Who told you I am an NPC

Chapter : 33

Brooke struggled with his thoughts for a moment.

He probably felt that Yan Yunqing was right, that he was indeed a coward.

He furrowed his caterpillar-like eyebrows and finally relented, "Alright, I hope you are, as you say, a righteous person."

"Two years ago, I went to Teacher Adelaide's former residence... that place is rather remote, not many people know about it.

I stayed there for an afternoon, and before I left, I wanted to clean up the teacher's house a bit."

"After all these years, no one goes to the teacher's house anymore.

It's covered in dust everywhere. But when I was cleaning, I found some of the results of Jela's investigation into the teacher's death in a hidden compartment."

Brooke's face was pale as he slowly said, "It was the Castellan, in league with the Fifth Prince, who murdered the teacher."

"Because the teacher discovered a secret of theirs."

"The Castellan... no, I should say the Campbell family, was secretly trafficking demonic beasts with the Augreer family."

Yan Yunqing:?

Yan Yunqing was stunned, "Trafficking demonic beasts?"

"Yes." Finally revealing the secret that had been hidden for more than two years, Brooke let out a long sigh of relief.

"They were secretly trafficking demonic beasts, selling them to some nobles, and also using them to do some shady things. The teacher was killed by their demonic beasts."

Yan Yunqing was surprised, "But, aren't demonic beasts untamable?"

Demonic beasts have no intelligence and are monster units.

How could they be sold as items?

Do people really like things that reek of decay?

But it seemed that as long as the profits were high enough, some people would risk their lives to attempt the impossible.

"I'm not sure about the details.

I only know that Teacher Adelaide had been investigating Kalenna... the student who was accidentally killed by a demonic beast six years ago.

The teacher suspected that Kalenna's death was related to Dean and the Fifth Prince, so she had been investigating privately."

"The teacher must have touched upon their secret demonic beast trafficking chain and was discovered, which is why she was killed."

"Later, Jela also investigated and found out what the teacher had discovered.

He knew that if he continued to investigate, he would definitely be targeted, so he specifically came to warn us not to continue investigating. Unfortunately..."

Yan Yunqing lowered his eyes, mentally completing Brooke's words:

Unfortunately, Jela didn't have time to clean up the traces of his discovery, and the truth ended up getting him killed.

"That day, after I learned about those things, I wanted to go and tell Link." Brooke's eyes were filled with regret.

"I told him about it, but he told me not to meddle in this matter anymore, to pretend that nothing had happened."

"We had a big fight. I told him he didn't deserve to be the teacher's student, that the truth was right in front of him, yet he was cowardly and weak, not daring to touch it..."

"After the fight, I applied for a mission to go out.

That mission was very dangerous.

I almost didn't make it back alone and was seriously injured.

By the time I recovered and came back... I found out that Link was also dead."

Brooke's hands were tightly clasped together, his fingers picking at each other neurotically.

Blood was already seeping from the knuckle of his right thumb.

His expression was numb yet pained, caught in a deep self-doubt.

"It was me. The information I found got him killed..."

Yan Yunqing crossed his arms, sorting through the things Brooke had said one by one.

First, the cause of the incident was definitely Feu, that is, His Highness the Fifth Prince, who coveted Kalenna and wanted to have her.

He made a high-profile invitation, but was rejected by Kalenna.

So this rejected Fifth Prince had Dean (most likely a lackey?) teach Kalenna a lesson.

But Kalenna's talent was too outstanding, and Dean had been jealous of her for a long time.

Upon receiving the Fifth Prince's order, he secretly used a demonic beast to kill Kalenna and also slaughtered half the village.

This incident had too great an impact.

The appearance of a demonic beast in a place where no god had ever fallen would definitely attract a lot of attention.

The problem was that the source of this demonic beast couldn't withstand scrutiny.

It was a chain of interests formed by the Fifth Prince's maternal family colluding with the Castellan of Seta City.

So the Fifth Prince, or someone related to him, suppressed this matter.

But Adelaide wanted to seek justice for her student and privately investigated this chain of interests, so Adelaide was also killed.

Adelaide's students, for the sake of their teacher, wanted to get to the truth, and also stepped into the abyss one by one, ultimately dying unknown.

This was the final truth of the matter.

After Yan Yunqing sorted out the cause and effect of this matter, he was not surprised to see that [Investigate the truth behind the demonic beast attack on the village six years ago] showed as completed.

A huge wave of experience points hit him, and his character's level instantly jumped several levels, reaching level nineteen.

Just a little more, and he would reach level twenty.

Indeed, doing a major main storyline quest gave generous experience.

However, the exploration of [The Curse of Sunset (In Progress)] was still stuck at 90%.

The last piece of the puzzle was still missing.

So, was his guess wrong after all?

The curse of Sunset Village wasn't entirely due to Dean and Feu's secret machinations.

Could there really be a curse?

The best at casting curses... necromancers?

But there was no trace of a necromancer in the entire timeline of the incident.

For a moment, Yan Yunqing also felt a little lost.

Perhaps... he should investigate the specific cause of death of those who moved out of the village?

How did this quest feel like it was getting longer and longer?

"By the way." Brooke seemed to remember something and stood up, rummaging through a box in the corner.

Yan Yunqing's thoughts were interrupted, and his attention returned to Brooke.

After searching for about ten minutes, he finally found something from a pile of clutter.

"This... I found it when I was cleaning the teacher's house... along with those documents, but I don't know what it's for."

Yan Yunqing took a closer look. What Brooke was holding in his hands was a crystal ball-like object.

Its surface was a bit cloudy and covered in a lot of dust, looking very inconspicuous.

Yan Yunqing stared intently at the crystal ball, and after three seconds, [Appraisal] gave feedback.

[Primary Mana Awakening Stone]

To be used by a mage, it can detect and awaken the magical talent of 100 beginners.

『Usage Level: 21 and above』

"Awakening Stone?" Yan Yunqing was puzzled.

"This was placed together with those documents?"

Brooke: "No... to be precise, this was placed separately.

The teacher seemed to treasure this Awakening Stone very much, placing it in an exquisite box."

"An Awakening Stone... although quite expensive, it's not a rare item for the teacher, so I thought it might be related to what the teacher was investigating.

So I brought it back, but I didn't have time to tell Link on the day we argued."

Yan Yunqing reached out and took the Awakening Stone.

The moment the Awakening Stone was in his hand, a prompt box popped up in front of his eyes.

『You have obtained item key 2/2. Do you wish to open the instance [Sunset·The Lingering Shadow of the Curse]?』

『Please proceed to the designated location to open the instance.』

It was actually... an instance key?

Wait, when did he get another instance key?

The system didn't remind him before?

Following the system's prompt, Yan Yunqing found the other instance key he had obtained from his backpack...

[Henry's Longsword]?

This...

Yan Yunqing's brain froze for a moment.

He quickly made a connection and, surprised, took out the longsword that Old Jason had given him. His fingertips brushed over the high-grade magic stone on the scabbard.

"Brooke, a question for you." Yan Yunqing wiped the sapphire-like magic stone.

"Six years ago, when Kalenna won the final victory in the grade-level competition, did your teacher... Adelaide, reward Kalenna with a few high-grade magic stones?"

Brooke was momentarily stunned by Yan Yunqing's question, trying hard to recall, "Kalenna?

Oh, yes, she used to be very outstanding... I think so?

I'm not too sure about this, but the teacher was very generous to her students.

If she won the grade-level competition, it would be normal to give her a few magic stones."

Yan Yunqing used [Appraisal] on the longsword again.

The result was the same as last time, but with a few more lines of information.

[Kalenna's personally woven peace knot]

[Magic stone gifted by Kalenna]

The two appraisal entries and [Henry's Longsword] formed a new item description.

Yan Yunqing pinched the dusty and slightly old peace knot.

Well, I'll be. So Kalenna's sweetheart was far away yet right in front of me all along.

It was you, Henry!

At first, he thought Kalenna's reason for rejecting the Fifth Prince was just a random excuse. He didn't expect her to really have a sweetheart!

Yan Yunqing knew that Old Jason's son, Henry, was a member of the village's patrol guard and had even studied at a swordsman academy.

Based on their ages, he and Kalenna should have grown up together as childhood friends.

Wait—so when Kalenna suddenly applied to leave and return to the village that day, could it be because she had passed the junior mage assessment and was going back to share the good news with her sweetheart?

This curse... could it also be related to these two?

As this speculation emerged, Yan Yunqing watched as the exploration progress of [The Curse of Sunset (In Progress)] quietly jumped forward a little, becoming 93%.

It was really related.

Yan Yunqing had always thought this was a tragic story of a commoner being persecuted by the powerful, but now it seemed to have turned into a story of the dragonslayer becoming the dragon?

Forget it...

No matter what, when he went back and opened the instance, he should be able to completely figure out this quest.

Yan Yunqing put away the sword and stood up.

The wooden chair let out an unpleasant creak.

He glanced at Brooke, who was looking down, lost in thought.

"Alright, I've asked all my questions. I'm leaving."

Brooke was stunned. "You... you're just leaving like that?"

Yan Yunqing tilted his head, "What else?

Are you treating me to breakfast?"

Brooke: ...

Brooke was at a loss for words, "You don't want to... say something to me?"

"Like calling you a coward for hiding for two years without daring to avenge your teacher and your best friend?"

Yan Yunqing smiled, "Come on, do I look like the kind of person who would ask 'why not eat minced meat'?"

"Wh-why not eat minced meat?"

Brooke didn't understand this phrase at all and repeated Yan Yunqing's words, "What is that?"

Yan Yunqing waved his hand, "It means I'm very cultured. Anyway—it's normal for people to fear beings much stronger than themselves, and to fear death.

You don't have to take what I said before to heart."

"You are already very strong, having kept the secret alone for two years without being silenced by the enemy—"

"Congratulations, you've allowed this secret to see the light of day again."