue could not help but sigh deeply, but she had to put on a smile in order to comfort everyone.

Fortunately, she, as a trainee magician, was very good at comforting people. Everyone’s face was getting better and better.

When everyone was in a good mood, they started to make preparations for a possible fight.

“What do you think if we set fire to the castle?” The trainee soldier had a fantasy suddenly and proposed.

“In theory, it should be possible.” The trainee ranger’s eye lit up. “This old castle is so dilapidated that there must be no owners. Even if it was lit up, people would not care about it too much!”

“What if it has an owner?” the trainee knight asked.

“If it has an owner, there will be servants who are responsible for cleaning it,” the trainee priest said.

“Maybe there were servants, but they were killed by those guys who were running the underground business,” Yue sighed and said. “Or maybe... what we have to deal with is those loyal servants who are dead but never forgot to guard their masters’ property.”

Her words made everyone feel frightened. The trainee soldier shouted, “Don’t say such horrible words! That’s so scary! Do you want to scare me to death?”

Yue sighed and shook her head, pointing to the ground. “Didn’t you notice? This ground is old and damaged, but it doesn’t grow weeds. It is impossible for the ruins. The only explanation is that someone is cleaning it.”

Everyone looked in the direction where her finger was pointing at. They could not see any weeds nor could they see any dirty spots or stains.

Although this old castle was dilapidated, it was clean inside, so everyone felt more frightened now.

No one knew that there was a giant jellyfish over the castle that was watching them.

“Hey! They really regard the virtual experience as a real adventure!” Yan Xun looked at Yue’s performance and could not help but laugh. “This little girl has a bright future!”