"Ah, the Golden Tail Kitsune?" Twig laughed. "Ohohoho. Of course, I know where it is!"
Seraphim was stunned, her mouth hanging wide open.
Did the NPC just claim to know?
She shook her head, trying to regain her bearings. It must be related to so kind of quest for the Golden Tail Kitsune, she speculated.
Seraphim was certain that Twig would either beat around the bush, present riddles, or, worse, refuse to provide any information to trick them.
"It would be impossible to reach the Golden Tail Kitsune without a map. I have here the map to the Kitsune village, known as Yamamura village. If you’re looking for the Golden Tail Kitsune, they have a lot of them there," Twig explained, transferring the map to Lord Scrooge.
"This is the complete path to the village, but be warned: the Yokais don’t welco other creatures like you, and they might kill you on sight."
"I think we will manage," Xin replied confidently. He just hoped that the villagers were all NPCs so he could talk to them.
Twig nodded, his scrawny, shaking hands gripping his staff that served as his cane. "Good. Good. I’m sure that you’d be just fine because you’re a fine young man. Ohohohoho."
Hilda bead, expressing her relief. "Isn’t it nice that we would finally be able to locate that Golden Tail Kitsune? Now we don’t have to search for days."
"Wait," Seraphim interjected, still grappling with this unexpected situation. "You’re just going to give us the map without asking for anything in return?"
Twig nodded. "That’s right."
"But why?"
"Because he’s a fine young man. Ohohoho. And we’re friends."
At that, Seraphim retaliated by drawing her knife, her eyes narrowed to slits. "Are you tricking us?"
Twig’s head bobbed to the side. "Trick? I’m too old for that, don’t you think? Ohohohoho. And I don’t lie. That map is authentic and true. You’ll get to Yamamura much faster with that in your hands. However, whether the Yokai Kitsunes welco you is another thing entirely. Ohohoho."
Twig then turned and walked back into the forest, laughing all the while.
"What a strange old man," Hilda remarked when Twig completely disappeared.
"Now that we’ve got the map, we can finally speed things up," Xin said, but he felt a tinge of disappointnt when he noticed that they were still a bit far from Yamamura, the Kitsune’s village.
"Wait, are we just going to follow that map blindly?" Seraphim questioned. "What if it’s a trap?"
Xin doubted that since he had already MAXed his relationship level with Twig. "I trust the old guy. Besides, this is the only map we have in the uncharted woodlands. We should at least try and test it out to see what happens."
Seraphim caught her tongue. Lord Scrooge was right. It was the only map they had.
However, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was too good to be true, especially how they acquired a portion of the map in the uncharted woodlands so easily that not even top guilds could do.
Was it luck that they encountered Twig? Or did they trigger sothing they weren’t aware of? Maybe they were the first to reach this area?
There were hundreds of paths they could take, and perhaps they were lucky enough to reach this location, a one-in-a-thousand chance. Not even the best hunters with tracking pets could map the uncharted woodlands, after all.
There were too many variables to consider on how this thing ca to be, and yet, for so reason, they had acquired the map to the Kitsune village just like that.
Was it really just luck? Seraphim pondered while eyeing Lord Scrooge.
Just like before, Lord Scrooge seed to have extre luck on his side, erging unscathed from every difficult situation he encountered.
Was he hiding sothing? Seraphim couldn’t help but ask herself that question.
Because once or twice, she could understand, but multiple tis already . . .
"Sothing feels off about him . . . ," Seraphim muttered.
Xin looked behind him when he didn’t feel Seraphim following them. "What is it?"
Seraphim decided to confront him and asked, "How did you acquire the map from the old man? When you spoke to him, his deanor suddenly changed. Did you do sothing?"
"I think that’s none of your business," Xin replied, hiding his surprised that she could discern the tiny detail such as a slight change of mood.
However, Seraphim continued, "Once or twice I might have considered that luck was on your side, but it seems that you’ve gotten out of difficult situations multiple tis now."
Xin blinked and then faced her. "Where did you base your questions from? You speak like you know even from before. We have just t yesterday, and you’re saying that I have cheated the ga multiple tis?"
Seraphim didn’t comnt. With all the carefulness she was doing, she blundered in the end just because she was surprised about a silly map.
Xin looked seriously at Seraphim and explained. "Unless, of course, you know , you wouldn’t say those words."
"What are you talking about?" Seraphim feigned ignorance.
"I’m talking about the fact that I know your real identity now, Seraphim, or should I call you . . . Midnight Duchess?"
Seraphim didn’t comnt, and there was tense silence settling between them.
Hilda readied her massive hamr, prepared to defend Lord Scrooge at any mont.
Xin also readied his gun in case Seraphim would suddenly attack him, his golems and mannequins were at the ready on the side as well.
Contrary to his expectations, Seraphim only laughed. She removed her cloak, revealing the beautiful face of Midnight Duchess.
"So I was right," Xin uttered.
"You are, but how did you know it was ?" Midnight Duchess asked. "I thought I had hidden my identity well. But, I guess it’s because of my blunder just now, right?"
"That’s right, and coupled with that, your moves and abilities reminded of Midnight Duchess," Xin lied.
It was only through Hilda’s [See through Scope] that he had discovered the [Love’s Enduring Sacrifice] in her inventory.
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